Cop Out

Starring Bruce Willis, Tracy Morgan, Jason Lee, and Seann William Scott

Directed by Kevin Smith

Release Date: February 26th, 2010

Wow, I'm completely shocked at how dull and boring this movie was. For months I'd heard how atrocious this movie was, just how low Kevin Smith had sunk in his career with his movie. Unfortunately, all I saw was a really dull "action comedy". For one, the comedy in this movie, especially the interactions between the main stars, are boring. Bruce Willis is mainly sleepwalking through his role and Tracy Morgan is stuck on autopilot "wacky loud guy" mode; on top of that, they're just not fun to follow on this so-called adventure. Other than that, the jokes are just dull, not funny, not inspired just ho-hum. Second of all, the action part of the movie, is so formulaic so uninspired it will put the most hard-core action movie junkies to sleep. I really wanted to feel something from this movie-joy, excitement, even frustration-but all I got out of it was a decent nap.

The movie's a balanced disappointment: I can't recommend it as Cop Out isn't a fairly good movie and I can't recommend it as a guily pleasure/good 'bad' movie as there's nothing to laugh at. All it really is is a wasted afternoon for you and a paycheck for the cast and crew.

Rating: ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZzzzzzzzzz...oh sorry, * * of 5

Click Here to buy .....*sigh* Cop Out Cop Out(Blu-ray)

Or.. these other Kevin Smith movies

Clerks (15th Anniversary Edition) [Blu-ray]
Clerks (Three-Disc 10th Anniversary Collector's Edition)
Clerks II (Two-Disc Widescreen Edition)

Clerks II [Blu-ray]
An Evening With Kevin Smith
An Evening With Kevin Smith 2: Evening Harder
Sold Out: A Threevening With Kevin Smith
Chasing Amy: The Criterion Collection
Mallrats (Collector's Edition)
Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back (Dimension Collector's Series)
Dogma [Blu-ray]

Megamind

Starring the voice talents of Will Ferrell, Tina Fey, David Cross, Jonah Hill, and Brad Pitt

Directed by Tom McGrath, Cameron Hood, and Kyle Jefferson

Release Date: November 5th, 2010

What if the superhero were finally beaten by the supervilliain? What if the supervillain wasn't all that bad? Those two questions create the premise for Dreamworks' Megamind, starring Will Ferrell as the titular supervillain.

 Long ago, two orphans from two different planets crash landed on earth: one child was brought up by the priviledge of wealth while the other was raised in a prison. Soon, one child grew up to be praised for his heroic exploits while the other became a villain: they were Metro Man (Pitt) and Mega Mind (Ferrell). Eventually, the two battled each other in Metro City with Metro Man always winning and Mega Mind being defeated and sent back to prison. Until one day, Mega Mind defeats the hero, to the shock of such civilans as Metro Man's girlfriend Roxanne Ritchie (Fey). With the hero gone and the city at his mercy, Mega Mind is remorseful at the loss of his adversary......



Leave it to an animated movie to allow Will Ferrell's over-the-top comedic talents to really shine. As the protanistic villain, Ferrell is truly hilarious as the wacky Megamind and he is equally successful at making the audience both relate to the warped psycho and care for him. It takes a particular brand of wacky to make a villain who uses death rays and evil monologues a funny and likable character for children. Second, the side kick character of Minion, voiced by David Cross, is a humorous and silly side character whom sci-fi fans will notice that  the creators based on the appearance of the monster in Robot Monster, Also of note is the spectacular supporting cast, from Tina Fey to Brad Pitt. Tina Fey gets in a funny sequence involving the cliches of supervillain threats, and Pitt is hamming it up in a good way as Metro Man. Jonah Hill.......really needs to try harder, as it seems he has one style of acting and it's getting real old, old fast.

Rating: * * * * of 5

Click Here to buy Megamind (Single-Disc Edition) Megamind (Two-Disc Blu-ray/DVD Combo)  Megamind (Mega Double Two-Pack)

Wake Up, Ron Burgundy

Starring Will Ferrell, Christina Appelgate, Steve Carell, and Paul Rudd

Directed by Adam McKay

Release Date: Never Officially Released in Theaters

What's that, you say? ANOTHER Ron Burgundy movie, when did that come out? Well, Ferrell and cast had so much material for ANCHORMAN: The Legend of Ron Burgundy, that an entire sub-plot was cut out of the movie and released as its own DVD extra with the movie. For years, WAKE UP! was only available for a short time offer, forcing Ferrell fans to hunt eBay auctions for the rare "lost" movie. Well, thanks to Best Buy, now you can watch this rare movie on blu-ray!

As for the movie itself, it's an enjoyable comedy for fans of Anchorman. Certain characters are given on-screen appearances, such as Ron's mentor Jess Moondragon or Ed Harken's deliquent son, and a new misadventure with the Channel 4 News Team is explored. Instead of Ron and Veronica figthing for top billing on the news, a group of radicals are terrorizing San Diego and are now after Ron Burgundy to stop the lies (...whatever that means). This is billed as a "sequel", but don't fool yourselves folks, it's just cut material from the original film. Don't get me wrong, it's still a really funny film, but the tacked on narration trying to justify how this takes place after the first movie was a bad idea (still, the narrator gets some really funny lines when he goes on a tangent). If you enjoy a low-brow comedy, check out Wake Up, Ron Burgundy!

Rating: * * * * of 5

Charade

Starring Audrey Hepburn, Cary Grant, Walter Matthau, and James Coburn

Directed by Stanley Donnen

Release Date: December 5th, 1963

A parisian tale of mystery, tricks, lies, and greed. Charade is a suspenseful and humorous tale of a woman's journey to uncovering the mystery of her husband's murder.


Reggie Lampish (Hepburn), fresh off a ski-slope vacation, has just been told that she is now a widow. Mr. Charles Lampish was found murdered after being thrown off a train in his pajamas, with only loose change and a letter to his wife among his possessions. Soon, Reggie is contacted by CIA Administrator Hamilton Bartholomew (Matthau), who alters Mrs. Lampish that her husband was keeping secrets from her: that he was living under a fake name, and that he and 4 friends stole $250,000 during WWII only for Charles to run off with the money and one friend killed. Now, the remaining co-horts are after Reggie for her to give up the money, or suffer dearly. Will the help of a charming stranger (Grant) be enough to solve the answer of Charles Lampish's death?

Charade is given the title of "the best Hitchcock movie Hitchcock never made", but that is underselling how energetic and marvelous the film really is. Charade is a whirlwind adventure through the streets of Paris as scored by Henry Mancini, and has a great combination of suspense and comedy. Through the levity of such scenes like the "pass the orange" game could have sidetracked the mood of the film, it never feels forced or distracting to the film's objective of keeping Reggie on her toes about the dangers she's in or the villiains after her. Audrey Hepburn is wonderful as Reggie, making her a sympathetic and likable protagonist whose confusion is real and understandable. Also, Hepburn and co-star Grant have fantastic chemistry together, slyfully playing cat-and-mouse with each other.
 
Rating: * * * * * of 5

Click Here to buy Charade (The Criterion Collection)
Click Here to buy Charade (The Criterion Collection) [Blu-ray]

Black Swan

Starring Natalie Portman, Mila Kunis, Vincent Cassel, and Winona Ryder

Directed by Darren Aronofsky

Release Date: December 3rd, 2010

From the director of The Wrestler and Requiem for a dream, Darren Aronofsky delves into a ballerina's obsession with perfection and the dangers of her pursuit.
All Nina (Portman) wants to be is the finest ballerina in her company, only to play bit parts in every play such as the opening production of Swan Lake. After star ballerina Beth (Rider) is "retired" by director Thomas (Casse), the search is on for a new dancer to play the dual lead roles of the White Swan and the Black Swan; where the White Swan is pure and innocent, the Black Swan is her dark counterpart, the sensual and evil character. However, all Thomas sees Nina as is the White Swan, so extra dedication and effort is required to transform Nina's emotionless dancing into a sensual, dark creature of The Black Swan....

Leave it to Darren Aronofsky to turn the beautiful art of ballet into a macabre dance of intrigue, suspense and paranoia. The movie may throw around similar icons to depict Nina's descent into madness, but I felt that the film did a great job of subtly increasing the disturbing (and shocking) images seen in Nina's terrified story of obsession. If anything, the film makes the simple act of a ballerina dancing on point into an act of terrifying cruelty and pain upon the dancer. Speaking of dancers, both Portman and Kunis are on the top of their game as Nina and Lily, respetively. Portman is stunningly sympathetic as Nina, a woman who is losing her sanity and innocence for the sake of art. Kunis did a fantastic job as Lily, Nina's exact opposite, where Nina is meek and rigid, Lily is wild, passionate, and dangerous.

Black Swan is a dangerously fanstastic movie, but not for the faint of heart.

Rating: * * * * 1/2 of 5

Dinner for Schmucks

Starring Paul Rudd, Steve Carell, Zach Galifianakis, Ron Livingston, and Bruce Greenwood

Directed by Jay Roach

Release Date: July 30th, 2010

Based on the French film Le dîner de cons ("The Dinner of Dolts"), Dinner for Schmucks reteams Carell and Rudd with the director of the Austin Powers trilogy. Tim (Rudd) is a mid-level financial executive with big dreams at Fender Financial. Impressed by Tim's ingenuity toward landing a new client, Lance Fender (Greenwood) invites Tim to a special dinner: the dinner is for the employees to bring a loser and then Fender will declare the biggest loser a "winner" with the guest none the wiser. The loser of dinner? They get fired. While Tim wrestles with his guilt over exploiting someone and his girlfriend ashamed of the idea, he meets Barry, quite possibly the strangest person Tim has ever met. Barry is a IRS agent with a hobby of dressing up dead mice in dioramas and 1% awareness of the world around him. With Barry raring and willing to go to dinner, will Tim be a winner, or a loser?

Though I have yet to see the original film, I genuinely enjoyed how wacky and hilarious Dinner for schmucks was. During the opening credits, we get a glimpse into Barry's hobbies...his creepy, creepy hobby of dressing up dead mice including making one appear to be sunbathing topless (that will haunt my dreams for a week). In addition to Tim's misadventures with Barry, we get to meet Kieran (Jermaine Clement), an eccentric painter who works with Tim's girlfriend Julie. Kieran is a hiliarious character, from his reason for why art = love making, to having a meaningful conversation dressed like a faun. Finally, there is the cherry on top of a bizarre sundae, Thurman (Galifianakis), who believes he has mind control powers and gets uber-serious over questions like "Can I eat your pudding?". The dinner is equally hilarious, particularly when Thurman and Barry have a mind-control vs. brain control fight.

Dinner for Schmucks is a goofy, enjoyable comedy.

Rating: * * * * of 5

Click Here to buy Le Diner de Cons (Original French Version with English Subtitles)

Click Here to buy Dinner for Schmucks

Click Here to buy Dinner for Schmucks [Blu-ray]

The Last Airbender

Starring Noah Ringer, Dev Patel, and Cliff Curtis

Directed By M. Night Shymalan

Release Date: July 1st, 2010

To say this is a terrible film is like saying Michael Bay kinda likes Explosions: HUGE UNDERSTATEMENT.  There is almost nothing good to say about this movie. It's terrible; the dialogue, the "plot", the horrible, wooden perfomances from the actors. If you're a fan of AVATAR: The Last Airbender, don't see this movie. No one deserves to give themselves such a headache. In fact, I saw the film with a friend who was unfamiliar with the series, and he was just as dumbfounded as I was with how confusing and stupid the movie actually was.



Did it seem like M. Night Shymalan even cared about the source material? The names of the characters are mispronounced, the film itself is at best a highlight of season one, and the awful, awful special effects. What happened to this movie from pre-production to production? I shudder to imagine seeing this in 3D, if the effects in 2D looked like amateur work from a computer animation course. The Last Airbender can be summed up in one word: STUPID. Ugh, What a rotten movie and shame on M. Night Shymalan for taking a fantastic animated series and turning it into one of the worst movies of 2010. Spoony tried to warn me , the cinema snob tried to warn me, but I didn't listen. I wasted two hours of my life when it felt like twenty years were stolen from me.
 
Rating: 0 of 5.........AVOID AT ALL COSTS

...........if you want, Click Here to buy The Last Airbender, or.......


Avatar The Last Airbender - The Complete Book 1 Collection

Avatar The Last Airbender - The Complete Book 2 Collection

Avatar - The Last Airbender: The Complete Book 3 Collection