Legend of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga'Hoole

I saw this movie in San Jose with my nephews. It was a pretty decent story. I guess it was from a children's book because my nephew Quinn mentioned during the movie that he had read the book. They both enjoyed the movie. I thought it was ok. Taught some ok messages without too many popular references, might end up being a classic kids cartoon.

Jackass 3D

Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury,signifying nothing.

But definitely good for a laugh. I enjoyed this movie, but at times I found myself thinking that the reactions of the people were pretty unreal. But still enjoyed it.

I really enjoyed these guys promoting their movie on Howard Stern. That was good stuff too.

The Town

Ben Affleck co-wrote, and I think he even directed this. A decent crime drama movie, about Boston folks that rob banks for a living. And of course they throw some love story in this.

It was interesting and some good visuals here and there.

Machete

I enjoyed all the cameos by interesting actors, Bobby Deniro, Lindsay Lohan, etc., but overall it was just bad. I think they were trying for making it so bad that it would end up being good, a forced B movie, but to me it was just bad. I did like the line, "Machete don't text." There were a few other cheesy lines like that and were good for a chuckle but nothing more.

The American

This was kind of a strange choice for George Clooney. I expected more because of Up in The Air, Men Who Stare at Goats, etc. Clooney was making interesting choices. This was just kind of unbelievable. An assassin that also designs and makes guns, it just seemed unreal, kind of thrown together. Maybe they left a bunch of good stuff on the editor's floor. Didn't like it that much.

The Expendables

Blech, that is all I can say. Blech. And I go to too many movies, this was one of them.

The Switch

Hmmm, looking at the ticket stub, and am not remembering this movie at all. Oh, now I remember, Jason Bateman, Jennifer Aniston, sperm is switched. Kid ends up being neurotic and troubled like Bateman's character. They should've gone darker with it though, like some real personality disorder that Aniston's character would've noticed and figured the switch out herself.

It was enjoyable and even funny here and there. Bateman played a pretty interesting character for a romantic comedy, and he's a Howard Stern fan in "real" life, so of course I like him.

Cats and Dogs in 3D

I saw this with my nephews. Pretty silly movie with animals that talk and save the world from cat domination. My nephews enjoyed it.

Scott Pilgrim vs. The World

This movie was awesome. I found myself actually feeling excited during the movie, thinking how cool the movie was. The Vegan Patrol, etc. It was a graphic novel that really came to life. I've seen a few movies that have been based on graphic novels before that were pretty good. But this was just amazing. Great characters, and of course one of my favorite actors Jason Schwarzman is in it, so that makes it good just like that.

Amazing movie, might even buy it when it comes out on DVD.

The Other Guys

Will Ferrell, Marky Mark, The Rock, Eva Mendes, how could you go wrong? It was very funny at parts. There was a scene in a bar that they use that kind of 3Dish stop action footage that was beyond hilarious. Good stuff. And of course they had some stuff to stay and watch during the credits, that is always a good move with a great cast like this. Good times in a dark room with a bunch of strangers eating candy.

Salt

Angelina Jolie does her thing in this. Unbelievable stunts. And I do mean that they were completely unbelievable. Interesting idea though, sleeper agents causing havoc. And it was a pretty good action flick all in all, but it was just completely unbelievable, like her character was a super hero.

Despicable Me in 3D

I saw this with my nephews. It was good. Funny here and there and my nephews enjoyed it.

Shrink

I was flipping through all the movies on demand and found one called Shrink. I looked at the info, and it stars Kevin Spacey, Robin Williams, and a few other people. I have liked many things that Spacey has been in, of course the Usual Suspects, Glen Gary, etc., KPax, and the Men Who Stare at Goats, so the guy has a good track record for picking interesting roles.

In this movie he plays shrink to the stars, whose wife recently killed herself. His character is self medicating with marijuana, which is ok in California, where the movie is set. The other characters are mostly his patients and what they are up to in their lives. There was a powerful agent (probably the most interesting character other than the main), a young black girl whose mother also just committed suicide, a writer that wants to be Spacey's patient, but is his god son through marriage or something like that. Also, one of the characters is Spacey's pot dealer, named Jesus. The young black girl, Jemma, was a pretty interesting character too, she's a movie lover, and one of the things she did with her mother was go to the movies. Also, the movie is set in the Hollywood Hills. Having wandered around Hollywood a little bit, it was kind of neat to see that neighborhood shown off a little.

This movie was filled with dark humor. For example, Spacey's character has just written a self-help book about making yourself happy, yet he is miserable because of his wife's suicide.

I enjoyed the movie and it did make me tear up a little here and there. Of course Spacey's character helps the other suicide victim cope with her loss, and comes to grips, as well as one can, with his own loss of his wife. He stops self medicating and moves on with his life.

I do not even remember hearing about this movie. I do not remember seeing one advertisement for it, trailer, etc. So, this movie was a find for me. It is the type of situation I really enjoy, not knowing anything about a movie, just giving it a chance, and liking it. But if you aren't going to give a Kevin Spacey movie a try, then you probably don't like movies. Sometimes movies are over hyped and they show you all the interesting stuff in the previews and commercials, then you see the movie, and are left feeling like you've already seen the good parts 30 times already, so it ends up being a little boring. But usually I at least hear about a movie, this one I didn't hear a thing about, but I am glad that I found it.

The Last Air Bender

I don't know why I saw this movie. I have never seen any of the cartoons that it is based on, but it looked interesting, and M. Knight Shamalamadingdong directed it, and I usually like his movies.

I did not see M. Knight's touch on this movie at all. It could've been directed by anyone. I remember this letter from William S. Burroughs to, I think, Allen Ginsburg, where Burroughs expresses his worries that the stuff he is writing could be written by anyone. Well, some artists imprimatur are unmistakable. They cannot hide themselves. But I guess Knight can. But I do not blame him, sometimes work is about getting paid, even if it is creative work.

The story is an interesting idea, with the world being divided into tribes that are somehow related to the basic elements: earth, air, fire, and water. The fire tribe seems to be super aggressive and is trying to rule the world. The last air bender is important because I guess air benders can manipulate all the elements. Each tribe is supposed to have people that can bend or manipulate that tribe's element.

It was not an amazing movie. It was enjoyable.

Predators

I was a little hesitant to go to this movie, thinking, "what if I get scarred?" I think I was kind of associating "Predators" with "Aliens," since lately they have been linked. Aliens scare to crap out of me. I actually saw the original in the theater, I think one holiday with my brother and uncle, maybe even my dad went. I think I saw it at the Parkway mall theater. Not the one that is there now, but the one that was there previously before the remodel. I saw the Blues Brothers there too.

But I digress.

Predators was a decent action/science fiction flick. Adrien Brody does his best gravely voiced action hero impression for the entire film. A new kind of role for him. I think he pulled it off. Topher Grace was the other out of place face. I would not expect to see him in a movie like this. His character reveals himself later as a serial killer, which was kind of interesting.

Pretty cool idea, instead of the predators coming to earth to hunt, they capture hardcore prey and have them dropped off at a game preserve for hunting. I liked the movie, didn't see enough in the previews and commercials to ruin it for me, so it was still a little fresh. They do reveal in the previews the idea of a game preserve, which they probably should have kept that detail back.

Knight and Day

I liked this movie. It was action filled and funny. Tom Cruise and Cameron Diaz were great in it. Almost a spoof of Mission Impossible type of movies. It was a little shallow, but sometimes intense and violent movies are a bit too much. This movie was light and fun, kind of a romantic comedy meets Mission Impossible. I guess it isn't doing that well at the box office right now, maybe it will pick-up some steam as the summer progresses.

Grown Ups

I usually don't go to new movies so quickly because of the crowds. I saw this movie at a matinee and it was still pretty full. This movie was loaded with talent, Adam Sandler, Chris Rock, Rob Schneider, David Spade, etc.

I definitely laughed here and there. My problem was the story though. All these old friends come together because of the death of a childhood coach. Certainly these are some pretty powerful comedic people, but a better story would've held the whole thing together better. I enjoyed it though.

Toy Story 3 in 3D

Yes, I went to this movie. Kind of sad to watch the toys send their owner off to college. But the daycare scenes were very fun. All the toys get donated to a daycare, then they escape, and reunite with Woody who is the only one Andy chooses to go to college. The toys end up being given to the kid of the daycare owner in the end, and there is this whole montage of Andy playing with the toys one last time with the daycare owner's kid. I think they could've done a little more with this franchise. This should've been Toy Story 5 or 6, but oh well. Maybe they will do some prequels. Woody in the factory with a bunch of Woody's, something like that.

Get Him to the Greek

This was a very funny movie. The story is from the same universe as Forgetting Sarah Marshall (FSM), which was an amazingly funny and good movie, so it is no wonder that they would weave another movie from such a rich tapestry of characters. The main character in this film, was a music fan in FSM, who gives a sample CD of his own music to the other main character, the douchebag musician, Aldous Snow/Russel Brand.

Get him to the Greek is many years later in the story with Jonah Hill's character having moved on from his Hawaiian gig of maitre de to nascent music industry guy working at Puff Daddy's record label.

Every scene in this movie has some funny stuff going on, furry walls, mind fucking, etc. The only part I did not enjoy that much were Aldous Snow's performances of his songs. Certainly there was humor in the lyrics and Russel Brand is great at physical humor, but the guy is just plain witty and funny when he talks. They should've just let that guy talk instead of sing, maybe a meltdown on stage where he talks to the audience, I don't know. That would've been a better idea for a career ender than some weird album that messes him up, maybe stage fright? Either way, it is a small criticism, because the movie truly was great and very funny, and will see it again someday. And it made me want to see FSM again too.

A-Team

A-Team was not too bad. Liam Neeson was pretty funny, they should've had a cameo for all the living A-Team cast though, that would've been fun. The special effects were pretty amazing. And the MMA fighter, Quinton "Rampage" Jackson was pretty decent as Baracus the Mr. T character. I was kind of disappointed that the Murdock character wasn't a bit funnier. All and all a decent action movie.

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo

This is one of those movies that I went to when I was in Palm Desert for work. I did not know anything about it, it was starting about 10 minutes after I got to the theater, so I bought a ticket.

It is a Danish movie with subtitles. There were some bizarre violent sexual scenes in it: anal rape, forced oral copulation, etc.

The story revolved around an investigative reporter that gets sent to prison for libeling a powerful business man. But before this reporter guy gets sent to prison, he gets hired to investigate the disappearance of a wealthy uncle's niece. Investigative reporter guy ends up solving a serial killer case while finding this guy's niece, but he does all this with the help of the girl with the dragon tattoo. This chick is a "hacker" that works "unconventionally" for a firm that investigates people. I think it is the same firm that assisted in hiring reporter dude for the job of finding rich uncle's niece. Let's just say the story is a bit convoluted.

Dragon tattoo girl has a troubled past and is now some bisexual chick. I guess she is seeing a social worker or parole agent of some kind, and this guy is a scum bag and he is the anal raper and forced oral copulation dude. He makes tattoo chick do sexual things for him or he will reveal to the world her dark and violent past. Dragon chick gets revenge on him though, and eventually she starts working with investigative reporter dude, who is like a saint I guess.

Long story short it all gets worked out, they catch the serial killer, find the niece, etc.

A very memorable movie and I think I saw in the previews that this is like a series and there is another movie involving this Dragon Tattoo character.

Prince of Persia

I went into this movie knowing that it was the result of a video game, so I did not expect much, like Max Payne, or Hit Man. I have played Prince of Persia a tiny bit and knew a little bit about the Sands of Time. The casting was very impressive with Jake Gyllenhaal and Ben Kingsley, also Gemma Arterton. Overall it was an decent movie for a video game come to life. I love time travel movies and this movie had an element of time travel in it, the main character gets to go back in time and fix some problems, save some lives. I enjoyed it, definitely not a frustrating experience, like the video game, where the character dies over and over again while you try to figure out how to solve a puzzle. Though that would've been interesting to see. They did play with that idea a little bit.

MacGruber

This movie is based on an SNL skit where MacGruber attempts to disarm a bomb with common household items, but doesn't and it explodes. Based on the McGyver series from the boob tube.

So, they make a whole movie about this skit. They do the whole thing pretty blue with tons of swearing and sexual humor. The theater I went to was pretty empty, but there was someone there with their kid. I would never take a kid to this movie. But you would never know that from watching the skit or the commercials that the movie was going to be so full of vulgar humor. Of course the rated R rating might give you a clue. Don't get me wrong, I love vulgar humor, so I didn't have any problem with it. Just thought it was them reaching.

Great people in the movie, Will Forte, Val Kilmer, Kristen Wiig, etc. I definitely laughed here and there and there was some decent action, so I liked it. Probably the best SNL movie to come out in a while.

Robin Hood

Good lord! What a crappy movie. Supposedly, from what I understand, Robin stole from the rich and gave to the poor. In this movie, he steals from the church and gives to rich people. Pretty lame.

Maybe it is the "true" story, I don't know. All I know is that I was hoping to see some stealing and lootin,' but no. This movie made me think that Hollywood is so bourgeoisie that they cannot stomach making a hero about stealing from the rich and giving to the poor.

Maybe they are planning on Robin Hood 2, because this movie was kind of the prequel and explains why Mr. Hood does what he does. Oh, well.

Max Von Sydow was amazing, his death scene was incredible, and pretty much everything he did was great, with that great voice of his. William Hurt is always great. I think Cate Blanchett did well, but some of the stuff her character did were strange, like fighting, going into battle, etc., but that isn't her fault.

Russel Crowe did well, but unless their is a Robin Hood 2, with fun stealing and looting, what a lame movie choice for him.

Hot Tub Time Machine

Finally saw this movie, it was very funny. John Cusack, Rob Corddry, Craig Robinson, and even Clark Duke did a great job to make me laugh. Rob Corddry was pretty amazing as a party animal and all around tacky character. I laughed several times.

It was like Back to the Future, meets many bad 80's movies. The movie is set at a ski resort, of course, there were some pretty bad ski movies in the 80's. Has there ever been a good "ski" movie? But it was most like Back to the Future. I really love time travel movies, from Back to the Future, to 12 Monkeys.

The whole thing came together really well.

Clash of the Titans

Pretty decent action flick for a remake of a campy '80's movie. Why even remake this movie? Who knows why Hollywood does what it does?

I liked the Medusa scene, pretty cool Medusa and decent action. The final "boss battle" was pretty cool too against the Kraken. It is just fun to say "Kraken" let alone watch a huge one do battle. The main character was kind of scrawny though, he should've pumped a little iron before this role a la 300, but maybe they were going for the campy 80's look.

Kick-Ass

This was a really fun movie. I wasn't expecting much, kind of thought it was going to be a kid movie, but it ended up being really gory and interesting. The movie is about a kid with no special powers who decides to become a super hero and help people. There is a scene in the movie where the main character gets stabbed, then hit by a car on a deserted street after stopping two thugs from breaking into a car.

One reason it is so interesting is that in New York recently a good Samaritan homeless man tried to help someone being mugged, ended up getting stabbed and then bled to death on the sidewalk as the fantastic people in New York walked by. Just kind of puts it all in perspective that people need to help one another and not expect someone else to help.

Nicholas Cage was good, the main character, I don't know his name, but I was not completely impressed by him. His sidekicks were well played though. Well, hope there is a Kick-ass 2.

Date Night

This was a pretty funny film. Steve Carrel and Tina Fey are really great talents. I laughed many times. I hope they work together more often.

Steve and Tina's characters do something I've always wanted to do, take someone's restaurant reservations. You know what I'm talking about, you go to a restaurant, no tables are available, and the hostess is wandering around looking for a couple. You are at the bar ordering food to be eaten while you are staring at some bartender with your elbows on some sticky bar.

Of course the reservations they take are some two-bit criminals. That was the other thing about this movie, it was filled with great people: James Franco, Mila Kunis, Ray Liotta, and Mark Wahlberg, just to name a few.

It all takes place pretty much over one night, except for the set up for the special date. Definitely a good fun movie.

Capitalism: a love story

This is a Michael Moore film, so it is a documentary. It was pretty entertaining, like most of his documentaries, but of course if you do not agree with his world view, or are the kind of person that is not open to someone else's opinions, you would probably hate his movies.

The movie opens on a foreclosure of a house, with the sheriff arriving and breaking down the doors. It is a horrible and scary thing to watch. But part of me wonders why or how these folks got into this predicament. And of course Moore gives his ideas about that. But anytime you sign your house over to someone for money and the note says they can take your house if you don't pay them, then they should be aware that this will happen. The real story is the real estate bubble and all these fucking flippers of real estate. Real estate should be an investment, but for landlords, and individual families, not for some fucker that just wants to flip it. But that is my take on the whole thing.

You should let yourself watch Moore's movies, he may not be completely right about the whole thing, but he definitely has an interesting perspective.

The Invention of Lying

This was a comedy with Ricky Gervais and Rob Lowe. It was kind of an interesting world they created, a world without lying. Their movies were readings of history. The main character is a screenwriter. His period of history to write from was 1300's.

Somehow Ricky Gervais' character invents lying and starts to get what he wants out of life. Pretty interesting stuff, especially religion.

44 Inch Chest

I saw this during a stay in Palm Desert for work. I went to a theater called the Palme de Or. They didn't ask me, but they sold me a "senior" ticket. I do have some grey hair, but I didn't think I looked 55. Oh well.

This movie was a very interesting psychological film dealing with uncomfortable issue of a domestic violence. Kind of an upsetting film. Ray Winstone stars in it. I did enjoy the film though.

Edge of Darkness

Sometimes you see a movie and it makes little or not impression. This was one of those movies. I think this was a movie with Mel Gibson playing some revenge crazed parent going after the killers of his daughter, who, of course, was killed right in front of him.

Guess what? He gets his revenge. Ray Winstone was in it, he is an interesting choice. Liked him in his roll.

Wolfman

I've really like Benicio del Toro ever since the Usual Suspects. He's a great actor. This movie was only a little scary, but very gory. It kind of had a black and white feel to it.

From Paris With Love

John Travolta plays a rogue CIA guy. Seemed like a propaganda film for the whole "war" on terrorism that we are spending billions on.

I enjoyed it simply for all the action, but other than that, not really.

Crazy Heart

Amazing movie. Even the music was good. Jeff Bridges was fantastic. It reminded me of Leaving Las Vegas, but not as sad. A very real movie, except for the part about him being a famous musician, but it is definitely the kind of fucked up thing that is going on all the time reaching the bottom and turning their life around, if they are lucky. But then living with all the shit they caused while drunk. Great movie.