Harry Brown

Set in modern day Britain, Harry Brown follows one man's journey through a chaotic world where teenage violence runs rampant. As a modest, law abiding citizen, Brown lives alone. His only companion is his best friend Leonard. When Leonard is killed, Brown reaches his breaking point.

This was a surprisingly badass movie. The moral here is do not piss off old guys who have seen all sorts of stuff in their lifetimes and have nothing to lose. Michael Caine was very gritty and the certain scenes with the rising background score were intense. The only knock I can really make against it is that it takes place in England so there are certain political/procedural aspects that were definitely foreign and there were a couple of times where I had no clue what the punk ass kids were saying. Outside of that, it was a tense, short, enjoyable movie.

I would definitely recommend people checking this bad boy out. Not that it opened wide or anything, but you could definitely put this on your Netflix cue.

City Island

Set in a quaint fishing community on the outskirts of New York City, City Island is a hilarious and touching tale about a family whose comfortable co-existence is upended by surprising revelations of past secrets and present day lies. Vince Rizzo (Andy Garcia) is a lifelong resident of the tiny, tradition-steeped Bronx enclave of City Island. A family man who makes his living as a corrections officer, Vince longs to become an actor. Ashamed to admit his aspirations to his family, Vince would rather let his fiery wife Joyce (Julianna Margulies) believe his weekly poker games are a cover for an extramarital affair than admit he's secretly taking acting classes in Manhattan. When Vince is asked to reveal his biggest secret in class, he inadvertently sets off a chaotic chain of events that turns his mundane suburban life upside down. Inspired by the exercise, he decides to bring his long-lost ex-con son Tony (Steven Strait) home to meet the family, and it soon becomes clear that everyone—including his college student daughter (Dominik García-Lorido), teenaged son Vinnie, Jr. (Ezra Miller), charismatic acting partner (Emily Mortimer) and drama coach (Alan Arkin)— has something to hide. A perfect storm of deception, half truths and confusion makes Vince and his family members realize that the truth may not set them free, but it is easier to keep track of than all their well-intentioned white lies.

This was a very funny movie. You find yourself completely enthralled with the numerous levels of disfunction in this family. There really is no rhyme or reason to anything that happens, but you are hooked in to the ride watching it all play out. This is a movie a lot like Little Miss Sunshine or Sunshine Cleaning. I really enjoyed it, cared about the characters and had a lot of huge laughs watching it.

I would definitely recommend people checking this out. Its one of the better limited release movies to come along in a while.

The Losers

An explosive tale of double cross and revenge, The Losers centers upon the members of an elite U.S. Special Forces unit sent into the Bolivian jungle on a search and destroy mission. The team--Clay, Jensen, Roque, Pooch and Cougar--find themselves the target of a lethal betrayal instigated from inside by a powerful enemy known only as Max. Presumed dead, the group makes plans to even the score when they're joined by the mysterious Aisha, a beautiful operative with her own agenda. Working together, they must remain deep undercover while tracking the heavily-guarded Max, a ruthless man bent on embroiling the world in a new high-tech global war.

This movie was straight up bad ass fun. I cannot believe how much I enjoyed this movie. This was like an 80s action movie with the shootouts and the double crossing along with the constant witty banter. It was also tight and short in running time. Not to mention the working in of "Don't Stop Believing". If there was ever a song that can fit in to anything and make it better . . . that's the song! The characters were all entertaining, especially Chris Evans (although I still can't believe he was cast as Captain America . . . . . . although I was the same guy that couldn't believe Robert Downey Jr was cast as Iron Man and that worked out phenomenally) and Jason Patric as the incredibly overacted bad guy.

I strongly recommend people check out The Losers. It was straight up non-thinking fun . . . . . an old school popcorn movie.

The Back-Up Plan

After years of dating, Zoe (Jennifer Lopez) has decided waiting for the right one is taking too long. Determined to become a mother, she commits to a plan, makes an appointment and decides to go it alone. On the day of her artificial insemination, Zoe meets Stan (Alex O'Loughlin) – a man with real possibilities. Trying to nurture a budding relationship and hide the early signs of pregnancy becomes a comedy of errors for Zoe and creates confusing signals for Stan. When Zoe nervously reveals the reason for her unpredictable behavior, Stan commits fully and says he's in. Never before has love seen a courtship where a wild night of sex involves three in a bed – Stan, Zoe and the ever-present massive pregnancy pillow. Or, where "date night" consists of being the "focal point" at a near-stranger's water birth which does for kiddie pools what "Jaws" did for swimming in the ocean. The real pregnancy test comes when both of them realize they really don't know each other outside of hormonal chaos and birth preparations. With the nine month clock ticking, both begin to experience cold feet. Anyone can fall in love, get married and have a baby but doing it backwards in hyper-drive could be proof positive that they were made for each other.

This is as formula as "date" movies can be. There isn't a single scene that happens that you don't know or feel as if you have seen already. The trick to date movies is that even if you follow the iron clad formula, you'll be okay as long as you are interested in the characters or the relationship. Not the case with this turd whatsoever. No chemistry. No interest. Nothing. Its just a blatant waste of time.

I wouldn't recommend that anyone bother seeing this. There is the one funny pool birthing scene. Outside of that - there was nothing that remotely brought a smile to my face.

Oceans

Disneynature, the studio that presented Earth, brings Oceans to the big screen on Earth Day, 2010. Nearly three-quarters of the Earth's surface is covered by water and Oceans boldly chronicles the mysteries that lie beneath. Directors Jacques Perrin and Jacques Cluzaud dive deep into the very waters that sustain all of mankind—exploring the playful splendor and the harsh reality of the weird and wonderful creatures that live within.

Two things at play here. A - Not much of a fan of "nature" documentaries. Tend to put me to sleep. This one held true to form. B - I am petrified of underwater life. I'm not afraid to admit it. I am afraid of birds and underwater animals. Therefore, there is no way for this movie to have been considered good by me. I was creeped out at first and then bored to sleep. It also wasn't like Earth where it followed three families of animals. It was more sporadic and just kind of random. Not a fan.

Again - I'm biased against this movie on many levels so I'm probably not the one you should be going with recommendations from.

Kick-Ass

When Dave Lizewski – ordinary New York teenager and rabid comic-book geek dons a green-and-yellow internet-bought wetsuit to become the no-nonsense vigilante, Kick-Ass, he soon finds an answer to his own question of why doesn't anyone try to become a superhero: because it hurts. But, overcoming all the odds, the eager yet inexperienced Dave quickly becomes a phenomenon, capturing the imagination of the public. However, he's not the only superhero out there – the fearless and highly-trained father-daughter crime-fighting duo, Big Daddy and Hit Girl have been slowly but surely taking down the criminal empire of local Mafioso, Frank D'Amico. And, as Kick-Ass gets drawn into their no-holds-barred world of bullets and bloodletting with Frank and his son, Chris, aka Red Mist.

Loved this movie!!! I can't believe how much I loved this movie! Even though it was so morally reprehensible on so many levels, I loved this movie! The story was well written and developed. The script was tight, sarcastic when necessary and realistic when necessary. The characters all got the proper build up. They laid groundwork for a sequel. The action was awesome. This was an incredibly well done comic book movie. As for the morally wrong stuff . . . . . Should a child the age of Hit Girl be saying some of those lines? Dear God No! Should a grown man be beating the crap out of a little kid like that? Dear God No! Should we be promoting disillusioned teenagers to buy scuba suits and fight crime? Dear God No! Were there a lot of unecessary scenes thoughout the movie just for the die hard fanboys to get off on? Dear God Yes! But they are the ones that made this movie possible in the first place, so go ahead and honor them. Sure it got them a R rating and cost the studio millions of dollars, but they chose to honor the fan boys. I get that. I accept that. That's what made my brain work past the morally wrongness of this movie at times and enjoy the awesome comic book/popcorn movie ride that it was.

I strongly recommend that everyone check this movie out. Again - it is crazy violent at times and has many "not okay" parts to it, but it is one hell of an enjoyable ride if you can work past all that.

The Joneses

Demi Moore and David Duchovny star as a seemingly perfect couple who, along with their equally perfect teenagers -- Amber Heard and Ben Hollingsworth -- move into an upscale gated community. The Joneses have better goods and game than any other family in town. The only problem is they're not a family -they are employees of a stealth marketing organization, and they know how to make everyone else want what they've got.

This movie started out great. It has a good premise and I was totally buying in to it . . . . no pun intended. I could honestly see this happening. Unfortunately, there wasn't really anywhere for this to go about half way through the movie and it started treading water for a while. The movie wrapped up in a pretty predictable way which made the treading water part that much stupider. Just shorten the movie and you are good to go. Sadly they didn't.

I'd lukewarmly recommend people checking this movie out. Its not a horrible watch but it could have been a much better movie based on a pretty clever premise.

Death At A Funeral

Death at a Funeral is a hilarious day in the life of an American family come together to put a beloved husband and father to rest. As mourners gather at the family home, shocking revelations, festering resentments, ugly threats, blackmail and a misdirected corpse unleash lethal and riotous mayhem.

This movie was downright absurd with all the characters and silly storylines. However, I thought it was hysterical. James Marsden absolutely stole the show as the accidentally high boyfriend of the dearly departed's niece. I couldn't stop laughing every time he was on screen. Its one of those roles where I have no idea how they were able to catch it on film without all the actors losing it completely. Tracy Morgan also carried his weight and played off of the cranky Danny Glover really well. Surprisingly, neither Chris Rock or Martin Lawrence brought much to the movie though. They were hilarious when playing second fiddle to Morgan or Marsden but didn't provide too many laughs by themselves. The fact that the movie was super short also helped because it prevented a lot of the storylines from getting too dragged out.

I would recommend people checking this out if they are looking for a laugh. Its not the funniest thing you'll ever see, but its short, tight and has enough laughs in it.

Date Night

Steve Carell (The Office) and Tina Fey (30 Rock) star in an adventure that turns a run-of-the-mill married couple's date upside down - way upside down, in Date Night.

This movie is exactly what you expect. Its formula in every way. Its chock full of the most cliche characters. Its story couldn't be more simple if it tried. However, I was still able to enjoy it simply because I love Steve Carell and Tina Fey. Their comedic talents were able to provide enough laughs to make this movie slightly better than average. The incredibly short running time also helped.

I wouldn't outright recommend that everyone run to see this. Its nowhere near that funny and to be honest I went in to the movie with really low expectations so I'm sure that helped too. That being said, its not a total waste of your time because it is super short and there are much worse things you could choose to watch.

Why Did I Get Married Too?

Gathered together in the Bahamas for their annual one-week reunion, four close couples eagerly reconnect, sharing news about their lives and relationships. But their intimate week in paradise is disrupted by the unexpected arrival of Sheila's ex-husband, Mike, who hopes to break up her new marriage with Troy and win her back. The others soon realize they too are not immune to the challenges of commitment and fidelity. Angela doesn't believe her husband, Marcus, can be faithful now that he's a celebrity television newscaster. Dianne and Terry's relationship is feeling the strain of raising children. And Patricia, a successful self-help psychologist, must finally reveal the deep flaws in her seemingly perfect marriage to Gavin. With their relationships hanging in the balance when they return home, each couple must choose between blame and forgiveness, doubt and faith, with life-altering consequences...

Is this actually going to be a franchise? That's happening? So on the same terms of Harry Potter, Batman, Iron Man, etc we will have the Why Did I Get Married franchise? Wow. That being said, this is a somewhat watchable movie. It is utterly pointless overall just like the first one. However, just like in the original, Tyler Perry is really good at capturing the realism of different relationships. There are also some really big laughs and some really crazy argument/fighting scenes between the couples. To review the pointlessness - even though this is the second film in the franchise . . . . still can't get over this . . . . . and I only saw the movie a couple of hours ago - I don't remember a single characters name. But to review the watchableness - I'm still laughing over the ashes on the beach scene.

I wouldn't outright recommend this movie. If you are a big Tyler Perry fan I'm sure that you've already seen it. If you aren't, I'm sure that you never will. It is definitely watchable though, but not truly worth your time.

Clash Of The Titans

In Clash of the Titans, the ultimate struggle for power pits men against kings and kings against gods. But the war between the gods themselves could destroy the world. Born of a god but raised as a man, Perseus (Sam Worthington) is helpless to save his family from Hades (Ralph Fiennes), vengeful god of the underworld. With nothing left to lose, Perseus volunteers to lead a dangerous mission to defeat Hades before he can seize power from Zeus (Liam Neeson) and unleash hell on earth. Leading a daring band of warriors, Perseus sets off on a perilous journey deep into forbidden worlds. Battling unholy demons and fearsome beasts, he will only survive if he can accept his power as a god, defy his fate and create his own destiny.

This movie is a decent watch as long as you keep your expectations in check. Its a good heavy with the special effects action movie. It reminded me a lot of The Mummy and The Mummy Returns. There are much worse things that you can do with two hours of your life than watch Sam Worthington follow Arnold Schwartzenegger's career path. Terminator . . . check. High profile/big budget movie with James Cameron . . . . . check. Run around in the sand and fight crazy stuff like Conan . . . . check. Kind of surprised he wasn't in the upcoming Predator reboot at this point. Anywho, I digress. Although the movie was definitely watchable, it could have been much better. I hate in movies when they spend so much time building up characters and then they are just gone. So much effort was put in to the build up of the other guys traveling with Perseus. He actually had this whole dramatic speech before they went after Medusa. And then, SPOILER HERE, PEOPLE . . . . . they all got knocked off over the course of 45 seconds maybe. I wasn't even sure which dude it was getting killed. Movie could have been an hour and half without building up this eventually random guys. Also on the "could have been better kick", this movie is by far and away the biggest ripoff "3D" movie to date. If they would have made the movie in 3D from the start - it could have been great. However, making it and then turning it 3D after the fact is just insulting and an excuse to charge more money. I watched half the movie without the glasses on and NOTHING was blurry. About the only 3D effect I'll ever remember from this movie is my stepson having a ridiculous leg cramp that made him have to suddenly stand up in the middle of the movie for about 5 minutes. Did I mention that he is a giant? His mother, my friend and I were cracking up. Luckily, the rest of the audience probably thought it was part of the movie . . . . IN 3D! Okay - I've ranted enough. OH WAIT! No I didn't. Question to add to the never going to be answered list . . . . . . . why the f#ck was Zeus so damn shiny!?! Every time he was on the screen it was the most annoying flashlight in your face type effect. WHY!?! Okay - now I have ranted enough.

Even with all the waa-waa I just typed there, I'd still recommend any action/special effects fans checking this out. The movie is very flawed at points (and an absolute sham in 3D) but still watchable anyway.