Yet another Steve Carell movie where the serious aspect weighs heavily on the comedy. That being said, I actually liked it... A lot! If you want to laugh and watch Steve and his normal antics then don't see this. If you want to watch a movie that will make you laugh, cry, feel awkward, contemplate suicide and rethink life, then come on over. And when I say "contemplate suicide" I mean it in a good way. Ryan Gosling (cinemas man of the year.. not official, I just made that up) was great as the ladies man that helps Carell find himself again. I would have to give it yet another 8 out of 10.  I really have nothing else to say about this movie except go see it. I definitely see some awards in its future. 

Where do I begin. Aside from  the mickey mouse operation they like to call a movie theatre near me not doing their job and having to see the movie elsewhere, I was very impressed. This was one of the better movies I have seen in a while. I love the original Planet of the Apes, so I had mixed feelings about what was to come, especially with the mediocre Mark Walhberg remake in 2001. 
Here is my list of questions that I had going in:
1) Is James Franco right for the role?
Yes, during the first 10 minutes, I couldn't take him seriously as an intelligent scientist capable of curing Alzheimer's. I was just waiting for him to pull out a Dutch,  roll a blunt with some apes and talk about space. Although that would be a great premise for another movie, it never happened. Instead, his character became so convincing, that I would trust Franco conduct his test-stage medicine on my own family members. 
2) will the CGI take away from the realism of the film?
Everyone knows when they are watching a movie with half-ass CGI. You feel like your watching a cartoon and it takes alot away from the story. Bad CGI can overshadow a great plot and potentially ruin an amazing movie. Rise of the Planet of the Apes displayed seamless graphics that were unnoticeable during the action. Click here to see how the CGI was done. (everything was done with real actors)
3) how will they ease into the apes learning to talk without turning this into Homeward Bound?
The apes learning how to speak was done very tastefully, and when it finally happens, you are almost not surprised. It wasn't just a matter of popping some pills and then spewing out the first verse of Hamlet. I actually believed that the apes became smart enough to pronounce certain words. 
 Overall I was very impressed, especially going in without high expectations. I give this movie an 8 out of 10. Seems a little generous I know, but i'm giving extra points for not ruining a classic. Allegedly they are set up fr a few more. If the next one in the series is executed at all like this one, we should be looking at a great franchise remake.

Today, July 8, 2011 Marks the 53rd birthday of the great Kevin Bacon. Any self respecting movie buff knows that Bacon makes everything taste better. Since his first small role playing Chip Diller in Animal House, Kevin Bacon has somehow created an image of himself as this Hollywood swagger case. He is still loved,  years after sexually assaulting some inner-city youths as Sean Nokes in Sleepers, has  shown that giant underground man-eating worms don't phase him in Tremors, and that he's not afraid to tap into his dancing repertoire in Footloose. Bacon has done a wide variety of roles, not just sticking to one character throughout his career like other people I know. Cough cough, Bruce Willis, Harrison Ford. (not saying they are bad actors, but u get it) Below I have organized a list of my top 10 favorite Bacon movies. Don't get mad when you don't see Animal House, I only judged the movies where he had a strong role. 

1.   A Few Good Men
2.   Sleepers
3.   Mystic River
4.   Wild Things
5.   The River Wild
6.   Apollo 13
7.   Tremors
8.   Footloose
9.   The Woodsman
10. Death Sentence

Agree or disagree, one thing is for sure; I have spent way too much time talking about Kevin Bacon....

Owen Wilson stars in the unforgettable comedy about a nostalgic married man who travels back to Paris in the 20's at midnight. Wow, can we please think of a worse story line for a movie? Midnight in Paris? Really? I would rather walk the streets of Compton at midnight then ever see this again . I will never know what possessed me to go see this movie. Owen Wilson, Rachel McAdams, how can we go wrong? Well we can go wrong, we can go very wrong. If you are a big fan of Ernest Hemmingway, Pablo Picaso, Salvatore Dali and other artists from the 20's humor, then this is the movie for you. But if you are really that bougie, I doubt that you live the life of someone who likes to leave the house to see a movie anyway. There were parts of the movie where you literally had to think about why they were funny. The jokes were all high brow references to famous painters and artists of the 20's. My second problem with the movie was the whole Paris setting. The French pretend to be sophisticated and look down on Americans. Basically, The French hate us, and we hate the French. We have different point of views on life, especially what will entertain and what wont. For example, They Give us a Statue that slowly turned green over time, we give them the Incredible Hulk. Sophisticated sometimes lingers on the border of boring and lifeless, and that would be the perfect way to describe this movie.  I will say that Rachel McAdams is gorgeous. Was that alone worth the money spent to go see this, I'm not sure. Overall I will give this movie a 4 out of 10, and that is being Generous. Dont waste your time with this one.

 I always love a good Cameron Diaz flick, but this one was unlike anything she has done before. In my days I have seen and heard many things, but this movie pushed the R rating to the brink. As far as nudity goes,  there wasn't much, besides the perfect pair of silicone mountains halfway through the film. Cameron Diaz's mouth, however, would need more than the Orbit girl to clean it up. It wasn't 5 minutes into the film before Cameron Diaz says, "Hey honey, Get your dick hard, cuz i'm going to suck it like i'm mad at it!" Yeh, it was that kind of movie, and I definitely wasn't expecting it. I thought I might get something like What Happens In Vegas or There's Something About Mary, where the worst part was worrying about how much semen Diaz would put into her hair. But no. Instead, I had to watch Justin Timberlake literally dry hump Cameron Diaz doggy-style in a hotel room. Lets just stop and talk about that for a second. I have never seen a movie where there is a full-on dry humping scene. No less a dry humping  where the guy finishes. And I loved it.  Hands down one of the best/funniest "sex" scenes I've seen in a while. Very original and to the point.  I wish Justin Timberlake was never in Nsync, because then I could like him as an actor more. He is a great comedian and really needs to be in more movies. I don't know what type of genre I would put this movie in, but I would certainly recommend it. Overall, I give it a 7 out of 10

     It has been rumored that Jim Carrey plans on making another Dumb & Dumber. No, not the horrible re-make Dumb & Dumberer, which was extremely hard to watch. There is a better chance of Harry getting back with Rita Felcher, than me ever watching that disaster again. I would love for Jim Carrey to do the respectable thing, and make sure that this idea is at par with the original before he goes ahead with it. I would hate to see one of my favorite comedian actors  take another horrible role (Fun with Dick and Jane, Mr. Popper's Penguins, Yes Man, etc...)
     I am however, very interested in what this new Dumb & Dumber would be about. Considering all of the original cast member are said to be coming back, who knows what we might get. Maybe a serious, yet funny plot of a Billy in 4C ( the blind kid) kidnapping.  Or maybe, Harry and Lloyd make amends with Sea Bass and start a bike gang. I dont know, Im not a writer. I would just love to see another great comedy that I can talk about, and quote for years to come. I can literally watch the first one right now and laugh the entire way through. In a perfect world, this movie will be as incredible as the first, but I have my doubts. After all, it is 17 years later and Jeff Daniels hasn't been in a comedic role since 101 Dalmations circa 96'. Please Prove me wrong, they really don't make comedies like they used to anymore. Lets just throw some salt over our left shoulder and hope that the Farrelly Brothers bring it hard. 

If I may be Frank for a moment....Ok I'm back.  Anyway. I can not understand those who walked out of the theatre dissappointed.  I get how one could not have loved it, but to hate it is incomprehensible to me.  X-men: First Class was everything I expected and more, and hands down the best of the four (IMHO of course). Between the directing, acting, cinematogrophy, and much, much more, this franchise could have 'TOTALLY REDEEMED THEMSELVES' from that botched job of a Wolverine prequel (hence why I didn't even include it along with the others above).  To start, the casting was incredible for this film.  Without a doubt Michael Fassbender stole the show, however, giving credit where credit is due; James McAvoy was a brilliant Charles Xavier.  Kevin Bacon???? Don't be fooled, he played an exceptional antagonist.

Aside from the effects and portrayal of the characters, I primarily went to see this movie for the history.  All throughout the trilogy we know that Magneto and Professor X have a long and strained relationship and are old friends. Yet, I yearned for the reason why. I never read the comics so this explanation was sufficient to my liking.  I also enjoyed the more subtle points/quips to their past (i.e. the seemingly never-ending chess game between the two or the reference to a balding Xavier).  Creation of Cerebro? Awesomeness. Might have been hard to catch but the first mutant shown was most likely a young Storm.  With that being said there were a few things I didn't like: (1) the fact that Moira gave the X-Men...the name of X-Men (supposed to be relevant to the mutant X-gene that humans do not possess). (2) Mystique abandoned Charles so quickly even if the young Erik Lensherr was ever-so charming. (3) The way Beast looked after the change. (4) That telepathy has become a more common mutant power. If Xavier is supposed to be such a strong mutant he should be [one of] the strongest. Emma Frost can transform to her diamond form and has telepathic ability. Jean Grey has telekinesis and the latter. (5) realizing I don't have the ability to control metal. But hey, for the few cons, a Wolverine cameo makes up for it.

So where do we go from here? I would like to see another bridge between First Class and the original X-men movie. Supposedly though, the next will be a sequel to The Last Stand (which will incorporate Moira again since an after credit scene has "Prof. X" speaking to her in a hospital bed per another body).  In either case, great start to everything. I enjoyed it much. For now, however, I'm out like Azazel. Poof. [lingering black smoke]

Changing the title of a movie and re-releasing it only months later, as if the first one never happened, is never a good idea. Unless, Mila Kunis is having sex with Justin Timberlake the entire time. We all know that they completely stole the idea, and didn't even wait an honorable amount of time. But who cares, is anyone really upset? Lets compare: 

Natalie Portman Vs. Mila Kunis
Portman is a great actress and has done great in every movie she's been in - Can't say the same about Kunis, but is it really about acting?
Portman still looked hot with no hair in V for Vendetta - Kunis made Meg from Family Guy hot.
Portman is real cute in an innocent way - Kunis can only be described as sexy.
Aston Kutcher Vs. Justin Timberlake. 
Kutcher is in all the new cannon commercials. OK, Justin Timberlake was in NSYNC! 
Kutcher has done some decent movies recently -  Seriously, Timberlake was in NSYNC!
Kutcher Is Married to Demi Moore - Timberlake's been banging 10's since the mickey mouse club


I think we should just compromise, and make one move called Freinds With Freinds with Benefits. Why not bring Mila and Natalie into the same movie, throw Justin into the mix, and then see what happens. Don't even make a plot, I think it will develop on its own.
 

        To start off, I'm not really sure what the difference is between 3D and RealD . To me, both just give me a massive headache by the end. What ever happened to just watching movies the way normal people do? If I wanted RealD, I would go watch Cats or something. ( is that still on Broadway?) Having said that, I actually enjoyed  watching Thor. Going in, I wasn't sure how I felt about a movie based around a guy wielding a hammer. I was wondering if maybe there might be a better choice of weaponry to save the world with. You know, something that wasn't made by Craftsman. It turns out, I was wrong, and the hammer was a great touch. With a decent story and great effects, the movie kept me entertained the entire time. The fight scene towards the beginning when Thor and his boys go over to fight the Ice Giants, was the most epic of the film. I wish there were more like that throughout , but I feel that they replaced great battles with Noise. That was literally the loudest movie I have ever seen. I think that a documentary on being inside a nuke would be easier to watch. I also wish that the setup story, as to why Thor ended up on Earth was shorter. I would have liked for him to get the hammer on earth a little sooner that he did. That didn't need to be dragged out as much as it was. If you like plot more than action, this is a great movie. Personally, when I go to see a "super-hero" movie I expect pure action and awesome effects. The effects were definitely there, but the action was a little lacking. Overall I give the movie a 7.5 out of 10. It is absolutley worth going to check out for yourself.