The Watch

The Watch is a sci-fi comedy about a suburban "neighborhood watch" group that serves as a front for dads to get some male-bonding time away from their families. The group finds itself in over its head when it uncovers a plot to destroy the world.

This movie was pretty much garbage.  It's a damn shame to say that considering the collective comedic talent in there and the ads did look kind of good.  Unfortunately, most of the laughs were in the commercial and Ben Stiller's characters was so annoyingly straight laced that it didn't mesh well at all with Vince Vaughn (who was overly hyper than normal) and Jonah Hill (who was the only one that actually made me laugh) and most of the humor was lamely sophomoric. 

I wouldn't recommend anyone bothering to check this out.  This was a very disappointing summer comedy that wrapped up what has not been a good year for them at all.

Step Up: Revolution

Step Up Revolution is the next installment in the Step Up franchise, which sets the dancing against the vibrant backdrop of Miami. Emily, the daughter of a wealthy businessman, arrives in Miami with aspirations of becoming a professional dancer, but soon falls in love with Sean, a young man who leads a dance crew in elaborate, cutting-edge flash mobs. The crew, called the MOB, strives to win a contest for a major sponsorship opportunity, but soon Emily's father threatens to develop the MOB's historic neighborhood and displace thousands of people. Emily must band together with Sean and the MOB to turn their performance mobs into protest mobs, and risk losing their dreams to fight for a greater cause.

Let's face it.  Who gives a rat's ass about the stories in these movies?  You go to see the dance sequences.  Even Stinka said after the movie that "the dancing was cool but the rest was crap".  I was literally busy playing games on my phone any time it wasn't one of the choreographed scenes.  I will say that some of the scenes were actually pretty cool.  This Step Up franchise has literally morphed into a Mr. Cinco/Stinka tradition and this wasn't nearly as painful as the last one because I found the dances much more entertaining than the last one.

Would I recommend anyone checking this out?  Absolutely not if you haven't seen any of the others or if you didn't like the others.  If you did/do - then you will enjoy this one.  I thought it was better than entry three.

The Dark Knight Rises

It has been eight years since Batman vanished into the night, turning, in that instant, from hero to fugitive. Assuming the blame for the death of D.A. Harvey Dent, the Dark Knight sacrificed everything for what he and Commissioner Gordon both hoped was the greater good. For a time the lie worked, as criminal activity in Gotham City was crushed under the weight of the anti-crime Dent Act.  But everything will change with the arrival of a cunning cat burglar with a mysterious agenda. Far more dangerous, however, is the emergence of Bane, a masked terrorist whose ruthless plans for Gotham drive Bruce out of his self-imposed exile. But even if he dons the cape and cowl again, Batman may be no match for Bane.

Brace yourselves because this is going to be a long one.  Let me start by saying this is an amazing movie.  It fell in line exactly with where my expectations for it were.  I kept saying that this would be more of a sequel to Batman Begins than to The Dark Knight.  Heath Ledger's performace was a once in a lifetime type of thing and to think that they would be able to top that would be ridiculous.  That being said - Christopher Nolan (best director out there - sorry, Fincher) was so fair to everyone in this movie.  He was fair each actor that has been throughout all the trilogy.  Gary Oldman got his due.  Morgan Freeman got his due.  Michael Caine got his due.  And most importanly - Christian Bale got his due after pretty much just being a distant third fiddle to Ledger and Eckhardt in the last one.  Besides them, he worked in Catwoman very well and Anne Hathaway was great with the sleekness needed delivering her lines.  Tom Hardy is the man.  Love this guy and he was awesome as Bane.  And Joseph Gordon-Levitt was great as the new cop getting introduced.  Much more on him later.  As for the fans - he could not have done us more justice.  This movie trilogy wrapped up in the most phenomenal of ways.  I can't really go into it without giving too much away.  I will go over some stuff later but with spoiler warnings.  I am just so happy with how I felt walking out of the theater and didn't realize how much this telling of Batman really meant to me as a movie fan until that point. 

All of the awesomeness being addressed, there were some things that left a bit of a blah taste in my mouth.  The first 30-45 minutes of the movie seemed a little choppy and forced having to introduce Bane, Catwoman and the new cop guy.  Luckily, just when it was getting to the point where it could really take away from the movie - it smoothed out and because awesome from then on.

SPOILERS AHEAD!   SPOILERS AHEAD!  SPOILERS AHEAD!  Only read if you don't care with things being mentioned. 

Bane was so badass and was such an awesomely developed villain, yet he became completely inconsequential after the swerve of Thalia A'Gul being revealed and his demise was almost done in passing and for comic relief.  That bothered me alot.  I felt like the character deserved better than that.  As for the aforementioned swerve - I'm being generous when saying swerve because I saw that coming months ago when they announced the casting and saw it coming the whole movie.  That was very un-Nolanesque.  The only two other things that didn't sit well with me was A - the flying away with the neutron bomb (Did they have to drag it on the ground and bang it all over the place?  It's a bomb.  I feel as if something would have happened in the realm of blowing up prematurely by doing that?  It just looked kind of silly.) and B - a major editing snafu with the getaway from the Wall Street attack.  The chase started in total daylight and they went under some tunnel and it was total nightime when they came out?   Again - just kind of hit me as un-Nolanesque. 

Now on to my praise of the ending - STILL SPOILERS AHEAD!!!

Wow!  Christopher Nolan not only gave every character what they wanted to have a happy ending, but he gave Warner Brothers the biggest gift ever if they really want to try and do the Justice League thing.  I've been ranting with my friend about how they would never be able to pull it off because The Avengers was a work of advanced mastery in marketing and WB would basically just be throwing Justice League on the screen having to have a new Batman too soon and no advance hype whatsoever.  Then Nolan goes and has Joseph Gordon Levitt acknowledged as "Robin" and has the movie end with him going in to the batcave.  HOLY $HIT!!!   I felt the same way after seeing Sam Jackson at the end of Iron Man.  Now all they have to do is have JGL show up in the relaunched Superman next year and they already have the legwork for Justice League.  Please let the powers that be at WB not screw this up and run with the absolute gift that Nolan has given them. 

I feel as if I have written enough here.  You have probably guessed that I would recommend this movie by now.  It's easily one of the best trilogies of all time - probably behind only the original Star Wars and Lord Of The Rings for me.  I would say it's by second favorite of the trilogy behind The Dark Knight and I would say it is my second favorite movie of the year only to The Avengers for pulling all of that together. 

Magic Mike

Set in the world of male strippers, Magic Mike is directed by Steven Soderbergh and stars Channing Tatum (Dear John) in a story inspired by his real life. The film follows Mike (Tatum) as he takes a young dancer called The Kid (Pettyfer) under his wing and schools him in the fine arts of partying, picking up women, and making easy money.

I have to admit that this movie was pretty enjoyable for the first hour.  They were pretty much mocking the fact that they were strippers and they weren't taking it seriously and what not.  The stage antics were pretty funny and so were the backstage stuff.  McConaughey was absolutely hysterical.  I thought I was going to have to write a gushing review of a movie about male strippers.  And then about halfway through they decided to force a lame ass story turning McConaughey into the bad guy owner and have Tatum be all about chasing some girl while "The Kid" developed a drug problem.  Very disappointing because this had surprise enjoyment all over it.

I would only recommend people watching the first half of the movie when it is light and funny.  The second half of the movie was pretty much garbage.  Too bad.

Savages

Laguna Beach entrepreneurs Ben (Johnson), a peaceful and charitable Buddhist, and his closest friend Chon (Kitsch), a former Navy SEAL and ex-mercenary, run a lucrative, homegrown industry - raising some of the best marijuana ever developed. They also share a one-of-a-kind love with the extraordinary beauty Ophelia (Lively). Life is idyllic in their Southern California town...until the Mexican Baja Cartel decides to move in and demands that the trio partners with them.  When the merciless head of the BC, Elena (Hayek), and her brutal enforcer, Lado (Del Toro), underestimate the unbreakable bond among these three friends.  Ben and Chon - with the reluctant, slippery assistance of a dirty DEA agent (Travolta) - wage a seemingly unwinnable war against the cartel. And so begins a series of increasingly vicious ploys and maneuvers in a high stakes, savage battle of wills.

This was a pretty good story.  I liked the performances - especially Del Toro, Hayek and Kitsch.  I know that Kitsch was in John Carter and Battleship this year which both tanked, but I love the potential of this kid.  His badassness pretty much carried the movie anytime that it got a little blah.  That is actually the only knock I would make against it.  It could have been a little tighter.  If the 2 hours were maybe 1 hour 45 minutes, this movie would have been great.  Instead, it ended up being a good enough movie to watch but not something that I could really recommend.

Like I said - I would somewhat recommend people checking this out.  It's not a must see by any means or even a "great" movie.  It is a pretty good watch though and there is definitely worse stuff out there.

Madea's Witness Protection

For years, George Needleman (Levy), the gentle CFO of a Wall Street investment bank, has been living with his head in the clouds. His frustrated second wife, Kate (Richards), has reached her limit taking care of his senile mother, Barbara (Roberts). His teenage daughter, Cindy (Danielle Campbell), is spoiled beyond hope and his seven-year-old son, Howie (Devan Leos), wishes his father were around more. But George is finally forced to wake up when he learns that his firm, Lockwise Industries, has been operating a mob-backed Ponzi scheme and that he's been set up as the fall guy.  Facing criminal charges and death threats from the mob, George and his entire family are put under witness protection in the safest place that Brian (Perry), a federal prosecutor from Atlanta, can think of - his Aunt Madea's house down South.  As a result, Madea and her live-in brother, Uncle Joe (Perry), find themselves managing a completely dysfunctional family from Connecticut. But as George tries to solve the mystery behind Lockwise's finances, Madea whips the Needlemans into shape using her hilarious brand of tough love. And together, they realize they just might have what it takes to unite George's family, outsmart the mob and change everyone's lives for the better.

This was again just like every other Madea movie.  Actually - that's not fair to the other Madea movies.  This one was worse.  It was the same in that the only entertaining stuff was when Madea was actually on the screen.  It was worse in that the usually overly melodramatic main story tried to be funny with Eugene Levy being the patriarch of a family needing witness protection with the no talent whatsoever Denise Richards as his wife.  I can't believe that this crap actually made me miss the girl getting beaten and trying to beat her drug problem while losing her job waa waa that is usually carried by Madea popping in every once and a while.  Sadly - those appearances couldn't even make this one tolerable. 

I wouldn't recommend anyone bothering with this one.  It is sad to admit but I'm thinking that the Madea movies have pretty much run their course and they should probably just stop.

People Like Us

People Like Us is a drama/comedy about family, inspired by true events, starring Chris Pine (Star Trek) as Sam, a twenty-something, fast-talking salesman, whose latest deal collapses on the day he learns that his father has suddenly died. Against his wishes, Sam is called home, where he must put his father's estate in order and reconnect with his estranged family. In the course of fulfilling his father's last wishes, Sam uncovers a startling secret that turns his entire world upside down: He has a 30-year-old sister Frankie whom he never knew about (Elizabeth Banks). As their relationship develops, Sam is forced to rethink everything he thought he knew about this family--and re-examine his own life choices in the process.

This movie is the definition of just being there.  I didn't care one iota what was going on.  There was no hook to any of the characters.  The trailer pretty much summed up the movie from beginning to end.  So much so that I didn't even bother watching the last 15-20 minutes because I would rather get some errands done on my way to work. 

I wouldn't recommend anyone wasting their time with this.  Watch the commercial and base how you thought the movie was on that. 

Ted

Family Guy creator Seth MacFarlane brings his boundary-pushing brand of humor to the big screen for the first time as writer, director and voice star of Ted. In the live action/CG-animated comedy, he tells the story of John Bennett (Mark Wahlberg), a grown man who must deal with the cherished teddy bear who came to life as the result of a childhood wish... and has refused to leave his side ever since.

This is one of those movies that I wish I would have seen right out of the gate and not a week later.  I probably would have enjoyed it a lot more without all the hype and commentary about how funny it was and what not.  There were some laughs, but most of it was fifteen year old humor.  I did find myself laughing about the talking teddy bear throughout the movie but it was definitely like 30 minutes too long. 

I would somewhat recommend people checking this out.  There are good laughs but not nearly as much as all the hype suggests there are. 

Ice Age: Continental Drift

In Ice Age: Continental Drift, Scrat's nutty pursuit of the cursed acorn, which he's been after since the dawn of time, has world-changing consequences -- a continental cataclysm that triggers the greatest adventure of all for Manny, Diego and Sid. In the wake of these earth-shattering upheavals, Sid reunites with his long lost family, and the gang encounters a ragtag menagerie of colorful new characters determined to stop them from returning home.

I have to be honest and say that I have at no point really been a big fan of this franchise.  I usually love animated films, but I just never got in to these.  The first one was a decent watch.  The second one was a straight to video movie that was thrown on screens at a point when no other movies, especially family films were out there and it made a boatload of money.  The third one was okay.  And as for this one - it's more of the same.  There are some good laughs, but I never felt like they've hooked me with the characters enough to care.  I pretty much just watch it for the sake of saying that I did.

I would recommend that anyone who saw the others and liked them check this out.  You will definitely still like this one because it really is just more of the same stuff with some new characters thrown in. 

The Amazing Spider-Man

The Amazing Spider-Man is the story of Peter Parker (Garfield), an outcast high schooler who was abandoned by his parents as a boy, leaving him to be raised by his Uncle Ben (Sheen) and Aunt May (Field). Like most teenagers, Peter is trying to figure out who he is and how he got to be the person he is today. Peter is also finding his way with his first high school crush, Gwen Stacy (Stone), and together, they struggle with love, commitment, and secrets. As Peter discovers a mysterious briefcase that belonged to his father, he begins a quest to understand his parents' disappearance, leading him directly to Oscorp and the lab of Dr. Curt Connors (Ifans), his father's former partner. As Spider-Man is set on a collision course with Connors' alter-ego, The Lizard, Peter will make life-altering choices to use his powers and shape his destiny to become a hero.

I have to put it out there that the reboot of this franchise is way too soon.  When they rebooted Batman - more than enough time had gone by and they were doing it in a VERY different and darker way.  This reboot is coming out ten years after the original one with two sequels to the original one having been made in the last decade.  Granted, I thought Spider-Man 3 was very disappointing and would ultimately lead to them rebooting as opposed to just throwing Spider-Man 4 out there but not this soon.  And they only made minor tweaks to the story.   Just needed to state that for the record before going on about the movie.

The movie was awesome.  The cast was great.  Andrew Garfield was great for Spidey.  I liked him a million times more than Tobey Maguire.  And Emma Stone is just awesome.  She might be my favorite actress at this point.  She's just entertaining no matter what she does.  The effects were pretty cool and the story developed well.  Unfortunately, due to the closeness to the original Spider-Man I can't help but compare the two.  I feel that the development story and tightness of it was better with the original but the cast of this one was a thousand times better.  It's not that the story wasn't good in this one.  It just wasn't as good as the original. 

All of this ranting aside - I still absolutely loved this movie.  It's a great "alternate" telling/reboot even if it was too soon.  And in a year overly crowded by subpar movies or ones that are just there, this movie is easily second only to The Avengers in 2012 so far.