My Review: The Last Airbender (5/10)

¨ He will begin to change hearts, and it is in the heart that all wars are won. ¨

This is the first film that M. Night Shyamalan directs an adapted screenplay since his earlier works have all been original screenplays written by him. I am probably one of the few Shyamalan fans left. I was a huge fan of his earlier movies; The Sixth Sense is one of my favorite films, I also loved Unbreakable and Signs. I even enjoyed his much criticized films: The Village, Lady in the Water, and The Happening, but I can`t save him this time with his latest movie: The Last Airbender. He adapted the screenplay from the successful Nickelodeon anime series titled Avatar: The Last Airbender. I personally never saw the series, but I know it has a lot of fans and that it consists of three seasons (there are three books: Water, Earth, and Fire). I can only judge this film based on Shyamalan`s screenplay since I know very little about the series, but from what I saw from the movie I am guessing it didn`t translate very well into the big screen. The main actors were totally miscast, the transitions from scene to scene felt forced, the screenplay was very poorly written, and the characters were one dimensional. Between the bad actors and the poor script the movie failed to entertain, but I didn`t hate it as much as most critics did. I don`t think it is among the worst movies of the year, although I am not saying it is good either. The Last Airbender is Shyamalan`s worst movie and the first that I actually found rotten. I still believe he will rebound from this, my faith isn`t lost in him.

Katara (Nicola Peltz) and Sokka (Jackson Rathbone) are brothers from the Southern Water tribe. Katara is a water bender and she discovers a giant frozen sphere outside of her village and decides to melt the ice. She accidently discovers that there was a boy who has been frozen in that sphere. The boy tells Katara that his name is Aang (Noah Ringer) and supposedly an Avatar, the last of the Airbenders. This avatar has been missing for a hundred years and during that time the Fire Nation has been dominating the rest of the nations (Earth, Water, and Air). The Avatar was the only one who maintained the balance in the world since it could bend the four elements, but Aang never got to learn how to bend the rest of the elements since he escaped from his training and was frozen for a century. Now the Fire Nation controls most tribes, they have extinguished the Airbenders and don`t allow the water and earth nations to bend their elements.  Whoever is discovered to have bending abilities is imprisoned by Lord Ozai (Cliff Curtis) under Commander Zhao (Aasif Mandvi). Lord Ozai´s son, Prince Zuko (Dev Patel) was expelled from the Fire Nation because he refused to fight with his father in a duel after challenging a Commander`s decision during war. The only way Prince Zuko can regain his honor back is by capturing the Avatar and bringing him back to his father. Zuko is not alone in his quest; he is protected by his uncle Iroh (Shaun Toub). Aang begins to travel with Katara and Sokka setting earth villages free from the Fire nation, beginning rebellions, while heading to the North Water Kingdom where Aang will learn how to master water bending.

The main actors, Nicola Peltz and Jackson Rathbone, are really miscast in this film. I don`t know if it was their acting or the script, but every scene they were in and every line they had to say felt really forced. The first thirty minutes of the film are really terrible, the scenes where Aang and Katara go free the Earth tribes are really poorly executed, and it isn`t until they reach the North Water Kingdom that the movie picks up a little. The best scenes in the film are the ones with Dev Patel and Aasif Mandvi; they have the best dialogue on screen. I really didn`t have any trouble with the special effects, although they aren`t anything out of this world, just your average effects. The score was decent as well and it is the seventh time that Shyamalan has worked with composer James Newton Howard. I don`t know if they will continue to make the next two sequels for The Last Airbender, but if they do they will have to correct a lot of things if they want to keep fans interested (beginning with the acting and the screenplay). This is a bad movie, but not among the worst I´ve seen either. My love for Shyamalan hasn`t died yet and I still think he is a great director although he has lost his touch with his latest work.

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My Review: Killers (3/10)

¨Let's do something productive... Let's go piss on a stick.¨

If you want to do something productive then don`t go see this movie. Killers is easily one of the worst movies of the year. Not even likeable actors such as Ashton Kutcher and Katherine Heigl can save this film. I believe even true fans of these actors will be disappointed with it. The plot was beyond ridiculous and it wasn`t funny at all. I don`t know if Killers was supposed to be a comedy, a romantic film, or an action movie, but it is certainly didn`t work as any. It wasn`t funny, the action was terrible, and the chemistry between Heigl and Kutcher was nonexistent. This movie tried to be Mr. and Mrs. Smith, but it failed by a long shot. I really wasn`t expecting much out of this movie, but even for my low expectations the film was a complete disaster. Director Robert Luketic had worked in the past with Heigl in The Ugly Truth (another bad movie). Luketic began with a lot of promise as a director delivering the very funny Legally Blonde which was Witherspoon`s break out role, and I also enjoyed 21, but his latest films have been a disappointment for me, especially this one. The screenplay was written by Bob DeRosa (The Air I Breathe) and Ted Griffin (Matchstick Men and Ocean`s Eleven), and I´m pretty sure neither of them will want this movie to show up on their resume considering they have done some decent work in the past.

Ashton Kutcher is Spencer Aimes, a government hired assassin who travels around the world searching for his next target. He is on a mission in France, when he meets Jen Kornfeldt (Katherine Heigl), an attractive and innocent woman who is vacationing with her overprotective parents (Tom Selleck and Catherine O´Hara) in the same Hotel room where Spencer is staying. Jen was supposed to travel with her boyfriend, but she got dumped a few days before the trip and ended up going to Nice (France) alone. It is love at first sight for Spencer and Jen (although you wouldn`t tell from the performances because there isn`t hardly any chemistry between them) and they begin a romantic relationship. Jen doesn`t know what Spencer really does, but it isn`t a problem since he quits his job from the moment he meets her. He decides it is time to settle down and get married and start a new life with Jen. The movie then jumps forward three years into the marriage where Jen and Spencer seem to be living a perfectly happy life. They get along with all their neighbors and are very happy together, but on Spencer`s 30<sup>th</sup> birthday he is contacted by his ex-boss for a new hit. He tells his boss he is retired and wants nothing to do with this, but all of a sudden several people are after him trying to kill him. The killers happen to be people that have lived close to him over the past years, such as co-workers and neighbors, so Spencer doesn`t know who he can really trust. Jen discovers Spencer´s secret past and becomes involved in the whole mess.  

The plot is ridiculous, which is not necessary a bad thing since there is fun and entertaining ridiculous and then there is just plain and boring ridiculous, but the problem is that this movie ranks among the latter category. Killers will probably rank among my list in the Top 3 worst movies of the year. There isn`t any memorable scene or performance I can say I truly enjoyed, although there was one surprising cameo which is probably the highlight of the movie. Katherine Heigl needs to try to do a different role or at least try a different genre since all she has been working in are romantic comedies. Maybe she tried to do something different in this movie, but at the end it was just more of the same. There is not a single funny scene in the movie, the action is pretty terrible, and the romance is pathetic. I wouldn`t recommend this movie to anyone, not even Kutcher fans. The only good thing I can say about this movie is that it`s short.

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My Review: Predators (6/10)

¨They can hear you. Smell you. They see you.¨

One of the reasons Predators stands out from it`s predecessors is because Robert Rodriguez was behind this project. His studio, Troublemaker Films, produced this movie in order for him to have controlling rights over it. His first decision was to sign Nimrod Antal as the director. Antal had directed Vacancy, Armored, and the movie that opened the doors for him in Hollywood: Hungarian film Control. Armored was a huge disapointment for me last year and a movie I really disliked, but Predators was an improvement considering I went into it with very low expectations. Predators is much better than the AVP sequels or even the second predator film and it does the original 1987 movie justice. Of course it is not as good as the original movie because, well that one was original and we had never seen the predators before, but now we have been bombarded with them in four other movies and finally in this sequel the suspense is back and so is the fear of the unseen. The movie builds off very nicely from the begginning introducing each character and setting the mood of the film. The location chosen for filming was excellent and contributed to set the atmosphere. The screenplay for this movie was written by Alex Litvak and Michael Finch, but it was one of the weakest things about this movie which was full of cheesy dialogs and copied phrases from the original.

The movie begins with Royce (Adrien Brody) falling from the sky into a jungle. His parachute opens up just in time, but he can`t quite remember how he got to this place. He runs into another man who seems to have got there in the same conditions, Cuchillo (Danny Trejo), a member of a Mexican drug cartel. All of a sudden they begin to be shot at by a Russian Sptesnaz soldier named Nikolai (Oleg Taktarov), but Royce evades him and ends up pointing a gun at his face and letting him know that they are not the enemy. The three men run into an Israeli sniper named Isabelle (Alice Braga) who claims she has never been in a jungle like this one. They have all been parachuted from the sky and the last thing they remember is seeing a white light and then waking falling in the air into this mysterious place. Isabelle claims to have seen more parachutes fall near her so they continue to search for answers and run into two men fighting: Mombasa (Mahershalalhashbaz Ali), a revolutionary african fighter, and Stans (Walton Goggins), an inmate who was going to be sentenced to death in two days and a former FBI most wanted criminal. The six run into a Predator camp where they find all sort of dead body`s which are kept as trophies and here they run into Hanzo (Louis Ozawa Changchien) a Yakuza enforcer, and Edwin (Topher Grace), a doctor and the only one who doesn`t seem to fit the profile of the group. They soon discover that they`re not on their planet and that they have been brought here as game for hunters.

The major difference this film has with the original is that no Arnold Schwarzenegger look a like is cast. Instead, Oscar award winner Adrien Brody was chosen for the lead and he did a pretty good job. Alicia Braga is also good in this film and is perhaps the most likeable character. She makes a reference to the 87 movie mentioning how an elite military group was killed in the jungles of Guatemala by a creature similar to this. My favorite character however was the quiet and reserved Hanzo. The first half of this movie was excellent and did a great job of creating suspense, but the last half really let me down once Laurence Fishburne`s character came into play. I really thought that his appearance was going to improve the movie, but the screenwriters really messed up from this point on. Once the predators are no longer hidden the movie losses that mystery, although the action is pretty entertaining. The major problem I found with the second part of the movie however was that several of the characters changed personalities from one moment to the next only to give the film a more dramatic effect. The first part of the film is worth 4 stars, while the second only 2 out of 5. Predators is a far better sequel than the other movies and can be enjoyed if taken lightly.

My Review: Everybody`s Fine (6/10)

¨If you would ask me I would have to say in all honesty, everybody`s fine. Everybody`s fine.¨

Kirk Jones (who also directed Nanny McPhee and Waking Ned Divine) directs this italian remake from the 90`s called Stanno Tutti Bene. He also is given credit for adapting the original screenplay to suit this american version better. The film works because De Niro gives a pretty powerful performance and makes you forget all the cliches the film has. Yes, it is very formulaic and we know every single kid will have something to hide from his father, they all have a problem, and they all are withholding information from him. The journey De Niro`s character is making will be revealing and teach him some lessons which he never learned in his 60 years, but he will now in these few days. Everybody`s Fine follows all those formulas which we have grown used to in Hollywood films, but thanks to some interesting performances the movie is worth your time. It is a dramedy, a movie that likes to play with our emotions, but it still is worth checking out. The weakest part of the movie is the distance that De Niro`s character has with his children. It is hard to believe sometimes that this is actually a family and I think the director exagerated a bit with the coldness and distance between them, and it all just ties up too neatly at the end.

Frank Goode (Robert De Niro) is a widower, who is planning on having his four children for dinner on the weekend. After making plans for preparing a nice meal he receives calls from each one saying that they won`t be able to make it. Frank hasn`t seen his kids since their mother`s funeral and he realizes she was the one that maintained the family together, so he decides to go give them a surprise visit each. Frank has a lung condition and his doctor recommends him to stay at home and not travel, but he decides to go anyway across the different states on train and bus. His first stop is New York where he plans on visiting David (Austin Lysy), an artist. He is not at his apartment and Frank waits for an entire day without being able to reach him, although he is glad to see one of his paintings at a gallery near his apartment. Frank decides to move on and visit his daughter Amy (Kate Beckinsale) in Chicago. She is a succesful ad executive and has a nice home she shares with her husband and son. Frank then travels to Denver the next day because she is busy and visits Robert (Sam Rockwell), who plays the percussion for the orchestra. Frank`s last trip is to Las Vegas where he meets up with Rosie (Drew Barrymore), a succesful profesional dancer. Frank realizes that his children have all been lieing to him and that they are not all fine, but he wonders why they can`t trust him and figures it is because he pushed his kids too hard. 

Robert De Niro gives one of his best performances in years, and  it was good to see him in this kind of role. Drew Barrymore also gives a great performance and she seemed the closest with her father, and perhaps the only one who really had chemistry with him. It was hard to beleive his relationship with his other children, especially with Kate Beckinsale`s character who was too distant. Sam Rockwell gives a good performance, he is a great actor, but he was much better in Moon. The movie has a slow start, but after a while you begin to get involved in the story and wonder what the kids are hiding. Frank has worked hard all his life making telephone cables in order to give his kids a good education and has really pushed them, perhaps a bit too much. Ironically that communication media is not used anymore by his children who all use wireless cellphones, and it represents the communication between them that has been broken over the years. I think that the main problem the film has is that it tries to resolve everything at the end, and it just doesn`t work that well. However, the story is well told and if you are into these emotional movies then you will probably enjoy this one because it has some good performances and is a very touching movie. The problem I had with it was that it was too formulaic, but still worth it in my opinion.

My Review: Couples Retreat (3/10)

¨Do you have a phone? I need to call God and tell Him that one of His angels is missing. ¨

If you never heard that line before then perhaps you will enjoy this movie which consists of familiar jokes and few laughs and several cheesy dialogues. This movie was really hard to sit through and looked much better in the trailers than it actually was. The cast is an interesting one, but the material they had to work with was very poor. Vince Vaughn teamed up with Iron Man director Jon Favreau and Dana Fox to write the screenplay for this film, and all I can say is that they should stick to directing and acting based on this material. Who shouldn`t stick with directing is Peter Billingsley who really couldn`t prove himself in this his first feature film. He has produced several of Vaughn`s and Favreau`s movies in the past such as Iron Man, Zathura, The Break Up, and Four Christmases, so he is familiar with them. Billingsley is mostly known for his role as little Ralphie from A Christmas Story. In this movie it seems as though the actors just found an excuse to get together and have a good time because no effort was put whatsoever in trying to improve the film. The movie was full of clichés and really bad jokes, and even with my low expectations I was disappointed with this film. It seems as if lately many films with a talented cast aren`t really interested in making a good movie, they just want to have a good time and have fun together (Grown Ups was another example). They might have had fun working together, but for the viewers these films are a huge mess.

A group of friends are convinced of going to a couple`s retreat in a paradisiacal island because Jason (Jason Bateman) and Cynthia (Kristen Bell) are having marital issues and want to find a solution to their problems. The other three couples consist of Dave (Vince Vaughn) and Ronnie (Malin Akerman), Joey (Jon Favreau) and Lucy (Kristin Davis), and Shane (Faizon Love), who has recently divorced his wife Jennifer (Tasha Smith) and is dating a twenty year old named Trudy (Kali Hawk). The four couples travel together to the resort named Eden hoping to have a good time while Jason and Cynthia receive counseling. To their surprise each couple is forced to participate in the counseling sessions. There is no time for fun and the activities begin at 6 am with sessions with Marcel (Jean Reno), the man responsible for the couple`s therapy. There are actually two sides to the resort, one in the west for singles who have fun and party all the time, while the one in the east is for couples who are trying to work things out and that is where they must remain even though the rest of the couples don`t think they have marital issues. These counseling sessions bring problems even for the couple`s who seemed to be fine. Each couple has a therapist, played by John Higgins, Ken Jeong, Charlotte Cornwell, and Amy Hill. They also have a yoga instructor who like to wear as little clothes as possible, Salvatore (Carlos Ponce), who doesn`t consider personal space. All of a sudden the tropical island doesn`t seem to have been a good idea for any of them.

This movie relies heavily on cheap jokes that we have all been familiar with in the past and the film really doesn`t work as a comedy. The actors are wasted because the material they had to work with was just terrible. Vince Vaughn was probably the funniest in the movie, but I was really disappointed with the screenplay which he helped write. Jon Favreau has directed some good films as well, but in this movie he just seemed to have his mind on resting and having a good time before continuing to focus on the Iron Man sequel. The supporting cast couldn`t do much to save the movie either. Jean Reno is a funny man, but in this film he had nothing fresh to bring to the table. The same thing can be said about Ken Jeong who was extremely funny in The Hangover and Role Models, but in this movie he simply goes by unnoticed. This is a comedy you should stay away from, don`t let yourself be fooled by the trailers because there is nothing funny about this film. The movie just drags for a long time and is extremely long for a comedy. Skip this movie!

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My Review: The Men Who Stare At Goats (5/10)

¨I did what so many men have done throughout history when a woman has broken their heart. I went to War.¨

The Men Who Stare at Goats is one of those movies that really seems funnier in paper than in the big screen; it is one of those rare films in which the black humor is more effective when read then it is when executed. I laughed more reading the quotes from the film then I actually did while watching this movie. It isn`t a terrible movie and it`s short enough to not wear the viewer down, and with low expectations it can be enjoyed because there are some good performances from great actors such as George Clooney, Jeff Bridges, Kevin Spacey, and Ewan McGregor. Director Grant Heslov worked in the past with Clooney in Good Night and Good Luck, but in that occasion they worked together writing the screenplay which was nominated for the Oscars. In The Men Who Stare at Goats the screenplay was written by Peter Straughan and it was adapted from Jon Ronson`s book of the same name. The film claims to be inspired on some true events which is hard to believe because the film is ridiculous, but I guess it is a spoof on the psychic activities that went on in the Army. I have to give some credit to director Heslov for making a different kind of film and it is original, but it just wasn`t funny enough to save the movie even though it had such talented actors. The movie had the potential to be so much better and that is what left me disappointed by the end of the film.

Bob Wilton (Ewan McGregor) is a reporter who has just had his heart broken by his wife that leaves him for a one armed editor. Bob is devastated and decides to go cover the war in Iraq in order to forget about her. He can`t get into Iraq so he covers the war from Kuwait where he meets a special forces operator named Lyn Cassady (George Clooney). Bob remembers hearing about Lyn from a report he did years ago on a man named Gus Lacey (Stephen Root) who claimed to have been trained by the US Army in paranormal and psychic activities. Gus mentioned Lyn to be the most powerful student of the group. Bob interviews Lyn and he tells him about the special Army Unit that he was trained in called the New Earth Army. The founder of the group was Bill Django (Jeff Bridges), a Vietnam veteran who travelled around the States studying the New Age movement and adapting it for the army. Lyn was the best student, but he had a rival, Larry Hooper (Kevin Spacey) who had a different vision of the New Earth Army. The men were trained to become Jedi Warriors and the purpose was to manipulate the minds of the soldiers so they could put an end to war. The story is narrated by Bob and it has several flashbacks as he interviews Lyn while at the same time travels with him on a mission across Iraq having to experience these psychic abilities first hand.

The film has its funny moments but the pace of the movie doesn`t work very well. The performance from the cast is great, but they only remind you of the potential the film had with so many talented actors and how many other great films these actors have made. The movie also claims to be based on true events, but the film is more of a spoof and makes fun of these soldiers and it is really hard to make sense of what are the true events or what even inspired them. The funniest thing in the film is George Clooney`s hippie look with the long hair and the mustache, but you can laugh at that in the trailers. Jeff Brides also reminds us of his great character in the Big Lebowski, but as a soldier now. The movie really had some great potential, the material seemed good to work with, but the final product really didn`t deliver. The material is dark and sometimes you have to be very careful with it if you want it to work, and in The Men Who Stare at Goats it just doesn`t work.

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My Review: Knight and Day (5/10)

¨They'll tell you I'm mentally unstable and violent and dangerous and it will all sound very convincing. ¨

That is probably the best way to describe Tom Cruise`s character in this movie, which is also unstable in trying to be an action thriller, comedy, and romantic flick all at the same time. Knight and Day mostly succeeds as a comedy because of the performance from Cruise and Diaz, but as an action thriller it is pretty ridiculous, and the romance isn`t all that believable. The action relies too heavily on poor CGI effects; the story is poorly developed and has too many plot holes.  However, Cruise does give a comedic performance and his character is very likeable so if you go into this movie expecting a satire of Mission Impossible then you might just enjoy Knight and Day, but don`t expect a smart thriller with great action sequences because you will leave the theater disappointed. Mr. and Mrs. Smith began this trend of genre films that combine spy thrillers with comedy and romance, but it has gone downhill from that point. James Mangold has taken a huge step backwards with this movie after directing such great films as the 3:10 To Yuma remake and the Johnny Cash biopic Walk the Line, and Patrick O`Neill`s debut as a screenwriter didn`t begin very promising either, but you can`t blame him only because the script was rewritten by at least 5 other people, including Mangold himself.

I don`t want to give too much of the plot away because the most intriguing part of the movie is wondering who Roy Miller (played by Tom Cruise) really is. You wonder if he is a good guy or a bad guy for the first minutes and that is probably one of the best things about Knight and Day. He really gives a good performance and is very funny on screen. He seems a little paranoid, but at the same time he looks relaxed and cool. At the beginning of the film Roy runs into June Havens (Cameron Diaz) in the airport before getting into the plane and uses her without her knowledge to get across customs. June is a mechanic who enjoys restoring classic sport cars and happens to be buying pieces for the vehicle she is assembling to give to her sister as a wedding present. Roy and June share the same flight and seem to click immediately, but everyone else in the plane seems to be trying to kill Roy (including the flight attendants and pilots). Fitzgerald (Peter Sarsgaard from An education) is a CIA agent that is also trying to kill Roy who apparently has something valuable that everyone wants. Even an arms dealer named Antonio (Jordi Molla) is after Roy. June gets involved in all the mess and together with Roy end up all over the States, Jamaica, Austria, and Spain running for their lives. Paul Dano also has a supporting role as a nerdy scientist named Simon Feck that Roy is also trying to protect.

The plot is a bit ridiculous and the action is unfulfilling, but there is enough comedy thanks to Tom Cruise and Cameron Diaz who are two likeable actors who pull off decent performances although they are far from their best work. They`ve worked together in the past in Vanilla Sky, which is a clear reminder of how much better they can be, but in Knight and Day the issue wasn`t their performance, it was the material. Mangold has also proven he can do much better and maybe next time he will stick to more serious material. I´m not saying this movie was terrible or a complete waste of time, but it is far from being a good film. It will satisfy those in need of some good laughs, but this isn`t a movie you will want to watch over and over again because the more you think about the plot the more ridiculous you realize it becomes. This is an average film which could be enjoyed if taken lightly and viewed one time only. Cruise fans will definitely enjoy his performance. Not a good movie, but not terrible either.

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My Review: The Sorcerer`s Apprentice (4/10)

¨I have been searching all over the world for you. You're going to be a force for good and a very important sorcerer. But for now, you're my apprentice ¨

From the producer of Pirates of the Caribbean, Jerry Bruckheimer, and the director of the National Treasure franchise,  Jon Turteltaub, comes The Sorcerer`s Apprentice, a film with big names, a great amount of CGI visual effects, but little imagination. The movie is loud and stupid; it reminded me a lot of Dragon Ball Evolution with all the fire balls and the dumb plot. I don`t understand how a film like this with so many good actors, with such good visual effects, powerful producers, didn`t take time to hire a decent group of screenwriters. The story just didn`t live up to my expectations and the cast did what they could to save the movie. Nicolas Cage was probably the best thing about the movie, the visuals were decent, but it takes a lot more than that to make up for the terrible plot. I actually enjoyed the National Treasure franchise more than this film so this was a step back for Turteltaub`s career and hopefully he will stay away from a sequel. The introduction alone explaining the history of the sorcerers and their rivalry was so weak that I knew I was going to have to lower my expectations during the remainder of the film. My favorite scene in the movie was the one from Disney`s Fantasia in which the mops and brooms come to life to help clean the lab, but that was perhaps one of the few positive things along with some funny scenes from Cage that I can say about this movie.

And now it`s time to explain the plot, my least favorite part about The Sorcerer`s Apprentice. The movie opens with a Lord of the Rings style narration in 700 AD where Merlin, the greatest sorcerer ever, is teaching his three apprentices Balthazar (Nicholas Cage), Horvath (Alfred Molina), and Veronica (Monica Bellucci) the secrets of the sorcerers. Horvath betrays Merlin and joins Morgana (Alice Krige), his greatest enemy. Morgana plans to awake all the dead evil sorcerers so she can destroy the world, and in a battle with Merlin she kills him with the help of Horvath. Balthazar and Veronica try to fight off Morgana, and Veronica is able to absorb her soul although she is so powerful that Morgana starts to possess her from inside. That is when Balthazar has to imprison both of them inside a grimhold, which is a Chinese nesting doll. Before Merlin takes his last breath he gives Balthazar a dragon ring telling him that it will come to life when he finds his successor, the Prime Merlinean. Centuries pass and Balthazar doesn`t find the kid until we arrive in modern day New York City. Balthazar finally finds the successor and decides to recruit and teach Dave Stutler (Jay Baruchel) how to become a sorcerer before Horvath comes to destroy him. Meanwhile, Dave begins to get a little distracted when he runs into his old childhood sweetheart, Becky (Teresa Palmer), and Horvath find an apprentice of his own in entertainer and magician Drake Stone (Toby Kebbell).

The plot is very silly and really doesn`t work in a film that invested so much in the visuals and in the cast. Nicolas Cage does what he can to save this movie, Alfred Molina is also a good villain, Jay Baruchel probably wasn`t the right choice in a movie like this, but his character was silly anyway, Teresa Palmer played the girl of his dreams and she was alright, and the surprise in this film was Toby Kebbell who had a pretty funny role as Molina`s apprentice and entertainer, but he had very little screen time. The movie really suffers from little imagination because if you have the resources to make a film about sorcerers several entertaining things can be done, but the story is pretty simple and we`ve seen most everything before. Someone said why have sorcerers chase each other in cars when they could fly all over the city. It made a lot of sense; they went for the simple instead of the spectacular. I really hope they don`t make a sequel for this movie even though the end of the film gives the possibility for one. This was a pretty bad movie and one you should skip.

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My review: The Damned United (9/10)

¨I wouldn't say I was the best manager in the country. But I'm in the top one. ¨

The Damned United is one of the best sports movies that I have seen recently, and it`s very different from other films in its genre because it focuses more on defeat and humiliation than it does on overcoming obstacles and victories. It`s based on the life of Brian Clough, a very successful football coach in England during the 70`s who really was ahead of his time because he probably was the first celebrity-coach and became famous for his cockiness and big mouth. If I would have to compare him to any coach from the present it would probably be Jose Mourinho. However, The Damned United doesn`t focus on all of Clough`s triumphs and his glory days in Nottingham Forrest; it focuses on the disastrous campaign he had with Leeds United that only lasted for 44 days, and his personal rivalry and obsession with Don Revie, the coach he replaced at Leeds. The film is directed by Emmy Award winner Tom Hooper who is mostly known for his TV miniseries Elizabeth I and John Adams; and it is based on David Peace`s novel The Damned Utd. The screenplay was written by Peter Morgan who has worked with Michael Sheen in the past in The Queen and Frost/Nixon. This is the third historic figure that Sheen has played in a movie and in each one he is truly outstanding and difficult to recognize because he changes so much, but he truly does justice to each character.

The movie opens in 1974, the year when the English national team wasn`t able to qualify for the World Cup, so highly successful Leeds United coach, Don Revie (played by Colm Meaney), seemed to be the right man for the job. Revie turned Leeds United into a powerhouse in the 70`s and dominated the league over the past few years. With Revie in the national team, Brian Clough (Michael Sheen) is offered the position as the Leeds boss, although he was known for being a critic of Leeds style of play which he called dirty and constantly criticized coach Revie for cheating. It makes perfect sense now why Clough wasn`t the right man for the job and that he was doomed to fail from the get go, even more so considering he wasn`t joined by his assistant Peter Taylor (Timothy Spall). The movie takes place in 1974, but we have constant flashbacks informing us how the rivalry between Clough and Revie began. The first flashback takes place during 1968 when Clough and Taylor were training a bottom placed second division team, Derby County. Clough was excited that his team was going to face first placed division one Leeds United for the FA Cup. He admired coach Revie because they grew up in the same neighborhood, but when the team arrived at the stadium, Revie completely ignored Clough (probably because he didn`t even see him) and thus the bitterness and rivalry began. The movie continues in the present (1974) with the tense relationship Clough had with the Leeds players, while returning through flashbacks from 68 to 73 focusing on the rivalry with Revie, the arguments with Derby chairman Sam Longson (Jim Broadbent) and Clough`s relationship with Taylor that help explain the present situation.

The strongest thing about this movie is that it takes a different spin in the sports genre that usually focuses on overcoming adversity and turning a bunch of losers into winners. This time Clough has the difficult task of filling in for a successful team and a group of winners and somehow his ego gets in the way and ends up having one of the worst opening campaigns for the team. The team was destined to fail from the beginning after so much criticism and rivalry built over the years. Clough was a very successful coach and even went on to win back to back European titles with another club, but the film decides to focus on his failures instead. The movie really works outside of the conventions of the sports genre and Michael Sheen is excellent in his portrayal of Brian Clough. There are some very strong performances from the supporting cast as well: Jim Broadbent, Colm Meaney, and Timothy Spall all give strong performances that helped build this movie. I really enjoyed this film and recommend it even though you are not sports fans because Clough had such a unique personality and was loved by some and hated by others. It is said that he was the greatest English manager to have never coached the national team.

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My review: Good Bye Solo (8/10)

¨That`s what I`m talking about man, big dawg, original player! ¨

Ramin Bahrani is a director most people probably never even have heard of because he makes low budget independent films. However film critic, Roger Ebert, has recently declared Ramin to be ¨the new great American director.¨ In 2006 he was named one of ¨US Stars of Tomorrow¨ by Screen International, and he has also won several awards for his previous films Chop Shop and Man Push Cart. Bahrani proves himself once again with Goodbye Solo, a movie about an unlikely friendship formed between a Senegalese taxi driver and a grumpy old southerner. One of them is full of hope and willing to continue on fighting for a better future, while the other is waiting to commit suicide because he has resigned to continue living. Goodbye Solo is much more than a film of hope versus hopelessness; it stays away from the classic Hollywood conventions and melodrama. The film is very unique and different from anything we have seen before. Bahrani not only directed the film, but he also wrote the screenplay for it along with Bahareh Azimi who has worked with him in the past. What makes this such a powerful film (besides the strong direction and great artistic shots) is the performance from newcomer Souleymane Sy Savane who really shines in this movie and makes you sympathize with his character.

The story takes place in a small city in North Carolina called Winston-Salem. Solo (Souleymane Sy Savane) is a Senegalese taxi driver and the film begins with him in a middle of a conversation with his passenger, William (Red West). William wants Solo to take him to Blowing Rock in a couple of weeks, a park in North Carolina famous for its peak that causes objects that are dropped to fly upward. Solo is a very talkative driver and wants William to explain to him why he is going to that park suspecting the worse. William is a very grumpy old man who seems depressed and is never in the mood to talk about his feelings or making any new friends. He seems to have a lot of regrets and is totally resigned, although Solo does what he can to try to bring some purpose into his life fearing the worse for William. Solo is a young man who has troubles of his own, but has a completely different approach towards life and is full of hope. He lives with his wife, Quiera (Carmen Leyva), who is pregnant with his child, and his step daughter Alex (Diana Franco Galindo). Solo dreams of becoming a flight attendant since he really doesn`t want to be a cab driver all his life, but his wife doesn`t want him to travel and they have an argument over this. Solo leaves his home and ends up staying with William in a motel for several days where they form an unlikely friendship. Several questions are raised during the movie about William´s life, such as why does he go to the movies so often, or what pills is he taking, and we discover the answers to these questions through Solo`s obsession to help his friend.

Baharni`s film is beautifully shot, there are several very nice artistic scenes, especially near the end of the film in Blowing Rock. The editing is also superb and also contributes to the overall success of the movie. Savane`s performance was great and shouldn`t have been overlooked by the critics because he truly gave one of the year`s best performances. This is a small film that you probably haven`t heard of, but you should definitely check it out because it is a great movie different from most Hollywood films. Goodbye Solo is a unique film, but if I had to compare it to some other movie I would say it reminded me a little of McCarthy`s The Visitor even though the subject matter is different the bond between two unlikely friends is similar. So if you liked The Visitor then you should definitely check Goodbye Solo out because it is a very good film.

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My Review: The Ghost Writer (9/10)

¨Oh yes, the wall of ego. We all have one, our equivalent of the dentist's fish tank. ¨

The Ghost Writer is an excellent thriller that works mainly because Roman Polanski is at the helm of the project. I don`t think this story would have been so gripping or suspenseful if it was put in any other director`s hands, but Polanski has such a fatalistic view of the world that he knows how to create these dark and tense situations and combines them with the right amount of black humor and paranoia. The performance from the cast was also an important ingredient to the success of this film with Ewan McGregor giving a terrific performance, Pierce Brosnan, Olivia Williams, and Tom Wilkinson also delivering in the supporting roles. The similarities between Brosnan`s character with real life British former prime minister, Tony Blair, can`t be ignored, even more so considering that Polanski`s adapted screenplay was based on Robert Harris`s (a former BBC reporter and political columnist) book The Ghost, which was written shortly after Blair resigned from office. This is Polanski`s first film in 5 years as a director, and only his second one since 2002 when he won the Oscar for The Pianist.  Polanski proves once again why he ranks amongst the best directors in the world showing he is a true master in the craft, creating suspense from the very opening scene, maintaining our full attention throughout the film, and creating several unexpected twists.

The movie opens with a dark scene as a ferry is disembarking on a cold night and one car is left behind with the owner of the vehicle nowhere to be found. The next morning a body is found washed up in the beach and it happens to be that of a ghostwriter who was writing the memoirs for the British former Prime Minister Adam Lang (Pierce Brosnan). It seemed to be an apparent suicide or accident since there was a high amount of alcohol level in his blood, and the memoir didn`t seem to be going very well. A new ghost writer (Ewan McGregor) is hired to try to finish the memoir even though he knows nothing of politics, but the paycheck seems worth it. He travels to the United States where Adam is located for a month and begins interviewing him in order to try to bring some heart to the memoir which according to him was ¨the cure for insomnia, ¨ and there was a lot of work to be done.  A lot of suspicious events begin to lead the ghost to do more researching. First of all there is the over protectiveness of the original memoir which can never leave the room and is always locked away in a cabin by Lang`s assistant Amelia Bly (Kim Cattrall), then there is the issue that Lang is being accused of crime wars by a former British minister, and Lang`s wife Ruth (Olivia Williams) is jealous of her husband`s relationship with Amelia. The ghost begins to investigate some of his predecessor`s findings and after a few interviews with some locals discovers that his death might not have been accidental after all. As the ghost gets deeper in his investigation, his life begins to be threatened.

The film is very well crafted by Polanski who does a great job at creating the right mood for a suspenseful political thriller such as this one. I think that any other director could have turned this film into ¨the cure for insomnia, ¨ but Polanski is a master at what he does and was able to combine suspense, thrills, and twists into this film converting it into a successful movie. Ewan McGregor`s character is probably the key to the entire movie as his investigation of the case serves to inform us about what is going on. We are discovering new things about Lang`s life along with him, and we feel completely lost alongside him wondering what is going to happen next.  We can identify and feel the paranoia with him as more and more mysteries become unraveled and his life begins to be threatened. Another key element is Tom Wilkinson`s small role in this film as Paul Emmett, a Harvard graduate that seems to play an important role in Lang`s life although he denies it. Wilkinson is such a great actor and he always adds so much with his performances. He isn`t on screen very much, but those few minutes are memorable nonetheless. McGregor isn`t left behind and he does a great job in the lead role playing one of his best roles in recent memory, as does Pierce Brosnan. Overall this is a great movie and I highly recommend this as one of the year`s best thrillers.

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My Review: Moon (8/10)

¨I hope life on Earth is everything you remember it to be. ¨

Moon is a very good sci-fi film, which is even more impressive considering it is Duncan Jones`s directorial debut (and he actually won a BAFTA award for this picture). Jones, who was known up to this moment primarily for being David Bowie`s son, does a great job at creating such an artistic movie with such a low budget. He came up with the story and Nathan Parker wrote the screenplay for it. Moon is probably among the best films of 2009 and my favorite sci-fi movie of that year along with District 9. The film works because it has an interesting premise, it`s a well thought out movie, and it has a very good performance from Sam Rockwell. It also is impossible not to compare it with Kubrick`s 2001 A Space Odyssey, since Moon seems to pay homage to that film and I think that it does the movie justice. It is very hard to come across smart movies like this one, especially in the sci-fi genre, and it really felt very nice to not know what was going to happen nor being able to predict the film. In a period of time where so many remakes are being made and ideas are constantly being recycled it was good to come across a fresh movie like this one. Even though the budget to make this film was pretty low, the visual effects are great and that is a must for a sci-fi picture.

 Sam Bell (Sam Rockwell) works for Lunar Industries and he has a 3 year contract to work solo at the station in the moon. The new energy source in Earth is Helium 3 which is harvested in the moon and Sam is in charge of sending it back to earth. The only company he has at the station is a robot called GERTY (voiced by Kevin Spacey), who is designed to fulfill his every day needs and since direct communication with Earth has been interrupted he has to communicate with his wife through video recordings. Sam also has a young daughter who was born shortly before he went to the moon and he can`t wait to go back to meet her since he only has a couple of weeks left in his three year contract. The problem is that the three years of isolation have begun to leave its mark on him and he begins to suffer from hallucinations and finds himself often talking to himself and his plants. One day Sam encounters some problems outside of the station as he was trying to fix a mechanical harvester and suffers a head injury and is left unconscious. He awakes inside the station with GERTY attending him but has no recollection of how he got back to the base.  After Sam recovers from the injury he decides to visit the site of the accident and makes an astonishing discovery that makes him doubt about his sanity. He sees himself in the same place where he suffered the injury and decides to bring him back to the base. He begins to question his mind and his true identity and whether or not he has been cloned.

The movie really takes some interesting twists and turns making it very hard to predict. This is what makes Moon such a good sci-fi film, but it wouldn`t have worked if Sam Rockwell didn´t give such a great performance as he put on a one man show. He had to play two different kind of characters and it was very entertaining to see him deliver such a great performance. Kevin Spacey also was great as the voice of GERTY and it was impossible not to think about HAL from 2001 Space Odyssey. I really enjoyed this movie which raises a lot of questions towards the advances of science and will leave you thinking about some important issues which I don`t want to give away. It also focuses on the importance humans have of communicating with each other and having intimacy with other people in a similar way that Tom Hank`s Castaway did. This is a highly recommendable film which you should see if you`re not easily put off by the slow pacing of the film.

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My Review: Grown Ups (5/10)

¨We needed to be here. Our kids were turning into snotty, spoiled, little. This is what we needed. ¨

How can a film with so many talented comedians fail to deliver laughs? Grown Ups will only make you wonder more about this question because it is just one of those movies where talents go to waste. Adam Sandler, Chris Rock, Kevin James, David Spade, and Robert Schneider all have had lead roles and one would assume that so much talent combined would result in a hilarious movie, but it wasn`t the case because the material they had to work with wasn`t any good. They probably had so much fun working together that they focused on enjoying themselves instead of trying to write a better story or smarter jokes. Not even the talented actresses such as Salma Hayek, Maria Bello, and Maya Rudolph helped improve the movie. This is just another one of those movies that relies so heavily on having a star cast that it forgets that there are other important elements to making a film.  Great actors working together doesn`t necessarily mean that you will have a great movie. Adam Sandler and Fred Wolf wrote the screenplay for this film and it is so sad to see them rely on old jokes. There is nothing fresh about this movie and you can predict most of the jokes that are going to be told. I think that all the focus of the movie was put on the cast that they forgot to find decent material to work with and that is the main problem with Dennis Dugan`s film. Dugan has directed most of these actors in the past in You Don`t Mess with the Zohan, I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry, and The Benchwarmers.

The plot centers on a group of friends from a high school basketball team who reunite after several years at their coach`s funeral. Lenny (Adam Sandler) was the star of the team and is now a successful Hollywood agent. He is married to Roxanne (Salma Hayek), a fashion designer, and they have three kids. He is worried about his children who stay playing videogames all day and on their cell phones. Eric (Kevin James) is a restaurant co-owner, or so he says, and he also has two children and is married to Sally (Maria Bello). They have a four year old son who still breast feeds. Kurt (Chris Rock) is a stay at home dad, living with his children, mother in law, and wife, Deanne (Maya Rudolph). Marcus (David Spade) is probably the most immature of the group and he is still single. And finally there is Rob (Rob Schneider) who is married to Gloria (Joyce Van Patten) a much older woman who could very well be his mother. After the funeral Lenny decides to rent the cabin where the team celebrated their championship for the Fourth of July holiday weekend. The five friends spend some time together with their wives and kids and learn some important lessons in the process.

The plot is very poorly developed and this movie could have been so much better considering the cast, but it really fails by focusing on very lazy humor instead. It is like these guys were simply put together in the movie and let each one improvise. I am sure they had a great time making this movie, and had much more laughs than we did by watching it. Not even the supporting roles by Steve Buscemi, Tim Meadows, Colin Quinn, and Norm MacDonald were enough to save the movie. Grown Ups is just one of those movies where you have to grab your head and wonder how all this talent was put to waste. This just proves that having an all star cast doesn`t mean you can make a decent movie and that it is important to have good writers mixed in the process. This was really a huge disappointment considering I am a true fan of most of these actors and have laughed hard at so many of their movies. Either the material they had to work with is getting worse or I am just getting older and not finding some of these men as funny as I used to. I am still waiting for a decent comedy to come out this year and put a smile to my face.

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My Review: The Twilight Saga Eclipse (7/10)

¨You have a choice. I didn't. None of us did. But you do and, you're choosing wrong.¨

The Twilight saga continues with this third installment of the popular Stephanie Meyer novel, Eclipse, and I don`t think the film will win any new converts by now. You either liked the previous Twilight movies or you hated them and this third film will not change your opinion on them. So if you disliked the first two then stay away from this one, but if you liked them -like I did - then you won`t be disappointed with Eclipse. Yes, the movie continues with its cheesy dialogues such as ¨Isabella Swan I promise to love you every moment of forever, ¨ and awkward pauses such as ¨I kissed Bella (pause). And she broke her hand (pause). Punching my face (pause). It was a complete misunderstanding.¨, but the characters are what make us come back, the soap opera triangle love between Edward, Jacob, and Bella. The scenery and action scenes are also pretty well crafted.  This movie even plays a little with the audience and decides to use some humor. Bella`s difficulty to decide what she wants is getting kind of old and some of the same situations from the second part repeat themselves in this film so it doesn`t feel as fresh, but the film is entertaining nonetheless. Like in the previous two installments the screenplay for Eclipse was adapted by Melissa Rosenberg, but this time it was directed by David Slade (30 Days of Night and Hard Candy, the last one was a movie I enjoyed quite a bit in 2005) and he does a decent job at satisfying the hard core fans who really just want to see more of Jacob and Edward fighting for Bella.

The pace of the Twilight movies are so slow that there isn`t really much explaining to do with the plot that is pretty simple. Bella (Kristen Stewart) and Edward (Robert Pattinson) are graduating from High School and it is time for the Cullen family to move once again. They are planning on moving to Alaska and Bella is going with them. Meanwhile there are a series of murders taking place in Seattle and the Cullen`s suspect that the killings are being produced by a newborn vampire army. What they don`t know is that Victoria (this time played by Bryce Dallas Howard) is behind this army and is preparing them to attack Bella so that she can get her revenge on Edward for killing her partner.  Edward`s brother, Jasper (Jackson Rathbone), knows how to face this breed of vampires so he prepares everyone for the upcoming battle. The Cullen`s and the werewolves make an alliance in order to face the army because they both want to protect Bella. In the meantime Jacob (Taylor Lautner) declares his love for Bella and she has to decide who she wants to stay with, so the soap opera begins.

Kristen Stewart, Robert Pattinson, and Taylor Lautner have become overnight sensations with Twilight. Stewart is by far the most talented of the group as an actress and she has proven herself in other movies like Adventureland and The Runaways. She is also a pleasure to see on screen although her character in this film may become a little tiresome with all her indecisions, but that just proves how human she really is. The movie itself has become some sort of soap opera, but by now those of us that are hooked want to see the final outcome of the franchise. There is nothing new in this third installment and some elements can get old, but the action scenes make up for it in the final battle. This time the vampires and the Cullen family had more screen time, although I wasn`t a big fan of all the flashbacks which only served to make more time before we got to the final battle scene. If you come to think about it not much really happens in this movie and most everything could be told in 30 minutes since it serves as a kind of bridge to the next film. From the beginning we are left waiting for the final battle and the entire midsection of the film focuses on the love triangle, but the movie still manages to entertain because by now we are already drawn to the characters and used to the pace of the movie. I recommend this movie only to those who have enjoyed the previous two because it is more of the same, so let me state once again if you didn`t like the other films then save your time and stay away from this one.

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My Review: The Crazies (8/10)

¨Welcome to Ogden Marsh, the friendliest place on earth.¨

The Crazies will surely be a pleasant surprise for horror fans. This is a really well made horror/suspense movie that is actually hard to come across nowadays. It is by far the best scary movie of the year and will be very hard to top because it is very well made, the location is perfect, the cast is credible, and the timing of the film is excellent. The Crazies is actually a remake of George A Romero`s 1973 movie of the same title, which I never got around seeing, but critics are saying that this version is actually better than the original. The screenplay for the original was written by Romero and one of his closest friends, and in this remake a much more mature Romero is involved with the production of the film which probably contributed to the success of the movie. Breck Eisner (who directed Sahara) directs The Crazies and it is his best film to date. Hopefully he will get more involved with this dying genre and deliver some more scares in the future. The adapted screenplay was written by Scott Kosar (The Machinist and The Amityville Horror) and Ray Wright (Case 39 and Pulse) who really are one of the main reasons for the success of the movie because they created a convincing plot with believable dialogues, and that is an important part of a horror movie that has been missing in these films. There are also several frightening and gory scenes that will please fans of the genre, but for me the key was how the suspense was built from the beginning and kept until the very end with good performances from the cast.

The story takes place in a small town in Iowa called Ogden Marsh where the population is a little over one thousand. Most everyone knows each other in the town that is protected by the sheriff David Dutten (Timothy Olyphant from Hitman and The Girl Next Door) and his deputy Russell (Joe Anderson from The Ruins and Across the Universe). David`s wife, Judy (Radha Mitchell from Surrogates and Silent Hill) is the doctor of the peaceful town and they all seem to have a very good life. One sunny day when the boys are at a local baseball game one of the men walks into the field with a shotgun acting strange. David tells the boys to get off the field and he goes to confront the man who he is familiar with. David asks him to put down the shotgun, but the man just doesn`t seem to listen and continues to act in a strange manner. Suddenly he points his shotguns at David and the sheriff has no other alternative than to shoot him down. Everyone is shocked by what they have just seen, and the only explanation was that the man was drunk since he used to be the town drunk although he had been clean over the last couple of years. After that incident the people of Ogden Marsh begin to act strange, or should I say crazy in honor of the title, and they become a menace towards each other. David discovers that an airplane carrying some sort of biohazard weapon has crashed in the lake polluting the water and the virus has begun spreading in his town. To make matters worse the military has shut down their communication and quarantined the area.

The Crazies works really well as a suspense horror movie and has several frightening scenes. The most memorable one is the car wash scene, but there are also some very good ones at the quarantine tent, the hospital, a gas station, and at David`s house. The location for each one of the scenes contributed very well to the movie and Timothy Olyphant did a great job as the lead character. Joe Anderson also gave a good performance, but one of the flaws in the movie is how his character switches moods near the end of the film. Radha Mitchell is always a sure bet and she has done these frightening scenes in the past in Silent Hill. This movie was a real nice surprise for me and I really had a fun time watching The Crazies. It is hard to come across a movie like this nowadays, even more considering it is a remake, but this one is one of those rare movies that feel fresh and make the movie going experience a pleasant one.

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My Review: Green Zone (7/10)

¨Your government wanted to hear the lie Mr. Miller. They wanted Saddam out and they did exactly what they had to do. This is why you are here.¨

Paul Greengrass and Matt Damon have teamed up in the past before delivering the two blockbuster Bourne sequels which received a lot of critical acclaim and were box office hits. Greengrass was also nominated for an Oscar for his film United 93. Green Zone is his latest film, which isn`t as good as some of his previous work, but it is still a very solid political thriller with a good performance from the always reliable Matt Damon. The problem with Green Zone is that it came out a little too late because we have been bombarded with these Iraq War movies and audiences have grown weary of them. The Messenger and The Hurt Locker were exceptions because they focused more on the psychological impact of the war and stayed away from the political part, but Green Zone is a heavy political thriller. The movie never claims to be based on a true story so audiences have to understand that Greengrass is directing a fictional thriller which could be based on some solid conspiracy theories. From the many Hollywood movies that I have seen that claim to be based on true stories, I think this one could have said the same thing because it probably has some valid points, but you got to give credit to Greengrass who never claims such a thing and lets the audience decide whether they want to see it as a mere piece of fiction and enjoy the thriller or if they want to take into account the conspiracy theory. The movie was written by Brian Helgelund (who also wrote the screenplays for Robin Hood, Mystic River and Man on Fire) and it`s based on the book by Rajiv Chandrasekaran entitled Imperial Life in the Emerald City.

The story takes place in 2003 right after the Americans have invaded Iraq. Chief Miller (Matt Damon) and his men are in charge of finding the weapons of mass destruction (WMD). The problem is that every site they arrive at that supposedly hides the wmd`s are either empty or are old abandoned toilet factories. Chief Miller begins to suspect that the Intel that has been given to them is false and wants to know who the source of the information is. The man in charge of the military in Baghdad is Clark Poundstone (Greg Kinnear) who tells Miller that the source is trustworthy and that he just do his job without questioning him. When Miller hears CIA agent, Martin Brown`s (Brendan Gleeson) theory that there are actually no wmd`s in Iraq he begins to take his side on this and does some investigating of his own. He meets a NY Times reporter named Lawrie Dayne (Amy Ryan) who wrote some articles about a meeting between a high US official and a man code-named Magellan who is supposed to be the source of all the Intel. The problem is that Lawrie actually never met this man and only received the information from Poundstone and now that the weapons can`t be found she begins to question him. Miller realizes that all this could have been just an excuse for an invasion of Iraq and decides to investigate with the help of a local named Freddy (Khalid Abdalla from The Kite Runner) who serves as a translator and wants the best for his country. Together they begin uncovering some crucial information as the plot thickens.

Green Zone is a good movie, but Greengrass has set the bar too high with his previous films so I expected more from this. Matt Damon does a great job as the lead character and he is always a sure bet in an action film. Brendan Gleeson also gives a terrific performance as a supporting character and he is always good in these kinds of roles. Green Zone is a smart political thriller which can only be taken as a work of fiction, but actually opens your eyes and makes you question a lot of things that went on in Iraq. The conspiracy theory can be taken seriously, and the movie will raise your suspicions and want to make you become more informed about what actually went on Iraq. So the movie works  in that it serves as a tool for people to do some research and read some books on the subject, but you can`t base facts on this work of fiction. It only serves as a tool to make you question some things that went on. The problem is that the movie came out a few years too late and many people may have grown tired of this issue which has been highly exposed. That still doesn`t mean this is a bad film, so if you have a chance check it out because it is an entertaining political thriller.

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My Review: Hot Tub Time Machine (5/10)

¨One little change has a ripple effect and it effects everything else. Like a butterfly floats its wings and Tokyo explodes or there`s a tsunami, in like, you know, somewhere.¨

I was expecting The Hot Tub Time Machine to be this year`s The Hangover, but I was disappointed because I didn`t find this film funny at all. It had very few laughs and the only positive thing about it was John Cusack`s performance. There are some very few funny moments, but for the most part I was serious throughout. Perhaps my expectations were set a little too high because of the good reviews this film got, but it just didn`t work for me. I should have been warned just by the title itself. The film isn`t terrible, it`s just that I didn`t see anything different from the other comedies (puke jokes, poop jokes, etc.). At one point it even references Wild Hogs and to be honest with you this film felt like it as well. I didn`t enjoy the performances from the rest of the cast either like I did with last year`s The Hangover, I Love You Man, or Role Models. I am a big fan of comedies and usually like most of them, but this movie failed in my opinion. I guess I didn`t find the story all that interesting and perhaps couldn`t relate to the nostalgic feeling of the 80`s that the film brought for some. The story was written by Josh Heald as was the screenplay with the help of Sean Anders (director and writer of Sex Drive) and John Morris. Steve Pink, who is mostly known for writing the screenplay for another John Cusack film, High Fidelity, directed this picture.

The plot is pretty simple; three friends have grown apart from each other over time but an incident reunites them. Adam (John Cusack) is an insurance worker who has just been dumped by his girlfriend. Jacob (Clark Duke from Kick-Ass) is his nephew who lives in his basement and spends all day on his computer. One day Adam receives a call from Nick (Craig Robinson), one of his friends from his youth who is now married and working as a veterinarian having abandoned his dream of being a musician. Nick tells Adam that their friend, Lou (Rob Corddry from What Happens in Vegas), has been hospitalized for trying to commit suicide. In order to try to cheer Lou, Nick and Adam decide to take him to the ski resort they used to visit in their days. Once they arrive at the ski resort, which has been abandoned over the years, the four guys decide to get into a hot tub and get wasted. When they wake up they realize that they are in 1986 and they try to do exactly the same thing they did in the past so they don`t alter their future. The plot could have been much better, but the laughs are very scarce throughout the film.

For me the weakest thing about the film is the cast (with the exception of John Cusack who is charismatic) along with the plot which is pretty silly as well. I can understand why some people may have liked it for bringing some memories of the 80`s back, but it just didn`t work for me. The jokes aren`t very funny and there is even one scene in which Nick`s character says ¨It must be some kind of hot tub time machine¨ and stares directly at the camera, which really didn`t work and I still don`t understand the purpose of that scene which felt completely misplaced. The movie isn`t terrible either, but I wouldn`t recommend it. Comedies are probably the easiest to critique for me because I can measure them by how much they make me laugh and The Hot Tub Time Machine really delivers few of those, and it isn`t one of those comedies I would love to watch over and over again. The movie just relies on the same old jokes and the whole time travelling thing didn`t work for me, but a lot of critics have a different opinion from mine so this movie is one of those that clearly divides audiences and you might want to check it out and make your own conclusions.

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My Review: The Runaways (9/10)

¨I`m the fox you`ve been waiting for. Hello daddy, hello mom, I`m your ch, ch, ch, cherry bomb! Hello world, I`m your wild girl, I`m your ch, ch, ch, cherry bomb! ¨

The Runaways is a biopic about the first all-girl rock band from the 70`s with Cherie Currie as the lead singer and Joan Jett as the second voice and guitarist. The movie is directed by Floria Sigismondi, who is mostly known for directing music videos. Floria also adapted the screenplay for this film from Cherie Currie`s autobiographical book Neon Angel: The Cherrie Currie Story. What makes this an interesting movie is that Joan Jett actually produced this film so we have both views from the main stars of The Runaways that paved the way for other female rock bands in the future. I really enjoyed this biopic and found it one of the most entertaining films of the year so far thanks to a good screenplay and some great performances from the entire cast. The music in the film is also great and Dakota Fanning surprised me with her good vocals. I was not familiar with The Runaways before watching this movie, but I did recognize some of their songs. Cherie Currie might have received all the praise during those early years, but who later rose to fame was Joan Jett, and anyone familiar with the rock industry has heard of her. This is the story of the band she first played for before reaching true fame with Joan Jett and the Blackhearts. Whether you enjoy rock music or you don`t the movie still is worth your time because it has some great performances and is really well produced, and I guarantee you that by the end of the film you will want to read more about their story.

From a very young age Joan Jett (Kristen Stewart) had a dream of one day making history by forming the first all-girl rock band. Rock and roll was her life and it was a way to get away from all her troubles back home (which aren`t developed in this movie). One day she runs into the legendary music producer, Kim Fowley (Michael Shannon) who is seduced by her idea and introduces her to drummer Sandy West (Stella Maeve) so that they can start playing together. All the band really needs now according to Kim is a hot lead singer and they find in Cherie Currie (Dakota Fanning) the perfect one because of her David Bowie and Bridget Bardot look. Or as Fowley puts it: ¨I like your style. A little Bowie, a little Bardot, and a look on your face that says I could kick the shit out of a truck driver.¨ Since the film is based on Currie´s autobiography we do get some background about her family. She basically lives alone with her teenage sister, Marie (Riley Keough) because their mom has left with another man to Indonesia and their dad is an alcoholic. Cherie finds the perfect opportunity to pursue her dreams and joins the band. The movie begins exploring the early years of The Runaways and their rise to fame, along with some of the issues the band faced from arguments to drug addiction. Of course there are a lot of things that are left out in a two hour movie and the film doesn`t delve too much into the character`s past, but it works nonetheless as a biopic about the band.

Dakota Fanning and Kristen Stewart prove that they can act in more serious and independent roles and don`t have to rely on their star power or act only in blockbuster movies. They give really good performances in this film and are a major reason why this movie was so successful. It would not be fair to ignore Michael Shannon in this film, because his role as Kim Fowley was excellent. It was a supporting role, but he shines in every scene and is also a major reason why this movie worked so well. Yes, the movie does have its flaws because there isn`t enough time to delve in the characters past nor perhaps the real struggles that the band faced, but it is a great movie that will leave you wanting to learn more about their story. The Runaways has a pretty realistic and raw feeling to it and I think Floria Sigismondi did a great job as a first time full length director in this film and with the screenplay as well. I think this is a movie worth seeing whether you are a fan of rock or not. It reminded me a lot of Sam Raimi`s Control (a biopic about the 80`s band Joy Division) which a lot of people haven`t seen either.

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My Review: Greenberg (7/10)

¨Dear Starbucks, in your attempt to manufacture culture out of fast food coffee you`ve been surprisingly successful for the most part. The part that isn`t covered by `the most part` sucks.¨

This line pretty much sums up Ben Stiller`s character, Roger Greenberg, as a man who is going through a mid life crisis and seems to complain about everything in life. Noah Baumbach, known mostly for his award winning movie The Squid and The Whale, directed this film, wrote the screenplay for it, and co-wrote the story along with Jennifer Jason Leigh who had a small role in the movie as well. Baumbach`s films are known mostly for having very rich and interesting characters that are developed really well. In this movie the character study is done well, although not as good as in his previous movies. The main point of his movie isn`t the story, it has more to do with introducing us to these rich characters going through ordinary situations. The problem with this film is that the first half is pretty slow and it takes a while for us to take interest in the characters, but the second half picks up once we get to know them and perhaps even identify some of our friends with them. Ben Stiller plays a different role in this movie just like Adam Sandler did with Punch Drunk Love, or Jim Carrey in The Majestic so don`t expect a laugh  out loud movie or a Zoolander like role, because his character is pretty depressing, but Stiller still does a fine job.

Ben Stiller is Roger Greenberg, a man who is going through a mid life crisis and wants to sit back for a while and not do anything. He is angry towards society and finds a reason to complain about everything. If you ever worked at a company in the customer service department, then Greenberg would be the guy that keeps on sending those complaint letters. He is definitely unhappy about life and often wonders how different his life would have been if he signed that record deal with his band in his early 20`s. Roger has been living in NY, but he decides to return to LA to housesit his brother`s home who is leaving for Vietnam along with his wife and kids. In LA he befriends the family`s personal assistant, Florence Marr (Greta Gerwig), who has just come out of a long relationship and is about 15 years younger than him. She is nice and is going through that stage in life where she doesn`t know what her next step is going to be, but she admires Roger for not worrying about the conventions of society and feeling good with himself about not doing anything. The main point of the movie focuses on these two characters and their relationship, along with a few other supporting characters such as Ivan (Rhys Ifans), Roger`s friend and ex band member and apparently the only one who really talks to him because the rest are upset for him having broken off the deal with the record label.  The main purpose of the film is the character study of Roger, his relationships with Florence and Ivan, and the story is not the important factor.  

Greenberg might not be a film for everyone. It has a slow beginning and there is not much comedy or action going on. Fans of Baumbach will probably enjoy this movie, although they will find it a little less satisfying than his previous work. I still think this movie is very interesting and is worth a watch for the character study, Greta Gerwig`s performance, and for Ben Stiller who tries a different kind of role this time and does a good job. The pace of the movie is probably the weakest link, but it is still worth watching and seeing how these characters develop. Greenberg is a complex character, not a person we would really like to be friends with, but there is still something about him that we wish we could understand or comprehend. I tend to enjoy these psychological films and really ended up enjoying Greenberg, but I can understand how this movie might not be for all audiences. This is not your typical Hollywood movie with a fairytale happily ever after love story, but it is very realistic.

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