Search Results for: "Movie Round-Up"

Movie Round-Up: August 20th, 2010

Reviews

Lottery Ticket:

I’m sure someday I’ll watch this on DVD, but I won’t be spending $10 to see this in the theater.  No way, no how.

Nanny McPhee Returns:

I’m certain, like the first film, this will be good for families and kids.  I does look decent.  But I’ve got no desire to see it myself, especially since I haven’t seen the first one.

The Switch:

Looks funny.  I mean, a jilted friend who decides to deposit his own sperm instead of the carefully selected donor from the sperm bank, how could this not be funny?  Well, it could fall flat, but the preview looks decent.  I probably won’t see this in the theater, but I’ll surely watch it on DVD.

Vampires Suck:

These cheap, yet high grossing, parody films keep on rolling.  I wish I could invest in them.  I hate them.  Watching them makes my eyes and ears bleed, but I’d gladly make money off them if I could.  The only possible redeeming quality here is that they will be lampooning the Twilight movies, which themselves are almost as bad as these parody films.

Piranha 3D:

If I go to see a movie this weekend, this is the movie I’ll go see.  The cast is great.  It’s a remake of a monster movie that I love.  And it is likely to exploit the hell out of the 3D just like old 3D horror films, with stuff jabbing and exploding toward the audience.  Sadly, the wife has no desire to see this film, so it is up to me to find some friends to go see it while she’s at work or something.  Piranha 3D must be seen… in 3D.

Movie Round-Up: August 13th, 2010

Reviews

Eat Pray Love:

A woman’s journey to self-discovery. I’m not going to be first in line to see this, but I haven’t been disappointed by many of Julia Roberts movies so I’ll be sure to catch this on Netflix when it is available.

The Expendables:

I had an opportunity to see a screening of this, but a conflict prevented me. Given the cast of action stars and what I’ve seen in the trailer this is going to be one hell of a ride. If I can find the time, I’ll be seeing this this wekend.

Scott Pilgrim vs. the World:

I did see a screening of this, and it was great fun. As a long time gamer myself I loved the references and imagery. Outside that however the movie is a typical boy chases girl type of film. So if the gamer angle doesn’t appeal, you might want to skip it. As for me, I might go see it again.

Movie Round-Up: August 6th, 2010

Reviews

Step Up 3-D:

If you are inclined to see a movie about dancing, you could probably do worse than this.  I mean, all of them – to me – are kinda hokey, but if handled right the 3D could actually add a nice bit of depth to the action.  I wouldn’t spend $13 on it myself, but it might be worth it to others.

The Other Guys:

If not for Will Ferrell, I’d be guaranteed to see this movie this weekend.  The plot sounds good, and I like every other actor in the film.  Even Will Ferrell isn’t always bad – I loved him in Stranger Than Fiction – but from the preview it seems he’s playing this in the usual “look at me and be embarrassed by my actions” comedy.  Likely, this is due to Adam McKay, who is responsible for all of Will Ferrell’s worst work, in my opinion.  I’ll surely catch this on Netflix, and I’m sure this will be huge for Will’s usual fans, but I wouldn’t spend my $10 to see this one at the theater.

Movie Round-Up: July 30th, 2010

Reviews

Cats & Dogs: The Revenge of Kitty Galore:

Do I even have to say, “No”?  I shouldn’t have to, but I will.  No.

Charlie St. Cloud:

This movie isn’t getting good reviews.  The few good ones call it a sentimental tearjerker, so if you are into those sorts of films, perhaps you’ll enjoy it.  For me, I don’t mind the tearjerkers, but I’m not going to pay $10 for this.  Someday the wife and I will watch it on Netflix.

Dinner for Schmucks:

I don’t think I could do it.  If my boss told me to come to a dinner and bring an idiot for us to make fun of, I’d probably start looking for another job.  However, watching other people do it?  That’s comedy!  To be honest, I went in to the screening I saw of this movie expecting it to be stupid, but it managed to be funny, heartwarming and creepy.  At moments it was downright hilarious.  You could easily find worse ways to spend your hard earned money.

Movie Round-Up: July 23rd, 2010

Reviews

Ramona and Beezus:

Based on the Beverly Cleary book Ramona Forever, obviously this is a family film.  From the trailer it looks to be fun and probably worth the trip to the theater with the kids.

Salt:

I really wanted to be able to come here and say you should run to the theater and see this movie.  I wanted to, but then I saw it.  Don’t get me wrong, it doesn’t suck.  It has some good action and the plot twists are kinda neat (if a tad predictable), but I’m over my “My god! Angelina is so beautiful! Lust lust lust!!” phase.  Sometimes she is a good actress, and sometimes she isn’t.  She just didn’t get me to care about her character one way or the other.  On top of that, I’m getting to the point where I don’t buy her as an action star.  It could be my aversion to ultra skinny women, but her lack of a substance, to me, hurts because I can’t really get behind her toting around big guns and simultaneously kicking the asses of a half dozen guys when I think the kick of the weapons would knock her down or that any one of those trained fighters she’s up against could overpower her.  Anyway, if you don’t mind that and you just want to go see an action movie, this one is worth seeing, though I suggest going to an earlier show to get a cheaper price.  If you don’t need to see the movie, skip it, and wait for the rental.

Movie Round-Up: July 16th, 2010

Reviews

Standing Ovation:

If you like those Disney movies about singing kids, you’ll probably like this too, and so will most kids. Of the three opening films this weekend, this is the best one for families.  Not really my cup of tea, though it is highly likely I will see this some day after it shows up on Netflix.

The Sorcerer’s Apprentice:

I am a sucker for magic and fantasy.  And despite him being quite awful in a number of films, I always find myself wanting to like anything that Nicolas Cage is in.  The special effects look great, and the trailer has me hooked, and even Mr. Cage appears to not be awful.  If I go to the theater this weekend, it’ll be either to catch up on an older film I missed (damn you free passes that excluded the first couple weeks of release!) or it’ll be to see this movie.

Inception:

But really, the only reason The Sorcerer’s Apprentice is at the top of my list is because I’ve already seen Inception.  I’m going to try do describe this movie without spoiling it.  Have you seen the movie Dreamscape from 1984?  In that film, specially gifted people could enter the dreams of others and try to help them defeat their nightmares.  How about The Cell from 2000?  Here, a woman who enters dreams to help people takes on the task of going into a comatose serial killer to locate his final victim before they die.  Inception has its roots in the same ground.  The mind and dreams are important.  In this case, Leonardo DiCaprio as Cobb leads a group of people who are thieves.  They call it extraction.  They enter the mind of a dreamer and get at the secrets he holds.  But they are hired to do something different this time, to plant a new idea into a target’s mind.  The movie is almost two and a half hours long and I’ve just described the first, maybe, twenty minutes, in broad strokes leaving out the juicy details, and that’s all I can really say.  That’s all I want to say, because you must see this movie.  I can’t even tell you why you should see it without spoiling the film.  Visually, the movie is stunning.  It is fabulously paced, and there isn’t a single bad performance by any actor, though in my opinion Joseph Gordon-Levitt came out on top.  Totally worth your hard earned ticket money this weekend.

Movie Round-Up: July 9th, 2010

Reviews

Predators:

I loved the original film.  I loved the sequel.  I even liked the two AvP movies despite their flaws.  This movie just looks like a lot of fun.  I like most of the actors, and Robert Rodriguez and even Nimród Antal.  I’ve already made plans to go see this with a bunch of friends, which is exactly how you should see a movie like this.  I have hopes that this movie will be great, but even if it sucks it will still end up being pretty good, if you know what I mean.

Despicable Me:

I managed to get a pass to a free screening of this movie.  I took the wife and a couple of friends, and we all loved it.  It was fun.  It was heart warming in all the right places.  It had kid humor.  It had jokes for the adults (and better yet, the jokes were subtle enough that your kids won’t be scratching their heads because they don’t get it because they probably won’t even notice them).  But hands down, the minions stole the show.  Those little yellow guys make this movie totally worth the price of admission.  This movie is available in 3D, and we saw it in 3D, but I’d say the 3D isn’t required.  Only a handful of scenes really benefit from it and none of them would hurt if it was gone.  Well, okay, there is one part that is worth the 3D.  When the movie ends, stay, as there are a few scenes sprinkled through the credits, and they abuse the hell out of the 3D.

Movie Round-Up: July 2nd, 2010

Reviews

The Twilight Saga: Eclipse:

No.

The Last Airbender:

M. Night Shyamalan without a twist.  Or rather, I should say without material he created himself.  Based on the cartoon series I’ve always meant to watch, I now want to see the movie first, if only because I’m sure that it will be good but it will be “less” than the cartoon.  By less I simply mean that it will have elements removed to fit the story into a movie length.  Somehow, despite it being around for years, I’ve managed to not learn anything about the story.  The effects and action look good in the trailer, and I’ll walk in with a blank slate.  This movie is on my radar and I plan to see it.

Movie Round-Up: June 25th, 2010

Reviews

Grown Ups:

Yeah, it looks stupid.  But it also looks funny.  I’m sure there will be some gross out humor, but it’ll probably have a nice heartwarming family message at the end too.  It isn’t worth $10 to see, but might be worth a matinée or early bird priced ticket.  It’s definitely going into the Netflix queue.

Knight & Day:

In real life, Tom Cruise is fruity, nutty and every other food descriptor used to also describe crazy behavior.  He’s just odd.  But dammit if I don’t end up loving every single movie that he does.  I do find it funny that the plot to this seems very similar to Killers with Kutcher and Heigl, and I’d much rather watch Heigl than Diaz, but even so I find myself drawn to this film.  Plus, it’s big actiony explody guns and cars and fighting which always looks better on the big screen.  I might just have to make my way to the local multiplex for this one.

Movie Round-Up: June 18th, 2010

Reviews

Toy Story 3:

It’s Pixar.  The closest thing they’ve come to making a bad movie, in my opinion, was Cars, and even that wasn’t so bad.  The first two Toy Story movies were awesome, and I expect no less from this third installment.  Seeing this in the theater would be a pretty safe bet, especially if you have kids.  I’m going to try, but other plans may prevail.

Jonah Hex:

I managed to see a screening of this movie and I’m glad I did.  It wasn’t horrible, but when I left the theater the thing foremost on my mind was all the potential they wasted.  I had a similar feeling after seeing Ghost Rider, which is the comic book movie I would most liken Jonah Hex to.  There were some scenes I enjoyed, but overall the film was… underwhelming.  On top of the film being a moderately entertaining squandering of potential for a good story, you get Megan Fox.  I’ve read so many people saying she is very talented and that she just needs the right material to showcase it.  If that is true, then I submit that she needs to find someone else to pick her material, because she keeps making films that are clearly unable to showcase the talent she supposedly has.  In this film she continues her career of passionless dialog delivery, inability to do accents, and blankly staring into the camera in a way that apparently turns on sections of the male population who prefer that a woman have nothing going on in her head and just look pretty.  For me, it’s the vacant stare that ruins her beauty.  I generally want to give people the benefit of the doubt, but after enough performances like this I’m going to have to assume that the people who say she has acting talent are full of shit and performances like this are all we are going to get out of Megan Fox.  All in all, I’d have to say… wait for rental.