Movie Reviews

The total entertainment value of director Edgar Wright's previous films "Shaun of the Dead" and "Hot Fuzz" are gone in his latest, "Scott Pilgrim vs. the World," an adaptation of a Manga-style comic book series despite some usual Wright sharp wit and quick delivery.

Scott Pilgrim (Michael Cera) meets his dream girl--literally--in Ramona Flowers (Mary Elizabeth Winstead) but must defeat her seven evil exes (Brandon Routh, Jason Schwartzman and Chris Evans among them) in order to date her. With his low-level bandmates of Sex Bomb-omb, a gay roommate (Kieran Culkin) and a jilted high school ex-girlfriend (Ellen Wong) in the mix, Scott becomes a character in his own video game.

And it is members of that clique that this might appeal more to. Gamer geeks and Manga nuts will question those who either don't understand or downright don't like the film adaptation. This has a cult movie feel that might even alienate it's following.

The Take: We have all sat around (well, some of us anyway) and said, "What if we had a movie with all of the great action heroes in one movie?" Well, it has happened. Sly Stallone and crew have amassed a powerful cast of established action film stars and assorted mixed martial arts artists to pull off this star studded action movie. "The Expendables" is just a whole bunch of fun with some serious violence and plenty of blood spilled. I enjoyed the film even though the ending is visible from a mile away. Action abound along with some humor make this film a winner.

Will Ferrell has become a staple to comedy films as much as the Chicago Cubs have become one to championship droughts. And while the latter causes misery (Not to me: I'm south side), Ferrell has made it his duty to go for a laugh. No matter how weird of a look, silly of a joke or downright ridiculous of a comedic subject matter, he will always try and make your life a little lighter and a little brighter.

Unfortunately, not all of them have worked. "Blades of Glory" was a downright catastrophe, and "Semi-Pro" was a passable albeit severely flawed example of comic mediocrity. On the other hand, "Anchorman" was a dynamite, cultish laugh-fest; "Talladega Nights" was an equally outlandish hilarious movie; and "Step Brothers" reunited with "Talladega" co-star John C. Reilly for another solid film of stupid-funny. What separates these last three with most of Ferrell's others is one thing--a person, actually. And his name is Adam McKay.

Pals dating back to "Saturday Night Live" (Ferrell a castmember, McKay as head writer) and beyond, the two have found a knack to team up for laughs with Ferrell as a variety of professions. "The Other Guys" is no different.

Adam McKay tries to recreate his success with Anchorman (2004) with his favorite pitchman, Will Ferrell.  Unfortunately, he takes a step down with "The Other Guys".  Some funny moments exist in this one, however, I really could not say that I enjoyed the film.  Mark Whalberg is the wanna-be

It seems that mainstream, American studio comedies at the moment are in serious danger of overdosing on great things: improvisation, heterosexual male love and Zack Galifianakis. I realize we’re smack dab in the middle of the let’s-all-just-try-and-copy-what-Apatow does era, so these different variations on a theme probably won’t be going away anytime soon. You know how the gross-out There’s Something About Mary clones that had Blink 182 songs in their trailers 10 years ago now

Zac Efron is the really the only bright spot, and just barely, in the hokey story "Charlie St. Cloud".  While Efron does a decent job, the story left me scratching my head.  Efron loses his brother in a horrible car crash while he was at the wheel.  Efron then spends the majority of the movie trying to come to grips with his brother's death and moving on.  I felt like I was seeing poor attempt at M. Night Shyamalan's "The Sixth Sense" (1999) in certain parts.   I get the fact that the film is trying to

Who is Salt?  It should be more like What is Salt?  Simply, it is a wild story with a lot of action and not really much substance.  Angelia Jolie plays Agent Salt for the CIA who may or may not be a Russian spy.  Really, that is about as deep as the story goes.  Jolie runs around kicking some serious ass throughout this story, and even the fight scenes get kind of repetitive.  A few twists and turns throughout the movie keep it from being a bad movie along with Jolie's acting.  Admittedly, I was very excited going into the theater and not so excited when I left.

A character from "Inception" confesses, "True inspiration is impossible to fake."

There is much meaning behind that statement since it comes from the vibrant mind of Christopher Nolan.

In 2008, Nolan delivered one of the most popular films of all-time, "The Dark Knight." Equally revered by critics, the film dived into the dark side of comic book hero Batman. Examining the psyche of dual identities and the fine line between cop and criminal, "The Dark Knight” delved into pathways for the Caped Crusader we’d not seen yet.

Enter “Inception,” a mind-bending sci-fi heist epic ripe with such vivid creativity that one might have to pinch themselves at how perfect it is.

The Take:  "Inception" amazes the eye and is laden with some serious acting power by the design of Writer and Director, Christopher Nolan.  Despite the aforementioned good elements, the movie is just a very good movie and not a great movie in my opinion.  Nolan pushed the envelope with the 2008 hit, "The Dark Knight", but seems to have tried to pack too complex of a story into a two-and-a-half hour movie.  Don't get me wrong, I enjoyed the movie and would recommend seeing the film. 

Disney's Fantasia (1940) first featured the Sorcerer's Apprentice in a cartoon segment starring Mickey Mouse, and it really should have been left in a cartoon.  2010 arrives with Nicholas cage playing Balthazar, a student of Merlin (yes, the Merlin), who searches for a thousand years to find the Prime Merlinian, Dave (Jay Baruchel),  who happens to be in modern day New York City.  Cage and Baruchel provide a few lively moments throughout the film, but nothing that would save the movie.  Younger kids will enjoy