A Condor, Elevator Drama and a God of Thunder

So, here are some random films I've seen that I wanted to review...

THOR
Personally, I was not excited to see this movie.  I just wasn't.  In Marvel Comics, I'm a huge, huge X-Men fan, and I love The Fantastic Four.  I also enjoy The Avengers (thus, a love for Iron Man) and I dig Spider-man as well... but even though Thor is a member of The Avengers, I wasn't really pumped for this one.  Never been a big fan of Thor and his mythology...



That being said, I did enjoy the puddin' out of this movie.  Taking place on the mythological realm of Asgard, King Odin (Anthony Hopkins) is protecting the Nine Realms of the Universe, of which Earth is one.  Thor, Odin's son, is set to ascend to the throne when all sorts of things go bad, including an attack of The Frost Giants (a name so stupid its actually kinda cool, no pun intended) and a set-up for failure by Thor's brother Loki.  Anyone who knows the comics at all knows that Loki is bad news, so I know I'm not ruining it for anyone really. 

Thor ends up getting banned, and through a porthole in space (perhaps the best way to travel through dimensions), he ends up in New Mexico, right in the backyard of scientist Jane Foster (Natalie Portman) and her fellow scientists Darcy (Kat Stevens) and Dr. Selvig (Stellan Skarsgard).  Of course, all sorts of comic booky things ensue, and if you don't like X-Men, Spidey or Iron Man, you won't like this one...

However comma

Its a great movie.  Chris Helmsworth is fantastic as Thor, and Tom Hiddleston is perfect as the weaker, yet smarter Loki.  The effects are quite stunning, with the color and splendor of Asgard, the superhero explosions and superpowers you'd expect to find in a super hero movie, and to top it all off, the story is solid too.  Again, I wasn't expecting nearly as much as I got out of the movie. 

Even Natalie Portman was good--yes, we know she's a good actress, yes, we know she won an Oscar for "Black Swan", but in movies that aren't serious, she tends to mail her performance in (see:  prequels, Star Wars), but she actually isn't that bad.  Of course, there is stuff at the end of the credits, so stick around for that...

Something fun too, if you see the very end scene after Iron Man 2's credits, you'll see Thor's hammer, and if you look close, there's a little red truck.  You'll be able to spot that same red truck in a fun little scene near the beginning of the film--and there is even an Avenger cameo (look for the guy trying to take out Thor in the rain).

Bottom line... if you liked Iron Man and the Marvel Comics stories, you'll enjoy this one as well.

DEVIL
M. Night Shimalamala is at it again... this one, from the "mind" of M. Night Shimalamala, though directed by John Dowdle (who also directed the epic Quarantine, sarcasm included for free).   Now, after "The Village", I am a little wary about anything that M. Night Shimalamala comes up with... granted, "Lady in the Water", while no masterpiece, was actually a decent film, I will say "The Happening" should have never happened.  That movie was an atrocity of American cinema, so bad that its star, Mark Wahlberg, denounced it. 

One of the five is The Devil in human form.  Can you
guess who?  If you watch the movie, you kinda figure
it out.

Of course, "The Last Airbender" was also a commercial failure, and I personally have no interest in seeing it... but then, there's "Devil".

The premise is, five people are on an elevator when it stops... they each have a past, they each have sins they either are committing or have committed and haven't atoned for... the movie actually starts out with a narration that tells you that when he (the narrator) was a kid, his mama would tell him the story of The Devil.  The Devil would seek out individuals who have sinned on Earth, and take the form of a human, make his presence known by a death (the suicide at the beginning of the movie), then trap these individuals in a confined space (an elevator), make them turn on each other, and kill them off one at a time.  The last one to die will die in front of a loved one, but in the end, everyone dies. 

Thus begins our story... five people get into an elevator, and it gets stuck.  A detective is brought in due to the suicide, but he gets sucked into the elevator drama when bad things start happening in the elevator car.   And bad things start happening to the people who get sucked into the elevator drama.  Bad times all around, bad times indeed.

The movie itself isn't bad.  Its a tense film, with its suspenseful moment, though half way through I had deduced how it would probably turn out... moviegoers not as smart as I happen to be (wink wink) might not get it until closer to the end, but if you pay attention, you will figure it out long before the final moments.  Of course, the detective has his own backstory, and I just don't feel like I'm spoiling anything if I tell you that that backstory will intertwine at some point with the elevator drama.  It has to. 

Anytime one of the lead characters has something tragic happen to them in their lives, but happened to them before the movie takes place, more often than not that tragedy will directly affect their interaction with someone in that movie... sometimes even across multiple movies (as described in "Kung Fu Panda 2")
That's the way it works.

So, if you enjoy a suspenseful film with bad effects, kind of a hokey plot and a decent cast (I forgot to mention, the cast is actually solid... a bunch of no names and That Guys, but Bokeem Woodbine, Matt Craven and Chris Messina lead a great group), and a willingness to forget that according to The Word, this ain't how The Devil operates, then you might enjoy it. 

Just close your eyes when the words "PRODUCED BY M. NIGHT SHAMALAMALA" appear, and you'll feel better.

THREE DAYS OF THE CONDOR
Don't ask me why I watched this movie.  And don't ask me while I took the time to actually get it delivered on Netflix... I think I just heard it was good, and I put it in my queue. 

And.... it was pretty good.  Story goes that Robert Redford is a CIA Researcher in New York who returns back to his office to find everyone there has been killed... and had he not taken a back way out of the office to avoid traffic, he would have been one of them.  Suddenly, he realized he can't trust anyone, and everywhere he turns, people are dying.  The only ally he ends up with is a woman he befriends, Kathy, played by Faye Dunaway. 

Released back in 1975, it was directed by the late Sydney Pollack, who also directed "The Firm", "Tootsie" and "Out of Africa", and it does have that very dated feel to it.  The movie seems like it drags on a bit too long, perhaps 20 minutes or so, but overall, not bad.

So, to sum up, if you are looking for a great flick to catch at a matinee, then go check out "Thor"... and if you are looking for anything to watch and find "Devil" on Starz, or "Three Days of the Condor" on AMC, then give it a few minutes.

The Summer of Blogging Day Twenty 

Movie Review "X-Men : First Class"

This last week I saw the new X-Men movie. It's called "X-Men: First Class", and I love it! I couple of weeks ago I won a cinema ticket at my job, for one of the Agents with the best Quality phone call of the week (100%) (there was a competition going on, in order to motivate us to do better phone calls). Anyways, I went with Plamina to watch the movie, I was super exited, from all these Americans Super Heroes cartoons, the X-Men saga always been my favourite >.< (I mentioned Americans, 'cause if I bring Japanese Anime to the competition, I would say Drangon Ball... Son Goku can kick anybody's ass... I'm just saying). 

As the title says "First Class" this movie will be about the beggining of X-Men, how did it all started, how did Magneto met Professor X, and that those 2 were actually friends in the beginning, and that Mystique had the Beast had a crush on each other for a while. This movie might not have as much action as the other 4, but still is pretty good, and as far the evaluation on IMDB website goes it is the best one from all X-Men movies. Since I'm in Czech Rebuplic, LUCKLY the movie wasn't dubbed, it was in english with czech subtitles, but the problem then was, some parts of the movie were happening during Hitler's time... so that meant German, and other parts happened in Russia.... sssooo Plami had to translate these parts for me, she's from Bulgaria, but she speaks fluent German, aaannnndd I reckon Bulgarian is not to far away from Russian, they have similar letters and everything XD, I kid, I kid the Russians... but the truth is that she understood some of it :p. Some of the caracthers I already new them, Professor X, Magneto, The Beast, Mystique, but the rest I didn't knew them at all (not as far as I can remember from the cartoons time). Oh did you know that Lenny Kravitz daughter, Zoë Kravitz, is also in these movie? Her carather is Angel Salvadore. 

As I was wating for X-Men movie, some trailers showed in the beggining, and the next movies I wanna see are Harry Potter (the last one :[ ) and Transformers 3.

Sooooo have you seen these X-Men movie? What you thought of it? Here is the Trailer, enjoy it.

Erik Lehnsherr aka Magneto

Professor Charles Xavier aka Professor X

Raven Darkholme aka Mystique

Hank McCoy aka The Beast

Janos Quested aka Riptide

Sean Cassidy aka Banshee

Alex Summers aka Havoc

Emma Frost

X-Men : First Class (2011)

Director: Matthew Vaughn

Writing Credits: Ashley Miller, Zack Stentz, Jane Goldman, Matthew Vaughn, Sheldon Turner, Bryan Singer

Music by: Henry Jackman

Movie Review "X-Men : First Class"

This last week I saw the new X-Men movie. It's called "X-Men: First Class", and I love it! I couple of weeks ago I won a cinema ticket at my job, for one of the Agents with the best Quality phone call of the week (100%) (there was a competition going on, in order to motivate us to do better phone calls). Anyways, I went with Plamina to watch the movie, I was super exited, from all these Americans Super Heroes cartoons, the X-Men saga always been my favourite >.< (I mentioned Americans, 'cause if I bring Japanese Anime to the competition, I would say Drangon Ball... Son Goku can kick anybody's ass... I'm just saying). 

As the title says "First Class" this movie will be about the beggining of X-Men, how did it all started, how did Magneto met Professor X, and that those 2 were actually friends in the beginning, and that Mystique had the Beast had a crush on each other for a while. This movie might not have as much action as the other 4, but still is pretty good, and as far the evaluation on IMDB website goes it is the best one from all X-Men movies. Since I'm in Czech Rebuplic, LUCKLY the movie wasn't dubbed, it was in english with czech subtitles, but the problem then was, some parts of the movie were happening during Hitler's time... so that meant German, and other parts happened in Russia.... sssooo Plami had to translate these parts for me, she's from Bulgaria, but she speaks fluent German, aaannnndd I reckon Bulgarian is not to far away from Russian, they have similar letters and everything XD, I kid, I kid the Russians... but the truth is that she understood some of it :p. Some of the caracthers I already new them, Professor X, Magneto, The Beast, Mystique, but the rest I didn't knew them at all (not as far as I can remember from the cartoons time). Oh did you know that Lenny Kravitz daughter, Zoë Kravitz, is also in these movie? Her carather is Angel Salvadore. 

As I was wating for X-Men movie, some trailers showed in the beggining, and the next movies I wanna see are Harry Potter (the last one :[ ) and Transformers 3.

Sooooo have you seen these X-Men movie? What you thought of it? Here is the Trailer, enjoy it.

Erik Lehnsherr aka Magneto

Professor Charles Xavier aka Professor X

Raven Darkholme aka Mystique

Hank McCoy aka The Beast

Janos Quested aka Riptide

Sean Cassidy aka Banshee

Alex Summers aka Havoc

Emma Frost

X-Men : First Class (2011)

Director: Matthew Vaughn

Writing Credits: Ashley Miller, Zack Stentz, Jane Goldman, Matthew Vaughn, Sheldon Turner, Bryan Singer

Music by: Henry Jackman

This Week in Blog

Didja miss something being posted this week? 

Here's your chance to have some weekend reading during The Summer of Blogging...

Day Six... Its a recap of Days 1 to 5, so you can start from the beginning!

Day Seven... "A Review of Pirates and Mutants"... movie reviews on the newest Pirates film and X-Men First Class

Day Eight... "My Yard Goes Disney"... thoughts on the newest HGTV show, featuring people that have too much time on their hands

Day Nine... "Feelin' Funky"... A random email of encouragment from 2001, using Susan Ashton's "I Go Down" as a message for the power of prayer in poopy times

Day Ten... "The Best Show You've Never Heard"... Wondering what The Deucecast is?  You'll find out by reading this post.

Day Eleven... B@d Movie Trio... Three terrible films that I watched so you don't have too

Next week on the Summer of Blogging... The Deuce Remembered... more of the best of 2010... and OJ Simpson...

The Summer of Blogging Day Twelve

A Review of Pirates and Mutants

Summer of Blogging, Day Seven

Here are the two movies I saw this past weekend... did you see them? 

Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides

This film is really getting mixed reviews from people I know who have seen it--some people love it, some people didn't like it at all, and still more people are just sort of "eh" about it...

I didn't love it.  But I liked it a whole lot.  See, I'm not sure what people want out of the Pirate movies anymore... the first one was brilliant, currently residing as my 103rd favorite film of all time... it was funny, it was original, it was irreverent and unusual, and Johnny Depp had never been cooler.

And like most people, I thought "Dead Man's Chest" and "At World's End" were convoluted, too long, complicated and tried to do way too much--in other words, not very good.  And maybe that's where people's expectations are coming from, they don't want a repeat of #2 and #3, but somehow are disappointed in "On Stranger Tides", even though it is nothing like the 2nd and 3rd films.

"On Stranger Tides" follows a basic storyline with a few subplots that are kept close to the main story.  Ponce de Leon's Fountain of Youth is the prize this time around, and everyone wants it, from Spain to England to Blackbeard the Pirate, played in earnest by Ian McShane.   So they all set out on a quest, with Blackbeard basically holding our beloved Capt. Jack Sparrow hostage, though threats aren't the only thing keeping him there... there is his long, lost love, Angelica (Penelope Cruz), who is Blackbeard's first mate--and daughter. Wait... what?

Among Blackbeard's crew is a few new random characters, including a "cleric", or a "man of God", that Angelica is keeping close to help her father's soul, and along the way, they even pick up a mermaid!  Yes, there is a bit of supernatural in this film, much like the rest, along with some voodoo and some other magic.

Geoffrey Rush's Capt. Barbossa comes back, leading the English army to find the Fountain of Youth, though he has his own motives for wanting to find it... the big ship battles we are used to in the other films are missing in this one, and the swordplay is actually not as prevalent either, though the action and escape sequences are pretty awesome.

Is it as good as the first film?  No.  Don't expect it to be, don't expect it to be anything like that.  In fact, there isn't a whole lot of this film that even connects to previous films, save for the fact its about pirates, there is Barbossa, Jack Sparrow and his first mate Gibbs shows back up... oh, and that little annoying monkey makes an appearance.

Sit back, enjoy the film, stop trying to compare it to the other three (not as good as the first, better than the second, much better than the third), and just have fun.  Please. 

This film was shot in 3D, but not entirely... the special effects were done in 2D, then rendered in 3D afterwards to keep costs down, but my recommendation really is to just see it in 2D.   Mostly because I am not a huge fan of the 3D movement, and out of the dozens of movies released in 3D in the last few years, I've only seen a handful in that format, and only two--Avatar and Toy Story 3--were worth the extra dough.

Oh, real quick--to the credit of "At World's End" and "Dead Man's Chest", I have only seen them once each.  It might be unfair to categorize them as bad films when I've only seen them once, so while I don't remember leaving the theaters thinking "awesome!", I also did what you did, and compared them both to "Curse of the Black Pearl".  Perhaps they all three warrant a re-watch.


X-Men: First Class

If you are a comic book fan, or a fan of the other X-Men films (I loved X-Men and X2: X-Men United, and I though X3: The Last Stand and X-Men Origins: Wolverine were decent enough), then you have to dispense of one word in order to enjoy this movie...

Continuity

Throw that word out.  Open the door and chunk it into the road.  I say that because if you get caught up on that, you'll find yourself thinking "That's not how Xavier ended up in a wheelchair!  He ended up in a chair because that alien Lucifer dropped a rock on his legs!" or "Wait... how is Emma Frost an adult here, when in X-Men Origins: Wolverine, a movie that was set in the last few years, Emma is just a kid?" or "Hold on, hold on, you mean to tell me that in X3: The Last Stand, both Xavier and Erik go and see who is a young Jean Grey at her house, supposedly 20 years before the events of the movie which came out in 2006, which means its 1986, but in this scene, Xavier is still walking and BFFs with Magneto, but in X-Men: First Class takes place mostly in 1962 and tells the story of Xavier and Magneto's friendship and how they end up on opposing sides, and Xavier ends up in a wheelchair... what the heck?"

So, dispense with that. 

Now that you aren't worried about that nonsense (okay, its not nonsense, because I'm a stickler for details when it comes that stuff), then sit back and love this movie like I did. 

"X-Men: First Class" tells the story of Charles Xavier, who would later become Professor X, leader of the X-Men, and Erik Lensherr, who would later become metal controlling Magneto.  As you know, Professor X loves the human race, and believes that peace through diplomacy and understanding is possible.  And you also know that Magneto thinks that mutants are the dominant life form, and that they hold the power to take over the planet and enslaving a human race that hates mutants.

Sebastian Shaw and Emma Frost plot your torturous demise

The film shows their beginnings and finally their introductions, and shows off a villain that had been mostly unseen through all the previews, so much so that I didn't even know Kevin Bacon was in this film until about a week ago.  He plays Sebastian Shaw, a mutant bad guy (not the actor who portrayed the unmasked Darth Vader in Return of the Jedi) who in the comics is the leader of The Hellfire Club (which also includes Emma Frost), though "Hellfire Club" is only mentioned once in this movie.   Kevin Bacon is outstanding, which is typical for him, and the mutants he surrounds himself with, like Azazel (in the comics, the father of Night Crawler) and Riptide (who I'd never heard of until today) are pretty cool.

So, Sebastian Shaw is up to no good, giving a revisionists history to the events leading up to, and causing, the Cuban Missile Crisis, so Erik and Charles go out and find young mutants to help them defeat Shaw--like Alex Summers/Havoc (who in the comics is the brother of Scott Summers, aka, Cyclops, who is unseen in this movie)... and Angel Salvadore (who calls herself Angel in this film, though we know that the real Angel is seen in X3: The Last Stand, and in the comics, she's actually called "Tempest", and is known for her romantic relationship with Beak, an X-Man that I despised for just being plain stupid...)

Where was I?

After having only one major starring role, its good to see Beast getting
some work again. 

Oh yeah, the good guys... there's also Banshee and Beast (who is shown to go from human to blue, hairy form here, even though in X2: X-Men United he's shown briefly as a news commentator and then in X3: The Last Stand, Hank McCoy is shown in the human form of Dr. Frasier Crane, but there's that continuity thing again) and of course, the lovely, blue Mystique, played seductively by Rebecca Romijn-Stamos in the first three films (and has a cameo here) and played wonderfully by Jennifer Lawrence in "First Class".

My problem with reviewing comic book films is that I want to just give you, the reader, way too much info about the comics and the characters when really, you want to know "Was the movie good or not?"

Yes.  It was good.  It was, in fact, great.  The story was easy to follow, the good guys were easy to like, the bad guys were easy to hate, and both James McAvoy (Charles Xavier) and Michael Fassbender (Magneto... if you told me that Fassbender and Ewen McGregor were brothers, or actually the same person, at least in this movie, it wouldn't take much to convince me) are fantastic in their roles.  I found myself wanting the movie to continue a little longer, if only to find out what happens to the characters, and for someone who's constant complaint about movies is "it was about 10/20 minutes too long", that is a high compliment. 

Oh, and lest we forget January Jones as Emma Frost.  Isn't she just a cutie-patootie...

Liked Pirates, loved X-Men: First Class.

The 100 Coolest Things of 2009... Introduction & What Didn't Make It

I ask the question again, for the fifth straight year... What makes something "cool"?  Everyone's answer is different, but for me, its one of those "you'll know it when you know it" kind of things.  For the fifth straight year, I've made my list of the 100 coolest things of the past year... music, movies, people, places, food and anything and everything I could think of. 

The list ended up being close to 200 different things... I cut many of them immediately, as they had no chance of making the list ("Watchmen" came to mind), then I made three catagories... The Coolest, Mid-Cool and Just Cool.  Then divided up the leftover 137 things I had listed into where they belonged--the top of the list, the middle of the list, the bottom of the list.  I ranked them one by one, made several moves, then had a final column of the 48 things that didn't make the list.

And, in no particular order, here are the 37 things that almost, but didn't quite, make the list... Tim Tebow... "Public Enemies"... "District 9"... "Night at the Museum 2: Battle of the Smithsonian"... Colleen Earnest... Phil Earnest... Ken Jeong (left, as featured in "The Hangover")... Leslie Mann... Jamie Cartledge... "2012"... Lisa Murphy... WWE: Raw... Investigative Discovery... Hulu... "Right Round" by Flo Rida... "Appaloosa"...  The trip to Dahlonega, GA... "The Pelican Brief" by John Grisham... "The Taking of Pelham 1-2-3"... "The House Bunny"... "He's Just Not That Into You"... KT Baby... "Man vs Food"... "Race to Witch Mountain"... "17 Again"...  "Terminator: Salvation"... "Confessions of a Shopaholic"... "High School Musical" Theme Song... "The Notebook"... "X-Men Origins: Wolverine"... Netflix Watch Now option... "Prep & Landing"... "A Christmas Carol"... "Sherlock Holmes"... "The Wrestler"... "Couples Retreat"... Jeffery Dean Morgan in "Watchmen"

Now I'm not going to tell you what was 101st, nor am I going to allude to what was 137th... but, starting in the next day or so, I'm going to give you, one by one, the 100 Coolest Things I found about 2009... some of them are repeats from previous years, some of it is older stuff that I discovered in 2009, and some of it is brand new things that I enjoyed this year as it presented itself to me.

Curious about what's been featured before?  Here's a quick page giving a rundown of 2005, 2006, 2007 and 2008's coolest things of those particular years...

So, sit back, relax, and check back soon for the annual year in review...

Jennifer Garner & the McGriddle Effect (reviews on Wolverine and other selected films)

It's really late, and I'm kinda tired after pushing the magic all day long at The Happiest Place in the Mall. But... we have a house guest coming on Monday, and The Lovely Steph Leann is in full-clean mode, meaning I'll have lots to do tomorrow night when I get home from work. So, I figured it would be as good a night as any to discuss the recent flicks I've seen... starting with...

"X-MEN ORIGINS: WOLVERINE"
Personally, despite the mixed reviews from critics, I thought this film was pretty good. Was it as good as the first "X-Men"? No. Was it as good as "X2: X-Men United"? No. Was it as good as "X-Men: The Last Stand"? Better.

Essentially we see a young James Howlett and a young Victor Creed, half brothers in the film (though in the comics they are unrelated), growing up together. James, who would eventually be Wolverine, and Victor, who would eventually become Sabretooth, grow up together, fighting in both World Wars and Vietnam, before eventually being roped into a special team of ops with other mutants to do some dirty work for the military. While Victor loves the violence and the chance to bear his claws, James, who takes on the name "Logan", has enough and walks out.
So it comes to pass that... well, they end up fighting. There's a chick involved, the leader of the special ops force--General Stryker--is a bad guy, and there is lots and lots of cool comic book action.


This is one of the coolest movie posters of the summer, with (L-R) Deadpool, Gambit, Wolverine, Sabretooth & Kayla Silverfox. I will now go and adjust my pocket protector, watch C-SPAN and do long division for fun.

The Colin Firth Club Member in good standing, Hugh Jackman, reprises his X-movie role of Wolverine, and does a great job at it. I even think of Hugh when I read the comics now... a great part, though, is Liev Schreiber playing Victor Creed, aka Sabretooth, though I don't remember him actually being called Sabretooth in the movie. I was surprised by how much I enjoyed Ryan Reynolds as the mutant Deadpool, and of course, Gambit (Taylor Kitsch) was awesome. I had heard that Gambit was supposed to be in the 2nd X-Men film, but for budgetary reasons was left out.

You'll also see a young Scott Summers (Cyclops) and a cool appearance by Emma Frost, who was rumored to be played by Sigourney Weaver, had Bryan Singer remained to direct the last film.

If you aren't a comic person, or didn't like any of the aforementioned X-Films, then "Wolverine" is not your bag, baby... it truly does take a hold of the X-Lore and try to play it out onscreen.

"GHOSTS OF GIRLFRIENDS PAST"
Now, I like a fun chick flick as much as the next guy... well, I guess it depends on the guy, but seriously, in the top twenty of The Dave100, there are no less than five chick flicks there. I try to always mention that when I talk about a chick flick, as you might think that I would be biased against it just cause I am a guy...


Sandra and Connor spar over the fallen, broken wedding cake

...that being said, I kinda liked this film. I mean, its not going to end up on the 100 Coolest of 2009, I'm sure, but its one that if it came on cable, I may or may not stop to watch.
The premise is this... Connor Mead (played by Wooderson) is this guy who loves women, loves being with women and loved breaking up with women when he's done. As predicted, there is one girl who has always had his heart, and that would be Jennifer Perotti (played by Jennifer Garner)..

...by the way, I cannot figure out if I like Jennifer Garner or not. I mean, I liked "13 Going On 30" well enough, and though I thought "Elektra" was terrible, she at least was a shining point in a dismal film... but as for how she looks, she's either incredibly hot or incredibly unattractive. Its the McGriddle Effect. I'm either really attracted to her, or I'm really, really not. I don't think there's an in between. Where was I?

Well, Connor Mead shows up for his brother's wedding weekend (Breckin Meyer, who is the lead singer for the band LoveBurger and a pretty funny actor, plays the brother, and Lacey Chabert, who I have no problem admitting I think is incredibly hot) and of course, calamity ensues. Enter Uncle Wayne, played by a so-creepy-he's-hilarious Michael Douglas, who has been dead for years, but comes back to tell Connor that there will be three ghosts visiting him to help him change his ways... the ghosts of girlfriends past, present and future... and you see where this is going, I'm sure.

Anyway, there is no new ground being broken here, the take on "A Christmas Carol" has been done before and better, but all in all, its an enjoyable film for lighthearted, I-dont-wanna-think-too-hard kinds of afternoons. I say afternoon because this is recommended as a matinee, not a $9.25 evening show... or even better, wait for the dollar theater. And tell me what you think of Jennifer Garner. Cause I just don't know.


When I mentioned Jennifer Garner to someone as pretty, they said "Really? She's got a 'horse face'!" I thought that was really mean, then I thought, "But... I can see that..."

"SALEM'S LOT"
Just finished watching the 1979 mini-series on dvd. Read the book three times, it might be overtaking "It" as my favorite King book (though I'm reading "It" now for the first time in almost 20 years, so we'll see), and saw the pretty lackluster movie with Rob Lowe from a few years ago, so I figured I'd put the old one on Netflix. It came a few days ago, and I finally got around to watching it.

It sucked.

"17 AGAIN"
Anyone under 25 or so will probably enjoy this movie more than people over 25. People under 25 have no concept of Tom Hank's brilliant "Big", or perhaps they've only seen it on Comedy Central, or because they are dating someone over 25 who said, "Oh, you have to watch this film!". But those under 25 certainly won't remember "Vice Versa", or "18 Again" or "Like Father, Like Son" or "Dream a Little Dream", and its a good chance that those over 25 might have to strain to remember those classics starring... Fred Savage & Judge Reinhold ("Vice Versa")... George Burns & Charlie Schlatter ("18 Again")... Dudley Moore & Kirk Cameron ("Like Father, Like Son", which admittedly I had forgotten about until I started looking for movie links and found it)... and seriously, who could forget the Oscar nominated, Golden Globe winning efforts of not only Corey Haim but ALSO Corey Feldman in "Dream a Little Dream".

Of course, the granddaddy of all of these switch 'em up movies was "Freaky Friday", starring a young Jodie Foster, excellently remade in 2003 with a then-sane Lindsay Lohan and a pre-Activia Jamie Lee Curtis.

I mention all of this to remind you that this whole young-to-old-to-young plotline is not new. "17 Again" gives you what you've seen before, but in a slightly different way. The older guy this time is played by Chandler Bing, and to be taught how good is life is, he much transform into a younger guy, played by Colin Firth Club intern Zac Efron, and go back to high school. Now, sarcasm aside, I actually thought this movie was pretty funny... there are two reasons why I like this movie:

1) Thomas Lennon. He plays the nerdy, geeky, gawky Ned (who names their kid Ned? I mean, really?) who somehow is best friends with Zac's cool Mike (this would never happen, by the way), and grows up to be a rich software developer who lives in his geekdom apartment. For me, Lennon steals every scene he's in.
2) Leslie Mann. Its no secret that I'm in love with Amy Adams. However, I could easily remove "Amy Adams" from that sentence and easily slip in "Leslie Mann".


Every time she's in a movie, she's wonderful. And gorgeous.

To sum up, "17 Again" is worth a viewing, because even though you've been down this road before, its not a bad trip. Another film you could pay a buck for and not feel bad.

(pardon me while one of my favorite parts of The #1 film on The Dave100 plays on television right now... can't turn away...)

(...and I'm back)

"FAST & FURIOUS"
Oh. My. Gosh. Where do I even start?

This is perhaps the silliest, stupidest, most unintentionally funny movie this side of "An Inconvenient Truth"... from the very first moment of this movie, I was giggling.

When I was at Troy State, we knew this guy named Mike who was a TKE. Now, TKE's were kind of the joke frat at TSU (Can't go Greek? Go Teek. Can't go Teek? Go home!), and Mike was no exception. He wanted to be liked so badly, he wanted people to look at him, and chicks to love him and he wanted people to know how cool he was. In order to do this, he liked to walk around, come to lunch at SAGA and sometimes go to class... with his shirt off. The guy was pasty white, and though he definately was built (I would never say these things to his face), we all got a laugh out it, because he took himself sooooo seriously.

This movie is like Mike at TSU. It so desperately wants you to like it, it will do all the things it thinks you will think is cool, and yet, you will end up just laughing at it.

Vin Diesel cannot say more than two or three multi-syllabic words in a single sentence, and absolutely cannot speak above a low growl. Every single one of his lines is spoken in a low growl... "I'm going to make them pay for this..." Low growl. "You killed Letty. I'm going to kill you..." Low growl. "Mia, do you have any 2% milk..." Low growl.

Essentially, there is this crazy nutzoid gas stealing scene at the very beginning, where Dom and Letty and the gang try to swipe a few tanker trucks of oil as it drives down the highway--I mean, lets not pull the guy off of the road with a shotgun aimed at his head, nay, let's toss Michelle Rodriguez on a moving 18 wheeler to unhitch the trailers.


Vin and Paul, in all their cheesy glory

Anyway, she dies, Dom gets angry, he re-teams with Paul Walker to infultrate the bad guy gang and get the guy who killed her and so on and so on... whatever. The plot here is not important.

Look, this movie can be summed one in two lines of dialogue... so, Paul Walker and Vin Diesel are standing on a cliff, on the US side, overlooking the Mexican border. Paul Walker, the special agent, leaned up against his hot rod, looks at Vin Diesel and says, "This is where my jurisdiction ends." Vin, who never takes his eyes off the Mexican town below, says, in a low growl, "...This is where my jurisdiction begins."

I laughed so hard the people two rows in front of me turned their heads a little toward me.

AND FINALLY...
As you can probably guess, I'm pretty excited for "Up", and "Terminator Salvation" and "Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian" (which has Amy Adams, whom I'm in love with) and of course, the new Harry Potter flick... but here's a trailer for one that you may not know about, and I'm kinda anxious to see it... its got a sorely missed Nia Vardalos, my favorite Greek actress of all time in a brand new movie...