Quick Shots 17

Title: Cowboys & Aliens.

Starring: Daniel Craig, Paul Dano, Sam Rockwell, Adam Beach, Clancy Brown, Noah Ringer, Keith Carradine, Olivia Wilde, Harrison Ford.

Brief Synopsis: A man (Craig) wakes up in the middle of the desert with a strange object on his arm and a little bit of amnesia. He rides his way in to a local town and Ella Swenson (Wilde) becomes enamored with him for some reason. Local sheriff, John Taggart (Carradine), sees that the man is actually Jake Lonergan and is wanted - so he arrests him. Then, the aliens come.

Opinion: When I first saw this trailer I was immediately in. A movie with cowboys and aliens, plus James Bond and Indiana Jones. Of course I am in. But, I did what I tell myself never to do - listen to other people's reviews. I finally ended up watching it - and I actually enjoyed it. The one 'sort of' twist I saw coming a mile away, but the rest of the film was interesting and action packed.

Grade: 

Title: American Reunion.

Starring: Jason Biggs, Alyson Hannigan, Chris Klein, Thomas Ian Nicholas, Tara Reid, Seann William Scott, Mena Suvari, Eddie Kaye Thomas, John Cho, Eugene Levy.

Brief Synopsis: It's been 13 years since the gang graduated from high school, and of course they never planned a reunion. So, a 13-year reunion is planned and they all head back to the hometown to meet up. Jim (Biggs) and Michelle (Hannigan) are married with a child, but their love life is now lacking. Kevin (Nicholas) is married, but is now a house husband. Oz (Klein) is a well-known sports castor, but not happy with his girlfriend. Stiffler (Scott) is working as an errand boy and still hasn't really grown up, while Finch (Thomas) is apparently living it up all over the world.

Opinion: As I believe I have said before, these are my people. This gang graduated in '99 the same year that I graduated. American Pie was one of the funniest movies I had seen at the time, and I have enjoyed each film since. Here, they get the entire gang back together again and it was hilarious again. Plus, they brought back pretty much everyone - even if they had smaller roles in the movie.

Grade: 

Title: 30 Minutes or Less.

Starring: Jesse Eisenberg, Danny McBride, Aziz Ansari, Nick Swardson, Dilshad Vadsaria, Michael Pena, Fred Ward.

Brief Synopsis: Dwayne (McBride) lives with his father (Ward), who has a bunch of money and Dwayne wants to get his hands on it. He gets an idea to hire someone to kill his father so he can use the money to start an 'adult' tanning salon. To kill his father, he must come up with 100 thousand dollars - so him and his friend Travis (Swardson) strap a bomb to a stoner pizza delivery guy, Nick (Eisenberg) and force him to rob a bank for them.

Opinion: This wasn't as bad as I was expecting. People were saying this was horrible, but I have seen so many films worse than this one. There were some pretty funny parts in the film, and it was sort of interesting as well. Sure, it probably could have been both funnier and more interesting, but it was a decent watch.

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Title: X-Men: First Class.

Starring: James McAvoy, Michael Fassbender, Kevin Bacon, Rose Byrne, Jennifer Lawrence, January Jones, Oliver Platt, Nicholas Hoult.

Brief Synopsis: Charles Xavier (McAvoy) and Erik Lehnsherr (Fassbender) come together to take down Sebastian Shaw (Bacon), who plans to take over the world. Erik has personal issues with Shaw, as he was once a Nazi and killed his mother. Xavier is first just excited to find more people like him - and wants to keep them and the humans at peace so they can all mix well together.

Opinion: I enjoyed the first X-Men trilogy, so I knew I was going to enjoy this one. It had sort of a Star Trek vibe to it at the start - as we get some background history on both Xavier and Erik (much like Kirk and Spock). McAvoy and Fassbender were perfect as the main duo - and Lawrence is just a talented actress. Plus, I have said we need more Bacon in this world - and we get it here.

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Title: Scream 4.

Starring: Neve Campbell, David Arquette, Courteney Cox, Emma Roberts, Hayden Panettiere, Marielle Jaffe, Alison Brie, Marley Shelton, Erik Knudsen, Rory Culkin, Adam Brody, Anthony Anderson.

Brief Synopsis: It's been 10 years since Sidney Prescott (Campbell) has had to deal with the ghostface killer. She has finally picked herself up and is now promoting her book about how she has gotten through her ordeal - and her final stop is Woodsboro. And, just like in the past, Sidney just brings bad luck with her as ghostface returns to stalk the locals - and Sidney, Dewey (Arquette) and Gale (Cox) are at the center of it again.

Opinion: Scream is one of the lone 'horror' franchises that I really got into. Not even sure when I watched the first one, but I have enjoyed them all. And, this was a nice return to the roots - but by adding some of the younger generation. Only thing missing, in my opinion, was the amount of humor that Jamie Kennedy was able to bring to the original three films.

Grade: 

Tuesday's With Movies: 11/29/11

The Smurfs: I have to admit the Chipmunk films were a lot better than I originally thought they would be. It's hard seeing an '80s cartoon come to life in the CGI world, but sometimes the movie industry can surprise you. The cast looks top-notch here so I hope there is at least something decent here. At least my son will enjoy it, I am sure.

Friends with Benefits: So, this is the second film of the friends who get each other off, coming on the heels of No Strings Attached. According to sources this one seems to be the better of the two, and the other one wasn't horrendous. So, I will check it out and see.

Our Idiot Brother: I have heard mixed things about this film, but it certainly looks interesting enough to give it a try. A lot of decent actors in the film about a man who just seems to be a bit naive.

30 Minutes or Less: This looked very funny and interesting to me when it first came out, but I wasn't able to check it out in the theater. However, I have heard some pretty bad things about the film - either way I will form my own opinion when I get to check it out.

One Day: I don't know too much about this film, other than it stars Anne Hathaway and that guy that starred in 21. Looks like a romantic film, so not sure how much I will enjoy it. Mrs. Kano will probably enjoy it more.

The Art of Getting By: One of the lone Roberts I can actually stand watching, Emma, stars in this film along with former it-kid Freddie Highmore. Apparently one of those two kids on different paths in life intersect and their lives are both changed kind of films.