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+