(Movie Review) Puss in Boots

There is no doubt that by the end of the last Shrek, whatever number that was in the long list of CRAP with Mike Myers name on it, that the franchise had gotten very stale and very boring. The jokes were old, the gimmicks were old, and the characters were....OLD. So, I didn't have much faith in Puss in Boots when it came to the local theater. Since I usually only watch one movie per week, I skipped it. Little did I know that this installment to the Shrek-Verse would far surpass most, if not ALL, of the original Shrek films.

Storyline: Years before meeting Shrek and Donkey, the adorable but tricky Puss in Boots must clear his name from all charges making him a wanted fugitive. While trying to steal magic beans from the infamous criminals Jack and Jill, the hero crosses paths with his female match, Kitty Softpaws, who leads Puss to his old friend, but now enemy, Humpty Dumpty. Memories of friendship and betrayal enlarges Puss' doubt, but he eventually agrees to help the egg get the magic beans. Together, the three plan to steal the beans, get to the Giant's castle, nab the golden goose, and clear Puss' name.FROM IMDB.COM

Thoughts? The movie is fresh, funny, and the jokes land. I laughed out loud a few times in the film and really enjoyed it. A great example of new life being pumped back in to a dying franchise. I just hope American Reunion can pull this off with the American Pie franchise this year.

(Movie Review) Jack and Jill (2011)

Have you ever tested the limits of milk? You know. That expiration date is not ALWAYS 100% correct....so why not push your luck a bit? Why not at least TRY it once, just to see if it really has soured? That is the BEST example of Adam Sandler's career I can think of. I have watched him go from first day on the shelf (Billy Madison) to WAAAAAY past his prime (Just Go With It) but never I have watched 10 minutes of one of his movies and turned it off....until now. This is one sip that I never should have taken, because that milk has gone bad.

Storyline: Family guy Jack Sadelstein prepares for the annual event he dreads: the Thanksgiving visit of his twin sister, the needy and passive-aggressive Jill, who then refuses to leave.- from IMDB.com

Since I did not watch this past the first stupid joke, I will let OTHER reviewers tell you how bad it sucks.

Below you will find LOTS of reviews that had the guts to suffer through the whole movie.
 http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/jack_and_jill_2011/

(Movie Review) Silent House (2012)

Silent House fails to deliver on scares and leaves the audience silent with boredom

Sometimes I wonder what it is like for a Penguin. Technically the Penguin is part of the bird family and shares a kinship with such other majestic birds as Eagles, Hawks and Falcons. However, one of the major differences between them all is that the Penguin is not capable of flight. It is one of the best examples of a subgroup that is inferior to the majority of its group because of its inability to complete the most basic task that the group is most widely known/appreciated for. It’s pretty sad. If movies were birds, Silent House would be the Penguin. It is inferior to almost every other horror movie that I have ever watched and fails on the most basic levels that other films in its genre would consider the building blocks of a horror/suspense film. At least, when it comes to my analogy, Penguins are cute.

Storyline: Brothers John (Trese) and Peter (Stevens) are trying to get the old family lake house renovated and ready to put on the market. Sarah (Olsen), daughter to John, is helping with the project. When Sarah, while working alone in a room, hears a strange noise in the house she goes to find her dad to see what is going on. She is unable to find her Uncle or Dad and, because there is no electricity in the house, is unable to call the police. Sarah must find a way to make it to safety and locate her family, but when old memories begin to surface Sarah begins to learn what is “real” and why the events are happening.

Worth the admission? Never! Not even if it was “buy one, get one free” night. This is one of the only movies that I have ever considered walking out of. It is just a colossal failure on all fronts and really should not have been released to theaters. The dialog and performances from Trese and Stevens are so wooden and stale you would have thought that you were watching the next movie in the Twilight Saga. The only thing about the movie that was watchable was the performance from Olsen. I think that she will do well in Hollywood and, given a good story, could make a real contribution.

I would also like to beg Hollywood to PLEASE stop making every movie with that “shaky cam” feel. It works really well for some movies but for this movie it just made everything hard to see and almost made me nauseated with all of the rapid movements and constant refocusing.

If you saw this “film” and found it to be anything less than horrible, please let me know .

(Movie Review) The Rum Diary (2011)

You go into a movie with Johnny Depp in it expecting to be WOWed by Johnny Depp....and then you realize that Giovanni Ribisi is in it and you stop looking foward to seeing the Depp parts. The best way to describe Ribisi as an actor is that if you saw Brad Pitt juggling a stack of knives, Giovanni Ribisi is the guy that would take them, set then on fire, and juggle them blindfolded. He is that good, and that much better than most of the "stars" of the films that he is in.

Storyline: American journalist Paul Kemp (Depp_ takes on a freelance job in Puerto Rico for a local newspaper during the 1950s and struggles to find a balance between island culture and the expatriates who live there. - From IMDB

Thoughts: Everyone in great in the film. Depp is his normal level of awesome, Eckhart is entertaining and loathsome all at the same time, but Ribisi is, hands down, the best performer in the film. What the man can do with a character is amazing. You should check this movie out....if just to see him let go a bit.

(Movie Review) Bucky Larson: Born To Be A Star (2011)

Wow. Sometimes a movie is just stupid. Not "stupid/funny", just stupid. This movie is JUST STUPID.

Storyline: A kid from the Midwest moves out to Hollywood in order to follow in his parents footsteps -- and become a porn star.- FROM IMDB

Thoughts: The movie had one or two spots that made me laugh, but for the most part it was just boring and dumb. I will give a shout out to Don Johnson (playing Miles Deep). He was awesome in the role and I actually liked him a lot in the movie. Another shout out to Christina Ricci, who could melt a stick of butter just by looking at it. Other than those two points, the movie was junk.

Skip it!

(Movie Review) Tucker and Dale VS EVIL (2010)

There is little in life that Alan Tudyk can't do. I once heard that a single tear drop from his eye cured an orphan puppy of polio. He has mastered every role out there. Psycho Killer, Spaceship Pilot, Pirate, Cowboy Doc, and finally, Hillbilly Being Attacked By Rich Kids. You are a God among men, Mr. Tudyk.
Storyline: Two lovable West Virginian hillbillies, are headed to their "fixer-upper" vacation cabin to drink some beer, do some fishin', and have a good time. But when they run into a group of preppy college kids who assume from their looks that they must be in-bred, chainsaw wielding killers, Tucker (Tudyk) & Dale's (Labine) vacation takes a bloody & hilarious turn for the worse.Written by IMDB

Thoughts? The movie was really funny. I didn't really know the concept being the film when I went into it, but loved that it was the telling of every scary movie out there from the perspective of the misunderstood hillbilly. Find it on netflix.

(Movie Review) Good Deeds

There are some things that you never expect to see. Diet food that is made completely out of chocolate, a low calorie beer that doesn’t taste like old dish water, and that  Snooki went to MIT are just a few examples of things that I wouldn’t expect the ever see or say. Something else that could be added to that list is that I would ever like a Tyler Perry movie. As I have said in the past, I have tremendous respect for him as a “brand”, but I also think that Perry does a lot of harm to his own community by making movies that not only reinforce negative racial stereotypes, but he also manages to glorify them in some cases. So, my track record with liking his movies has not been favorable. Needless to say I was shocked with how much I liked this recent movie and enjoyed it from start to finish.

Storyline: Wesley Deeds (Perry) is a business man that has been running an electronics empire that his father worked his whole life to build. Weighed down by his brother, Walter (White), an overbearing mother (Rashad) and a distant fiancé (Union), Wesley feels like his life is on autopilot. When he befriends a cleaning lady in the building named Lindsey (Newton), who is having a rough time in life while trying to provide for her daughter, he begins to see his life in a new perspective. Will the people in his life support his changes or will they try to keep him down as they have in the past?

If I had one complaint about this movie it would be that the life of Lindsey Wakefield falls apart all at the same time a little too conveniently. Sure, it is possible that someone’s life falls into utter chaos all at once, but the likelihood of all of these events that go wrong happening within a day or so of each other is completely illogical. Other than that, I really have no complaints about this movie at all!

Worth the admission? I can’t believe that I am saying this, but YES. Newton, Perry and Rashad turn in wonderful performances and the rest of the cast is very good as well. I think that it is nice to see that Perry actually has some acting chops and doesn’t have to rely on a “fat suit” and wig to make a movie.

Note: Even though this is one of the better movies that I have seen from Perry, I expect it to perform much worse than his usual films. The movie doesn’t have the normal outrageous characters that will appease his mass audience and many people, like me, find his films/tv shows so off-putting that they will avoid this at the box office. What a shame. This film actually deserves some praise.

Let me know what you thought of it