Category: Reviews

Reviews of Music, Movies and More…

Movie Round-Up: June 26th, 2009

Reviews

Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen:

Pass.

Really, that’s about all want to say about it.  The first film was a piece of crap.  The story was poor, the acting was bad, they butchered the source material, and the action was that too-fast-to-follow sort where two things smash into each other, stuff happens, and then one of them wins.  Seeing the trailer for this just reminded me of how much I disliked the first one and how I was going to make no effort at all to see this one.  Sure, people will claim that its just a summer popcorn flick and I expect too much of it, but even for a cartoon designed to sell toys, the original had so much more heart and soul than Michael Bay’s bastardization.  It deserved so much better.

Save your money.  Please.  If it bombs, maybe he’ll stop.

My Sister’s Keeper:

I wept like a little girl.  Movies about cancer patients tend to get at me anyway, but this one was particularly heart wrenching because it is so well acted.  I won’t lie, I saw the “twist” in this film coming a mile away, but there was real edge of my seat interest in watching how long it would play out and at point would everything come to light.  It sounds odd to write about a movie which is about a girl dying of cancer and her sister who doesn’t want to be a donor anymore, but it is how I feel.  I’ve seen criticisms of the movie, and the book on which it is based, from people who say they have a child with leukemia and life isn’t like that, mother’s don’t act that way, donor siblings don’t refuse, blah blah blah… for one, this is a story, it is fiction, and a story in which everyone was happy and the only thing that happened was a girl died of cancer, well, that wouldn’t exactly be riveting viewing.  For me, I can easily see how a mother could get so swept up in saving the life of one of her children that many “lesser concerns” go unnoticed or forgotten.

All in all, a good movie… but bring tissues.

Movie Round-Up: June 19th, 2009

Reviews

Year One:

Every time Jack Black puts out a new film, I approach it with caution.  I find I’m either going to love or hate his work.  There really is not a middle ground.  But the trailers for this film have actually had me chuckling.  They have a very History of the World Part I or Life of Brian feel.  I probably won’t make it to the theater for this one, but I’ll be chomping at the bit to catch it on DVD.

The Proposal:

You’ve seen this movie before.  She’s the boss, a book editor, treats people like crap, and is a Canadian about to be deported, so she promises to a promotion to her assistant in exchange for marriage.  The twist here is that she always thought he was just another assistant, but it turns out he’s from a very wealthy family in Alaska (they own most of the town) and he was in New York chasing his dream of being an editor and avoiding the family business.  So they head to Alaska to meet his family and try to fool the immigration department… comedy ensues.  And while you have seen this movie before, that doesn’t make it any less enjoyable.  Sandra Bullock and Ryan Reynolds are both great and their on screen chemistry pops.  You know how its going to end before it starts, but it is an enjoyable ride to the finish.  In my opinion, easily worth the matinee price if chick flick romantic comedies are your style.

Movie Round-Up: June 12th, 2009

Reviews

Imagine That:

Eddie Murphy once made his career on raunchy adult themed comedy and movies.  He has long since left that behind in favor of more family friendly fair.  That said, I have actually enjoyed a few of them.  While Norbit, the Doolittle sequels and the Nutty Professor movies left me flat, I actually enjoyed Meet Dave.  This movie looks cute, so it’ll definitely get a rental viewing, but as cute as it looks I don’t think it’s enough to earn $10 from my wallet on opening weekend.

The Taking of Pelham 1 2 3:

I kept meaning to Netflix the original so I could see it before this remake opened, but I never did.  The trailer looks pretty decent, and I like most of the actors.  I want to see it, but John Travolta as a bad guy is fairly hit or miss.  Hit, Broken Arrow.  Miss, The Punisher.  So, for me, I probably won’t run out and see it, but will wait for the rental.  However, it does look like a good action film, so you might want to check it out.

Away We Go:

Technically, this movie opened last week, but only on 4 screens.  This week marks the first expansion into places where average people might actually have a chance to see it.  I saw it at a screening and … I think it is a damn shame that I’ve seen some outlets compare this film to Juno.  It sets the absolute wrong expectations since Away We Go is nothing like Juno.  What Away We Go is about is a couple (I don’t want to say ‘young’ because they are 34) who are about to have a baby and had moved to be close to his parents.  But his parents have decided to move to Antwerp, so now they are looking for other family and friends to live near.  Conveniently, both of them have jobs that are not location based, so off they go in search of a new place to raise their forthcoming child.  Along the way they encounter four completely different families and learn about the things they want and the things they don’t want.  Its sweet, its funny, and its also sad in places.  Most of all, though, its worth watching.

Movie Round-Up: June 5th, 2009

Reviews

Land of the Lost:

I grew up on the show, which means I approach a remake with much hesitation.  Add to that the fact that I don’t really find Will Ferrell to be all that funny, and you’ve got a movie I am not itching to see.  But I’m sure it will make a ton of money.

The Hangover:

If you are going to go see one movie this weekend and aren’t dead set on seeing Land of the Lost, I suggest seeing The Hangover.  This movie is hilarious.  Just awesome.  Every actor seems so perfectly cast, and the whole thing is so absurd but it never quite goes into disgusting territory with its humor.  It is one night they will never forget, if only they could remember.

My Life In Ruins:

I wasn’t a big fan of My Big Fat Greek Wedding.  It was humorous.  It was cute.  But overall it was… eh…  So I went in to My Life In Ruins with the bar set pretty low.  And that’s probably why I enjoyed it so much.  It is humorous.  It is cute.  Greece is beautiful and the whole film is well shot.  And Richard Dreyfuss steals the show.  If you go see two movies this weekend, and one of them is The Hangover, make the other one My Life In Ruins and just skip Land of the Lost.

Movie Round-Up: May 29nd, 2009

Reviews

Up:

It’s Pixar, and as of yet I have not hated a single one of their movies.  Sure, Cars wasn’t the greatest movie of all time, but it was certainly better than most other kid and family movies to come out.  So, despite the odd premise of an old man attaching balloons to his house and floating off into adventure, I would bet money ($10 per ticket) that it will be a good film, and worth watching.

Drag Me To Hell:

A horror movie with a PG-13 rating.  Usually that is the kiss of death because it means no blood and gore, no nudity, no swearing, and often nothing scary at all.  But this is Sam Raimi, so I went in with an open mind.  From the first “encounter” it is clear that this movie is less Texas Chain Saw and more Evil Dead 2/Army of Darkness.  The camera angles are bizarre, the sound effects are brash and loud, and everything is over the top.  Its gross and funny and even makes you jump now and then.  If you go in with the right expectations, this film is a fun ride.  Go in looking for the wrong thing and this film will leave you flat.

The 2009 Upfronts

Reviews

Last week, all the TV networks trotted out their fall line-up, and as with every year, what follows are my thoughts.  To see the schedule and find links to all the shows, check out the incredibly awesome Laurel’s TV Picks.

Mondays:

ABC goes with Dancing With The Stars and Castle.  I love Castle, but Stars is a waste of TV as far as I’m concerned.  At midseason they’ll switch Stars for The Bachelor, another waste.  CBS mostly keeps its line-up with How I Met Your Mother (watch), Two And A Half Men (pass), The Big Bang Theory (watch), and CSI: Miami (pass).  Rules of Engagement has been pushed to midseason, and they’ve added Accidentally On Purpose, which I’ll tune into.  NBC is bringing back Heroes, which I’m taking a “wait and see” attitude on (I’ll wait for other people to tell me its good and then catch up), and pairing it up with Trauma, which I have no interest in seeing.  At midseason they swap both of those for Chuck and Day One, both of which I will watch.  And this fall NBC is throwing away the 10pm slot to keep Jay Leno happy, and to finally let people unwilling to stay up late to watch “late night” TV. *sigh*  Fox has gone with House and Lie To Me, with 24 showing up midseason.  I gave up on Lie To Me this year, each episode was too similar for my tastes.  The CW has Gossip Girl and One Tree Hill, both of which I stopped watching.

Monday verdict: 3 1/2 hours to start, which a push up to 5 1/2 at midseason.

Tuesdays:

ABC will have Shark Tank, Dancing With The Stars Results, and The Forgotten… skip, waste and watch.  CBS expands one NCIS into two and follows them with The Good Wife, none of which I will watch.  NBC goes with The Biggest Loser and then more Jay Leno, with 100 Questions coming in midseason when Loser goes to 90 minutes.  I’ll watch 100 Questions.  Fox wastes the evening on So You Think You Can Dance until January when they replace it with American Idol and Past Life.  Heaven help me, I’m addicted to Idol, but I’ll be passing on the rest.  The CW has 90210 and adds to it Melrose Place… nope.

Tuesday verdict: 1 hour, going to 1 1/2 at midseason.

Wednesdays:

ABC brings in four new half hour comedies that I won’t be watching, and ends the night with Eastwick, which I’m curious to see if it is any good. Lost will likely return at midseason, and being the last season (and that I like the show) I’ll watch.  CBS changes nothing: New Adventures of Old Christine (pass), Gary Unmarried (never miss it), Criminal Minds (pass), CSI: NY (pass).  NBC decided to resurrect Parenthood at a TV show, given the cast I want to see it, but I won’t unless someone tells me its worth watching.  Midseason they’ll swap it for Mercy, which I want to see.  They fill the rest of the night with Law & Order SVU and Jay Leno… no, and no.  Fox will have results from Tuesday’s voting for SYTYCD and follows it with Glee, which I watched and was extremely surprised how much I enjoyed it.  In January we’ll get Idol and Human Target (must see).  The CW gives me another night of nothing worth watching by having America’s Next Top Model and following it with a 90210-style drama about models.

Wednesday verdict: 2, maybe 3, hours to start, becoming 4 in the midseason.

Thursdays:

Finally we hit a night with more TV for me… ABC gives us Flash Forward, Grey’s Anatomy and Private Practice, and I’ll watch them all.  CBS has Survivor, CSI and The Mentalist, of which I only watch the last.  NBC is still trying to regain its Thursday comedy dominance: SNL Weekend Update Thursday, Parks & Recreation, The Office, and Community (with another wasted 10pm slot on Jay Leno).  I like SNL’s Weekend Update and Community looks good, and 30 Rock comes back midseason.  Fox has Bones and Fringe, yes and yes.  And the CW brings out The Vampire Diaries to join Supernatural.  Now, I’ll watch me some Supernatural, that show rocks, but The Vampire Diaries is going to have to be very good to keep me interested… it looks like Twilight, and I have no interest in Twilight.

Thursday verdict: 8, maybe 9, hours.

Fridays:

ABC has Supernanny, Ugly Betty and 20/20, and three ‘no’s from me.  CBS has Ghost Whisperer, Medium and Numb3rs, with word that Flashpoint will show up at some point.  I was glad to see Medium saved from cancellation since the recent episodes have been quite good, and I enjoy Numb3rs and Flashpoint.  NBC gives us Law & Order, Southland, and a final 10pm Jay Leno for the week.  Fox gives us Brothers (pass), Til Death (used to be decent but now, pass), and Dollhouse (yay!).  And the CW has Smallville and reruns of Top Model.  No CW for me.

Friday verdict: 3 hours, possibly 4.

Saturdays:

Should we even discuss Saturdays? Its nothing but sports and reruns and crap and shows networks want to cancel but contractually have to air.  I wish someone would revitalize Saturday evening television.

Saturday verdict: 0, zilch, nada.

Sundays:

ABC sticks with Extreme Makeover, Desperate Housewives and Brothers & Sister (I watch the last).  CBS has The Amazing Race, Three Rivers and Cold Case and won’t be having me as a viewer.  NBC has football which they will replace with reality shows, neither interests me.  And Fox has its animated shows, all of which I have stopped watching.

Sunday verdict: 1 hour.

The weekly verdict: 19 hours, going to 24 by midseason.

Of course, there are several midseason shows currently not on schedule, but given the penchant for networks to cancel shows quickly, they’ll all see the light of day.  Of those, I’m interested in The Bridge, The Deep End, Happy Town, Parental Discretion Advised, V, and Better Off Ted.  Scrubs is listed as returning, but I thought it ended so well that I wouldn’t mind if they didn’t bring it back.

And none of this includes the many shows that cable networks have started airing, but so few of them stick to the traditional fall season model that I’m just watching those all year long, but usually only 2 or 3 at a time even though its got to be a dozen shows.

Lastly… the post mortem.

Crusoe should have known they’d never last more than one season, the fact that they didn’t resolve their story in their 13 episodes is a failure.  I had hopes that it would be a 13 episode mini-series and encourage other networks to do the same, but it didn’t work that way.  Cupid also got cancelled, again.  I say again because, and most people don’t realize this, it was a remake of an earlier show.  The earlier one was also good, and also cancelled too soon.  Dirty Sexy Money, Eli Stone, Eleventh Hour, ER, The Ex List, Harper’s Island, Kings, Life, Life on Mars, Lipstick Jungle, My Name is Earl, My Own Worst Enemy, Prison Break, Privileged, Pushing Daisies, Reaper, Samantha Who?, Terminator, The Unit and The Unusuals.  I don’t have room to eulogize them all.  Some were cancelled too soon, some right on time, some past their prime, but all of them were shows I watched (or am still watching as they play out the productions on Saturday nights).  Looking at this list, I am losing more shows this year than I am gaining, and if the networks keep moving toward more reality TV and if Jay Leno is popular at 10pm, that may be a trend which continues… or it may just mean that all the shows worth watching will be on cable.

Movie Round-Up: May 22nd, 2009

Reviews

Three movies, three sequels…

Terminator Salvation:

Whenever anyone decides to make a sequel to a series of films, there is apprehension.  If you liked the previous films, you want them to not screw things up, you want them to make something worthy of the legacy.  I was lucky enough to be able to see a screening of this one, and I can definitely say that I was not disappointed.  T2 is still probably my favorite of the series, but this new entry certainly holds its own.  I was mildly perturbed by the choice to go PG-13 instead of R like the last three films, but it appears that is the latest trend in Hollywood.  While comedies have gotten raunchier and gone more “adult” since Wedding Crashers, in recent years horror and action films have tried to tone down and get the wider audience of a PG-13.  Luckily, Terminator Salvation doesn’t suffer much at all from the lightening of gore, violence and language, and manages to tell a great story without them.  If I hadn’t seen it already, I’d pay full price to see this one.

Night at the Museum – Battle for the Smithsonian:

I was surprised with how much I enjoyed the first one of these.  Ben Stiller isn’t one of my favorite comedic actors, and the premise of stuff coming to life at night in a museum seemed sort of weak.  But I really did like it.  It was fun and funny.  Now I’m faced with a sequel and I’m not sure about it… part of the magic of the first film was Ben reacting to the craziness of the stuff coming to life and dealing with it.  Here, he’s the old master, though I’m sure they’ll make him bumbling and scattered like the first film to try to capture the old magic.  I doubt I’ll see this in the theater, but I’ll probably rent it for sure.

Dance Flick:

Another Wayans family comedy… you know, I actually liked Scary Movie, the first one.  All its sequels were lame.  I liked I’m Gonna Git You Sucka.  But nothing so far about Dance Flick has actually made me desire to see it at all, and I probably won’t.

Movie Round-Up: May 15th, 2009

Reviews

Angels & Demons:

Unlike most of the world, I actually read this before reading The Da Vinci Code.  I hadn’t heard of it prior to the explosion of The Da Vinci Code, but I have this habit of wanting to read series/characters from the beginning, so I read Angels & Demons first.  I also liked it more than its sequel.  I felt the story was tighter, the characters more interesting, and just all around a better book.  Don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying The Da Vinci Code sucked, but it just wasn’t as good.

The movie of The Da Vinci Code was worse than the book.  Given that I liked the book Angels & Demons more, I’m hoping to like the movie more, but seeing as how the movie will be treated as a sequel and not properly as a prequel, I know there will be things about the film that annoy me.  However, after my disappointment with the prior film, I do know that I won’t be rushing to the theater to see this one.  I’ll wait for the DVD.

Movie Round-Up: May 8th, 2009

Reviews

Next Day Air:

I didn’t get a chance to see a screening of this one. It does look funny though and I’ll probably see it at some point…

Star Trek:

… but let’s face it, the movie to see this weekend is Star Trek.  I did get to see a screening of this one, and to let you know what I thought, I plan on seeing it again in the theater.

When I first heard they were going to reboot the franchise by heading back to the academy days of the original crew I couldn’t think of it being worth seeing in any way.  Too many reboots have just waived a magic wand, ingored everything that came before and started over, usually poorly.  Of couse, Batman Begins showed that a relaunch could be good, even awesome, and Star Trek follows that mold.  The team behind the new Trek have crafted a tale that starts at the beginning, but in a way that remembers and even honors the past films and TV shows.  In a word, it is fantastic.  Completely worth the price of admission.

Movie Round-Up: May 1st, 2009

Reviews

Ghosts of Girlfriends Past:

So, the movie is Scrooge, only with a womanizing bachelor instead of a miserly money lender.  His uncle takes up the Marley role and sends this poor guy on a journey through his relationships, past, present and future to show him the true meaning of Christmas… I mean, love.  Overall it was a decent movie despite the predictability of it.

X-Men Origins: Wolverine:

To be honest, I had little hope at all for this film.  From hearing the changes they made to Deadpool and more, I just assumed this movie would be action packed garbage… and I was right about the action packed, but wrong about the garbage.  It won’t satisfy long term comic fans because of all the changes, but then Wolverine’s origin has always been a muddled mess.  If you loved the other X-Men films, you’ll probably enjoy this too.  Decent, but not great.

Battle for Terra:

I like seeing movies in 3D when the 3D helps the movie and isn’t just a gimmick.  I loved the new Journey to the Center of the Earth, but I hated Fly Me to the Moon.  The reason is because Journey was a good movie even without the 3D, while Fly Me was bad no matter how much 3D they crammed in it.  I haven’t seen Battle for Terra, but the trailers look interesting enough that I think the movie might just be good without the 3D, so adding in 3D ariel combat in on top of that should be awesome.