Tuesday's With Movies: 3/5/13

Wreck-It Ralph: This film sort of snuck up on a lot of people this year. I remember seeing trailers for it, but it wasn't until a few weeks before its release that it really started to pick up some steam. I was lucky enough to take my son to this movie - and here's my review. But, what I took out of this was that it was the best animated feature of the year - and one of the best film's of the year. It was absolutely robbed by Brave at the Oscars. Brave was a great film, but it was middle-of-the-pack for Pixar films. I can't wait to see it again.

Twilight: Breaking Dawn Part 2: Well, this series is finally over. They did their best to extend it as long as they could - but it is finally over. My wife enjoys this series and I have watched each and every one of them just a single time with her. We have already picked up the movie (it came out Saturday) and will just need to find the time to watch it together. I am actually interested to see how it finishes since I have put the time in to watch the other four films. Am I optimistic? No, not really.

Red Dawn: Thor and Peeta are teaming up to take out the North Koreans. In this remake of the Charlie Sheen/Patrick Swayze film of the 80s - instead of the Russians the North Koreans are invading a small town in Washington. I hadn't seen the original film until a few years ago, and I enjoyed it. I am definitely interested in checking this one out.

Playing for Keeps: A former professional athlete tries to get back into his son's life by coaching his youth soccer team. Of course, tons of strange things happen to him - and without even seeing it I am sure he gets back with his wife or mother of his child because that is always what happens in these films. But, I keep watching them and I will watch this one as well.

Lay the Favorite: Film has something to do with a gambling prodigy. I will probably check it out at some point. My question is this. Film stars (at least I believe) Bruce Willis, Catherine Zeta-Jones, Vince Vaughn, Rebecca Hall and Josh Jackson. They chose four actors to put on the poster - who would you leave out? Apparently, they chose to leave out Vaughn. Is he not the second most popular actor in that group? Very confusing.

A Dark Truth: I still find it amazing that movies are still getting made with top-level actors that I just never hear of. Apparently nobody heard of this - it made $630 in its opening weekend, and a little over $5,000 at the box office. Why even make the movie if you aren't going to publicize it?

The Bay: Horror film I don't care about of the week. Can't believe there is only one this week.

Quick Shots 3

Title: Twilight.

Starring: Kristen Stewart, Robert Pattinson, Peter Facinelli, Elizabeth Reaser, Taylor Lautner and Billy Burke.

Brief Synopsis: Bella Swan (Stewart) moves to Washington to be with her dad and is immediately accepted into her new school. There she is (sort of) introduced to Edward Cullen (Pattinson) a loner who pretty much only sticks with his family. After a lab pairing, Cullen and Swan get to know each other - and begin to become infatuated with each other. This would be fine, if Cullen wasn't a vampire. The Cullen family has learned to live off the blood of animals instead of humans, but Edward is drawn to Bella's blood - which of course has some repercussions.

Opinion: I had no true interest in seeing this film. For some reason it never drew me in like Harry Potter did. My wife, however, has read all of the books and seen the movie a few times, and asked me to watch it with her. So far it is by no means Harry Potter, but I will probably take in the other films - it at least had me interested.

Grade:

Title: Bedtime Stories.

Starring: Adam Sandler, Keri Russell, Courtney Cox-Arquette, Guy Pearce and Russell Brand.

Brief Synopsis: Skeeter Bronson (Sandler) is promised by Barry Nottingham that when he is older he would take over the Nottingham Hotel that was purchased from Bronson's father. Cut to present time and Bronson is only the buliding's handy-man. Wendy (Cox-Arquette), Bronson's sister, has two kids that she needs Bronson and Jill (Russell) to take care of while she is in Arizona looking for a job. Bronson decides to tell the kids bedtime stories like his father did with him - only they start to become true. He tries to take advantage of this, but soon realizes it isn't what he is saying that is coming true - but what the children are saying.

Opinion: Pretty solid family film. Nothing too adult here, even with the inclusion of Sandler and Brand in the cast. If you are into family films, it is a pretty good ride. It had a lot of good laughs, especially from a big-eyed guinea pig named Bugsey.

Grade:

Title: The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor.

Starring: Brendan Fraser, Maria Bello, John Hannah, Luke Ford, Isabella Leong and Jet Li.

Brief Synopsis: Yet again a mummy is awoken from a curse thanks to the O'Connell family - this time Rick's son, Alex (Ford) is the culrpit. So Rick (Fraser), Evelyn (Bello), Jonathan (Hannah) and Lin (Leong) try to stop Emperor Han (Li) before he becomes invincible and raises his army.

Opinion: Well, at least the mummy wasn't different this time. I have to admit the first two Mummy films are a bit of a guilty pleasure - they had action and humor which kept me interested. This film had those as well, but seemed a little forced. Li's character is mostly a walking statue the entire film, which really didn't make sense to me - and I love Fraser's work usually, but even he seemed bored with this installment. And what was the point of having Bello replace Rachel Weisz? They should have just removed her character. The other films had CGI, but the CGI yeti's were a little over the top, even for me.

Grade:

Title: Reign Over Me.

Starring: Don Cheadle, Adam Sandler, Jada Pinkett-Smith, Liv Tyler, Saffron Burrows and Donald Sutherland.

Brief Synopsis: Charlie Fineman (Sandler) lost his entire family in the plane crash during 9/11. Alan Johnson (Cheadle) has fallen into a bit of a rut both with his family and at work as a dentist. Johnson sees Fineman, his former college roommate, on the street one day and tries to reconnect with him. Fineman, however, has been a little out of reality since the horrific loss of his family - even mentioning anything to do with them sends him into an angry tirade. Johnson takes on the task to help Fineman get a grasp on reality and deal with his pain - all the while Charlie is actually helping Alan get out of his own rut at work and with his family.

Opinion: This is one of the better movies I have seen in a long time. I have wanted to see it for awhile, but never got around to viewing it. I am shocked that Sandler wasn't given more recognition for his portrayal of a 9/11 widower - it was truly an amazing performance.

Grade: