It's Complicated

Yes it is a chick movie through and through; and yes I saw it any way; yes it is hilarious and I loved it. Alex Baldwin, Meryl Streep and Steve Martin are as great and funny as you would expect but the stand out scene stealer is John Krasinski as Harley. Harley discovers that Jake and Jane are hooking up for a booty call at the same hotel he and Lauren are having lunch and the hilarity that ensues is great to watch. The dialogue is witty and sharp and Nancy Meyers' comedic direction is flawless. A perfect date night movie that is funny, engaging, and well worth seeing.

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Fear Itself

I picked up this series from my local Best Buy to add to my DVD horror collection because it really was the third season of the great cable series, Masters of Horror. With the move from premium cable to network TV, Mick Garris' original series of one hour mini-horror films got a tamer opening credits sequence and brought in a difference set of director's to try their hand at horror with a few of the legends still participating even though the network TV curbed alot of the visuals and subject matter. The stand out episodes are Family Man directed by Ronnie Yu, Eater by Stuart Gordon, and The Spirit Box by Rob Schmidt with Family Man being the best story of the anthology. It seems that the move to network TV has killed the series which is truly a same but was to be expected. If you have not seen this show and want to see a few of your favorite director tackle the TV medium for horror, this is definitely worth putting in your Netflix queue.

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Transylmania

David and Scott Hillenbrand bring us a teenage horror comedy with the latest movie craze of vampires. The film is weak as a comedy with mostly no name actors and lacks any form of horror that I could see. The only decent effects scene was when the college stoners tried to sew the female body back together before getting found out by the returning evil doctor / dean of the school. Cast notables are the nubile Jennifer Lyons, genre favorite babe Musetta Vander, and the up and coming James DeBello. There is some vampire / stripper nudity and fart humor to keep the movie rolling along but nothing that stands out as memorable or worthy of a repeat viewing.

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Armored

2007's Vacancy director, Nimrod Antal, brings us a good heist-gone-wrong movie this week with a full cast of Hollywood stars to keep it rolling along. The cast includes Matt Dillon, Jean Reno, Laurence Fishburne, Fred Ward and Columbus Short as an actor to keep your eye on. Short stars as Ty Hackett a returned war veteran who is trying to take care of his younger brother and keep their family home after the loss of their parents and is offered a part in an armored truck heist by his long time friend that involves his security guard co-workers. The action is fast paced and the plot tight and crafted well. This is not Shakespeare but it is a heist moving worth seeing and enjoying until the last handful of popcorn is gone.

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The Boondock Saints II: All Saints Day

I did not see the 1999 film The Boondock Saints but after hearing about it from a my co-worker Carl I figured I should check this movie out. This sequel was hands down funny, violent and had a great cast which makes me want to pick up the first film on DVD to get all of the back story on the Irish brothers and their vigilante murders of Boston mobsters. The cast includes Sean Patrick Flanery and Norman Reedus as the MacManus brothers with help from Clifton Collins Jr. and Julie Benz to seek justice for the killing of a local Boston priest by the mob. Other cast notables are Billy Connolly, Peter Fonda and Judd Nelson as the MacManus patriarch and the mobsters behind the priest's murder to lure the boys back to the states to seek their revenge. A good movie to see even if you missed the first one - thanks for the recommendation Carl.

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Fantastic Mr. Fox

Wes Anderson, the director behind such cult favorite films as Rushmore and The Royal Tenenbaums, tries his hand at stop motion animation with this Ronald Dahl children novel. Wes Anderson's voice cast includes his regular stable of actors with a few new ones you would not expect like George Clooney, Meryl Streep, Jason Schwartzman, Bill Murray, Michael Gambon, Willem Dafoe, Owen Wilson, and Brian Cox. The story is about the trickster Mr. Fox and how he tries to steal from the three largest farmers in the valley while keeping his activities secret from his family and the consequences. The animation is quite good and gives the film a very surreal atmosphere with great dialog that engages the adult even more than the child. A good family movie but also a great film just to enjoy sans the kids.

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Old Dogs

John Travolta and Robin Williams, Charlie and Dan, are best friends and business partners doing well until a former girlfriend comes back in to their lives with a set of twins in which Dan is the father. The movie is meh and the only real draw for me was Seth Green and it turns out all of his best moments were in the trailer. The movie limps along and the laughs are few and far between. It was nice to see that Kelly Preston is still hot and makes me nostalgic for seeing Mischief again. A rental at best so save you money.

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NInja Assassin

James McTeigue, who brought us V for Vendetta, delivers an adrenaline fueled revamping of the tired ninja film that explodes off of the screen. Instead of the old fountains of blood spray and ridiculous fight sequences with no physical harm, this film gets a healthy kick of CGI enhanced in-screen kills that look cool and all kinds of flying blades in Matrix -style bullet time. The story revolves around Rain, played by Raizo, who is taking out his former ninja clan brethren and exposing them to the world. If ninja films keep this up then I want to see more and hopefully they make it to the big US screens instead of just to the foreign DVD racks at the local mall. Check this film out and you wont regret it.

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Precious: Based on the Novel Push by Sapphire

Let me start out by telling you that I abhorred this movie once I finally saw it after being asked by a co-worker, Kristen, if I would see this move. My reaction to it was so vehement and visceral that my friends could not believe my hate for it but this movie struck at my very core and made me angry and literally hate Mary, played by Mo'Nique, the mother of Precious, played by newcomer Gabourey 'Gabby" Sidibe. I was so appalled by Mary and how she hated and abused her own daughter that it made me physically hurt to watch the film and has taken me a while to write this review to make sure I am doing the movie justice. The reveal in the social workers office literally brought me to my knees. Due to the subject matter of this film I cannot recommend it to everyone but if you see this film and are not moved by it - maybe not to the extent I was - I feel sorry for your very soul and Mo'Nique deserves the Oscar for her performance if for nothing else but making me believe her character was real and hurting me like no other movie has ever done.

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Planet 51

With all the voice talent in this film I was bummed that is was just mediocre at best. I actually found myself nodding off a couple of times because it could not hold my interest. The story is about an astronaut who lands on a planet that is inhabited by little green men but who seem to be stuck in their own 50's like era. The role reversal should be interesting but it is not. This movie is a pass until it shows up on cable.

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