Saw

Over a month ago, when I was driving on the truck, Bubba the Love Sponge was conducting an interview with the owner of the Tampa Bay Lightning was on and the two of them were talking about the newest Saw movie that was being released in the theater. As they were talking about the Saw franchise, I became interested in the first movie.

This movie was great! Having never heard anything about this movie, I didn't know what to expect. While I would not consider this a horror, mainly because it didn't scare me at all, it did keep me on the edge of my seat. This movie had a lot of twists and turns they kept me wondering who the real puppet master was. While I won't give away the ending, I will say that it gave me a 'Sixth Sense' feel to it. What I mean is that after you see the ending of Sixth Sense, it would be cool to sit through it again to see how Jigsaw became the evil puppet master.

Ghostbusters 2

After watching Transformers and giving the girls a bath, both girls were wired! I figured that we could try to mix in on more movie, perhaps helping putting both girls to sleep. We picked out Ghostbusters 2 from my movie case and began watching it.

Was this movie as good as the first one, not even close. But lets face it, most sequels pale in comparison to the originals. Having said that, I did like Ghostbusters 2! I liked how Bill Murray, Dan Aykroyd, and Harold Ramis "put the band back together" (stole that from a Blues Brothers reference) and put together a good film. I loved how it started five years after the first one and the Ghostbuster were disbanded due to the actions from the first one. It gave the movie something to look forward to. After they get back together and start capturing ghost again, the movie starts to follow the same formula that the first one had. Everything is going fine with the Ghostbusters, and then they get arrested. Then after the city almost crumbles, the mayor releases the Ghostbusters out to stop the madness. Rick Moranis adds some comic relief, a little more than he did in the first one.

All in all, Ghostbusters 2 is a nice little sequel! I just hope that Ghostbusters 3 is worth it!

Transformers: The Movie (1984)

In Dakota's pick for movie night tonight was the original cartoon movie, Transformers: The Movie. While Transformers has returned to the big screen with live action movies, it's cool to take a step back and look at what started it all.

First off, the movie is what it is, an hour and a half version of the cartoon show, with a twist. We see the death of Optimus Prime, the transformation of Megatron into Galvatron, and the new era of Transformers, which was later explored in the cartoon shows. Second, I liked the voices that were used for the newer characters. Judd Nelson voiced Hot Rod, the eventual chosen one for the Autobots, and Leonard Nimoy (the original Mr. Spock) voiced the power driven Galvatron. With Orsen Welles voicing the planet eating robot, Unicron (which, before his death, stated that he hated the film), Finally, I loved the soundtrack to the film. Stan Bush's songs "Dare" and "You Got the Touch" really added the punch this movie needed.

Transformers: The Movie is a quality cartoon flick that fans of the cartoon will enjoy. While the newer generation will not understand how cutting edge this movie was, the older generation can watch it and remember where they were when the show would come on every day after school. I know I did!

Ponyo

A few days ago, I asked Dakota and Cadence to see if they could find my PSP. I had misplaced it after I came home from being fired, and I wanted to get my Madden Football on! Dakota found the PSP, so I promised her that I would allow her to choose anything (with the exception of going to Going Bonkers) she wanted to do on Saturday. After a few days of thinking about it, and perhaps some pushing from Melissa, Dakota chose seeing Ponyo.

This movie sucks! Maybe it's me, but I just don't like Japanamation! The story is good for little kids, but here in the Hannah Montana generation, it doesn't rank. Let me see if I can make some sense out of this madness! A fish with a human face breaks free from a school and is found by a little boy, stuck in a jar. The boy saves the fish and places it into a bucket. From there, the fish begins to show affection for the boy, even going so far to tell the boy that it loves him. All of sudden, the fish grows feet and arms and is offically a little girl, with powers to make objects bigger (sounds like a porno). Then Ponyo (the newly named little girl/fish) begins to fall asleep at every moment they turn around. My guess, Ponyo was bored with the story too! As the movie moves along, Ponyo and the little boy must show their love toward one another (nevermind that this kid might be in kindergarden) in order for Ponyo to remain a human. While I won't give away the story, I will tell you this: at least Ponyo got a few z's in this one, I was fighting with Dakota to cut me a break!

While I can't get the last two hours of my life back, I can say with a clear conscience that I hope I never come across this movie again! I know that Dakota liked it, and to most fathers, that's the only thing that should matter. While she gave it a four star review to me in the car, I can honestly tell her that it's between a one and a two star movie for me, and quite frankly, that's being nice to her. For me, I'd rather sit through Hannah Montana again!

RV

While sitting in my chair (because I'm too damn lazy to get my ass up), we were flipping through the channels and came across the end of The Wizard of Oz. While I would love to pick apart that movie, the movie that followed was RV with Robin Williams. I remember sitting through the movie over a year ago, but like Crash, I had no recollection of the movie. After watching it again, I remember a few moments of the movie, but all in all, it was like watching it for the first time. The movie is cute, but not one of Robin Williams best movies. It is a simple comedy of a husband and father who is forced to cancel a luxury vacation in Hawaii with his family because of his business. So in order to solve this dilemma, he rents an RV and attempts to spend quality time with his family, Griswold style! And just like the Griswolds, everything goes wrong on the trip. There are some funny moments in the movie, but all in all, if you seen Robin Williams act, you'll sit there and say, "I've seen this before!" It's a nice family film and that's all I can really say about this film.

Gran Torino

After listening to all of the hype that surrounded this movie, and people saying that this is Clint Eastwood's best movie, I had to give this movie a shot. Let me first say, I have seen better Eastwood movies before, Heartbreak Ridge, In the Line of Fire, and Space Cowboys come to mind. However, this movie is good. I liked how in the begiinning of this movie, you hated Eastwood's character. He is stand offish, rude, and set in his ways. By the time the movie ends, you end pulling for him for sticking up for his neighbors, who, ironically, he treats better than his own family. While Clint Eastwood is getting older and older as time flys by, he is still credible as an action star and director, for that matter. I loved the way he shot the film. Sometimes he would shot the film as an overhead shot, and other times, he filmed it as an over the shoulder shot. My only problem with the movie was the title. While I get that the car itself was the main principle of what his neighbor tried to steal, thus having him help Climt out around the house, the car was a minor character. Only until the end does the car get mentioned again! Other than that, there isn't a lot of bad things to say about Gran Torino. Even if you don't like Clint Eastwood, you should like this movie!

Only You

While browsing through Netflix, we saw that Only You was available online. Having never seen the movie, and after loving Robert Downey Jr. in Iron Man, I gave it a try. This was a sweet, romantic movie about a woman who believes in fate and flys half way around the world to meet the man she's supposed to marry. Of course, when she gets there, she finds out that fate has other plans! Marisa Tomei is great in the movie as a woman who loves to be swept off her feet. Bonnie Hunt, who always plays the wife or sister, is Marisa's sister-in law who goes with her to Italy to find Mr. Right! As for Robert Downey Jr., all I can say is....wow! What gets me is that during this time period, Robert Downey Jr. was spiraling out of control with drugs. To see him turn in a performance like this only tells you how great of an actor he is. If you haven't see this, give it a shot!

Paul Blart: Mall Cop

While getting ready to enter back into the world of security, my family and I sat in front of the lap top and watched Paul Blart: Mall Cop. Kevin James is great in this movie as he plays the under appreciated security guard at a mall. As I kept watching this movie, I noticed that Kevin James has a lot of John Candy in him, which is a great thing. The sweetness that John Candy gave you in movies like Planes, Trains, and Automoblies, The Great Oudoors, and Uncle Buck come through in Kevin James. As far as a Sandler production, this movie didn't stack up with Big Daddy, Mr. Deeds, and Anger Management. As far as a Kevin James movie, the movie was pretty good! It's a good movie to watch with you kids, they'll love it!

Dance Flick

As much as I liked this movie, the rating of PG-13 really bothered me. In this movie, we see a guy relieve himself while dancing and a woman's vagina perform a beat-box. While it is funny, I don't think kids who are 13 should be ready for this. I say this knowing that my 6 year old and 4 year old watched it, but we went into this movie thinking that the humor wouldn't be that crude. As far as the story, it picks apart Save the Last Dance as well as a few other movies. The Wayan's brothers are genius' when it comes to movies like this, and I thought Damon Wayan's Jr, was a spitting image of his dad. If you want a good laugh with no kids around, watch this movie!

Crash (2004)

I remember watching this movie, shortly after it won best picture in 2004. As much as I enjoyed it then, I had a hard time remembering the chain of events in this movie before I rewatched it a few nights ago. While I don't remember the other movies that were nominated that year, which the exception of Brokeback Mountain, I do remember thinking that this movie was probably the best movie of that year. After watching it again a few nights ago, I still agree with that thought! This movie was great! I loved the story about the locksmith who tells his daughter about an invisible scarf that protects him from being shot and how that nearly played itself out in the movie with his daughter. I liked Don Cheadle's part of the story, and Trevor Howard is very underrated as an actor. I thought Matt Dillion did a great job of a cop who is tired of living in the polictical world of affirmative action. All in all, a must see!

American Pie: Beta House

A few nights ago, I thought I saw the worst movie ever made, American Pie: The Naked Mile. Boy was I wrong! As bad as that movie was, it's sequel, American Pie: Beta House would be worse. Just like The Naked Mile, the only funny part of the movie was in the beginning of the film. Throughout the rest of the movie, you will fight like hell to find another laugh. Once again, Eugene Levy appears in this film, but even he can't save this film. Stay away from the this film, hopefully the madness of lesser American Pies can stop!

G-Force

Let me tell you about the greatness of the dollar theater. Melissa and I took Dakota and Cadence to the movie theater to go see G-Force. On 50 cent Tuesday, we paid $2 to get in, and almost $6 for the popcorn. How often can you take a family of four out to see a movie for almost $8? Granted we brought our own drinks and candy, but that's beside the point! Of course, when going to see a Disney film, you get stuck with the kid previews before the movie. Just once, I'd like to see a trailer for Saw 16 right before Cinderella. Anyway, as we all got settled in, the movie began.

I really wanted to pan this movie! I thought I'd be bored with it, and that I would be rolling my eyes for every cheesy one-liner. Instead, I actually enjoyed the movie. Granted guinea pigs were top secret agents, and that alone would be enough for me to pass judgement on the movie, the story was pretty good! Both kids really enjoyed the movie, and in all honesty, that's who should love this movie, your kids! If you're a parent with kids and you need to get out of the house, go see this movie. While you at it, take advantage of the dollar theater, it will be worth it!

Halloween (2007)

A few months back, I was in my truck, listening to the Stern show. His guest was heavy metal singer turned director Rob Zombie and his wife. They were promoting the sequel to the reboot of the classic horror movie, Halloween. Having never seen the original Halloween movie, I really had no interest seeing the newest version. However, as Rob Zombie was going into detail with Stern about his vision of the series, I became more intrigued. After watching the reboot of Friday the 13th, I was a little skeptical/ Two nights after Halloween, Netflix sends us the first Halloween movie of the Rob Zombie series.

This movie was great! Having never known the origin of Michael Myers, it was interesting to see how tormented he was as a child. With his stepfather being an out of work loser and his mother working as a stripper, he was in white-trash hell! It didn't help that he was picked on in school, and his older sister could care less about his needs. I also liked how they explained why he hid in masks. When the janitor tells him to live inside his own head, he takes it to heart and creates all sorts of masks. I thought Malcolm McDowell was excellent as the child psychiatrist who tries to treat Michael Myers.

Melissa mentioned this to me and I'm starting to agree. The art of horror movies isn't about the movie being scary anymore. I don't know if it's because the directors can't get the audience to jump, or that we've seen real scary moments in our lives that scary music and an unpredible death just isn't enough for us. Either way, I loved the story. I can't wait to see the sequel, even though I already glanced at the plot on wikipedia.org.

American Pie: The Naked Mile

I remember this one time, in American Pie, when Jason Biggs' character heard that the inside of a women was as warm as sweet apple pie. So Jason's character, Jim, took it upon himself to have sex with an actual apple pie, to only be caught by his father. I remember this one time, in American Pie 2, when Jim, Stifler, and Finch were in some lesbians apartment and were forced to play a truth or dare game with the girls, granted it was more dare than truth. I remember this one time, in American Wedding, when Jim shaved his pubic hair and tried to throw it out the window, to only go all over his wedding cake and future in-laws. I remember this one time, before the American Pie franchise started, when no one heard of Sean William Scott and Eugene Levy was just a bit player in Steve Martin movies. Case in point, the American Pie franchise gave us many laughs over the last ten years. Then came the spin off years.

I don't really remember much about AP: Boot Camp. I never saw AP: Beta House. With the beauty of Netflix, we got to see AP; The Naked Mile. Let me just say this, it's time to close this franchise up. After the first five minutes of the movie, the funny moments were few and far between. My biggest problem with this movie was that they would keep with a scene about five minutes too long. The midget football game was a funny sight gag, but ten minutes of it was too much. Correct me if I'm wrong, but was Steve Stifler (Sean William Scott) a master cocksman in high school. If I remember correctly, he was the one who could throw the parties where OTHER people got laid, not him. Since when did the Stifler name meant that girls would fall all over you.

Imagine watching Lethal Weapon without Mel Gibson and Danny Glover. Imagine watching the Ocean 11 movies without Clooney, Pitt, and company. Imagine going to see a superhero movie and not ever seeing the superhero. That's what this movie is, the American Pie name, no substance to follow.

Milk

When the Oscars took place this past year, I was a little miffed that Mickey Rourke got looked over for Best Actor to Sean Penn for his protrayal of Harvey Milk. After watching Milk last night, Sean Penn was the obvious winner!

This movie was correctly casted! You don't realize that until you see the ending of the film! I thought Sean Penn did a wonderful job as Gay Activist Harvey Milk. Having never heard the story of Harvey Milk, I wasn't aware of how he died, with the exception that I knew he was assassinated. It was interesting to see what the chain of events were that led to his death. As a side note, earlier in the day, TBS was running the first Airplane movie and we hear Leslie Neilson make reference to Anita Bryant. Little did I know that Anita Bryant played a major part as oppostion to Harvey Milk. I will say that in the beginning of the movie, I was bored! As the film progress, I got more into it.

This movie is very topical in todays world. I found that while we have grown to accept the gay community, although there are people out there who still feel threaten by it. While the talk of gay marriage, gays adopting kids, and religious groups who picket funerals of gay people, this will always be a hot button for the world to grasp. Harvey Milk was one of those figures in American history who tried to break down the barriers for the gay community. Sean Penn did a wonderful job in this film!

Marley & Me

For our second straight Jennifer Aniston movie, we checked out Marley & Me. For those who don't know, this is a film based on a book. A book that Howard Stern himself has claimed that made him cry. After a few months of Dakota having "dog issues", we decided to make it an evening movie for the family, granted Cadence bailed out after the first hour of the movie.

The beginning kinda dragged for me a bit, but picked up nicely after the dog got older. The movie picked up some speed as the kids were born and Marley got sicker. The movie had a few funny parts, but nothing that made us laugh out loud. Of course, everyone, including me, cried at the end of the movie!

Kids might have a problem watching this film do to the sex talk between Aniston and Wilson. Plus, some kids might not be able to handle the ending of the movie. I don't know how this movie compares to the book, but this movie was alright to watch. If you get a chance, check out this film.

Management

Every review I've read says that this movie sucks! I am here to tell them that they were wrong! This movie surprised me! First off, it's hard to see Jennifer Aniston and not see Rachel from Friends. In the beginning, that was a problem for me. As the movie progressed and as you felt bad for Steve Zahn, who was head over heels for Jennifer Aniston, the Rachel character seemed to disappear. Steve Zahn, who I don't think had that great of range as an actor, pulled this one off! He was a creepy, albeit sad individual who follows his heart to chase after the girl of his dreams, or at least the first girl that put out for him. Woody Harrelson is in the movie as Jennifer's on again-off again boyfriend. Woody has come a long way since his days of tending bar at Cheers. All in all, this movie blew me away. It was a sweet story, mixed in with a little creepiness. The laughs were all in the right spots and the story didn't bore me. After you find a Blockbuster that hadn't closed yet, give this movie a shot!

Almost Famous

After owning this movie for over eight years and never watching it, Melissa and I decided to give it a shot. I remember back in 2000, this movie was the buzz around Hollywood. Goldie Hawn's daughter, Kate Hudson, was given "the role of a lifetime". Anytime I hear "the role of lifetime", I'm reminded of Robin Williams getting the same hype for The Fisher King, and that movie sucked! As far as the movie itself, it's bark was bigger than it's bite.

Let me state first that the movie is alright. The story moved along nicely. There were moments in the movie that made me laugh. Here is where I had a problem with this movie. The "role of a lifetime" by Kate Hudson wasn't what I would consider a break out performance. Her story had nothing to do with the movie itself, yet her face is all over the movie poster. Another complaint I have about this critically acclaimed film is the ending. After watching one hour and fifty eight minutes of this movie, the last two minutes of the film almost killed the movie for me. I just feel that it left an emptiness in the movie.

Like I said earlier, this movie doesn't suck, but it didn't live up to the hype for me. The heartbreaking part about all of this is that I might only get $2 for it at Movie Trading Company.

Duplicity

This movie sucked! Either this is one of those movies that only makes sense after the movie ends, or there was no point to the story what so ever! I'll go with the latter. After the first ten minutes of this movie, I was lost! I get that both Clive Owen and Julia Roberts are secret agents, but they're going after a hair solution? Really? I got really tired of the director finishing a scene, put the ending in a box, and watch it escape the screen. It's like he was photoshopping the movie. Try photoshopping a story! Is it me or does Julia Roberts disengage from the person she's talking to, and tries not to stare at the camera? As for Paul Giamatti, while I loved him in Private Parts, Cinderella Man, and Man on the Moon, my wife mentioned that he tends to overact in most of his movies. I didn't think so until I saw this piece of garbage. I wish I could comment more about this film, however, I dozed off towards the end of the movie. If you haven't slept well, go check this out! If you're a Julia Roberts fan and must see everything she does, trust me, avoid this at all cost.

Big Daddy

I can't believe this movie is ten years old! It feels like it was yesterday when I went to Cinemark in Plano to watch this movie. I remember how funny it was and how pissed I got when the power in the theater went off and we were given passes to catch the movie at a later time. I finally saw the rest of the movie back then, and I thought the movie was gold! Ten years later, my wife and I selected it as the movie of the night for us. I got to tell you, the film still holds up!

Big Daddy taught us a few things that we can carry with us. McDonalds stops serving breakfast after 10:30 am, spiking can goods in the supermarket can save you half off the price, and if you ever need to make fun of a place, Hooters is there for you! Adam Sandler was great as Sonny Koufax, a bright guy who's life is a mess, but he chooses to cover it up with newspapers. While I actually enjoyed Cole and Dylan Sprouce's performance as Julian, let me go on record and say what I think every other father of two girls wants to say: I hate Zack and Cody! I liked the pace of the movie as the story never stalled for me. Definately, this movie is one of Sandler's best!

Obsessed

As the second part of our Netflix double feature, we checked out Obsessed. After watching The Proposal last night, I wasn't sure if Obsessed could complete a successful double feature. This movie blew me away!

This movie reminded me of three different films, Disclosure, The Hand that Rocks the Cradle, and Fatal Attraction. What I liked most was that the guy, who is a victim in this movie, didn't have sex with the crazy bitch. In Disclosure, Michael Douglas did have sex with Demi Moore, and in Fatal Attraction, Michael Douglas had sex with Glenn Close. In this movie, Idris Elba plays a business man named Derek Charles, who is targeted by an office temp named Lisa Sheridan, played by Ali Larter. As Derek's life spins out of control, by no fault of his own, his wife, Sharon, played by Beyonce', has a hard time believing that Derek was faithful, since she used to be his secretary at his office who he hooked up with. The farther Derek and Sharon grow apart, the crazier Lisa gets.

It's been a while since I've seen a thriller where I was on the edge of my seat. This movie is a must rent.

The Proposal

In my first DVD rental from Netflix, Melissa and I got the Sandra Bullock movie, The Proposal. After the crap that we watched last night, my expectations were low! Lucky for us, this movie helped!

Melissa felt that Sandra Bullock was miscast in the role of a bitchy boss, feeling that it didn't fit her. I, however, thought she did a remarkable job! I thought the relationship with Andrew Paxton (Ryan Reynolds) character was great. It was nice to see how, in the beginning, she had control in the relationship and how towards the end, she completely lost it. Betty White is in the movie as Andrew's 90 year old grandmother, which led me to say, "She's in everything these days!" Either way, I loved her character.

After the middle of the movie, I started drawing comparisons to an earlier Sandra Bullock movie, While You Were Sleeping. I saw a few similarities, but it didn't detour my opinion of the movie. All in all, it's a good rental.

If Love Hadn't Left Me Lonely

Normally, I would start off with a long, huge backstory into how I ended up watching a certain movie. Quite frankley, this movie is so bad that the backstory is completly useless. In reviewing a bad movie, the interesting part is how you rip it apart. So here goes!

In almost nine minutes of the movie, the lead character (Mr. French) falls head over heels for a show dancer (not stripper) Lexie (Cindy Herron). From there, the cheesiness begins. How the phrase, "You must be exhausted because you've been running through my mind" didn't make it's way into the movie, I'll never know. We find out that Lexie is going through a divorce and can't get a foothold on her situation because her.....soon to be ex-husband's mother is demanding that she give her daughter over to her son. That's right, the mother of the soon to be ex-husband is making demands that apparently handicaps Lexie's situation. *Just a side note, we never see the over-bearing mother in the movie, which would have been a huge plus! Anyway, Mr. French writes a song about Lexie and then tries to get back into the music business by trying to be old-fashioned with his music. While Mr. French runs into some opposition into selling his music, Lexie, who had played hard to get throughout the first part, is now comfortable with him enough to sleep with him. Ten seconds later, she's back with her husband. I always hate it when ten seconds in a movie goes by and in the story it's been 3 weeks. I got a kick how they were going to promote a huge concert featuring old music and new music together. I was thinking the event would take place in a huge stadium or concert setting, instead we get a stage that the Addison Improv can squash. I suppose putting Ice-T and Gary Busey in the movie tried to lend some credibillity to the movie, while in reality, it didn't! Of course the biggest WTF moment for me was when David Alan Grier, who wasn't even in the movie, shows up in the credits. Melissa said, "Where was David Alan Grier?" One second later, he shows up being interviewed about Mr. French's music.

The ongoing joke between Melissa and I was we orginally thought this was a lifetime movie, due to the pauses in the movie that would signal a commerical interruption. Then we heard the F-word, and that put that to rest. In some scenes you couldn't hear Mr. French talking, while the person he was talking had a booming voice. From WTF moments to Mr. French fighting like William Shatner's Captain Kirk to noticing that the couch from Mr. French's house was the same couch in the studio, this movie was horrible!

Race to Witch Mountain

During my first day of retirement (or between jobs), the wife and I decided that whatever movie I grab at Blockbuster tonight, it had to be kid friendly. After going around the store a few times, I had five titles in my hand to choose from. I called Melissa and read off the titles, and we all agreed to watch Race to Witch Mountain.

After watching The Rock vs. Space Invaders.....I mean, Race to Witch Mountain, I came away with a few thoughts on the movie. For someone who has been taken hostage by aliens, Jack Bruno (Dwayne Johnson) really seemed to go along just fine with everything. The special effects looked cheaply made (possibly feeling that if Disney doesn't shell out a lot for the movie, they can keep the cost of the movie down and possibly make a profit on the movie). The movie did seem predictable for me, for instance, knowing that when a car is on a train track, it's only a matter of time before a train starts coming towards the car.

The story is very kid friendly. Both of my kids were able to sit through the movie and stay somewhat interested it. At the end of the day, if your kids watch this movie, it shouldn't warp their little minds and wish they had a power rifle and a tower to shoot from!

Mr. Deeds

As part of a double header for me one night, feeling in a light-hearted mood, I put on Mr. Deeds. Adam Sandler has really made of career of playing the soft spoken, down to earth guy, and Mr. Deeds is just another one of those movies.

Adam Sandler plays Longfellow Deeds, who finds out that his uncle left him 40 billion dollars after his death. Along the way he meets the woman of his dreams, who apparently isn't what she protrays to be. The movie keeps a pretty good pace to itself and plays out well for a typical Sandler movie.

Wedding Crashers

I remember going to see this in the movie theaters with my buddy, Bo. Everytime we saw a movie that featured two leading actors, Bo would turn to me and ask, "Okay, which one's you?" For this one, I chose to be Owen Wilson's character. At about the half point mark of the movie, Bo turned to me and said, "Come on, dude, switch with me!" Vince Vaughn's character went through hell in movie, which provided great comedy for me. Years later, out on the road with my mother, I put the movie on again so my mother could see it for the first time. The movie holds up, for sure.

The story of how two guys who do horrible things at weddings, to only later, try to play it straight, had me laughing throughout the entire movie. Owen Wilson's character, John, starts to see how sleazy he's been over time and starts questioning his morality. Vince Vaughn's character, Jeremy, lives and dies by the rules of wedding crashing and, in a small twist of fate, finds a girl who is more f'ed up than he is. Rachel McAdams plays Clara, the girl who John was orginally trying to trick into sleeping with him, to apparently falling in love with. The irony is that Clara starts falling for John, but is committed to someone else. The twist and turns of this movie kept me on the edge of my seat.

Biloxi Blues

As a kid, I remember sitting in the living room and watching Biloxi Blues with my parents. I remember liking it a lot back then, and I even used a few of the scenes in the movie in my theater arts class in high school. But that was 1991! Here in 2009, Biloxi Blues is not as great as I remembered it.

While Matthew Brodrick was the main figure in the movie, the main star of the film was Christopher Walken. The way he played Sgt. Toomey in the movie as a nice guy who can flip the switch at any time was great! I loved it when he'd pick on Brodrick's character, Eugene Jerome, just to ensure discipline in his troop. As for Brodrick's role, I see it more as a stage character, not a movie character. Granted this movie is a stage play, but you would think they can Hollywood it up a little. While the beginning of the movie helped set the movie the right direction, the movie changes right after Eugene and a the guy head to a whore house. The ending itself was a little anti-climatic as it ends how it started, with everyone on the train and Eugene's dialogue finishing up the movie.

Don't get me wrong, the movie is watchable, but it is wierd to love a movie when you're a kid and then later on watch it and go, "When is this going to end?"

Rocky IV

A couple of nights ago, I got to one of our terminals in Lebanon, TN, and inside the break room, the channel was on the Spike network. Getting ready to start was an 80's classic for me, Stallone's fourth installment of the Rocky series. Even though I have seen the movie a billion times and could probably quote all of the movie, I feel that I should give my crtique of the movie.

Story wise, the movie is pretty stellar! You have the obivious hero in Rocky, the low-key heavyweight champion. You have the villian, Ivan Drago, the massive Russian who is ready to try his hand in professional boxing. You have the best friend, Apollo Creed, who thinks that he can beat the unknown Russian, but as we all know, dies in the ring. The choregraphy in the boxing matches are great, even if every punch sounds like a shotgun blast. As far as dialogue, obviously Stallone didn't work all that hard what was being said. From Apollo's lame excuse to get back into the ring, to Rocky's lame speech after he defeated the Russian, you just want to shake your head and laugh. Unlike the other Rocky movies, Burt Young's character, Paulie, is a non-factor in this movie, which is a bad thing. Talia Shire's character, Adrian, is not the driving force for Rocky as she was in previous movies.

In the end, all that matters is that Rocky wins in the end and the fight makes up for a really bad script.

Hannah Montana the Movie

Before I give my review of this movie, let me first turn in my MAN CARD. For Cadence's 4th birthday, we decided to enter into the Blu Ray universe be getting her Hannah Montana the Movie. Honestly, not my first choice! I was hoping for Star Trek, Superman, or even Star Wars to kick it off. Instead, I get Hannah Montana. I suppose my saving grace is that we still don't own a Blu Ray player yet. When Melissa bought the movie, it came with a DVD version of the movie, which brings me to my review.

I was well aware of how campy the Disney show is, so I was expecting the same kind of campiness. To my surprise, the movie didn't go there, at least not enough to get me to roll my eyes and wish I had a gun to end it all. Sure there were a few moments where I would ask Melissa, "How can this happen?" For instance, while during a Mrs. Doubtfire moment, Miley is alternating between a governor's dinner and a date. During one of the switches, she returns after changing clothes and keeping the lobster bib on. Would that of been taken care of during her changing clothes? Another moment for me was when towards the end, Miley is on stage singing a song that she just wrote and was going to debut it in front of a live crowd. It was safe to assume that her band never heard of the song before, but apparently knew how it was going to go and performed it without any practice. Despite a few of the movie's inconsistencies, the storyline was pretty good. I enjoyed the fish out of water moments that Miley had going back to her grandmother's farm. As much as I can do without Billy Ray Cyrus, I thought his role was used enough to not completely hate him.

All in all, your kids will love the movie! I think it's safe to say that adults could tolerate the movie, even if they're sick of the Hannah Montana craze. The movie is safe, and so is the franchise.

Friday the 13th (2009)

With Rob Zombie making new Halloween movies and the fact that horror movies are becoming scarier, I was intrigued to see the newest, revamped verison of Friday the 13th. Let's just say, while I enjoyed the movie, I couldn't find one scary moment in the movie. I did like how they revamped Jason. In previous Jason movies, Jason would just be a mindless killer who just killed for no reason. In this one, Jason seemed to know what he was doing. As for the rest of the cast, you get the same old story. You can almost predict who was going to die first, and how they would die. All in all, the movie didn't suck, but in my opinion, it could of been better.

The Natural

After hearing that the Texas Rangers took two of three from the Boston Red Sox, I got in the baseball mood and wanted to catch an old baseball classic movie. I haven't seen The Natural in a real long time, so we rented it from Blockbuster and brought it home to watch. Seeing as how Dakota never saw the movie, she watched it with me.

Here's my take...

This is, in my opinion, the greatest baseball movie of all time. The story of a young boy with natural baseball talent, who struggles to get to the big leagues after 16 years. Robert Redford is great as Roy Hobbs, and middle aged rookie who knows that the clock is ticking on his baseball career. From every home run he hits to the struggles he went through to get to the final game, the story was captivating. For the baseball fans out there, this is the movie to check out.

Iron Man

I was sitting in the truck one night, bored out of my mind. As I was looking online, I came across a You Tube video of the upcoming Iron Man 2 movie, due out in 2010. That got me wanting to see the first Iron Man movie!

The Good: Marvel Comic movies are really on their game. Iron Man reminded me of how I felt after seeing the first Spiderman movie. The story was excellent, the acting was superb, and the action sequences were awesome. Robert Downey Jr. reminds us on how great of an actor he is. Jeff Bridges was great as the main villian in the movie, a role that I normally don't see him in. While I'm not a big fan of Gwyneth Paltrow, I thought her role in the movie was enough to not hate her. The funny thing is that after I saw the movie, I went to Wikipedia to learn about the origin of Iron Man. I liked how they took the origin of Iron Man and adapted it to our current situation in the Middle East.

The Bad: The only bad thing about this movie for me is that it wasn't long enough. They gave Superman Returns two and a half hours and it sucked! This movie could of added an extra 30 minutes and not dissappointed me.

The Verdict: Jon Favreau was on the Howard Stern show after Iron Man was released and Howard kept telling him to not make any other movies and just make Iron Man movies. Favreau has taken a forgotten comic figure and brought him to life that other comic book heroes haven't had. Iron Man is a keeper, and Iron Man 2 looks like it's going to rock!

One Fine Day

Obviously, on a day where I have nothing to do, movie watching is my little getaway. Sitting in my truck until my delivery for tomorrow, I broke out the laptop and started throwing movies in. Here is what I thought about One Fine Day.

THE GOOD: This was a real sweet movie! Michelle Pfeiffer is great as a single-working mother who, unfortunatly, puts her job ahead of her son. George Clooney is great as a newspaper writer who gets his daughter thrown into his lap as his ex-wife is off for her honeymoon. To watch these two come together and deal with their jobs and babysitting all in one day, while falling for each other, was real sweet. At the end of the movie, you end up rooting for these two to get together.

THE BAD: There's not a whole lot of bad I can add to this movie. For some people, when the movie ends, you want to know what happens to these two, but in my opinion, the movie is called One Fine Day, so tomorrow is left wide open.

THE VERDICT: Every now and then, Hollywood can take a concept, not spend a whole lot of money on it, and come out with a nice little movie. That's what One Fine Day was.

The Dark Knight

The dark knight returns in....The Dark Knight, and the movie killed it at the box office. Granted, everyone wanted to see Heath Ledger's performance, and they were in for a treat. His portrayal of The Joker was rivating. He mind The Joker a mindless killer, mixed in with Joker mannerisms. He was deserving of the Academy Award he won, although he wasn't alive to recieve it. As for Christian Bale, while I like his verison of Batman better than George Clooney, Val Kilmer, and even Michael Keation, he obviously isn't the main attraction in the movie. The Dark Knight is more about the villian in the movie, which worked for other superhero moves. After all, Gene Hackman got top billing over Christopher Reeve in Superman and it worked. The Dark Knight is a knockout, and it will be interesting to see how the third one plays out.

Live Free or Die Hard

Very rarely does a sequel out do the original. In the case of the Die Hard movies, the movies get bigger and better everytime. I was sitting in Canton, OH this weekend and going through my movie collection on the truck. I picked out this movie, and was blown away!

THE GOOD: Even though this movie is all about explosions and fighting, you have to hand it to the writers of this movie. Bruce Willis can throw out one-liners in this one and the laughter doesn't feel forced. The one thing that the Die Hard franchise has always done is made the villians cool. Plus, I liked how they incorporated computer hackers and the dangers of the internet as a form of terrorism.

THE BAD: Not that this was bad but I thought Justin Long's character ran his course with me after the first hour. I know that McClane had to carry him around for the whole movie, but I was ready for a terrorist to kill him off. Other than that, it's hard to find a bad thing about this movie.

THE VERDICT: In the last five years, we have seen Hollywood heavyweights from the 80's bring back their signature characters. We saw Stallone brought Rocky out of retirement and Rambo back into a war. We saw Harrison Ford, unsuccessfully in my opinion, bring back Indiana Jones. We even saw Arnold Schwarzenegger bring back the Terminator in an underrated sequel to the Terminator series. I think Live Free or Die Hard puts everyone to shame.

Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystral Skull

After 19 years, and countless times we heard Spielberg, Ford, and Lucas say that Indiana Jones IV was coming out, this is what we get. I thought George Lucas kinda lost his edge with the latest Star Wars movies, but after watching this movie, I question if he really had any kind of edge at all.

THE GOOD: I had to really watch this film close enough to find any GOOD in it. The action scenes were nice! The special effects were good. I was wondering how they were going to answer for Sean Connery and Denholm Elliot not being in the movie, and they answered it nicely by seting the story in the 50's, letting them pass on naturally. After that, there's not much else.

THE BAD: Where do I begin? Whoever wrote the dialogue for this movie should of been fired! The lines came out campy and forced! One of my biggest problems I had with National Treasure and the earlier Indiana Jones movies is that Indiana Jones is a big know-it-all. You would think that through all the things that we have seen him go through, you would think that he could afford to forget a few things. But no, he knows the story to every carving on a wall, different languages in diaries, and so on. I felt that bringing back Karen Allen as Indy's love interest from the first movie was a bit forced. Tying them together with Shia Labeoff of Transformers was a bit much. Then there's Harrison Ford! I am a hig Harrison Ford fan, but he is too old to be Indiana Jones. His punches were very telegraphed. His quick comebacks aren't so quick! I just didn't buy it anymore from him. It reminded my of Stallone in Rocky Balboa. During the fight scene, Stallone just looked too old!

THE VERDICT: I'm sure you've heard the old saying that sometimes you just can't go home! That's I felt during this movie. If you have an Indiana Jones craze one night, just remember the three other masterpieces he made in the 80's. Those would blow you away before this one would.

Hollywoodland

My travels took me up to Canton, OH last night. After I got settled in, I picked out a few movies I was going to watch that evening. I picked out two completely different movies and got started. The first one on the list is Hollywoodland. It was the story about the mystery of the death of George Reeves, the 1950's Superman.

THE GOOD: This movie should of been considered one of the best movies of 2006. I liked how they played up the many ways George Reeves died. Adrian Brody's character, while being fictitious, takes us through the hell that George Reeves went through, trying to become a major actor. I liked how they showed how George Reeves hated playing Superman for fear that he would by typecasted and not well received in other projects. One example was when he sat in a movie theater while they were previewing From Here to Eternity, a movie that George Reeves was in. When the crowd saw that Superman was in the movie, the laughter started and Reeves was cut out of the movie. The movie did remind me of the movie Wired, the movie that had Bob Woodward trace the steps of John Belushi before his death. Unlike Wired, however, this movie was thought provokiing, interesting, and kept you on the edge of your seat. Diane Lane has a great performance as Toni Mannix, the wife of the head of MGM, who is George Reeves' girlfriend. She, alone, should of been nominated for an Academy Award for her role.

THE BAD: They focused a little too much on the Louis Simo's (Adrian Brody) life. They were trying to compare both lives of Simo and Reeves and, quite frankly, I don't think it was needed. The movie does drag a bit, but they could of cut down some of Simo's story and focus on the investigation of the Reeve's death,

THE VERDICT

This is a must see! While the ending of the movie won't be resolved (after all, this is one of the biggest mysterys in Hollywood), it will take you on a trip into the showbusiness hell that most actors go through.

Superman Returns

For those who don't know or have been living under a rock for the last 20 years, I am a huge Superman fan. I loved the original Christopher Reeve Superman movies (well, at least the first one). I am glued to Smallville when it airs during the fall season. I even own the Lois and Clark TV shows on DVD. In 2005, I heard that they had cast the new Superman movie, I was intrigued! When the movie came out, I took Dakota to see it when she was 3 and a half. I remember defending the movie against the Spiderman fans, saying that the love story between Superman and Lois was no different than the love story with Spiderman and Mary Jane. Now, after further review, I have changed my stance on the movie.

THE GOOD: I thought that casting an unknown (Brandon Routh) as the Man of Steel was great. I thought Brandon played the role of Clark Kent to perfection. He still needs to work on the Superman character, but I don't think he was given much help with that. Plus, he was replacing Christopher Reeve. That's kinda like Danny White replacing Roger Staubach or Quincy Carter replacing Troy Aikman. I feel he did as good of a job as Danny White and no where near of a job as Quincy Carter. I thought casting Kevin Spacey as Lex Luther was genius. While he wasn't as funny as Gene Hackman was in the original, he made me feel like Lex Luther could be a viable enemy for Superman. I loved how CGI has come so far from the original. I thought the flying sequences were great! The scene that sticks out in my mind is when Superman stopped the airplane from crashing into a baseball stadium.

THE BAD: This story sucked! They kept the same storylines from the original. Lex Luther was in search of land. Superman and Lois have already been together (the kid didn't help either). After watching Spiderman's 1 and 2, Batman's storying beginning, and the X-Men taking shape, you would think that we could see The Man of Steel throw ONE punch! I thought that Lois Lane was miscast. Kate Bosworth didn't have the flair that Lois Lane for getting stories. I felt like the entire movie was trying not to step on the toes of the Donner films. I even thought the Superman outfit was too dark. I know that Marvel and DC Comics like to have dark superheroes, but Superman is red, blue, and yellow, not marroon, dark blue, and gold.

THE VERDICT: Here we are, 2009, and we have seen a Batman sequel win an oscar. We have seen Iron Man become a bankable hero. We even saw a re-boot of The Incredible Hulk that made the first one look like a bad made for TV movie. You would think that Superman would of been up there with these movies. Honestly, I don't see how a movie can make $280 million and be considered a failure. However, when you spend $300 million to make the movie, it is not a commerical success. The movie is watchable, but if you want to see a great superhero movie, stay away from this one.

Transformers (2007)

After seeing the sequel to the 2007 spectagular, I wanted to revisit the first movie to compare both movies. Before I got back in my truck, I loaded my truck up with a few movies, Transformers being one of them.

This movie blew me away with everything! First off, you can't say enough about how real the robots looked in this picture. They have come a long way from the cartoon animated version, and with CGI, the magic of Spielberg's movie, or whatever you call it, this movie was fantastic on all fronts. I thought it was brilliant to bring in the cartoon voice of Optimus Prime to the live action Optimus Prime. While some of the Autobots and Decepticons weren't the same as they were in the cartoon, I feel that they did a remarkable job establishing who's who in this movie. While Bumblebee was the breakout robot in the movie, Optimus Prime still dominated the movie. I found Shia LaBeouf's character brought some believablity to the movie. While I was upset that Megatron's character was under utillized, all in all, the good outwieghts the dissappointments. Just like in the sequel, John Turtorro steals the show in this one.

While the sequel was very good about advancing the storyline for the Transformer's franchise, the first one still stands head and shoulders above it. While the violence and language in this movie might be a bit much for kids, it carrys well for those who grew up on the cartoon.

Robots

Last night, it was Cadence's turn to pick a movie of her choice. She chose Robots, the animated movie with Robin Williams, Ewan McGregor, Halle Berry, and Mel Brooks. I hadn't seen the movie in a while, so the four of us (actually three, Melissa was on the computer) sat around watched the movie.

I found the movie as enjoyable this time as I did when Dakota and I saw it in the theater. I thought the story about a young robot wanting to meet his hero was good. When Rodney's (McGregor) folks were going to make a baby, I laughed out loud on how that meant actually making a baby (from a box). I found other little moments that made me laugh. When on robot puts a voice box in his system and comes out sounding like Darth Vader for Star Wars, I told Dakota that Rodney's voice is done by Obi Wan Kenobi, and she laughed. The story itself is pretty basic, but the dialogue and humor helps the movie along.

The comic relief from Robin Williams' character added to the movie. I'm almost convinced that I prefer an animated version of him than the real person. Greg Kinnear is funny as the villian who wants to replace old parts with new parts. The fact that he is so power hungry, yet a mama's boy was hillarious. Other voices included are Drew Carey, Jennifer Coolidge (Stiffler's mom from American Pie fame), and Paul Giamatti.

The movie is kid friendly with a positive message for kids. While animation movies are starting to run together for me, this one stands out in for me.

Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen

The day finally came. Dakota and I went off to go see the sequel to Transformers. Going into this, I had an idea that this movie would be non-stop action and very little storyline. Being a fan of the original cartoon and movie, plus the first live action movie, I was skeptical about this one. After the first 15 minutes of this movie, I had nothing to worry about.

While the movie is over two hours long, the movie keeps a nice flow of both story and action. Like the first movie, I always thought it was pretty cool that they kept the same voice actor (Peter Cullen) to do the voice of Optimus Prime in the movie as he did in the cartoon. Sometimes, as a movie goer, it's nice to have that familiarity with the characters, even if it's just the voice. Shia LaBeouf is great as Sam Whitwicky, the human who the Autobots trust. Dakota told me after the movie that Bumblebee is still her favorite, but she agreed that there were a few other robots that stole the show. As for Megan Fox, she does what brought her to the dance: look hot! Of course, John Turtorro is excellent as Agent Simmons. I found it to be nice that they introduced the Matrix of Leadership to the storyline. For those that saw the cartoon movie back in the 80's, the Matrix was the device that dominated the movie and new episodes that followed it.

It looks like Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen will give Star Trek a run for it's money at the box office. As for me, while the movie isn't as strong as Star Trek, it is right up there as far as one of the best movies of 2009.

The Bucket List

I saw this movie when it was in the movie theater back in January of 2007. I was staying in a hotel room in Memphis, recovering from a broken arm I suffered from falling out of my truck. While I was up there, I was doing workman's comp stuff and had the company car on the weekends. I decided to get out of the hotel room and go catch a few movies. I remember liking the movie then. A year and a half years later, I finally see it again!

Morgan Freeman and Jack Nicholson are great in this movie. Both men are dying in the movie, and decide to close out their life on their terms. I found that the story dragged a little bit in between different tasks, but made up for it by excellent writing. I liked that as both men were trying to complete each task, both knew that the end was near. I think Morgan Freeman is on of the finest actors to ever come down the pike. I thought Sean Hayes was really good in the movie as Nicholson's assistant.

I think that The Bucket List is a good movie, with two of the best actors in the business, with an accomplished director (Rob Reiner) at the helm. Go check it out!

Air Force One

I can remember seeing this movie in the theater when it came out. My father thought this was going to be another movie that Harrison Ford would walk through (obviously not a fan). My friend Chris was with me and he was the biggest Harrison Ford mark out there. I remember when Harrison Ford said, "Here comes the good guys," after the U.S. fighters showed up to defeat the Russian Migs, my friend Chris let out a big, "Yes!" Maybe that's a reason I'm not friends with him. Enough of my trip down memory lane, on to the review.

For as chessy as the lines are in the movie, and for how robotic Harrison Ford, Glenn Close, and William H. Macy may have been, this was an awesome movie. What saves this movie, for me, is Gary Oldman, the Russian millitant. He can play just about everything, from Lee Harvey Oswald to Comissioner Gordon, this guy is a great actor. Don't get me wrong, Harrison Ford has his moments too, but just like the Die Hard movies, in order to like the good guy, you got to really hate the bad guy. As for Harrison Ford, he didn't walk through this movie and turned out a great performance. I didn't care for his dialogue, but he makes up for it in the action sequences.

If your walking through Blockbuster and nothing looks good, head over to the action section and pick up this movie. You won't be dissappointed!

Analyze This

I was going through my movie collection and I icked out Analyze This one night. I got to tell you, very few movies have me laughing out loud, and this one is one of them.

Robert DeNiro plays a gangster (big shock) who is having a mental breakdown over the events that have transpired over his life. Billy Crystal plays a shrink who is bored to death of his profession. When these two meet up, the comedy doesn't stop. From DeNiro crying to Crystal's quick wit, you will be laughing your ut ass off as these two Hollywood legends exchange words with one another. Lisa Kudrow is also in the movie, but her part is only there for Crystal's obsticle throughout the movie.

The story itself is hillarious! One thing is for certain, Harold Ramis hardly directs a bad movie. With Groundhog Day, Multiplicity, Caddyshack, Vacation, this movie ranks right up there as one of his best movies!

Life

Eddie Murphy used to be one of those actors whose movies would sell out nation wide. For those of you who forget, Beverly Hills Cop, 48 Hrs., The Nutty Professor, and Coming to America were big box office draws for him. He has since made movies like Meet Dave, I Spy, Showtime, and Vampire in Brooklin. All were major misses for him. So where does a movie like Life rate: probably somewhere in the middle.

Eddie Murphy and Martin Lawrence team up again in a buddy movie about two strangers who are brought together to pay back a club owner in New York City. Along the way, they appear to be in the wrong place at the wrong time as they are convicted for murder which ends up sentencing them to life in prison. Martin Lawrence is great as Claude Banks! He blames everything on everyone as Eddie Murphy's Ray Gibson is always planning their next escape. The late-great Bernie Mac is also in the movie.

While I wouldn't put Life up there with Beverly Hills Cop, I would put it in the Boomerang, Metro, Dr. Dolittle catagory, movies that hold up on their own. I did like the reference that Eddie Murphy said when he told a big guy, "I know a bitch named Della that hits harder than you," referring to Della Reese when they played together in Harlem Nights. For Eddie Murphy fans who long for a good Eddie Murphy movie, check this out!

National Treasure

Every now and then, Disney gets it right in my book! In National Treasure, they do what Indiana Jones 4 couldn't do! They made a fun,action packed movie with not a lot of bells and whistles, and they deliver the goods. It is a good movie for those who follow history. It's a good movie for those who like movies that take you on a roller coaster ride. Plus, it's a good movie for kids (if you can break them away from Hannah Montana and the Jonas Brothers).

Nicolas Cage is Benjamin Franklin Gates, the man who thinks there's a map on the back of the Declaration of Independence, and ends up stealing it! I like the character he played, with the exception that he comes off as a know-it-all. Justin Bartha steals the show as Riley. Riley is a smart mouth sidekick who doesn't keep up with the history, but knows his way around computers.

This movie does what Indiana Jones 4 didn't do! It kept me entertained! From the beginning to end, you'll laugh and cheer for the heroes to make good.

Rambo

I'm sure you've heard the old saying, "You can't go home again!" Sylvester Stallone has proven that some saying just aren't true. He proved it in Rocky Balboa, and he proves it again in Rambo.

Unlike the three previous Rambo movies, this one has a different edge to it. Since Rambo 3, movies like Saving Private Ryan have redined war movies. With Stallone at the director seat for this one, Rambo takes the new direction of war movies and turns the volume up! Like other Rambo movies, the situation evolves around a real life conflict, this time hitting on the genicide of Burma.

Everytime I see a Rambo movie, I figure that Stallone has at least one page of dialogue to read from as the movie progresses. Stallone looks a little hagered in this movie, granted he is around 60. He gives another masterful perfomance as John Rambo. While Stallone doesn't get the acting credit he deserves, you have to at least agree with the fact that of all of the characters he has played, he knows Rocky Balboa and John Rambo better than anyone.

As for the story, it seems pretty simple! A bunch of do-gooders want to go to Burma to help out with the injured and poor, and of course, they don't listen to Rambo when he tells them to go home. They go anyway, end up getting caught, and get tortured! So it's Rambo to the rescue, with the help of a few mercenaries.

If you are still a Stallone fan, this movie is a must. If you think Stallone is washed up and can't draw a crowd like he used to, check this one out and see for yourself. If you have no interest in this movie, Rambo isn't for you!

X-Men Origins: Wolverine

It's summer movie season, and the big dogs have come out! For the first major movie to be released, Marvel Comics gives us another X-Men movie, this time focusing on Wolverine. Hugh Jackman is back as the iron clawed hero, and I've got to say, the movie was good.

While the movie wasn't the typical superhero movie for me, the story is pretty sound. While I am not familiar with the comic verison of Wolverine, the plot of the story is good enough for me to hold my interest. It focuses on the beginnings of how Wolverine came to be, before he joined the X-Men. The action was great, the fight scenes were well done, and fans of Marvel Comics or The X-Men should be pretty pleased!

Hugh Jackman returns as Wolverine and gives a solid performance. It always amazes me when actors from other countries can mask their true voice and speak perfect English. In his fourth protrayal of Wolverine, he enters Christopher Reeve territory. Christopher Reeve played Superman in four movies and was typecast for the role. Hugh Jackman can always bank on the Wolverine character to generate big box office for him.

While the movie was a nice start to the 2009 summer season, it didn't set the bar for summer movies this year, Star Trek took care of that the next week. However, for comic book fans, this movies doesn't miss the mark.

Kung Fu Panda - M

Coming soon...(hopefully)!!!