Breaking Dawn: Part 2

My lack of love for this franchise has never been hidden. But, I definitely enjoy doing things with my wife that she likes, so I watched each and every one of them with her one time.

I do a bit of a Mystery Science Theater action during the films - not sure if she enjoys it or not, but it keeps me invested in the film throughout.

So, after watching all four previous films I needed to stick it out to the end and I watched Breaking Dawn: Part 2.

Let me first start by saying that I enjoyed two things in this film - and one of those things absolutely crushed me in the end.

First, I loved the way the film wrapped up and by that I mean the credits. The way they showcased all of the major characters throughout the entire franchise was spectacular - and to the tune of Christina Perri's 'A Thousand Years'. I almost wish other films would take notice and do this more often.

Second, the battle season. The fight between the Volturi and the Cullens was what I had been waiting for throughout the franchise. There were a few decent fight scenes in the earlier films, but Part 1 had absolutely nothing and I was hoping it was building to this - and the fight itself did not disappoint.



So, here is the deal. Bella (Kristen Stewart) has just given birth to Renesmee and Edward (Robert Pattinson) was forced to turn Bella into a vampire in order to keep her alive.

Jacob (Taylor Lautner), meanwhile, had to imprint on her to save her from his pack - and sticks around to protect her and the Cullen family.

I am not too familiar with everything that is going on, but the majority of the film happens because Irina (Maggie Grace) comes to visit with the Cullens and witnesses Renesmee - believing her to be an immortal child, which is forbidden by the Volturi because they cannot be trained or restrained.

Knowing that Renesmee is in fact not an immortal child, but a half-and-half, the Cullens are about to flee Forks in order to stay to together and get away from the Volturi. But, Bella and Edward convince them to find others to stand up to the Volturi and show them that she is in fact not an immortal child.

It's funny though because the best actors in this movie are not the main characters. They are the supporting characters. I actually don't think the main three are horrible - but they are not great in these movies. They are better in other films.

Anyway - the ending (before the credits) absolutely crushed me. I didn't see it coming at all - I was pretty damn pissed. I honestly can't believe it happened that way - and everything I had 'invested' in watching this I thought had actually been worth it, but it was yanked from under me.

I know I am going to do it - one day or weekend I will watch all five movies back-to-back and see what happens. I don't even remember the first few movies right now. Perhaps my opinion will change. But, right now I am a bit pissed off so this is the grade.

Grade:

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:

Double Dipping

This has never happened before.

This past weekend, my wife and I, saw two movies in the theater on the exact same day.

I know, I had to pinch myself.

After seeing a grand total of five movies in the theater last year, I am already at three for this year - and the rest of the year is looking rather promising as well.

On to the first flick.

My wife is a rather large Vin Diesel fan - and I don't mind looking at Jordana Brewster - so seeing Fast & Furious was a rather no brainer. This time around, the movie seemed to flow a lot easier with Diesel and Paul Walker back in lead roles - with no disrespect to Tyrese Gibson, but Diesel and Walker made this franchise.

I know absolutely nothing about cars, and I hate watching car racing - but something about these films really gets me going. I continually enjoy the pretty real situations that the characters find themselves in - although I am still at a loss at to where Dom (Diesel) gets his money for his cars. I mean I know he is stealing, but where is he hiding it.

Anyway, this time around Dom and Brian (Walker) find themselves looking for the same guy, Braga - and in order to get close to him they need to join his team of drug smuggling drivers. At first there is only one spot open and Dom and Brian, as well as two others, race to get selected. But another is soon opened up when another driver is caught with drugs.

Brian is out to bring Braga down for drug smuggling, while Dom is out for revenge. And the two end up helping each other along the way to get both done.

Returning from previous films are Michelle Rodriguez as Letty, Brewster as Mia Toretto and Sung Kang as Hahn.

I am still not sure if this was better than the first film, although I am definitely sure it was better than the second and the Tokyo spinoff.

Grade:

The second feature we took in was a little close to our hearts, Adventureland.

This film was shot at Kennywood Amusement Park in Pittsburgh, PA. I was born there and also attended college there (as did my wife) and we had been to Kennywood on multiple occasions.

The movie is directed Greg Mottola, the same guy who directed Superbad. And although I feel Superbad was funnier, I actually felt this was a better movie as a whole.

James Brennan (Jesse Eisenberg) is looking forward to his college graduation present of heading off to Europe, but a career change for his father thwarts his plans and he is forced to get a job. The lone job he could find, thanks to the help of a former childhood friend who still hasn't grown up Tommy Frigo (Matt Bush), is at Adventureland. Hoping to get a job in the rides department, the parks bosses, Bobby (Bill Hader) and Paulette (Kristen Wiig) feel he is much better suited for games.

Here he meets a great friend in Joel (Martin Starr) who shows him the ropes, and a girl who he begins to form a major crush on Em (Kristen Stewart).

The movie is sort of a you never know what life will throw at you sort of movie. Brennan was crushed when he couldn't go to Europe, but because of it was forced to work at this park and met a great friend and possibly the love of his life.

It was also fun to see 1980's Pittsburgh. My wife and I (okay mostly me) were trying to find certain things in the backgrounds that are mostly only in Pittsburgh. Like drinking Iron City or the Stroh's neon sign - or even the Jack Lambert jersey on one of the park patrons.

All-in-all a great film. It had all the drama, with small bits of comedy thrown in. In Superbad I think it was more a comedy with the small pieces of drama thrown in.

Grade: