Big Daddy Kev's Movie Reviews

(5 BDKs)
See the movie opening weekend

(4 BDKs)
Definitely see it in theaters

(3 BDKs)
Matinee

(2 BDKs)
Rental

(1 BDK)
Watch it on cable

(0 BDKs)
Don't watch it

The American
Genre: Drama/Thriller
Released: 2010
Rating: BDK

The American is a beautifully shot film that suffers from a slow start but benefits mildly from an intense emotional closing. Director, Anton Corbijn, has crafted a film that is more interesting to look at than to watch, if you know what I mean. The cinematography used in The American seemed very unique to me in the way that it was very symmetrical and pretty much always used the entire frame. Lots of movies these days completely waste the beauty of what a camera can capture. This film takes up every centimeter of the frame with beautiful shots of Sweden and Italy. Corbijn, who is mainly known for his music video directing, definitely used very interesting techniques with this film. I almost wish he could have been consulted a bit on the pacing. He then would have had a great film and not just a very mediocre film overall. That pains me to say because there are so many positive elements of the movie from the minimal use of the score to create tension to the well-placed overhead shots and close-ups; Sergio Leone style. Corbijn has directed music videos for Metallica, U2 and a concert video called "One Night in Paris." And no, that did not star Paris Hilton. It was a concert video for Depeche Mode.

The American stars George Clooney. The reason for the period is that pretty much everyone else in the film is unknown or barely has any screen time compared to Clooney. The film also stars Thekla Reuten (Dutch actress from In Bruges, "Lost"), Paolo Bonacelli (Mission Impossible 3) and Violante Placido (Sleepless).

The film is extremely vague and I will keep the plot line vague as well considering the movie doesn't give you much. George Clooney plays The American (who goes by Jack and Edward). Jack/Edward is an assassin who has just completed a job in Sweden and is now hiding out in Italy. While in Italy, he gets orders for a new job but also has to deal with the fact that the people he angered in Sweden have now tracked him down in Italy. One of the big issues is that Jack/Edward gets too attached to the people he has to work with and that is making him slip in his old age. While in Italy, he falls for a prostitute named Clara (Placido) while simultaneously working on a job to create a gun for a mysterious woman named Mathilde (Reuten).

In the grand scheme of things, not much occurs in the overall film. The film is more of a character study than an action film, despite how the film is being advertised. That doesn't necessarily make it a bad thing but there is only so much you can do with a character before the audience loses interest. If the directors and writers aren't budging on him as a character, the audience will eventually get bored with the film they are watching. All the movie needed a little push in the first two acts. Luckily, the third act works marvelously but I left the film with a lukewarm feeling because the first two acts threw me out of the film.

The highlight of the film was the direction and cinematography. Corbijn loved to use every single inch of that frame and it was so fascinating to see all of his different long shots, close-ups, etc. If you watch the film closely, you will see how symmetrical the shots are. All of the action is usually smack dab in the middle of the frame or to the right or left of the frame. Even the credits drew you to the action where the entire screen was black and they introduced the production companies. Later on in the credits, they would appear exact left or exact right. In the first act of the film, look how every shot is set up. If two people are sitting in chairs, the distance between the two and the frame is almost exact. Maybe I was picking up on something that was not there but everything seemed extremely well-placed to create a perfect neat balance. I also loved how he would take these insanely large long shots and then put action in them. For example, anytime you see a huge long shot of mountains, he has George Clooney's car going by in the bottom left or right of the screen. It makes you focus your attention to the car but you can't help but look at the beautiful wide shot that he has created. There are some amazing camera shots from above, looking down on roads and buildings. One in particular shows a curving road that Clooney's character is traveling on and it is shot from above. Oddly enough, the way the film was shot was more interesting to me than the actual story itself. Though, that all changes in the third act.

What the writers and director are trying to accomplish here is pretty interesting. Essentially, what they are doing is keeping Clooney's character a giant mystery throughout the film. This immediately peaks your interest and you want to know more about him. That's the perfect way to set up a film. Though, if you keep the mystery going for too long, let's say well over an hour, than you start to get a little frustrated. Well, I can only speak for myself. The film makers needed to nudge me a little bit more to keep my interest peaked. There were so many times in the first and second act when my mind would wonder other places because the movie started to become extremely monotonous. Then, once we finally start seeing a little bit of emotion from Clooney's character, the movie automatically down shifts into a fresh gear and gets interesting. It was just a little too late.

The American is a very interesting movie but I found it unbearably boring at times. The cinematography is brilliant and Clooney definitely delivers a special performance in the third act. His first two acts were just very depressed Clooney which did not seem like a stretch for him. The film is worth seeing as a matinee for the cinematography. Just beware that the advertising makes the film out to be an action-packed thriller. Prepare yourself for very slow but beautiful cinema, hence the 3 BDK rating.

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Machete
Genre: Action/Adventure/Crime/Thriller
Released: 2010
Rating: BDK

If you were lucky enough to catch Grindhouse in the theatres, you were treated to an array of fake movie trailers that were there to complete the experience. The entire movie started off with a fake trailer for a flick called Machete where Danny Trejo played the lead. The trailer consisted of Machete having sex and killing bad guys with a large machete. The trailer was then followed by Robert Rodriguez's Planet Terror, 3 more fake trailers and then Quentin Tarantino's Death Proof. If I had my vote, I would have had Eli Roth turn his amazing Thanksgiving trailer into a feature length film but I am 100% fine with settling on a full-length Machete movie. Much like MacGruber, Machete is an extremely well-done action-adventure that is 100% aware of how over-the-top it really is. Rodriguez is essentially waving to the audience throughout the film, knowing that we are laughing with him and not at him.

Machete stars Danny Trejo (Desperado, From Dusk Till Dawn), Michelle Rodriguez (Girlfight, The Fast and the Furious), Steve Seagall (Under Siege, Exit Wounds), Robert De Niro (Goodfellas, Taxi Driver), Michael Parks (Kill Bill Vol. 1, From Dusk Till Dawn), Jessica Alba (Sin City, Good Luck Chuck), Lindsay Lohan (Mean Girls, Freaky Friday), Cheech Marin (From Dusk Till Dawn, Desperado) and introducing Don Johnson.

First of all, let's discuss intestines. The Academy Awards needs to create a new category for Best Death Sequence of the year and give it to Robert Rodriguez. Without going in to details, Rodriguez has found a way to make one of the most disgusting death sequences into one of the most hilarious sequences I have ever seen. Aside from Machete just ripping a guy’s intestines out, Rodriguez takes it ten steps further with an idea that will just blow your mind. This scene alone is worth the entire price of admission and almost made me wish that Rodriguez shot the scene in 3D.

The Machete plot line is a bit convoluted containing way too many characters and plot points for a movie of its nature. Though, Rodriguez was obviously going for a very subtle message about the current state of immigration. Considering the entire film revolves around the Texas/Mexican border, Rodriguez through in subtle hints about how immigration actually helps keeps our society going. It's all part of our well-oiled machine.

The film opens and we meet Machete (Trejo), an ex-Federale from Mexico and former bad-ass. He is on a mission with his partner to take down a man named Torrez (Seagall). Torrez, who was once Machete's friend, betrayed the Federale and took the law into his own hands. He brutally murder Machete's family right in front him and leaves him to die. The film picks up three years later in Texas, where Machete has been living and grieving. We then meet Sartana (Alba), who works as an Immigration officer whose trying to stop the flow of illegal immigration into Texas. She has been staking out and following Luz (Rodriguez) who runs a secret underground organization called "The Network," which allows immigrants to get a job and live in America. A local senator, John McLaughlin (De Niro), is running for re-election and his entire campaign revolves around stopping illegal immigration; so much so that there is a group of vigilante's working for him whose sole job it is to kill anyone who tries crossing the border. Machete is sought out by a man named Michael Benz (Jeff Fahey) who offers him a job to kill McLaughlin for $150,000. This would stop this massive smack down on immigration. Turns out, the job was a massive set-up and a front to get McLaughlin more popularity. Machete is now on the run from the police for the attempted murder of McLaughlin. It also turns out that McLaughlin and Michael have ties to Torrez. They just messed with the wrong Mexican.

Oddly enough, the fact that the film is convoluted also leads to a positive. The giant theme surrounding the film is immigration. The entire movie focuses on the negative and positive aspects of immigration, which obviously skews more towards the positive. Now, with all of the action, violence, body parts, boobs and guts flying around the screen, Rodriguez is still able to weave in a message about immigration. The message is very subtle but really does work amongst all of the film over-the-top quirkiness.

Now, as you can tell by my massive plot synopsis, there is just way too much going on in this film. Luckily the action and violence are so epic that they save the film. Performance-wise, the movie is insanely fun blending a perfect mix of absolutely hilarious and extremely bad-ass. I'm not sure whether to consider this a positive or a negative but every character in the movie shined, not just Machete. In fact, I would say that Michelle Rodriguez, Jessica Alba and Danny Trejo had equally amazing screen time. Contrary to the title, this was not just a Machete movie.

The film's comedic timing is perfect. You will be laughing at the most gruesome and violent scenes imaginable. Rodriguez set this perfect tone where everyone watching the movie knew that it was supposed to be over-the-top. Once he sets that standard in the first five minutes where we get a ton of disgusting violence and female nudity, you know you are along for an insanely fun ride.

Yes, Lindsay Lohan is in the film and yes she is naked most of the time. Though, the only scene in which she is fully naked was obviously a body double and the exact same footage used in the fake trailer that Robert Rodriguez created for Grindhouse. In fact, most of the footage in the "fake" trailer appears in the actual movie. Let's talk about Cheech Marin and how amazing he was as the Padre in the film. I wish his character was utilized a little more because there is nothing more bad-ass than watching a preacher use two shot guns at the same time and smoke marijuana.

The movie has everything from nudity, to blood/gore, to motorcycles with mini-guns attached, to amazingly hilarious death sequences, to porn music being used in the perfect places and finally Jessica Alba in a shower. The movie does open just like Grindhouse with the yellow font with a bold texture and contains scratches as if the print had been dragged through rocks. I was thinking when the movie first started that if I was a projectionist, it would be so much easier to handle a film like this because the scratches are there on the film on purpose to create an old school effect. Oddly enough though, the scratches stopped happening after the first five minutes or so.

Can I be a fan boy for a quick second? Growing up, I used to sit home and watch Rodriguez’s films constantly; everything from his amazing short film Bedhead to El Mariachi to Sin City. Rodriguez has always been one of the more creative directors working today and it is just such an honor to watch his work. His movies are the movies he wants to make, not what the studio wants. The fact that Sin City was shot completely on a green screen is so brilliant to me. He was able to get extremely emotional performances out of actors who were acting against nothing but a green screen. With Machete you can just tell he is having fun with all of the money he has made over the years. It’s great to see the man still staying true to his art.

Machete receives a 4 BDK rating out of 5. Check it out in theatres!

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Going the Distance
Genre: Comedy/Romance
Released: 2010
Rating: BDK

Justin Long and Drew Barrymore bring to screen a very realistic, raunchy and laugh-out-loud funny film about long-distance dating. The realistic chemistry obviously comes from the fact that Long and Barrymore are/were an actual couple. Yes, the film has issues like predictability and cheesiness at times but the overall feeling was enjoyment. If you have ever been in a long distance relationship, you will easily be able to relate to what is happening in this movie. In fact, it was so much so for me that it kind of brought back weird memories that I would have rather forgotten. We have all gone down that route where you meet someone and you both agree that it will not get serious. This is always because one of the persons will be leaving in a few months or weeks. That usually leads to an extremely serious relationship because you are essentially not trying to be serious. You are just letting yourself go and having fun with this person, which basically allows you to be you. That is why both parties fall hard for each other. Trust me, this happen to me and then she left a month later and it sucked.

Going the Distance stars Justin Long (the Mac-guy, Live Free Die Hard), Drew Barrymore (E.T., 50 First Dates), the hilarious Charlie Day ("It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia" - check it out if you haven't yet - hilarious!), Jason Sudeikis ("Saturday Night Live") and Christina Applegate (Don't Tell Mom The Baby Sitters Dead, Anchorman).

Garrett (Long) has just broken up with his current girlfriend and is feeling extremely depressed. His best friends, Dan (Day) and Box (Sudeikis) take him out to a bar to help him feel better and it is here he meets the girl of his dreams; Erin (Barrymore). He finds Erin over the by famous arcade game, "Centipede", where she currently holds the highest score. Ironically enough, Garrett has been trying to beat this score for months and thought the person who held the record, "ERL", was a big dude that he wouldn't want to mess with. They get to talking and sparks start flying. Now, Garrett has a steady job in New York City working for a record company. The issue is that Erin only has about six more weeks in the city until her internship ship at the New York Sentinel expires. They vow to not get serious but have fun over these next six weeks. Shocker, the relationship gets serious and when she's about to head back to San Francisco, they vow to stay together and work on their relationship with the long distance. Life occurs and this is their story.

The movie does touch on realistic subject matters that people deal with every day. Long (no pun intended) distance relationships are tough and sometimes you would think time apart would be a good thing but not months upon months. Long and Barrymore really make their characters shine and definitely keep a sense of realism. You see these characters as regular people in love. When they laugh, it feels real. When they cry, I want to cry with them. Maybe being a real life couple helped this realism out because it definitely translated well to screen.

Charlie Day and Jason Sudeikis are hilarious in the film. Both of them definitely take the cake for the most laughs in this raunchy R-rated comedy. Oddly enough, the movie felt weird having an R-rated script. A lot of the f-words felt forced and almost felt like they were only there because they could put them in based on the R-rating. Though, once you start hearing some of the jokes that Charlie and Jason make, you quickly find out why they went with an R-rating.

Director Nanette Burstein, who burst onto the scene with her amazing documentary American Teen in 2008, has crafted a funny, entertaining romantic comedy which also falls on the raunchy side. Plenty of romantic comedies have come along in the past with the raunchy angle and have succeeded, i.e. There’s Something About Mary, Me Myself & Irene. Those films are obviously much better but Going The Distance captures their essence.

Going The Distance receives a 3 BDK rating out of 5. Check out the matinee.

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The Tillman Story
Genre: Documentary
Released: 2010
Rating: BDK

The Tillman Story is a phenomenally made and brilliantly executed documentary that will leave you feeling extremely angry about our current government. Documentaries are a tough genre of film to make because you are generally trying to prove a point and as a good journalist, you should express both sides of the argument. Luckily, with The Tillman Story, one side of the story was already told. That just happened to be the wrong side of what truly happened to Pat Tillman. After years of research, the true story of what happened to Pat Tillman emerges. Through the amazing hard work of Pat's mom and director Amir Bar-Lev, the true story of Pat Tillman comes to life.

I'll admit, I was kind of in the dark about this story. I knew of Pat Tillman and I knew that he was killed at war but I was not aware of the extent of his case. For people unfamiliar, Pat Tillman played football for the Arizona Cardinals. Tillman went to Arizona State University where he was a massive star and that obviously led him to a successful but shortened career in the NFL. After the attacks of September 11th, Pat decided that he wanted to fight for the country. Though, he didn't come out and say exactly why he was leaving the NFL to join the army. There was interview footage found later on that helped prove that 9/11 was the reason. He was married by this point but he and his brother Kevin Tillman decided to join up and fight. They were deployed for the first tour and both made it back alive.

On Pat's second tour, he was sent to Afghanistan and in April of 2004, he was killed. Now, the story we were told initially seemed like it was straight out of a Hollywood film. America and Pat's family were told that he was killed trying to save his men's lives. He was made out to be a war hero and this obviously was something that fueled the war. It was a great propaganda piece. Well, that's all it turned out to be. The documentary takes you through the true story of what really happened to Pat Tillman. Members of his battalion come out with the true stories about how Pat was killed by friendly fire and how it was covered up by the highest people in the government system.

The first question I had to the director, Amir Bar-Lev, was how can something like this happen? The severity of what was done with Pat Tillman's story is beyond me and completely mind-blowing. To think that our government would lie to us to gain popularity for the war is just beyond me. First of all, Pat Tillman left his multi-million dollar NFL contract to go fight for this country after the devastating attacks on 9/11. How could the government sleep at night knowing that they ended up using his dead body as a piece of propaganda?

The opening and closing of the documentary is absolutely brilliant. Bar-Lev chose to use the footage of Pat shooting one of those videos where the player comes on screen telling you what college they played for. If you watch any NFL game, a screen pops up and the players on the team are introduced. The player's head is down and right when he's about to say what college he went to, he lifts his head up and says "Arizona State University." The genius behind opening the movie this way was that Bar-Lev kept the raw footage so we just get to see Pat sitting there for a minute or so. We get to see the real Pat Tillman and all his emotions.

The Tillman Story is extremely emotional, especially during the scenes in which Bar-Lev shows footage of the service for Pat Tillman. Hearing his father and brother speak is heart breaking, especially knowing that his family had yet to find out the truth at that point. Could you imagine hearing a lie about your son after finding out he has been killed. Not only do you have to deal with the loss of your child but also the fact that the government used him.

Throughout the documentary, Bar-Lev throws in interesting notes about Pat's life which give the documentary an added layer. Not only are we learning the story about Pat Tillman but we are also learning who he was. We learn about Pat as a kid and the fact that he married his high school sweetheart. He was a very faithful and caring individual which makes the film that much more emotional to watch.

One of the more positive aspects of the film is that the director was not trying to "milk" any emotions from his interviews. If you watch a Michael Moore film, he purposely puts his interviews in certain situations that will evoke emotional breakdowns. Considering that Pat Tillman's mom is one of the main subjects of the film, you would think that talking about her son would bring her to break down in tears. She always kept her cool and told the story. Bar Lev wasn't going for forced emotion which makes the documentary work. Don't get wrong, I think Moore is a brilliant film maker but he is extremely one-sided. That works for his movies.

You should definitely go out and see this movie immediately. Even if you are not familiar with the story, it will grip and pull you in not letting go. Not only is the film informative but it's also very scary. As Bar Lev said in an interview, this is unfortunately not an isolated incident. The Tillman Story receives a 4.5 BDK rating out of 5. Check it out now and support great documentary film making.

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The Last Exorcism
Genre: Horror/Thriller
Released: 2010
Rating: BDK

How is that a film starts off so well but ends on the worst note possible? Should I recommend a movie that does that? I liked 90% of the film but once that ending sequence took place, it ruined my entire experience. Don't these studios do test screenings to ask audiences how an ending works? If so, was everyone at those test screenings on drugs? It's such a shame considering the movie starts off so strong with a perfect balance of comedy and scares. The director beautifully, Daniel Stamm, builds the tension because he knows exactly what the audience is waiting for. We want to see scary, demonic sequences that will scare the hell out of us. He teases us throughout and eventually gives us some pretty great scares. Though, the film takes a turn when the main character takes a turn (literally with his car) and the entire movie goes downhill from there.

The Last Exorcism stars a cast of unknowns, which is very refreshing to see every once in a while considering it helps you get away from that "oh, that's the girl from that movie," etc. Even the director, Daniel Stamm, is relatively unknown, with this being his first main stream movie. The film stars Patrick Fabian (TV star since 1992, "Big Love", "Gigantic"), Ashley Bell ("United States of Tara", "CSI"), Caleb Landry Jones ("Friday Night Lights, playing Banshee in X-Men: First Class), Louis Herthum (very small roles in The Curious Case of Benjamin Button and 12 Rounds) and Iris Bahr ("Dollhouse", "Curb Your Enthusiasm").

Oddly enough, the movie opens up like a comedy. Director, Daniel Stamm, directs the film much like a documentary where we are following around a Reverend who does exorcisms for a living. What's weird is the beginning part of the movie almost feels like the writers are mocking religion because they are going so far over the top it becomes comedic. We essentially get this feeling that this Reverend does not take his job seriously and only does it for the money. A camera crew, consisting of one guy holding the camera and a sound person named Iris (played by Bahr), begin following around Reverend Cotton Marcus (Fabian). Marcus has decided that he will perform his last exorcism and then continue on living a normal life with his family. He hand picks a letter out of a stack explaining that a teenage girl is "possessed" by a demon and needs his help. He packs his bags, kisses his family goodbye and embarks on an adventure to Iowa. The only footage we ever see during the film is that which is shot by the documentary crew. If they are told to turn the cameras off, the screen goes black, obviously to keep the realism. When Rev. Marcus arrives, he meets the "possessed" teenager Nell (Bell). Thinking this is all in her head, he performs the "exorcism" with his fake tools and fake sounds. Now, you have to understand that in his mind, he feels that there is no way the devil has entered someone's body. Therefore, once the "exorcism" is complete, he feels that his job is done. That becomes the issue considering Nell is actually possessed and now everyone's lives are at risk.

It saddens me to sit here and tell you that the first eighty-minutes of this ninety-one minute film are great yet the last ten minutes or so are awful. Where does that leave the film? If your movie ends on a terrible note, how can I recommend it to people? Like me, you will sit there thinking to yourself that this is a well-made, well written horror flick that balances out comedy/scares perfectly. Like me, you will jump out of your seat and be on edge for a good majority of the film. Then, all of a sudden, it's like telling a kid there is no Christmas. I can't go into detail as to why the ending does not work but it just comes out of nowhere and makes absolutely no sense. In fact, if you asked me to tell you exactly what happened at the end, I couldn't. The sequence is that vague and that stupid.

Therefore, the first eighty minutes or so, I would give a four out of five rating too. The acting is perfect. Ashley Bell plays a perfect innocent girl who has become possessed by the devil. She plays into the innocence of a teenage girl so that you feel sympathy for her character which allows the audience to connect with her. Patrick Fabian steals the entire movie as the sarcastic and witty Reverend who gets much more than he bargained for when taking this job. The opening ten minutes of the movie are absolutely hilarious. Even the father of the possessed girl, played by Louis Herthum did a fantastic job. The script is well-written but where did the film go wrong? Oh, I know! When the film reached its climactic moment! The film immediately went from a four out of five to a zero.

Imagine eating one of the greatest meals of your life. Right as you are about to enjoy the last bite, you notice a crusty and fungus-filled toenail at the bottom of the plate where you're food has been resting. So, you enjoyed the amazing meal up until that last bite but it was ruined by that toenail. That's how it felt to watch The Last Exorcism.

Needless to say, the film had potential. Being produced by Eli Roth, I expected a much better ending. Roth, who has brought you Hostel, Hostel 2 and Cabin Fever, usually does a great job. I would be curious to hear his thoughts on the ridiculous ending. The Last Exorcism receives a 2 BDK rating out of 5; catch the rental!

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Takers
Genre: Action/Crime/Thriller
Released: 2010
Rating: BDK

Takers is unoriginal, overlong, extremely predictable, terribly written but does contain an on-foot chase sequence that will blow your mind. It pains me to say this, considering the negative attention surrounding him, but Chris Brown is the highlight of this film. As a person, I feel that he is despicable for what he did to Rihanna but on-screen, he has an action sequence (involving parkour*) that is so breathtaking that it almost makes me want to recommend the film. The action sequence consists of Chris Brown "free running" as he is being chased by Matt Dillon and Jay Hernandez. This sequence lasts for around three to four minutes and consists of Brown jumping on top of cars, climbing over walls, etc. He essentially looked like spider-man except that Brown was doing his own stunts. Needless to say, the sequence was very impressive. At that point, the movie jumped up a solid couple of points and then the film makers had to rip a shootout sequence right from True Romance. I hope the director was paying homage to Quentin Tarantino/Tony Scott because the shoot-out was exactly the same even down to the feathers from the pillows.

Is Matt Dillon aware that he is in two armored heist movies in back to back years? Armored came out late last year and revolved the robbery of an armored vehicle. Now, Takers is coming out and revolves around the robbery of an armored vehicle. Either he really needs the money or he just loves playing in unoriginal heist films. I just feel like Hollywood is wasting his talents and he is taking garbage roles for a paycheck. Get him back in good flicks like Wild Things and There's Something About Mary.

Takers stars Idris Elba ("The Wire", Obsessed), Chris Brown (yes, the R&B singer), Paul Walker (Fast and Furious, Running Scared (underrated flick), Hayden Christensen (Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith, Jumper), T.I. (ATL, American Gangster), Michael Ealy (Barbershop, Miracle at St. Ana), Matt Dillon (Wild Things, There's Something About Mary) and Jay Hernandez (Hostel, Crazy/Beautiful).

The film opens and we meet the group of "takers," consisting of a bunch of good friends who do a multi-million dollar heist around once a year; normally a bank robbery. The opening heist sequence involves the group robbing a bank for over $2 million. They successfully get away and plan on just relaxing for the next year or so. Gordon (Elba) leads the group calling all the shots and keeping everyone in order. A.J. (Christensen) deals with the explosives while John (Walker) deals with the guns. There are also two brothers in the group, Jesse (Brown) and Jake (Ealy) Attica, whose father is currently in prison for about five more years. Jake is now engaged to the girl of his dreams (Zoe Saldana) and is ready to settle down. There is one problem though. One of their guys has been in prison for over five years. Ghost (T.I.) was busted during a job the group did back in 2004 and now that he's out, he wants to do one last job with the guys for a score of over $25-$30 million. Something seems fishy considering they only have five days to put together an armored car heist. Gordon decides to go with it not knowing that two police officers (Dillon and Hernandez) are on their tail. The question is whether or not they can pull it off in time.

Why was this movie made? Every single aspect of this movie has been done before. There are so many better heist films out there like Heat, The Italian Job, Gone in 60 Seconds, The Score, Dog Day Afternoon,etc. Takers is shot well and the action is decent but there is nothing special about this movie. The studio is basically asking you to spend money on a movie you have already seen before.

Every character in the film is one dimensional covering the same flaws that every character in a heist movie has. Dillon plays the broken police officer who is bitter with the way things are but feels like he can prove himself with this major case. Internal Affairs is on his case but he somehow pushes through with the case. Every single mannerism of every character has been done before. It was if the writer/director had a text book and instructions on how to make a heist movie and followed it to a perfect T

.Performance-wise, the cast works well together. Hayden Christensen was surprisingly good considering his terrible roles in the Star Wars films. Most of the emotional depth in the movie comes from Idris Elba who is just such a brilliant actor. Paul Walker essentially plays the same character he always place.

Director John Luessenhop is actually a local guy in the DC area, growing up in McLean, VA and attending the University of Virginia. This is Luessenhop's second ever feature but first major release. In that regard, he did a great job with the action sequences. The major problems were with the script. The pacing was a bit off as well as the movie started to feel like it was dragging and repeating itself towards the end, much like this review. The one particular on-foot chase sequence with Chris Brown is brilliantly directed. It is hands down the best scene in the film and practically comes out of nowhere. Keep your eye out for this sequence and from what I have read, Brown did his own stunt work for this sequence.

The movie is predictable to the point where I could tell who was going to die while the credits were rolling at the beginning of the film. The movie is mapped out perfectly. How many times are we going to see these characters? Based on the fact that you have seen this movie before, I would catch it as a rental just so you can see the Chris Brown sequence, hence the 2.5 BDK rating. I just have a problem recommending film that is unoriginal, completely unrealistic and boring at times.

On a side note, Takers is the first movie I have seen where an actor gave a commentary track while acting in the movie. During the actual heist of the armored truck, T.I. Is blasting his comments about the action during the scene. It was extremely distracting and completely annoying. The commentary threw me out of the scene.

On another side note, it was kind of cool to hear Idris Elba speak in his normal accent for the role. Many people know him from "The Wire" where his accent is extremely different. In this film, you get his extremely thick British accent throughout the entire movie.

*According to Wikipedia.com, Parkour "is the physical discipline of training to overcome any obstacle within one's path by adapting one's movements to the environments."

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Avatar
Genre: Action/Adventure/Sci-Fi/Thriller
Released: 2009
Rating: BDK

(NOTE: I saw the film a second time at a theater with a brand new digital 3D projector (AMC MAZZA GALLERIE in Washington D.C.) and the experience was worlds beyond the first time I saw it. I would like to revise my rating from a 2.5 (Rental/Matinee) to a 3 (Matinee) out of 5, still keeping my thoughts the same below).

Let me get this straight. James Cameron had eleven years to make this film and while he perfected the visual art form, he decided to tell a tired story that we have all heard before mixed in with an awful script and mediocre acting? Did I mention he tells a story that lacks emotional connection to the audience? Not once, did I feel a connection to any of the characters. That just doesn't seem right to me. If you are spending that much time and putting that much sweat into a project, I would want the most original story, killer dialogue and top of the line acting. I guess we can see now where all of the work went (partially into the marketing campaign stating this will change cinema). After all of my negativity, I will say something positive. The last forty minutes of the film are a complete and utter masterpiece. Is that ADD enough for you?

Avatar is easily the most anticipated movie of 2009 and it just pains me to tell you that it is just, OK. Besides the masterful last forty minutes of the film, I felt bored and a bit miserable at times. The plot was predictable and the characters were not interesting. At least I could look at Cameron's beautiful visuals for two hours until the action and greatness kicked in. It literally feels like the gears of a car changing once the film reaches the two hour mark. I almost felt like Cameron was sitting there thinking to himself, "This is getting really old. Let's try something different." He then ends the movie on the note that I was looking for the entire time.

The lead star of the film is a wheel-chair bound marine named Jake Sully, played by Sam Worthington, who we saw earlier this year in the disappointing Terminator: Salvation. Jake had a twin brother who had been doing scientific work on a moon called Pandora, in which the U.S. Government is seeking an important item that could help the dying Earth. Human beings cannot breath the air on Pandora, therefore Jake's twin brother was working on the Avatar project, creating these half human-half Na'vi creatures, that could breathe the Pandora air. The human would sit in a portal and link to the avatar, being able to speak, move and do everything for it. The problem is that each avatar is specifically designed to fit the person who is running it. After Jake's brother passes away, they call Jake up for a 6 year mission to help the scientists interact with the Na'vi people using his brother's avatar. Considering they were twins, Jake would have no problem matching the DNA.

As in any movie where people invade a foreign area, there is going to backlash and problems. The Na'vi people have not been nice to the humans, considering we are trying to take an important resource from them. This obviously creates the tension and drama for the film because the humans are willing to go to war with the Na'vi for their precious resource. The mission is to send Jake in as an Avatar to convince the Na'vi to let the humans take their resource. Jake can relay information back to the home base so that we can better understand these beings.

That all sounds original and fantastic, which would have been great if it was not all told to you in the first five minutes of the film. Here is where the film takes the unoriginal turn. Jake connects to his avatar and immediately goes to Pandora, eventually falling in love with its people. He meets a female member of the Na'vi named Neytiri (played by Zoe Saldana from Star Trek) who he falls in love with and eventually wants to become one of them. He loves them so much that he actually wants to protect them from the humans, especially Col. Miles Quaritch (who is played amazingly by Stephen Lang). I will admit that he played a great villain and he deserved more screen time. The film also stars Sigourney Weaver as a scientist who is actually there to study the Na'vi for scientific purposes.

The film's biggest issue is that it is the classic example of "style over substance." I am aware that is a cliché, hence why I put that in quotes, considering it's been used a million times. In fact, I think Webster's dictionary should create a definition for that saying and have it simply say Avatar. I host a movie radio show here in Washington D.C. and as I was riding home with my co-host, we were discussing that you can have the best visuals in the world but if your story is boring you will lose your audience. I felt lost for the first two hours of the film and had to entertain myself by taking my glasses off and on. People will argue that the graphics are amazing and that was the point of the film. I understand that fact but if I am going to sit in a theater for two hours and 40 minutes and invest my time and money, I want to be entertained and fully embraced by Cameron's imagination. What I get are mind blowing visuals with a lackluster story and that is not something I want to recommend to people. The first two hours did not appeal to me one bit in the emotional department. Luckily, the visuals were something to look at but after a while it became monotonous and all seemed like it blended together. Luckily, he punches you in the face with a killer last forty minutes, which helped me not to totally hate my experience.

When it comes to the script and the dialogue, it all seemed too simple and childlike. This is mostly heard from the mouth of Michelle Rodriguez's character. While she may be great to look at, her character in the film was so annoying. She played this "bad boy" character where she had a foul mouth and tries so hard to be bad-ass, while failing miserably. There is one particular line at the end of the film where incorporates the word "bitch" into her sentence. This was supposed to be a pivotal scene in the film and it only ended up bringing embarrassing laughter. A lot of the dialogue in the film did seem childish and very dumbed down.

I guess what everyone wants to know is whether or not the film will revolutionize film making. While the CGI may be the best I have ever seen, it is only slightly better. There have been major improvements in CGI while James Cameron was perfecting his technology over the past decade. To be honest, look at something like Transformers, Beowulf, Disney's A Christmas Carol. Those are all phenomenal achievements in CGI. Yes, Avatar may be better but not by much. Sadly, it did not blow me away. If there was a high point graph that showed the highest point of CGI reached, the marker would move up an inch at most. It is one small step for CGI and not the end all-be all that everyone thinks it is going to be.

The camera James Cameron created for this film is 2 HD cameras combined into one lens to create a more realistic and better 3D experience. His camera was actually used for a completely live action film earlier this year, called The Final Destination, where the live action 3D looked phenomenal. The same goes for Avatar, which has unbelievable live action 3D but I didn't really see a difference in the animated 3D. You can tell this from one of the opening shots of the film, when lead character Jake Sully, is first getting to Pandora. I understand the 3D being used in this film is more for depth of field, as opposed to having things fly out at you. Regardless, the 3D didn’t feel much different from what I have been seeing. Though, I kept taking my glasses off and the visuals seemed much more vibrant that way. We all know how annoying those 3D glasses are but one of the big issues is that they darken the actual finished product. The film is absolutely beautiful and should be seen in it's full vibrant form. Maybe I need to check this film out in 2D.

Now, 3D is completely different from CGI. The CGI in the movie is the best I have ever seen. What makes CGI so outstanding is when a human character can interact with a CGI character and the interaction will look flawless and realistic. To me, this was perfected in the film District 9, where actor Sharlto Copley was essentially talking to nothing but a stick. Then director Neil Blomkamp dropped in the aliens creating a perfect CGI/Human interaction. That movie only cost $30 million to make, as opposed to James Cameron's supposedly $300 million Avatar. Now, in Cameron's defense, he created an entire planet of CGI, and while it looked beautiful, I do not find it to be revolutionary.

You have to understand my past with James Cameron to feel my disappointment. For the past couple of years, I have been telling people that this guy has never made a bad film. I would honestly say that it is because of James Cameron that I love movies so much. When I was in second grade, I had to get a good report card in order to convince my parents to let me watch Terminator 2: Judgment Day. I then went back as I got older and watched The Terminator, Aliens, True Lies and of course, Titanic. He had never made a bad film. For people who bring up Piranha 2, I heard he was actually fired from that set and did not complete that film. Therefore, that does not count. The reason I am rambling on about his movies is to show you how invested I was in Avatar being a great film. All of his other movies had emotion and characters that I liked. I cry every time I watch the end of Terminator 2 because I was so invested in Furlong and Schwarzenegger's relationship. He never let me become invested with the characters in Avatar.

The last forty minutes of the film are what I thought the whole movie would be. The effects, action and actors were all put to the test. The ending battle between the Na'vi and the humans was just mind-blowingly fantastic, which brings me to my plan for this film. I call this, the Kevin McCarthy "AVATAR" experience. If you want to take in the movie in the best way possible, all you have to do is the following. Book a reservation at your favorite restaurant at the exact same time the film starts. Purchase your tickets for the movie at the same time as the reservation and go to dinner. Keep checking your watch to make sure you walk into the film during the last 40 minutes. Sit down, enjoy those 40 minutes and walk out with a smile. You will be satisfied, I promise. See this way we all win. The movie company gets their money and we get our bad-ass 3D action flick that we had hoped for.

The rest of the film is a two hour, jumping through trees and shooting bow and arrow-fest until we reach the climactic 40 minutes, where in my opinion, the film completely shifts gears and becomes a great movie. There is a shot towards the end that was so epic that I couldn't believe what I was seeing. It deals with a tree and that is all I will say.

This becomes a problem because I loved the last 40 minutes so much, but I was so disappointed with the first 2 hours. How should I rate something like that? My overall experience was disappointing and underwhelming. I give the visuals a 5/5 and the story/acting/script a 2/5 which brings my overall rating to a disappointing 2.5.

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The Switch
Genre: Comedy/Drama/Romance
Released: 2010
Rating: BDK

The Switch is a wonderfully cute flick that builds realistic chemistry between a father and son. So much so, that I immediately started thinking about how cool it would be to have a son that looks up to you. Before seeing this film, I didn't really envision myself ever having kids. Even though this film is done in your typical Hollywood form, the joy that Jason Bateman's character shares with his son in this film is just priceless. Listen, I know movies are buttered up and this is not how real life is but it just makes you wonder. Even though the film is extremely predictable, the film makers were still able to emotionally grab the audience and take you on this adventure.

The Switch stars Jennifer Aniston (The Break Up, Office Space), Jason Bateman ("Arrested Development", Juno), Jeff Goldblum (Independence Day), Juliette Lewis (Natural Born Killers, From Dusk Till Dawn), Patrick Wilson (Hard Candy, Watchmen) and of course, the extremely talented Thomas Robinson (who plays the little boy). This is Robinson's first feature film and he completely steals the movie along with Jason Bateman.

First of all, I want to clear something up. Bill O' Reilly went on his show one night and completely bashed Jennifer Aniston for making this film, saying that the film/her sends a terrible message that father figures are not important in a child's life. First of all, did Bill even see the movie? The movie is all about how important Jason Bateman's character is to this little boy. If anything, you could argue the film diminishes the role of the mother. Though, who would ever say something like that? It is completely outlandish and was only said for press. Next time, he should see the film before making a judgment like that.

The film is based on a story entitled "Baster" by Jeffrey Eugenidis. The film was directed by Josh Gordon and Will Speck who also directed Blades of Glory together. The idea surrounding the movie is definitely intriguing. Kassie (Aniston) is a woman in her forty's who decides one random day that she wants to have a child. She doesn't want want to wait around any longer for the right guy so she is going to use a sperm donor. The first person she tells is her best friend of thirteen years, Wally (Bateman). Now, we learn from the voice over in the beginning that Wally is in love with her. He has been for years before they stepped into the dreaded friend zone. He's just been too afraid to tell her. He even jokes around that he could be the donor but Kassie immediately shoots that down essentially saying that he's too quirky. She eventually finds the "perfect" donor who goes by the name of Roland (Wilson). Oddly enough, her girlfriend Debbie (Juliette Lewis) throws a pregnancy party in which Kassie will artificially inseminate herself using a turkey baster of all things. Long story short, Wally shows up to the party, gets extremely wasted and switches Roland's sperm out for his own. Now, fast-forward seven years and meet Kassie's child Sebastian (Thomas Robinson). Bateman was so drunk that night that he had no clue what he was doing. When he finally meets Sebastian and notices all the similarities, the memories come back. Now the question is whether or not he tells Kassie or keep it to himself.

The chemistry between Jason Bateman and Thomas Robinson is pretty terrific. Luckily, the movie focuses more on their relationship than it does with Bateman and Aniston. We have seen that story before so it was refreshing to get a less used perspective. As the film goes on and we see both Jason and Thomas' characters growing and having their emotional arcs. Bateman really delivered a very strong and emotional performance, which is extremely clear as we reach the climax of the movie. He has a very emotional scene which completely grabbed me. I know he is more known for being hilarious in his films but he really showed a great serious side in this movie. He is still very funny but it was subtle and did not go over the top. There was a great mix much like his characters in Juno and Extract.

Oddly enough, as I look back on the film, I don't really think of the relationship between Jennifer Aniston and Jason Bateman's characters. What's funny is that I don't consider that to be an issue. I was so much more interested in the relationship between Bateman and Robinson.

The film does have problems but the overall feeling you have when you walk out is that it was a wonderfully cute film that had a ton of heart. My biggest complaints were the cliché montage sequences where characters are reflecting on their decisions. I understand film's need montage to show the passing of time but they just seemed so cookie cutter. Also, why is it that every time there is an emotional scene, does an acoustic guitar score have to start playing behind it. It makes the scene feel fake and produced. Scores are one of the most important aspects of a movie and when not done right, can change the mood completely in a negative light. I also was not a huge fan of Jennifer Aniston's big emotional speech.

Even though the film was predictable, I was always emotionally invested in its characters. I can't forget to point out how hilarious Jeff Goldblum is in the movie. He kind of reminded me of Alec Baldwin's character in Along Came Polly. The Switch deserves a 3.5 BDK rating out of 5. If anything, you will absolutely love the relationship of father/son on the screen. The chemistry and realism makes the whole film worth watching. Keep an eye out for Jason Bateman's emotional arc. He did such a fantastic job.

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Lottery Ticket
Genre: Comedy
Released: 2010
Rating: BDK

Why go see a film that has already been made and seen on numerous occasions? There is nothing special or original about Lottery Ticket. Sure, the movie has decent laughs, some fun characters and a good message but does that mean you need to spend your hard earned money to see it in theaters. The answer is no. Originality in films is very scarce these days but when a story is predictable from the trailer alone, you have an issue. I leaned over to the guest I took to the screening and told her what the ending would be, about fifteen minutes into the film. Luckily, the film has a great, but very cliché, message and some decent performances. The humor is what stuck out the most though a lot of the jokes are overused and have been done before in much better films like Friday. There is literally a joke that is paying "homage" to Friday where someone gets "knocked the f*** out!" You're better off just watching Friday.

Lottery Ticket stars Bow Wow (formerly Lil Bow Bow - Like Mike), Brandon T. Jackson (Tropic Thunder, Percy Jackson and the Olympians), Ice Cube (Three Kings, Friday), Terry Crews (The Expendables, Friday After Next) Keith David (Requiem for a Dream, Princess and the Frog), Naturi Naughton (played Lil Kim in Notorious) Gbenga Akinnagbe ("The Wire", Edge of Darkness) and Lorretta Devine ("Grey's Anatomy", "Boston Public").

The plot revolves around Kevin (Bow Wow) and the fact that he has just won the lottery for $370 million. Kevin's dream is to eventually become a shoe designer considering he wakes up each morning ironing his shoe laces to make sure his kicks look the best. On his way out the door to his part-time job at Foot Locker, he always makes sure to kiss his Grandmother (Devine) and joke around with his best friend Benny (Jackson). All around, he's just a great guy. His grandmother asks him to stop by the store and have her numbers played for the lottery because she claims to have had a dream in which the numbers came to her through Jesus. After some unfortunate circumstances, Kevin is fired from Foot Locker, which throws him into an immediate depression. He has lunch with his best friend Stacey (Naughton) and opens a fortune cookie with a set of lucky numbers. As he stops by the store to drop off his Grandma's numbers, he also plays his numbers as well. Shocker, he wins the lottery with the numbers from the fortune cookie and is now $370 million richer. The only issue is that has to survive for three days in his "dangerous neighborhood." He wants to keep it secret but it spreads like the wild fire and everyone starts treating him different. Since it's Friday and he has to wait until Tuesday to cash it because of July 4th weekend, you know he's going to get into some type of trouble.

When you see the film, will notice a ton of similarities to Friday. Talking with Ice Cube, he stated that the director (Erik White) was a huge fan of the film and wanted to pay homage. Well, the result is that he pretty much made the exact same film, which is not necessarily a bad thing but since we've already seen it, why see it again?

One of the hardest things to do as a film maker is hold your audience's attention and keep the film believable; depending on the world the characters are in. In the Lottery Ticket world, it all seems realistic. There are no special effects, animation, etc. Though, I still found myself losing my suspension of disbelief simply based on the way the film was shot. There is a sex scene that takes place with Bow Wow that looked it was straight out of one of those porn movies you could catch on Cinemax at 2am. Now, of course, I have never seen one of those types of films before but that's what I have been told. The music kicks in and I could not help but laugh during the scene which was supposed to be taken seriously.

Anyone can watch the trailer for this movie and tell you the ending. Though, the movie does deliver enough laughs throughout that it becomes an ok ride, mainly because of Terry Crews and Brandon T. Jackson. Lottery Ticket is not really worth seeing in theaters but will play as a perfect rental.

The movie did feel a bit offensive though. I'm going to point out specifics because I don't want to go down that path but the movie really played to some offensive stereotypes. I will leave it at that but you will see what I mean once you see it. Do you remember that classic comedy, Don't Be a Menace to South Central While Drinking Your Juice in The Hood? The movie was essentially a spoof yet most of the jokes the film was making are scene in Lottery Ticket. The only difference is that Lottery Ticket takes itself seriously.

Lottery Ticket is an average film that should have been straight to DVD. I didn't hate the movie and I didn't think it was all that bad but I can't defend spending money to see it in a theatre. You have seen the movie already but if you want a couple of laughs and a fun story, check it out. Though, I would save your money and check out the rental, hence the 2 BDK rating.

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Piranha 3D
Genre: Action/Horror/Thriller
Released: 2010
Rating: BDK

The movie has porn stars, boobs, violence, cheesy dialogue, legit jump scares, high tension, more boobs and more extreme violence all involving deadly fish. What more could you ask for in a movie entitled Piranha 3D? If you go into this film expecting a coherent plot, good dialogue and great acting, you will leave disappointed. Piranha 3D is like attending a party except for there's a lot of nudity and people getting eaten by fish. So, I guess it's nothing like attending a party but hopefully you catch my drift. Alexandre Aja, who also directed The Hills Have Eyes and High Tension, has crafted a well-executed campy B-movie that will leave audiences feeling like doing back flips in the theatre. The movie is so high energy and is completely self-aware of how stupid it is. Though, that works both ways because the stupidity becomes the charming factor of the movie. Charming may be a wrong word choice considering this is one of the most violent and nudity-filled films I have ever seen.

I absolutely hate 2D to 3D conversions yet this movie worked because it was used as a gimmick. The film is so self-aware that when body parts and dead piranha’s starting flying at your face, it makes for a great laugh. Wait until you see which body parts will be in your face. This year has been a horrible year for 3D movies including conversions for Clash of the Titans, Alice in Wonderland, The Last Airbender, etc. Therefore, it was a bit refreshing to see 3D used in a fun way.

Piranha 3D stars Steven R. McQueen (grandson of the great Steve McQueen and star of "Vampire Diaries"), Elisabeth Shue (Leaving Las Vegas), Jerry O' Connell (Tomcats), Ving Rhames (Pulp Fiction), Richard Dreyfuss (Jaws), Jessica Szohr (Fired Up! ) ,Christopher Lloyd (Back to the Future), Adam Scott (Knocked Up) and Kelly Brook (recently on the cover of Playboy). The film is the 3rd film in the series, with the first being released in 1978 and the second in 1981. A little known fact is that James Cameron directed Piranha 2: The Spawning. Apparently his role was diminished though and he likes to consider The Terminator to be his first film.

Does plot really matter when it comes to a film of this nature? Well, if you really care, an earthquake occurs at the beginning of the film which opens up a passage way to a lake underneath Lake Victoria. Lake Victoria is a popular summer/spring break spot where high school graduates go to party. The lake underneath Lake Victoria is the home to thousands of pre-historic Piranhas that were wiped off the face of the earth over two million years ago. They have survived all of this time because of cannibalism and now they are back to feast on all of the college kids who have ventured to Lake Victoria for the summer. These are the original piranhas!

The violence is off the charts. Aja did not hold back and apparently used the most blood in cinematic history. According to an interview that Aja did with New York Magazine, he used over 80,000 gallons of blood for the film. I can't even imagine how he shot the film. There are so many graphic death sequences that will likely gross out most viewers. Even I was shocked at how violent the film turned out to be. There were certain scenes where I had to put my hand over my mouth because I was so shocked as to what I was seeing. One particular scene involves a girl’s hair being pulled into a boat motor. That was easily one of the most painful death sequences I have seen.

Surprisingly enough, Aja builds great tension in the movie. There were so many sequences where I was on the edge of my seat wondering if characters were going to make it out alive. One scene in particular deals with people crawling across a rope from one boat to another. There is also a follow up scene where Steven R. McQueen's character has to go back and save Jessica Szohr's character.

Let's get down to the nitty-gritty. You are only going to see this movie to see boobs and violence. Don't lie to yourself otherwise. Aja delivers in both departments especially with a beautiful underwater naked ballet sequence between Kelly Brook and Riley Steele (porn star). You also have other porn star appearances from Ashlynn Brooke and Gianna Michaels. Of course, they are naked throughout the entire movie. I am not trying to sound like a creepy critic for bringing that up but that's obviously a high point of the film considering it is focused upon so much. Heck, there is a wet t-shirt contest hosted by Eli Roth!

There's not much to say about the movie except for how fun it is. It is an obvious homage to Jaws considering the beginning sequence contains Richard Dreyfuss. The whole idea about being afraid to go in the water spawned with Jaws and Aja is trying to bring that back. Keep an eye out for an amazing performance from Christopher Lloyd.

Piranha 3D is purely stupid fun. If you expect anything else, you will be disappointed. Check it out as a matinee and I guarantee you will have a great time. Just remember what you are in for; extreme violence, 80,000 gallons of blood, boobs and partying. If that's your forte, then you shall enjoy!

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The Expendables
Genre: Action/Adventure/Thriller
Released: 2010
Rating: BDK

By default, a film starring Sylvester Stallone, Jet Li, Jason Statham, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Bruce Willis, Terry Crews, Stone Cold Steve Austin, Randy Couture, Mickey Rourke and Eric Roberts, should be absolutely amazing. Well, while the action is the ultimate selling point and does succeed, the film still felt a bit underwhelming. There was just something missing and as I drove home with my co-host Josh and his friends we thought through the film a bit more and figured out exactly what was missing. I threw out the word "camaraderie." The film is called "The Expendables" after all and should be about a group of guys sticking together and fighting. While that does occur at the beginning and end of the film, I had a hard time feeling the relationship between these guys who would supposedly die for each other. The overall movie just felt like a jumbled mess in order for us to get each action scene. Now, considering there are eight stellar action scenes, none of that should matter, right? Well, I guess not considering the genre of film.

The question that many people want answered is whether or not this lives up to the classic 80's action flicks. This is coming from a guy who grew up on Commando, Predator, Universal Soldier, Total Recall, Terminator 2: Judgement Day, Rambo, Die Hard, etc. I feel like all of those film standing alone are better than The Expendables. I feel the film did not accomplish the epic goal that I had in mind considering the gigantic cast. That being said, I still enjoyed the film especially during the eight or so amazing action sequences.

There is nothing more exciting in action history than seeing Arnold Schwarzenegger do his insanely funny one-liners and kill bad guys relentlessly. Commando has to be my favorite all-time action flick because of one-liners and death scenes ("Don't disturb my friend, he's dead tired" - after he breaks a guys neck and tucks him in with a pillow and blanket). We all know Commando is not a good film but it hits the spot perfectly like a meal at Taco Bell. We know it's bad for us but we love it. The thing about Commando is that it did not contain any dull moments and the dialogue was so bad that it was fun. The Expendables on the other hand has moments where the film drags and becomes a bit, dare I say it, boring at times. Though, there is one action sequence in particular that is worth the entire price of admission.

Does plot really matter when it comes to these films? We all know that the good guys are going to fight the bad guys and it's going to be bad-ass. The issue is how we have to get there. The script, or lack thereof, is filled with cheesy jokes that don't work and unnecessary plot points. But wait, why am I even breaking down the script in a review for The Expendables? People, like me, just want to see explosions and gunfire and I promise you that there is plenty of that. The plot line revolves around a group of mercenaries called "The Expendables." This group has been together for a long time carrying out secret missions. They essentially do the dirty work for the government. One day, during an epic meeting in a church, Stallone's character meets with a man named Mr. Church (Willis) and another man (Schwarzenegger). Mr. Church tells him about a job on the Island of Vilena. The general has been overthrown by a group of Americans and the island has gone crazy. Innocent people are dying. The Expendables have a job to go in and kill the leader and his men.

Any issue that this film has is redeemed in this one action sequence that takes place in an underground tunnel area. All of the Expendables are fighting the bad guys and it is epic. Let's just Terry Crews steals this entire sequence and that there is a shot looking down a hallway that will absolutely blow you away. The last two action scenes of the film make the entire movie worth watching. There were times during the beginning and middle of the film where I felt the movie was turning into a complete disaster. Luckily, Jason Statham's character was strong enough that it pretty much kept the movie afloat. He and Stallone get the most screen time along with Jet Li. That is where the camaraderie issue comes into play. I didn't feel like this was a team of guys who would die for each other.

The pacing is completely off. There are times where the film drags and becomes boring. Also, the forced humor was very annoying. Everything was a set-up for a joke. Besides a couple of classic one-liners during the Arnold/Bruce/Stallone scene, the humor did not work too well.

Yes, the scene with Bruce, Arnold and Sly is absolutely epic. The scene lasts for about three to four minutes and every single second is epic. The movie would have been a five out of five if all three of those guys lead the entire time.

The Expendables just leaves me with a feeling of being underwhelmed. I wanted more from the movie but I am not disappointed in what I received. I was stomping my feet and freaking out during the majority of the action scenes. Though, the effects were not so great. You could tell every time they used a blue screen or digital blood. The movie is not necessarily an action fans dream but it's definitely a fun ride and will definitely please hardcore fans, hence the 3 BDK rating.

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Scott Pilgrim vs. the World
Genre: Action/Adventure/Comedy/Fantasy/Romance
Released: 2010
Rating: BDK

Imagine if you took the comedic/well-written value of 500 Days of Summer and blended it together with a Super Nintendo system playing "Street Fighter 2: Turbo;" you would have Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World. Even though the film is much more, that is essentially Scott Pilgrim in a nutshell. Edgar Wright, who is responsible for "Spaced", Shaun of the Dead and Hot Fuzz, has brought you the ultimate fan-boy action flick. Scott Pilgrim is going to be the type of film that everyone either loves or hates. There is a specific built in audience of people who love video games that are going to go completely Lady GaGa over this film. Everything from the highly-stylized action to the numbers of combo hits being shown on screen are a sure thing to please any gamer. Though, what makes the movie work is the love story. That is where the film becomes a film for everyone. It can please all audiences. Oddly enough, that love story does kind of get lost in all of the insane and quirky action but Wright brings it back perfectly at the end.

Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World stars Michael Cera (Superbad, Youth in Revolt), Kieran Culkin (Igby Goes Down, The Cidar House Rules), Jason Schwartzman (Rushmore, Funny People), Mary Elizabeth Winstead (Live Free Die Hard, Final Destination 3), Alison Pill (Dan in Real Life, Milk), Anna Kendrick (Up in the Air, Twilight), Johnny Simmons (Hotel for Dogs, Jennifer's Body), Brandon Routh (Superman Returns, Zack and Miri Make a Porno), Ellen Wong (first movie - she plays Knives Chau), Mark Webber (Boiler Room, Broken Flowers) and your new Captain America, Chris Evans (Not Another Teen Movie, Fantastic Four).

The plot line to the film is a bit on the absurd side but if you can fully understand the nature of the film and have fun with it, you will be golden. Scott Pilgrim plays bass for a band called Sex Bob-Omb (which I later found out is a reference to Super Mario Bros.), an insane rock group who are trying to make it big. They find themselves competing in battle of the band competitions all the time because they want to get signed to a major record label. Scott (Cera), who is twenty-two, is currently dating a seventeen year-old high school girl named Knives Chau (Ellen Wong). Everyone around him, including his gay roommate Wallace Wells (Culkin), thinks it odd that he is dating a seventeen year old. Though, Scott constantly reminds people that they haven't even held hands. This all becomes the past though when he meets Ramona Flowers (Winstead), who he considers to be the girl of his dreams. Though, she comes with some very interesting baggage. In order for Scott to date her, he must defeat her seven evil ex-girlfriend/boyfriends. Over the years, Ramona has always dumped her boyfriends/girlfriends and now they are back with a vengeance to fight Scott to the death. These are not just normal fights. Rather, the fights include highly stylized video game violence that will blow you away.

The film is a nerds dream, aesthetically and video game-wise. From a film makers stand point, this is the most fun you will have all year. You get to see all the amazingly quirky tricks that Edgar Wright has up his sleeve. Whether it be changing the aspect ratios numerous times or creating an 8-bit song version of the Universal Pictures logo or even using digital words on screen to express the power of a punch. In case you are confused about aspect ratios, when you are watching the film, you will notice that the majority of the time, it takes up the entire screen. Then, during a fight sequence with Cera and one of the evil exs, the film will shrink down to a difference size which essentially gives it more of a theatrical edge to it. Pay attention because there are so many great editing techniques done throughout the film. The split-screens were perfect and I just loved the way Edgar cut the film together. My favorite aspect is watching the tracking shots and how he uses a wall or a couch to jump to the next scene. It makes the film feel very fluid.

Someone asked me today what movie they should see this weekend. They stated that they were heading to the theatre with their wife and needed a good flick that both of them would like. You can look at Scott Pilgrim is two different ways. There is the "chick flick" side of it where you have this passionate love story and quest where the man fights for his woman. On the other side of the coin, you have this amazing action film that will satisfy action fans and comic book nerds. Therefore, everyone can be satisfied.

The film definitely stays true to the comic book/graphic novel. Edgar Wright and his co-writer Michael Bacall adapted the screenplay from Brian Lee O'Malley's series of comic books. I just love how the film kept that comic book vibe but also added its own elements that would not work on the page.

People and myself argue that Michael Cera plays the exact same role in every single movie he is in. I would not disagree with that statement in the least. He is always the awkward nerdy kid who ends up overcoming all of his issues at the end of the film He is that same Michael Cera character in this film but this time around he's actually kicking butt. All of this fight sequences worked really well and even his dialogue was hilarious.

Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World will make nerds cry, satisfy action fans and even satisfy people who are looking for a good love story. I highly recommend checking out one of the most original films in years, hence the 4 BDK rating.

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Eat Pray Love
Genre: Drama
Released: 2010
Rating: BDK

Director Ryan Murphy has finally found the cure for insomnia. Where to begin with this review? Well, for starters, the film is one gigantic advertisement for The Food Network, Lifetime and The Travel Channel. Except for on those channels you usually find your programming anywhere from thirty minutes to an hour. No no no, not this time around. Director Ryan Murphy (writer for "Glee" and "Nip/Tuck") wants you to sit through over two hours and fifteen minutes of this material and let me tell you that you will be bored out of your mind. Sure, the movie looks beautiful. Every aspect from the cinematography to the music to the acting is superb. We just needed about forty-five minutes less of that material and better pacing. What we get is a movie that feels like it lasts close to ten hours and does not let up. Eat Pray Love is so boring that it's bound to throw Tylenol P.M of business.

The film is based on a memoir written by Elizabeth Gilbert that has spent well over one-hundred and fifty weeks on the New York Times best sellers list. Too bad the film feels that long. The book chronicles her journey over one year through Italy, India and Bali (Indonesia). She embarks on this journey after divorcing her husband in order to help her feel again and is considered to be a truth seeking journey. The film stars Julia Roberts (Pretty Woman, Ocean's 12 - my favorite performance from her), Javier Bardem (No Country for Old Men, Vicky Cristina Barcelona, Billy Crudup (Watchmen), Viola Davis (Doubt, Law Abiding Citizen), James Franco (Spider-Man, Pineapple Express) and Richard Jenkins (The Visitor).

Julia Robert takes on the role of Elizabeth Gilbert as she enters this life changing journey for one year. One of the biggest issues in the film is that Liz is portrayed as a very selfish woman. As the film went on, I grew to like her but she was not the nicest of people in the first half. I completely understand that her character wanted "me" time but it was pretty brutal what Liz did to her husband Steven, i.e. leaving him without any reason except for the fact that she was tired of being married. It made it hard for me to support and enjoy her presence. What I did enjoy were the messages about change. I, for one, hate change and wish everything could just stay the same. You find a particular comfort in a certain aspect of your life and sometimes it is hard to push forward for fear that things will change in a negative way. That aspect of the film really inspired me but I lost that inspiration when the film became slow and boring.

The film was going forward pretty well during the first forty-minutes or so. We get through Liz's divorce with Steven (Crudup) and she meets her new boyfriend, David (played by James Franco). She then has this insane moment where she feels like she needs to get away for a whole year and find true happiness. Oddly enough, her life has pretty much mirrored what a particular medicine doctor said in Bali. Ketut (played by Hadi Subiyanto), the medicine doctor, told her that she would go through two marriages (one long and one short) and that she would be broke in the coming months. She takes off on a three part trip, spending four months in Italy, four months in India and four months in Bali. The order of the title is essentially the story-line. She "eats" in Italy, "prays" in India, and falls in love in "Bali."

The movie tapped out once Liz reached India. Right when she meets Richard from Texas (Richard Jenkins) and he would not stop calling her "Groceries," I tapped out. The movie then went on to become this extremely boring, poorly paced drama that had absolutely no steam left. The director was too focused on his beautiful scenery to keep a coherent and engaging story together.

The odd aspect about this movie is that the majority of the aesthetics are great. Julia Roberts is so natural and beautiful on screen. Richard Jenkins and Javier Bardem have amazing emotional arcs and some of the best scenes in the film. Viola Davis is always great and James Franco plays a stunning role. Even Billy Crudup was fantastic. It was as if all of these amazing talent goes to waste just because of the length and pacing of the film.

Cinematography-wise, this movie is amazing. I loved the over-exposed shots where the light almost had a radiance shining off of it. Normally, you want to avoid that when shooting a film but it really worked well with all of the beautiful settings. From the looks of it, most of the scenes were shot on location and it was such a beautiful sight to see; at least for the first hour. Even the quick edits and shots of the food were fascinating. I hardly ever look down at my watch to see what time it is but I could not wait for this film to end. The movie drags and is like watching paint dry. Once you get to the end, I was so out of steam that I couldn't care less about the characters and the arcs.

For the record, there were many people at the screening who had read the books that walked saying the film was just alright. I am sure people will criticize me because I am a guy and have not read the book. I consider myself to be a very open and fair critic. I had admitted to crying in The Notebook, loving Mean Girls and even really enjoying the first Sex and the City movie. Though, if you do think my taste is bias, I encourage you to see the film and then let me know if you were bored to tears. Eat Pray Love receives 2 BDKs out of 5. Wait for the cable viewing.

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Step Up 3D
Genre: Drama/Music/Romance
Released: 2010
Rating: BDK

Let me start this review off by saying that the acting and dialogue in this film might be some of the worst I have ever seen. That being said, the movie is actually quite entertaining and delivers extremely well-directed dance sequences and amazing 3D. I'm not a fan of 3D, especially the converted garbage we are seeing nowadays where studios convert flicks from 2D to 3D (Clash of the Titans, The Last Airbender, Alice in Wonderland, Cats & Dogs: The Revenge of Kitty Galore). Director Jon M. Chu (Step Up 2: The Streets) actually shot this film in 3D. Every shot in the film has an extreme depth of field and he also messed around with the gimmickry of 3D as well, i.e. popping bubbles close to the screen. The better aspects of 3D were used in this film. The shots of dancers coming towards the camera and moving their arms in front of your face is pretty wild to see in 3D. There is such an insane difference watching a film that is really shot in 3D. Once the music gets going in Dolby 7.1 surround sound, you actually feel like you are on the dance floor with these actors.

I should probably point out that the first two Step Up films are guilty pleasures of mine. None of these films are good movies and we all know that. There are just certain movies that are easy to sit back and watch. Step Up 3D is one of those easy-going movies. You can sit there and make fun of the predictable, soap-opera-style dialogue and then enjoy beautifully choreographed dance sequences in 3D. If you go into this movie expecting award winning performances and genius dialogue, you have come to the wrong place. Here, I will say it. Step Up 3D is a bad movie but my reviews are here to tell you how entertaining a film is. Is the movie worth shelling out your money to see in theatres? Step Up 3D is that rare bad movie that is actually worth seeing.

Step Up 3D stars Rick Malambri (former Abercrombie and Fitch model - probably should have stayed that way), Sharni Vinson (this is her first film - she has had small roles on "CSI:NY"), Adam Sevani (Step Up 2: The Streets) and Alyson Stoner (Step Up 2: The Streets).

Does plot really matter when it comes to a film like this? Not really and you can already guess the outcome of every character and situation from the beginning of the film. Briefly, Moose (Sevani) and his best friend Camille (Stoner) have graduated high school and are now attending New York University. On their first day there, Moose is drawn to a street dancing competition where he meets a character named Luke (Malambri). Luke is an aspiring film maker/dancer who takes Moose under his wing and into his group. After Moose shows off his amazing dance moves, Luke asks him to be a part of the "Pirates." The "Pirates" are a group of dancers that essentially live like one big family in a cool apartment in New York City. All of these dancers have nowhere else to go and their main goal is to dance and make money. Coming up is a huge event called the "World Jam" where they can compete for a prize of $100,000. Shocker, Luke is going to lose the place if they don't win the competition. All of that plot set-up means nothing because it is poorly executed.

The dance sequences save the film. Just when you think the film is dreadful, director Jon M. Chu throws in an amazingly choreographed dance sequence that will blow your mind. Seeing these sequences in 3D makes them even better. I can't believe I am actually supporting a 3D film but it worked and I am not afraid to admit it.

There is one sequence that I was stunned by. The characters of Moose and Camille have this classic dance sequence in the streets of New York City, which is an homage to the great Fred Astaire. Chu did not cut the camera once during this scene and it took the cast and crew nineteen takes to get it right. According to an interview I did with Chu, they ended up using the eighteenth take. It starts with Moose and Camille walking up to an ice cream truck and asking the ice cream man to turn up his music. For the next two and a half minutes, they do an amazing dance number which felt like it was lifted straight from a classic film. For some reason, I got a Woody Allen vibe during the scene. When you are watching the scene, notice how the camera does not cut. It is the longest single-take sequence ever filmed in 3D.

I'll say this again. This is not a good movie. The acting and script are absolutely horrendous. Most of the actors are real dancers that auditioned for the roles. This is actually Rick Malambri's first major role and it's very obvious. An elementary school kid could have written this movie. The movie shines where it's supposed to. All of the dance sequences are well choreographed. What hurts the movie is how the dance sequences come about. "Oh whoops, my bike hit a pipe and now there is water everywhere. It's cool. We can just dance in the water and it will look cool for the movie." Everything in this film is ridiculous and makes no sense but if you can see past that and have fun, you will enjoy yourself. Step Up 3D receives a 3 BDK rating out of 5.

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The Other Guys
Genre: Action/Comedy
Released: 2010
Rating: BDK

The Other Guys is a surprisingly funny and smart comedy that delivers laughs consistently throughout. There are obvious flaws that keep the film from being great but The Other Guys has enough laughs and classic moments that it needs to be seen in theaters with a crowd. The flaws include over acting from Mark Wahlberg, a completely drawn out ending and an immunity to the style of some of the jokes. Writer/director Adam McKay (Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy) definitely brings that style of comedy where it's very off the wall, random and completely chaotic. Speaking of random, there is a running joke throughout the film that revolves around a classic R&B album that I used to listen to back in the day; TLC's "CrazySexy Cool." Even the action scenes in the film were extremely well-done for a comedy.

I probably should not admit this as a critic but I had very low expectations heading into this film. The primary reason being that Will Ferrell's style of comedy has grown old. Besides a couple of select parts (Anchorman, Stranger Than Fiction), he has generally disappointed me in his leading roles. His comedy is always better in smaller doses, whether it be Old School or The Wedding Crashers. You could say that he is a better supporting actor. So going in, I was expecting the same old Will Ferrell shtick, which did occur, but this time around, it was very well-written. Maybe he and Adam McKay need to continue working together. The content they release on their website, www.funnyordie.com, is always hilarious.

The Other Guys stars Will Ferrell (Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy, Stranger Than Fiction), Mark Wahlberg (Max Payne, The Departed), Eva Mendes (We Own The Night, Training Day), Rob Riggle (The Hangover, The Goods: Live Hard, Sell Hard), Michael Keaton (Batman, Multipilicity), Steve Coogan (Hamlet 2, Tropic Thunder), Damon Wayans Jr. and kind-of performances from Samuel L. Jackson and Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson.

Going into detail about the plot line will give away massive spoilers about certain characters so I am going to keep this very vague. Essentially, Allen Gamble (Ferrell) and Terry Hoitz (Wahlberg) are two NYPD cops whom no one pays attention to. They sit behind a desk all day filing police reports and Hoitz is becoming fed up with it. The stars cops, P.K. Highsmith (Jackson) and Danson (The Rock), are on their way out for some reason which I will not mentioin. Hoitz sees this as an opportunity to step up the plate and show that he can be a star cop as well. The only issue is that his partner is boring and sticks to the books, hence why they are called "The Other Guys." Gamble loves staying in the office and doing police reports rather than being in the field. It takes Hoitz having to threaten Gamble at gunpoint to get him out in the field for real police work. Though, as the movie goes on, it turns out that both of their characters could not be more opposite. They stumble upon a case in which $32 billion dollars is at stake. Can these two "Other Guys" handle it?

I have a feeling this film will have the Anchorman effect. It was pretty funny the first time but now that I am sitting here writing this review and thinking back on all the moments in the film, I find myself laughing harder. There are so many classic bits in this movie that I even went home and downloaded (legally, of course) TLC's "CrazySexyCool" album. In fact, as I am writing this review I am singing the lyrics to "Waterfalls." "Don't go chasing waterfalls..."

Surprisingly, even the action was good in this movie. The opening action sequence with Samuel L. Jackson and Dwayne Johnson is actually very choreographed but also hilarious at the same time. The movie walks that fine line where it's almost mocking cop flicks but also paying homage in a joking way. Even the direction on McKay's part was fantastic. There is an amazing freeze frame sequence that takes place in a bar with Ferrell and Wahlberg that was extremely well-directed. Keep an eye out for that.

I did have an issue with Wahlberg's sudden outbursts and bad delivery at times. I understand that some of those characteristics were part of his character but there were times where the film was trying to be serious. His delivery in those scenes came off extremely forced and made me shake my head.

The movie starts off with a huge bang of comedy. The jokes keep firing and all of them keep hitting. McKay was using the opposite effect in his jokes where he would set the audience up for something and then surprise them. This structure kept going and going and eventually I caught on which made the jokes predictable. Though, throughout the film, he would sprinkle in some extremely hilarious bits that just saved the overall comedy structure of the film.

Seeing this film with a crowd is a definite plus and it really did change my view point on Will Ferrell. He really needed a funny film after Land of the Lost and Semi-Pro. Though, I think a lot of people fear that Will Ferrell's shtick is old. That means you need to spread the word on this film. It is a bit slow and monotonous towards the end but I definitely want to see it again for a few select scenes. I give The Other Guys a 3.5 out of 5. Michael Keaton was classic!

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Dinner for Schmucks
Genre: Comedy
Released: 2010
Rating: BDK

Check out Kevin's interview with STEVE CARELL and PAUL RUDD

While the film has insanely funny moments, they are too far apart to hold the film together as an overall great comedy. Fortunately, Dinner for Schmucks still works as an average comedy at best. The biggest issue is that the supporting actors are funnier than the leading cast. The performances from Jemaine Clement, Lucy Punch and Zack Galfianakis are insanely funny. Paul Rudd plays the typical emotional character and Steve Carell's character comes off as borderline creepy. I wouldn't say that Paul and Steve did a bad job by any means but the film just had this oddly creepy vibe to it that made me feel uncomfortable throughout, which some would argue is part of its charm. Overall, the film is a very average comedy and does not live up to director Jay Roach's previous projects; Austin Powers, Meet the Parents, Meet the Fockers.

Dinner for Schmucks stars Paul Rudd (Clueless, Anchorman), Steve Carell ("The Office", The 40-Year Old Virgin), Jemaine Clement ("Flight of the Conchords," Gentlemen Broncos), Lucy Punch (Hot Fuzz, Grindhouse), Stephanie Szostak ("The Sopranos", Motherhood), Zach Galafianakis (The Hangover, Youth in Revolt), Bruce Greenwood (Star Trek), Ron Livingston (Office Space, Sex and the City) and Larry Wilmore (I Love You Man).

Jay Roach adapted this film from a French film released in 1998 entitled "The Dinner Game." Oddly enough, the most famous scene from Dinner for Schmucks is the actual dinner which did not appear in the original film. Paul Rudd plays a character named Tim who works in the corporate world. His boss (played by Bruce Greenwood) cues Tim to the fact that he would be offered a promotion if he goes through with a special dinner occasion. Every month, his boss and other co-workers have a dinner for schmucks, where each co-worker invites a different "schmuck" over to dinner so that the group can make fun of those people. Now, a "schmuck" in this case is someone who has a very odd talent that could be seen a weird. The person who is invited believes they are going to win a prize for being the most extraordinary person but have no idea they are being fun of for being "idiots." Tim feels odd about this at first but really wants the promotion but his girlfriend (Szostak) feels he should not go through with it. Just when he thought he had gotten out of it, he literally runs into the perfect "schmuck." He goes by the name of Barry (Carell) and his talent is that he creates "mouster-pieces" out of dead mice. He literally takes dead mice and recreates events in history and from his life. Therefore, he would have display of dead mice re-enacting he and his girlfriend. Tim feels like he has struck gold and decides to invite him to dinner. This will turn out to be a very bad and good decision for Tim.

The supporting cast for the film are comedic gold and essentially save the film. Let's start off with Jemaine Clements. He plays one of the funniest characters I have seen in a while. Rudd's girlfriend, in the film, has a working relationship with an artist named Kieran. Explaining Kieran's completely over-the-top personality would not do it justice. You have to see his antics for yourself but he is absolutely hilarious. Moving on to supporting star Lucy Punch. Punch plays an insane stalker of Paul Rudd's character. He had hooked up with her once before in the past and she has yet to get over him. When a miscommunication occurs while Carell's character is using his computer, Punch comes over to his house and is part of one of the most awkward but funny scenes in the film. Punch continues to show up throughout the movie and every time she shows up, she steals the show. Finally, let's talk about Mr. Zack Galafianakis. After he starred in The Hangover, his career completely took off. He is known for his awkward dead pan style of delivery and if you have watched Funny or Die's "Between Two Ferns," you know exactly what I mean. He has a few scenes in Dinner for Schmucks which are absolutely hilarious and much like his other supporting actors, helps save the film from being a disaster.

Another positive of the film was the production value on the "mouseterpieces." Oddly enough, even in this screwball type of a comedy, Jay Roach finds a way to bring emotion and good cinematography. The opening scene of the film is actually quite beautiful as we see all of these amazing "mousterpiece" set-ups that a certain character has created. The cool part is that we don't get to see who is building them as the camera just focuses on these insanely odd pieces of art. For people who have seen Team America: World Police, the Chiodo Brothers created both the dolls for that film and the "mousterpieces" for Dinner for Schmucks.

One of the biggest issues is that the film does not work as whole. There are hilarious moments throughout which do keep you entertained but looking back the film just felt very odd. There is this creepy feeling that lurks throughout the film that made me feel a bit uncomfortable at times. Another issue was forced cheesy nature of the script. I absolutely hate it when a character is having a revealing moment in a film and the character who is being discussed is standing behind that person unknowingly. That way, the person standing behind them sees that characters true colors and forgives them immediately for all wrong doing. That has been done so many times in films and frankly, it's a bit of a cop out when it comes to story-telling. It just feels like a way for the writers to wrap up any conflicts involving the characters.

Overall, Dinner for Schmucks is a very average comedy. The film has a ton of issues but still delivers a decent amount of laughs. I would recommend seeing the matinee (cheap ticket) for the film, hence the 3 BDK rating out of 5.

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Charlie St. Cloud
Genre: Fantasy/Romance/Drama
Released: 2010
Rating: BDK

I walked out of the theater and immediately called my brother just to see if he was ok. If anything, Charlie St. Cloud will make you appreciate how fragile life is and that you should always be nice to your loved one's because you don't know when they will be gone. That is why having stupid fights over stupid instances is hardly ever worth it.

When Zac Efron talked about leaving the "High School Musical" franchise to become a serious actor, I thought in the back of my head that this was going to be a bad move. The question that bothered me was how perfect could this kid actually be. He already won over the hearts of every teenage girl with his boyish good looks, amazing singing and all around great personality. Could he also be a good actor as well? The short answer is; yes. Efron, paired with "Reno 911" star Thomas Lennon, made 17 Again a worthwhile teenage comedy. Now he takes on a much more dramatic role in Charlie St. Cloud. There are scenes where he has to cry and show true emotion during a ton of close-up shots. I am here to say that he truly succeeded and truly showed how far his emotional arc reaches in this film. Charlie St. Cloud is based on a novel by Ben Sherwood properly entitled "The Death and Life of Charlie St. Cloud." The film also stars Charlie Tahan ("Fringe", Nights in Rodanthe), Amanda Crew (Sex Drive, "Whistler"), Augustus Prew ("The Time of your Life"), Kim Basinger (L.A. Confidential) and Ray Liotta (Goodfellas).

Charlie (Efron) and his brother Sam (Tahan) appear to have the best relationship around. They do everything together from sailing to playing catch and it almost appears that their relationship is too good to be true. Charlie is a recent high school graduate and his brother Sam is now eleven years old, yet the play together as if they are best friends. One night, while heading to a party, Charlie offers to drop Sam off at a friend's place. Neither of them knew that this night would change their lives forever. After a devastating car accident, Charlie is revived back to life by his paramedic, Florio Ferrente (Ray Liotta). Though, it was too late to save Sam. The day of the accident, Charlie and Sam had made a promise to each other that every day at sunset, they would meet to play catch in order to better Sam's chances of making it into the major leagues. Oddly enough, even after Sam's passing, Charlie would meet him there in spirit every day. To the audience and Charlie, Sam appears to be real and it is never truly explained as to why he can see Sam. Five years go by and Charlie is now working at the grave yard in which his brother is buried. He threw away his sailing scholarship to Stanford so he could keep his promise to his brother. One day he runs into a girl he knew in high school named Tess (Crew). She always had a crush on him and has actually pursued her career in sailing and is about to embark on a trip around the world. Charlie falls for her but this starts getting in the way of his time with Sam. That is where the drama begins.

The story itself is very devastating but at the same time very uplifting. I did take issue with how the brothers were portrayed in the beginning. The film makers appeared to be trying to manipulate the audience as much as possible. They were milking their positive relationship as hard as they could so that we would feel the emotional impact of Sam's death. Though, aesthetically it makes sense considering the length of the film. They had to compact their relationship into a ten to fifteen block so that we could know who they are. Though, having a brother myself, the relationship is not that perfect especially with that age gap. The set-up worked because you do feel a ton of emotion during Sam's death sequence. Though, I couldn't help but feel that I was cheated and forced to feel that way. It was if my emotions were manufactured and I did not have a genuine build up to the characters.

The cinematography is amazing. All of the beautiful shots of the sailing and the water are stunning to see. The film opens with an amazing sailing race which sets up the characters of Charlie and Sam. To compliment the cinematography was the amazing soundtrack as well. The songs that played throughout the film were very moving and fit the film very well.

Zac Efron can act. The guy has a great emotional range and it is put to test in this film as we have numerous close-ups of his face while he is crying. You could tell they were real tears and that he was actually beaten up emotionally about the fact that his movie brother had passed. Though, I will say this, if you are a guy and your girlfriend wants to see this movie, I would say no. When you and her walk out of that theater, she is going to look at you wondering why you aren't as good looking as Zac Efron.

My biggest issue with the film was the over-glorification of Zac Efron and his looks. People have dubbed him as a "hunk." I feel like the film makers were aware of this fact and used obvious close-ups of his face and body just to please the audience members. There were even shots of him taking his shirt off that were completely gratuitous and made feel like I was watching another Twilight film at times. There were just times where I feel like I was taken out of the film because I felt the film makers were trying to focus more on showing off Zac Efron. Luckily, this only occurred a couple of times during the film.

Charlie St. Cloud is a solid drama that packs an emotional punch and delivers great performances. The relationship between Zac Efron and Amanda Crew was very realistic. You could easily feel the emotional connection between the two characters. I give Charlie St. Cloud a 3.5 BDK rating out of 5.

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Cats & Dogs: The Revenge of Kitty Galore
Genre: Action/Comedy/Family
Released: 2010
Rating: Half BDK

Why was this film even made? It serves zero purpose other than to rip the money out of people's pockets. The first Cats and Dogs was terrible with awful graphics. The only redeeming quality of the first film was that it glorified dogs and for a dog lover, which was amazing. Other than that, a sequel almost ten years later is completely useless and painful. As I sat her watching this film, hearing all of the awful references to classic films, I could only think to myself that I felt bad for children today. At least when I was growing up, the films were actually decent. The movies I went to growing up were The Sandlot, Aladdin, The Mighty Ducks, Toy Story, The Lion King, Homeward Bound, The Never Ending Story, Fival Goes West, etc. Yes, there are still great kids films coming out today but those are generally coming from Pixar once a year. Cats and Dogs is obviously just an excuse to make money considering the use of the 2D to 3D conversion. I found myself removing my glasses numerous times throughout the film because the 3D was so awful.

Cats & Dogs: The Revenge of Kitty Galore stars James Marsden (X-Men, 27 Dresses), Bette Middler (First Wives Club, Hocus Pocus), Nick Nolte (48 Hours, Tropic Thunder), Neil Patrick Harris (Harold and Kumar Go to White Castle, "How I Met Your Mother"), Katt Williams (Friday after Next, Norbit) and Christina Applegate (Don't Tell Mom The Babysitters Dead, Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy).

Even writing out the plot line is bringing back awful flash backs of the film. The film opens and we learn of an evil plot by the infamous Kitty Galore (Middler). Kitty Galore had an unfortunate accident years prior which made her completely hairless which in turn made her human owners kick her out of the office. In a plot to destroy dogs and humans, she develops a plan to beam a high frequency sound to space that will in turn be beamed back down to earth causing all of the dogs to go absolutely crazy. In order to stop Kitty Galore the dog headquarters recruits a police dog named Diggs (Marsden). Diggs joins forces with the special agent dogs to help stop Kitty Galore from destroying the world. This time around though, the unthinkable occurs. The dogs and cats have to unite to help destroy Kitty Galore.

There is not a single funny moment in this entire film. The only aspect I enjoyed was the 3D animated Road Runner and Coyote short at the beginning of the film. Other than that, I found myself in pain the majority of the time. Every time this film would do a goofy reference to a classic film, I felt a part of me dying on the inside. I get that the writers are trying to appeal to the adults in the audience but these references were just ridiculously stupid and cliché. The film makes references to The Silence of the Lambs, Scarface, Batman, Superman and many others. How many times are we going to hear characters make a joke out of "Say hello to my little friend."

Hollywood needs to stop converting 2D films to 3D. We can tell it's been converted! Even the visual effects in this film are bad. This year alone, there have been many awful conversions including Clash of the Titans, Alice in Wonderland (which was not that bad of a conversion) and last but not least, The Last Airbender. In all four films, I was able to take my glasses off at times and watch the movie perfectly fine. I have spoken out against 3D since Avatar as I feel that these films are purposely being converted only to help the studio make more money. Therefore, the story and script suffer while they focus more on the visuals, which in my opinion is the problem with cinema today. Luckily, we still have directors like Christopher Nolan (Inception, The Dark Knight), Martin Scorcese (Shutter Island, Taxi Driver) and Stephen Spielberg (do I really need to put anything here?).

If you want to take your kids to see a great film for all ages, go see Toy Story 3. That is a film that pleases all audiences and is well-written, emotional and extremely smart. Cats & Dogs: The Revenge of Kitty Galore is literally the complete opposite and receives a 0.5 BDK rating out of 5.

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Salt
Genre: Action/Thriller
Released: 2010
Rating: BDK

Kevin's interview with ANGELINA JOLIE

Salt is one of those rare action flicks that has non-stop hard hitting action for ninety minutes straight and is all done with a brain. Normally, you either get balls-out action flick with a horrible script and acting or you get a well-written script with horrible action. It is rare that you actually get both. Now, lately, there was one film in particular that brilliantly blended both phenomenal action with a brilliant script and that movie was Christopher Nolan's Inception. When it comes to Salt, the writers and director have found a way to take a female lead and turn her into an action star. Rather than looking at her as male or female, you look at her as someone you would not want to mess with. Director Phillip Noyce (Clear and Present Danger, Patriot Games), was obviously very aware of that boundary and made sure he pushed this character is neither a male or female direction.

Salt stars Angelina Jolie (Hackers, Original Sin), Liev Schreiber (Scream, Wolverine) and Chiwetel Ejiofor (Children of Men, Love, Actually).

Originally, the film was written for a male lead star, in which Tom Cruise was the primary candidate. Though, he turned down the role because it was too similar to his role in Mission: Impossible. As the script process went on, Angelina Jolie had joked around with a Sony Pictures studio executive about how she wanted to play James Bond rather than simply playing a Bond girl. She wanted the lead role as an action star. This script fell in her lap and before you know it, the lead characters name was changed from Edwin to Evelyn. Evelyn is a C.I.A. officer who is amazing at her job. She has done everything to protect the United States. One day, as she is leaving work to go home to her husband for their anniversary, a strange man walks into the C.I.A. offices with an extremely odd accusation about Salt. As her and her partner, Ted Winter (Schreiber), sit around to hear him talk, things start to get a little crazy. This man, who is considered a defector, claims that Evelyn (Jolie) is actually a Russian spy who has been planted in the United States to kill the President. Salt freaks out, thinking that this can't be true, and makes a run for it. Ted is on her side at first, but as the counter-intelligence officer Peabody (Ejiofor) steps in, he starts to realize that Evelyn could actually be a Russian spy. Her actions of running away are not helping her but she wants to make sure that her husband is safe, even if that means risking her life. As the movie goes on, we learn more and more about who Salt really is. The question is whether or not she can prove her innocence before being captured.

The action is absolutely non-stop but the best part about it is that it's believable. The director did not go over-the-top to the point where the action seemed unreal. If you are like me, you will be blown away and mesmerized by the action scenes that take place during the film. Jolie did a lot of her own stunts in the film and she mentioned in an interview she was actually badly injured one day while on set. She has the scars to prove it. Some of my favorite scenes in the film revolved around her doing the most ridiculous stunts in the world. At one point, she uses a guy's head to drive an SUV. It was absolutely nuts! They may make you laugh because they are so ridiculous at times but that's part of the film's charm.

Being that this movie is about 90% action, there is great story-telling occurring as well. The plot twists and turns are very surprising and keep you on the edge of your seat the entire time. Throughout the entire film, you will be questioning who Salt really is. As the story gets deeper you start to become attached to the character but the best part is that you don't really ever know her true intentions. That hopefully will leave the film open for a sequel.

Jolie finally bridged that gap where I was able to look at her character as an action star, rather than a female or male. The producers and director (Noyce) of the film have gone on record stating that they wanted her to take that leap. This is honestly the first time I have seen a female lead in an action role where I did not think of her sex the entire film. She just flat out kicks butt.

Every performance in the film is strong from Jolie to the amazingly talented actors, Chiwetel Ejiofor and Liev Schrieber. The film is short, fun and you get to see Angelina Jolie kicking butt and looking hot. I give Salt 4 BDKs out of 5; i.e. definitely see it in theatres.

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Ramona and Beezus
Genre: Comedy/Family
Released: 2010
Rating: BDK

While Ramona and Beezus may fall to its clichés and formulas, the film succeeds in bringing a sweet and realistic story about a family, to life on screen. Famed author Beverly Cleary wrote a book back in 1955; entitled "Beezus and Ramona", which featured two sisters and the situations they got themselves into. Though, the character of Ramona became extremely popular and sparked numerous other books featuring her character. Her character became so popular that even the movie title switched the characters names around because the story is more about Ramona's arc.

Ramona and Beezus stars the extremely talented young actress Joey King (Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs, Battle: Los Angeles), Selena Gomez ("Wizards of Waverly Place"), John Corbett (Sex and the City, My Big Fat Greek Wedding), Sandra Oh (Sideways, Hard Candy), Josh Duhamel (Transformers, When In Rome), Ginnifer Goodwin (He's Just Not that Into You) and Bridget Moynahan (I, Robot, Lord of War).

The film really touches on an interesting subject about childhood and growing up with an older brother or sister. Ramona (King) and her sister Beezus (Gomez) get along like any sisters would with their age gap. Ramona, who is only nine years-old, is the "outcast" of the family. She is always getting into "trouble" because of her imagination. She feels like everyone is always on her back. Her older teenage sister, Beezus, is a straight A model student. Their parents, played by Bridget Moynahan and John Corbett, always favor on the side of Beezus. This puts an enormous amount of pressure on Ramona to be the star child. I am sure that everyone who has a brother or sister can attest to feeling like this at some point in their lives. One day, their father loses his job and their perfect little world is threatened because they may have to put the house up for sale. Ramona feels like it's her duty to try and save the house and keep the family together. She and Beezus fear that their parents will get a divorce because of the constant arguing.

Obviously, based on the plot line, the film raises very realistic issues that families go through. Though, this is a G-rated film, the naturalism definitely came through the film. The dialogue was well-written and the performances came off as realistic. I found myself able to connect to the characters, i.e. I could laugh when they laughed and feel sad when they cried. See, I am trying not to admit that I may have shed a tear at some moments.

The side stories in the film were my favorite. The character of Hobart (Duaheml) and his relationship with Ramona's Aunt B. (Goodwin) was the center point for laughs and emotion during the film. Obviously, we have the emotion of the Quimby family but I really thought the side stories perfectly balanced everything out. Hobart and Aunt B. were high school sweethearts who fell apart over the years. He has now traveled back to their hometown to try and get her back. There is a great scene where Ramona begs to wash Hobart's car. Hobart and Ginnifer get in the car to talk while Ramona washes his jeep. Hilarity definitely ensues during this scene.

The movie did a great job of not getting too cheesy. There are moments where I cringed because it was a bit over dramatic or the music made it feel like a soap opera. Though, most of the film, I had a smile on my face because the characters seemed so real. Considering the audience who will see this film and the movie's rating, they obviously had to tie everything up in a nice little bow for you. That is the only unrealistic aspect of the film. Though, people go to the movies to escape and that's exactly what this film does towards the end.

I am sure some critic has already called the movie "terrifical" but I wanted to use that word in my review as well. For a movie and a book I knew nothing about, I was pleasantly surprised to find myself enjoying this film. Joey King was phenomenal as Beezus and has some of the most natural facial expressions. Even Selena Gomez portrayed the older sister character perfectly. Their relationship really reminded a lot of the relationship I have with my brother. We did the same things when we were younger. When either of us would get scared at night, we would sneak into each other's rooms because we were afraid to sleep alone. If anything, the movie just brought back memories of my childhood. Oddly enough, my brother and I used to fight all the time as kids and barely got along. Though, nowadays we are best friends. I guess if a movie brings up this type of emotion, it has done something right. Ramona and Beezus receives a 3 BDK rating out of 5. Catch the matinee this weekend!

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Inception
Genre: Drama/Mystery/Sci-Fi/Thriller
Released: 2010
Rating: BDK

When I was a child, I had this recurring dream where I would get out of my bed and start to walk down the stairs to the first level of my house. I would slowly grab the banister as I turned the corner to reach the cold floor of the downstairs. Before I would set foot on that floor, Uncle Fester from The Addams Family would start to approach the banister. My immediate reaction was to run back upstairs and yell for my mommy. Though, once I stared into his eyes, my entire body became paralyzed. The scariest aspect was that when I tried to yell to my mom, nothing would come out of my mouth. It was if he cut my vocal chords right out of me. This dream always felt so real while I was inside of it. As Leonardo DiCaprio's character states in the film, "Dreams feel real while we're in them. It's only when we wake up that we realize something was strange." That statement could not be more true and I guarantee that everyone everyone reading this review has experienced that.

Inception is brilliant, period. On top of the films brilliance is the fact that the movie is not in 3D nor a remake. It would be worth the price of admission again just to sit in the audience and watch how people react to Inception. Christopher Nolan has, yet again, created another masterpiece of a film which will go down in history as one of the most innovative movies ever made. To sit here and try to explain to you how brilliant the film is, would be completely impossible but I am going to do my best. Words cannot describe the genius behind the idea. The fact that he was even able to come with an idea like this, let alone complete the final product, is beyond me. Inception is one of the most original, thought-provoking, intense, mind-blowing pieces of entertainment I have ever seen. The Academy Awards should just end the film-year now and give this movie Best Picture.

The film stars the best working actor in Hollywood, currently, Leonardo DiCaprio, who has two of the years best films now under his belt. Martin Scorcese's Shutter Island may have had a more emotional impact on me but Inception had more of a mind-blowing impact. The film also stars Ellen Page (Juno, Hard Candy), Ken Wantanabe (The Last Samurai), Cillian Murphy (Batman Begins, 28 Days Later), Michael Caine (Batman Begins, The Dark Knight), Tom Berenger (Major League, Platoon), Tom Hardy (Bronson, RocknRolla) and Marion Cotolliard (La Vien Rose, Public Enemies).

Without giving away too much, I will just skim the surface about the plot line. Trust me, you will want to stay away from certain reviews that delve too much into the plot line. The film has so many layers, no pun intended, that it would be impossible for me to explain everything here without spoiling something. Leonardo DiCaprio plays a character named Cobb, who works in the world of corporate espionage. The particular jobs that he works on uses a process called extraction, in which he and his partner Arthur (Joseph Gordon-Levitt), enter people's minds while they are dreaming and extract information. The information which is extracted is obviously extremely sensitive. In order to extract this information, Cobb and Arthur must enter the world of the dream of the person in which the information lives. Since people are aware of this technology, there are ways to set-up security in your sub-conscious to fight these people off. Confused yet? Probably but I just have a tiny bit more to say and then I'll move on with the review. As you have seen in the trailers, Cobb explains that if he is able to complete this one last job, he will be able to go home. This job is different and involves and a process called inception, in which the Cobb and his men would enter the other person's mind and plant information to effect the outcome of something in the real world. For example, if I wanted my best friend to let me date his girlfriend, I would plant a message saying that I was the guy who should date her. Cobb puts together a team to do this final job, which includes a dream world architect, played by Ellen Page and an expert named Eames (played by Tom Hardy).

Inception is pretty much a perfect film on every level, i.e. direction, cinematography, film score composition, the minimal use of CGI, not being in 3D, editing, pacing, etc. One of the strongest points of Christopher Nolan's directing is his minimal use of CGI. He really mastered this in The Dark Knight. Everything from the truck flip to the hospital blowing up were almost entirely real. There were small CGI aspects but the majority of those action scenes were real. The same goes for Inception. Obviously, CGI is used when it has to be, i.e. when we are seeing roads and building flipping over. Though, there is an insane fight sequence that takes place in a spinning hallway that was pretty much 99.9% real. According to Wally Pfister, the cinematographer of the film, a 100-foot spinning hallway was physically built for this sequence (much like the one used in Stanley Kubrick's 2001: A Space Odyssey). Joseph Gordon-Levitt was put on wires and everything you are seeing is real. The only CGI that had to be used was to edit out the wires. That just goes to show you how amazing of a director Christopher Nolan truly he is. He wants his scenes to look as realistic as possible.

Hans Zimmer has,yet again, created a masterful score. Zimmer, who also did the music for The Dark Knight, Gladiator, The Lion King, always comes up with music that stays with you after the film is over. His music perfectly follows each character and builds on itself throughout the film, until the movie and the music both reach an intense and amazing climax. As I am sitting here writing this review, I am humming and whistling music from the film. I also want to give credit to a man named Zack Hemsey who did the trailer music for the final trailer.

If I had to make one small complaint about the film it would be that I wish I had more of an emotional connection to Leonardo DiCapario's character. Normally, he really surprises me with an emotional explosion but I didn't get that out of him this time around. Though, that did not really bother me considering how complex the film really is. There are so many layers going on at once that you almost forget about the characters because you are so caught up in trying to figure out the answers. What's cool is that the film is very easy to follow as it starts going. The complexity of it all does not really hit you until after you have left the theatre. It finally hit me as I was driving home with my co-host and I started freaking out thinking about the genius that went into the story and editing elements of the last hour of that film. The film essentially loses itself in it's own complexity. You will be sitting there with your jaw on the floor in disbelief of what you are seeing.

Director Christopher Nolan, who also wrote the film, has seriously just blown me away, yet again. Apparently, the film was so secretive, that when the script was being read by anybody, including the head of the studio, that there was a security guard outside the room. That way, the script would not leak and it could not be spoiled. The complexity of the film is so insane that you will have to see it numerous times to even grasp the genius behind the idea. I can't tell you how many times I just sat back in my seat and smiled because my mind was just so blown. Even the publicist said that she walked in the theater and just stared at my reaction during the film.

Go see Inception immediately. Hopefully this movie will give a little jump to Joseph Gordon-Levitt considering he is involved in the greatest scene in the film. Levitt starred in last year's amazing film 500 Days of Summer. He has always been a great actor and it was great to see him in this type of huge summer blockbuster. Inception is almost the anti-big summer blockbuster though if you think about it. The movie is completely original yet has the ability to make a ton of money based on Nolan's previous work and its stars. Another great thing that Nolan does is that he makes his films feel R-rated, yet they are usually PG-13. The Dark Knight and Inception both had extremely dark tones which completely throw the viewer off.

I guess the big question that people want to know is whether or not the film is better than The Dark Knight. I would say the film is on par but The Dark Knight had a bit more of an emotional impact on me. Also, there was not really a stand-out performance in this film like there was in The Dark Knight with the Joker. Regardless, Inception is still a masterpiece and a movie that will take multiple viewings to wrap your mind around. The film is my fourth 5 out of 5 of the year, with the others being Toy Story 3, Shutter Island and How To Train Your Dragon.

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The Sorcerer's Apprentice
Genre: Action/Adventure/Comedy/Drama
Released: 2010
Rating: BDK

When your film contains cringe-worthy cheesy moments, you have a problem. The Sorcerer's Apprentice is essentially a poor man's How to Train Your Dragon. The nerdy kid who is picked on constantly develops a unique "skill" that enables him to succeed greatly in life. Is that a non-spoiler way of giving away what happens in the film? There was no point for this film to be made other than to make Jerry Bruckheimer even more money. Bruckheimer has produced such blockbusters as The Pirates of the Caribbean trilogy and the Bad Boys films. Collectively, his films have grossed over 4.2 billion dollars according to BoxOfficeMojo.com. Nicolas Cage, who actually did two films recently that I enjoyed (Kick-Ass, Bad Lieutenant), steps back into his lifeless acting role that he has been playing for years. Cage, who has been in a string of bad movies recently, has just completely fallen off since the 1990's. I did enjoy National Treasure but the sequel was more of the same. He is still pulling in box office numbers, which I guess is the main reason studios keep hiring him. Does anyone remember Bangkok Dangerous or Next?

The Sorcerer's Apprentice stars Nicolas Cage (Face/Off, Raising Arizona), Jay Baruchel (She's out of My League, Knocked Up), Alfred Molina (Spider-Man 2, The Prince of Persia: Sands of Time), Monica Belucci (The Matrix: Reloaded, Irreversible) and Teresa Palmer (Bedtime Stories, Wolf Creek).

The film opens in 790 AD where we meet the classic character of Merlin. Merlin had three apprentices at this time, Balthazar (Cage), Horvath (Molina) and Veronica (Belucci). Horvath turns against both Veronica and Balthazar to work with an insanely powerful sorcerer named Morgana (Alice Krige). Morgana murders Merlin and as Merlin is dying; he tells Balthazar that the only person who can kill Morgana is the sorcerer's apprentice. Balthazar searches for centuries until he comes across a little nerdy boy named Dave (played at a young age by Jake Cherry). Dave (Baruchel) learns that he is special but after his first meeting with Balthazar, he does not seem him again for another ten years. Now, Dave is twenty years old and attending NYU. He is a master when it comes to physics. Horvath and Balthazar enter back into Dave's life. Balthazar needs Dave's help to defeat Horvath from releasing Morgana. If Morgana is released, she has the ability to raise the dead and destroy the earth. The question is whether or not Balthazar can turn Dave into a sorcerer, quickly. Did I mention that Dave has a love interest that goes by the name of Becky? And yes, she gets involved in the mix as well.

First of all, the jokes that are supposed to be funny are not. Baruchel is very funny when he is being awkward but the dialogue was so forced that you could tell he was uncomfortable with some of the jokes. The problem with the film has nothing to do with him though. He has played this part already two times this year; She’s out of My League, How To Train Your Dragon. He is the nerdy kid who finally realizes his potential and acts on it.

The biggest issue with the film was the pacing. The movie jumped around way too much and completely lost itself. Characters were making massive leaps in their developments which made the film feel unnatural. Yes, I understand that we are dealing with sorcerers and magic here but you still want the audience to suspend their disbelief. That does not occur once in this film. You need to build a trust with the audience. Make us believe that Jay Baruchel's character is actually learning the magic and becoming a sorcerer. Don't just have him jump right into the magic and have it down pat in a matter of minutes. That is not literally what happens but it just felt like that. Also, Nicolas Cage needs to actually act like he wants to be in the film. You could tell this was just a paycheck for him. All of his dialogue was predictable. Heck, the entire movie was predictable. I was predicting scenes an hour before they happened. In fact, there was one scene where I thought, "Ok, now the writers are smart enough not to go there." And what do you know, they went there!

I understand the film is being marketed to younger kids and families but they seriously deserve much better than this. Go see something with depth and emotion like Toy Story 3 or Despicable Me. Everything about this movie was typical Hollywood formula, which is essentially what Bruckheimer is known for. Normally, it works in his case but this time around, he is not fooling anyone. This was a project that was going to fail from the beginning. It's the story we've seen a thousand times before yet with bad dialogue and mediocre acting. There were so many times where I put my face in my hands and just shook my head in disbelief.

The biggest plus about the film were the effects. The fight sequences and effects were very cool to watch but that is all. The movie deserves to be a rental and is not worth your money to see in theatres. Most people are going to be surprised at how the film references the classic Fantasia, one of my favorite films of all time. The Sorcerer's Apprentice receives a 2 BDK rating out of 5. Just stick with the rental on this one and go see Inception.

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The Kids Are All Right
Genre: Comedy
Released: 2010
Rating: BDK

The Kids Are All Right is a surprisingly funny, heart warming and all around great story about a family going through life. You would think that considering the subject matter of the film, that it would be very political about gay rights but director Lisa Cholodenko put that aside and gave the audience an accurate look into a family. Yes, the parents are of the same-sex but that makes no difference. Both are great parents and I believe Lisa Cholodenko, who is also in a same-sex marriage, did not want to be overly political. I had the opportunity to sit in a roundtable interview with Lisa and this is what she had to say; "…We really worked hard to not be political…It's just a family with all their weird junk…This is a family that looks like any other family." That quote means so much because she actually does get in a great message about same-sex marriages. The fact that the family "looks like any other family" should hopefully open doors to those who are ignorant about that subject. I just wanted to say hats off to Lisa for making such a strong message yet keeping it so subtle.

The film stars Julianne Moore (Children of Men, Boogie Nights), Annette Benning (Bugsy, American Beauty), Mark Ruffalo (Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, Shutter Island), Josh Hutcherson (Journey to the Center of the Earth, The Bridge to Terabithia) and Mia Wasikowska (who played Alice in Tim Burton's Alice in Wonderland).

The story is so simple yet so well-written. This film goes to show that no matter how simple your story line is, the meat of the film comes from the dialogue and the actors. The Kids Are All Right is a very character driven film and Lisa needed extremely strong actors to play these parts. The film opens and we meet this family, which consists of two parents and two children. Nic (Benning) and Jules (Moore) met in college and immediately fell in love. They decided to have two children via the same sperm donor, Paul (played by Mark Ruffalo). The two children, Laser (Hutcherson) and Joni (Wasikowska) have always been curious about who their biological father is. We meet Joni at the age of eighteen, right before she is about to leave for college. She puts a call into the sperm donor bank because her younger brother is curious as well. In walks Paul, your typical hippie who lives live as a free bird. He dropped out of college and started his own restaurant. He stays single and essentially lives the good life. Though, once his biological children come in to the picture, he realizes how important family is. The only issue with Paul coming into their lives is that it starts to disrupt this perfect family unit that Jules and Nic had set-up.

You will be laughing hysterically during the film, which is odd considering the film is a drama at heart. The laughs are very well-written and go along with the awkwardness of life. One minute you will be laughing and the next minute you will be in tears, which is how life works. I could be having a great day one minute and then get some devastating news the next. This is a huge positive to the film because it actually feels like we are getting a peak into a real life family and the issues they are dealing with.

The performances are so strong. Mia Wasikowska and Mark Ruffalo were the two stand-out performances for me. Everyone in the film was great but when I left the theatre, I could not stop thinking about their characters. Wasikowska has the biggest emotional arc of the film and once you see the ending, you will be blown away by her performance. When it comes to Mark Ruffalo, his performance stood out because of his reaction shots. Anytime something awkward would happen in the film, the camera would cut to his face during his reaction and it just felt so natural. I felt like I would see those reactions on anyone's face if they were put in the same situation. Annette Benning and Julianne Moore definitely deliver strong performances and come off as great parents. Even Josh Hutcherson plays a realistic fifteen year-old boy who is struggling with friends and real life issues.

There is nothing mind-blowing about this movie. It is not a sequel or in 3D or has mind-blowing special effects. It is just a simple story about a family going through real life issues and it works. I promise you will get a ton of laughs out of it and once you leave the theatre, you will be talking about how great the film was. I only had a couple of issues with the movie but they were not enough to ruin my experience. My biggest complaint was the acoustic guitar film score. Anytime an emotional moment would happen, the acoustic guitar would come in to play some somber music. It just felt like a soap opera in certain scenes. Though, that is all countered with the amazing soundtrack to the film, including David Bowing, MGMT and Joni Mitchell. The Kids Are All Right receives a 4 out of 5 BDK rating. Check it out this weekend!

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Predators
Genre: Action/Adventure/Sci-Fi/Thriller
Released: 2010
Rating: BDK

Nimrod Antal has crafted an insanely action-packed science fiction flick while simultaneously paying homage to the original material and creating his own. Back in 1994, writer/director Robert Rodriguez wrote a script called "Predators" but ended up directing a little film called Desperado. Until now, the film was lost and now Armored director Nimrod Antal has picked up the duty to direct. To be honest, considering Nimrod's previous work and the fact that ANOTHER Predator film was coming out, did not seem like the greatest idea in the world. Boy, was I wrong. What's great about Nimrod's film is that it is not a remake/reboot. The film essentially continues on with the story of these predator creatures. In fact, the characters in this 2010 film actually reference the characters in the 80's original starring Arnold Schwarzenegger, Carl Weathers and Jesse Ventura, which by the way, is one of my all time favorite films. To be completely hack and cheesy, "stick around" for the rest of my review to find out why.

The film occurs in present day and has one of the most interesting openings I have seen. There is nothing better than having both the audience and the characters of the film, confused as to what is happening. The opening shot of the film is Adrian Brody's character falling from the sky. He has no idea why he is falling but he's falling fast and approaching the ground. He hits his parachute and still experiences and extremely violent landing. As he stands up, he realizes that others are falling out of the sky with him. After all is said and done, there are eight strangers stranded in this mysterious jungle. They have no clue how they got there and they have no idea where they are. All eight of these people have something in common though; they are predators themselves, i.e. convicts, killers, ex-military, Yakuza, etc. Only one of them, played by Topher Grace, seems to have been mistakenly placed there considering he is a doctor and seems like an all around great guy. Without giving away too many spoilers, let's just say that all eight of these strangers have landed on a mysterious animal planet containing the Alien Predators. Now, the game has begun where they will fight for their lives.

Predators stars Adrian Brody (The Pianist, King Kong), Alice Braga (I Am Legend), Laurence Fishburne (The Matrix, King of New York), Topher Grace ("That 70's Show"), Walton Goggins ("Justified"), Oleg Taktarov, Danny Trejo (Machete, Desperado), Louis Ozawa Changchien ("Law and Order", "Heroes and Villians") and Mahershalalhashbaz Ali (The Curious Case of Benjamin Button).

I guess the big question everyone wants answered is whether or not this installment of the series is better than the original. The short answer is no but it is the best film involving the predators since then, i.e. Predator 2, Alien Vs. Predator, Alien Vs. Predators: Requiem. What's great about this movie is that you can tell a huge fan of the first film made it. He pays perfect homage to that movie yet still creates his own environment with new predators. I was reading that Nimrod wanted these predators to be relentless and not helpful to the humans like we have seen in the "Alien vs. Predator" films. They are supposed to be brutal beings and that's exactly what we get in this film. There are two types of "Predators" in this film, the original and a new, sharper breed.

For you "Predator" fans out there, this film is filled with bad-ass action and violence. Nimrod Antal gave the fans exactly what they wanted; a hard R-Rated film. There are decapitations, people exploding and more. He went all out with the violence and I am not saying that necessarily makes a good film but it makes for a fun "Predator" movie. One of the biggest issues with Alien Vs. Predator was the PG-13 rating and one of the biggest issues with the sequel was how dark the film was. Even though the movie was R-Rated, you could not see anything because everything was filmed at night and very quickly edited together.

Adrian Brody nails it as the lead character. He gained twenty-five pounds of muscle for the role and it shows. Now, does he look like Arnold Schwarzenegger; no chance. Though, he does pull of a great role as a mysterious bad-ass who just wants to get the hell out of there. Even though he is only on screen for roughly fifteen minutes, Laurence Fishburne plays a great role as a whacked-out guy whose been on the planet for many years. There is also a very strong performance from Alice Braga, who brings a great bad-ass role to the table as one of the female led characters in the movie.

Listen, this movie was made for fans of science-fiction and action. On my scale, this is definitely worth seeing in theatres mainly because of the action and performances. There are even hints of emotional connections as the back-stories of these eight men unravel. For fans, this movie is a 4 BDK rating out of 5. It will definitely please you. Now, I can totally see someone walking into this film who completely hates on science fiction and over-the-top bloody action movies and saying that it was awful. You have to judge this film based on the audience it is being geared towards and for them, including myself, it is one hell of a great time.

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Despicable Me
Genre: Animation/Comedy/Family
Released: 2010
Rating: BDK

Despicable Meshould win an award for actually using 3D correctly. This is the first 3D animated film to come from Universal Pictures and they nailed it! The film makers found a perfect balance between using the 3D as a gimmick and using it for depth of field. 2010 has been a crazy year with 3D movies and we can say thank you to Avatar for creating such a stir. Movies that had originally been shot in 2D were being converted to 3D to keep up with the times; i.e. Clash of the Titans, Alice in Wonderland and The Last Airbender (which, except for Alice in Wonderland, all looked like garbage). Personally, I very much dislike 3D as I think it is a way for film makers to be lazy in the story department. The 3D angle also causes the viewer to spend an extra couple of bucks to see the film. Well, Universal is one of the first studios that actually understands that and has found a way to give people what they want. Despicable Medelivers stunning 3D visuals, a ton of heart, great laughs and an all around fun time at the movies.

Did I mention the genius score for the film? Well, when you have one of the greatest film score composers of all time producing the score for your film, you are in good hands. Though, the score itself was written and composed by Pharrell Williams. Pharrell is the unbelievably talented hip-hop/rock producer behind such great artists as Britney Spears, Snoop Dogg, Jay-Z, etc. He and his partner Chad Hugo formed a group called The Neptunes and another group called N.E.R.D. Now, Pharrell, who scored the film and sang on most of the tracks, was in good hands being produced by Mr. Hans Zimmer himself (The Dark Knight, Inception, Gladiator, True Romance, The Rock).

Despicable Me may look a bit confusing in the trailers but once you see the film you will notice it's similarities to A Christmas Carol, where you have the arc of the grouchy man who hates people to the man that loves everyone including children. Meet Gru (voiced by Steve Carrell), who most consider to be the world's greatest super villain. At least, that's how he thinks of himself. He is always in competition to steal the biggest object to obtain top status. Though, one day, another villain outdoes him by stealing one of the Egyptian Pyramids. This enrages Gru who decides that he needs to one-up this new villain. He decides that he is going to steal the moon! The only issue is that the device he needs to shrink the moon in order to bring it back to earth, is not in his hands. The device ends up in the hands of the newest super villain, Vector (Jason Segal). In order to steal the shrink ray, Gru has to do the unthinkable and adopt three little girls, Margo (Miranda Cosgrove), Agnes (Elsie Fischer) and Edith (Dana Gaier). At first, he considers these girls tools to help him get into Vector's house, considering they sell girl scout cookies. Though, after a while, he starts to feel like he's part of a family and the kids become the most important thing in his life.

The cool aspect about the 3D in Despicable Me was that when you took your glasses off, the screen's color seemed to be just as bright with them on. The 3D was so great that even the roller coaster ride that occurs in the film felt unbelievably real. Normally, anytime I see a film where they are trying to simulate a roller coaster ride, it hardly ever works. This time, I almost could feel the wind rushing over my face. My co-host Josh Hylton (www.joshhylton.com) complained about feeling nauseous after the scene was over.

We have all seen the arc in a character we he goes from completely evil to becoming a lovable human being. With these children, the true character of Gru finally comes out. While he still wants to compete to be the world's greatest villain, he still has a heart. This is noticable in his facial expressions, his voice and when he reads bed time stories. I also really enjoyed the flash backs that Gru had with his mother. There is a great scene where the word "Eh" is used over and over.

My biggest issue with the film was the character of Vector (voiced by Jason Segal). The film makers appeared to be making a running joke on Bill Gates. I would cringe anytime his character would say, "Oh Yeah." Maybe the writers though that was funny but he kept saying it and it became really annoying after a while.

One of the greater aspects of the film were the Gru's little minions. If you have seen the trailers, they are the little yellow workers that Gru has around him at all times to help with his villainous missions. They are absolutely cute and hilarious and almost steal the entire film. If it wasn't for the great emotional arc of Gru's character, they would have easily been the best part. The minions mixed with the three children that Gru has to adopt make the film so funny and cute.

Despicable Me is a great movie for the family to see and people of all ages can enjoy it. Is it the best animated movie of 2010? If Toy Story 3 did not exist, I could give you a better answer. Despicable Me receives a 3.5 BDK rating out of 5.

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The Twilight Saga: Eclipse
Genre: Fantasy/Romance/Thriller
Released: 2010
Rating: BDK

Listen, I completely understand what you are thinking right now; How could a "Twilight" film actually be good, right? Before judging myself or the film, read my review below and then check it out. Many people already have their bias towards the series and refuse to see any of these films. This movie is actually very well-done and will be a film that everyone can enjoy.

I did not think I would see the day where the words "Eclipse is actually a well-directed action soap opera that works" come out of my mouth. Well, that day has obviously arrived and Mr. David Slade has done a brilliant job at creating a Twilight film that will work for everyone. For the record, the first film was enjoyable and was shockingly intense and powerful, considering the demographic it was trying to reach. The second film, New Moon, felt more like an Abercrombie and Fitch commercial. The film makers took complete advantage of showing off Taylor Lautner's new body. This time around, the movie is a bit more self-aware. Slade knows that there are two audiences watching his film; the super fans and the people the super fans drag along with them to the movie. I consider myself to be somewhere in between. Slade made this film for both audiences. He gives the super fans their cheesy soap opera love affair between Bella, Jacob and Edward. Then he also gives the audience a self-aware movie that sometimes mocks itself but also delivers great action and amazing special effects. Think of the Pixar-effect. Pixar always makes movies for two audiences, adults and kids.

At one point, Edward Cullen says to Jacob, "Don't you ever wear a shirt?" It was at that moment that I knew I was enjoying this film. For those of you out there who are not familiar with the series, Eclipse is the third film in amazingly successful book series authored by Stephanie Meyer. The first film was directed by Catherine Hardwicke, followed by Chris Weitz and now Hard Candy/30 Days of Night director David Slade. Each director has put their own spin on the series and the fourth book, Breaking Dawn will be a two-part film directed by Dreamgirls director Bill Condon. The series features vampires and werewolves. The vampires do not have fangs, glisten while in the sun and have insanely beautiful eyes. Coming from a guy who watches True Blood religiously, it takes a lot for me to admit that I enjoyed this teenage vampire flick.

I'll give you a little back story before jumping into the new plot. In the first film, Bella (Kristen Stewart) moves in with her father and starts attending Forks High School. There she meets a vampire named Edward (played by Robert Pattinson). She struggles to find out what he is, while at the same time falling madly in love with him. At the end of the first film, Edward kills another vampire named James (Cam Gigondet) who happens to be dating a red headed vampire named Victoria. The second film picks up and we start to learn more about Bella's friend Jacob (Taylor Lautner). It turns out that he is a werewolf and a natural enemy of the vampires. Both Jacob and Edward are madly in love with Bella. Edward leaves for the majority of the film because he feels that his presence is too dangerous for Bella. At the end of the second film, after many shirts have been taken off and many jean shorts have been worn, Edward asks Bella to marry him.

That leads us right into Eclipse. Edward and Bella now plan on getting married but there is one problem; Jacob is madly in love with her as well. There is a bigger problem though. Victoria is now working with the Volturi (headed by Martin Sheen in New Moon and Dakota Fanning in Eclipse). The Volturi have created a new born breed of vampires to help Victoria get to Bella to kill her. The new born army is headed up a recent human-turned-vampire named Riley (Xavier Samuel). Victoria wants revenge on Edward for killing James and the main way to do that is to kill Bella. The werewolves and the vampires (The Cullens) team up to fight this new born breed of vampires. It just so happens that Mr. Jasper Cole (played by Jackson Rathbone) has a lot of training in killing new born vampires. He and the Cullens, including Alice (Ashley Greene), Emmett (Kellen Lutz), Rosalie (Nikki Reed) and Dr. Cullen (Peter Facinelli) team up to help save Bella.

The combination of David Slade's great direction, plus Howard Shore's amazing score and very entertaining performances from the cast, allow this to be more than a regular Twilight film. Slade took this to a whole different level. Yes, the cheesy soap opera stuff is still there for the fans but he made a very decent vampire/werewolf action flick as well. Though, oddly enough, some of the best scenes in the film were between Bella, Edward and Jacob. The dialogue was written well and kept the tension. Also, the movie was self-aware, essentially making fun of itself at times. There is one specific scene that occurs inside of a tent with Bella, Jacob and Edward. Bella is asleep while Edward and Jacob discuss their feelings for her. The scene was tense but also had a ton of emotion.

The movie had these great flash-backs, where we learned about certain vampire's pasts. For example, we learned why Jasper (Rathbone) was so good at training to kill newborns. He was alive during the civil war era and we get to see how he was changed into a vampire. There is also a great flashback scene with the character of Rose.

Robert Pattinson and Kristen Stewart can both really act. We saw Pattinson deliver a great performance earlier in the year with Remember Me. Now, I know that Stewart does not get the greatest publicity in the world but she is an artist. She does not let the world of the paparazzi effect her performances. I also really loved the relationship this time around with Bella and her father Charlie, played by Billy Burke.

The movie is full of great action scenes and special effects. The werewolves looked fantastic and the fight sequences were amazing to watch. I absolutely loved the way the vampires would die. It was as if they were breaking porcelain. Also, the human interaction with the werewolves looked very realistic. Slade did a great job with the running of the vampires and the transformations.

Even if you are not in the demographic for this film, you should check it. Eclipse deserves at least a 3.5 out of 5.

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The Last Airbender
Genre: Action/Adventure/Family/Fantasy
Released: 2010
Rating: BDK

Can we please just stop with the 3D conversions in cinema? First of all, 3D is not that great to begin with. Yes, the depth of field feels encompassing at times but for the most part, it is used by studios to charge a premium on their ticket prices. The worst is when a film is directed in 2D and then converted later on. That essentially screams to the audiences that the film studio wants your money and that is completely unacceptable. Plus, the 3D conversion does not look good at all! Did you see how awful Clash of the Titans looked? Even Alice in Wonderland's 3D conversion was nothing to write home about. Now, M. Night Shymalan has decided to take the conversion route which actually is painful on the eyes. There are scenes where the depth of field does look great and as he says, it's supposed to feel like you are looking into a window. Though, about 99% of the 3D in the film is useless. There was no reason to convert this film and it only added an extra layer of pain to my eyes. Anytime Shymalan would pan the camera left or right, I could feel my eyes starting to hurt.

I would consider myself to be a Shymalan apologist. I generally look for the positives in his films and have liked everything from The Sixth Sense until The Lady in the Water. Yes, I am aware that Lady in the Water was universally panned. One thing that is apparent in his films, except for The Sixth Sense, is that Shymalan has a hard time directing actors. The majority of performances he gets from his actors are lifeless. The dialogue is extremely obvious and painful to hear at times. In The Last AirBender, the majority of the dialogue is extremely elementary. Now, I understand the film is being made for the fans of the television show, which aired on Nickelodeon for three seasons between 2005 and 2008. I also understand that Shymalan is using actors who are kind of new to the acting scene, i.e. Nicola Peltz (Deck the Halls), Noah Ringer, Dev Patel (Slumdog Millionaire) and Jackson Rathbone (he plays Jasper in the Twilight films). That still is no excuse to give them elementary/obvious dialogue. The performances suffer mainly from the awful script. What's odd is that if you watch Rathbone's performance in this film and then compare it to his performance in The Twilight Saga: Eclipse, you will see a massive difference. The obvious reason is that David Slade did a better job at grabbing a great performance from him and the script was more even and contained better dialogue. That is saying a lot considering the Twilight films are not really known for their great dialogue.

The film, which is based on the television show, "Avatar: The Last Airbender," had to undergo a title change because of James Cameron's Avatar, which is odd considering the entire film revolves around the lead character being called an Avatar. We learn in the beginning of the film that there are four nations in the world; Water, Fire, Earth and Air. All of these elements have the ability to be manipulated by certain people within that nation. For example, one of the lead characters is Katara (Nicola Peltz). Katara, being part of the Water nation, has the ability to "bend" water, meaning that she can make water rise with her hands and use it to freeze objects or protect herself from fire. The Fire Nation, on the other hand, has the ability to manipulate/bend fire to be used in battle. The fire nation's biggest fear is the return of the Avatar. If the Avatar were to return, he/she could single handedly stop the Fire nation from taking over and restore peace to the spirits and all four kingdoms. As it currently stands, the Fire nation is invading each nation. Katara and her brother, Sokka (Rathbone) find a little boy who has been frozen in the ice for over one-hundred years. He goes by the name Aang (Ringer) and is the last remaining Avatar. An Avatar has the ability to master and manipulate all four elements. If he can do so, he can pretty much stop anything. Katara and Sokka's job is to protect him from Prince Zuko (Dev Patel), who happens to be the prince of the Fire Nation. Prince Zuko is ordered by his father to find the Avatar before he can return to his family.

Ok, let me catch my breath her for one second. As you can tell, the plot line is extremely confusing and there is way too much going on. If you found yourself lost in my plot line that is exactly how I felt during the film itself. All you really need to know is that Aang's job is to master all four elements to stop the Fire Nation from destroying all of the other nations.

The film's biggest issue is the performances. The acting is so bad that I found myself laughing during the majority of the film. All these actors had to do was quiet themselves, do their action scenes and everything would have been alright. There was no problem with the visuals and the action scenes. Those were great to watch and the only reason this movie scores a 2.5 out of 5. I did not care one bit about any character in the film, as the emotional connection just wasn't there. It was essentially the exact same way I felt about Avatar. The film had unbelievable visuals but the dialogue and plot were not up to par.

The action scenes are what save the film. Thankfully, there are enough of them to hopefully satisfy the younger audiences. I can see an eight year-old kid loving this film because of the visual effects. Though, when he watches the film ten years later, he will realize how terrible the dialogue and acting really was.

If you do see this film, stay away from the 3D. The movie was shot in 2D and then converted and this is the final product. The plot is overly confusing, the acting is horrendous, the dialogue is atrocious but the action/special effects are fun, hence the 2.5 BDK rating.

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Grown Ups
Genre: Comedy
Released: 2010
Rating: Half BDK

Grown Ups is easily one of the worst films of the year. I've seen horror films with more comedy than this movie. When you are making a comedy, your goal should be to make the audience laugh, not bore them to tears. I could not wait for this movie to end and as it kept dragging on, my tolerance for the film was wearing more and more thin. If a joke does not work the first time, do not keep repeating it throughout the entire film (i.e. people falling in poop, a four year old kid being breast fed, an old woman's bunion). I'm not really sure who I am directing this review at but at the moment I am just a little annoyed that I just sat in a hour and forty minute comedy that felt like it lasted for over three hours. There were more laughs in Gone with the Wind. The good joke to bad-joke ratio of this film is 5% to 95%.

The film has an all-star cast including Adam Sandler (Happy Gilmore, Billy Madison), Kevin James (I Know Pronounce You Chuck and Larry, Hitch), David Spade (Tommy Boy, Black Sheep), Rob Schneider (Deuce Bigelow: Male Gigelow), Chris Rock (Lethal Weapon 4, Death at a Funeral), Salma Hayek (From Dusk Til Dawn, Desperado) and Maria Bello (A History of Violence, The Cooler).

Grown Ups is just one bad joke after the next. There's not much to say except for the fact that the script is downright boring, unfunny and lacks any type of chemistry. You would think that these five comedians could come up with better chemistry. Instead, the jokes feel orchestrated and not natural in the least. It felt like there was someone telling the comedian it was there time for a joke. The whole film felt completely off as if they were reading cue cards.

The movie opens in 1978 and we see all five best friends playing in a basketball championship. After winning the game, their coach invites all five friends and their families to a lake house to celebrate the victory. There, Coach Buzzer tells the kids to be winners in life and blah blah blah. Skip to thirty-years later, we meet all five best friends again as they are living their separate lives. Lenny (Adam Sandler) is a hot-shot Hollywood agent who has a beautiful wife (Hayek) and two spoiled kids. They live in a mansion in Beverly Hills and this is the cue for one of the films horrific continued jokes about how the kids are spoiled and how Lenny feels awkward about it. Eric (Kevin James) is living a rather normal life except for the fact that his four year old son is still being breast fed by his wife (Maria Bello). Kurt (Chris Rock) is a stay at home dad who cooks and cleans all day. His pregnant wife (Maya Rudolph) makes fun of him constantly because he always tries to cook. Marcus (David Spade) is the only single man of the bunch and he just sits around playing video games and hooking up with girls. Finally, we have Rob (Schneider) who has been married three times and is now dating a woman two-times his age. He is a massage therapist (I think - they don't really tell you) and is very eco-friendly; only eating organic foods. That was another terrible running joke about his shtick. The five friends find out that their beloved coach from thirty years ago has now passed away and they all get together for the funeral and Fourth of July weekend at the lake house with the families. Let the unfunny film begin.

I'll be generous and say that Grown Ups maybe has a couple of funny jokes that will cause you to chuckle. The rest of the jokes are painful one-liners which fall completely flat. Even the actors looked bored during the film. What was going through Adam Sandler's mind when he co-wrote this film? Oh, I know a paycheck! Chris Rock looked bored the entire film!

On top of all the horrendous jokes, the movie tries to throw in messages about today's society and how kids only play video games and don't have "natural" fun anymore, i.e. playing outside, skipping rocks, swinging from trees, etc. While I agree with that message, it is shoved down our throats amongst an awful script and awful humor. These "message" scenes come as forced and cheesy. I was waiting for Keenan Ivory Wayans to pop out of the wood and say "Message" like he did in Don't Be a Menace To South Central While Drinking Your Juice in the Hood.

The movie drags on and on and on and on. It was as if Adam Sandler knew how to torture the audience and just continued doing so for an hour and forty minutes (which felt more like three hours). The movie could have ended in so many different places but they had to have a terrible montage scene at the end. Don't get me started on the last joke of the film before it goes to credits. I'll just say it deals with Steve Buscemi and it is awful.

The movie lost steam after about ten minutes. I literally sat there in my seat right when the film hit the ten minute mark and said to myself, "How is this going to last another hour and thirty minutes?" The jokes were so childish, which is weird because I usually find myself laughing at those types of jokes.

Please, stay away from this film. You will be better off in life not watching it. I feel bad for anyone who has to pay money to see this film, hence the 1 BDK rating.

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Cyrus
Genre: Comedy
Released: 2010
Rating: BDK

Mark and Jay Duplass have created an oddly original yet weird and natural film that interestingly balances out comedy and drama. Cyrus is a very odd film yet feels so natural at the same time which is a compliment to the writing style. With strong performances, the film comes off as something fresh, new and steering away from the normal films we see these days. The film does have some odd tonal shifts but those become part of the film's charm as it goes on. Even funny man Jonah Hill delivers an amazing performance in a semi-serious, semi-creepy role where he is a constant manipulator. The film also stars John C. Reilly (Boogie Nights, Dewey Cox), Marisa Tomei (My Cousin Vinny, The Wrestler) and Catherine Keener (The 40 Year Old Virgin, Where the Wild Things Are).

Cyrus tells the story of a man who falls for a woman that just happens to have a psychotic 21-year old son still living at home. John (played by John C. Reilly) is a freelance editor who has been depressed for the past seven years. His ex-wife (Keener) left him because he was not emotionally there in the relationship anymore. In the opening scene, she comes to tell him that she is now getting remarried and that she wants him to come out to a party that night with her and her fiancé (played by Matt Walsh). John eventually goes to the party and meets a beautiful middle-aged woman (played by Marisa Tomei). They immediately click but every night that they hook-up; she has to immediately leave to go somewhere. Curious as to what is going on, John follows her home one night and finds that she has a twenty-one year old son named Cyrus (Jonah Hill). Now, here's the problem. Cyrus starts getting jealous and acting out because he feels like he is losing his mom. This creates a war between Cyrus and John which ranges from hysterical to downright sad at times.

Cyrus is the type of film that people will see and either love it or be completely turned off by it. The Duplass brothers use an interesting style of filming, with constant zooms which did throw me off at first but as the film went on, the zooms became part of the film's charm. I started to really enjoy the awkward quick zooms because it makes the film seem real, raw and natural. The natural vibe was already coming off from the dialogue and performances. I just felt that the reaction shots in the film, much like the amazing reaction shots in The Kids Are Alright, made the film feel real.

Jonah Hill's performance was creepy yet hilarious at the same time. Anytime he was on screen, you did not know what his character was going to do. He was either going to freak out or be calm. I loved that aspect of the film. You did not know what to expect and it made you feel very uncomfortable at times. Hill was the main reason for that.

John C. Reilly and Marisa Tomei's chemistry really grabbed me. They really fit well together and I really enjoyed their scenes together. There are two scenes in particular where their relationship felt so real. Both of these scenes take place after Cyrus leaves the house to move into an apartment. There is one scene where John is rubbing her feet as she cries on the couch and another where they are sleeping in bed and he keeps telling that everything is going to be alright. The scene in the bed was the turning point of the film for me. As John C. Reilly's character is telling Marisa Tomei's character that everything is going to be alright, she is crying her eyes out. In my mind, there was no way of breaking that emotion. Then John says a very funny line and the whole scene turns into a great feel good moment. That was such a minor line that had such an amazing impact on me. I kept getting a vibe sometimes that Cyrus was sexually attracted to his mom but thankfully writers/directors did not go there.

The score worked very well with the montage sequences. The scenes where Catherine Keener and John C. Reilly are interacting with Marisa Tomei and Jonah Hill felt so real. The laughter all felt so natural. I also really enjoyed the different style of voice over work in the film. The characters would be in different scenes but the voiceovers would continue going.

Cyrus mainly works because it's a perfectly mixed bag of emotions. Mark Duplass recently stated that "We have always focused on the funny and the tragically comedic elements of relationships. We love that ambiguity." That to me pretty much sums up exactly why Cyrus is such an intriguing film. You get sad, happy, dramatic, depressing, funny, and hilarious and creep moments all mixed into one film.

Cyrus receives a 3.5 BDK rating out of 5. There are some odd tonal changes in the beginning but as the film goes on, it all starts to piece together. I just loved how original it felt and the performances were strong. Check it out!

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Knight and Day
Genre: Action/Comedy/Thriller
Released: 2010
Rating: BDK

Knight and Day is a fun and over-the-top action flick that delivers a great performance from Tom Cruise but needed work in the blue screen effects department. Can someone please explain to me how a summer blockbuster starring Tom Cruise and Cameron Diaz has mediocre special effects? Some of the effects were decent but the majority of the effects that required a blue/green screen looked extremely bad. Part of the movie experience is to be able to suspend your disbelief and in order to do that you need to be able to put yourself in that environment. If the majority of your action scenes are taking place on a blue/green screen, you might want to take your time and make sure those look really good. I could understand if the action scenes were a small part of the film but in this case, the action scenes take up at least 70% of the film. When you have your main star, Tom Cruise, hanging out car windows and riding on car hoods, it might be a good idea to not make him look like he’s in a studio with fake wind blowing in his face.

The film stars Tom Cruise (Tropic Thunder, Top Gun), Cameron Diaz (There's Something About Mary, The Mask), Peter Sarrsgarrd (Garden State, Rendition), Paul Dano (There Will Be Blood, Little Miss Sunshine) and Viola Davis (Doubt, Law Abiding Citizen).

The film opens in an airport, much like the trailer, and we meet Roy Miller (Tom Cruise) as he searches through the airport for a particular person to help him with a job. He "accidentally" bumps into June Havens (Diaz) twice before they meet each other on a rather empty air craft. The air craft is purposely empty because all of the men on board are trying to kill Roy Miller to secure a battery which has an insane amount of powers. June is on her way to her sister's wedding until Roy kills everyone on the plane and then the plane crash lands. Now, June is part of Roy's problems and he has to protect her while protecting himself. Without giving anything away, I will say that Roy is a secret agent working for a certain government agency. Roy has a special zephyr and if it ends up in the wrong hands, it could be deadly to large amount of people. The C.I.A. is currently after Roy and being headed up by man named Fitzgerald (Sarsgarrd) who obviously comes off as the bad guy. June has now found herself in action sequence after action sequence as her and Roy attempt to escape from the bad guys who are trying to secure this zephyr. The movie essentially is one action scene after the other. Though, a lot of scenes are cut together in an odd fashion due to montages of June’s character being drugged and ending up in different locations.

The overall movie has a fun and cheesy theme to it which makes it an enjoyable experience. That being said, the movie has a ton of issues. My biggest problem, like I said above, was the blue screen effects. These action scenes were very visual, yet we all know Tom Cruise is not going to do his own stunts. Therefore, director James Mangold (Walk the Line, Identity - two amazing films by the way) decided to keep close-up shots on Tom's face during the majority of these actions scenes which make the blue screen obvious. There are just so many action scenes with both characters where you can tell they are on a sound stage with fake wind. Though, Tom Cruise's hilarious charisma helps sell film. Sometimes, Tom Cruise’s character is so over-the-top that it kind of makes a mockery of itself and helps you laugh through the bad visual effects.

Some of my favorite aspects of the movie were the use of tongue-in-cheek dialogue during the action scenes. I know it's been done before but Tom Cruise would be having a free flowing conversation with Cameron Diaz during massive shoot-outs. That just added to the ridiculous nature of the film. There are many over-the-top action sequences in which this occurs but the best one's occur at the beginning and end.

The beginning and end of the film are the strong points. The middle had a bit of a dragging feeling to it and it started to take itself a bit too seriously. Though, once we get some comedic value from Cameron Diaz's character after she takes a truth serum, the movie turns back into its goofy self.

The supporting cast did not do much for me, i.e. Paul Dano, Viola Davis and Peter Sarsgarrd were all wasted. Besides Sarsgarrd, they had very minimal screen time and their talents went to waste.

If anything, the movie is purely a fun ride. There is nothing spectacular about it and it's not a game changer. If you enjoy watching Tom Cruise being sarcastic, witty and killing a bunch of bad-guys, this is your movie. He's acted in much better special effects action flicks where the blue-screen looked amazing (War of the Worlds). It just felt like they took the easy way out with the effects.

Knight and Day is a film I have been going back and forth on. Is it enjoyable, cheesy fun? Yes, but at the expense of poor effects. The film is very middle of the road and deserves a generous 3 BDK rating out of 5. Catch the matinee!

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Toy Story 3
Genre: Animation/Adventure/Comedy/Family/Fantasy
Released: 2010
Rating: BDK

Toy Story 3 is a perfect film. For the past hour or so, I have tried going through the entire film in my head to find at least one negative quality. Pixar has done it again and pretty much outdone all of their other films except for Wall-E, which still holds a special place in my heart. Wall-E was one of the first animated movies I had scene where I forgot that I was watching an animated film. The issues that I had with Pixar's last film, Up, were all fixed in Toy Story 3. Up had an odd balance to it where it was not sure whether it wanted to be a drama or a comedy. The lines were too solid and the film did not know how to walk it. As much as I loved Up, there were those issues. Toy Story 3 perfectly balances out the emotional deepness of the story with the comedic childlike ideas behind it. There are two films going inside Toy Story 3. You have the one for children, which is the main idea behind the entire series and then you have the adult oriented subject matter, i.e. adult humor, themes of abandonment and the idea of losing something so important to you that it could kill you inside.

I was talking with a friend the other day about how great this film really is. He looked at me in all seriousness and says, "Isn't just a cartoon?" That statement really hit me and I thought to myself how much of an impact these computer generated characters really have on the audience. These "cartoons" often-times have more realistic qualities to them than "real" actors in "real" movies. I find myself emotionally invested and extremely attached to characters like Woody or Buzz or Wall-E or Carl Fredrickson. Just because the actor is doing a voice behind an animated character, does not make that character any less of a person. There has not been a more emotional film this year than Toy Story 3. You will be up and down with emotions but in a great way because the writing is so smooth. The story arcs are perfect and the computer generated environments are spectacular.

Toy Story 3 stars the voices of Tom Hanks (Saving Private Ryan, Forrest Gump), Tim Allen ("Home Improvement", The Santa Claus), John Ratzenberger ("Cheers", the only actor to have appeared in every Pixar film to date), Michael Keaton (Batman, Multiplicity), Joan Cusack (High Fidelity, Arlington Road), Don Rickles (Casino, Dirty Work), Wallace Shawn (The Princess Bride), Ned Beatty (Superman, Deliverance), Estelle Harris (Stand and Deliver, Brother Bear), Teddy Newton (Day and Night) and Kristen Schaal (When in Rome, The Goods: Live Hard, Sell Hard).

Before I get into the plot line, I do want to bring up the genius Pixar short film that occurred before Toy Story 3. Pixar usually does a brilliant job with these shorts and they help the audience get ready for the greatness which is about to appear on screen. My favorite before tonight was Presto, which appeared before Wall-E. The new short is directed by a Toy Story 3 star named Teddy Newton and is titled Day and Night. The short essentially takes blob-like creatures that are see-through. The entire background of the screen is black but we can see through the outline of the creatures. Within these outlines are normal every day shots of trees, water, birds, etc. One of the blobs is Day and one is Night. They both become jealous of each other and fight it out. For example, when Day is sitting on top of Las Vegas, we see the beautiful city in the day time. Though, when Night comes around, we see how beautifully light Vegas is at night. You kind of have to see it to understand what I mean.

Generally, I am against 3D films. I have stated numerous times that 3D films are kind of ruining cinema in the sense that movie studios are now focusing more on visuals and less on story and dialogue. I feel like the studios are trying to use the 3D just to get a couple of bucks extra per ticket in their pockets. The case could not be more different for Toy Story 3 whose 3D is pretty much perfect. The depth of field-3D used in this film is unbelievable and creates an insane encompassing feel around you. There are shots in this movie that were meant to be seen in 3D, one in particular where Buzz is climbing up a snack machine to find a secret meeting. Along with the amazing computer graphics used in the film, the 3D was a perfect machine for this.

I don't want to give any spoilers away in my plot description, therefore I am going to keep this very vague. Just so you know where I stand, I feel this is the best of the three films. I would say it goes Toy Story 3, Toy Story 2, Toy Story. They are all excellent but those are my preferences. If you have not seen the first two, why are you reading this review? The movies essentially revolve around the main question of what do our toys do when we are not in the same room. Well, in this world, they come to life, talk, have feelings and go on action adventures. They also get very jealous when they are not played with. In the first two films, we were dealing with the owner of these toys, Andy, and his lack of playing as he became older. These toys do not reveal themselves to the humans and get very jealous when other toys are entered into the picture, i.e. in the first film when Buzz was introduced and Woody became jealous. In Toy Story 3, Andy (voiced by John Morris) is now seventeen years of age and is heading off to college. His mom tells him that he needs to clean out his room and throw the trash away. He decides that all of his toys, including Mr. Potato Head (Don Rickles), Mrs. Potato Head (Estelle Harris), Rex (Wallace Shawn), Slinky Dog (Blake Clark), Hamm the Pig (John Ratzenberger) and even Buzz Light Year (Tim Allen), need to be left at home in the attic. His favorite toy, Woody (Tom Hanks), would be going with him to college. Interestingly enough, the toys have felt abandoned over the years because as Andy gets older, they get played with less and less. The opening scene of the film is a really great action scene showing how much the toys used to have with Andy. Now, they pretty much have to do anything in order to Andy to even look at them.

Without giving anything away, the toys end up in a daycare center called Sunnyside Daycare where they have to figure out a way to escape the torturous hands of the children and make it back to Andy's house safe and sound. We encounter many new toys along the way including the villain of the film, Lotso (voiced by Ned Beatty). Lotso is a angry stuffed bear who was lost by his owner and has developed a bad attitude every since. He essentially runs all the toys at the daycare center and tries to essentially imprison Andy's toys when they arrive. When the toys realize that Andy actually wanted to keep them and not throw them away, they try to escape but Lotso has other plans.

The movie is perfect. The laughs are strong as well as the emotions. If you don't get teary eyed towards the end of the film, you must have been lost. The movie contains a perfect amount of action, adventure and tons of excitement. Even the adult jokes were hilarious. There is a very funny recurring joke about Ken (voiced by Michael Keaton) and they even bring back the "claw" from the first film. The introduction of Ken and Barbie was very funny and added a different angle to the film.

If you remember, Toy Story was the first completely computer generated film to be released as a feature film. After that film came out, every other studio tried to emulate that exact style. Yet, Pixar has always been the most consistent studio, always releasing quality. This time around, they have topped themselves yet again with a brilliant movie. Toy Story 3 will hit you very hard emotionally, make you laugh and definitely keep you on the edge of your seat the entire movie. There were adventure scenes where I was honestly scared for the toys and there were scenes where I wanted to cry with the toys. The life inside of these little animated creatures was so bright.

Toy Story 3 receives a 5 BDK rating out of 5. This is my 3rd five of the year next to Shutter Island and How To Train your Dragon. Go see it immediately, i.e. quit your job, leave work early and go see the film now.

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Jonah Hex
Genre: Action/Drama/Thriller/Western
Released: 2010
Rating: Half BDK

Jonah Hex is a massive, confusing and disastrous mess. No wonder why writers/directors Neveldine/Taylor left the project back in 2008. Originally, the Crank directors were supposed to write and direct the film but according to an article in Variety, they left due to "creative differences" back in November of 2008. Though, when you see the credits for the film, their names still appear under the screenplay and story areas. I doubt Brian Taylor and Mark Neveldine are happy about that, considering how insanely bad this film is. Minus a couple of decent action scenes that last no longer than thirty-seconds a piece, the movie feels like it's missing about twenty-minutes of plot and story. The movie jumps around so much that I just started to give up on trying to follow a concise plot line. Let's say you were sitting at home in your comfortable chair and you close eyes for a split second. The second you open your eyes, you are somehow now on the moon just hanging out. The feeling and questions about how you got there are not answered. Those are the size of the plot holes in this film. It felt as if entire plot points (or light years) were skipped over to reach the ending.

That being said, the film has a great cast! The funny aspect about that point is that the movie is being billed as Josh Brolin and Megan Fox. That's fine and dandy and a good effort to get people in the seats but Megan Fox is only in the film for roughly fifteen minutes. She does appear throughout the entire film but only shows up in very minor scenes except for the ending battle. Her character must have been cut down in those arguments over "creative differences." Even actors that appear in the credits on IMDB as lead characters, barely had any parts in the film. That was especially disappointing when it came to one of the most underrated actors, Michael Shannon. Maybe he opted to have his part taken out because he knew the movie would be so terrible. The biggest shock was the performance by John Malkovich. I thought he only did good films like Shadow of the Vampire, Being John Malkovich, In the Line of Fire or even Con-Air (yes, I actually did like Con-Air).

I am going to do my best to explain the plot line for this film as it is very simple but made out to be extremely complicated. The film is based on the comic book series from DC COMICS and tells the story of a man named Jonah Hex, who after having a near-death experience, becomes a bad-ass bounty hunter with super natural capabilities. Now, the story takes place back in the late 1800's during the Civil War. Jonah Hex mistakenly killed a man by the name of Jeb Turnbull (Jeffrey Dean Morgan) and once his father, Quentin Turnbull (John Malkovich), finds out, things start to get real ugly. Quentin murders Jonah Hex's wife and son right before his eyes before branding his face with a hot iron. Left for dead, a group of Indians miraculously find him and bring him back to life. Oddly enough, while on his way to the other side, he developed powers and now can bring the dead back to life. Now, to his knowledge, Quentin Turnbull died in a house fire sometime in the future. Though, this information was wrong and now the American government wants to use Jonah Hex to stop Quentin Turnbull from destroying the world. Turnbull has some type of super weapon that can destroy the entire United States. Oh and did I mention that Megan Fox plays a prostitute who shows up in the film every once in a while as a friend to Jonah Hex. This relationship is not explained one time in the film.

I don't know where to begin on how much of a mess this film really is. I looked over to another critic during the movie and really asked if the projectionist forgot to put a reel of film in. It was if the film had a twenty-minute jump. The plot is so disorganized and the characters felt like they had absolutely no drive. Everything in the film just felt completely off, lifeless and did not feel like it was meant to fit together as one solid story. You could just tell that massive amounts of the film had been cut out and we were now watching the left overs of what once was a pretty cool idea for a movie. You know how bologna is made of the excess parts of the meats? Well, this film is basically that.

On a quick positive note, there are some funny lines and Josh Brolin does deliver a mediocre performance as a bad-ass. Anytime you have two mini-guns on the saddle on top of your house, you will have my attention. Brolin's action scenes were very good but that is all the film has going for it. Plus, you have pretty much seen the best action scenes in the trailers, minus one cool shoot out with cross-bow guns. If you have seen the trailers, you have seen Brolin's mangled up face. We know his face became that way due to a hot iron but what I don't understand is that they show him earlier on after he was branded and it looks completely different. The film makers do not explain how his face came to look exactly how it does, i.e. that little piece of skin that bridges his two lips together.

Where was Megan Fox during the entire film? She would show up randomly in certain scenes but her connection to Josh Brolin's character made no sense. The film did not give us any back story about them, yet we are supposed to know that they are good friends and care about each other. Also, when you are watching the film, look very closely at Megan Fox's face during some of her scenes. It appeared that her face was CGI or even airbrushed at times. I did not understand why.

Overall, you are better off staying away from this film. Anytime the original writers and directors of the film are trying to stay away from it, you know something is up. Jonah Hex receives a 0.5 BDK rating out of 5. The only reason for the 0.5 is the fact that Jonah Hex's character had mini-guns attached to his horse. That was awesome!

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The A-Team
Genre: Action/Adventure/Thriller
Released: 2010
Rating: BDK

I love it when a fun action flick comes together! The A-Team delivers non-stop bad*** action, great chemistry, comedy and an all around fun time at the movies. The film can honestly be summed up in one word; fun. I had as much fun watching the flick as the characters were having in the film. Now, I am going to be 100% honest with you, the reader. Normally, I would be ashamed to admit that I had not seen the original film before seeing the remake. This time around, I am going to admit that I have not seen "The A-Team" television show, except for a few episodes. The show ran for five seasons from 1983 to 1987. I have seen episodes on television before but I have not seen all five seasons. Therefore, this review will not be a comparison of the film to the television show but mainly a review of the film itself.

The film stars Bradley Cooper (The Hangover, All About Steve), Quentin Rampage Jackson (UFC fighter), Liam Neeson (Schindler's List, Taken), Sharlto Copley (District 9), Jessica Biel (I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry, Powder Blue) and the underrated Patrick Wilson (Hard Candy, Watchmen). For reference, the original "A-Team" consisted of George Peppard (Hannibal), Dirk Benedict (Face), Dwight Schultz (Murdock) and Mr. T. (B.A.)

Oddly enough, the plot line is a bit confusing if you really read into it but on the surface, it makes perfect sense. It was really cool how the film opened up and we are introduced to all four main characters while the credits are running (this did not happen in the original show). This takes about ten minutes but it is well worth it. We are introduced to Hannibal (Neeson), the leader of the team. He is your typical bad-*** who heads up all the missions and makes sure that everything goes smoothly. He is also heavily involved in carrying out the missions as well. We then meet B.A. (Rampage Jackson) who another bad-*** you do not want to mess with. All he cares about is his baby (his big truck) and kicking butt. While in Mexico, he meets Hannibal by mistake but it turns out to be fate. We then meet Face (Bradley Cooper) who was originally working with Hannibal on a mission in Mexico. Both Hannibal and B.A. Meet up with Face and then while trying to escape the bad guys in Mexico, hire a crazy pilot Murdock (Sharlto Copley) to help them get away. And that is the A-Team is formed in the film. They are a group of U.S. Army Rangers that can basically get themselves out of any situation and specialize in the ridiculous. Just a brief plot line, the A-Team are set -up while trying to retrieve mint money plates in Baghdad. They were told to stay away from this mission but when everything goes wrong and their General ends up getting murdered, things get a little bit crazy. The A-Team are framed and sent to jail but need to escape to clear their names and get revenge.

The film is literally non-stop fun. The action scenes are great but sometimes are a little hard to see. Director Joe Carnahan (Narc, Smokin' Aces) definitely did a great job with the blue screen work. Two words can sum up the amazing action in this film; flying tank.

The chemistry between all four actors was perfect. The jokes all hit and the action scenes, while coming off as ridiculous, felt very real and fun. Bradley Cooper was very likable and great on camera as Face. He had the love interest going on with Jessica Biel's character in the film. That chemistry worked very well. Sharlto Copley completely steals the entire film with is comedic bits throughout. He is the crazy one of the bunch and is always acting out. Even Rampage pulls off a fine performance as B.A. He has the largest emotional arc of all four characters and definitely kicks some butt. Though, it was odd when I did not hear his "unconscious" line from the trailer. They also took out the part where he whistles the famous A-Team theme song while he is cleaning the windows. The scene is still there but the whistling is gone.

Liam Neeson seriously rocks at life. All this guy needs is a cigar in his mouth and he is good to go. From his initial entrance on screen to the very last frame of the film, he just keeps that super cool ego and it flows so naturally with the other characters. There are two other performances in the film that bring great energy; Patrick Wilson as Lynch and Brian Bloom as Pike. Both of these actors added a great element of absurdity to the overall film.

You can just tell this was a fun movie to make. It felt like these actors had been best friends for years prior to making the film. That is how spot on the chemistry is. It is not a film that was made to win any awards. It was made strictly for entertainment purposes. The scene that involves a flying tank and that is easily worth your entire price of admission.

I give The A-Team a 3.5 BDK rating out of 5. The movie delivers a great blend of over-the-top ridiculous action mixed with witty comedy. That is exactly what you pay to see in theaters.

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The Karate Kid (2010)
Genre: Action/Drama/Family/Sport
Released: 2010
Rating: BDK

Shockingly, The Karate Kid actually delivers a great story with great fight sequences and great heart. Jaden Smith and Jackie Chan also deliver very strong performances in a film that made me start clapping towards the end of the film. That to me is true suspension of disbelief. If I can be so absorbed in a film that I want to clap for the lead character than movie has officially taken me in. That's exactly why people pay to see flicks because they want to be taken away to another world and engaged in the characters they are watching on screen. I wanted nothing more than to see Jaden Smith's character kick some butt and the clapping was my legitimate excitement for his story. I felt as if I was at the Kung Fu Championship and actually cheering on this character.

If you are like me, your childhood revolved around a little film called The Karate Kid. The 1984 film starred Ralph Macchio, Pat Morita and Elizabeth Shue. The film told the great story of how a teenager went from being picked on to becoming a real fighter and all around great person. It was such a great underdog story and always made me feel pumped up when I would watch it as a kid. Therefore, when I found out the film was being remade with Will Smith's son, Jaden Smith and Jackie Chan, I had my doubts. Technically, the film makers are calling this a "reboot" instead of a remake, even though it follows pretty much the exact story arc as the original. Well, I want to admit that I was 100% wrong and this "reboot" is practically on par with the original.

The film opens and we meet Dre Parker (Jaden Smith) and his mother (played by the amazingly talented Taraji P. Hensen) as they are moving from Detroit to Beijing, China. Like the original, the fatherless family had to move to an unknown city because of the mother's work. While in this unknown city, Dre experiences bullies at his school that will not leave him alone. He tries to stick up for a young girl, Meiying (played by Wenwen Ha), but her close friend Cheng (Zhenwei Wang) doesn't appreciate that fact. Cheng picks a fight with Dre and continues to pick fights with him each time he sees him at school. One day, while Dre is getting beaten up, a mysterious man named Mr. Han (played by Jackie Chan), who also happens to be Dre's maintenance man at the building he and his mom live at, shows up. He stops the fight and essentially makes the group of bullies beat themselves up. Mr. Han knows exactly what's going on and goes with Dre to the Kung Fu school to let the instructor know. The instructor convinces Dre and Mr. Han to sign up for the Open Kung Fu Tournament and promises to have his kids leave Dre alone until then. The question is whether or not Mr. Han can train Dre in time to be ready for the tournament.

I love the amount of heart in this film. It just felt great to sit there and want to cheer for these characters. In the back of my head, I knew I had seen this story a million times and that the entire movie was predictable. The movie is full of cheesy moments and pretty much supports everything I dislike about current Hollywood films, i.e. remakes, clichéd stories, formulaic plot lines, etc. To be honest though, the more movies I see, the more I am noticing that I need to start getting used to this. If a film does those elements correctly, it can work and The Karate Kid does it perfectly.

The fight sequences were absolutely amazing. My co-host Josh and I were driving home talking about how realistic and how brutal the fight scenes were. Josh pointed out that they did not use shaky cameras and actually showed the fight scenes. That is a good sign of great choreography. What's weird is that the movie is rated PG but the fight scenes had some brutality to them. Anytime someone would get hit in the face, you could feel the punch. Jaden did such a great job with this character and you could truly tell that while was training with Jackie Chan's character, that he was really learning. As much as he was acting, he was also training and learning the Kung Fu for the film. You can't really fake that especially when you are going up against Jackie Chan.

Performance-wise, the movie shines brightly. Even Jackie Chan delivers a very emotional performance. Both Jaden Smith and Jackie Chan both have crying scenes in the film and they were very convincing. There is one particular scene that really solidified their emotional depth. I will just say that it takes place in a car.

Another thing that helped the film was the music. There were a bunch of montage sequences for the training and the music really helped. Sometimes, really cheesy music can ruin or make a montage some cheesy. The montages felt natural and the progression felt very realistic.

Fans of the original film will definitely pick up on references. There is one in particular where they reference the "Wax On, Wax Off" bit from the first film. This time around, it is "Jacket On, Jacket Off."

What's weird is that even though I already knew what was coming and how the film would pan out, I still found myself completely engaged. That is mainly because of how great Jackie Chan and Jaden Smith were together. As fellow critic Brandon Fibbs was saying, all you need is a good story. This story, while it's cliché, works. It's about the underdog rising up against all odds. When that is done right, it works.

I give The Karate Kid a 4 BDK rating out of 5. I am calling it good cheese. It's a cheesy-predictable film that gets it right. Go see it with your family. I guarantee you will be clapping at the end. A little cool side note is that the producers on the film, Will and Jada-Pinkett Smith, acquired the rights and script to the film so that their son could star in it.

I do want to bring a quick fan boy note. When you are watching the movie, check out the cool quick zooms the director uses during the fight scenes. Director Harald Zwart was definitely paying homage to classic Kung Fu films with the quick zooms into the faces of the fighters.

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Solitary Man
Genre: Comedy/Drama
Released: 2010
Rating: BDK

The negative qualities about Solitary Man are that it is a smaller independent film and that it will probably open in little to no theatres causing it to go unheard of. That truly is the only problem this film has. Now, those qualities really have nothing to do with the film itself. Those are just the qualities of the majority of films that come out that actually make their audiences think. Solitary Man is the type of film that is not tied up in a nice little bow for you at the end and it does not follow cliches and formulas like the majority of Hollywood movies. No, Solitary Man is a unique, thought-provoking, extremely well-written and acted drama filled with giant laughs and deep emotions. The film was so good that I put my notepad down and just sat their enjoying the characters and story-line. Solitary Man stars Michael Douglas (Falling Down, Wall Street), Susan Surandon (The Client, Dead Man Walking), Jesse Eisenberg (Zombieland, Adventureland), Jenna Fischer ("The Office," Dewey Cox), Mary Louis Parker ("Weeds"), Danne DeVito (Twins, "It's Always Sunny In Philadelphia"- GREAT SHOW) and Imogen Poots (V for Vendetta, 28 Weeks Later).

Solitary Man is a very simple, yet complicated story about a man who was once on top and now has reached the lowest of the lows. Ben Kalmen (Douglas) used to the best car salesman in New York and New Jersey. He was on the cover of Forbes Magazine, had a beautiful wife (Surandon) and daughter (Fischer). Everything was going right in his life until one day when he went to the doctor for his yearly check-up. The doctor mentioned that he saw something strange on his EKG test and wanted Ben to come for more tests. He refuses to go back and his entire life spins out of control. He starts cheating on his wife with younger women until one day he finally leaves her. He also went into the business of cheating his costumers with their car purchases. This all slowly continued into a downward spiral of having no money. Now, he is just begging for his life back.

You know you have made a great film when you can get the audience to feel sympathy for it's main character even though he has awful qualities and treats everyone around him like crap. Douglas' character is someone who saw death knocking at his door and decided to live his life to the fullest by sleeping with all the beautiful young women he could. Even if that means sleeping with his girlfriend's daughter. Yet because the writing is so strong and Michael Douglas is so genuine, we feel for his character the entire film. You know he's not the greatest person but you do feel that there are redemptive qualities to him and you want him to succeed in changing his life.

Every performance in the film is strong. Jenna Fischer nails the part of his daughter while Susan Surandon plays the perfect ex-wife. Throughout the film you are hoping the two will get back together but you don't really get to see what their true feelings are. An interesting side story is when Douglas takes his girlfriend Jordan's (Louis-Parker) daughter (Poots) up to a college in New York to meet with the dean. While there, he meets a sophomore named Chesten (Eisenberg) who he becomes great friends with. He tries to teach Chesten the ropes of sleeping with girls. As the movie comes full circle, this relationship becomes a huge factor in Ben's life.

Is it me or does Michael Douglas just get better with age? Every movie I have seen him in, he always nails his performance. I would have to say my favorite performance of his is Falling Down but his character in Solitary Man is pretty solid. There is just something about him that makes you want to like every character he plays. I was talking with Jenna Fischer about this and she agreed that there is something special about him that allows the audience to like any character.

The movie has big laughs and deep emotions. Every character is essential to this simple plot and all play a role in helping bridge that gap between yourself and the characters. Solitary Man is easily a 4.5 BDK rating out of 5. I just love how the film ends on an odd note. You are left to think and ponder on the characters rather than having everything spelled out for you. Just a little side note to keep an ear out for Danny De Vito's dialogue. He has the best line in the entire flick.

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Get Him to the Greek
Genre: Comedy
Released: 2010
Rating: BDK

Get Him to the Greek is so good that the writers even made Diddy a comic genius. Remember a little comedy a couple years back called Forgetting Sarah Marshall? That film came out of nowhere and had people dying laughing in the theatres. Well, that exact same style of humor and laughs are back and Get Him to the Greek is just as funny as Forgetting Sarah Marshall. The film is not necessarily a sequel but more of a spin-off considering we are seeing the character of Aldous Snow as the lead. The odd thing is that Jonah Hill played a very funny role in "Sarah Marshall" and is now playing a completely different role in this film. Oddly enough, the filmmakers even make a reference to Sarah Marshall's character early on in the film. We as the audience are supposed to assume that Jonah Hill's character is brand new and forget his other character from "Sarah Marshall."

Get Him to the Greek is directed by Nicholas Stoller (Forgetting Sarah Marshall) and stars Jonah Hill (Superbad, Knocked Up), Russell Brand (Forgetting Sarah Marshall, Bedtime Stories), Sean "Diddy Combs", Elizabeth Moss ("Mad Men") and Rose Byrne ("Damages", 28 Weeks Later).

The film opens and we see an interesting music video for Aldous Snow's latest single "African Child." Shortly after, the song is deemed the worst song of the decade. Because of Aldous' new album, he completely falls off the charts and becomes a has-been. Aldous (Brand) retreats back to London to live with his mom and essentially hide from the shame of the terrible album he made. If you saw Forgetting Sarah Marshall, Aldous was dating Sarah Marshall (Kristen Bell) and he was on top of the world with his hit single "Inside of You." Back in Los Angeles, we meet Aaron Green who works for Pinnacle Records. Their company is about to go under unless they can get a huge break and sell a bunch of records. The head of the company, Sergio Roma (Diddy) holds a meeting looking for ideas. Aaron has a great idea about bringing Aldous Snow back to the Greek Theater in Los Angeles for a ten year anniversary show. Sergio loves the idea, books the show and gives Aaron seventy-two hours to get Aldous from London to L.A. For the show. How hard can it be to get a big rock star who doesn't care about anyone from London to L.A. Let's just say it's going to be a bit tough.

There are enough classic scenes in this film to make me want to go back and see it for a second, third or even fourth time. As I sit here and write this review, I can't stop thinking about everything that went on this film. Get Him to the Greek pushes every envelope in the comedy world. From crazy sexual jokes to drug jokes, this movie has it all. What's hilarious though is that considering how raunchy the film is, there is a ton of heart as well. That is exactly how Judd Apatow films always work out. Now, Apatow did not direct the film but he was the main producer and it has his style all over it. Jason Segal, who created Forgetting Sarah Marshall worked with Judd on Knocked Up.

Let's talk about the surprise performance of the film. Sean "Diddy" Combs absolutely murdered in this movie. Every time he was on screen, he had the entire theatre laughing extremely hard. I am sure it had a lot to do with the writing but his delivery was perfect. It was if he saw Dave Chappelle show episodes that made fun of him and he embraced that by using that to his advantage in this film. He was just as funny as the film's leading stars!

Russell Brand and Jonah Hill need to make more movies together. Neither of them outshines the other. All of their jokes were perfectly balanced out and every time they were on screen, the jokes were flowing perfectly. This is one of those rare comedies that is consistently funny throughout the entire film.

Both Forgetting Sarah Marshall and Get Him to the Greek both had original music written for the production. We had the classic Muppet scene in "Sarah Marshall" and of course Aldous' "Inside of You." This time around, since the film is more focused on Aldous Snow's character, we get to hear more songs. While the songs are funny, the writing is catchy and I actually could see myself singing these songs. Apparently, around twenty-songs were written for the film. A cool nugget is that during the major concert scene in the film, the film makers actually shot that at a Russell Brand stand-up show in London. They just told the crowd to act like they were at a concert and shot it right there in front of twenty thousand people.

Like most Judd Apatow films, the movie dirty but has a great message and heart. I really felt connected to Russell Brand and Jonah Hill's characters. They are both dealing with relationships in the movie and they really sold me on the emotional side. Jonah's character is having trouble with his girlfriend (played by Elizabeth Moss) and Russell's character is having trouble with his ex-girlfriend (played by Rose Byrne).

The music and movie references were my favorite part of the film. There are some classic cameo performances, especially from Lars Ulrich of Metallica. The comedic timing from everyone in this film was spot-on and it's really just a fun ride. There are even some great "action" scenes that occur because of a "Jeffrey." That is all I will say. Just know that you are in a fun ride. This is a film that was so funny that it actually felt good to laugh. It made my entire day.

Overall, this film receives a 4 BDK rating. It is as funny as Forgetting Sarah Marshall but does feel a bit long at the end. You can kind of feel the steam running out but it is not enough to harm the film. See this over the weekend with a packed crowd and I promise you will laugh.

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Splice
Genre: Horror/Sci-Fi/Thriller
Released: 2010
Rating: BDK

Splice is like a breath of fresh of air. We are so inundated right now in Hollywood with reboots, remakes and sequels that cinema has lost most of its surprise tactics. I would say that 90% of the films I see have the same generic plot line that follow the same exact emotional arc. We always know where these films are going and can essentially predict the ending from the trailer. Splice, while it may be all over the place and not work as a whole, goes completely away from the norm. In fact, director Vincenzo Natali goes places that I thought he would never go. It was if in the back of my mind I had a thought that there is no chance he would over step that boundary and then he does. Splice is a complete and utter mind trip that will shock you and send your emotions for a loop. I like the fact that the movie leaves you with an uncertain feeling. You really have no idea what you just saw but you still appreciate the originality, if you catch my drift. Splice stars Adrian Brody (The Pianist, King Kong), Sarah Polley (Dawn of the Dead, Go) and Delphine Chaneac (French actress who auditioned for the role and had a minor role in The Pink Panther).

The film tells the story of two bio-chemists who are currently working on a project for a major corporation where they splice different animal DNA's together to try and create new life forms. Clive (Brody) and Elsa (Polley) are also in a relationship but try to keep their work strictly professional. The purpose of their research is to find ways to possibly cure diseases. After successfully creating an organism using the splice method, they know want to move on to bringing human DNA into the mix. The corporation feels this would be too far and only wants to work with the materials they have created thus far. Feeling that they are on the verge of a scientific breakthrough, Clive and Elsa move forward, behind the corporations back. They combine human DNA with animal DNA and a creature is created. This creature has both human facial features yet can breathe underwater, has four fingers and almost kangaroo shaped legs. Clive wants to kill the creature because he feels this is morally wrong but Elsa wants to keep it around and study it to hopefully find a cure for cancer and other diseases. The creature, which Elsa calls Dren (played by Delphine Chaneac) begins rapidly growing from a little baby into a full grown woman. The question is whether or not Elsa and Clive keep this a secret. Considering they have both developed a new species, there is no telling how dangerous Dren could be.

The movie's tone constantly changes throughout. There is never one consistent tone which creates a sense of uncertainty. That in turn keeps the audience guessing and on their toes. The uncertainty as to where the film is going leads you down a deeper path and allows you to suspend your disbelief much more than normal. I never once stepped out of the film in my head and thought I was watching a movie. I was emotionally attached to every character and wasn't sure what the outcome would be. The relationship between Dren and Elsa is very much like a mother and daughter. You can tell that Elsa has developed very emotional feelings for this creature and wants to keep it around for reasons other than science. This is obvious as we watch the film and see that Clive's character just wants to get rid of it. He knows how dangerous this could be but Elsa is always coming up with ways to rationalize the situation. While this may seem ridiculous and laughable at times, there are reasons behind it.

Director Vincenzo Natali made a very wise choice to have the character of Dren (Delphine Chaneac) be acted by a real person. According to the production notes, Dren was 70% real and 30% CGI. The CGI on her character is so perfect that you cannot tell a difference between the real body and the CGI parts. According to the director, the actress worse blue stockings and heels, which were then digitally, removed later on to input the creature legs. She has four fingers as opposed to five. Her performance was so fascinating and the digital effects were extremely life-like. Delphine had absolutely no lines of dialogue throughout the film and had to act with her body and sounds. That and the fact that she had to move carefully enough so that the CGI parts would match up make her performance the best in the film. Look out for Delphine Chaneac!

The performances in the film were perfect. Adrian Brody and Sarah Polley were perfectly casted. I hosted a Q/A for the film with critic friend of mine, Jack Giroux, and he brought up a great point about how the scientists were "hipsters." Vincenzo Natali responded with the fact that we normally see these nerdy scientists with big glasses yet when he was doing research and meeting scientists, they dressed and looked more like Adrian Brody's character did in the film.

Much like Kick-Ass, this film was made independently, meaning that they did not have to go through a major studio for approval. Therefore, Natali did not have studios breathing down his neck telling him to cut scenes out. He was able to make the movie he wanted to make. Now, the film is being released through a major studio (Warner Bros./Dark Castle) because it premiered at Sundance and Mr. Joel Silver (The Matrix, Die Hard) decided to pick up the film and executive produce it. There are many scenes in this film that are shocking and you will not know how to react, which is part of the film's charm. I found myself uncomfortably laughing throughout because I had no idea what was in store for me. The film is filled with uncertainty and creepiness and the more I think about it, the more I really enjoyed it. I was always surprised and that's how I want my movies to be. Right now, the film stands at a 3.5 out of 5 BDK rating but I might bump it up to a 4 BDK rating.

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Killers
Genre: Action/Comedy/Romance/Thriller
Released: 2010
Rating: BDK

While the movie is not as horrific as some may think, the fact that it is an exact replica of True Lies done without charisma and amazing action, ultimately hurt the film. Killers did not screen to critics so I took the pleasure of hopping over to a midnight showing of the film to see how bad the film could possibly be. Ashton Kutcher hasn't had a good movie in a long time (last one being The Butterfly Effect) and Katherin Heigl has completely fallen off since Knocked Up. I still can't believe she would talk trash about Knocked Up and "Grey's Anatomy" in her interviews. Those are the hits that made her name recognizable and she was great in them. Now, Heigl is more focused on family life, which is fine, but you can't disrespect the movies and T.V. shows that pretty much jump started your career. When it comes to Killers, it is nothing you haven't seen before. We all know there are only a limited number of stories in Hollywood but there are films that reinvent those stories all the time and do them well; Killers is not one of them.

Killers stars Ashton Kutcher (Dude Where's My Car, "The 70's Show"), Katherine Heigl (Knocked Up, 27 Dresses), Tom Selleck ("Magnum P.I.", 3 Men and a Little Lady), Catherine O'Hara (Home Alone, Wyatt Earp), Casey Wilson ("SNL", Julie and Julia) and the hilarious Rob Riggle (the cop who said "In the Face!!!!!" in The Hangover).

Stop me when True Lies and Killers start to sound different. Ok, so we have a married couple, Spencer (Kutcher) and Jenn (Heigl). They appear to have a great marriage but they are reaching the three year mark and in her eyes, she wants to spice things up a bit. She does not want the relationship to be boring. Spencer is keeping a deep dark secret from his wife. The secret being that he is a spy. Now, it's been three years and he has done a great job at covering it up by running his own construction company and trying to get away from the spy business. Though, one day, a $20 million bounty is put on his head and everyone he knows around him starts trying to kill him. Insert surprised Jenn! She had no idea he was a spy but as the movie goes on, she starts to like it. Though at first, much like Jamie Lee Curtis in True Lies, she's upset that he lied to her. There is even a discussion about whether or not Spencer has killed people and he explains that they were all bad people, which is exactly what Arnold Schwarzenegger says. The rest of the movie involves Heigl and Kutcher out running bad guys while also dealing with their marital issues. They also have to deal with Heigl's over protective parents, played by Tom Selleck and Catherine O'Hara. You did not stop me yet? Oh that's right, because the plot lines are identical minus the over protective parents.

First of all, when a joke is not funny the first time, stop using it over and over again. How many times have we seen films where they make jokes about a character drinking too much, i.e. cutting to them always drinking and pouring mass amounts of alcohol into their breakfast drinks, etc. These are played for laughs and every time Catherine O'Hara is on screen, the writers thought it would be funny to make her look like an alcoholic. The joke was not funny and used up the first time and it gets worse as the film goes on.

Second of all, can these writers not come up with original ideas anymore? This plot line is so overused, whether it is True Lies, La Totale or even Mr. and Mrs. Smith. Based on seeing any of those films, you can guess the ending and see all of the plot twists coming from a mile away.

Third of all, can you make more original opening credits? The opening credit sequence was straight out of a James Bond movie. They have a series of shots where Ashton Kutcher's character is driving a Ferrari trying to look cool. It was not convincing and he was not a great spy. I hated his over exaggerated look downs while he was holding his gun trying to look like bad-ass.

Fourth of all, stop showing Ashton Kutcher with his shirt off for prolonged periods of time. I understand you are trying to appeal to certain members of the audience but after a while, it becomes a bit gratuitous. A quick shot of his shirt off is fine but when it starts to feel forced, like it did in New Moon, it comes off as laughable. I would say the same thing if it were a girl having her shirt off for a long period of time.

Fifth of all, the movie is not funny. While there are some comedic moments scattered throughout the film, the majority of the film is very dry. That is mainly because the majority of the jokes did not work and were overplayed. There is a joke at the end of the movie that is so bad that I could not stop laughing. It has to do with speaking another language and I will leave it at that.

I would not go as far as to say that the movie is awful. It's more along the lines of, enough already with the unoriginal story lines. Killers is forgettable and bland. Wait to watch it on cable or go out this weekend and rent True Lies for a better written, better acted and completely fun action adventure. On a positive note, the hour and forty-minute run time did go by rather quickly but when it was over, it just felt wasted. I give Killers a 2 BDK rating out of 5. It honestly could have been worse. Oh and I almost forgot to mention how bad the ending is. When the film reached its last ten minutes, it felt as if the writers and directors ran out of material and just decided to end it right there. There flow of the film completely went out the window. Also, what was up with the extremely violent deaths in the movie? There are two in particular that really threw me for a loop. Oh, and great use of your one PG-13 F word Mrs. Heigl. That is all!

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Sex and the City 2
Genre: Comedy/Drama/Romance
Released: 2010
Rating: BDK

Sex and the City 2 does not live up to the slightly above average first film. The flick loses that sparkle, conflict and surprise factor which made the show and first film so enjoyable. The sequel felt very safe and bland at times. I really loved the first thirty minutes of the film but you could feel it start to drag throughout. As a guy, what makes the show and the first film so special was Samantha's character. She basically thinks and acts like a guy with her foul mouth and constant addiction to sex. Even her character felt forced and tired this time around. Oddly enough, I used to watch the show with my parents when I was in high school and it was always interesting to see what or who Samantha would do next. I will never forget the awkward feeling I had when watching the episode with her and the sex swing. There is just something very uncomfortable about watching a scene like that with your parents. Her sexual jokes were always funny because she was the complete opposite of her other characters. This time around, her jokes were overdone and that became obvious when the other characters would finish her jokes for her. It was if they had heard the jokes as many times as we had and knew it was getting old.

Sex and the City 2 stars Sarah Jessica Parker (Carrie Bradshaw), Kristen Davis (Charlotte York), Cynthia Nixon (Miranda Hobbes), Kim Cattrall (Samantha Jones), Chris Noth (Big), Alice Eve (She’s out of My League), David Eigenberg (Steve) and Evan Handler (Harry).

The film opens on a grand scale and then just slowly descends into a film that feels overly long and safe. We are treated to the hilarious opening where we see all four main characters walking through the streets of New York. Jay-Z and Alice Key's "Empire State of Mind" is blaring through the speakers while we are treated to the famous Carrie Bradshaw voice over. We get to see her in present day and she starts talking about how she met her four best friends back in 1986. As each character is introduced we get to see the 80's version of the characters which created big laughs. At this point, I had a good feeling that the film would be fun. It then slowly drops off.

The film is taking place two years after the first film. To catch you up, Carrie (Parker) and Big (Chris Noth) are happily married with no children. Miranda (Nixon) and Steve (Eigenberg) are happily married with their child Brady. Miranda can't stand her new job and is always consumed with emails while spending time with her husband. Charlotte (Davis) and Harry (Handler) now have two children and her life appears to be a nightmare. Her babies are always crying but thanks to her amazingly hot nanny, Erin (Alice Eve), she is able to keep some stability. Though, she is worried about her husband cheating on her with Erin considering she never wears a bra and appears in a lot of slow motion running shots. These scenes created a ton of laughs. Then, we have Samantha who is single but gets a mysterious call one day from her ex-boyfriend, Smith (Jason Lewis), while he is shooting a film in Abu Dhabi. He invites her to his New York City premiere of his new film and all of the girls attend. While there, they are invited to Abu Dhabi by the film's producer, all expenses paid, for one week. Though, right before they all leave, issues occur in all of their relationships which affect the trip.

First of all, the movie is entirely too long. The film makers and editors could have easily cut this down by at least twenty-minutes. It clocks in at around two hours and twenty minutes long and definitely starts to drag while the characters are in Abu Dhabi. I really found myself enjoying the scenes that took place in New York City but the first half of the time spent in Abu Dhabi felt so long. There are key scenes that do take place in the Middle East but they should have been confronted earlier on. You know a movie is long when you find yourself moving around in your seat a lot.

The forced jokes with Samantha's character became a bit obvious after a while. It was if the writers knew the audience loved her sexual jokes and forced it upon us. Jokes that are forced hardly work out and as I said above, even the characters in the movie knew the jokes were coming. She does have some great lines in the film but overall her character was a bit over-the-top and not in a good way.

The movie was missing the surprises that the first film offered. Remember the hilarious sushi scene from the first film? Remember the hilarious accident that Charlotte's character while they were in Mexico? Those were scenes that I walked away from the movie laughing about and still laughing at two years later. This movie was filled with drama and laughs but nothing really stands out.

The conflict in the movie was nowhere near the level it was in the first one. We had the relationship issues between Carrie and Big which consumed the majority of the drama in the film. Since this has already been spoiled I will be bring up that Aidan's (John Corbett) character from the TV show does make an appearance in the film. Though, it just felt so forced and matter of fact that he would be in the Middle East at the exact same moment that the girls are there. There is a bit of drama that ensues because Carrie does run into Aiden while at a spice market. In the first film, there was that big drama about Big's character not wanting to marry Carrie. Also you had the cheating story with Miranda and Steve. Finally, you had the dramatic arc of Samantha's character and Smith. How do I remember all of this? Well, I actually enjoyed the first film but I did get a refresher on the first film from a fan before seeing the second film. It all came back to me very quickly though. The drama in this film felt so minuscule. I understand that the relationship drama we are seeing is very realistic but this is a film. We want to see spice and craziness. This time around, we are stuck with mild drama. One of the funnier aspects of the movie is that since they are in Abu Dhabi, Samantha has trouble dealing with the fact that she can not be sexy. Woman in the Middle East do not show much of their skin. Watching her character try to adjust is pretty funny.

My favorite scene in the entire film took place between Miranda and Charlotte. These two amazing women sat down for drinks and essentially poured their hearts out with honesty as they sipped cosmos. This scene felt so real to me and just showed the depth of their characters. My co-host Josh found the characters in this film to be shallow and I couldn't disagree more. I think they do have shallow and materialistic moments but each of them has a certain depth to them, even Samantha. This is noticeable in many scenes throughout the film, especially the Miranda and Charlotte chat.

Overall, the sequel is not as good as the first and personally is worth watching as a rental, hence the 2.5 BDK rating. I give it the edge of the 2.5 because if you are a fan, I would check out the matinee but we all know this film is critic proof. No matter what I say, people will flock to the film. I guess I am just trying to tell you how to watch it and how to spend your money. This is a review coming from a guy who loved the television show and enjoyed the first film. I hope that gives it some perspective.

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Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time
Genre: Action/Adventure/Fantasy/Romance
Released: 2010
Rating: BDK

The Prince of Persia: Sands of Time is essentially a poor man's Pirates of the Caribbean. Both films, produced by Hollywood big shot Jerry Bruckheimer (The Rock, Con-Air), have that same epic-adventure vibe mixed in with a sprinkle of comedy. It's the perfect formula for a summer blockbuster but the difference is that the first two Pirates of the Caribbean films mastered that formula while Prince of Persia mimics it with lesser quality. You could tell though that it was going for a similar vibe. The movie is not bad by any means and is probably one of the better video game-to-film adaptations we have seen, but that's not really saying much. The majority of them turn out to be some of the worst films, i.e. Street Fighter,Doom. Though, I do have a sweet spot for the original Mortal Kombat but I feel like that had something to do with the amazing theme song; "Mortal Kombat!"

The Prince of Persia: Sands of Time stars Jake Gyllenhaal (Donnie Darko, Jarhead), Gemma Arterton (Quantum of Solace, Clash of the Titans), Ben Kingsley (Ghandi, Shutter Island) and Alfred Molina (Spider-Man 2, Raiders of the Lost Arc).

The Prince of Persia video games started production in 1989 and have continued to come out consistently over the years, with a new game being release in 2010. This film is based loosely on the 2003 video game with a similar title and is being directed by Mike Newell. Now, I expected a bit more out of Newell considering he directed one of the most underrated and best mob flicks ever made; Donnie Brasco. He also directed the last half-way decent Harry Potter flick; Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. When the producers give a director a budget of around $150 to $200 million dollars, you would expect greatness right? Well, if you don’t have a coherent script and the correct delivery from your actors, your entire multi-million dollar world won't work. That is exactly how I felt about Avatar because Cameron did not bridge that gap of an emotion connection. The main theme is that big budgets do not always equal great cinema. There are big budget films that have been brilliant like The Lord of the Rings Triloy and The Dark Knight. What made The Dark Knight so epic were the limited use of CGI and the strong use of real effects. The Prince of Persia relies too heavily on CGI effects, which look great for the most part but there are some awful slow motion scenes and blue screen effects that needed to be cleaned up.

The film tells the tale of Prince Dastan (played by Jake Gyllenhaal) and his quest to secure a sacred dagger that has the potential to wipe out the entire population of Persia. Dastan is not your normal prince as he was hand picked by the King of Persia while he was a young boy. The King already had two blood sons but noticed Dastan one day while in the streets. Dastan was taken in to the family and raised in the kingdom. Now, fifteen years later, he is trying to prove to his family that he can lead his men into battle. The king’s Brother, Nizam (played by Ben Kingsley) hears from a source that the city of Alamut maybe selling Persian weapons to their enemies. Dastan and his brothers invade the city and are not able to find these weapons, though Dastan comes across a mysterious dagger. A tragedy occurs in the city and Dastan is forced to run away but he doesn't go alone. The princess of Alamut, Tamina (Gemma Arterton) knows the significance of the dagger that was found and travels with Dastan. Dastan is now a primary suspect in a murder but he slowly learns that having this dagger is a much bigger deal. This sacred dagger has the power to turn back time and if it gets into the wrong hands, it could wipe out the entire population.

There are two major issues with the film. The first is that is that it is extremely laughable at times. Anytime Newell would cut to a slow-motion shot of Dastan jumping from a building it would give me this cheesy vibe. He overused the slow-motion to the point where it became really old. The only time it was really effective was when the dagger was pressed and we get to see time going backwards. You could tell that was where the $150 million dollars was spent. There are so many scenes where Dastan is jumping over buildings and climbing up walls and they just felt cheesy. There is one really cool wall climbing scene in the beginning where Dastan’s men are shooting metal bows into the wall as Dastan is climbing.

Another major issue was the pacing. The film went way too fast and did not give the audience a chance to catch up with the story and the characters. There were times where the audience is made to do work in their heads to figure out where the story was going. You would see a character in one scene and they would have a shift in emotion or character in the next scene. The film became a bit hard to follow and confusing at times which is completely unnecessary in a high budget summer action adventure flick.

Some of the highlights of the film were the supporting actors including Ben Kingsley and the wonderfully talented Alfred Molina. Molina steals the entire film with his hilarious dialogue about paying taxes and being against the government. Anytime he was on screen I felt the film light up a bit. Even Ben Kingsley delivers a strong performance and he easily has some of the best facial expressions in the business. You can read the emotion all over his face even when he is not saying a word.

There are two or three very decent action scenes. There is one really great scene where Dastan and some other men are sleeping. A snake works his way under the sand and over to the characters causing a massive disturbance. Dastan uses the dagger to turn-back time and destroy that snake. I almost jumped out of seat because it was such a great scene.

Overall, the movie is nothing special but it does have some great qualities. Plus, who would not want to look at Gemme Arterton for an hour and fifty-minutes. She is absolutely stunning and gives one heck of a performance in the film. For a movie that is very middle of the road, I give The Prince of Persia 2.5 BDKs out of 5. If you are a fan of the game, check it out as a matinee.

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Survival of the Dead
Genre: Horror
Released: 2010
Rating: Half BDK

Seriously, how many times do we have to see a zombie's head being blown off before it gets boring? Survival of the Dead is easily one of the worst zombie films I have ever seen. Enough already Mr. Romero! I love you to death and you are a brilliant film maker but enough with the "dead" flicks. Survival of the Dead is the sixth "of the dead" film to come since 1968. Romero took the world by storm with his classic black and white Night of the Living Dead, which was made almost twenty years before I was born. I was not able to experience the impact it had on it's time period but when I watch it today, I can get a sense of how it changed zombie films for the better. There are so many films that I wish I could have seen when they first came out in theatres. Living in that time adds to the appreciation of the film you are watching. For example, when it comes to Citizen Kane, I recognize the significance that film has to cinema but I still do not grasp why some consider that film to be the greatest of all time. Call me young but I don't see the appeal. I see that Orson Wells change directing with his deep focus and amazing tracking shots but I would go as far as to say that Alfred Hitchcock had more of an impact on cinema than Wells. Now I am just getting off topic. Survival of the Dead consists of a relatively no-name cast including Alan Van Sprang, Kathleen Munroe, Kenneth Welsh, Richard Fitzpatrick, Devon Bostick, Athena Karkanis and Stefano Dmiatteo.

This is one of the first zombie films that I almost turned off while watching but I knew I had to finish it so that I could write a review. Normally, in Romero’s films there are deep themes about our lives, i.e. the theme of consumerism in Dawn of the Dead. Romero does state that there are deep themes in Survival of the Dead but literally zero percent of them came through to me. I was more focused on the horrific acting, atrocious special effects and completely redundant zombie kills. Listen, I am all for an awesome zombie death. Take Zombieland for example. Remember the Zombie Kill of the Week? That movie caught up to the times perfectly and gave us a whole new take on zombie films. Even Shaun of the Dead took a different route. Romero is just stuck in his own old formula. On an interview during my show, Romero stated that he disliked Zach Snyder's Dawn of The Dead and Zombieland. He thinks zombies should not run fast, that they should be these slow creatures. I get where he is coming from but those films were great. Don't tell Romero I said this but I enjoyed Snyder's fast-paced and fun version of Dawn of the Dead more than Romero's slow-paced film.

The plot line of the film revolves around two feuding families on an island off the coast of Delaware. Personally, any plot points in the film are there just as an excuse for Romero to show more horrific zombie deaths. On this island live two families, the O'Flynn's and the Muldoons. Heading up the O'Flynn family is Patrick (played by Kenneth Welsh). Patrick feels that all zombies much be killed. He and his men go from house to house finding the infected people and killing them off. Seamus Muldoon (Fitzpatrick) has a different mindset. In his mind, killing these zombies is like killing a human being. Just because they have a "disease" does not mean they can not be treated. He feels that by keeping the zombies alive, we could learn and maybe eventually save their lives one day once science comes up with an answer. Patrick O'Flynn is eventually forced off the island and leaves behind his men and lovely daughter, Jane (played by Kathleen Munroe). While off the island, Patrick O'Flynn meets a group of military zombie-executioners whose sole job is to stay alive and kill zombies. Heading up this operation is Sarge Crocket (played terribly by Alan Van Sprang). He is joined by Francisco (Dimatteo) and Tomboy (Karkanis). They meet up with Patrick O'Flynn and travel back to the island to kill zombies and settle the score with Muldoon. Though, when they get there, it turns out that Patrick's daughter is now a zombie as well.

I can not believe I am actually spending this much time on this review. This is one of the few movies I have seen where I was actually dreading my experience. I found myself looking at my phone and sometimes even texting to give myself some form of entertainment. How many times can we seriously watch somebody shoot a zombie in the head and see blood squirt out? There must have been at least thirty of those kill shots in this movie and gets old after the first one.

For a movie that heavily relies on zombie kills, couldn't Romero get better effects? All of the effects in this movie were made from heavy CGI. If you go back to his earlier films where you can see the actual make-up effects done by Tom Savini, you can appreciate why this film feels a bit easy. There is one particular scene where Sarge Crocket finds a bunch of zombie heads on sticks in the forest. He shoots each head, one by one, and it looked like it was straight out of a video game. The effects were atrocious! I understand it's probably less work to use CGI than it is to create all of the make-up effects but it really comes across badly in a film of this nature.

The acting and characters were all horrific. I mentioned earlier than Patrick O'Flynn's character had a daughter named Jane who turned into a zombie. When the characters arrive on the island, we see that Jane has big blue eyes and is constantly riding around on a horse. Then, about twenty-minutes later, we meet another character who looks just like Jane. The best part is that it is her twin sister who we did not meet at the beginning of the film. It was one of the worst plot twists and ideas I have seen on screen. The twin just felt so forced and matter of fact.

You have literally seen this movie already. There is nothing new hear except for a few cool zombie deaths. One thing Romero likes to do is come up with clever ways for the zombies to die and there are a few in the movie that I enjoyed, specifically one that I like to call the "Muffin-Top Death." If you have seen Night, Dawn, Day, Land or Diary, you have already seen this film and it would be just a waste of your money, hence the 0.5 BDK rating.

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Shrek Forever After
Genre: Animation/Adventure/Comedy/Family/Fantasy
Released: 2010
Rating: BDK

The fourth installment, and hopefully the last, is essentially a re-hash of the first three yet still delivers decent comedy and heartfelt moments. What made the first two Shrek films so special (I was not a fan of the third film) was that the jokes were catered to both adults and children. This time around, besides a couple of small inside jokes, the movie felt more like a kid's film. Yes, I understand that is the market and key demographic but the first films understood that parents were taking their kids to these movies. The first Shrek had a running penis joke throughout the entire movie. Shrek Forever After does open with a clever nod to the classic film Deliverance that probably 2% of the audience will pick up on. I even forgot about it until after the film a fellow critic brought it up. I just remember sitting there in my seat thinking to myself, "Did a Shrek film really reference Deliverance?"

The plot line will prove to you that this installment is just a re-telling of the first three films. Shrek (Mike Myers) is fed up with being a non-scary Ogre. His life has essentially turned into Bill Murray's life in Groundhog Day. He wakes up each morning next to his beautiful wife Fionna (Cameron Diaz), feeds his three beautiful children and gets annoyed by the sightseeing tour bus that drives by. The sightseeing tour bus is obviously alluding to the similarities between Far Far Away and Hollywood. Shrek wants to go back to being the scary Ogre. He loved when people would run away screaming when he would approach them. All he wants is to be that scary Ogre for one day and a little man named Rumpelstiltskin (Walt Dohrn) has just the answer for him. We meet Rumpelstiltskin in the beginning of the film, which plays as a flash back, showing the audience that Fionna's parents, King Harold (John Cleese) and Queen Lillian (Julie Andrews) were about to sign over Far Far Away to remove the awful curse set on their daughter. Rumpelstiltskin wants to rule Far Far Away and the only way to do that is to change history. He gets Shrek drunk and has him sign a magic waiver giving him a day of his life for a day of being a scary Ogre. It turns out that the day Rumpelstiltskin takes from Shrek is the day he was born. Therefore, he spends the entire movie meeting all of the famous characters all over again, i.e. Donkey (Eddie Murphy) and Puss in Boots (Antonio Banderas). He remembers them but they have no idea who he is. He has twenty-four hours to remove this curse or he will cease to exist. The only thing that can break the curse is true love's kiss and the issue is that Fionna has no idea who Shrek is. She is too busy leading the resistance to over throw Rumpelstiltskin.

Shrek Forever After is a tough movie to review because it isn't necessarily a bad film or a great film. A week has gone by since I have seen the film and I just feel a bit indifferent about it. The film is a bit forgetful being one of those movies that makes you laugh but does not really stick with you. I was able to experience chuckles throughout the entire film but when all is said and done, is it a film that I want to recommend people to pay their hard earned money to go see. Well, yes and no. Do not, I repeat, do not seen film in 3D. That is the same thing as throwing your money away. The 3D isn't as bad as say, Clash of the Titans (which was shot in 2D then up-converted to 3D), but it is unnecessary. I was sitting next to fellow critic Dustin Putnam and I looked over to him and said, "Why is this film in 3D?" We kept taking our glasses off because the CGI was more vibrant with the glasses off. I am not technically knowledgeable enough to tell you why it did not work but the depth of field and the imagery did not appear to pop like How to Train Your Dragon or Avatar. The 3D in Shrek Forever After felt more like an afterthought and something that the studio is trying to use to make more money opening weekend. Did I also mention that the film is opening in IMAX 3D, so the ticket prices (at least in the DC area) could be upwards of $15.50. That is absurd! If you do see this film, see the 2D version.

As I mentioned above there needed to be more adult humor. Shrek, at least in my opinion, was one of the first animated films to master that art of having two movies in one. Meaning, adults could watch one film and get all of the crude humor and kids could watch the other film and get their jokes. Everybody was happy when they left the theatre. There was a running joke in the first film about penis size! The fourth installment had maybe two adult jokes that I could remember.

Now on to the positives, I always find the character of Donkey to be hilarious. There is just something about that character's teeth that make me laugh. Donkey is one of the exceptions to my problems with animated films. I usually have an issue with a big name star voicing a character because it removes me from the character and makes me think of the actor. In this case, Eddie Murphy becomes the Donkey. He is that character. Every mannerism makes me think of him but in a good way. Another very strong performance is from a man named Walt Dohrn (who was also the Head of Story for the film). He plays the character of Rumplestiltskin and does a fantastic job. He is very evil yet subtle and completely nailed the part. As always, Mike Myers and Antonio Banderas do a fine job but I always had a weird issue with Cameron Diaz as Fiona. I don't find the character of the Ogre Fionna the least bit attractive but since I know Diaz's voice so well, it kind of distorts the character for me.

There are consistent laughs throughout but the film is very forgetful. I really did enjoy the character Pied Piper and the dancing witches, who made me, laugh each time they were on screen. I would say it's a solid matinee to take the kids to see but stay away from the 3D, hence the 3 BDK rating. As I have said numerous times, 3D scares me. I had an entire rant on my show months ago about how I feel that we are losing story elements in these 3D movies. The focus is now more on the visual side of things. I just hope this is a fad.

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MacGruber
Genre: Action/Comedy
Released: 2010
Rating: BDK

MacGruber is one of the few comedies that actually made me laugh so hard that I started sweating. That is great because I probably burned more calories watching the flick. Let me say that I know a lot of people who have seen the trailer for this film and say it looks stupid that Saturday Night Live has not made a good movie in years. Both of those claims are one hundred percent true. This is the twelfth movie to come from an SNL skit and the last film they did which was absolutely hilarious was Wayne's World. Before that, arguably the greatest comedy of all time was made; The Blues Brothers. The rest of the film's have either been really bad (Night at the Roxbury, Superstar) or just alright (The Ladies Man, Coneheads). The regular trailer for MacGruber did not help it's cause. The jokes seemed dry and made people question how a skit that only lasts ninety seconds on-air could be turned into a film that lasts one hour and forty minutes. Those are all understandable and reasonable questions. Though, I am here to tell you this is easily the best comedy based around an SNL skit since Wayne's World and that the trailers do not do it justice. The movie is one of the most violent, crude and disgusting films you will see.

If you are not familiar with the MacGruber bit, the skit is essentially spoofing the popular television show MacGyver. During an episode of Saturday Night Live, you may see three or four MacGruber skits that last ninety-seconds each. He has a goofy theme song that plays saying "MacGruber, He makes life saving inventions out of house-hold materials, MacGruber." During the ninety-second skit, he usually goes on some tangent while trying to diffuse a bomb which always ends up blowing up and killing everyone. Yet, you see him come back for another episode after he has just died. It's very stupid if you think about it and I was not a huge fan of the skits. Now, we have a feature length film which was co-written by MacGruber himself, Will Forte. He has joined forces with SNL writer Jorma Taccone to bring the feature film. Taccone is one of three members of the Lonely Island, which are the people that brought you such classics as "D*** in a Box", "J*** In My Pants" and "I'm on a Boat." I was shocked that Andy Samberg did not appear in the film.

From the opening frame of the film, you know exactly what this movie will be. The aura surrounding it is that we are seeing a cleverly stupid comedy that is completely self-aware. In that sense, the jokes make come off as stupid but you know that the writers know the jokes are supposed to have that vibe. It's like being in on an inside joke. We meet the film's villain, Dieter Von Cunth (Val Kilmer), who has just acquired a nuclear weapon called an X-5. He plans on using it to blow up Washington D.C. The military track down MacGruber, who was thought to be dead for the past ten years. After Dieter Von Cunth blew MacGruber and his wife (Maya Rudolph) up at their own wedding, he went into hiding. Col. Jim Faith (Powers Boothe) and Lt. Dixon Piper (Ryan Phillippe) have tracked MacGruber down to let him know that Cunth is back on the move and trying to destroy Washington D.C. Hesitant at first to get back in the game, he takes the job assembling his dream team. When that plan fails, he assembles another team consisting of Lr. Dixon Piper and Vicki St. Elmo (Kristen Wiig). Together, they must stop Cunth before he destroys D.C.

Wait, doesn't that sound like every other action movie ever made? Of course it does but the film knows that. We even get the classic scene in the rain where he looks up saying, "Nooooo." See, here's the difference. Last week, there was a little movie out called Robin Hood, where Russell Crowe has a "Nooooo" scene two times at the end of the film. That did not work because of the vibe of the film. This film is self-aware in that aspect, therefore you are able to laugh. That is why the film is so clever, yet stupid at the same time. Anybody who is persnickety about the film being over-the-top just did not get the jokes.

Just a fair warning to people that this movie is amazingly violent, disgusting and absolutely hilarious! If you can't handle any of those three adjectives than this film is not for you. The movie also contains arguably the greatest sex scene(s) of all time. MacGruber is one of those films that is funny from start to finish. I'm afraid to say anything else because I don't want to give anything away but you will never think of celery and cemeteries the same ever again.

Let's talk about the amazing performances and writing in the film. Will Forte obviously nails the role and was born to play this part. Being that he was part of the writing, he brings full force to all the jokes. Val Kilmer played a great villain and as I sit here typing this I find myself laughing about a certain painting scene. Even Ryan Phillippe (The Way of the Gun, Cruel Intentions), who rarely does comedies, delivered a good performance. Kristen Wiig always makes me laugh with her dead pan humor. The writing is even shockingly good. There is one particular scene where MacGruber is telling Lt. Dixon Pile about why Dieter Von Cunth is after him. This scene was so well written that it actually made you feel that the villain was allowed to be mad at MacGruber.

I was really shocked at how violent the film was. You can tell that most of the blood is CGI but there are so many scenes of people getting shot, getting their throats ripped out and body parts flying. Though, all of these scenes are done in a funny manner. You will laugh until you sweat, cry and it hurts. MacGruber receives 4 BDKs out of 5 and is definitely worth your money!

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Robin Hood
Genre: Action/Drama
Released: 2010
Rating: BDK

Ridley Scott's Robin Hood is slow, lifeless and boring. The action is decent and there a couple of good performances but overall, this origin story of Robin Hood needed more of a heroic arc. Scott did not build a bridge for the audience to connect to any of the characters. He spent most of his time confusing the audience and then at the film's most climactic and heroic moment, brings laughter via slow motion and cheese. It sounds like I hated the film, doesn't it? Am I coming off a bit harsh? Well, the movie is not horrible as it does contain some decent action scenes and the idea behind it being an origin story is kind of interesting. Why did he have to make the film two hours and twenty-minutes long? There could have easily been thirty-minutes of minutia cut out of the story. The only reason I was able to stay awake throughout the entire film was that I chugged a Red Bull right before it started. Red Bull should now change their slogan from "Red Bull gives you wings," to "Red Bull will keep you awake through Ridley Scott's two hour and twenty minute Robin Hood."

Robin Hood stars Russell Crowe (Gladiator, American Gangster), Cate Blanchette (Babel, Elizabeth), Mark Strong (Kick-Ass, Sherlock Holmes), William Hurt (A History of Violence), Max Von Sydow (The Exorcist, Shutter Island),Oscar Isaac (Che Part 1) and Danny Huston (X-Men Origins: Wolverine).

There are no original ideas left in Hollywood, therefore we have to dip back into the well and come up with origin stories to movies that came out decades ago. The original version came out in 1938 and starred Errol Flynn. We then saw an animated version in the 70's, a Kevin Costner version in the 90's and then my personal favorite, Robin Hood: Men in Tights.

Sure, we have a great director and a great cast but there was absolutely no life to the script or the performances. We are supposed to be learning about how Robin Hood got his start. The film takes place in the 12th century, around 1199 A.D. We learn that King Richard (Danny Huston) has been on a ten year crusade, essentially eating up all of England's money and resources. He has decided it is time to come home but ends up being killed before that day. Robin Longstride (Russell Crowe) happens to be an archer for England's army. He has his men learn of King Richard's death and travel back to England to alert the Queen of the King's death. Though, Robin and his men have to disguise themselves as Knights in order to travel back. Robin goes under the name of Robert Loxley, who was a knight killed while trying to relay the message about the King's death. Before Loxley dies, he asks Robin to deliver his father's sword directly to Sir Walter Loxley (Max Von Sydow). Keeping his promise, Robin returns to Nottingham to deliver the sword and slowly realizes that this poor city is being robbed by England's higher powers. There is also a movement occurring where France is trying to take over England. France has an English spy, Godfrey (Mark Strong) building a French army to create civil war in England so that King Phillip of France can take over King John of England. They don't realize that Robin Hood is now on the up rise and there to stop them.

The film is completely lifeless. With a story that possibly had potential, the movie falls to a boring and slow plot line. The characters were not interesting and there was never any need to feel for them. The heroic arc of Robin Hood, himself, was not dramatic in the least. It was as if he knew his destiny all along and we were just along for the ride to push him there. It was inevitable that he was the hero but the rise of his heroism was cheesy and cliché. His motive was the loss of his father. How many times have we seen that? And don't even get me started on the most climactic moment of the film being laughable. There are two slow-motion parts at the end of the movie where a character is growling and saying, "Nooooooo!!!" in slow-motion. Doesn't Ridley Scott know that is cheesy?

Another issue I had with the film was that the camera felt aware of itself. For example, we would be in the middle of an emotional scene with the camera standing perfectly still. When a character says something important, he would quickly zoom into their face. The movement felt unnatural and took me out of the film. At those points, I knew I was watching a movie. I am a massive fan of Ridley Scott's work, whether it is the original Alien, Gladiator or even Blade Runner. The guy knows what he's doing but his heart was not in this film. He tried to make a quick summer blockbuster and it did not work.

The action scenes are decent but how many times have we seen a film where multiple bow and arrows are shot and we get that long shot of all the arrows coming down on the enemies? It's been done a thousand times! Besides a couple of slow-motion stabbings, the action scenes were mediocre and have been done before.

I did enjoy the film's score. There was this flute bit that kept playing throughout that I found to be fascinating. Cate Blanchette and Max Von Sydow gave decent performances but Russell Crowe just plays himself. I never got that Robin Hood feel from him. The real scene stealer was Mark Strong as the villain. He delivered a menacing performance I loved his mouth scar. There were scenes where you could tell he was super crazy because he would start licking the scar.

Robin Hood is a disappointing 2 BDK rating out of 5 and should be seen at home on cable.

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Letters to Juliet
Genre: Comedy/Drama/Romance
Released: 2010
Rating: BDK

Letters to Juliet had a great idea going but focused too much on the awful foreground love story when the background story was obviously more interesting. Vanessa Redgrave completely steals the film with her background love story involving finding a lover she let go more than fifty-years ago. That would be fine if that were the main story for the film. The flick is ultimately ruined by a cheesy love story that lacks any chemistry whatsoever. Why must all of these romantic comedies go the exact same route each time? Don't writers know that viewers are going to catch on or let me rephrase, that viewers have already caught on to the romantic-comedy trend? What happened to the originality we used to see in films like Annie Hall or When Harry Met Sally? Too old or classic? What about last year's anti-cliche romantic comedy (500) Days of Summer? Letters To Juliet stars Amanda Seyfried (Mean Girls, Jennifer's Body), Vanessa Redgrave (Camelot, Julia), Christopher Egan (Resident Evil: Extinction), Gael Garcia Bernal (Y Tu Mama Tambien, The Science of Sleep) and Franco Nero (who also starred in Camelotwith Vanessa Redgrave).

Meet Sophie (Seyfried), a fact-checker for the New Yorker in New York City. She is finally starting to figure out that writing is her real passion. Sophie has now been engaged to her fiance, Victor (Bernal) for over a year and they have decided to take a pre-wedding honeymoon to Verona, Italy. Though, this honeymoon slowly turns into Victor trying to find buyers and suppliers for his new restaurant back home. The writers try to force down your throats that he cares more about his restaurant than he does his lovely Sophie. One day, while Victor is out on a wine tasting tour, Sophie comes across Juliet's courtyard in Verona, a place where women leave letters to Juliet to answer questions regarding their love lives. The notes are posted on a wall and then a group of secretaries grab the letters and answer each one. Sophie happens to find letter written fifty-years prior, stuck between the bricks of the wall. The letter was written by a woman named Claire (Redgrave). When she was just a teenager, she met the love of her life, Lorenzo (played by Franco Nero). Though, she was supposed to meet him one night and never showed up. The letter is asking for advice on what to do. Sophie takes the initiative in answering the letter telling Claire to follow her heart and find her Lorenzo. Shocker, days later, Claire shows up with her grandson, Charlie (Gean). They all embark on a journey through Italy to find Lorenzo. The question is whether or not they are too late.

Letters To Juliet is yet another film where the trailers ruined half of the adventure. If the movie focused more on Claire's adventure to find Lorenzo and the joke that there are a million guys named Lorenzo in Italy, the film could have worked. Too bad the writers wanted to work on the awful "love story" between Sophie and Charlie. Here's the issue with that love story. There was no chemistry! Charlie spends the entire film talking down to Sophie and being disrespectful. At one point in all that negativity did she fall for him? After the writers have beaten us over the head with the fact that Victor wasn't right for her, you would think they would maybe let us like this Charlie guy. Therefore, when we reach the film's climax, I could care less about Charlie and Sophie trying to get together.

The film is filled with positive aspects though. Vanessa Redgrave's performance is priceless. Her mannerisms, smile and charm really shine on screen. Anytime she was on screen, the movie just felt one million times better. Her love for Lorenzo's character felt real. I just wish we did not see who the real Lorenzo was during the trailer. I would have really enjoyed going on the adventure with her and trying to figure out who the real Lorenzo is. The fact that he rides in on a horse almost killed me but I got over that quickly. What’s amazing is that for the little screen time we see Vanessa and Frank together, their chemistry blows away Amanda Seyfried’s and Christopher Egan’s.

The actor playing Charlie (Ryan Phillippe - just joking, though he does look just like him) had no chemistry with Amanda Seyfried. Their relationship felt dull and boring. There is a scene at the end with these two characters that is so horrible that fellow critic Nell Minow and I were crying in laughter. We both completely lost it and were wiping our eyes because the scene was so bad. Now, thinking back on it, that scene should be nominated for one of the funniest scenes in film history. Though, it would lose because it was not intended to be funny.

On a positive note, the scenery in the film was beautiful. If only the script and film could have been that beautiful and realistic, it would have worked. The movie is not horrendous but it's rather bad and receives a 2 BDK rating out of 5. Wait for the rental.

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Just Wright
Genre: Comedy/Romance
Released: 2010
Rating: BDK

Just Wright follows every cliche in the book yet delivers extremely likable characters. I just loved how I could feel the genuine excitement from Queen Latifah's character. The movie follows a very Cinderella-esque story arc and for that, many people may be turned off by the predictability. Generally, I find myself on the negative side when it comes to films with this type of predictable nature. I just really found myself digging the chemistry between Common and Queen Latifah.

The film follows a woman named Leslie Wright (Latifah) and her journey of falling in love with the man of her dreams. Scott McKnight (Common) is the superstar player for one of the best teams in the NBA, the New Jersey Nets. Now in reality, they are one of the worst teams in the league but this is Hollywood folks! Leslie is a physical therapist working in New Jersey who just happens to be a massive fan of the Nets. She just bought a new place and her God sister, Morgan (Paula Patton) has been living there trying to find a new gig. Now, her idea of a new gig is marrying an NBA star so she can be rich and famous. One night they both go to a Nets game and on the way home, Leslie stops at a gas station with her beat up car to get some gas. Shocker, Scott McKnight stops there as well and they meet and connect. He invites her to his birthday party as his house and of course Morgan wants to come along as well. Now, Morgan has always been the girl who gets all the guys. Leslie is truly living that Cinderella life style with her beat up car and everything around her always seems to break. Scott McKnight ends up falling for Morgan but when he injures himself badly during a game and needs a physical therapist to bring him back before the playoffs. Morgan immediately jumps out of the picture and now it's time for Leslie and Scott to spend eight weeks together. Hmm, I wonder what will happen.

Just Wright is normally the type of movie I hate. Every cliche known to cinema is in the film and it is a completely formulaic plot line. Though, where the film gets it right is the casting. Now, when I say cliches, I mean every cliche. We get the classic reveal at the top of the staircase when a character is getting all dressed up for the first time in front of the man of her dreams. We get that classic walk-down-the stairs shot of Queen Latifah. We also get the classic scene where an actor is doing something important like a massive interview but knows in his heart that he needs to be with the person he loves. Therefore, he gets up and says that "there's somewhere else I gotta be." We even get the scene where a character says that the lover made him see a part himself that he didn't know was there. Yes, all of that and more is in the film. Again though, the key was the actors. Common and Queen Latifah really sold the fairy tale vibe.

The writers force you to hate Paula Patton's character which is done on purpose for you to accept the fairy tale story of Common and Latifah. Common's performance is spot-on. When he was first on screen, I felt like he was forcing his lines but his character really grew on me and I was pleasantly surprised with his arc. My favorite aspect was Queen Latifah. There is a scene where she is in bed dancing around and smiling that really made me connect with her excitement. You could truly feel that her character was genuinely happy.

Sports fans will want to know how the basketball scenes played out. Were they realistic? Well, the short answer is yes. The movie is actually officially involved with the NBA. Therefore, we get to see real teams and real players, such as Dwight Howard and Dwyane Wade. The basketball scenes felt very realistic and considering that Common grew up playing and was a ball boy for the Chicago Bulls, he definitely nailed it. It was pretty surreal watching him play against real NBA teams.

This movie is against everything I preach about the current state of cinema. Trust me, I realize that. I may sound like a hypocrite but the film worked and it will make you laugh and cheer. Just Wright gets a solid 3 BDK rating out of 5. I would definitely check out the matinee if you get the chance.

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The Human Centipede (First Sequence)
Genre: Drama/Horror
Released: 2010
Rating: BDK

The Human Centipede is the most disturbing, disgusting and vomit-inducing film I have ever seen. I had to leave the film three times to go to the bathroom and dry heave. It was my Twitter followers who told me to go back in and tough it out so I could give the movie a legit review. Out of the three times that I left to go to the restroom, the second time was the worst. It was during the first reveal of the Human Centipede, which may be the nastiest creation known to man. In fact, the idea surrounding the film's plotline is so gross that I can't even go into detail about it. Unfortunately, The Human Centipede is the "first sequence," meaning that a sequel entitled "second sequence" is coming out in 2011. Both are directed by Tom Six, who honestly needs help after writing and directing a film of this nature. The Human Centipede stars Dieter Laser, Akihiro Kitamura, Ashley C. Williams and Ashlynn Yennie.

The film plays out like Eli Roth's Hostel where tourists traveling in a foreign country are brutally tortured. The only difference is that the film is isolated to one mad man in Germany and three tourists. Well, there was a fourth one but he is killed off early on in the film. Meet Dr. Heiter (Dieter Laser). He is one of Germany's most well-known surgeons. His place is secluded out in a wooded area and we learn in the beginning that he created a "dog centipede", combining three dogs together to make one. He is now recreating his "masterpiece" with humans. Two stranded American tourists find their way to his house by mistake and become part of his masterful plan to create the Human Centipede. Lindsay (Williams) and Jennie (Yennie) are two best friends who just wound up at the wrong place at the wrong time. Does that sound bad yet? Well, I haven't told you how he creates the centipede. Keeping this as clean as possible, he attaches the humans together by putting their mouths up to other person's anus. The human being in front, a Japanese tourist named Katsuro, has his face free but the two people behind him are connected via the anus, creating one digestive track. Excuse me for a second while I go vomit. Ok, I am back. That's really all that happens but the intensity and drama comes from the group trying to escape the house while in Centipede form.

First of all, why would anyone ever want to watch this? Yes, the film is intense and yes there is a phenomenal performance by Dieter Laser. Though, you get those two decent items at the expense of the most disgusting and vile piece of cinema you will ever see. Let's talk positives for a little while longer. The movie is extremely well-directed. Tom Six did a great job at creating tension. I particularly liked his shots that made me feel extremely claustrophobic. There is one particular scene where Lindsay has tried to escape and ends up in Dr. Heiter's pool. He is holding up a gun directly at her to shoot her once she comes to the surface. There is nothing scarier than knowing that once you run out of breath that there will be a guy at the surface with a gun to your face. I was squirming in my seat throughout the entire scene. Another scene which was very well-directed, but more on the disgusting side, deals with a staircase and the human centipede. That is all I will say for now.

Most people say to me, "Hey that film wasn't gross. They barely showed anything." That is the biggest lie I have ever heard. You see plenty of gore! Anyone who says that is either desensitized to the point of numbness or has a massive threshold for violence. Listen, I am a huge fan of the Saw and Hostel films. The torture porn aspect of those movies has never bothered me. In fact, the Hostel films are a bit on the funny side because Eli Roth always has that joking nature behind his flicks. With The Human Centipede, there is no humor. There is only disgusting and vile aesthetics. Even if we don't see each and every gory detail of his experiment, we still know exactly what is going on. Sewing three human beings together and attaching them at the anus is already disgusting enough. Not seeing the most disgusting parts of the film is no excuse to say the film is not gross. You still know, in your head, what is happening. The scene that made me almost lose my dinner was scene where you don't see anything. The act of defecating was implied to the fullest extent.

The Human Centipede is the only movie I have ever seen where I am having a hard time coming up with a rating. I was reading somewhere that Roger Ebert refused to give the film a star rating. I almost want to go that route but I don't want to copy his style. Though, my review and thoughts may follow that path because I recognize how good the film making is but I don't want to recommend a movie like this. Is the film well-made? Sure! Is it a film that I want to recommend to my readers? No! I would not wish this film on my worst enemy. Frankly, this movie should come with a doctor's note giving you permission to skip work or school the next day. This is one of the few films in my lifetime that I actually regret watching because I don't think I will ever forget the images.

Another argument is that the film is genius because of Dieter Laser's performance. Yes, his performance is a ten out of ten. He easily delivers one of the most demonic performances in the history of cinema and I would not be surprised if the Academy took a look at the performance for a nomination. His facial expressions and mannerisms are truly insane and you never once feel that he might have a change of heart. It was like watching The Joker from The Dark Knight on crack. He has that same relentless nature but takes it to an extreme that I never knew existed.

If you are into disgusting torture, vomiting, feeling uneasy, shaking and just downright sick than this is the movie for you. What's sick is that when I tweeted my thoughts on the film, the majority of the responses back to me were saying that they could not wait to see it. People love to be shocked and if that's your thing, than by all means, let this movie shock you. If I had to give it a rating on shock value, it would receive 5 out of 5. Though, my scale tells you how to watch a film and I will be awarding it a 1 out of 5. This 1 rating allows you to watch the movie in the comfort of your own home. That way you can pause to dry heave as much as you want. Enjoy!

Intrigued as to how the film was shot, I went on to wikipedia.com and found some interesting facts. According to the website, the procedure that Dr. Hieter performs is "100% medically accurate." The sewing of the humans together can actually be done and the humans would still live. After you see the film, you will realize that the three actors playing the human centipede had to be on their hands and knees for basically an hour of the film. According to the Wikipedia page, the actors were given massages at the end of each day. I did not go into the gory details on the procedure but the reason they are on their hands and knees is that Dr. Hieter cuts out part of the knee cap so it cannot bend back to stand up. I do want to say that the three actors playing Centipede were phenomenal. Even though their dialogue was minimal, you could feel the sheer terror in their voices. The front of Centipede, played by Akihiro Kitamura was brilliant. See, the more and more I think about the film, I recognize the good aspects but I have hard time recommending a movie of this nature. This is not entertainment. This is torture.

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Iron Man 2
Genre: Action/Adventure/Sci-Fi/Thriller
Released: 2010
Rating: BDK

Note: Make sure you stay after the credits of the film for a nice surprise!

Is Iron Man 2 better than the first film? This is a question that I have been bombarded with since the first credit sequence hit the screen. In short, the answer is yes and no. The film improves on some levels (action and comedy) and then disappoints on others (very uneven and an unnecessarily complicated plotline). Though, I feel the improvements are enough to make Iron Man 2 a worthy sequel. How does it stack up against The Dark Knight, Spider-Man 2 and other super hero/summer blockbuster sequels? That's a great question. As the great Samuel L. Jackson once said, "Well allow me to retort!" Try to imagine this visually on a chart. Let's say the chart goes from one to one hundred and contains bar graphs. The higher the bar graph, the better the film. This is simply being done to show the change in quality of the films as the sequels were released. The Dark Knight was obviously a more superior film than Batman Begins, so much so that the leap would be from a seventy-five to a one hundred. The same went for Spider-Man to Spider-Man 2. The introduction of Doc. Ock (Alfred Molina) made the sequel vastly superior to the first film. Transformers to Transformers 2 took a completely opposite route where the first film was a visually entertaining and the second was just a complete waste of time. Why am I rambling on about other films? The main reason is to show that the Iron Man sequel essentially lives up to the first film. If you, the viewer, can sacrifice a couple of issues, you will be pleasantly surprised to see the upgrades the sequel has to offer.

While the film may be uneven, Iron Man 2 blows the first film out of the water in the action and comedy department. Iron Man was bit more consistent and linear in its story telling and may be an all around better film. Though, Iron Man 2 packs that action punch that the first one lacked. As a critic, I sometimes go back and re-read my older reviews, particular my review for the first film. I do regret giving the film a five out of five. A more suitable rating would have been a four or four and a half because that last battle scene between Robert Downey Jr. and Jeff Bridges was not up to par with the rest of the film. That could easily be one of the most anti-climactic battle scenes in the history of action films.

Not only did director Jon Favraeu (star of Swingers, director of Iron Man, Elf) amp up the action/comedy, he also blew up the cast. Besides the obvious star, Robert Downey Jr., we are also entertained by Don Cheadle (who takes over the role left by Terrence Howard and does a much better job), Sam Rockwell (easily the most underrated actor working today - Moon, Confessions of a Dangerous Mind), Scarlett Johansson (Match Point, Vicky Cristina Barcelona), Mickey Rourke (The Wrestler, Diner), Samuel L. Jackson (Pulp Fiction, Shaft), Garry Shandling ("The Larry Sanders Show") and of course, the return of Pepper Potts herself, Gwenyth Paltrow. Let me say that the choice to have Don Cheadle take over the role of Lt. Col. Rhodes was perfect. Terrence Howard is a wonderful actor but he wanted too much money for the part and was let go. I find that to be a dumb decision considering he has not done a great film since Hustle and Flow. You would think that maybe playing War Machine would bring him to bigger and better roles considering the high profile of the character.

Iron Man 2 picks up sixth months after the first film left off. Tony Stark (Downey Jr.) has revealed that he is, indeed, Iron Man. Now, the Government wants his Iron Man suit because they feel it can be used as a weapon against terrorism. Stark, who is a business man as well thinks it's crazy and that he has now brought world peace. He argues that no one will be able to re-create the suit and that things are going great at the moment. That is until Ivan "Whiplash" Vanko (Mickey Rourke) comes along. You might remember that famous scene in the first film where Tony meets that mysterious man (Yinsin) in the cave, who essentially brings him back to life by placing an arc reactor in his chest to keep the metal shrapnel from getting to his heart. That arc reactor had actually been created well before that day by Howard Stark (John Slattery) and his partner Anton. They were the first to develop this arc reactor. Though Howard and Anton had a falling out which eventually lead to the death of Anton. Ivan now wants his revenge and brings to life his own version of the Iron Man suit, using lightening whip lashes, which he unveils on a race track in Monaco during the Grande Prix. Now, the military is fed up and wants those suits. Stark's partner/friend Lt. Col. James Rhodes (Cheadle) is now teaming up with Iron Man to help fight against Ivan. Rhodes goes by the name War Machine! There's a lot more going on but I don't want to give too much away. For the comic book fans out there, Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson) is heavily involved as is Black Widow (Johansson). We are also dealing with the love story between Pepper and Tony.

One of the film's biggest issues is the overly confusing and complicated plot lines. To be honest, the back story of Whiplash's father Anton was not clearly stated in the movie. When I originally watched it, I thought that Anton was the person who helped put the arc reactor into Tony Stark. Though, after doing research and thinking back on the film, I found that Anton and Tony's father had falling out. That is an issue with the writing not being clear. The movie is a bit oversaturated with plot but like I said, if you can get over that fact, the action is worth every penny.

As you can see above, there is a lot going on in this film, maybe too much at times. I don't mean to be too persnickety about a film of this nature but it was oddly uneven times. Staying consistently entertaining was not a problem but the tone of the film would jump all over the place. One second it wanted to be a serious love story and the next minute it was a full-on action film. Personally, it was not a huge problem but there were times where the shifts did not feel natural. Favraeu would go from a massive action scene with high explosives to scene where two people are confessing their love on a rooftop. There needed to be some type of buffer in between those scenes. The jump was a bit too quick.

Now on to the good stuff! The action scenes are worth every penny of your hard earned money. I am a film critic and normally don't have to pay for these films but I will be going back for sure and paying my own money to see this. There are at least three mind-blowing long action scenes that will blow you away. Anytime War Machine (Cheadle) and Iron Man were on screen together, it was gold. There were times where I actually had tears in my eyes because I could not handle how awesome the ending action sequence was. Though, the introduction of War Machine was a bit awkward and forced but you will get over that quickly. The action scenes essentially make up for the film's issues and make this a must-see.

Robert Downey Jr. is so charismatic. That guy brings laughter and a sense of being bad-ass all at the same time. The character of Tony Stark is such a pompous guy but you can't help but love him. Everything he does, he does with a smile on his face and it makes it fun. Every joke of his in the film hits perfectly. In short, Downey Jr. is the perfect Tony Stark/Iron Man.

Let's take a second to recognize one of the most talented actors working today, Sam Rockwell. Rockwell hasn't yet hit that mark where everyone knows who he is but I think he likes it that way. He delivers such a brilliant performance in this movie as Justin Hammer that he almost steals the show. He's funny, awkward and has a bit of evil in him as well. Hammer was a character of many emotions and Rockwell balances all of them perfectly. The introduction of his character was such a great idea. Stark Industries is the worldwide leader in weapons. Hammer wants to take over that slot and he wants to do this by trying to create the Iron Man suit to give to the military. Hammer teams up with Ivan to get that job done.

The movie also really succeeds in the comedy department. The movie is funny throughout, delivering great one-liners and a lot of jokes for the comic book fans. There is one particular reference that will make comic book fans laugh-out-loud. Let's just say it deals with some sort of shield.

All-in-all, Iron Man 2 pretty much lives up to the first. It doesn't have the same solid quality as the first film but the action and comedy is ramped up just enough to where they both even out. Now, if the movie was a bit more even, we would have a five out of five on our hands. Go see this film in theatres, you will not be disappointed, hence the 4.5 BDK rating. Also, what's better than seeing an Iron Man film with AC/DC blaring in the background!

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Babies
Genre: Documentary
Released: 2010
Rating: BDK

Babies is officially the only movie ever made where it is ok to bring a baby to theatre and allow it to cry throughout the film. I never thought I would be saying those words considering how much I hate the annoyance of a child crying during a movie. I never understood why parents bring a child under the age of two to a film, especially an R-Rated movie. Well, the reason is that the parent doesn't want to pay for a baby sitter. Well, now you have excuse to bring your child and let that child cry! Babies contains zero narration which allows the viewer to feel the universal aspect of being a child.

Director Thomas Balmes shot over four hundreds hours of footage over four hundred days. He captures four babies from four different parts of the world from their birth to shortly after their first steps. To be honest, it was tough to tell which baby was a boy and which one was a girl but as the film goes on, you slowly start to learn. I always hate that awkward encounter when I see someone with a child. I never know whether to say that's a cute boy or a cute girl.

The first baby we encounter goes by the name Ponijao and is born in Namibia, Africa. This is a baby that essentially lives without electricity, shoes and is constantly around bugs and dirt. Yet, Ponijao seems to be the happiest baby of them all. The cultural differences are truly phenomenal. If a mother from the United States were to see a baby treated in that nature, they would think it was odd. The same would go for the mother from Namibia though. Regardless, the message still comes across that no matter where you are born or raised, being a baby is universal.

The second baby is Bayar, who was born in Mongolia. This was the baby that had me laughing and thinking about my child hood the most. Bayar has an older sibling who gets jealous the day that Bayar is born. My mom recently told me that when I was two years old, she brought my brother home for the first time and I looked at my Grandma and said, "Tell mommy to bring that baby back." Little did I know that he was my brother Thomas and that we would grow up to be the best of friends. There is a scene in the film where Bayar's sibling puts Bayar in a stroller and rolls him outside of their home, leaving him outside by herself. This hit close to home because my mom said that I did something very similar to my brother when I was two years old. This immediately made me understand the point of the film. Babies don't have a language barrier or a cultural barrier. They are just living in their environment and capturing each moment. The fact that babies in Mongolia did the exact same thing that I did with my brother in America just shows how universal we all are. Bayar has a very funny as scene as well when his sibling repeatedly hits him with a scarf. The intermittent crying make me laugh so hard. (P.S. these hits were not of a violent nature)

The third baby is Mari from Tokyo, Japan. Mari is the source of some very funny scenes including a scene where she gets upset while playing with her toys. Mari freaks out because of this toy where a wooden stick goes into a wooden hole. Mari gets fed up and just lies back screaming. Personally, Mari was the baby that I was least interested in. The screen time seemed a bit less than the other three babies.

Finally, the baby with the cutest face in the world is born and goes by the name of Hattie. Hattie is born in San Francisco to a loving father and mother. Hattie has a very hilarious scene where she goes to the bathroom in her diaper. The facial expression on her face is absolutely priceless. It took a second to realize exactly what was happening in the scene. She also has a great scene involving a banana. There was one scene that kind of bothered me.

As you can see, there really is no story here, except for the lives of the babies. The director chose to not use narration and that had a massive impact on what we were watching. Narration can sometimes ruin a film because it adds in a story or makes up aspects that might not be true. At least here, we are seeing the footage and are allowed to have our own thoughts. I just really loved how Balmes did not translate the foreign languages. We, the audience, can figure out what they are saying based on the actions in the scene. This really did add to the universal message of the movie.

My biggest issue with the film was that it dragged too much. The film only clocks in at around seventy-nine minutes but feels like it lasts for over two hours long. Babies would have been a perfect one hour special on HBO or on DVD. Now, I am not saying it's not fun to watch it in a theatre but I just felt the material ran out of steam as it passed the sixty-minute marker. Still though, you have to give props to Thomas Balmes for cutting four hundred hours of footage down to seventy-nine minutes.

Babies receives a 3 BDK rating out of 5. It is worth a matinee mainly because of its innovative "story-telling." What's funny is that this is a movie about babies that was made for adults. One thing I wanted to ask and bring up was the argument on nudity. Throughout this movie, nudity almost becomes normal. We are constantly seeing scenes of breast feeding and the women in Namibia always have their shirts off. Now, I understand that this film is educational that the nudity is not portrayed in a sexual light. I just question how the MPAA comes up with their ratings. For example, what would the MPAA say about the scene in Titanic where DiCaprio is drawing a nude sketch of Winslet. That film was rated PG-13 but her nudity was briefly shown. Would that be allowed into a PG film? The nudity was not of sexual nature but of artistic nature. I am just wondering where that line is drawn.

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The Square
Genre: Drama/Thriller
Released: 2010
Rating: BDK

Stunt-man turned director, Nash Edgerton, has crafted an extremely well directed thriller that will emotionally grab you from the first frame. There was a film that came out back in 2007 entitled Before The Devil Knows Your Dead that has a very similar plot and vibe to it. Both films deal with the message that money is the root of all evil and that once you spiral out of control, you will only continue downwards to the bottom of the hole. The comparison between both films is actually more a compliment than a dig. Both films have unique characters, direction and cinematography. Edgerton's use of tracking shots perfectly added to the awkward intensity of the film. The film comes to you directly from Australia and is better than most of the big time summer blockbusters that we normally see.

Much like Before the Devil Knows Your Dead, a massive plot twist occurs that begins to ruin many lives. From the start of the film, we learn that Ray (David Roberts) and Carla (Claire Van Der Boom) are having an affair. They sneak out and meet secretly down by the water to hook up. They constantly talk about running away together but Ray is concerned because he doesn't have enough money. He tried to get advances at work but it's never enough. One day Carla comes home from work early and notices her husband, Greg, stashing some money away. There is blood and money everywhere. After he walks away, she sneaks around looking at the money and runs to tell Raymond about it. They come up with an elaborate plan to fake a robbery and burn the house down to relieve any suspicion of stealing the money. Ray is against the idea at first but when Carla questions his love, he hires a guy named Billy (Joel Edgerton) to do the job. The twist is that when Billy goes to burn the house down, he doesn't realize that Greg's mother has stopped by to feed the dog. The mother is killed and now Carla and Ray have blood on their hands. What are they supposed to do? To make matters worse, they keep receiving letters from an anonymous person saying they owe him money.

The Square is easily one of the best directed films I have seen in a while. Instead of doing a million cuts, Edgerton actually follows his actors around with the camera making the movements seem more realistic. For example, the camera will go towards a character and that character will look over somewhere and the camera will go to that place. It's very fluid and very natural. It added to the realism and intensity of the flick.

From the moment the movie started, I was hooked! Edgerton intrigues his audience with a very sexy introduction to the characters of Ray and Carla. As the movie goes on, the dramatic arc these characters enter is just phenomenal to watch. This is mainly due to David Roberts' phenomenal performance. His facial expressions throughout the movie pretty much say everything he is feeling. He smiles in the beginning and as the tables turn, his face gets more and more depressed. That was a key aspect in allowing me to be emotionally involved in the film. I found myself saying, "No no no" when he would do something bad. The reason being, he didn't want to get into this mess in the first place.

The film's score reminded me a lot of the score used in Sam Mendes' American Beauty. Though Edgerton didn't really use the score that much. It was used mainly in the intense dramatic scenes but the majority of the film is natural sound, i.e. walking, wind, talking, etc.

The film is very intense and not for everyone but it will definitely pull at your heart strings. The ending is absolutely shocking. I literally sat up in my seat in complete disbelief that the movie took this route. You have to understand that all of this characters aren't murderers but once one person is killed, their mind sets change and they will stop at nothing to make sure they don't get caught, even if that means killing other people. The other really interesting emotional aspect was the character of Billy. Joel Edgerton, who wrote the film, plays Billy and his sole job was to burn down the house. Once he finds out later on that the mother was in the house, the entire game changes. We have to deal with the fact that he never wanted to become a murderer.

Nash Edgerton really showed off his talents with this film. As a former stunt-man, he had been around cameras most of his life. You have seen his stunts in such as films as The Matrix Reloaded, Mission Impossible 2, Star Wars: The Phantom Menace, etc. I really hope he continues with the directing. The Square receives a 4 BDK rating out of 5.

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A Nightmare on Elm Street
Genre: Fantasy/Horror/Thriller
Released: 2010
Rating: BDK

A Nighmare On Elm Street is cookie-cutter horror at its best and its best just isn't good enough. The film is neither scary nor frightening in the least but does deliver a fine performance by Jackie Earle Haley. We have all been saying for years that Hollywood is out of ideas, hence the constant remakes, reboots, robots or whatever we are calling these things. A Nightmare on Elm Street was actually a film I was looking forward to seeing considering one of my favorite actors was playing Freddy. Jackie Earle Haley is easily one of the most underrated actors in Hollywood, with scene stealing performances where he can be both fragile and bad-ass at the exact same time. He blew me away as Rorshach in Watchmen and then again as George Noyce in my favorite film of 2010 so far, Shutter Island. Now he's taking on one of the most iconic horror characters of all time. Robert Englund will never be able to walk down the street without people calling him Freddy. That role was a gift and a curse because anytime he is in a film nowadays, you think of Freddy. Filling those shoes is a pretty big deal and I thought that Jackie Earle Haley nailed the part but the rest of the film needs major surgery.

A Nightmare on Elm Street relies heavily on trying to scare you and trying to make you laugh. I am all for the funny version of Freddy Krueger. When mixed with the sick twisted and brutal Freddy, you get the perfect horror icon. Now, Jackie Earle Haley does a good enough job at getting those two aspects across but the movie ultimately fails in scaring its audience. The scares were very cookie-cutter and felt too predictable. You could almost predict every move Freddy would make, which has nothing to do with the performance of Earle Haley but more to do with the script and direction. His one liners kept the movie afloat, at least.

I would compare the character of Freddy to Arnold Schwarzenegger. Crazy, you say? Well, here me out. In all of Arnold's classic films like Commando, Predator, Terminator 2: Judgement Day, he is known for delivering great action scenes with his cheesy one liners. Freddy is known for delivering his ultra-violence and his cheesy one liners. Movies like Predator and Commando perfectly balance out that line of funny and serious with the action. This new Freddy film failed to engage its audience in any tension, making the movie feel flat. The only thing the movie really has going for it is its performance from Jackie Earle Haley, the score and a couple of the death scenes. One of the major issues of the movie was how flat the cast was. Every character in the movie felt bland and unoriginal. Whether it be the possible love interests of Nancy (Rooney Mara Youth in Revolt) and Quentin (Kyle Gallner Jennifer's Body) or any other character. It just didn't work.

One of my favorite aspects of the film were the sound effects and film score. Freddy's main theme was rather brutal and worked perfectly for the dream sequences. The opening credits film score was also very nice to listen to though when are films going to start realizing that audiences don't want three to four minutes of film credits before a movie starts. Heck, Avatar didn't even have credits at the beginning and that's the highest grossing film of all time. When it comes to sound effects, the loud sounds of bass rattling through the theatre worked really well for effect. Also, the sound effects of Freddy's knife fingers going against metal pipes as the sparks start to fly was pretty cool to listen to. I looked forward to those scenes because the sounds could have been cringe worthy but ended up working to the film's advantage.

The film opens and we meet a character named Dean (played by Twilight star Kellan Lutz). Dean is having a hard time going to sleep considering a creepy man with a red sweater and knives for fingers keeps chasing him. He finally starts to think it's weird when he wakes up sitting in a diner and his hand had been cut wide open. Dean's friend Kris (played by Katie Cassidy) comes to visit him but gets up to use the restroom only to get back to see Dean cutting his own throat (which was one of the more brutal scenes of the film). At least that's what it appeared to be. We the audience know that Mr. Freddy Krueger was doing the dirty work. Like every Freddy movie, he is terrorizing teenagers in their sleep. There is nothing scarier than the idea of not being able to go sleep, hence the reason there have now been nine films featuring the character of Freddy Krueger.

As other teenagers start to die off, the two lead characters of the film Nancy and Quentin start to figure out the past of Freddy (Jackie Earle Haley). What is making him want to kill them in their sleep? As Nancy and Quentin start to piece clues together, they begin realizing that all of the kids dying are connected back to a Pre-school somehow (Following the exact story line as the original). I don't want to give anything away but Freddy is really angry at these kids and has come back to kill them now that they are in high school. Since Freddy has been forgotten, he needs to instill fear to "refuel" his killing spree. The question is whether or not Nancy and Quentin can stop him before he kills them both. The film does explore a bit of Freddy as a normal human being working as a gardener at a Pre-school. I almost wish we got to see more of the human Freddy before he turned. That's interesting and adds depth to his character.

For those of you not familiar with Freddy Krueger, anytime a character falls asleep, they are taken to an alternate world where Freddy can totally mess with them. In this world, the character is subject to Freddy's torture and brutality. If the character dies in Freddy's world, he/she dies in real life. Therefore, they are forced to stay awake as long as possible but once you reach three days of no sleep, your body will start to experience micro naps, in which you can dream while you are still awake. The concept is great but it's all in the execution. I will say the use of micro naps during a scene that takes place in a pharmacy was phenomenal. It keeps cutting back and forth to Freddy's world and the real world. I wish there were more scenes like that in the film.

The ultimate question that everyone wants to know is whether or not Jackie Earle Haley is better than Robert Englund. The short answer is no because Englund has eight films behind him (if you count the awesome Freddy Vs. Jason). Haley still has to prove himself but he did embrace the sickness of the character well. The make-up effects were amazing and you could tell that Haley completely transformed into Freddy. He just needed to be scarier. The problem is that we are used to all of these scares and they feel old.

A Nightmare on Elm Street brings absolutely nothing new to the franchise. Is the film bad? I wouldn't go that far because it does deliver some great one-liners, a good performance from Haley and some great kill scenes. Though, as a horror film, the scares are not there. I was hoping for a really scary horror movie considering the material we are dealing with. It just went down the normal horror route with cheap predictable scares. The film deserves a 2.5 BDK rating out of 5. If you go in with low expectations, you should be fine but just don't set the bar too high. My co-host Josh and I said before the movie started that the film wouldn't be bad because of Jackie Earle Haley but because of the script. It turns out we were right.

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Furry Vengeance
Genre: Comedy/Family
Released: 2010
Rating: Half BDK

Furry Vengeance is quite possibly one of the worst films I have ever seen. Just when I thought Hollywood had its low, this movie came along and just jammed it lower and lower. What happened to Brendan Fraiser? What happened to that cool actor with good looks who killed in Encino Man and made the first two Mummy films fun to watch? He used to be an actor I looked forward to watching. Now, when I see his name on a poster or see a film coming out with in it, I immediately think it is going to be bad. Now, I always go into a movie with an open mind but he has just been putting out duds over the past couple of years.

If you read my review regarding the film The Back-Up Plan, you can pretty much take those thoughts and put them into this review. All you would need to do is change the plotline a little bit and the actor's names. I am getting sick and tired of using these same words in my review but I have to describe the film's flaws in some way. Furry Vengeance is formulaic, cliché, awful, dreadful, painful, horrendous, cheesy, racist, gross, etc. If you watch the end credits, it almost seems like the actors/actresses knew they were making a bad film. Therefore at the end, they do a terrible rendition of "Insane in the Membrane" by Cypress Hill. That might have been the only redeeming aspect of the film.

The story revolves around Dan Sanders (Brendan Fraiser), a real estate developer who has to uproot his family and drag them to an area called Rocky Springs. Sanders is the head developer on the job to clear the forest and build homes, shopping malls and make the entire place more suburban. Dan's wife (played by Brooke Shields) is bitter about the move and afraid that there son (Matt Prokop) can't seem to make any friends. The idea to destroy the forest comes from Dan's boss, Neal Lyman (played by Ken Jeong). The company, Lyman Industries, claims to be "green", yet they are killing animals and killing the forest. Dan, who really doesn't want to be hurting the forest, has to follow his boss' orders. The only problem is that the animals, particularly a crazy raccoon, get word of the forest destruction. They decide to make Dan Sanders life a living hell doing everything from having a bear attack to putting dozens of skunks in his car while he is driving. No one around him believes that animals are attacking. Now, these animals are smarter than you think. They can somehow communicate with thoughts so that every one of the animals knows exactly what to do to ruin Mr. Sanders' life.

To be honest, I really don't know what else to say besides the fact that the movie is not funny and hard to watch. The script is so amateur and the acting, especially on Matt Prokop's part, was just atrocious. Now, I know I shouldn't be so persnickety when it comes to a children's movie but if I had kids, I would not let them watch this garbage. This is a film that has elements of every other movie ever made, cheesy music and an ending you can see from a mile away. Brendan Fraiser needs to find better work. Yes, he was in Crash but there is no way he thinks these films are good.

This film receives a 0.5 BDK rating out of 5. The only reason for the 0.5 is there is a scene where Fraiser wears a pink jump suit that has "Yum Yum& on the butt area. That scene actually made me laugh. The animals steal all of his clothes and he has to run around in his wife's outfit. Besides that scene, all of the humor was typical slap stick. The biggest problem is the wasted talent. Ken Jeong is essentially playing a PG version of the character he played in The Hangover. The film makers even had the nerve to use the hilarious Rob Riggle in the opening scene. That was such a waste. Please stay as far away from this movie as you possibly can.

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Exit Through the Gift Shop
Genre: Comedy/Documentary
Released: 2010
Rating: BDK

Exit Through The Gift Shop is one of the best documentaries I have ever seen, ever. It is so rare to find a documentary film that has such a strong narrative that it almost plays off as a fictional story line. There is nothing more phenomenal than watching a film about a subject matter you are not familiar with and leaving the theater with the want to learn more. I just love the feeling of getting a secret window view into a world that I am not supposed to see or know of. The world of street art is a very small and secretive scene. Yes, we may see the graffiti all over the streets but we have no idea who creates it. Graffiti can range from spray paint, to stencils to practically gluing an image onto a brick wall in New York City/London/LA or wherever.

Until about six hours ago, I had never heard the name Banksy. That may be shocking to a lot of people. Though, after seeing the film and looking up his art work on line, I can honestly say that the man is a genius. His genius perfectly shines through in Exit Through The Gift Shop and he is not even the center piece of the film. The documentary was actually supposed to be all about him and his artwork. That took a quick turn though when the person filming all of the footage put together a version of the documentary that turned out to be a complete disaster. Exit Through The Gift Shop is a documentary of trying to make that documentary and how that documentary "film maker" becomes of the one of most famous street artists of all time, Mr. Brainwash.

Meet Thiery Guetta, a "documentary film maker" who picked up a camera and became a bit OCD with it by filming everything he did in life. This all came about after his mother passed away when he was eleven years old. He felt that he should have seen the signs about her sickness but was always blind about it. Therefore, if he keeps everything on film, that person can live on forever. His cousin, Space Invader (a street artist) was working on some big things and had Thiery film while he would decorate the streets with his signature art. The art was in the form of the old Space Invaders video game. Thierry set out to make a documentary about street artists and graffiti. Therefore, he started following all of them around, specifically Shephard Fairy, who would post massive forms of street art all over buildings. Around 2002, a street artist named Banksy started to get big in the street art world by placing his own art in famous museums to get news attention. Thiery knew that Banksy was the last street artist he had to get for his film. Banksy had never let anyone film him before but felt ok with Thiery doing it for documentary purposes as long as his face was not shown, for legal reasons. Turns out that all the footage shot was great but Thiery didn't know what to do with it all. The documentary then turns into a mockery of how Thiery went from trying to become a documentary film maker to becoming one of the most famous street artists of all time, Mr. Brainwash.

From the film's amazing opening to the final shot, the narrative grabs you and intrigues you. This is a documentary about street art that has more emotional connection than most films I have seen this year. I am sitting there watching the film and completely invested in these guys' lives and what goals they are going to accomplish.

On top of the intriguing story elements, the film is very funny. Thierry is one of the most accidentally funny people you will ever seen on screen. The best part is that he's not trying to be funny but his personality is so hilarious that you will be laughing throughout the entire movie. It was completely natural comedy.

Now, Banksy himself is shown with a hood, shadowed face and a voice scrambler over his heavy British accent. He explains that what he does isn't the most legal thing in the world, therefore he can't show his real face or give his real identity. We see him throughout the film telling us the story of Thierry.

To be honest, I didn't really understand the title until I asked a buddy of mine afterwards. After he explained, it all clicked and I went back through the film in my head and thought about it. You can really get an understanding if you think of amusement parks and the speech that Banksy gives about Andy Warhol making celebrities meaningless. Now thinking about it, I feel like an idiot for not picking up on that during the speech.

This is a rare gem in the cinema world that everyone must see. Even if you are not a fan of street art, this documentary will make you both laugh and teach you that original film making is still out there! Go see this movie as it is a 4.5 BDK rating out of 5.

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The Back-up Plan
Genre: Comedy/Romance
Released: 2010
Rating: BDK

I was thinking of starting my review off with something cheesy like, "If you were planning on seeing this film over the weekend, I hope you had a "Back-Up Plan" to see something else." Wait, I did start my review off with that. Okay well just so you know I am sure one hundred other critics will do something similar. Not that it's a bad line or anything but it's just too easy. Needless to say, the movie is rather horrendous. I am really sick and tired of saying movies are formulaic and cliché. Therefore, I am going to change it up tonight and head on over to thesaurus.com and look for synonyms of those two words to help me describe this film.

As The Joker stated in The Dark Knight, "Here we go...". The Back-Up Plan is singing the same old tune, trite, old news and completely derivative of every romantic comedy we have seen in recent years. Those are all different ways to say the film was cliché. This is kind of fun actually. Now, let's move on to the term "formulaic." The Back-Up Plan is routine, predictable, run-of-the-mill, unoriginal and usual. Again, all of these synonyms are coming from thesaurus.com even though they are words I already knew.

Knocked Up, I mean The Back-Up Plan tells the fairy-tale-like story of boy meets girl but whoops, the girl happens to be pregnant. What are they going to do? Meet Zoe (played by Jennifer Lopez), a beautiful woman in her 30's who can't seem to find Mr. Right. Right, that makes sense. No guy wants to date Jennifer Lopez! The film opens with her in the doctor's office getting artificially inseminated so that she can finally live her dream of raising a family. This is her "back-up plan." By the way, can I mention how horrendous the opening credits are? The film has this awful animated opening credit sequence that makes the film seem so amateurish. Now back to the unoriginal plot line. Immediately after she is artificially inseminated, she hails a taxi which happens to also be hailed by a ruggedly handsome gentleman by the name of Stan (played by Alex O'Loughlin). They flirt a bit, arguing over who called the cab first and go their separate ways. But as with every romantic comedy, they find each other again and start to fall for each other. Turns out that Zoe's back-up plan works and she is 100% pregnant. Now she has to battle over whether to tell him because she really likes him. You can pretty much figure out where the film goes from here.

Apart from the horrific opening credit sequence, the entire movie feels forced and already mapped out perfectly. There's nothing worse than watching a movie and being taken on a journey that you already know the ending too. That forces you to feel trapped and wanting to get out. The movie plays out exactly like a fairy-tale. Generally, I can suspend my disbelief and get connected to the characters in a cheesy romantic comedy. Granted, I did feel that Lopez and O'Loughlin had chemistry, the script was so poorly written that everything they said was predictable.

Can I ask an honest question? After two people have sex and are sitting back, breathing heavy and discussing what just happened, is there time to put the clothes right back on? There is a scene where both Stan and Zoe have sex for the first time and the second after they are finished they just happened to be fully clothed lying on their backs, breathing heavily. But wait, Stan's shirt is perfectly unbuttoned to show off his abs for the interested parties in the audience. It was if the movie was screaming at you saying, "Hey look, we are a PG-13 movie and we cannot show you nudity so here's what we have for you." I am not saying the characters have to be naked but put them under some blankets or something to keep it more realistic.

Now, Zoe is trying to cope with being single and pregnant before she starts falling for Stan. She goes to a support group for single proud women. These women that she meet actually ending up being the funniest part of the film. The main two characters are played by Maribeth Monroe and Melissa McCarthy. They are two single mothers and part of the group. Maribeth Monroe has a scene where she is giving birth in a kiddie pool. This scene was both disgusting and hilarious at the same time. I just need to remind myself next time to not have a big burrito before seeing a film about child birth. I am being completely serious when I tell you that I almost lost my dinner during one of the shots in this scene. I had to hold back all that food as I was dry heaving.

Lopez's character was very likable. I have to give her credit there. It was the source material that was the problem. I am just so sick of cheesy music playing during serious scenes. It has gotten to the point now where it actually takes me out of the film and makes me feel like I am watching a movie. That is how important a film score is. Having vocals in a cheesy song playing make it hard to take seriously. I was sitting next to my buddy Dave during the movie and there was this scene where both Zoe and Stan go to a dinner party that is serving crabs. The cheesy song in the back ground was about crabs in a bucket. We both started cracking up. It was like watching a Trey Parker/Matt Stone movie where they purposely make fun of movies for doing that.

The message of the film is that having a six pack of abs can save anything. Just kidding! Though, the lead actor does remove his shirt during some interesting scenes that made that message seem truthful at first. Though, like drinking and driving, never look at abs while you are driving or you might mess up your car.

The cheese factor was very high. You know that weird feeling you get when you see your mom and dad kiss. Yes, we know you are in love but you don't have to show the world. Both Zoe and Stan have this shtick throughout the film that deals with a penny. It is there little inside joke and it was so cheesy that it made me laugh. Also, why do movies always think it's funny to use a dog for jokes? Lopez's character has a cute little dog that is bound to a wheel chair and there are many jokes where the dog will turn its head during a cheesy moment so that the audience will laugh. How many times have we seen that before?

The Back-Up Plan receives a 1.5 BDK rating out of 5. Stay away from it!

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The Losers
Genre: Action/Adventure/Drama/Mystery/Thriller
Released: 2010
Rating: BDK

The Losers is the type of film you've seen a million times before with its highly stylized action/violence but it still delivers funny and interesting characters to keep you entertained throughout. These interesting characters range from hilarious performances from Chris Evans to a bad-ass performance from Jeffrey Dean Morgan to a movie stealing performance from Jason Patric. It is these characters that keep the movie alive. The setting around them is very familiar and almost confusing to the point where you really don't care anymore what's going on. You just want to see the action and hear the laughs. The Losers also stars Zoe Saldana (Star Trek, Avatar), Columbus Short (Armored, Death At a Funeral), Oscar Jaenada (Che: Part 2) and Idris Elba (Obsessed, American Gangster). The Losers is based on a comic book by Andy Diggle ("HellBlazer").

Now if you don't know who Jeffrey Dean Morgan is, he was the bad-ass character in Watchmen called "The Comedian." He takes over a role in this movie with slightly more heart/morals though he is still brutally killing the bad guys. He plays a Colonel in this film who leads up a group of men in the U.S. Army who he calls "The Losers." They are a special ops team who basically do a bunch of dirty operations for the military. The film opens and we meet the "Losers" in Bolivia as they are about to blow up a town full of bad guys. Oh wait, how rude of me! I didn't introduce you to the "losers." Well, first we have Jensen (played by Chris Evans) who is the brainy-one. He is great at computers, killing bad guys and being funny/nerdy. We have Pooch (Columbus Short) who is essentially the "driver." He operates the transportation whether it is by bus, plane, helicopter or van. We have Roque (played by Idris Elba) who is basically a bad-ass killing machine. We finally have Cougar (played by Oscar Jaenada) who deals mainly in killing bad guys with his amazing sniper skills. They appear to be a very tight group.

While on this mission to blow this town up, they experience an issue where twenty-five children are randomly driven into the town. Trying to be heroes, they go in before the bombs go off to save the kids. Literally right after saving them, the helicopter is blown to pieces killing all twenty-five children. The "Losers" were supposed to be in that helicopter and are now "officially" deceased. They cannot leave Bolivia without getting caught. The man responsible for their "deaths" is mad man named Max (played brilliantly by Jason Patric). Max wants to wage a war on the world and set-up the "Losers" to stop them. Turns out, while in Bolivia, Colonel Clay meets a beautiful woman named Aisha (Saldana) who also wants her revenge on Max and has the tools to get the "Losers" back to the states so everyone can get their revenge.

It is an ultra-violent, highly stylized revenge action flick. Yes, we've seen it before and the film adds nothing new to the genre but just because we've seen it before, doesn't mean it still can't be fun. To be honest, the time flew by and the entertainment kept coming. This is mainly due to the absurd characters and pretty bad-ass action. The director Sylvain White ("Stomp The Yard"), definitely used that quick editing style where everything comes off as fast-paced. Though, his slow-motion shots were perfect! There are two in particular, one dealing with a piece of broken mirror and the other dealing with a plane/motorcycle that really impressed me.

Let's talk about Jason Patric. What a great villain he was! Patric, who starred in one of my favorite films "Narc," completely steals the entire film with his off-beat sick sense of humor. His character has absolutely no emotion yet has perfect comedic timing. He was so good that he even made the most unnecessary killing of a female character seem funny. I just wish they did more with his character at the end of the film. He was just such a relentlessly sick-twisted yet hilarious character. The weird part is that it is never explained who Max works for? CIA? FBI?

The "Losers" themselves worked very well together. I wasn't a huge fan of Idris Elba's part though. He plays the character that is angry the entire time that they are all stuck in this situation. He threatens to kill Zoe Saldana's character repeatedly because he doesn't trust her. He feels that she is setting up the "Losers" and those scenes were a bit annoying. I understand that was his character and he's not supposed to be likable but I thought it brought down the comedic angle of the rest of the group. Jeffrey Dean Morgan on the other hand perfectly balanced out the comedic aspect with his bad-ass tough guy angle.

The word "hot" needs to be redefined to Zoe Saldana. I know this is not really a criticism of the film itself but her character is wearing close to nothing for the majority of her scenes. She definitely played the part perfectly.

The ending felt very anti-climactic to me. We are having this build up with amazing action scenes and great shoot outs and then it's just over. The conclusion is very unsatisfactory. Actually, make sure you stay through the credits because there are two more pretty funny scenes that take place which actually helped me get over the anti-climactic ending.

The film was well cast and brings the laughs and action but it nothing to write home about. Though, it was still thoroughly entertaining and I would say it's worth a good matinee, hence the 3 BDK rating. Oh and remember how "The Sopranos" kind of ruined "Don't Stop Believin" by Journey. Well, this movie brings it back thanks to Chris Evans, who by the way is playing Captain America in The First Avenger: Captain America.

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Oceans
Genre: Documentary/Drama
Released: 2010
Rating: BDK

Oceans is a bit slow at times but perfectly captures the beauty and brutality of the ocean without being overly political. You would think a movie about oceans would try and shove a message about pollution down your throats. This film did the complete opposite and focused more on the beauty of the vast ocean. There were times were the political angle came through out how humans are destroying the waters but the director would quickly cut back to a beautiful shot of a whale, shark or a penguin doing something funny. The film is narrated by James Bond himself, Pierce Brosnan and stars a bunch of creatures from the sea.

The film takes us through an hour and twenty minute look into the most beautiful aspects of the ocean. It feels like more of a nature show you would see on Discovery Channel than a film. At least with Earth, the directors tried to capture a story line to go along with the images. This movie just focuses on imagery. Sometimes, Pierce Brosnan just shuts up and we get to look at the sea.

The music behind the imagery perfectly captured the essence of being under water. My favorite parts though were when the music was completely turned off and we were able to hear the live ocean. The sounds of the sand and the loud bass thumps of the whales hitting the water were phenomenal to hear.

There were many sequences throughout the film that blew me away. One in particular happens in the first ten minutes of the film. It involves birds, dolphins, sharks and fish. Throughout this amazing montage, we see the birds diving face first into the ocean to get their food while dolphins are swimming around with sharks. It almost felt like an action scene and the hits to water were so hard-hitting.

At one point in the movie, I sat there with my mouth wide open in shock and amazement. We go over to the dark side and get to see the ocean in an angry state during a storm. We travel with a boat through the crushing waves of the sea. The pounding of the bass as the boat hits the water is so great to hear. What makes this scene so powerful is that we are down in the loudness of the storm and then camera slowly starts panning its way up to the sky. We go through the clouds and as we are moving up the sound of the storm starts to diminish until we finally hear nothing as we enter space. This was such a powerful image because it showed something so powerful and how small it was compared to the rest of the Earth.

This was the first film I have ever seen where I saw people get up multiple times to use the bathroom. I don't know how this works but when your brain sees (or should I say "seas") a ton of water on screen, it immediately triggers a bathroom break. I literally used the bathroom right before the film started and I had to immediately use it again once it started up. This one guy next to me left three times for a bathroom break. Try not to drink too much before seeing this film.

Even though the film lacked a solid narrative (story), the visuals were phenomenal and worth seeing. It is a bit slow and draggy at times. I am just glad it was not too preachy about saving the oceans. Hopefully the images will speak for themselves and make people want to make changes on their own. Disney is donating part of the first weekend box office to saving the ocean so make sure you check it out. Oceans receives a 3.5 BDK rating out of 5.

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Kick-Ass
Genre: Action/Comedy/Drama
Released: 2010
Rating: BDK

April 16th at 7:05pm on 106.7 HD2, on my movie show I will be joined by Chloe Moretz (aka Hit-Girl), Christopher Mintz-Plasse (aka Red Mist), and finally the director Matthew Vaughn. Also, on 4/16 you can listen live to the Sports Junkies interview with Christopher Mintz-Plasse at 7:45AM and stream it at 1067thefandc.com.

Kick-Ass is amazingly violent, hilarious, action-packed, disturbing, bad-ass, kick-ass and has an eleven year-old girl running around, cursing and killing bad-guys. What more could you want right? Well, the eleven year-old girl thing is a bit disturbing but the movie is goofy enough in nature that you find yourself laughing at 99.9% of the things she does on screen. Though, there is a moment at the end where I was a bit disturbed watching her get beat up. Yes, this is another comic book adaptation and like The Dark Knight, Iron Man, Spider-Man 2, the directors and writers get it right. The comic was written by Mark Millar, which was then adapted into a screenplay by Matthew Vaughn and Jane Goldman (who wrote the screenplay for Vaughn's Stardust). Both of Vaughn's previous film's Layer Cake and StarDust were fantastic. He keeps the great trend going with Kick-Ass, which actually should have been called Hit Girl considering she steals the entire film.

"With no power comes no responsibility." This line is said during largest emotional arc of the film where a character named Kick-Ass is realizing what he has gotten himself into. Kick-Ass is one of the most fun times you will have in a movie theater and is worth every penny of your hard earned money to see. According to other critics, I was stomping my feet, clapping and yelling out gleeful comments because I couldn't help myself at times. You would have thought I was riding a roller coaster.

Director Matthew Vaughn has beautifully crafted a film which perfectly balances over-the-top comedy and ultra-stylized violence with over-the-top seriousness. You can actually physically feel the film switching back and forth from goofy to serious. This aspect kept the movie fun and refreshing. Vaughn, whose previous work includes the amazing film Layer Cake and Stardust has essentially created his masterpiece here.

Much like Alan Moore's Watchmen, the film tells the story of normal human beings trying to be super heroes. Watchmen is a bit more on the serious and dark side of things. With Kick-Ass, we meet a normal teenage high school guy named David (Aaron Johnson) who can't get a girlfriend. He has his two best friends, Marty and Todd (Clark Duke), but has never been part of the cool group. Much like Spider-Man, he is always looking at the girl of his dreams, Katie (played by Lyndsy Fonseca). He always ponders what it would be like to be a super hero, even though he didn't have super powers. He orders a costume off-line and just randomly starts going out and trying to fight crime. One night while fighting three bad guys at once, the footage is caught on camera and uploaded to YouTube where it gets twenty million hits making him the next big deal. The only issue is that the men that Kick-Ass is supposedly killing are all part of a big drug organization ran by Frank D'Amico (played by Mark Strong). Now D'Amica wants Kick-Ass' head not knowing that there are other super heroes out there who want Frank's head. They go by the name of Big Daddy (Nicolas Cage) and Hit-Girl (Chloe G. Moretz). Big Daddy is training his eleven year old daughter to be an assassin. D'Amico is responsible for framing Big Daddy and now Big Daddy wants his revenge. Frank's son, Chris (played by Christopher Mintz-Plasse) becomes the super hero Red Mist to try and lure both Big Daddy and Kick-Ass to him so he can kill them.

First off, let's talk about Nicolas Cage's amazing Adam West impression. Anytime Cage is on screen during this film, he is amazing. He brings a ton of laughs and is able to be bad-ass at the exact same time. The dynamic between he and his daughter (Hit-Girl) is absolutely classic. They have this insanely goofy relationship where we know she's absurdly young but Cage's character keeps this goofy nature while teaching her how to use guns and knives. Their first scene on screen together is Cage shooting her in the chest while she's wearing a bullet-proof vest. See that might sound extremely serious to you but it's mixed in with her saying that he can shoot her one more time if he promises to take her bowling and get ice cream afterwards.

You have to understand the sick and twisted nature of the film to be able to enjoy it. In the world of Kick-Ass, most things are absurd and over-the top. You can't watch this film and think that it's child abuse because an eleven year old girl is using C-word and chopping up bad guys. Vaughn directs the film in such a way that you are laughing at these scenes. Plus, she is just acting and let me say that Chloe Moretz (500 Days of Summer, Diary of Wimpy Kid) nails her performance. She was outstanding and played the cheesy nature of her character right up! I know it will never happen but if I were voting for the Academy, she would be nominated for best supporting actress in a heartbeat.

The actor who plays Kick-Ass, Aaron Johnson, was decent. There were times where his voice got on my nerves but he plays his part well. Though, considering he was the lead, he was not the strongest aspect of the film. The stronger performances come from Mark Strong, who plays the villain, Nicolas Cage, Christopher Mintz-Plasse and of course Chloe G. Moretz, who again, steals the entire film.

The movie is pure awesomeness but there are some issues. Not to be too persnickety, but it felt a tad bit too long for me at times and the ending seemed to be a bit repetitive but there's enough action and bad-ass violence that it works out well in the end. There was also a middle section where the movie turns into a comic book. It just felt out of place for me and didn't flow right with the film. The point of the scene is to give back story to Big Daddy and Hit-Girl but it did not feel right in the overall film.

Matthew Vaughn directed this film on a very low budget, which was somewhere between $25 and $35 million dollars. The movie was independently financed, which says a lot because I am sure this type of a film was a tough sell to the studios. Vaughn must have really believed in the source material because the studios asked him to cut on the violence. To that he replied with no and went out and got it financed by people like Brad Pitt! You can see the results of the small budget because the blue screen scenes where flying and some of the action takes place looks a bit fake. Though, this was not an issue because you are loving the film so much, you will feel bad to nitpick. Speaking of his direction, the film was beautifully crisp with vibrant colors. I loved the small things he did, like the match cut from the bullet to the bowling ball, etc. Also, the musical choices in the film were fantastic! These choices really set the mood and allowed for any emotions to flow during the movie.

Speaking of emotions, that is one thing the film did brilliantly. At times, you are laughing because of the over-the-top nature but Vaughn does build an emotional connection to the film's characters. Therefore, you are rooting and caring for these characters as they move along. Don't be fooled by the over-the-top nature. The movie was does have a lot of heart, no pun intended.

I give KICK-ASS a 4.5 BDKs out of 5.

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BIG DADDY KEV IS A MEMBER OF THE WASHINGTON AREA FILM CRITICS ASSOCIATION