Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs / Planet 51

I am going to do a little double-dip with this review as I have gotten myself a little backed up, and really these two films sort of go hand-in-hand.

I will start with Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs. I had only recently checked out the children's book - which is quite small by the way - and wondered how on Earth they could make a full-length film out of it.

It wasn't spectacular, but it was well worth a watch.

Swallow Falls has been well known for its sardines, and everyone eats them - even though nobody enjoys eating them.

Flint Lockwood (Bill Hader) invents a contraption that can change water into any food that you can desire. As he is about to show his invention to the town, it is accidentally shot into sky.

At first, the town is amazed when it begins to rain food. They no longer have to eat sardines and it also puts Swallow Falls back on the map as Sam Sparks (Anna Faris), a weather reporter, announces to the world this amazing feat.

However, things begin to go a little haywire with the contraption and the food begins to get a little bigger - and then massive. And, finally the weather begins to turn and the food starts acting like a tornado.

It is up to Flint and his gang of misfits, including Sparks, a Gummi-Bear loving monkey named Steve (Neil Patrick Harris) and the town's former well-known celebrity 'Baby' Brent (Andy Samberg).

It was a pretty good watch and my son loved it. It is nowhere near the quality of say the Pixar films, but definitely give it a shot.

Planet 51, was also a pretty interesting watch, but I don't think I would give it a second look. Where as I would probably watch Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs again.

Planet 51 is sort of a bizarro-E.T. as instead of the alien landing on Earth - a human is the alien landing on another planet.

Captain Charles T. Baker (Dwayne Johnson) lands on Planet 51 and claims it in the name of the United States. As he turns around, however, he notices that he is not alone and becomes a fugitive on this alien planet.

The planet itself is a lot like Earth, however, 50 years in the Earth's past. The main character is Lem (Justin Long), a kid who is trying to become head of a planetarium and also has the hots for his next door neighbor, Neera (Jessica Biel).

As General Grawl (Gary Oldman) and the alien army try to capture Captain Baker - Lem and his buddy Skiff (Seann William Scott) do everything in their power to keep him safe and get him back to his spaceship.

It was a pretty good watch and it was fun to see a lot of other movies given some sort of homage in the film - like the Planet 51 dogs looking a lot like the alien from Alien.

Still, it could have been a lot better - but it was good for one watch.

Grades:
Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs

Planet 51

Die Hard Tetralogy

I had to watch Die Hard: With a Vengeance for a project I had to do in my math class. And I didn't want to watch the third movie, without at watching the first two.

I swear I had watched these movies before, but after I got through the three of them I realized, that I may have only seen the third one - despite recognizing a few scenes in the first two, I don't think I have watched them as a whole.

So, this week I watched the Die Hard Tetralogy - including last year's release of Live Free or Die Hard.

Instead of large reviews each film, I will do what I have been doing with smaller reviews of a handful of movies - but as a whole I would have to give this tetralogy an Excellent grade.

Title: Die Hard.

Starring: Bruce Willis, Bonnie Bedelia, Reginald VelJohnson, Paul Gleason, William Atherton and Alan Rickman.

Brief Synopsis: John McClane (Willis) is heading to LA to be with his estranged wife Holly (Bedelia) and his two kids. Holly had moved to LA for a job, leaving NY police office McClane behind. After arriving at her office during a Christmas party, Hans Gruber (Rickman) and his gang take over the building in an attempt to steal a large amount of money. And it's up to McClane to save the day.

Opinion: I have to admit I love a good, smart villain and Rickman's Gruber was outstanding. He had thought of basically everything to get away scott free with a ton of money, and it was fun to see everything play out. What he didn't count on was McClane - who is truly an every man's hero.

Grade:

Title: Die Hard 2.

Starring: Bruce Willis, Bonnie Bedelia, William Sadler, William Atherton, John Amos and Dennis Franz.

Brief Synopsis: McClane is visiting his wife's parents for Christmas and is currently awaiting Holly's arrival at the airport. That same afternoon, General Esperanzo is being transported via plane to the area. McClane becomes supsicious when he finds two men in the baggage department of the airport - but receives little help from Capt. Lorenzo (Franz). Col. Stuart (Sadler) and his men take over the airport and all the airport guidance systems in order to free Esperanzo. Of course, McClane proves to be a one-man army again to take down the villains.

Opinion: I still enjoyed this film, but it was lacking a lot of what the first one had. Plus, it almost tried to copy the first one as McClane was all alone in saving the day. Sadler was pretty good as the villain, but not as great as Rickman's character in the first film. Still a solid showing, but probably my least favorite of all of them.

Grade:

Title: Die Hard: With a Vengeance.

Starring: Bruce Willis, Samuel L. Jackson, Larry Bryggman and Jeremy Irons.

Brief Synopsis: A criminal mastermind, Simon Gruber (Irons) has stolen gallons of a liquid bomb which is set off in downtown New York. Gruber is also holding a grudge against McClane for killing his brother, Hans. So, he enlists McClane - and later Zeus Carver (Jackson) - to play a handful of games, including riddles and math problems, in order to save a school.

Opinion: This film was highly entertaining, and although I was not sure if giving McClane a partner would work - it truly did with Jackson's performance and the two played very well against each other. Irons still wasn't up to the task of Rickman's performance, but he was very convincing as Simon. The riddles and games as a diversion was also very clever and pretty entertaining in trying to figure out along with Carver and McClane.

Grade:

Title: Live Free or Die Hard.

Starring: Bruce Willis, Justin Long, Timothy Olyphant, Maggie Q, Kevin Smith and Mary Elizabeth Winstead.

Brief Synopsis: 12 years after the last film, McClane is a police lietenant and is given the assignment of tracking down and bringing in a computer hacker, Matt Farrell (Long). What he doesn't realize is that Farrell has accidentally helped Thomas Gabriel (Olyphant) take over the world's computers - and cause a "fire sale". McClane has to keep Farrell alive, track down Gabriel and also rescue his daughter Lucy (Winstead) before Gabriel shuts down the entire coutnry.

Opinion: A bit updated as the events take place in 2006 or 2007, which was very interesting to see McClane adapt. He has never been happy with technology, and seems even further behind now. Not technically a sidekick, Long was very entertaining as Farrell - and Olyphant was a great villain, who technically thought he was a do gooder.

Grade:

Watchable At Any Time Series: Accepted

There are very few movies in this world that when you are flipping through the stations, or happen to come across it when searching your guide, that you have to stop and watch. I call these movies the "Watchable At Any Time" movies. The type of movies, that no matter where the movie is during its play, or even what time of the day you come across it - you absolutely have to watch it, no matter how many times you have seen it before.

The first movie in my series, and possibly the newest movie on this list is Accepted.

The cast of this movie includes:

• Justin Long - Bartleby Gaines
  

• Blake Lively - Monica

• Adam Herschman - Glen
  

• Maria Thayer - Rory

• Columbus Short - Hands

• Jonah Hill - Sherman Schrader

• Lewis Black - Uncle Ben

It isn't just the main cast that makes this movie so much fun to watch, but also the tons of 'extras' or lesser cast members. Each one was given a special personality, and most are downright hilarious.

The basis of this story revolves around Bartleby Gaines, whose parents desperately want him to get into a good college. Gaines, however, has received rejection after rejection, until he has come to realize that he is not going to get into college. To please his parents, and all of the others who are constantly asking what his future plans are, Gaines decides to make-up his own college - sending an acceptance letter from the South Harmon Institute of Technology to himself, and Schrader helps him out by making a fully functional webpage for the college.

Gaines finds out that it's not only him that had not been accepted anywhere, but three of his friends as well - Rory, Hands and Glen - so he leases a building, fixes it up and proceeds on with his charade to fool his parents. Now, if you think this is ridiculous - please be advised that each person was given $10,000 for their first semester of college - so it is feasible.

When Gaines' parents decide to visit - and meet with the dean - Gaines enlists Schrader's Uncle Ben to pose as the dean. To further his even more growing lie, Schrader's webpage was not only functional for Gaines' father, but for anyone who happened to stumble across it. So, hundreds of kids who had not been accepted anywhere for college, show up at S.H.I.T. after being accepted - thanks to Schrader's "Acceptance is Just a Click Away", actually being functional.

The moral of this movie is to show just how far, and weird the college system has become. As Gaines tries to learn about his new college, he goes to nearby Harmon College, to see what college life is all about. What he finds are overly stressed students, a classroom that is being taught by a speaker and a student who wants to take an extra-curricular class that their adviser won't allow them to take. So he forms a "What Do You Want to Learn" board that everyone can sign up for classes on. And begins the students-teaching-students.

In all, this would never be able to happen in real life, but it's pretty interesting. Imagine a college where you can learn what you want to learn - and not be as stressed out about notes and tests. The whole situation is very funny, and the characters are hilarious. Very well done. And I can't stop watching it.

(I will be gone until Friday - hope you can get by without my weird blogs)