MOVIE REVIEW: KNIGHT AND DAY

Knight and Day is yet another spy thriller, with the same story we have seen countless times before. Tom Cruise plays Roy Miller, one of the country's top spies who is framed for trying to steal a special self charging battery referred to as the zephyr. The F.B.I. attempts to assassinate him on a plane and when he bumps into Cameron Diaz's character, June Havens, they put her on the plane as well to make sure she has nothing to do with the zephyr's whereabouts. Once they get on the plane, Miller's journey to clear his name begins while keeping the feds from getting to Havens at the same time.

This film is the exact opposite of The A-Team as far as movies trying to pull off good over-the-top action sequences goes. This film was unbearable to watch from the opening scene all the way to the end scene. I was blown away by how incredibly bad this film was, coming from director James Mangold, who has done so many great films like 3:10 to Yuma, Walk the Line, Girl Interrupted and Cop Land.

The two main problems of the film is story and script. The story has been done so many times before, you could sit there and pretty much map out the entire film after only viewing twenty minutes of the movie. I'm not opposed to simple plots. Just because something has a simple plot, doesn't have to mean that it's going to be a bad movie, but in this case it is way to simple and really leaves the story lacking. How much thought went into deciding that the plot of the film was going to be about a rouge agent framing a good agent and chasing a "powerful battery" around the world for two hours? They never tell what the battery is capable of besides saying it could run a small city. That doesn't sound like anything immediately threatening to me.

Then, they try and mess with the audiences mind a little bit by entertaining the thought that maybe Cruise's character really is a bad guy. That would have been fine except for the fact that all the trailers for the movie had scenes in it that hadn't happened yet so you immediately dismiss the thought of it. That was sloppy on the marketing part for the film and insulted me as a moviegoer.

The film was all over the place. How they got to all the different places on Earth they went to in so little time is beside me. They tried to be clever and made it to where hopping around the globe so quickly was ok because Diaz was drugged, but no one will buy into that.

The chemistry between Cruise and Diaz was ok. I feel that with a better script it wouldn't have been as bad of a disaster as it was, but they had a few funny scenes. I am normally a big Cruise fan and even a Diaz fan for the most part, but this is one of Cruise's worst films. There is nothing appealing in this movie at all and I wasn't surprised afterwards when I went to look at who distributed the film......of course Twentieth Century Fox.

Knight and Day is another disappointment in a summer that has been for the most part nothing but disappointments. I give this a one out of ten.

MOVIE REVIEW: THE A-TEAM

The A-Team comes from director Joe Carnahan and stars Bradley Cooper, Liam Neeson, Jessica Biel, Patrick Wilson, Sharlto Copley and Quinton Jackson. Based off the 80's television series, The A-Team is about a group of Iraq war veterans who are forced to go on the run after they are accused of a crime they didn't commit.

From the very beginning, you need to go into this movie with your brain turned off and ready to have some fun. Not all movies can pull this off, but The A-Team does it beautifully. Right off the bat, the film starts out pretty much with a fifteen minute long action sequence that sets the tone as to what you can expect for pretty much the rest of the film. I wasn't a huge fan of the opening sequence. I thought it was quickly rushed together and I found the dialogue horrible. But once it's over and the film starts moving along, it rebounded very quickly.

The film is over-the-top action with one liners sprinkled throughout, but what makes this all work is the cast. For years there was an A-Team film going around with John Singleton attached to direct and Tyrese attached to play B.A.. Thankfully, that film never got made. I was worried at first because of Quinton Jackson being an MMA fighter and having no real acting experience. I was hoping they wouldn't deck him out in gold necklaces and have him going around saying "I pitty da fool" the whole time. Now Jackson's performance wasn't great, but he pulled it off. They did a great job modernizing his character.

Then we have Sharlto Copley, whose only other film was District 9. How would he do in a roll like this? The answer is great. He was in my opinion the best part of the film, and I see many more roles coming his way in the near future. I never watched the television series, so I'm not familiar with the Murdock from the show. But he nailed how they were trying to portray his character in the film.

As for the rest of the cast, they all did great job, but they had a lot more acting experience than the Jackson and Copley. It's good to see Patrick Wilson in another big film. I think he has a lot to offer, but he hasn't had that breakout role yet.

As I said before, not every over-the-top action film can pull off a good end result. Films like Armageddon and Starship Troopers get away with it while films like Transformers 2 and Knight and Day somehow produce a horrible outcome. Why it works in this film I think is, that they actually show you these extravagant action scenes being planned out. To me that helped me buy into what I was watching a little more as opposed to just having long action sequences shoved in my face.

The A-Team is not a perfect movie by any means, but it works. The cast put this film on their backs and carried it to the finish line for a positive result. I give it a seven out of ten.

Toy Story 3

In 1995, a little company named Pixar released their first full length feature, Toy Story, and it forever changed animation. Since then, Pixar has consistently been the top animation studio in the business. Fifteen years later, they are still on top, and once more bringing their beloved Toy Story franchise back for another adventure.

Their latest adventure picks up several years since we last saw the toys. Andy is now grown up and moving to college. The toys have been desperately trying to get his attention for years with hopes of getting played with once more. Days before the move, his mother tells him to either stick his old toys in the attic or donate them. After careful consideration, Andy decides to take Woody with him and put the rest in the attic, but after a mix up, they end up headed for Sunnyside Daycare. Upon arrival, they meet several new toys who may, or may not have the best interest for the new toy in mind. Once there, Mrs. Potato Head sees Andy looking for them through her eye that got left behind at the left, and the toys begin to plan their breakout so they can get back to Andy. Tom Hanks, Tim Allen and the rest of the cast all return for the third film.







What I love about Pixar films, is the time and effort they put into making a film. When your watching a Pixar film, you are truly watching the best animation there is to offer. Everything looks smooth and perfect. All though they now convert their movies to digital 3D, it's not the hokey, throw things at your face, kind that I can't stand. They actually use the 3D to compliment the film rather than using it for cheap gimmicks. Toy Story 3 is no different. The animation is beautiful. I felt as if I was constantly looking around trying to take everything I was seeing in before the scene changed.

Another thing Pixar excels at is their creativity on screen. As I'm watching their films, this one in particular, I'm blown away by all the clever ideas they use in their films. Several times during the film, I was sitting there thinking to myself about how cool this idea and that idea was, like Mrs. Potato Head losing her eye and that being how they found out Andy was looking for them, the clever way they design their escape and probably my favorite part of the film, which was the opening sequence with Andy as a boy playing with the toys, but how he imagined it went on in his mind.








The new additions to the film were great as well. The main two were Michael Keaton and Jodi Benson joins the cast as Barbie and Ken, which caused for some funny scenes. Ned Beatty voices the old teddy bear, Lotso who is in charge of the daycare when no one is around. Whoopi Goldberg, Timothy Dalton, Kristen Schaal and Jeff Garlin all also join the cast as new toys.

Much like their creative ideas, Pixar is also known for their unique and creative way of story telling. Unfortunately, Toy Story 3 falls way short of unique and creative when it comes to the story this time. The is by far the only flaw of the film, but to me a significant one. When I read the synopsis for Wall-E and Up, I wondered how in the world they would be able to pull a story like that off, but they did. They always come through. But with Toy Story 3, they use the same stories from the previous two films and really just combine them for a third go around. As I watched the story develop I kept thinking to myself, "Oh they did that in the first one" and "That's the same thing that happened in the second film, only to a different character". I had read that Toy Story 3 took so long to get made because they could never get a story they liked down, and I would have much rather them postponed it a little longer rather than just bringing the same stuff to the table.








Aside from a repetitive story, Toy Story 3 will deliver on every other level. It's funny, beautifully done with some really cool scenes sprinkled in along the way. Whether you are seven years old, seventeen years old, or seventy, people will enjoy this film from beginning to end. I give it a four out five.

MOVIE REVIEW: KARATE KID

It seems that Hollywood has been running out of ideas these days due to the mass amounts of remakes being made. Some could use a facelift, but to people my age, Karate Kid is something that should never be touched or messed with. Hollywood did not feel the same because that is the latest remake that has hit the big screen, this time starring Jaden Smith and Jackie Chan.

The names and places have been changed, but the story remains the same. Dre is a twelve year old from Detroit, who moves to China after his father dies and mother is transferred out of the country. He faces many challenges upon arriving in China; learning a completely new language, dealing with a less than glamourous home and a set of bullies who wants a piece of him for some reason. Dre befriends the maintenance man of his apartment complex and he agrees to teach Dre kung fu so that he can enter a tournament to face his bullies after having to break up a fight in an alley. During Dre's lessons, he not only learns kung fu, patience and respect, but also teaches Mr. Han a thing or two about life as well.

I was really surprised by how good the film was. Like many, I consider the original a classic that should have remained untouched. And while I don't think it surpassed the original, it works as a great companion piece. Jaden Smith, son of Will Smith, will end up being as big a star as his father if he can keep his head on straight and not fall into the usual trouble that most young actors always seem to stumble upon. His father comes out in him all through the film. I have trouble watching most child actors because their lack of range in acting, but Jaden showed a comedic style, a sentimental style and was able to pull of being just a plain old kid.

I began to wonder if Jackie Chan would ever make a film worth watching again. Lately, he has made pathetic children's films and what I consider B-list comedies. I was very relieved after seeing this that he actually acted in the film. He doesn't come anywhere close to topping Mr. Miyagi with his wax on, wax off approach, but much like the film, he is a nice companion to Mr. Miyagi. In this film, the wax on, wax off approach has been replaced with a jacket on, jacket off which I really liked because it was something new and it fit really well into the film. In the film, Mr. Han struggles with the death of his family after they are killed in a car accident in which he was the driver. Much like Jaden, I was really surprised to see that Chan could actually show some depth other than the silly comedy and action sequences he is famous for.

The film is not without flaws. The mother in the film, played by Taraji P. Henson, was just about unbearable to watch in the film. She was over the top in all of her scenes, almost as if she was saying in every scene, "Look at me!!! I'm in a movie". The movie itself runs a little long at just over two and a half hours. This was entirely too long for a film that isn't necessarily a children's film, but is far from an adult film. Many scenes could have been left on the editing room floor, seeing that they didn't bring anything more to the film than a few laughs. And finally the bullies in the film really irritated me. It's 2010, it's time to ditch the way bullies are portrayed in film. Let's face it, nobody knocks lunch trays out of hands, no one steals lunch money and no one corners kids in a back hall and empties out their backpack. I feel that this area of the film could have used a little better writing.

As I said before, Karate Kid (2010) doesn't surpass The Karate Kid of 1984, but it works a new tale for a new generation to enjoy. Besides the long length of film and overacting mother, there isn't much to complain about here. I give it a four out of five.

MOVIE REVIEW: GET HIM TO THE GREEK

Get Him to the Greek comes from director Nicholas Staller and is a spinoff of 2008’s Forgetting Sarah Marshall. In the spinoff, Aaron Green (Jonah Hill) is a young intern for a huge music label that is beginning to struggle. Green is a huge fan of rock star Aldous Snow (Russell Brand), who is now more of a has been rock star. Green pitches the idea to bring Snow in for a ten year anniversary concert of Snow’s at the Greek Theatre. Mega producer Sergio (Sean Combs) likes the idea and sends Green to London to get Aldous and bring him back for the concert that will take place in three days. Upon arrival, Snow takes Green on the journey of his life going anywhere and everywhere except towards Los Angeles for the show.








The best way to describe Get Him to the Greek is that it is like a roller coaster. The movie has it’s ups and downs. When the movie is on an up, it is really funny and fun to watch, but when it’s on down, it can be very boring and slow. The first half of the movie starts out great. The film is hilarious and the pace of the film is very upbeat. Once the halfway point hits though, that is when the roller coaster ride begins. It has in my opinion the funniest part of the film during this time, but it also has the most uncomfortable and boring scene in the film during this time as well.

As for the performances, Sean Combs also known as P. Diddy, completely steals the show. Every scene he is in will have you laughing. If he ever decides to get out of the music business, I believe he will have a job in the comedy world waiting for him after this performance.

I was also surprised by Jonah Hill in this film. Normally, he plays the same character in all his films such as; Superbad, Knocked Up and Forgetting Sarah Marshall. In this film, he had a romance storyline which allowed him to show off something other than his typical “stoner kid” roles he is known for.








Then we have Russell Brand. Much like Hill, he plays the same character in everything he does. His act is getting old quick in my opinion, but he still pulls off several hilarious scenes in the film. Again like Hill, towards the end of the film he too gets to show a little more depth to his acting talents other than his typical “sex crazed rocker” bit he is known for.

The film is filled with fun cameos by Metallica drummer Lars Ulrich, The Today Show host Meredith Vieira, Rick Schroder, Kristin Bell, Pink, Mario Lopez and a very funny scene with Harry Potter star Tom Felton.






While I found the film very funny in many parts, it has a very crude, humor to it. If you are more of a clean comedy type of person, then you will want to stay far away from this film. Sex, drugs and alcohol is all throughout the film. If you are a fan of Superbad, Knocked Up and Forgetting Sarah Marshall, then you will more than likely really enjoy the film.

In the end, Get Him to the Greek falls short of it’s predecessor, Forgetting Sarah Marshall, but still delivers enough laughs that when you leave the theatre, you feel as if you did not waste two hours of time. Had it kept the pace of the first hour of the film, I would have probably given it a higher rating, but the last three fourths of the film really brought the overall film down. I give it a three out of five stars, but still would recommend seeing it in theatres.

HEADLINES

COULD JOSEPH GORDON-LEVITT BE THE RIDDLER?
Rumors hit the web today that JGL is in the running to play The Riddler in the third Batman film. This could have some truth to it. Christopher Nolan loves working with the same people on different projects and he is said to have really liked working with Levitt on Inception.

I personally think that Levitt is an outstanding breakout actor. He can play any role and make it believable and I wouldn't be apposed to seeing him as The Riddler. HOWEVER.....if I was Christopher Nolan and I liked using the same people in my film, I would be talking to, oh say Leonardo Dicaprio about playing the role. It's going to be hard to beat Ledger's performance. And you have to somehow try to at least match if not top that. Now if I had to choose between Levitt and Dicaprio I would go hands down Dicaprio. I also think that Michael Emerson should be thrown in there as well, but that's just me.




POSSIBLE INDIANA JONES 5 PLOT
Now, this could all just be a non-true rumor, but it's Indiana Jones news so I have to report it. According to AICN, they say they have an insider who got a small scoop on the next film. Here is what this "insider" had to say:

Indiana Jones 5 will begin shooting next year, and much of the plot line will be centred around the Bermuda Triangle, an area over the North Atlantic Ocean where a number of aircraft are said to have disappeared.

"George (Lucas) and Steven (Spielberg) have been working on a script and it's almost there," a source explained.

"Harrison is on stand-by for filming next year. This looks like being an emotional and exciting conclusion to the franchise, with Indy facing his biggest challenge yet."

"Shia LaBeouf has a central role again as Indy's son but this will be a blockbuster made in the old fashioned way rather than the CGI efforts of the last movie," the source added.

I think the most important thing we read here is not that it's going to have something to do with the Bermuda Triangle, but that they are shooting it old school without all the CGI. I loved the story of the fourth film. The fact that Jones was on the staff that examined the bodies from the Roswell Crash to me is freakin awesome. But what ruined it was the horrible special effects. The monkeys, the ants, and for some reason prairie dogs were all over the top and stupid. Then you have the alien at the end which looked like a cartoon. Hopefully they can get back on track with this next film.



GUILLERMO DEL TORO LEAVES THE HOBBIT
The Hobbit has had production snag after production snag. It gets a release date, then it gets pushed back. They think they have a script, but then they need a re-write. So finally Del Toro had enough and left the project.

Here is an excerpt from his letter about dropping the project:

"My commitment to the project demanded enormous sacrifices both in personal and professional terms. The consequences of which will ripple for years. I relocated my entire life and family to New Zealand and first came on board in 2008."

New Line made a huge mistake by letting this project get to this point. He would have done just about as good as Peter Jackson did on the LOTR trilogy. They lost a great creative mind due to their sloppiness.




WWE TO RELEASE ANOTHER BRILLIANT FILM
Triple-H will be the next WWE wrestler to hit the big screen. He will be starring in The Chaperone. Here is the plot for this sure to be masterpiece:

In the film, Ray Bradstone (Triple H) is the best "wheel man in the business," but he is determined to go straight and be the best parent he can be to his daughter, Sally (Winter), and make amends with his ex-wife, Lynne (Gish). As Ray struggles to find honest work, his old bank-robbing crew, led by Phillip Larue (Corrigan), offers him one last job. He agrees at first, but changes his mind at the last second leaving the crew without a driver. Ray decides instead to serve as a "chaperone" for Sally's school field trip. When the robbery goes awry, Larue blames Ray and chases the school bus all the way to the Museum of Natural History in New Orleans. Ray must deal with Larue, while supervising Sally's class on what becomes one of the craziest school trips ever.

I have seen The Marine, See No Evil and 12 Rounds. The Marine and See No Evil were God awful, but I actually liked 12 Rounds. With a few tweeks, it could have been a really good action film. This on the other hand has disaster written all over it. The only movie to pull something like this off was Kindergarten Cop and no one will be able to top that.

TON OF CAPTAIN AMERICA NEWS
A few months ago I was complaining about how I have doubts on the movie because of director Joe Johnston. Well, I am starting to back track what I say because everytime I see news for this film, I am super excited by what I see or here.







Lets start with the suit. Captain America looks cool enough in the comics, but bringing that to life would look horrible. So I was wondering how would they tackle the suit. I think that they did an incredible job converting it into something that will look cool on screen but still keep the tone of the original suit.

Now the cast. They have been adding some serious talent, not huge names, but talent to the film.











Tommy Lee Jones will be playing General Chester Phillips. Phillips helps train Captain America during WWII. I'm a huge fan of his and I think he is going to nail this role.








Stanley Tucci will be playing Dr. Abraham Erskine who is a German scientist who creates the super soldier experiment. I think that Tucci is a very underrated actor. He has a wide range from the quirky dude in The Devil Wears Prada to the child murderer in The Lovely Bones.









Neal McDonough will be playing Dum Dum Dugan. He is the right hand man to Nick Fury and is in charge of the Howling Commandos. Now McDonough hasn't been in a whole lot, but I think he has some talent and this might help him breakthrough.

These are very good additions to the film that I think will really help out the overall film. But none of this matters if Joe Johnston messes this up. Here's hoping he doesn't.









FANTASTIC FOUR REBOOT NEWS
It has been a long time since anyone has heard anything about this Fantastic Four reboot. Apparently Fox has a title for the film and they plan on it being Fantastic Four Reborn.

I think that is kind of a stupid title myself. I think the need to do what The Incredible Hulk did and kinda recap during the opening credits and then just start the movie. I think the first two would have been a lot better if they hadn't let Tim Story direct.....especially the second one. They need to find someone who is going to make it less cartoonish.

X-MEN: FIRST CLASS NEWS
Some more casting has been made for the new X-Men prequel.








James McAvoy has been linked to play a young Charles Xavier. I don't really see the guy from Wanted fitting the role of Professor X to me. I think Michael Rosenbaum would have been a good choice for that.







Michael Fassbender is in talks to play a young Magneto. I don't know much about this guy except that he was in Inglourious Basterds and I love that movie. So I guess I'm down with that.







Then we have Rosamund Pike who is up for playing Emma Frost. I would have liked to see them go younger for this but she isn't half bad.










BULLOCK AND REYNOLDS TO RETEAM
The Proposal director Anne Fletcher, stars Sandra Bullock and Ryan Reynolds, and producers David Hoberman and Todd Lieberman are reteaming for Universal Pictures' Most Wanted.

Now here is what this unique plot is about:

In the action comedy, Bullock plays a woman on the run with Reynolds as an agent who is supposed to be handling her.

Oh, so basically The Bounty Hunter, Knight and Day and The Killers right? When will Hollywood writers come up with something original? Yes, The Proposal was good. In fact I thought it was really good, but don't get the whole team together again to make a movie that has had three similar plots come out in the past four months.