Trailer: Toy Story 3

Review: Couples Retreat

Four couples head to a resort in paradise that includes required couples therapy, in support of one couple's troubles.

Quite funny. Each couple has their own quirks and things get resolved which seems kind of old. But it was still a fun movie. I thought Favreau was hilarious. Vaughn was, well, himself. I loved Malin Ackerman as Vaughn's wife!

Vaughn and Favreau wrote and starred in the movie and Peter Billingsly (aka Ralphie from A Christmas Story) directed. They've all been pals for quite a while.

My favorite parts of the movie:

shark attack tale
the staff quarters
spirit animals

4 out of 5 stars.

Classic Movies Reimagined

These are great! Imagine Indiana Jones and Forrest Gump were made during the golden age of Hollywood.

Trailer 3 for New Moon

A little Sci Fi Short for you...

I especially enjoyed this after just having watched Alien and Aliens for the first time.

Trailer: Agora

This looks fresh and interesting, a period piece about intelligent woman.

Short Films into Features

There are two recent movies, one has been released, one will be in the next couple weeks, that have been made from short films. District 9 was an extension of Alive in Joburg and 9 was of 9. ;) I've embeded both shorts and the trailers for the features below if you would like to check them out. Hm, they both have 9's in them too.



Alive in Joburg



District 9



9 (Short) Pretty intriguing for no diologue. The style of the characters has been called "stitchpunk." ;)



9 Feature Trailer

Movies I've seen since UP

Wow. I have been so bad about updating this. I don't think anyone reads it anyway so no big loss. Let's see...

Transformers 2: Revenge of the Fallen: Long, more of the same, definitely could pick up on the racial undertones, not as funny. Just ok. 3 out of 5 stars.
Ice Age 3: Dawn of the Dinosaurs: More of the same. Cute, enjoyable. Ethan was awake during this so I feel like I missed a lot trying to get him to sleep. 4 out of 5 stars.
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince: Lots of fun. I hate how they changed the Harry/Ginny relationship. The other changes I didn't mind. Not my favorite, but I think I need to watch it again to make a better opinion. 4 out of 5 stars.
GI Joe Rise of the Cobra: Just ok. Nothing special but it wasn't awful. 3 out of 5 stars.
The Time Traveler's Wife: Good, not as good as the book but a fair representation. The minor characters got left out a lot. I enjoyed this one. 4 out of 5 stars.
District 9: Great Sci Fi. Go see it. 5 out of 5 stars.

Movies I will have to wait and see on DVD: The Hangover, Monsters Vs. Aliens, Moon, The Proposal, Public Enemies, The Ugly Truth, Ponyo, 500 Days of Summer...

Review: Up

Karl Fredrickson (voiced by Ed Asner) ties a bazillion balloons to his house to go on a long put off trip to South America and finds Russell, a Wilderness Explorer, has hitched along for the ride.

Excellent movie...so much more than a kid's movie. It made me bawl... Ah, but still so fun. I didn't see it in 3-D, but it was still awesome to look at. Very fun and cute.

My favorite parts of the movie:

Russell
Dug
Karl's life story montage
dysfunctional voice changer

5 out of 5 stars.

Trailer: New Moon

Teaser Trailer: Toy Story 3

Review: Angels and Demons

The sequel/prequel to "The Da Vinci Code" finds Robert Langdon (Tom Hanks) entangled in another mystery involving the Catholic church.

A fair rendering of Dan Brown's novel. Neat to see the Rome locations, makes me want to travel there. Very dialogue-y, but how else are you going to explain the historical stuff. They also changed a big part of the ending, but I guess it didn't matter too much unless you've read the book.

My favorite parts of the movie:

locales

3 out of 5 stars.

Review: Terminator Salvation

In a time after "Judgement Day" John Conner (Christian Bale) and the resistance are fighting against Skynet to keep the human race alive.

Another great looking movie! The story was ok. I read on the internet that the original script ending had Skynet winning and everyone dying. Ballsy... I might have liked it better that way, but I bet most people wouldn't. In general, the masses enjoy the "good guy" winning.

I am not sure what the point of having Bryce Dallas Howard in the movie as Kate Conner was. Her part was nothing, too bad really. The Arnold "cameo" was dumb, should have left that out too. I've never seen any of the other 3 movies, just bits and pieces of all of them. I knew enough that I wasn't really lost though, and I could pick out the famous lines they utilized from the other movies.

My favorite parts of the movie:

Kyle Reese (Anton Yelchin)
the apocalyptic look

4 out of 5 stars.

Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian

Larry (Ben Stiller) discovers the contents of the Museum are being sent to the Smithsonian for storage and resumes his post as night guard to save them.

Fair family fare. :) The story's none to spectacular and Amelia Earhart (Amy Adams), the love interest's, part ends oddly. Her 30's speak is cute, and it's still fun to see the things at the Smithsonian come to life. Darth Vader and Oscar the Grouch appear. What else could you ask for?

My favorite parts of the movie:

Hank Azaria is great as the bad guy
Lincoln
Clint Howard at Mission Control
Octavius' ride

4 out of 5 stars.

Review: Star Trek

The Romulan Nero (Eric Bana) is set on getting revenge on Spock and the newly christened USS Enterprise and her crew are sent to stop him.

Awesome movie! Wonderfully shot, some of the scenes are jaw dropping. A great blend of action, drama, comedy, and enough of a nod to the old series to placate this Trekker/Trekkie. All of the actors did a wonderful job with the characters. It's hard to pick out a favorite!!! I've seen it twice, it's so good!

My favorite parts of the movie:

Uh, all of it!
Kirk's fake sickness
Scotty's lines
the Doctor's fears
Spock's human-ness

5 out of 5 stars.

Review: Xmen Origins: Wolverine

An origin story for Wolverine (Hugh Jackman) from bone claws to adamantium.

It was ok. It lost my attention a couple of times which is saying a lot because I love going to movies. The story was interesting. The action seemed like stuff I had seen before. The tie ins were alright. I enjoyed the casting. (Two people from Lost were in it! ;) I HATED THE FAT SUIT. UGH. WHY??? On the whole, it was meh. I'd probably watch it again though, mildly entertaining.

4 out of 5 stars.

Two Tom Movies

Taken starring Liam Neeson. An fair story, trafficking women is not really my cup of tea. It was fun to see Liam kick some butt.

3 out of 5 stars.



Fast and Furious starring Vin Diesel and Paul Walker. This is the forth one of these I've seen in the theater. Mediocre at best. Better than 2 or 3.

2 out of 5 stars.