A-Team

PG-13

1 hour, 57 minutes

Starring: Liam Leeson, Bradley Cooper, Jessica Alba, Quinton “Rampage” Jackson, and Sharlto Copley

They were a rag-tap group, convicted for a crime they didn’t commit, then the bust loose as fugitives from the government – helping people where they can while still running from the law and attempting to clear their name.

This remake of the popular 80′s television series has made its leap to the big screen. Since when is a remake of an old 80′s television show ever a good idea? Okay, Charlie’s Angels did it well (only with the first one), but A-Team blows it out of the water and then some. In short, A-Team was A-mazing!

The casting was perfect and not a single weak link in the whole bunch. The movie literally has it all! Awesome action sequences, comedy that really works, vivid characters, and a narrative that follows through all the way to the end. The script was nearly flawless and even with all of the elaborate planning and all of the hijinks involved, everything made sense.

A frequent mistake made with movies like this are a lack of characterization. When you have your main guys running from the law and trying to save themselves, you need to feel for them all the way and know who they are. Surprisingly, from the very second you are introduced to Hannibal, B.A., Face, and Murdock, you know exactly who they are and can’t help but completely love them. While they all have definitive character traits that set them apart, they are never pigeon holed into a cliche of themselves.

My only real criticism of the film is with the climax. It does go off the rails ever so slightly, but they build up so good will from the beginning and throughout the duration of the film that it doesn’t even matter.

Stay after the credits – there a couple of cameos that are sure to bring a smile to a fan’s face.

I haven’t had this much fun at the movie theaters in a very long time. This is easily my favorite movie of the summer (a probably of the year) so far.

Sharlto Copley, my new favorite actor blows another performance right out of the park. We’ll be seeing him for a very long time.

Go see this movie. It is nearly perfect and sure to be a good time for everyone!

5.5 out of 5

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Get Him to the Greek

R

1 hour, 49 minutes

Starring: Jonah Hill & Russell Brand

You didn’t forget about Forgetting Sarah Marshall did you? Russell Brand reprises his role as rock-star Aldous Snow from the 2008 smash hit comedy. Jonah Hill stars along side him as Aaron Green, a young record manager charged with the task of getting the eccentric star from London to the Greek Theater in Los Angeles. Naturally, insanity ensues.

This movie is what it is all about! This is easily one of the funniest films I have seen in years – destined to become a quotable classic. The pairing of Jonah Hill and Russell Brand is absolute genius. While this film is literally laugh-out-loud funny, it has a lot of heart to it. There is a sincere internal journey that Aldous and Aaron take on their way to the Greek Theater.

Prior to this movie I wasn’t the biggest Russell Brand fan out there. He’s funny and talented, but there was something that I just didn’t “get.” Get Him to the Greek has changed all of that for me. As far as Russell Brand is concerned, I have seen the light. His character is ridiculous, but only Brand could bring a humanity as well as a person rooted in reality to Aldous Snow.

It’s pretty difficult to watch this and NOT laugh your ass off. Not to mention, by the time the credits are rolling you will feel all warm and fuzzy inside. Remember to stay after the credits, there is a little Easter egg. It’s not a big deal, but funny nonetheless.

This is the funniest movie of the summer… thus far. However, I think it would be hard to beat!

5 out of 5

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Sex and the City 2

R

2 hours, 27 minutes

Starring: Sarah Jessica Parker, Kristin Davis, Cynthia Nixon, and Kim Cattrall

This goes out to all of my ladies. While I may have many “male” oriented interests, there are time when I have to satisfy the woman in me. As a result, I found myself excited to spend another film with the ladies of one of my favorite HBO series, Sex and the City. I was a big fan of the series, only discovering it on DVD years after it had originally aired. I fell in love as I know a lot of women did. I thought the first Sex and the City film was inspired and the perfect cherry on top of the fabulous sundae.

However, unlike its predecessor, Sex and the City 2 was pointless.

It was wonderful to see the characters again and where they are in their lives, but there was an absence of an interesting story to tell. The film had as much impact as one of their “fluffer episodes”. If you are going to go through the trouble to make a full length feature, it has to have a serious impact.

The story surrounded around the Fabulous Four heading to the Middle East for an adventure of their own to take a break from the marriages, jobs, and children. The whole film sort of just wandered around lacking in real direction and purpose and while there is a conclusion to their minor problems, the solutions seemed too simple and cookie cutter. The show has a reputation for hitting their audience over the head with all of the good and bad experiences that make up life leaving you all warm and fuzzy at the end. To me, this attempt felt like a movie written for any stereotyped female friends and not the colorful and complicated characters I have come to know over the years.

Similar to the 2nd and 3rd Pirates of the Caribbean movies and Spider-man 3, I’m going to choose to slip this one under the carpet and pretend it didn’t happen. Overall the movie does lack the humor and the hard hitting moments you would expect, but if you happen to bored one night, I say go for it.

2 out of 5

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Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time

PG-13

1 hour, 55 minutes

Starring: Jake Gyllenhaal, Gemma Arterton, Ben Kingsley, and Alfred Molina

Sweet! Another video game made into a film! Tit’s difficult not to role your eyes at the concept alone. Generally, it hasn’t gone well in the past. Regardless, I had extremely high hopes for this movie. If I had to pick one movie genre to watch for the rest of my life it would be the Action/Adventure. There is something about it that I love and can’t fully explain.

Sadly, Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time is officially one of the most painful movies I have ever had to sit through. Rarely do I have the urge to get up and leave a movie (that’s apart of my pride), but within the first 30 minutes I wanted to walk out and that urge stayed with me through the duration of the film. There isn’t a whole lot of this movie that actually makes sense. The production value was awesome, some of the fight scenes were cool, the acting was okay, but it was ultimately sloppy story telling (at its best) and nearly incoherent. The ending, literally made not an ouch of sense.

Was there even a script for this movie? It felt as if the entire movie was made off of a rough outline. The plot and the characters were so sorely underdeveloped it was difficult to form a true emotional connection to the characters and what they are trying to achieve, much less make sense of the character motivations and what was driving the story. The dialogue was aweful and obvious. It served no other purpose than to give blunt exposition. The rule of thumb, “Don’t tell me, show me,” was thrown to the wind.

I was expecting, as I’m sure Disney was too, the new Pirates of the Caribbean franchise. Prince of Persia couldn’t be further from the greatness of Pirates of the Caribbean: Curse of the Black Pearl if it tried. That sad part is that it had all the makings of a good film. Jake Gyllenhaal was absolutely lovable as the male lead and would easily be able to carry a series of films as the Prince. However, the idea of going into future ventures is not going to happen. The film was mediocre at best and with terrible numbers at the box Disney would not be able to  justify addition installments.

My suggestion? Skip this movie all together.

1.5 out of 5

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Iron Man 2

PG-13

2 hours, 5 minutes

Starring: Robert Downey, Jr., Gwyneth Paltrow, Don Cheadle, Scarlett Johansson, Sam Rockwell, Mickey Rourke, and Samuel L. Jackson.

Warning: This review contains spoilers!

Iron Man, Iron Man, does whatever an iron can… wait…

The blockbuster of 2008 has a sequel, which should be a blockbuster of its own. Robert Downey, Jr. returns as Tony Stark only 6 months after revealing to the public that he is Iron Man. Naturally his life has become even more lavish and complicated with the added celebrity, but it’s no picnic for Tony. The miniature core reactor that keeps him alive is failing and starting to slowly kill him. With little options open to him, he starts prep for his death. This includes even more reckless behavior as well as handing over his company to Pepper Potts (Gwyneth Paltrow). The government is breathing down his neck, his Iron Man technology is being replicated, and people are out to destroy him, namely Ivan Vanko (Mickey Rourke) and Justin Hammer (Sam Rockwell). Even his best friend takes a suit and turns it into a War Machine.

Being a avid Marvel fan and movie goer this was probably one of the strangest movie experiences of my life. The entire cast is lovable and Robert Downey, Jr. is all that you can hope for and more as the complicated Tony Stark. I went in hoping for the best, but for the majority of the movie I found myself sitting there thinking, “Wait… what?” The whole movie is slow with each scene going into the next moment without building into the next moment. It also suffered from the classic “Sequel-Syndrome” that adds too much character, too much attempt at story, and not enough character development. There was a lot of ad-lib, I understand that is how RDJ rolls and I appreciate it but I started to wonder if there was even an initial script to start with.

The villains are severely under developed in this film. Aren’t villains supposed to be scary? Sam Rockwell turned Justin Hammer into a extremely passive character. While he is a business man, I feel like I could kick his ass.

Ivan Vanko’s little origin story at the beginning completely killed all of the mystery of the character. The main plot rests on the Iron Man technology and that it won’t be replicated by anyone else for at least 5-10 years. Now, wouldn’t it have been way more interesting/scary if the first time we see Ivan is at the race track? This guy has the technology and no one knows why, plus he’s Russian, quiet, and scary. His backstory is something that the audience should’ve discovered along with the characters.

Some of the character motivations don’t add up at all. The best example to James “Rhodey” Rhodes. During Tony’s hearing in Washington D.C., he makes a point to stand up and protect his friend. Then somehow, after Tony gets drunk and starts blasting is own home with the suit, Rhodey decides to put on one of the spare Iron suits and battle it out with Tony. We all remember how long it took Tony to figure out how to use the suit in the first film. Now, Rhodey can just put it on without any trouble and easily use it? I don’t think so. After his tiff with Stark, he takes the suit to Justin Hammer to outfit with better weapons. Aren’t they supposed to be friends? They didn’t exactly have an actual falling out. Personally, if I was Tony Stark I would be PISSED.

Here’s where I get confused. The movie seems to pander on and on and then something happens. When the film kicks into the third act it suddenly turns into the good movie that I should’ve been from the start. I’m still don’t quite understand why Ivan would not wear his protective helmet during the climax of the film. Granted he may be over confident that he is going to win, but he’s not stupid. The end saves the movie, period. As frustrated as I was during the film, the ending almost made me forget about the whole thing. Something clicked in my head during the final battle scene (which was AWESOME) and I thought, “That’s what I’ve been waiting for.”

The anchor of the film doesn’t lie in the action sequels, but in the relationship between Tony Stark and Pepper Potts. Anytime that they fought or bantered, it felt like pieces of the first film had been captured and carried into the sequel. As self absorbed as Tony Stark can be, when it comes to Pepper he is able to put her first. They are the heart and soul of films.

Marvel is definitely creating their cross-film universe. There was something about Iron Man, War Machine, and Black Widow all working together that felt a little bit like going home for Thanksgiving. Marvel stays very true to its characters, characters that the fans have all come to know and love for over 50 years. Keep your eyes peeled for references to their upcoming films.

Remember, stay after the credits. I giggled.

4 out of 5

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Kick Ass

R

1 hour, 58 minutes

Starring: Aaron Johnson, Chloe Moretz, Christopher Mintz-Plasse, Mark Strong, and Nicholas Cage

Kick Ass is the story of a teenager who wonders why no one has ever tried to become a super hero in real life. Consequently he teams up with other would-be superheroes and has to manage the life of a superhero while balancing out teenage angst. This film was previewed as San Diego Comic Con last year. The clips from this movie were some of the most surprising, hilarious, and inspiring previews I have seen in a long time. As a life-time fan of the comic book genre, I had high hopes for this film.

However, instead of “kicking ass” as the title promises, it sort of lets out a weak punch that is so slow you can be easily dodged. That might be a little harsh, but the film was very lacking. This is the sort of film that turns the comic book genre film on it’s head without a truly family friendly moment in the film. It was to be crude, violent, and NOT meant for annoying teenagers. This was supposed to be hardcore and rated R for a reason. Sadly, moments like that are few and are in between. In between the moments of awesome action and “holy sh*t” moments, I found myself bored.

The movie does follow through with great action sequences, crude humor, and laugh-out-loud moments, but that is about 30% of the overall movie. If the film isn’t non-stop action and R-rated humor filled, there needs to be some kind of cohesive story that holds the whole film together. Our hero “Kick-Ass” doesn’t have any sort of strong motivations for why he’s doing any of these things, beyond “This looks cool.” After watching him literally almost die multiple times there is NO real reason for him to continue on. If the hero is lacking some sort of convictions it’s difficult to keep up with his journey. Honestly, I thought the villains had much more going on for them than the heroes.

Although I am not the biggest advocate for Kick Ass, I cannot say enough good things about Aaron Johnson! This kid is on his way to big things and I can’t wait.

Go see it to be mildly amused, but this is DEFINITELY not the comic book inspired movie we had all hoped that it would be.

3 out of 5

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Where the Wild Things Are

PG

1 hour, 41 minutes

Starring: Max Records & Cathering Keener

With the voice talents of: James Gandolfini, Paul Dano, Catherine O’Hara, Forest Whitaker, Chris Cooper, and Lauren Ambrose. 

Meet Max. Max is a idealistic and imaginative kid. However, he finds himself incredibly frustrated with his family and dealing with the outside world. He can’t get what he wants and what he feels he needs from the people around him. When a fight breaks out between him and his mother, he runs away to a distant island. It is here that he encounters the Wild Things and probably much more than he expected. 

What a great movie. Wonderful, whimiscle, heart warming, funny, sad, and just plain awesome. 

Never in my life have I seen a film so perfectly characterize what we all go through growing up. We have to deal with disappointment, expectations that aren’t met, errors in communication, learning to properly express ourselves, and how to just basically deal.

The Wild Things seem to represent each aspect of Max’s personality, just expressed in more similier terms. Through his time with the Wild Things he gains understanding of his own frustrations and problems as he watches the them deal with the same. He is also more understanding of his mother as well as the other relationships that surround him.

This is easily a delight for both children and adults alike. The dialogue is beautifully written witha the perfect mixture of comedy and drama. The characters are beyond lovable and extremely memerable. The writing hits the nail on the head perfectly. I found myself shaking my head in disbelief several times. I literally couldn’t believe how dead on the movie was. The soundtrack was nearly flawless. You don’t really understand how imortant a well choosen soundtrack is until you watch a film that completely misses the mark (Watchmen is my prime example). 

I highly recommend this film. Hell, go see it twice even. I know I would. I think that this is destined to become a classic in its own right. One of the movies you can’t wait to watch on a rainy day while you are sipping your hot cocoa. It will always leave you with a warm and fuzzy feeling.

4.5 out of 5

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Law Abidding Citizen

R

1 hour, 48 minutes

Starring: Jamie Foxx & Gerald Butler. 

This “gritty” action thriller tells the story of a family man, Clyde (Butler), who found himself in an unfortunate situation when his family was brutally murdered infront of him. He finds that his lawyer, Nick (Jamie Foxx), is more willing to broker a deal with one of the criminals rather than send both to jail. One of the men is set free. 10 years later, Clyde shows up and decides to exact his revenge on those who wronged him and his family justice.

Although the concept for Law Abidding Citizen seems nearly fool proof, the film was a rather clumspy attempt. You have Jamie Foxx for crying out loud. This felt like an example of good actors that get caught up in a bad movie. Alright, I’ll take that back. It wasn’t a BAD movie, it was just predictable and overwhelmingly mediocre. The man lost his family and is now operating under the fact that he has nothing left to lose. Not to mention he’s remarkably good at killing people without having to be in the same room. The motive matches, but there is no hard evidence. That in itself is exciting stuff. Yet I felt little to no interest. 

Some of the kills are surprising, but not enough to keep you moving through the film. There was very little emotional attachment to the characters. The twists of the story twisted, but didn’t seem THAT shocking. Each new turn left me shurgging my shoulders and thinking, “Okay.” For a film like this, had the pacing been more intense maybe they would have something on their hands. There are far too many places where it just drags along and you’re waiting for something of interest to happen. 

I wouldn’t recommend this film. However, if you still feel compelled to see it wait for the DVD release. You’ll feel much better about the time you spent. 

1 out of 5

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Zombieland

R

1 hour, 27 minutes

Starring: Jesse Eisenberg, Woody Harrelson, Emma Stone, and Abigail Breslin

Zombies have invaded the Earth yet again and it has never been so hilarious! It’s been 8 years since a deadly virus has struck the planet and there are very few survivors left. In order to avoid having attachments, people don’t give out their real name. Instead they are identified by where they are from. Our unlikely hero is Columbus. He’s stayed alive by having a list of survival rules that have proved quite effective. He is joined by Tallahassee, Wichita, and Little Rock in their quest for survival from the Zombie invasion and in hopes of finding a place that is Zombie-free.

This may be one of the most fun movies of the year. The comedy is top notch, with memorable characters, great action, beautifully/creatively photographed, amazing zombie violence, and considering that this is a story of survival (or so you think) it is extremely light hearted. It’s difficult to watch this movie and not fall completely in love with all of the characters and want to see each one succeed in their dreams. 

This movie is just fun. Plain and simple fun. I highly recommend it. This movie will do everything that a good movie should. I promise the you will leave the theater satisfied and amused with a smile on your face.

5 out 5  

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9

PG-13

1 hour, 19 minutes

Starring: Elijah Wood, Christopher Plummer, Martin Landau, John C. Reilly, Jennifer Connolly, and Crispin Glover.

FINALLY! I can’t tell you how long I have been waiting for this film to hit theaters. Ever since I saw the trailer I was completely in love and this was one movie that I was actually looking forward to seeing.

9 tells the story of nine doll like creatures who have been given the spark of life while they try to survive in a post apocalyptic world. There is not a single living organism left on the whole planet, all that remains are these dolls and the machines the destroyed humanity.

Something as original as this film hasn’t been produced in a very long while. The vision itself is amazing. Surprisingly, it’s an animated film with a PG-13 rating and extremely action driven. Who says that cartoons are for kids? I did like this movie for all that it did provide, but overall I am disappointed because it could’ve been so much more.

There is a quote from the film that describes my sentiments perfectly, “We had such potential.”

The biggest problem that 9 suffered from was a severely under developed script. The movie felt like watching an outline that got made into a full length feature. The movie doesn’t even hit the 90 minutes mark. They had all the time in the world to develop something very strong. The trailer had such an strong emotional kick to it (thanks to Coheed and Cambria) that the film failed to bring out. The set up is great, but the overall explanation to the mystery of their creation is a little glossed over and lacking in importance and urgency to the characters. 

The characters, although you grow to know and love them, are seemingly one dimensional. For characters that are surviving with no purpose in life in a destructive and dangerous world, you would think they would be a little more emotionally scarred. They would’ve established relationships of love and hate amongst their small group as well as good and bad histories. However, the movie doesn’t take nearly anytime with its characterization and simply moves onto the next plot point. I think that had they explored deeper into the relationships between the characters it would’ve have a much heavier impact on the audience and create a more memorable film. 

Overall it’s fun to watch and certainly nothing you’ve ever seen before. I just wish that it had a little more kick to it. Unfortunately in a couple of years I think people will forget about this one. 

2.5 out of 5

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