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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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