Cam Brady (Will Ferrell) is the incumbent senator from North Carolina whose sleazy antics have made him a political liability for his billionaire backers, the Motch Brothers (Dan Aykroyd and John Lithgow). The Motch Brothers decide to cut their losses by backing a new candidate; the lovable doofus Marty Huggins (Zach Galifianakis...[more]...

Apparently the boredom of a loveless marriage centers around the lack of sex. When Kay (Meryl Streep) hauls her husband Arnold (Tommy Lee Jones) off to see an expensive marriage counselor (Steve Carell, playing it completely straight) the ultimate goal is to get them back to having sex (they even have separate bedrooms). The journey starts with talking, proceeds through touching, hugging and for some reason has a step where the wife is supposed to give the husband oral sex in a movie theater. I think the therapist listens to too many Alanis Morissette songs...[more]...

Recommendation – see the original...[more]...

I’m under the impression that Ben Stiller, Jonah Hill and Vince Vaughn have only one character that each of them play in all of their films; they all just have a knob that tweaks the silliness level of the character for each movie. Ben Stiller is always the camera-mugging community organizing everyman who really just wants to be liked. Jonah Hill - just like his role in “21 Jump Street” - is a cop wanna-be who’s just too off-beat to be taken seriously, and Vince Vaughn is the loud fast-talking older dude who just wants to party – just like his roles in “Old School”, “Wedding Crashers” and… well, just about everything else he’s been in recently. Only British comedian Richard Ayoade (BBC’s “The IT Crowd”) offers any relief from the feeling that all of the characters are recycled from other, better, films...[more]...

First The Wife went off to see Katy Perry (while I took in a showing of Savages), and came out GUSHING about it, though it seems like she may have heard some of the facts about the star performer wrong. Katy Perry is bigger than the Beatles or Elvis? I don’t think so. I’ve been to Graceland – Elvis had so many gold records that they cover the walls in his racquetball court and trophy rooms. And apparently Katy cries – a lot. She cried plenty during her years of struggling to become accepted, cries over her recent divorce from Russell Brand (apparently caused by their careers keeping them apart) and gushes tears of joy whenever she’s happy. From The Wife’s description it sounds like the movie is 1/3 background, 1/3 performances (where it really comes to life) and 1/3 Katy turning on the waterworks as she cries over just about everything. The Wife gave it a huge thumbs up, even though she only saw the 2D version. She can’t wait to see it in 3D; I may even go with her. After all, with all the things Katy shoots out of her breasts during her stage shows I’m hard pressed to think of a better use for the 3D format...[more]...

It seems pointless to write a review of The Dark Knight Rises; since you’re reading this on a movie-based website you’re GOING to see the movie, right? It’s only the most anticipated film of all time. But there are a number of ways to look at it…...[more]...

Not for the squeamish; the movie opens with a video of drug cartel enforcers dumping severed heads on the ground with their headless torsos hanging in the background. Lots of brutality throughout the film emphasizes the fact that these are NOT nice people – nor should anyone be trusted as the cartel leaders make deals with Chon and Ben, then kidnap their love interest Ophelia (Blake Lively, who also serves as the film’s narrator) to ensure that their demands are met. Loads of crosses and double-crosses ensue as everyone tries to look out for their own self-interests (except Chon and Ben, who just want their girlfriend back). And everyone wants a piece of the action, including the leader of the cartel (Salma Hayek), her chief enforcer (Benicio Del Toro, playing the opposite of his character from “Traffic”) and a slimy fast-talking DEA agent (John Travolta) who cares more about getting his cut than he does about drug enforcement...[more]...

Yes, it’s Spider-Man’s origin story. Again. A different villain (though still green and the product of a genetic-enhancement serum), and Peter’s beloved MJ is now his beloved Gwen Stacy. Since the original “Spider-Man” is only 10 years old it raises some questions, like “was a re-boot really necessary”? In my opinion, the re-boot was not necessary; this movie should have been “Spider-Man 3”, leaving the Sandman/Venom/really sucky Spider-Man for #4 – THEN reboot. That seems to be more of a tradition with superhero films, like the original “Batman” and “Superman” (and, one could argue, “Raiders” if they decide on a reboot), the forth in the series is inevitably so bad that they press the reset button and start from scratch. Using The Lizard as Peter’s nemesis in part 3 would have followed the standard super-hero movie arc. Instead the part 3 they decided to film was bad enough that they chose to start over. Since it’s basically a re-telling of “Spider-Man” the big question is “how does it stack up to the original; better or worse”? The answer is neither better nor worse; just different. Whether or not you compare this to the original it’s a pretty good film; enough action to keep the fan boys satiated and a well-developed love story. Minor spoiler – the previews lie; you don’t get to find out what really happened to Peter’s parents until the sequel (stay through the credits...[more]...

I don’t think I’ve seen a Wes Anderson movie before (except for a few viewings of “Fantastic Mr. Fox” on cable). Apparently he has an unusual brand of humor that not everyone gets, but there are some genuinely comedic moments here. The two pre-teens trying to make their way across the island (not sure where they think they’re going; it is an island, after all) are supposedly ‘troubled’ youths, but they talk like grown-ups and deal with their blossoming romance in a more mature manner than the actual grown-ups. Lots of great talent on display – Bruce Willis as the police chief, Bill Murray and Frances McDormand as the boy’s parents, Edward Norton and Harvey Keitel as scout leaders, and Tilda Swinton as the nameless representative of Social Services. In the end it’s not just a coming of age film for the two runaways but also for the parents and scouts looking for them. Overall I thought it was good enough for a viewing on video – ‘rent it’. Unfortunately they decided to put an on-screen animal death in the picture that almost had The Wife leave the theater. She votes ‘skip it’. In hindsight they really didn’t need to put that in the movie; it doesn’t do anything for the plot and just makes everyone feel really bad that a cute animal (spoiler alert: a Fox Terrier; just like Tin Tin’s dog) dies needlessly in the pursuit of the runaways.

Maybe we just expect too much from Pixar films. True, “Cars 2” was considered by almost everyone to be a disappointment, but if you watch it on home video (or the movie channels where it’s now making the rounds) it’s really not that bad. The expectations for “Brave” were extremely high, hoping to redeem the studio after the Cars sequel got such lackluster reviews...[more]...

This really is a love-it or hate-it movie. If you like the animated series “Family Guy” you’ll probably love it; if you find the humor on that show crass and disgusting then this probably isn’t the movie for you. I loved it. It’s been a long time since I laughed that hard at a movie; I believe it’s going to be in my top 10 favorite comedies. John Bennett (Mark Wahlberg with a full-on Bostonian accent) wished his Teddy Bear to life as a child; now 35 years old he tries to find the balance between maintaining his friendship with Ted (voiced by “Family Guy’s” Seth MacFarlane) and moving forward with his girlfriend Lori (Mila Kunis; too hot for words). True, the foul-mouthed teddy bear is the main joke of the movie but it’s a really good one – and makes the other subplots fade into the background (boss problems, a kidnapping plot, etc). There are loads of 1980’s pop culture references (you really need to be familiar with the ultra-cheesy “Flash Gordon” in order to get a bunch of the jokes) and unexpected guest cameos to help move the plot along. Two thumbs up from myself and The Wife – ‘see it’...[more]...

These guys really get around… After leaving New York and getting stranded in Madagascar (part 1) they find their way over to the African mainland (part 2). Fearing that they will grow old and die there without ever seeing New York again Alex the Lion (Ben Stiller) decides that it’s time for him and his friends to go home. Realizing that they’ll need help getting back they track their penguin friends to Monte Carlo (don’t ask me how; these places are thousands of miles apart) and end up stowing away with a traveling circus in order to escape a maniacal animal control officer (Frances McDormand...[more]...

Still trying to figure out how to label this film; what with so many entries in the Alien universe. Start in the future with Alien, then its sequels Aliens, Alien3 and Resurrection. Jump back to the present with Alien vs Predator and its sequel, but since those two films are crossovers no one was calling them Alien prequels. Now we’re back to the future, at the end of the 21st century with a movie that could be described as a prequel to the first Alien. But… it could also be either a reboot or a parallel story...[more]...

Kristen Stewart is now the go-to person when you need someone to hold a look of despair on her face for two hours. I’m surprised there’s a need for that particular ‘talent’, but it has managed to pull the Twi-heads into the theaters for the past few years. In this telling of the classic tale we have Charlize Theron as Queen Ravenna, playing it over-the-top – almost comically – evil (unlike “Mirror Mirror” where Julia Roberts played the role for laughs). Which brings up the biggest problem with this movie; it’s just not fun. It’s two hours of despair and desperation with the heroine running from evil antagonists through evil forests. Even the dwarfs don’t provide any relief from the doom and gloom. They start out with eight of them instead of the classic seven; there’s a clue that bad things are to come. They’re also not dwarfs, but instead normal-sized people shrunk down “Lord of the Rings” style. I wasn’t a huge fan of “Mirror Mirror” but at least they used real dwarfs. There is some fun trying to recognize the ‘dwarf’ actors under all the layers of make-up, although putting the grey beard back on Ian McShane just makes it look like the Mini-Me version of his character from “Stranger Tides”...[more]...

Wow… two movies about naval vessels battling evil aliens in two days. Yesterday we saw the epic struggle of good vs evil in the re-release of “Yellow Submarine”, and today – “Battleship”. As The Wife and I were walking out of the theater after “Battleship” she asked me “so why were the aliens attacking?” And I replied… “well… um… because… (not able to think of anything) aliens are evil”. Which brings up an interesting point about movie villains – they can’t just be ‘evil’; in order to be interesting they really need attention-grabbing motivations. In “Battleship” we get the most generic, bland rationale for their attack – they want to take over the world. Or… at least that’s what we must assume; their true objectives are never really spelled out. We only know that they arrive and start blowing stuff up. So for the fans of stuff that (hillbilly accent) ‘blows up real good’ this movie’s got plenty to offer. The CGI aliens themselves are not much to look at; near-human faces with spikes for beards, stubby fingered claw-like hands and battle suits stolen from the ‘Halo’ video game...[more]...