Law Abiding Citizen

This was a film that I wanted to see when it first came out. The premise seemed extremely interesting to me and the trailer really excited me that the film would be intense and action packed.

Well, it was.

Law Abiding Citizen was very interesting and kept me involved the entire time. It was very interesting because you didn't know how things were going to happen or how it would end up.

It was also one of those movies that, in the viewer's eyes, there might not be a villain.

Clyde Shelton (Gerard Butler) is shown as an inventor. The film starts out with him making some sort of electronic device next to his daughter, who is making bracelets.

The doorbell rings, and right away you are thrown into the action. Two robbers break into the house and tie up Clyde and his wife. Clyde is stabbed, but survives - however, both his wife and daughter are killed.

In an effort to get the death penalty for one of the robbers, a deal is made by Clyde's lawyer, Nick Rice (Jamie Foxx), with the other robber/murderer. Clyde wants nothing to do with this deal, but Nick does it anyway.

This pushes Clyde over the edge - he has lost his faith in the American judicial system, and to prove how messed up it is Clyde goes on a spree.

And this is where you sort of feel odd, because I really didn't know who to cheer for. Clyde was obviously breaking the law in a number of different ways, but you sort of feel for him and understand his actions. So, you don't feel too horrible rooting for him.

The ending seemed a little forced to me, plus the whole tunnel system was a little unbelievable - but other than that it was a pretty good action/thriller that kept me pleased throughout.

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The Tooth Fairy

I have a difficult time watching any movies that have anything higher than a PG rating during the day anymore since my son has become very aware of what is on television - and is constantly repeating what he hears now.

So, my movie watching during the day time has been regulated to kid-friendly films.

This weekend, we tossed in the latest Rock masterpiece The Tooth Fairy.

This movie was the ultimate cheesefest. But, my son enjoyed it so apparently it did what it set out to do. For the adult, however, who has to sit through it - it was craptastic. I curse Julie Andrews and Billy Crystal for getting anywhere near this film.

So, to give a bit of a rundown. Derek Thompson (Dwayne Johnson) is a minor league hockey player who has become known as the Tooth Fairy because he is now an enforcer only, who occasionally knocks the teeth out of his opponents.

Thompson was a former star in the NHL before hurting his shoulder - as he was rehabbing he fell in love with being the enforcer and it had been nearly eight years since he even took a shot.

He is dating a woman, Carly (Ashley Judd) who has a pair of children - a young daughter who gets along with Derek and a guitar loving son who wants nothing to do with him.

Thompson begins to lose his faith that people can get what they work for. And, one night almost blurts out to Carly's daughter that the tooth fairy doesn't exist. With that, Thompson is pulled to the land of the Tooth Fairies - and is forced to become one for two weeks in order to regain his faith.

As unbelievable as that is - it actually looked worse. The wings they decided to give Thompson and the other fairies looked horrendous - in fact, Tracy (Stephen Merchant), who was Thompson's sidekick, was the lucky one who didn't have wings (despite the fact that he so very wanted them).

Anyway, I have nothing else to really say about this. I almost fell asleep (which I never do) until my son jumped on me. But, it worked in the fact that my son liked it - but I doubt he will be asking to see it anytime soon like he does with movies he really enjoys.

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The A-Team

There were very few movies that have come out this year that I absolutely wanted to see in the theater. I don't get to the theater as often as I would like, so it is imperative that I scan the summer movies and find the cream of the crop that I would like to see in the theater - and this is one of the few that stuck out.

I was a very big fan of the television series - through repeats - when I was a kid. And, I don't know how many theme songs are as iconic as the one that goes with this series. I remember taking my old cassette player and recording the theme song off of the television just so I could listen to it again whenever I felt like it. Now I can download it as a ringtone, crazy how far we have come.

Anyway, to me, The A-Team lived up to everything that I hoped it would be and more. It was downright entertaining from start to finish. There was unlimited action and humor - and the 'love story' was kept more in the background, which was great.

The casting of this film was stupendous - and I definitely had my doubts when they were all announced. Liam Neeson steps into the role of Hannibal and does so like he was doing it all along. The new it-guy of the past few years, Bradley Cooper, is the new Face and definitely handled those duties in stellar fashion.

The two names that I was not as familiar with are the two I had my doubts about - but was actually very impressed. Rampage Jackson takes on the iconic role of B.A. Baracus - stepping into Mr. T's shoes is hard to do, but Jackson did a pretty good job. The standout to me, however, throughout the whole cast was Sharlto Copley as Murdock. Hilarious the entire time and made a good film - a great film.

Is it an Oscar-worthy film? Heck, no. But that isn't what we come to expect with summer blockbusters (my apologies to The Dark Knight). The summer is for fun, popcorn flicks and this one did exactly what it set out to do - at least for me.

It was pretty interesting the way they handled everything - they show how the 'team' comes together and how they have become a pretty darn good secret mission team over the years. They also show their wrongful imprisonment and subsequent escape.

This gave me high hopes because, like I said, this was a pretty fun movie. I felt that they may have left us with the possibility of sequels - which I am hoping for.

It is actually pretty sad that this film has suffered domestically at the boxoffice. With so many uninspiring film releases this summer, this one was surely a hit. I hope that through DVD sells and foreign boxoffice it can make enough money to give us the sequels that it deserves.

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Chalk

I started watching a bunch of documentaries on Netflix Streaming and came across this one a few weeks ago.

I enjoyed Morgan Spurlock's Supersize Me and when I saw his name attached to this I was interested. Plus, I am on the verge of receiving my master's in elementary education, so this intrigued me for that reason as well.

However, I sort of got duped and not by the filmmakers, but by myself. Chalk was in the documentaries section for Netflix so I assumed it was a straight-up documentary - but as I was watching it, the film had a few red flags for me and I checked out the information about the movie and apparently this was a mockumentary.

Anyway, I kept on with it because a lot of (definitely not all) what one of the main characters was going through is what I could be going through very soon.

The film follows three teachers and an assistant principal. One of the teachers is brand new, the other two have been at it for a couple of years, and the assistant principal has just moved from teaching to this position.

I immediately focused on the brand new teacher. He was lost. He had no classroom management and the students controlled the classroom. He also didn't seem as prepared as one should be - especially when you are walking in on the first day of school.

His was the most important storyline in the film - and probably the most realistic as well. Another teacher's main focus was not really on being a teacher, but winning teacher of the year. It seemed pretty ridiculous and as a teacher he seemed buddy-buddy with his students (which is ok to a point) but I wasn't seeing too much teaching in his classroom.

The final teacher is best friends with the new assistant principal and she is hoping that now the teachers will have a voice on administration. But, things don't go as planned and the two fight more than hang out. She is also a bit of a disciplinarian and health nut - so much so that she scolds the other teachers if they let things slide.

If this was a full-on documentary I would have been much more interested, but it wasn't and even as I thought it was going in I could tell something was up. The one teacher's storyline was still interesting and useful for new teachers while the others were a bit more over the top - at least for me.

Still, it was a decent and quick watch at just about 85 minutes long. So give it a try - especially for the new teacher aspect.

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She's Out of My League

This was pretty interesting, and I apologize ahead of time because this movie may be getting a bit of a bump in grade due to it being filmed in Pittsburgh.

She's Out of My League was a pretty good film. I have been pretty adamant that I didn't feel Jay Baruchel could carry a film on his own - and well he technically didn't, but he was the lead - but I have to say he proved me wrong with this showing.

Baruchel plays Kirk, an average guy who works at the airport, but is pretty much the brunt of everyone's jokes (friends and family). His girlfriend, Marnie (Lindsay Sloane), even leaves him for another guy, but still does everything with his family.

Kirk also has a handful of buddies that work at the airport with him, Stainer (T.J. Miller), Jack (Mike Vogel) and Devon (Nate Torrence). They have the typical relationships as friends, always bagging on each other, but also having each others backs.

Miller was a standout to me. I really enjoyed him in the shortlived comedy Carpoolers as Marmaduke - and he continues to shine here.

One day a beautiful girl named Molly (Alice Eve) jumps on a plane and leaves her cell phone behind. Kirk is lucky enough to find it and gets to meet Molly at a museum function to return the phone.

Molly (at least to the guys) is considered a 10 on the hotness scale, while Kirk is a midlevel 5. Molly is also used to dating pretty good looking guys - but for some reason begins falling for Kirk.

Stainer explains that it will never work because you can't jump anymore than 2-spots in the hotness factor (meaning a 10 can only go as low as an 8).

So, Kirk is not only nervous as hell to be dating this gorgeous woman, he is now in his head that there is no reason she should be dating him.

I really enjoyed this film - it was funny and sweet all at the same time.

The Pittsburgh influence was also great as I saw a ton of Pittsburgh-centric stuff from my old stomping grounds.

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