Opening this Weekend - 6/17/11

This week we have 3 movies that are coming to the big screen.  There is a kid's comedy, a super hero movie, and a romantic comedy - those being Mr. Popper's Penguins, Green Lantern, and The Art of Getting By, respectively.  I won't say that I'm excited for this week's movies but let's take a look at them anyways.

Mr. Popper's Penguins
This movie stars Jim Carrey as a man who inherits six penguins from a relative who has passed away.  The very reserved businessman and divorcee immediately tries to get rid of the penguins until his kids come over and fall in love with them.  Realizing this is a good way to bond with his kids, who spend most of their time with his ex-wife, Mr. Popper turns his place into a winter themed penguin pad.  He also starts to unwind and finally enjoy life a little.  He does have a constant thorn in his side because he originally called the zoo to take the penguins and they won't relent even though he changed his mind.  Really Jim Carrey?  Really? Oh how the mighty have fallen.  You were once the master of laughs with numerous great comedic movies under your belt but now you just keep hopping on to stupid looking movies.  Does age play into this factor that now you're older and just lost all your funniness?  Kids might like this so I can't knock it too hard but I know that I won't be running out to see it.  On the Viewability Scale I give it 4 Ninja Stars out of 10.
Check out the trailer at:

http://www.popperspenguins.com/main.html

Green Lantern
This is yet another super hero movie being released this year.  This one stars Ryan Reynolds as Hal the test pilot that is deemed worthy to wear the ring that has infinite power.  The green lantern group are alien species that have come together with the power of their rings to defeat evil.  When a threat rears its ugly head on earth Hal has to become a quick learner and put all his faith in himself and the ring that has limitless power.  Ok so first off I have never been a fan of the Green Lantern.  I have numerous problems with the super hero.  One might be that oh I don't know, doesn't DC Comics already have a Superman?  That stupid ring has the power to do anything which basically means that the Green Lantern can do anything he wants making him impossible to beat much like Superman.  Also I feel like I have seen Ryan Reynolds before in a super hero role.  Hmmm...Oh that's right he was Deadpool in Wolverine.  Does anyone besides me find that uber lame?  Well I like Ryan Reynolds as an actor so maybe he can save this movie.  I would give it 5 Ninja Stars out of 10.
Check out the trailer at:

http://greenlanternmovie.warnerbros.com/

The Art of Getting By
A high school senior has a terrible outlook on life but begins to warm up a bit once he starts talking with a classmate (Emma Roberts).  It looks like this movie is going to be a "My life sucks" kind of movie and then the boy realizes that maybe it doesn't suck so bad by starting to have feelings for the girl that is trying to bring him out of his depression.  It might be witty, funny, sad, or none of the above.  Honestly I had no knowledge this movie was coming out and I'm not sad about that because it looks pretty lame.  On the Viewability Scale it gets 3 Ninja Stars out of 10.
Check out the trailer at:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TXCkp_Wuv3U

So to recap we have:

Mr. Popper's Penguins - 4 Ninja Stars
Green Lantern - 5 Ninja Stars
The Art of Getting By - 3 Ninja Stars

So after a pretty weak week hopefully next week will be better...or maybe not since next week we have Cars 2, A Better Life, and Bad Teacher.  Don't worry everyone I have a feeling July will be a much better month.  If you see any of the movies above, please comment but in a way that it doesn't ruin the movie for everyone else.

Side note - I will be unable to preview the movies for you next week (I'm really not that sad about it given the movies that are being released...).  I will be back however the week after and hopefully we will have something to be excited about.

-Diomedes

Movie Review - Bridesmaids

Originally I thought this movie was going to be a chick flick and that I would find myself bored.  I of course was dragged to it by a very attractive female that I guess I couldn't say no to (or maybe it was because I dragged her to see X-Men: First Class).  I heard from many women that I had talked to that it was hilarious and that I had to see it.  So needless to say I went into it very skeptical.  But as the movie started and through the progression of the film, I found myself laughing more often and harder than I expected.  By the time it was done I decided that I would be more than happy to see it again because it was hilarious.  The casting was perfect and the main girl from Saturday Night Live (Kristen Wilg) did a solid job.  The scene of her in the airplane is one of the funnier scenes I have witnessed in a long time.  I will also say that the chubbier, more butch friend was the best character in the film and did a great job.

Altogether after all the hype and the fact that I thought it was a chick flick, it was pretty darn good.  For a comedy I am going to have to give it 8 Ninja Stars out of 10.  I would definitely recommend seeing this movie in theaters but if you can't make it then go out and rent it right when it comes out on dvd because it is worth your time.  I must say thank you to the attractive lady that dragged me to the theater because otherwise I would have most likely been too manly to go see it.  Guys it is not a chick flick if you haven't got the gist of what I'm saying.

-Diomedes

Movie Review - X-Men: First Class

So being my most anticipated movie of the summer I had very high expectations for this new installment of the X-Men enterprise.  And I will have to say that it didn't leave me hanging like so many other movies in recent history (like the movie we don't speak of - otherwise known of as the third X-Men movie).  I won't go on record saying that it was great but I will say I thoroughly enjoyed it.  I think they had some good character development with Magneto and seeing Professor X up and about was really neat too.  The duo of Michael Fassbender and James McAvoy worked out perfect in my opinion.  I also thought there was a solid story line set in place that showed the break-up of Professor X and Magneto to the opposing sides of their views on how mutants should live in everyday society. 

My one criticism would be for the mutants they picked to key around for the good and the bad side of the conflict.  I think there are so many better mutants out there to pick from that they could have done better in their selection.  The effects were good.  I thought beast looked cool which was good because let's face it a big blue furry dude is hard to make cool on screen.  Magneto has been a favorite of mine since I was little and to see his power grow and come to its full potential was awesome.  I must also say that Kevin Bacon as the villain was a good fit too.  It's been a long time since Kevin Bacon has done anything worth talking about so it was nice to see him actually live up to expectations.

I would give this movie 8 Ninja Stars out of 10 and would recommend catching it in theaters if you can because it was definitely worth the price of admission.

-Diomedes

New DVD Review-The Green Hornet

With all the super hero movies coming out, it was easy to overlook The Green Hornet, especially considering they cast Seth Rogen as the title super hero. Rogen has only played pot heads and slackers so far in his film career, and playboy turned super hero seems like a big jump. Then the studio announced Michel Gondry would be directing, the same Michel Gondry who directed Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind and Be Kind Rewind. So you put together a director who has one good movie under his belt and specializes in trippy visuals and an actor who has repeated the same performance over and over again and you get...a solid super hero movie. I expected nothing from The Green Hornet, but was pleasantly surprised when the credits rolled. Gondry does put his mark on the film and sometimes it gets ridiculous, but for the most part its a well done story of a man with no super powers who needs to become a hero to redeem himself and his legacy. As playboy Britt Reid aka The Green Hornet, Rogen is convincing and the film smartly never tries to make him a martial arts expert or great fighter, he kind of just runs around while his partner Kato (Jay Chou) does all the work. The dynamic between the two is solid and the complexities and uniqueness of their friendship is the main focus of the movie. Christoph Waltz who won an Oscar for playing one of the great villains of all time in Inglorious Basterds, plays again a villain but a very insecure villain, while the character doesn't work that well, I think it was good that they gave the villain a little bit of a different mentality to keep the film fresh. Cameron Diaz is on hand as well but her casting is pointless as anyone could have played the role. Overall while not a great film or a great entry in the super hero genre, The Green Hornet holds up well and is worth checking out if you have the time. I give it 6 Ninja Stars out of 10.

-Maximus

New DVD Review-Drive Angry

Drive Angry was pushed as a groundbreaking fun 3D action film. From what I can understand, it at least was in 3D, so that wasn't a complete lie. Nicholas Cage has a recent reputation of taking any movie offered to him, and movies like this show why its a bad idea. Its about a man recently escaped from "prison" to avenge the murder of his daughter and save his granddaughter from a cult. He is accompanied by a tough waitress (Amber Heard) and pursued by the "prison's" "accountant" played by the great character actor William Fichtner. I put all of the above in quotations as anyone who has one quarter of a brain will realize the films big twist after about 18 minutes of film time but I don't want to spoil it here just in case. The only redeeming quality about this movie is the joy in which Fichtner brings to his character. Other than that, the movie is absolutely terrible. I watched it in 2D, but you could tell which scenes were in 3D, and they were for cheap effects only. The visual effects in the movie were absolutely terrible and apparently were given second focus to the stupid 3D gimmick. Nicholas Cage continues to run far away from the great actor who won an Oscar for the emotionally devastating performance in Leaving Las Vegas and from the actor who brought gravitas and skill to action movies like The Rock, Face/Off, and Con-Air. Hopefully Cage gets some of that back one day and restores his reputation. I give Drive Angry 2 Ninja Stars out of 10.

-Maximus

Movie Review-The Hangover Part II

I went into The Hangover Part II assuming it would give me some laughs, but also be a complete retread of the first film, and I was right on target. Part II follows the crew (Bradley Cooper, Zach Galifianakis, Ed Helms, and Justin Bartha) to Thailand for Stu's wedding. Stu is understandably jaded from the events of the first film, and does not want a bachelor party. However a quiet beer on the beach soon turns into a crazy adventure as the guys wake up in a seedy motel in Bangkok with no memory of what brought them there. Adding insult to injury is the fact that Stu's 19 year old future brother in law is missing. The events of the film take them all over the city and from once crazy situation to another. Going into much more would give too much away, but safe to say The Hangover Part II is an over the top comedy with some very funny scenes. My one big complaint is that while the character of Alan in the first film was a unique and hilarious scene stealing presence, in this film he is promoted to lead star and if feels like most of Cooper and Helms' lines are used to set up Galifianiakis to do something funny. By the end of the movie I was pretty sick of Alan's character and hope if there is a third film, they balance it out more. The scene stealer in this one is Mr. Chow (Ken Jeong) who was also a scene stealer in the first film. Here he gets more to do and a bigger part, and he completely delivers. I recommend The Hangover Part II if you are looking to laugh and be entertained, but not so much if you are looking for a unique and high quality movie experience. I give the film 6 Ninja Stars out of 10.

-Maximus

Opening this Weekend - 6/10/11

There are two movies that are coming out this weekend, one that looks like it could be good (Super 8) and one that looks lame if your over the age of 12 (Judy Moody and the Not Bummer Summer).  So let's take a closer look at what is being sacrificed to the movie gods this weekend.

Super 8
JJ Abrams gets behind the camera to produce a sci-fi movie which falls right into his forte.  The movie is set in 1979 and based around a bunch of kids who decide that over the summer they are going to make a zombie movie with a super 8 camera.  While out filming one night they witness a train derail and destroy itself right outside town.  After that event, weird things start happening around the small Ohio town that can't really be explained.  As the deputy starts trying to piece together what is happening around town, the kids decide to keep on filming.  The big questions is: Will they capture the paranormal events on film or will the movie just remain one big mystery without the audience getting to see who or what is causing all the ruckus around town?  I am fairly positive it is aliens that are let lose around town but from the trailer you can't tell what their true purpose will be, whether malicious or E.T. style where they just want to get home.  It looks very intriguing so I will be giving it 7 Ninja Stars out of 10 on the Viewability Scale.
Check out the trailer at:

http://www.super8-movie.com/#/video

Judy Moody and the Not Bummer Summer
This is a children's movie about a young girl who plans out her whole summer, full of adventures and hanging with her best friends, when she finds out her two best friends are leaving for the summer to do some awesome activities.  So now Judy's summer has turned into hanging out at home with a terrible little brother and an aunt she has never met.  I honestly don't even know why I am writing a preview for this because no one that would read this would be interested in this movie.  Where Pixar movies we can enjoy at all ages, this movie is geared straight towards a 5-12 year old viewer range.  So unless you have kids that fall into that range and they didn't want to see Kung Fu Panda 2 then I guess you could go see this movie.  I would give it 3 Ninja Stars out of 10 on the Viewability Scale.
Check out the trailer at:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UukpvGLVWVs

So the recap for the weekend:
Super 8 - 7 Ninja Stars
Judy Moody and the Not Bummer Summer - 3 Ninja Stars

Next week we will have Mr. Popper's Penguins and The Green Lantern to discuss.  If you go to any of the movies above, please comment in a way that doesn't ruin the movie for others.  But do comment because we would like to know others thoughts on the movies previewed and reviewed.

-Diomedes

Box Office Recap-June 6th, 2011

My predictions were actually correct this week, its not nearly as difficult when only one big movie opens per week. X-Men: First Class made $56 million in its first weekend to easily take the number one spot. While the number isn't as high as Thor debuted to a few weeks back, its not a bad number for a origin story without any huge stars. The movie did well critically so the numbers should hold up strong for X-Men. In second place was The Hangover Part II, which made another $32 million. The movie continues to dominate and will likely compete for the big box office of the summer title. It has made as much as Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides has and its been out a full week less. Kung Fu Panda 2 made another $24 million for third place. The aforementioned Pirates 4 came in 4th with $18 million, it looks to cross $200 million next week. In fifth place was Bridesmaids with another $12 million. The movie continues to hold up well and is now over the $100 million mark. The only other big box office news was that with another $3 million in 7th place, Fast Five crossed the $200 million mark.

Next week we get two new releases, Super 8 and Judy Moody and the Not Bummer Summer. Super 8 is very difficult to call in terms of box office, its not a sequel or a proven property, and with strong box office holdovers Hangover Part II and X-Men, will it do enough to end up in the number one spot? I predict it will be a very close battle for number one between X-Men and Super 8 with Super 8 edging X-Men out, after those two, Hangover Part II, Kung Fu Panda, and Pirates 4 will follow. Check back later this week for reviews of The Hangover Part II and X-Men: First Class.

-Maximus

Opening This Weekend - 6/3/11

So this weekend we only have one movie to review but that movie is huge!  My most anticipated movie of the summer opens today but can it redeem the franchise?  If you don't know the movie I'm talking about then you better change your plans for the weekend because X-Men: First Class is ready for viewing.

X-Men: First Class
This is the 4th X-Men movie to come to the big screen (though I don't even like to think about the third one that Brett Ratner ruined).  This one will take us back to the beginning where it all began, when two enemies were best friends and fought together in a common cause.  Those two would be Eric Lensherr or more commonly known as Magneto (Michael Fassbender) and Charles Xavier or his alias Professor X (James McAvoy).  They align to take on what looks to be the Cuban missile crisis from all the JFK speeches during the previews.  They lead other mutants in this same cause but along the way they find the line that eventually draws between them making them enemies.  The question they divide over is how best to incorporate mutants into this world?  Do you try to help humanity even though they shun you?  Or do you try to rule humanity because you have evolved into higher beings?  Make it to this movie and pick your side.  I think this movie looks awesome and could have the power to completely erase the movie we don't speak of (that 3rd debacle by Ratner).  Nothing else needs to be said.  I give this movie 10 Ninja Stars out of 10 on the Viewability Scale.  Will it stand up to this high standard?  You'll have to check back next week for our review of how it was.
Check out the trailer at:

http://www.x-menfirstclassmovie.com/

Next week we have to movies that are opening, those being Super 8 and Judy Moody & the Not Bummer Summer.  Also if you see X-Men: First Class please comment but in a way that you won't ruin the movie for others.

-Diomedes