Early Review: THE LOVELY BONES

Watching Peter Jackson's The Lovely Bones is like dreaming. Sometimes you feel like what is happening is of the most dire importance of your life, and other times you are barely paying attention. Sometimes you begin to space out as the scenes drag on, and other times your leg jerks uncontrollably as your brain experiences psychological panic. And every now and then, you go from idea to idea, scene to scene, and though everything seems disconnected and random, you never really think about it until you have woken up.

Review: THE MEN WHO STARE AT GOATS

I often forget why George Clooney is so famous. Every now and then when a trailer for one of his movies pops up, I think to myself, this guy?

Review: WHERE THE WILD THINGS ARE

Some people will argue this is the best film thus far of 2009. I am almost inclined to agree.

Spike Jonze did an absolutely superb job on this one folks, and I really mean that. Where the Wild Things Are captures all the spirit of its childrens book counterpart without any of the cheesiness you would expect, and a surprising amount of drama. Who knew that Hollywood still has the ability to produce raw emotion?

Review: I HOPE THEY SERVE BEER IN HELL

After I returned from the San Francisco premiere I procrastinated writing this review to let it stew over for a day and I've found it didn't make a difference.

I Hope They Serve Beer in Hell is, for those of you not currently 18-25 years of age, based off of the best selling book by the same name. Perhaps the most reprehensible piece of popular literature I've ever read, the novel is a compilation of the many adventures of one Tucker Max (the author and main character of the book). Tucker is a prick. Tucker thinks with his dick. And Tucker sticks anything and everything because he is slick. He also may be a genius; the single greatest embodiment of self indulgence ever documented. And, as he points out, it is the fact that he is shameless enough to share these things with us that we forgive him and even admire him.

Review: THE TIME TRAVELER'S WIFE

This movie was almost there. It just about had everything it needed to be great. In most cases, this would only set a movie back a couple notches, but in a film like The Time Traveler's Wife, all the pieces need to be in order; no matter what order they are in.

Review: THE TALE OF DESPEREAUX

I have not seen an animated film like this in a long time.

Watching Despereaux is like watching an old fairy tale animated movie classic. There is a hero that is not yet a hero who goes on a quest becoming the hero he was always meant to be along the way. While this story has been told in almost every animated movie, Despereaux is different. They don't go for the jokes, pop culture gags, and fart humor. They tell a story and if a joke happens to come out of it then all the better. Finally, this gives an animated movie a full story, one we haven't heard or seen in a while.

Despereaux is the tale of a mouse with large ears who isn't afraid of anything. He lives in the Kingdom of Dor, which has always loved Soup and Rats (?). One day though, a rat ruined the soup, causing the death of the queen - and leading to both being banned from the kingdom. Years later (apparently - cause nobody ever seems to age) tiny Despereaux is set with the task of bringing all of these things back with the intent of being accepted into his community in the process.

This is not done with out flaws.

You never catch the name of any character besides Despereaux, there are a few too many plots happening at the same time, and the ending just seems to happen coincidentally - not for any real reason or chain of events. It just wraps up to nicely. Also there is a terribly overbearing Narrator - voiced by Sigourney Weaver, who chimes in literally every five minutes with a new moral to say - but then taking it back later so the next moral will make sense. It gets annoying fast.

However, the art is astounding. The backgrounds are some of the highest quality I have ever seen, and while the character animation and models are nothing special, they do have a certain charming aesthetic to them. Especially the rats, the leader of which looks so much like Anton Ego from Ratatouille, it is absurd.

Overall I enjoyed the movie a lot, but it could have been better. It certainly is a film that the whole family can enjoy though, and hopefully other studios take a tip from the key points of what made Despereaux good, and don't just gawk about what is missing.

Review: YES MAN

Since I was about six years old, Jim Carrey has been, to me, the pure, physical manifestation of perfect, comedic acting. I grew up treasuring Liar Liar and the Ace Ventura series. Bruce Almighty proved he still had it in him, and, to this day, he has never let me down. I'm one of those fans who believes he even does a great job in his more dramatic roles like Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind and The Majestic. Even though I didn't particularly like The Number 23, I still thought he was great. Jim Carrey has truly never let me down. He's one of a kind. He's a master.

He's, in a word, majestic.

I Don't Think I'll Revolt

Finally, a book to movie adaptation that I am not deathly afraid of.

As a hardcore fan of C.D. Payne's Youth In Revolt, it would be difficult to win my approval for the film adaptation.

The book is about 14 year-old Nick Twisp, an extremely intelligent, and extremely horny boy. He has two missions in life; read more books, and lose his virginity to the ever elusive Sheeni Saunders.

It is easily one of the funniest books I have ever read, and it is also one of the most graphic. If they were to make this movie true to the book, it would be rated X. However, they want to make money on this thing, and I think MIchael Cera doing an X rated movie would be, for lack of a better phrase, the end of his career.

So here we have MIchael Cera saddled with a character that he has never played before - someone charismatic, and someone with the vocabulary of someone 40 years older than him.

And you know what? I think he can do it. Not because I want him to be able to. Because I really do. I know he has played the same character over and over. But, it is because the script has always called for it. I believe in my heart he can pull it off. So Michael, if you are reading this, DON'T LET ME DOWN.

As for Sheeni, I don't know what to expect. The character of Sheeni is very complex, and not just anyone can play her. If you've read the book, you know what I mean. If you haven't, think of Hermione Granger, but way more promiscuous. Portia Doubleday is cast as Sheeni. I don't know her work, and I hope she can make it happen.

As for the rest of the cast, I think it looks great. We have Ari Graynor (who I mentioned was great in Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist), Steve Buscemi, Jonathan B. Wright, Jean Smart, Fred Willard, Justin Long, Ray Liotta, and Zach Galifianakis.

Miguel Arteta is signed on to direct. The only two things I have seen of his are single episodes of The Office and Freaks and Geeks. And I can't recall an episode I didn't like of either. So...

Sounds good to me. I look forward to this movie greatly.


Oh, and if you haven't read the book, go ahead and pick it up. It's among the best books I've read.

Upcoming Film: Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince (With Trailer)

The trailer for Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince is now online. It looks rather epic, and Michael Gambon looks to be playing a better role of Dumbledore than he did in the previous films. I think this looks to be the best Harry Potter film in the franchise so far, with a whole new style and manner about it.


Check out the Trailer Below




Harry Potter and The Half Blood Prince hits theaters November 21st.

Upcoming Movie: The Princess and the Frog

This may be the first Disney animated movie ever to have mad crazy hype. Let me begin by saying..... its a musical. Its traditionally animated (2d), and its about a black princess, Disney's first ever.

Basically it is the story of Tiana, a princess in 1920's new orleans, and other than that is based on the story of 'The Frog Prince', which is a story about a prince that has been turned into a frog and needs to be kissed by his true love to turn back into a human.

Not much is know about the film other than the fact that music is being done by Randy Newman and the film is being directed by John Musker and Ron Clemets, who directed films such as Aladdin, The Little Mermaid, Hercules, and Treasure Planet (among others).

Keep your ear out for more news on this film. I'll write more when I know about it. There is a cast list on Imdb, so check that one out perhaps.

Heres the Trailer.

Film Review: THE CHRONICLES OF NARNIA - PRINCE CASPIAN

Sorry to take so long. If you enjoyed "Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe", you will thuroughly enjoy this film. Ben Barnes does a fantastic job as the newcomer to the cast, Prince Caspian, and all the children from the first film are now older and still delightful.

Narnia has undergone many changes since the first film, the main one being that 1000 years have passed since we last saw it. These are 1000 years Narnia time, so the children are hardly any older. Since last they visited the land of Narnia, many of the animals and inhabitants have been destroyed by the Telmarines, a group of pirates that developed a matriachical society outside of Narnia and will stop at nothing to keep thier hold on the land.