Jonah Hex

Jonah Hex is a wild-west action movie with some supernatural and science fiction elements, and it is safe to say that it failed on every one of those levels. It was almost as if director Jimmy Hayward and writing duo Mark Neveldine/Brian Taylor purposely made this movie as bad as possible. The film is only about 80 minutes long, but the boring narrative, terrible writing, and repetitive, incoherent action sequences do all they can to make sure you’re counting down every second until the film is over.

The story follows Jonah Hex, a former soldier seeking revenge on the man who killed his family and left him for dead. Through his near-death experience, he gained the ability to speak with the dead. This concept could have made for an interesting supernatural twist on a classic western story, but instead, it just adds to the stupidity of the entire thing. Throughout the movie, we are subjected to increasingly ridiculous plot points and set pieces to the point where you’re numb to anything that happens to these characters. For example, the bad guy plans to use a giant cannon to destroy the capital of the United States. This is presented in such an absurd manner that you can’t help but laugh.

The only positive thing about the movie is Josh Brolin. Brolin is a very talented actor, and it’s clear that he’s trying as hard as he can to get through the train wreck that is this movie. Same goes with John Malkovich and Michael Fassbender, both very talented actors who don’t deserve to be in a movie this bad. Megan Fox, on the other hand, seems right at home amongst the awfulness. Fox has a very limited acting range that is amplified only by the terrible dialogue that the actors are forced to spew through their mouths. She is obviously only used as eye-candy to get teenage boys into the theater, but judging by the movie’s utter failure at the American box office, her looks are not the draw the studio is hoping they’ll be.

Jonah Hex is a terrible movie through and through, with no redeeming qualities to speak of. The film is so short that you’re left feeling cheated out of your money, and it’s so empty that you’ll forget about it in just a few days. Do yourself a favor and skip this one.

F

Toy Story 3

In Hollywood, second sequels are notorious for almost never living up to the quality of the first two movies. If anybody could break that mold, it would be Pixar. Toy Story 3 is such a perfect mix of humor, action, and pure emotion, that it could very well be Pixar's best since the first Toy Story.

Pixar has always excelled at working adult themes into their movies, and Toy Story 3 is no exception. While children will be caught up in the more simple, humorous aspects of the film, the themes about growing up and mortality will definitely resonate with adults.

Although it is heavy with emotion, there is also a lot of great humor and high-octane action. The film opens with a larger-than-life reenactment of the beginning of the first film, and it sets the tone perfectly. There are plenty of great action sequences, and the climax of the film takes place within the incinerator of a trash dump, and it's quite terrifying, no matter how old you are.

The ending is both beautiful and heartbreaking, and the tears you will inevitably shed are bittersweet. The Toy Story series is Pixar's greatest creation, and director Lee Unkrich provides a perfect ending to a saga spanning 15 years.

Toy Story 3 is without a doubt, the best film I have seen so far this year, and if any animated film ever deserves to win Best Picture at this year's Oscars, this is the one to do it. Do yourself, your childhood, and your heart a huge favor, and go see this movie.

A++

(yes, I made up a new rating to give to this film, because it deserves more than an A+)

The A-Team

I went into the A-Team with little to no expectations. I don't want to say I was disappointed, but I wasn't exactly blown away either. I'm going to say this: The most excited I ever got in the entire movie was when Jon Hamm (Mad Men's Don Draper) made an appearance at the end. Make of that what you will.

The best part of the cast (and possibly, the movie), by far, was Sharlto Copley. Copley was unknown until he starred in last year's fantastic District 9. I was so glad to see him cast in a big Hollywood movie, and he did not disappoint. He brought the most life to the movie.

The movie itself, however, was very by-the-numbers. There were plenty of big, ridiculous action set pieces, which start to get old very quickly. We are asked to suspend disbelief so many times throughout the movie that after a while, these action scenes become boring and tedious.

The A-Team can be compared in many ways to The Losers, which I loved. The A-Team might have had a bigger budget and better special effects, but what The Losers lacked in those departments, it more than made up for with a fantastic cast and a lot of heart.

All in all, the A-Team isn't bad, but it's not very memorable. Unless you really have a desire to see it, you're really not missing out on much.

C+

Splice

Splice is a movie that is somewhat difficult for me to review. There were things that I loved about it, and there were things that disturbed me to my very core.

I'll start with what I loved. Adrien Brody and Sarah Polley both give fantastic performances. The movie is very well-written with some great dark-humor moments, and the special effects are top-notch (no surprise, considering Pan's Labyrinth director Guillermo del Toro was the executive producer).

Now, what disturbed me. I don't want to reveal much, but I'm going to tell you that the movie takes a very twisted sexual turn about two-thirds through. In setting the tone for this scene, Natali either succeeded greatly or failed miserably, because the entire theater was laughing in shock and disbelief. If he was playing it serious, it didn't work, but if he was going for darkly comic and crazy, he hit the nail on the head.

Splice is a hard one to recommend, because reactions on both ends are going to be very strong. You either get it or you don't. The reason I didn't post this review earlier is because I had to take some time to really think about the movie and my opinion. I've come to the conclusion that underneath all of the weirdness, there really is a brilliant film there.

A-

Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time

Another year, another big-budget Jerry Bruckheimer action movie. This time around we have Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time, an video game adaptation starring Jake Gyllenhaal as the titular Prince.

No, wait! Come back! It's alright!

When I first heard that Gyllenhaal was going to be playing Prince Dastan, I was pretty put-off of the whole thing. It just didn't seem right. An all-American actor playing a Middle-Eastern hero just didn't fit. After seeing the movie, I was pleasantly surprised with his performance. He definitely proved himself as a swashbuckling action hero.

As for the rest of the movie, it was a pretty standard story about betrayal and revenge in a royal family. There was really nothing we haven't seen before. The good guys are good, the bad guys are bad, and the comic relief is, well, comical.

Prince of Persia could be considered a successful video game adaptation by default, since it isn't terrible like almost all other adaptations are. I just didn't expect to enjoy it as much as I did. If you're looking for some lighthearted summer action reminiscent of Pirates of the Caribbean, you'll probably be pretty satisfied with Prince of Persia. I know I was.

B

MacGruber

Anybody who's seen a MacGruber skit on SNL can tell you that they're painfully unfunny. Fortunately, this is not the case with the MacGruber movie.

Macgruber is definitely stupid, but it's also pretty damn hilarious. The jokes are spot-on almost all of the time, but every so often you'll find yourself laughing at the sheer ridiculousness of the whole thing.

Will Forte brings his TV character to life with spot-on comedic timing, and Kristin Wiig is hilarious, as always. Together, they provide most of the funniest gags. My only problem with the cast was Ryan Phillipe, who really has no business doing comedies like this in the first place.

MacGruber is definitely different from most of the rated-R comedies we've been seeing recently from people like Judd Apatow. It's much more juvenile in it's humor, but that's not necessarilly a bad thing. Sometimes its the ridiculous that gets us to laugh the hardest.

Don't be fooled by the terrible skits and trailers. MacGruber will surprise you with just how damn funny it really is. In my opinion, it's definitely one worth checking out.

B-

Kind of a fun fact: Tonight was the first time I legally purchased my own rated-R movie ticket. I felt so proud being able to hand them my ID and have them hand me that ticket. I'm glad it was an enjoyable movie as well.

Robin Hood

Ridley Scott and Russell Crowe's newest period epic Robin Hood might look like it could be their next Gladiator, but unfortunately, all it really does is remind us of what a great movie Gladiator is, and that Scott's best work is definitely behind him.

It's not to say that Robin Hood isn't a good movie. It is. It's entertaining and very well-acted, but it just doesn't evoke the same emotion that similar films of this genre do. Aside from the obvious similarities to Gladiator, I was constantly being reminded of Mel Gibson's Braveheart. For example, Marc Streitenfeld's score sounds very similar to James Horner's Braveheart score, and some of the locations and battle sequences are similar as well. When Robin gives his obligatory inspriational speech to rally men into battle, I couldn't help but repeat "They may take our lives, but they'll never take our freedom!" over and over in my head.

Maybe Robin Hood's problems lie in the fact that it's a prequel to a story we've seen told many times before. We know who's going to live, so when we see these characters in peril we know that they are in no real danger. I had similar problems with last year's Sherlock Holmes. To make a great prequel, you have to make us forget that we know what's coming next, and Robin Hood, while entertaining and very well-made, just doesn't do that.

B-

Iron Man 2

Summer movie season has officially started, folks.

Iron Man 2 was one of my most anticipated movies of the year, but when the movie opened in foreign markets last week and the critical response was less than fantastic, I started to worry that I was going to be let-down. Fortunately, this is not the case. Jon Faverau has kicked-off summer 2010 with a bang.

First, let's get this out of the way right now. Iron Man 2 is not better than it's predecessor. Iron Man lacked a strong villain, but more than made up for it with it's charm (very similar to 2009's Star Trek). Iron Man 2 has the same problem, only reversed. Mickey Rourke as Whiplash was fantastic, but the movie lacked some of the charm that made the first one such a great movie. There are also some pacing problems in Iron Man 2, and sometimes you start to feel it's length, but the same thing could also be said for the first Iron Man. That's really Faverau's only weak spot as a director.

The rest of the cast does not disappoint. Robert Downey Jr. IS Tony Stark. He plays the part so perfectly that you can't even tell he's acting. We also get our first look at the new Rhodey, now played by Don Cheadle instead of Terrance Howard. Howard must be kicking himself, because War Machine is a badass. There is one member of the cast that seems to have been skipped over in most of the trailers (and is nowhere to be seen on any of the posters) and that is Sam Rockwell as Justin Hammer. I love Rockwell. He's one of my favorite actors, and in Iron Man 2 he's absolutely great. Justin is the Bill Gates to Tony's Steve Jobs, and they play off each other so well.

I'm not going to say much about this because I don't want to spoil it, but we also get a much bigger look at the Avengers initiative. Nick Fury has a much bigger role here, and provides some important information about just what it is that S.H.I.E.L.D. does. And make sure you wait till the credits finish, because there's a special scene at the end that makes a pretty big reference to a certain Avenger.

In closing, I'd say Iron Man 2 was a great way to start the summer movie season. It doesn't improve on the first one, but it definitely gives us more of what made Iron Man great. If you enjoyed the first one at all, Iron Man 2 is definitely a suitable sequel.

B+

The Losers

The first time I saw The Losers, it was a month before the theatrical release and I knew almost nothing about it. I had no idea what to expect. What I got was a lighthearted, hilarious, high-octane action movie with a great cast that could possibly be one of the most fun movies you'll see all year.

The Losers is based on a Vertigo graphic novel of the same name. The story follows a U.S. Special Forces team who are on a mission in Bolivia when they are betrayed and left for dead by their handler, Max. I'm going to stop right there, because in all honesty, the plot is not the reason to go see this movie. It's all about the cast. Everyone is top notch, but it is Chris Evans who steals the show as Jensen, who provides the comic relief to great success.

The Losers will obviously draw some comparisons to the recently released superhero action-comedy Kick-Ass, which I absolutely loved. Although The Losers is not as visceral due to the fact that it's PG-13 compared to the hard R of Kick-Ass, it's still an insanely fun movie that is definitely worth checking out.

B+

KICK-ASS

KICK-ASS kicked ass. There is no other way to put it. It's one of the most fun movies you'll see this year. It's hilarious, it's violent, and it contains one of the coolest costumed vigilantes I've ever seen in the form of an 11-year old who goes by the name of Hit-Girl, who deserves her own movie.

KICK-ASS follows the adventures of Dave Lizewski (Aaron Johnson), a normal comic-book loving teen who decides to become a superhero (with no powers, of course) because "nobody has ever tried before". He ends up becoming an internet sensation and attracts the attention of the aforementioned Hit-Girl (Chloë Grace Moretz) and her father, Big Daddy (Nicolas Cage). Everyone is top-notch, but it is the combination of Moretz and Cage who steal the show. When Hit-Girl storms a hallway with a hail of gunfire to the sound of Joan Jett's "Bad Reputation", you can't help but watch with a big, stupid grin and cheer as she takes out henchman after henchman. I also have to give credit to Mark Strong and Christopher Mintz-Plasse who play father and son. Strong seems to be Hollywood's go-to guy to play villains now after his role as Lord Blackwood in Sherlock Holmes, and Mintz-Plasse (better known as McLovin) is hilarious as Red Mist, another costumed vigilante whose intentions might not be as noble as those of our hero.

Some might complain about the senseless violence and some of Moretz's more "colorful" dialogue, but those elements just add to the experience. Go see KICK-ASS, because it will kick your ass. And I mean that in the best way possible.

A+

Clash of the Titans

Here it goes, my first review.

Clash of the Titans was exactly what I expected it to be, if not a bit more. I was hoping to enjoy it, and I did. To say that it improved on the special effects of the original would be an understatement, but to most people, the special effects are what make the first film a classic. Both the original and the remake suffer from a somewhat weak plot that is basically there to move the characters from action scene to action scene. The acting has been improved upon over the original, with Sam Worthington (Terminator Salvation, Avatar) in Harry Hamlin's role as Perseus. I might be biased in my opinion towards Sam, but I think that for an action star, he is a rather good actor. However, the Gods steal the show. Liam Neeson and Ralph Fiennes are great as Zeus and Hades, respectively. There was clearly a lot of effort put into the production, with character design and make-up both looking pretty great.

I ended up seeing this movie in 3D, and in my opinion, it was not as terrible as everyone is saying it is, but then again, its not very good either. It was obvious that the conversion from 2D to 3D was a very rushed job. The very quick editing and fast camera movements make it hard to focus your eyes, which becomes somewhat of a hassle during fast-paced action scenes. If you really want to see the Kraken get released in 3D, go right ahead, but it's really not necessary. All in all, I'd say that the remake of Clash of the Titans was somewhat enjoyable, but flawed in the same places that the original was.

C