Macgruber

Ok this one will be a real, real short one because I can't say anything nice about it. This movie was incredibly disappointing. This begs the question 'Why'?

Macgruber comes from the popular SNL 90 second skit with the same title. I was hoping that this movie's humor would follow the same type of humor as Hot Rod, but this movie was just disappointing, stupid, and really not worth my time. Will Forte, Kristen Wiig, and others just really don't deliver anything new or funny at all. I was just hoping for something cool and refreshing, but it all sucked. I can't even tell you what it's about, it's just not worth the time to explain it. Do not see this, no matter how bad you love SNL. I really love SNL, and this was just nothing up to par.


Rating: 1.5 out of 4 stars

Just Wright

So I didn't exactly have high hopes for this one either. I didn't expect a whole lot from a movie whose male lead is Common. But I read and watched plenty of reviews for this movie, and although the reviews were mixed, there was a consensus opinion that this movie had some feel to it. The critics had said that the characters were believable and the story was also believable.


Let's stop there. The story is about a physical therapist played by Queen Latifah who is and has been a die hard basketball fan her whole life. She has especially been a fan of her hometown New Jersey Nets. These Nets are lead by star player Scott McKnight. Don't ask me where he came from, but he ranks above the likes of Dwight Howard, Dwyane Wade, and Bucks' reject Bobby Simmons. He is all that is basketball, apparently. After a Nets game at a local gas station, Latifah is filling up her run-down car when who else shows up but McKnight. McKnight has a little bit of car trouble (can't find his gas tank) and Latifah offers her services. Apparently one act of kindness and lots of enthusiasm got her invited to McKnight's party. The two begin to develop a friendship, but Latifah's cousin played by the gorgeous Paula Patton ends up dating McKnight. It's All-Star Weekend and every big star is on display. Towards the end of the game, McKnight cuts towards the lane, bumps into his fellow competitor, and somehow manages to tear his PCL. You would never guess who ends up being able to take care of McKnight. It's not the teams' liscenced physician; nope, it's Latifah's character. Then the typical rom-com plot kicks in for a bit as the two start to develop a really good friendship, but before I spoil something, I will stop the summary there.


Ok, my biggest problem with the whole 'believability' factor in this movie is if you want it to be so realisitic, why don't you pick somebody that can act? I'm sorry, but Common would not be my first choice for a leading male actor. I just could never actually believe that this was a believable story. This movie wasn't horrible, but it had some major flaws. I'd say rent it for the NBA cameos and because it'd make a reasonable date movie.



Rating: 2 out of 4 stars

The Messenger

When I saw that this movie had come out on DVD, I was really excited because I liked both the main actors in Woody Harrelson and Ben Foster, and also the movie itself looked really good. It got one or two oscar nominations, one for best screenplay. Nonetheless, this movie tries to tackle and delve into the lives if CNOs. These are casualty notification officers in the U.S. Army. At the risk of leaving anyone else in the dark, Casualty Notification Officers bascially are the soldiers who go around their parts of town and deliver the bad news about the death of a loved one to their next of kin. As you can probably figure out, it's not exactly an easy subject to make a movie about or even watch. This movie basically shifts from one notification to another, and I really was brought in by the different reactions that the loved ones had. The filmmakers really did a good job in showing all these different emotions. Also there were some very, VERY good performances given by Harrelson and Foster. I know that Harrelson got nominated for an Oscar for Best Supporting Actor, but in watching this I was surprised that Foster didn't recieve more accalades.


There is a problem with this movie however. It may not even be a flaw, it's just something that I did not like. This movie was kind of boring. It was very good at parts, but when it let its guard down, it was really boring. I also wasn't exactly paying full attention during the whole movie, so I guess I'll have to watch the movie again. I'll give it the benefit of the doubt, but for now, there is much room for improvement.

Rating: 2.5 out of 4 stars

Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time

So I really have no idea why I felt the need to go and see this movie. It was produced by Jerry Bruckheimer, who usually doesn't have a whole lot of depth or sensible entertainment in his movies. The trailers did not look all that entertaining to me, but I went to go see it anyway.


Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time is about a young boy named Dastan, who lives in the slums of Persia. During a confrontation with Persian hierarchy, the King at the timue admires Dastan's bravery and decides to adopt him, making him a Prince of Persia. The first ambush we see of theirs is of a city named Alamut. Dastan (Jake Gyllenhaal) disobeys orders but ends up succeeding in the ambush and ends up getting a hold of the special dagger. This dagger has the ability to turn back time, because of the sand it contains in its handle. Unfortunately for Dastan, the beautiful princess of Alamut is also supposed to guard that with her life. So their little journey begins across the land.

It's hard for me to describe the movie because I hated it so much. I was really just anxious to get out at so many different junctures of the movie. It's just dumb. You can argue that you can zone-out and just enjoy the movie for the action, but there is nothing to enjoy. It's so pointless. I don't know why studios give out money for movies like this to be made. It's annoying. It's a waste of money, don't see it.


Rating: 1 out of 4 stars.

Robin Hood

I was reading Roger Ebert's review of this movie before I went to the 9:55 opening night showing of it, and the one thing that I took from it was that it was kind of frightening to realize that Hollywood today is taking these once innocent movies or shows and turning them into something completely different. The only example I can think of off the top of the dome right now is Harry Potter. That's not as bad but it is starting to get more and more ominous in it's appearance (Harry Potter, that is). That gave me mixed feelings heading into this, but we'll get to my opinion later.

In Ridley Scott's rendition of 'Robin Hood', we actually go way back to the very beginning, before we knew anything about Sir Robin Longstride. He is merely just an archer in King Richard the Lionheart's army. Unfortunately, the king gets killed in battle. On the way to deliver the king's crown, the man in charge of the mission also gets killed. They're not having such good luck at the moment. Robin then takes it upon himself to bring back the crown. So him and his men set off and do indeed deliver said crown. This makes the fallen king's son, John, king. One of the kings' men, Godfrey, ends up betraying King John and making his own army. Somehow it all falls on Robin to keep things safe, once their home is attacked by Godfrey's army. There ends up being a lot of fighting, a lot of scottish sounding accents, and as many beards and olde english dialogue to make you're wildest dreams come true.

It is hard for me to describe this movie without rambling on forever, so forgive me for sounding vague. I do have problems with this movie. First of all, it was really long at 140 minutes. I can only take so much Russell Crowe in one sitting. The other problems I had was that it was really confusing in the first chunk of the movie, which then led me to lose interest in the movie. There is plenty of action, and that was a bonus, but when it was all said and done, I did not enjoy my time watching this. I was hoping for something more, but it fell short. A must see though if you like action.


Rating: 2 out of 4 stars

Kick-Ass

This will be a short review because, frankly, I don't have time to tinker around and write reviews. Kick-Ass, in short is about a nerdy little fella who is curious as to why nobody ever just becomes a superhero for fun. It's all for the greater good, right? His first heroic act is sticking up for a stranger, which consequently makes him a YouTube sensation. His friends and love interest are all obsessed with this masked hero, but 'Kick-Ass' can not reveal himself yet. Of course he runs into loads of trouble and he ends up having to really be a superhero.

This movie is not bad. You really do you have to take it for what it is. The 'third act', if you will, is actually really action packed and it truly did have me on the edge of my seat. I can almost guarantee that you will feel super badass while watching this, because that's just what this movie is. For lack of a better word, it's pretty kick-ass. Sorry for the short review, but it's all I have time for.

Rating: 3 out of 4 stars

BROTHERS

This surely is a late review, but I need to do this. This is a movie that had the potential of being great, but at the same time had the potential to suck. Luckily, it didn't suck. It was very good. We'll get to this in a bit though.

'Brothers' is the next movie in a long line of war flicks. Although it's nowhere near as good as the recent war film 'The Hurt Locker', both movies do the same thing. They both put the viewer in tense, practical situations. 'The Hurt Locker', hypothetically, physically puts you in the day-to-day life of a bomb defusing soldier. 'Brothers' poses the 'what would you do..' or 'how would you react..' type situations. The three main characters (Tobey Maguire, Jake Gyllenhal, Natalie Portman) all do a great job of embodying these situational emotions. I can't tell you what those situations are, as to avoid spoiler alerts galore, but you'll know what I'm talking about when you see it.

Wait. Rewind. You may not know what this movie is about. My bad.

'Brothers' is about a family with ties in the war. Sam Cahill (Maguire) ships off to war and leaves his wife (Portman), kids, parents, and slumping brother (Gyllenhal) behind. Once the family learns that sam was 'killed', Gyllenhal steps in to ease the grieving. But Sam isn't really dead we come to learn. He's been captured. He eventually returns home, but nothing is the same. He can't relax or take a joke, and now he has suspicions that Gyllenhal's character slept with his wife. This obviously draws a huge division amongst the family, and eventually tempers come to a boil as things reach their ultimate level of secrecy.

This movie kind of ends on a flat note for me, but for most of the movie I was very much into everything that was going on, because of the emotions that this movie drew out of me. The frontline acting was very good and it really made me believe that this may actually happen in some homes across the world. The acting enough is worth seeing, but the story has more to it then you may expect. Go see it if you haven't already

Rating: 3 out of 4 stars