Step Brothers

Will Ferrell and John C. Reilly star in Step Brothers. Ferrell plays Brennan Huff, a sporadically employed thirty-nine-year-old who lives with his mother, Nancy (Mary Steenburgen). Reilly plays Dale Doback, a terminally unemployed forty-year-old who lives with his father, Robert (Richard Jenkins). When Robert and Nancy marry and move in together, Brennan and Dale are forced to live with each other as step brothers. As their narcissism and downright aggressive laziness threaten to tear the family apart, these two middle-aged, immature, overgrown boys will orchestrate an insane, elaborate plan to bring their parents back together. To pull it off, they must form an unlikely bond that maybe, just maybe, will finally get them out of the house.


Will Ferrell and John C. Reilly have to be considered one of the funniest on screen duos ever. They play so well off of each other and I would give anything to see blooper reels of these two cracking mid scene. The two of them playing big kids who still live at home was so picture perfect. The way that they would go back and forth between hating each other and then being best friends just like typical 10 year olds was hysterical. The only knock I'll make against this movie is that some of the funniest lines were delivered after huge laughs and you end up missing most of them. Even when the movie seems to go down that unavoidable dramatic downward spiral - they still manage to rebound and make you laugh your ass off.

I fully recommend everyone checking this out. Its not for kids at all though. There are some really awkward moments and at the risk of spoiling it for people - you need to be warned that you see Will Ferrel's testicles. Seriously. You've been warned.

The X-Files: I Want To Believe

The X-Files: I Want to Believe is a stand-alone story in the tradition of some of the show's most acclaimed and beloved episodes, and takes the complicated relationship between Fox Mulder (Duchovny) and Dana Scully (Anderson) in unexpected directions. Mulder continues his unshakable quest for the truth, and Scully, the passionate, ferociously intelligent physician, remains inextricably tied to Mulder's pursuits.

This movie should have been called The X-Files: I Just Want You To Waste Your Money. This was horrible. It would have even been a really lame two part episode back when the show was on. There wasn't even anything alien related!?! The movie was about Russian organ harvesters. It was like I was watching an episode of Criminal Minds but it was labeled X-Files and they threw Mulder and Scully in there. Why in the blue hell they would randomly make this movie with no sort of a big payoff whatsoever years later is completely beyond me. I could see the die hard fanboys getting violent and attacking the screen after seeing this because of how downright insulting it was.

I wouldn't recommend this movie to anyone. Ever. Not fans of the show. Not even people who enjoy those FBI type movies because you'll still be annoyed with the whiny, repeated banter between Mulder and Scully.

Mamma Mia!

An independent, single mother who owns a small hotel on an idyllic Greek island, Donna (Streep) is about to let go of Sophie (Amanda Seyfried), the spirited daughter she's raised alone. For Sophie's wedding, Donna has invited her two lifelong best girlfriends--practical and no-nonsense Rosie (Julie Walters) and wealthy, multi-divorcee Tanya (Christine Baranski)--from her one-time backing band, Donna and the Dynamos. But Sophie has secretly invited three guests of her own. On a quest to find the identity of her father to walk her down the aisle, she brings back three men from Donna's past to the Mediterranean paradise they visited 20 years earlier. Over 24 chaotic, magical hours, new love will bloom and old romances will be rekindled on this lush island full of possibilities. Inspired by the storytelling magic of ABBA's songs from "Dancing Queen" and "S.O.S." to "Money, Money, Money" and "Take a Chance on Me," Mamma Mia! is a celebration of mothers and daughters, old friends and new family found.

This movie was just plain annoying. I have no problem with ABBA's songs or musicals whatsoever. However, this movie just seemed so forced that it was annoying. They would just shoot in to the singing parts randomly and they were absurdly over the top. The whole thing with musicals is that you should be so into the story that you don't even care that the actors are now singing. I found myself rolling my eyes every time that they would burst in to song thinking here we go again. As for the full story being told through the songs of ABBA - again it all felt forced. When Across The Universe did this with the Beattles music, it was completely fluid and the progression of the movie benefitted royally from it. In this movie, the polar opposite happened. It seemed like they were trying to work the script around what song they wanted them to sing. To summarize again with one word . . . . . . annoying.

I really didn't like this movie, but can't really recommend whether or not to see this because I'm sure that this will be one of those 50/50 movies where half the people hate it like I did while the other half think it is the best thing since sliced bread. Hence, view at your own risk but don't say I didn't warn you.

Space Chimps

Space Chimps is an intergalactic comedy that highlights the antics of astronaut chimps with the "wrong stuff." Ham III (Samberg), the slacker grandson of the first chimp blasted into space before manned spaceflight, joins two other astronaut chimps for a dangerous mission through a black hole to an inhabited planet. When they're stranded there, the chimps must help the inhabitants rid themselves of a tyrannical leader, and then figure out how to get back to Earth.

This was a watchable kids movie. The parts with the monkeys were actually really funny. Unfortunately, every time that they switched over to what was going on with the aliens, I felt like I was watching a Saturday morning kids cartoon. Basically - thats all this movie was. There was no reason for it to be made for the big screen. It wasn't bad by any means - it just was not an animated movie worthy of this kind of marketing.

I wouldn't recommend anyone rush to check this out in theaters. Wait for it to be watched at home where it much more digestible.

The Dark Knight

The Dark Knight reunites director Christopher Nolan with star Christian Bale, who returns to continue Batman's war on crime. With the help of Lieutenant Jim Gordon (Gary Oldman) and District Attorney Harvey Dent (Aaron Eckhart), Batman sets out to destroy organized crime in Gotham for good. The triumvirate proves to be effective, but they soon find themselves prey to a rising criminal mastermind known as the Joker (Heath Ledger), who thrusts Gotham into anarchy and forces the Dark Knight ever closer to crossing the fine line between hero and vigilante.

Wow! Seriously. Wow! This movie pretty much surpassed the original Batman movie as my favorite comic book movie of all time. Never did I think anyone would be able to top Jack Nicholson as a comic book villain, but Heath Ledger made him actually seem tame. His performance as The Joker was the best bad guy performance since Anthony Hopkins as Hannibal Lecter in Silence Of The Lambs. I can't remember the last time that I so thoroughly enjoyed a performance like this. The rest of the cast was also phenomenal (even though Aaron Eckhart started out a little too over the top and then settled in excellently). Chris Nolan's development of multi-tiered levels of suspense over and over again throughout the movie was amazing and even though the movie was long at 2 and 1/2 hours - I would have gladly kept watching. This will probably be the hands down best movie of the year and is a must see by all.

I recommend that everyone see this amazingly done movie. Be warned that it really isn't for kids though. Its very violent and has a really in depth dealing with the mob storyline that will be way over most of their heads.

Journey To The Center Of The Earth 3D

During a scientific expedition in Iceland, visionary scientist Trevor Anderson (Brendan Fraser), his nephew Sean (Josh Hutcherson) and their beautiful local guide, Hannah (Anita Briem), are unexpectedly trapped in a cave from which their only escape is to go deeper and deeper into the depths of the Earth. Traveling through never-before-seen worlds, the trio comes face-to-face with surreal and unimaginable creatures--including man-eating plants, giant flying piranha, glow birds and terrifying dinosaurs from days past. The explorers soon realize that as volcanic activity increases around them, they must find a way back to the earth's surface before it is too late.

This movie was beyond campy. At no point did you not completely know what was going to happen. Brendan Fraser did his usual overacting. However, the movie was still quite enjoyable. It was an old school adventure ride. The 3D effects definitely helped a lot. There were lots of moments where the effects were like the ones you would see at a Disney World or Universal Studios 3D ride. I think this movie could still be enjoyable without the effects though. There are some really jump out of your seat parts because of the 3D but ultimately, this is a great family film.

I'd recommend everyone checking this out. I have always been a big fan of 3D movies and this movie is one of the great examples of why.

Meet Dave

Dave Ming Chang (Eddie Murphy), newly arrived in New York City, may be the ultimate fish out of water. There's something about him that's not quite right – for starters, he seems remarkably out of place and uncomfortable in his own body. And for good reason. Dave is not a man at all, but a ship made in the image of its miniature-sized captain.

Although I found myself laughing a lot at some of the earlier scenes in this movie - this is definitely one of the dumbest movies ever made. We're talking Howard The Duck, Leonard Part 6 and The Adventures Of Pluto Nash type dumb, people! I can't even begin to understand how this movie was ever made in the first place. Did Eddie Murphy really look at the script and say "So I'll be the captain of a space ship that will also be me and I get to poop out money at one point too? Where do I sign?" Seriously? Its just ludicrous to think of the millions of dollars spent on something this ridiculous. Again - I definitely laughed at a bunch of scenes in this movie, but I laughed at scenes in the aforementioned historically dumb movies too. That doesn't mean that the movies are not eternally enshrined as Hollywood's biggest jokes.

I wouldn't recommend anyone ever seeing this. Actually, that's wrong. I do recommend that everyone see this at some point. I wouldn't go running to the theater to waste my time and money, but this is one of those movies that is so bad - everyone should check it out just to get that jaw on the floor at how dumb this movie is feeling.

Hellboy II: The Golden Army

After an ancient truce existing between humankind and the invisible realm of the fantastic is broken, hell on Earth is ready to erupt. A ruthless leader who treads the world above and the one below defies his bloodline and awakens an unstoppable army of creatures. Now, it's up to the planet's toughest, roughest superhero to battle the merciless dictator and his marauders. He may be red. He may be horned. He may be misunderstood. But when you need the job done right, it's time to call in Hellboy (Ron Perlman). Along with his expanding team in the Bureau for Paranormal Research and Development--pyrokinetic girlfriend Liz (Selma Blair), aquatic empath Abe (Doug Jones) and protoplasmic mystic Johann--the BPRD will travel between the surface strata and the unseen magical one, where creatures of fantasy become corporeal. And Hellboy, a creature of two worlds who's accepted by neither, must choose between the life he knows and an unknown destiny that beckons him.

Holy disappointment, Hellboy! I was a huge fan of the first movie. I remember seeing the trailer and thinking that it looked stupid but I ended up really enjoying the movie. The trailer for this one made it look awesome and I was actually pretty excited to see it. Unfortunately, I was totally let down. They changed the whole way that the story was portrayed. In the first one - it was this top secret thing and most of the humor came from Hellboy's complaining or sarcasm. This one was for lack of a better word schlocky. I get that its a comic book adaptation but at least the first one took the story seriously. I almost felt like they were making a joke out of all these different monsters. The score had a doofy tone to it throughout the movie and that definitely didn't help at all. Abe, the fish guy, was this brilliant freak in the first movie but was reduced to being more of a goofy nerd in this one. I really don't understand why they would do all these things since the first one was really good and the villain in this one was even better than in the first one. This will probably end up being the biggest disappointment of the year for me.

I wouldn't recommend anyone checking this one out. Even though the trailer looked awesome, the director's lack of taking the material seriously totally ruins the awesome visuals that you've come to expect from Guillermo Del Toro.

Hancock

There are heroes... there are superheroes... and then there's Hancock (Will Smith). With great power comes great responsibility – everyone knows that – everyone, that is, but Hancock. Edgy, conflicted, sarcastic, and misunderstood, Hancock's well-intentioned heroics might get the job done and save countless lives, but always seem to leave jaw-dropping damage in their wake. The public has finally had enough – as grateful as they are to have their local hero, the good citizens of Los Angeles are wondering what they ever did to deserve this guy. Hancock isn't the kind of man who cares what other people think – until the day that he saves the life of PR executive Ray Embrey (Jason Bateman), and the sardonic superhero begins to realize that he may have a vulnerable side after all. Facing that will be Hancock's greatest challenge yet – and a task that may prove impossible as Ray's wife, Mary (Charlize Theron), insists that he's a lost cause.

I didn't really have high expectations for this movie. I figured that it would be a visually entertaining summer popcorn movie with Will Smith who I haven't ever found to be disappointing. Turns out that is exactly what I got. This wasn't a great movie by any means. It was simple entertainment. The movie simply started with the preview I guess being the prerequisite storyline information. I found that kind of weird, but was totally able to accept it because I was getting quite a kick out of Will Smith playing a prick. Watching him curse and be confrontational towards people had me cracking up. Then, there was a major plot twist in the middle of the movie that I thought was going to send it in to a massive downward spiral, but they were even able to rebound pretty well from that by giving you the actual background of Hancock that I was hungry for at the beginning of the movie. I could totally see how someone would hate this movie if they had sky high expectations for it though.

I would recommend people checking this movie out. Just keep your hopes in check so you won't up getting disappointed.