REVIEW: The Fourth Kind

STARRING: Milla Jovovich View Trailer RELEASE DATE: 11/13/09 DATE SCREENED: 10/20/09 The Verdict SUCKS - Don't Waste Your Time

For those of you that don’t know, there are supposedly four classifications of alien encounters. The First Kind is a UFO sighting. The Second Kind is collecting evidence of the UFO. The Third Kind is contact with Extra Terrestrials. The Fourth Kind is alien abduction. The film The Fourth Kind claims to be based on “actual case studies” that “prove” alien abductions. Let me make this clear right way – there is no such thing as actual case studies that prove alien abductions. But I was curious to see if the film was well done enough to convince people in the audience that there is such footage. Some people actually believe Paranormal Activity is real footage, and that has led that film to become a huge hit.

The Fourth Kind centers on Dr. Abigail Tyler (Milla Jovovich), a psychologist in the small town of Nome, Alaska. It seems this town’s residents have disappeared under mysterious circumstances since back in the ‘60s. In the present day, Dr. Tyler begins to see a string of traumatized patients who being to detail similar incidents of alien abduction while under hypnosis. Throughout the film we see dramatizations mixed with “actual archival footage”. This means we see interviews with the “real” Dr. Abigail Tyler and footage of her patients interspersed with interviews of Milla as Dr. Tyler and other actors playing her patients. Eventually Dr. Tyler herself is on the couch with her own alien abduction story to tell.

In theory it is a good idea to creep people out with this idea of mixing spooky "actual footage" into a movie. But in this case the execution is horrible. There is not one thing in this movie that convinced me it could be real. The very first interview with the “real” pale & lifeless Dr. Tyler felt like I was watching an actress. The “archival footage” of people under hypnosis goes way too far and becomes too dramatic to be authentic. As I sat there in the theater, bored out of my mind, I wondered to myself if anyone in the theater was actually buying into any of this. My question was answered when during one of the more ridiculous segments of “actual footage” of a guy floating, someone yelled out "this is bull s@#$". After another ridiculous scene people started laughing. You’d have to be pretty stupid to believe any of the “real footage”. This will not go down alongside Blair Witch Project or Paranormal Activity as that rare scary movie that people believed could be real. The trailer is creepier than the entire movie. This movie really sucks… don’t waste your time.

REVIEW: District 9

STARRING: Sharlto Copley View Trailer RELEASE DATE: 08/14/09 DATE SCREENED: 08/05/09 The Verdict GREAT - See it opening weekend

The summer movie season got off to a good start with Wolverine and Star Trek but quickly fizzled. I was intrigued by the trailer for District 9, which does what a good trailer is supposed to do. It only gives you a taste of what the movie is going to be about, instead of giving away parts of the best scenes. Although I was intrigued, after the disappointment I’ve experienced this summer I wasn’t about to get my hopes up too high. After all, District 9 didn’t have any known actors and only a $30 million budget (GI Joe cost $175 million). The only thing the movie had going for it on paper was producer Peter Jackson (Lord of the Rings). It turns out that District 9 has a lot more going for it than what you see on paper. I left the theater excited by having seen a great movie that exceeded all my expectations.

28 years prior to the beginning of the film, a giant disabled alien spaceship ends up floating right above Johannesburg South Africa. The aliens on board are sick and transferred to the surface. The aliens are forced to live in a slum called District 9, while the world argues over what to do with them.

In the present day, the aliens live in poverty with Nigerian gangs. They exchange alien technology/goods for cat food and sneak out of the District to steal from others. The South African population refers to them by the racist term of “prawns”. Scientist have been working unsuccessfully to figure out how to use the alien technology, including their weapons. A private company, MNU, is hired to remove the aliens from their slum to a more remote prison like location. By law they must give the aliens 24 hr notice. While serving notice, the lead MNU field agent, Wikus van der Merwe, is infected with an alien virus while examining an alien device. This infection begins to slowly transform him into one of the aliens. Doctors discover that this transformation allows him to fire alien weapons which are activated by DNA. This makes his body a valuable possession to the military, and permission is granted to kill Wikus and harvest his body parts. Of course, this does not sit well with Wikus, and he manages to escape. He runs to District 9 to find the owner of the device that infected him to seek a cure. The owner is an alien who has been named Christopher Johnson. It turns out Christopher has spent the last 28 years working on an escape plan, but needs the device that infected Wikus to finally execute the plan. The device is now locked up tight at MNU headquarters. Wikus agrees to help get the device back, in exchange for a cure.

Wikus steals some alien weaponry that was being hoarded by a Nigerian gang, and then the film kicks into overdrive. Wikus and his new alien friend Christopher attack MNU headquarters to retrieve the device, which it turns out is fuel. Then they must fend off an all out military assault, and a Nigerian gang assault, when they get back to District 9. What was a serious character driven film turns into a kick-ass action movie for the final act. But all the action has a purpose and I really cared about who was going to live and who was going to die. District 9 brilliantly draws you into the story and makes you care about the characters before blowing you away with the action.

The film has much more going for it than just a famous producer. Most important, it has a great script. It attempts to realistically portray what might happen if about a million aliens ended up stranded on Earth. We see how being forced to live on Earth in poverty with no human education has led to deep rooted racism against what is actually a brilliant alien race. College students could write papers on the parallels between this film and apartheid.

The film also has Sharlto Copley playing Wikus going for it. He shows us that he is a great actor, even though this is his very first role. His character is well fleshed out, as we see how he relates to his wife and how he is forced to question his racist beliefs about the “prawns”. Although the aliens are mostly special effects, the relationship between Christopher and his son felt very real.

The special effects are seamless. I don’t know how they managed such stellar special effects on a $30 million budget. The final battle is more intense and well done than what I have seen in movies that cost 5 or 6 times as much.

District 9 is a great movie that needs to be seen opening weekend. It’s rare for a movie to exceed my expectations like this one has. It’s probably the best film I’ve seen all year, and should be a contender come Oscar time.

REVIEW: The Goods: Live Hard, Sell Hard

STARRING: Jeremy Piven, Ving Rhames View Trailer RELEASE DATE: 08/14/09 DATE SCREENED: 07/27/09 The Verdict NOT GOOD - Wait for cable

I began to lose interest in the show Entourage a couple of seasons ago, but Jeremy Piven’s portrayal of foul-mouthed super agent Ari Gold still manages to keep me tuning in. Piven’s portrayal of Ari has made him a multiple Emmy winner and turned him into the most popular actor on the show. Movie studios have taken notice. They have been trying to come up with the right role to capitalize on Piven’s television success. Some studio executive got the brilliant idea to make a movie featuring Piven as a sleazy car salesman. After all, if he can play a sleazy agent, then playing a sleazy car salesman should give his fans exactly what they are looking for, right? Well, not exactly…

When a failing auto dealership needs a big 4th of July weekend of sales to avoid going out of business, they call in the best team of used car liquidators that money can buy. Led by Don Ready (Piven), this team of used car salesmen promises to train the current staff and sell every single car on the lot by the end of the weekend. They sell cars by day and party at strip clubs by night. They use every dirty trick in the book to sell cars. While Don Ready and his crew are ripping off the public and selling cars, there are also subplots involving possible romances between Don and the auto dealership owner’s daughter, a female member of Don’s crew and the owners’ 10 year old son that looks like an adult, and the owner himself and another one of Don’s male crew members. The latter two subplots are particularly awful.

The only good thing this movie has going for it is the cast. Piven is basically playing Ari Gold selling cars, and he’s good at that character. Ving Rhames, David Koechner, and Kathryn Hahn make up his crew and they do the best they can with the material. They take a lot of bad jokes, and at least deliver them in a way that makes you smile. Otherwise, this movie is easily forgettable. It’s filled with gay jokes, pedophile jokes, racial stereotypes, and general silliness. They must have spent the entire budget on the cast, and nothing on the writing. This film is further proof that you can’t simply take a popular TV character and basically throw him into a movie and it will turn out good. If Piven wants to be a big movie star he is going to have to step out of his comfort zone a little bit and look for a good script. Wait for cable to watch this sorry movie.

REVIEW: A Perfect Getaway

STARRING: Steve Zahn, Milla Jovovich View Trailer RELEASE DATE: 08/07/09 DATE SCREENED: 08/04/09 The Verdict OK - Wait for the DVD

Anyone who has seen the commercial knows that A Perfect Getaway does not depict the kind of vacation experience that would be featured on the Travel Channel. Newlyweds Cliff (Steve Zahn) and Cydney (Milla Jovovich) think they are about to have the honeymoon of their dreams. They arrive on one of the most remote and picturesque islands of Hawaii for three days of lounging on the beach and hiking the secluded trails. When they stumble upon a group of teenaged hikers discussing the recent murder of a newlywed couple, they begin to get nervous. They immediately suspect a strange couple that they came across earlier in the day hitchhiking may be the murderers.

Cliff & Cydney find some comfort and fun hiking with another couple they meet along the trail, Nick (Timothy Olyphant) and Gina (Kiele Sanchez). Nick is ex-military and has all kinds of strange survival stories. When he slaughters a goat and Gina skins it, Cliff & Cydney begin to suspect their new friends may be the killers. But with nowhere to go, the couples must hike together to civilization, and the hitchhikers may be following them. The last couple of miles become the longest miles, as the trip quickly becomes a literal fight for survival.

A Perfect Getaway is a modern “B-movie”. It doesn’t try to be great cinema, but simply entertain an audience for approximately 90 minutes. The movie does have a few thrills and surprises. The problem is that it takes too long to get going, and the surprises aren’t really that surprising. When the characters define the term “red herring” for the audience it’s a dead giveaway that things are not quite as they seem. I expected the film to have some scary scenes, but it’s strictly a thriller. The actors do a commendable job in what they surely looked at as an easy paycheck. The audience at the screening did seem to enjoy the film more than I did, but I can’t recommend spending the money to see this in the theater. It’s an average film, best viewed at home on DVD.

REVIEW: Bruno

STARRING: Sacha Baron Cohen View Trailer RELEASE DATE: 07/10/09 DATE SCREENED: 07/07/09 The Verdict NOT GOOD - Wait for cable

“Borat was so 2006”. That’s the tagline for Sacha Baron Cohen’s Borat follup-up Bruno. Sacha stars as the title character, a flamboyantly gay Austrian fashion talk show host. Bruno makes it his life’s goal to become famous in America. The film follows his attempts to reach his goal, by any means necessary.

Although I was not a big fan of Borat, I did like the idea behind it, which is also the idea behind this movie. The idea is to take an outrageous character and put him in real life situations to see how people react and to expose their prejudices. In the case of Bruno, the idea is to expose how people would react to such an outrageous gay character. The funniest example is when Bruno shows up on a talk show with his African son that he obtained in an exchange for an iPod. The all-black audience is hilariously outraged. Another funny moment is when Bruno shows up at a swingers party, attempting to hide his homosexuality. And prejudices are fully exposed when Bruno reveals his homosexuality inside the cage of a Mixed Martial Arts event.

The problem with Bruno is that the funny moments are few and far between, even though the film is only 80 minutes. The movie hits some disgusting low points when it veers off its mission in order to delve into Bruno’s sexual practices. I really don’t know how this film managed to obtain an ‘R’ rating. I had to look away from the screen at times. The film tries too hard to be outrageous and shocking, instead of simply letting the real life situations generate the laughs. With a movie like Bruno you can’t help but wonder how much was real and how much was staged, but ultimately the movie will be judged by how funny it is. The few high points don’t outweigh the disgusting lows. Wait for this one to come on cable. You will know in the first 10 minutes whether or not you can stomach this movie or simply want to change the channel.

REVIEW: Drag Me To Hell

STARRING: Alison Lohman, Justin Long View Trailer RELEASE DATE: 05/29/09 DATE SCREENED: 05/26/09 The Verdict GREAT - See it opening weekend

I generally don’t see horror movies, unless they involve vampires. Sam Raimi’s return to his horror film roots with Drag Me To Hell originally meant nothing to me. I haven’t seen any of his previous horror film efforts like The Evil Dead. Then something strange happened as I sat in the theater about a month ago and saw the trailer for Drag Me To Hell. The trailer made the entire audience almost jump from their seats. As it ended people were proclaiming they either had to see it, or would never see it. For the first time in a very long time the trailer for a horror movie actually made me want to see it. I’ve been singing the praises of the trailer for a month, so I was very excited to finally see Drag Me To Hell.

After the opening sequence there is no doubt as to the purpose of the film’s title. A young boy stole a necklace from a gypsy and had been cursed back in 1969. The scene ends with the boy literally being dragged to hell. It was surprising, as kids don’t usually get killed off in movies. The scene switches to the present day, where Christine Brown (Alison Lohman) is an L.A. loan officer vying for a promotion to an assistant manager position. Her boss tells her that she must show him that she is willing to make the tough decisions. A sick old woman named Mrs. Ganush happens to come into the bank on the wrong day. She needs an extension on her home loan, but Christine denies her the extension to prove that she is capable of making the tough decisions. This turns out to be a big mistake, as the old woman attacks Christine in the parking lot and puts a curse on her. Christine and her unbelieving boyfriend Clay (Justin Long) visit a psychic who tells Christine about the curse that has been put on her. Christine will be haunted by a demon for three days, after which time she will be dragged to hell. The clock is ticking as she attempts to fight back against the demon using the same Psychic who failed to save the boy back in 1969.

Drag Me To Hell isn’t the kind of intense horror film I was expecting. It’s much more fun than I could have imagined. The scene where Christine is attacked in the parking lot is tense, frightening, and hilarious at the same time. A séance sequence is another unforgettable combination of scares and laughs. Alison Lohman does a great job as Christine, going from a mild mannered loan officer to a “bad ass” willing to do whatever it takes to fight this demon. I’ve heard that some of Raimi’s previous horror films also have this blend of horror and comedy, but it was a completely new experience for me. This is the kind of movie that works best as a shared experience in a crowded theater. The film takes a simple plot and does a lot with it, forcing the audience to react countless times. I see so many movies that I forget a lot of what I see. There are scenes in Drag Me To Hell that I may never forget, and that’s the sign of a great movie. See this one opening weekend. Even if you are the type of person that doesn't generally like horror you should give this one a try.

REVIEW: Terminator Salvation

STARRING: Christian Bale, Sam Worthington View Trailer RELEASE DATE: 05/22/09 DATE SCREENED: 05/18/09 The Verdict OK - Wait for the DVD

The first two Terminator films are two of the best movies I’ve ever seen. The third film took a few steps back, but was still an entertaining time at the movies. I was even one of the few people who watched the Sarah Connor Chronicles TV show, and enjoyed it for the most part. I’m a big Terminator fan, making Terminator Salvation one of my most anticipated summer releases.

Terminator 3 left off with John Connor and his future wife Kate in a bomb shelter on Judgment Day. Judgment Day is the day the machines wiped out most of mankind in a nuclear holocaust. Terminator Salvation opens with John Connor (Christian Bale) leading his men on a mission to take out some kind of lab in this post-apocalyptic 2018, run by machines. He is not yet the leader of the resistance, but one of the lieutenants. His team is attacked and John is the only one to survive. Upon returning to command, he is briefed on a new weapon, a signal that can disable machines. He quickly volunteers to test it. The test is a success and an attack on Skynet is planned.

Although John is not the leader of the entire resistance, he has been building a following through a radio broadcast about the war and how to fight Terminators. Meanwhile, we are also introduced to a new character named Marcus (Sam Worthington). He was executed in 2003, but has somehow awakened in 2018. Marcus comes across John’s future father Kyle Reese, just before Kyle is taken hostage by the machines. Marcus manages to make his way to John’s base where he discovers that he is himself a Terminator, but one with some human body parts. This was given away in the trailer, although it would have worked better as a surprise. Marcus is horrified by this discovery, as he wants to be human. The movie picks up speed as it heads to its conclusion, with John & Marcus infiltrating a Skynet base in an attempt to rescue Kyle before a large resistance assault. If John or Kyle dies, the machines win. With Marcus being a machine, do we really know whose side he’s on?

Too much of Terminator Salvation seems stolen from other places. The whole idea of a machine that thinks it’s human may be cool to some, but to any fan of BattleStar Galactica we’ve seen this theme handled much better already. One fight scene against a large robot seems like it belongs in a Transformers movie. There is even a child character that is basically the exact same character as Newt from Aliens.

Terminator Salvation is a very dark film. The previous films had more of a sense of humor in spite of the serious subject matter. I missed that. Overall it felt more like a Mad Max film with robots than a Terminator film. Christian Bale is just going through the motions as John Conner, and Bryce Dallas Howard has almost nothing to do as his pregnant wife Kate. On the positive side, we do get a great fight sequence with a very familiar Terminator and we do see exactly how John ends up as the leader of the resistance. All the action sequences are good, but not great.

Wolverine & Star Trek got the summer movie season off to a great start. Things have taken a downward turn with Angels & Demons and now Terminator Salvation. Unfortunately, I have to say the film is just OK and you can wait for the DVD. Maybe someone who hasn’t watched Battlestar Galactica, or seen a Mad Max film, will find it more compelling than I did.

REVIEW: Star Trek

STARRING: Chris Pine, Zachary Quinto View Trailer RELEASE DATE: 05/08/09 DATE SCREENED: 05/02/09 The Verdict GREAT - See it opening weekend

I fell in love with Star Trek when the Next Generation series hit the air. With no current Star Trek series on TV, I was looking forward to the next Star Trek movie in order to follow the further adventures of the Next Generation, Deep Space Nine, or Voyager cast. Imagine my disappointment when I read that the new Star Trek movie was going to be a prequel, dealing with how the original series characters met each other. WTF? Roddenbury created such an amazing universe with almost infinite possibilities and they are going to limit themselves by going backwards? I was very upset and disappointed. I walked into the screening with no expectations, thinking about what could have been…

Star Trek opens with an angry Romulan from the future named Nero going back in time and changing the Star Trek universe forever by attacking a Federation starship. On that ship was Kirk’s father, who does not survive. By the time this battle is done, I had already forgotten my disappointment and was completely drawn in to the movie. James T. Kirk (Chris Pine) grows up as an extremely smart, but angry and rebellious kid in Iowa. A chance encounter with a few Starfleet cadets, one of whom is the beautiful Uhura (Zoe Saldana), leads to a conversation with Captain Pike. Pike goads Kirk into enlisting into Starfleet to continue the legacy of his father.

Meanwhile, on Vulcan… Spock has been teased since he was a child about being half human. This makes it more difficult to control his emotions, but Spock chooses to live life as a Vulcan and prove that being half human is not a weakness. As a young adult, Spock becomes the first Vulcan to decline acceptance into Vulcan’s most prestigious institution to enlist in Starfleet.

Spock is already an officer on the USS Enterprise, when newly graduated cadets Dr. McCoy and Uhura are assigned to the Enterprise. Kirk is not assigned to any ship, thanks to his suspected cheating on the infamous Kobayashi Maru test that was programmed by Spock. McCoy sneaks Kirk onto the ship as it heads to face Nero. Once on board, Kirk can not be a silent bystander. He challenges Captain Pike and Spock at every turn as the Enterprise speeds towards a possble confrontation with Nero. Kirk is convinced that they are headed for an ambush, and he turns out to be right.

Nero is out for revenge for something Spock has done in the future. The planet Vulcan ends up being completely destroyed by a weapon Nero brought from the future, Captain Pike is captured, and Earth is the next target. Luckily, the future Spock (still played by Leonard Nimoy) has followed Nero from the future to help set things right. Kirk and Spock must learn to put aside their differences and work together in order to save Earth.

Star Trek has everything you could ask for from a Star Trek film. It has stellar special effects, memorable action scenes, humor, character development, and a great villain. The cast does an amazing job of reminding you of the original characters while at the same time making the characters their own. Nothing that you would want in a Star Trek prequel is left out. We finally get to see the Kobayshi test, we learn how Kirk’s and Spock’s childhoods affected their adult personalities, and we see how they met Uhura, McCoy, Sulu, Scotty and Chekov. We even learn how McCoy got the nickname “Bones”. Leonard Nimoy’s role is much more than a simple cameo. Everything comes together perfectly at the end. I went into the theater not wanting to learn anything more about the original cast of characters, and I left the theater eagerly awaiting the further adventures of these characters. If only every prequel could be this good. Wolverine did a good job of opening up the summer movie season, but Star Trek ups the ante. It’s a great film that surpassed all of my expectations. See this one opening weekend, even if you don’t consider yourself a Star Trek fan. There is not one dull moment in the film and anyone who enjoys summer action movies should enjoy Star Trek. This is now the best Star Trek film ever made. I'd still like to see the further adventures of the Next Generation characters some day as well.

REVIEW: 17 Again

STARRING: Zac Efron, Michelle Trachtenberg View Trailer RELEASE DATE: 04/17/09 DATE SCREENED: 04/14/09 The Verdict NOT GOOD - Wait for cable

Pretty boy teen sensation Zac Efron branches out from High School Musical as the star of 17 Again. The tagline of “who says you’re only young once”, had me thinking back to all the bad body switching movies like 18 Again, Freaky Friday, & Vice Versa. Those movies had an adult switching bodies with a child or teen and hilarity was supposed to ensue. But instead, we got silly forgettable movies. I expected more of the same with 17 Again.

17 Again doesn’t do the body switch, but instead tries to follow in the footsteps of Big. In Big, we had a child whose wish to be “big” was magically granted. In 17 Again, we have the adult Mike O’Donnel having his wish to relive his high school days magically granted by a mysterious janitor. Mike is going through a divorce, is turned down for a promotion, & can’t get along with his two kids. As a high school senior he was a basketball star on his way to college who gave it all up to marry his pregnant girlfriend. He thought that if only he left the girlfriend behind and went to college, his life would be perfect now. Mike's wish is granted by the janitor, and he is 17 once again but in the present day. He enrolls back in his old high school that his kids now attend. His geeky best friend Ned is the only one who knows what has happened and poses as his father. As a 17 year old, Mike attempts to befriend his kids and seduce his soon to be ex-wife. To break the spell and become an adult again Mike must accomplish something, but it’s up to him to figure out what.

The comedy mostly falls flat, as we get the predictable bits of Mike being a “fish out of water”, dressing wrong and trying to adjust to high school. We have the stereotypical bully, who torments the nerds, including Mike’s son, and is dating Mike’s daughter. The scenes of Mike seducing his wife struck me as more creepy than funny. The only parts that made me laugh involved a sub-plot of his friend Ned’s awkward attempts to date the school principal. She only agrees to go out with him when he donates laptops to the school, but they quickly find out they share an unhealthy passion for Lord of The Rings. On a side note, scenes of Ned’s house filled with Star Wars memorabilia were actually filmed at George Lucas’ Skywalker ranch.

17 Again is a very family friendly comedy, piling on messages about sexual abstinence and the importance of family. It gets way too sappy at the end. The movie wasn’t exactly the body switching film I expected but it was still more of the same forgettable silliness. A movie like Big is so good that you can completely suspend your disbelief throught the entire film. 17 Again is no Big. You can wait for cable to watch this one. At the screening, I was shocked that the audience applauded at the end. So maybe my opinion is in the minority, but I suspect they were just happy they didn’t have to pay money to see it.

REVIEW: Monsters vs. Aliens

STARRING: Reese Witherspoon, Seth Rogen View Trailer RELEASE DATE: 03/27/09 DATE SCREENED: 03/04/09 The Verdict GOOD - See it in the theater

These days we don’t have to wait long between 3D films. Monsters vs. Aliens is the latest animated feature to take advantage of the new advances in 3D technology. I’m certainly not complaining, as 3D has been a welcome addition to the movie theater experience. It’s something that has been able to get people away from their TV sets and into the theater.

From the opening scene, there is no doubt that Monsters vs. Aliens will have top notch 3D effects. It's like you are right there in space as a meteorite careens towards earth. The meteorite ends up landing right on top of Susan (voiced by Reese Witherspoon), as she prepares for her wedding. This doesn’t kill her, but once the ceremony begins, and before she can say “I do”, she begins to grow into a giant whose head bursts through the church ceiling. The government is right there investigating the meteor, so they tranquilize her and take her into custody. She awakens in a government facility, where she shares what is basically a large cell with other “monsters”. The monsters include a blue blob called BOB (Seth Rogen), an intelligent scientist roach called Dr. Cockroach (Hugh Laurie), a walking amphibious creature called The Missing Link (Will Arnett) and a giant caterpillar. Susan would have ended up spending her whole life in captivity renamed Ginormica if not for another alien ship landing on earth to retrieve the meteor. When the military is unable to disable the ship, the monsters are called upon by General Monger (Kiefer Sutherland) to do the deed. After accomplishing their task, the monsters are free to go, but quickly learn that they aren’t accepted in society. Most people scream at the sight of them. Ginormica’s finance is the biggest prick of them all. But they don’t have long to worry about that, as another larger alien invasion is on the way and only the monsters stand in the way of earth’s annihilation.

Monsters vs. Aliens is a movie the entire family can enjoy. The story is very basic, even pushing the typical message about how society needs to be more accepting of people who are “different”. Despite the forgettable basic plot, the movie is a lot of fun. There are jokes for the kids and the adults. Seth Rogen steals the show as BOB, as he delivers most of the funny lines that the kids will be repeating on the way home. Adults will appreciate the more subtle things, like a missile painted with an “E.T. go home” logo or the President playing music from Close Encounters. The 3D actually malfunctioned for 15 minutes at the screening I attended, so I can say without hesitation that the 3D adds to the fun of the movie. See this one in the theater and take the kids, but make sure it’s the 3D version.

REVIEW: I Love You, Man

STARRING: Paul Rudd, Jason Segel View Trailer RELEASE DATE: 03/20/09 DATE SCREENED: 02/05/09 The Verdict GOOD - See it in the theater

Realtor Peter Klaven (Paul Rudd) is the kind of guy that’s very popular with the ladies. Not popular in the way most guys would want, but popular as a friend. He hangs with all the women at work, while the guys pretty much disgust him. Although Peter is perfectly happy, he discovers it’s a problem after he proposes to his finance Zooey. When planning the wedding he realizes that he doesn’t have a Best Man, or any male friends to fill out the wedding party. That’s the basic premise behind I Love You, Man, the latest comedy from Writer/Director John Hamburg (Along Came Polly, co-writer of Meet the Parents and Meet the Fockers)

After a series of comically bad “man dates”, Peter meets Sydney (Jason Segel) at an Open House. Sydney is the kind of free sprit that has an opinion on everything and always says exactly what is on is mind, no matter how crude. They hit it off quickly, which eventually puts a strain on his relationship with Zooey. He spends more and more time with Sydney, and less with her. Peter may have found his Best Man, but will there be a wedding? Peter may have to choose between Zooey and Sydney.

I Love You, Man has laughs throughout. Not big belly laughs, but I think I was at least smiling throughout the entire running time. The “man dates” are funny, especially the one with a man who assumes Peter must be gay. Peter’s awkwardness with male bonding practices combined with Syndey’s crude humor make them a hilarious pairing. An even simple thing like Peter struggling to come up with a nickname becomes a good running joke. Both are very likeable characters, much like what you would see in a Judd Apatow comedy. A subplot in which Peter is trying to sell Lou Ferrigno’s mansion, while a co-worker tries to steal the listing, pays off big when Lou makes an appearance as himself. J.K. Simmons makes the best of his scenes as Peter’s father, who is surprisingly accepting of Peter’s gay younger brother. Paul Rudd starred in the funniest movie I saw last year, Role Models. Now that he has followed that up with a similarly funny movie in I Love You, Man I’d have to say that he is one of the best comedic actors working today. See this one in the theater.

REVIEW: Taken

STARRING: Liam Neeson, Famke Janssen View Trailer RELEASE DATE: 01/30/09 DATE SCREENED: 01/26/09 The Verdict GREAT - See it opening weekend

“I don’t know who you are. I don’t know what you want. If you are looking for ransom, I can tell you I don’t have money. But what I do have are a very particular set of skills. Skills I have acquired over a very long career. Skills that make me a nightmare for people like you. If you let my daughter go now, that’ll be the end of it. I will not look for you, I will not pursue you. But if you don’t, I will look for you, I will find you … and I will kill you”. I was sold on Taken the moment those words were uttered in the trailer. The warning, delivered brilliantly by Liam Neeson as Bryan Mills, goes unheeded by the Albanian sex traffickers who have kidnapped Bryan’s daughter while on a trip to Paris. They simply wish him "Good Luck". Big mistake...

What the bad guys don’t know is that Bryan is some kind of government operative that “prevents bad things from happening”. Early in the film we see that he is recently retired and desperately trying to rebuild a relationship with his daughter Kim (Maggie Grace), whose mother Lenore (Famke Janssen) has married a very rich businessman who is footing the bill for Kim to follow the band U2 on their European tour. Nervous about his teenaged daughter traveling through Europe with another teenaged friend, Bryan gives her a special phone with orders to call every day. Luckily, she calls him just as the bad guys arrive to kidnap the two teens, leading to the classic lines in the trailer and leaving him with small clues as to who the kidnappers are. Bryan is on the first plane to Paris, and it seems that “preventing bad things from happening” must involve a lot of killing. Simply put, the Albanians have kidnapped the wrong girl, and now they have to pay for it. Bryan only has a few days to find his daughter, and he quickly goes about dispatching the bad guys as he works his way through the underworld of sex trafficking. Leaving a trail of dead bodies in the red light districts of Paris, nothing is going to stop Bryan from rescuing his daughter.

Any fan of “24” will recognize this story as a variation on the first season of that series. I personally think “24” was the best drama in TV history through season 5, and it was all set in motion by watching Jack Bauer leave a trail of bodies on his way to saving his kidnapped wife and daughter. Taken is much more violent than any TV show, and Neeson puts all of his movie fight training to good use in some of the best, kick-ass, non-CGI, action scenes I’ve seen out of a non-Asian film in years (the film is from France). The film is actually a throwback to the great Arnold Schwarzenegger/Sylvester Stallone action movies of the ‘80s. To my surprise, Liam Neeson has that same action star charisma. Even though you know what is going to happen, Taken manages to push all the right buttons and get you rooting for Bryan even when he has to torture someone to get closer to his daughter’s location. Jason Statham is constantly being pushed down our throats as a big action star, while it turns out that Neesan is a better action hero. Taken is better than any movie Statham has done. If you like action films, this is a great one worth seeing opening weekend.

REVIEW: New In Town

STARRING: Renée Zellweger, Harry Connick Jr. View Trailer RELEASE DATE: 01/30/09 DATE SCREENED: 01/22/09 The Verdict NOT GOOD - Wait for cable

In full make-up, skirt, heels, and a light form fitting jacket, Miami businesswoman Lucy Hill arrives in a small Minnesota town to begin the restructuring of a blue color manufacturing plant. Mumbling something along the lines of “how cold can it be” she is in for a rude awakening as she steps outside of the airport to feel the chill of a Minnesota winter. She screams and runs inside, in one of the few funny scenes in New In Town. This romantic comedy starring Renée Zellweger as Lucy, doesn’t deliver much comedy or romance.

New In Town follows the romantic comedy blueprint set forth since the beginning of movies. On her first night in Minnesota, Lucy meets a guy named Ted Mitchell (Harry Connick Jr.), who she hates. He also turns out to be the union rep at the manufacturing plant. Lucy is also immediately at odds with her new secretary Blanche and plant foreman Stu (J.K. Simmons). Lucy plans to downsize the workforce and she knows right where to start. But funny things start to happen on the way to those layoffs. When a car accident leaves her stranded in a snowstorm, Lucy is rescued by Ted. And guest what? They start to like each other. Lucy even helps Ted’s daughter get ready for a date. As their romance blossoms, Lucy also begins to forge a friendship with Blanche. When the corporate headquarters orders Lucy to close the plant, she is determined to make sure it doesn’t happen. She even re-hires Stu, who she had already fired. When Blanches discovers Lucy’s old list of layoffs on a sheet of paper, she becomes persona non grata around the city. But Lucy will not be deterred. She is determined to not only keep the plant open, but get her man back as well. I wasn’t exactly on the edge of my seat waiting to see how things would turn out in the end.

It’s bad enough when a film centers on a romance between two people with nothing in common and no chemistry whatsoever. But then on top of that, New In Town wants us to buy into a corporate executive putting her career on the line to save a manufacturing plant simply because she likes a couple of the people who work there. It’s all completely ridiculous. Nothing happens that you don't see coming. On a positive note, J.K. Simmons breathes life into every scene he’s in, making foreman Stu the only likeable character in the movie. His gruff, but funny, way of insulting everyone did make me smile. The film is clearly banking on the star power of Renee Zellweger for its success. She just seemed to be going through the motions. There are surely better movies to be made showcasing her talent.

I’m not the target audience for New In Town. I did hear some women commenting that the movie was cute on the way out of the screening. I have my doubts as to whether they would say that if they actually had to pay for the movie. This is not a good film. Even if you like romantic comedies, you can wait for this one to come on cable.

REVIEW: Inkheart

STARRING: Brendan Fraser, Eliza Bennett View Trailer RELEASE DATE: 01/23/09 DATE SCREENED: 01/17/09 The Verdict NOT GOOD - Wait for cable

Brendan Fraser, fresh off killing The Mummy film series, returns to lighter family fare in Inkheart. Based on a children’s novel of the same name, the film adaptation was actually written with him in mind. He is friends with the book’s author, Cornelia Funke, and she wouldn’t allow the film to be made without him. Originally filmed in 2006/2007, Inkheart was initially scheduled for a Christmas 2007 release. When a movie sits on the shelf for over a year, that’s usually not a good sign.

Fraser stars as Mo Folchart, a mythical ‘Silvertongue’. A ‘Silvertongue’ is a person who can pull characters out of a book by reading it aloud. The catch is that every time a character comes out of a book, someone is snatched into the book as a replacement. While reading the book Inkheart aloud to his daughter Meggie, the villain Capricorn is pulled out of the book while his wife Resa is pulled in. As the years go on, Mo and Meggie travel the world looking for another copy of Inkheart, with the hopes that he can somehow read Resa out of the book. Meanwhile Capricorn has found another Silvertongue, and is creating an army of characters and creatures pulled form various books (mostly Inkheart). Dustfinger, another character that Mo had accidentally read out of Inkheart, finds Mo just when he has found another copy of Inkheart. Dustfinger attemptsr to convince Mo to read him back into the book. When Mo refuses, Dustfinger immediately helps Capricorn capture Mo, along with his daughter and aunt (Helen Mirren). With the help of a boy named Farid, who was read out of Arabian Knights, they must somehow escape to find another copy of Inkheart and read these villains back into the book to save Resa.

I do find the premise of Inkheart interesting, and it’s fun to see characters from books you know read into the “real world”. Dorothy’s dog Toto and the flying monkeys are read out of the Wizard of Oz. In general, I’m a fan of the Fantasy film genre. The problem is that this movie is just plain boring. The story moves from point 'A' to 'B' in a completely predictable way. Fraser gives you nothing as Mo, and Helen Mirren makes a lame attempt at being the comic relief. The final climax of the film, featuring the ominous creature The Shadow, is the only exciting part of the movie. But I was fighting with my eyelids waiting to get to that point. The movie should have somehow focused more on the daughter Meggie than her father. Kids always play the main role in a good fantasy film. Recent fantasy films that I have enjoyed, like Chronicles of Narnia or Spiderwick Chronicles, aren’t about the kids parents. Another key to a good fantasy film is the special effects. Inkheart seems to have spent their entire special effects budget creating The Shadow. The rest of the effects are completely mediocre or non existent. There is a minotaur in the movie that you barely get to see because it’s obviously just a big guy in a suit. This movie sat on the shelf for so long because it’s not any good. Not worth more than a Saturday afternoon family viewing when it comes on cable.