Thursday, June 30, 2011

The Video Rental Reviews

The video rental reviews are in...



The Green Hornet - A lot of people have spent time talking about how terrible this movie was. They made some valid points but I wouldn't say it was as bad as they claimed it to be. It is a goofy Seth Rogan movie... what did they expect? Having said that, this is coming from someone who has never seen the original Green Hornet show. So I have no real frame of reference. All I know about the original is that Bruce Lee played Kato which means it must have been cooler then this one. If you want mindless and semi-entertaining then this be your flick!



Drive Angry - If I felt like lying I would tell you that I saw this because I wanted to save you from the horror of seeing it. SO.... I saw this to save you from the horror of seeing it. You are welcome. I thought this movie would be similar to Faster (which I also saw, do you see how much I do for you?) It was not like Faster and yet it was. Nicholas Cage plays.... uh... I forgot his name.... Either way he is super mad, some might even say that he was angry. HEY! Wait a minute! I bet that is how they got the ANGRY part of the name! Anyway he is killing people who were involved with the murder of his daughter and the kidnap and planned killing of his granddaughter. Which seems like a good thing to do... you know especially if you happen to be an escapee from Hell! Yeah you read that right! Nicholas escaped from Hell to revenge his daughter and recover his granddaughter. He is being pursued by the very scary Accountant (he works for the devil, I think). Nope, I am not making this up. This movie is kind of like Spawn, Faster, The Crow, and Ghost Rider all in one. This movie was not good at all but I am still kind of glad I saw it. If you sometimes like bad movies then this one definitely qualifies.



Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Rodrick Rules - I liked this movie. If you (or the kid that you are hiding behind, "I take my kid to kid movies, I only sometimes enjoy them") like the books then you will like this second movie. Self centered Greg Heffley is back at his scheming to become popular. He is also dealing with sibling drama. Mom has made it her mission to get the boys to get along but in typical mom (tv/movie mom) fashion she is terribly misguided. What she ends up doing is making the boys battle harder. Until Greg and Rodrick have something to hide and they bond over the experience (but for how long?). I like this character and hope they keep making the movies and books.



The Fighter - I am sure a good chunk of the people reading this have seen this flick. This was a great movie and one I think those that haven't seen it should check out. It is based on the real life story of boxer Micky Ward. He is going through a rough patch in his life. Things with his family are not going well. His brother is a crack addict and not really doing his best to look out for Micky despite being Micky's trainer. His mom and sisters are completely devoted to his crack addicted brother and seem to take Micky for granted. What is worse is his mom is his manager and she also fails to look out for Micky's best interest. They allow him to get beat by a much larger opponent so that everyone can get paid. When he gets home Micky gets involved with a woman from the bar, who ends up being his wife (they don't show this). Together they start making changes that ultimately get him back winning matches again. This is a very involved movie and it was great to watch. See it if you haven't. Just for clarity sake, I recommend renting it. I have no desire to watch this family interact again because I found myself yelling at the TV in disgust a few times. Make sure you know that it is a movie you want to see again before buying it.



I Am Number Four - This movie felt like a great start to a new series on ABC Family. That is not necessarily a bad thing. ABC Family has occasionally created good shows like Kyle XY and 10 Things I Hate About You (based off the much earlier movie of the same name). I enjoyed the film but had a few moments of "WHAT THE HECK!?!?! STOP KISSING AND RUN!!!!" It is basically a love story with a side of sci fi. The main guy.... John Smith (I am not sure of his real name as he is in hiding and using a fake name, this super fake sounding fake name) is a high school aged alien who wants to be a real boy. Wait, nope that "wants to be a real boy" bit is definitely Pinocchio. Anyway he is tired of running around and hiding but has no choice. His latest new home leads him to make a friend and land the hottie from Glee. It also makes him not liked by the Sheriff's son. Also, during this time he starts developing his new awesome powers (which include lame flashlight hands shown above). Of course the bad dudes he is hiding from are getting closer each day. What will happen? Anyway being "Number Four" of nine aliens hiding on our world ends up not being a bad gig because you get to make out with a cute girl and blow things up. This movie doesn't do anything new or extraordinary but it was fun to watch.

Wednesday, June 29, 2011

A Collection of Movie Reviews

I can't believe I promised to write more.... Ha!

I have been seeing movies a lot the last few weeks and I feel like I should give my take. To do this I am reviving the "Mini Rambling Review". Let's start with the movies that are currently in the theater.



X-Men First Class - Despite having the lamest name ever, this movie was pretty darn entertaining. It gives us the beginnings of two distinct factions in the Marvel mutant world. The X-Men and Magnetos peeps (do those guys have a name for the crew?) Having read some early issues (Thanks dad!) I know that the origins of Professor X was not something they kicked off with. This is a recent thing, the Professor X story I mean. I do not remember the early comics having this much back story. They had very simple origins. For example: Cyclops was a kid who suddenly started shooting magenta rays from his eyes and next thing you know he is kicking bad guy but with his tights wearing posse. Even the Wolverine back story was invented well after Wolverine was a popular character. I am getting off track here...... The movie was good, see it.

I am so upset! I typed away on this for an hour and it all disappeared because of a server error! GRRRRRR!!! Anyway I guess I will start over...



Super 8 - I enjoyed this movie. A group of kids are shooting a monster movie when a train crashes. Of course the train was carrying something very mysterious and it causes havoc in the small Ohio town. The kids get back to filming their movie but can't help getting sucked into the strange happenings. You should see this movie it was well done and the kids did a great job.



Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides - The long awaited SECOND installment of the pirates franchise has finally arrived. Muhahahahaha! Yes I know there were 4 movies but the 2nd and 3rd were worthless so I am ignoring them and you should too. Anyway in this second movie Captain Jack Sparrow gets sucked into a hunt for the fountain of youth. He is up to his usual amusing antics the entire time including flirting with a foxy lady (Penelope Cruz this time). Apparently Penelope is Blackbeard's Daughter and she is helping pops find the fountain of youth so that he does not die. There are also mermaids in this one. It was fun. Not groundbreaking or anything but definitely entertaining.

Since this is the second time I am typing this I am going to separate the video rentals from the theater flicks. I will also have a review of Green Lantern and/or Transformers soon.