Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs

Chloe, Diana and myself went to a movie last week. Diana and I wanted to see Toy Story and Toy Story 2 in 3D. Chloe wanted "Cloudy With a Chance." We decided that because Jordan got to spend the weekend at a friends cabin we should let Chloe pick. I am glad we did.

Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs is hilarious. There is too much funny to even talk about, I will just let you know that if you see this movie you will laugh, you will have a good time, and you will not feel bad about seeing it. There are so many good things - gummy bears, jello house, and the snow ball fight just to name a few. These three items are funny enough for a regular movie and this movie has even more funny!

Final say: go and see this as soon as possible. When you get to the movie theatre butt in line to make sure you get in!

500 Days of Summer

Diana and I saw 500 Days of Summer on the same day as District 9, it was for our anniversary. I really liked 500 Days of Summer. It has Zooey Deschanel (I don't really know how to spell her last name), and the main kid from 10 Things I Hate About You (not Heath Ledger). It is a quirky and fun comedy about their 500 day relationship. It is funny, but also touching in parts. Diana really liked this movie. I thought it was pretty good. There are definately some laugh out loud parts, but I found the ending a little contrived (warning: as the trailer and the narrator in the movie state, this is not a love story). Overall, if I was you, I would go see 500 Days of Summer while it is playing in your area.

District 9

I saw District 9 earlier this month. I usually keep you more updated on my movie goings on, so I feel a little weird about posting this now, but I feel that I should warn everyone to NOT SEE THIS MOVIE! It was horrible. Nothing like what you are promised in the previews and trailers. It is NOT an alien invasion movie, nor an alien vs. human movie. It is just stupid. Maybe a felt this way because I thought I was getting something else. The sad part is that I was really looking forward to seeing District 9 and I walked out of the theatre feeling cheated. Not good.

Harry Potter and The Half-Blood Prince

Went and saw the new Harry Potter last night with the family. It was an OK movie. Could be one of the best of the Harry Potter series. As of now, I still think I like Order of The Phoenix as the best movie. The thing about me and Harry Potter movies is that I hate re-watching them. They are good the first time, but once they are on DVD and the kids want to watch them over and over I think they are horrible. I am sure this one will be like that as well as there was already parts of Half-Blood Prince that I did not like the first time.

I am sure you have read the book, but I still won't give away any spoilers, this movie is a lot about hormones and a very little about action. The book was about half and half (hormones to action). I feel like they cut out action to focus on the hormones and that is not what I want in my Harry Potter movies. The action and magic should trump all. The big ending is the same, but there are different people there and the way it happens is not like how it happens in the book. There are also some other big differences from how the book does things, but the main events are still all there.

Overall, it is a good movie, but not great. I sure hope the movie makers can make great movies for the final book (which they are splitting into two movie).

End of School Year Treats

Every year on the last day of school we have a family tradition that we go to Leatherby's and a movie. Here is the action from this year's day out.
Jordan got a banana split and ate a ton. Not even stopping long enough for me to get a picture without him eating.

Chloe got a brownie covered in ice cream. She loved it.

Diana got what she always gets, a caramel sunday with an extra cup of caramel. Diana loves Leatherby's caramel. We always leave with a jar of it (that we buy) and whatever Diana can convince the waiter to put in a to go cup.

I had my strawberry banana shake (the best!).

We also saw Up, which was a good movie. Diana was crying about 5 minutes into it, but I hear all girls do that in this movie. Overall, it was an OK movie, but only OK, it wasn't as good as Finding Nemo or either of the Toy Story's - which are the Pixar cream of the crop. You should definitely go see it before you get old and die. And take a loved one.

Star Trek

Diana and I went to see Star Trek last night. It is a really good movie - not great. Diana loved it so maybe I had my expectations set a little too high and the movie really is a great one. Either way, I was entertained but I had some problems with the movie. If you haven't seen it (and are going to) or you just don't want to know what happens - you should stop reading.

**SPOILER ALERT**
Problems I had with Star Trek:

The car chase scene: Why did kid-Kirk jump the car down a ravine? Just does not make sense, and there is no way Kirk does not slide off that ledge, he jumped out of a car doing 50-80 MPH and stops (with nothing to grab onto) within 5 feet. Ridiculous!

Time travel: Whenever you bring time-travel into a movie you open up huge plot holes. How did Nero know where Spock would come out of his black hole? He was just there waiting for Spock and captured him easily.

Where did this Red Matter come from? Why did they make so much? If one drop could destroy a planet why would they keep so much - on a spaceship, where there could be problems? Also, the black hole at the end when Spock's ship is destroyed would have been much larger (I know, it started to suck in the Enterprise but they got out of it). Think about it, one drop destroys a planet, the whole ball blowing up would/should destroy the universe!

The transporter: At the beginning of the movie could barely grab someone that was moving (and could not get Spock's Mom), yet by the end they are beaming during warp speed and while flying/falling/all kind of other things. I know you will say that it was Scotty upgrading the software or something like that. I just think that the transporter is more of a hardware thing and there would have had to been some serious upgrades to do what they did (I am a computer guy - what do you expect?). This was more than a firmware update, if you know what I mean.

Kirk becoming first officer: Really? This is how he gets his ship? Pike leaving and just casually saying that Kirk is now the first officer. Things were really so bad that there was no one else? I mean, Spock was a Commander, Kirk was a Cadet that should not have even been on the ship and then five minutes later he is first officer? Makes no sense to me.

Kirk dropping his gun: How many times did Kirk drop his gun? I swear, they did it once and then just green-screened different backgrounds. It happened in both hand-to-hand combat scenes in the movie!

**END SPOILERS**

The one thing I will say about Star Trek is I left the theatre thinking about how this is how the Star Wars prequels should have been. Action upon action with little to no sense, but the film should always be moving towards what we (the audience) know will happen. In Star Trek I was never that worried about Kirk and the rest of them because I knew they would be OK (I have seen the TV shows you know). Star Wars got too caught up in their own words and trying to make a story that we did not know that would eventually lead to what we did know. Hence, Star Wars got bogged down and had some good scenes, but altogether the movies were not that good. I swear, I could edit all three of them into a 3-hour epic and you wouldn't miss a thing.

Wolverine: The Movie

I saw the new Wolverine movie last night. It was pretty OK. Not a great movie, but much better than the last X-Men movie (X3). I have two main problems with the movie. My first is that the language of this movie is just not family friendly. The other X-Men movies I have no problems with the kids watching. The kids will not be watching this movie for quite a while. Sometimes every sentence in a conversation would have some foul language in it. I don't know why. I guess they just wanted the movie to be "edgy" with the language.

My second problem is that they wanted to have an emotional side of the movie and it just got in the way. All very predictable and not very well done. The movie-makers need to stick with what they know how to do, which is have Wolverine kick butt. He does that a lot in the movie. It was very fun to see how Wolverine was "made" and the history of him.

I really did like this movie. I just wish they would have fixed the two items above. I would say go see it and have a fun time at the movie.

Next week, I hope to see Star Trek, we'll see.

Iron Man

Last night Diana and I watched Iron Man on DVD. I have a friend that says Iron Man is better than The Dark Knight. To him, I say, "You, my friend, are incorrect." Iron Man is good fun and I do recommend it to you (3.5 out of five stars...just kidding Ry-Ry; I give Iron Man 4 out of 5 stars). Robert Downey Jr. is the perfect Tony Stark. He plays him perfectly. Gweneth Paltrow is a little out of place as his assistant Miss Potts.

The best part of this movie is the action, and it has plenty. The action scenes are all special effects. Iron Man is just computer generated the entire time, which is fine, he fits in the background really well and his final fight scene with the other robot is really good. It is too bad that they never really explain the Arc Reactor or why it can do what it does.

If you have not seen Iron Man already this summer, you really need to. It is good. If you saw it in the theatre, I thought it transferred really well to my TV screen at home.

There is one quick make-out/sex scene with Leslie Bibb and Robert Downey Jr., you don't really see anything, but Diana and I are debating if we let the kids watch it or not. One of Jordan's friends that is a year younger has already seen it many times, so Jordan really wants to see it. Chloe also wants to watch it. Diana and I will have to make a decision and get back with you.

Full Metal Jacket

Recently, Diana and I watched Full Metal Jacket. It was good. This was another one of those classic movies that I had never seen, but Diana had. Diana watched a lot of adult (not that kind of "adult" movie) movies when she was just a young kid. I cannot believe that she saw this movie and others like it when she was little.

I liked Full Metal Jacket, but you have probably seen it and you either like it or don't like it, anything I say here probably won't change that. If you haven't seen it, you should, it is worth the time spent.

I give Full Metal Jacket 4 out of 5 stars.

The Color Purple and The Natural

Recently, Diana and I got a couple older (classic?) movies from Blockbuster online to watch. There are not a lot of good new movies that are out right now.

We rented The Color Purple and The Natural. I had seen The Natural as a kid, and it is still really good. It has a good story, though it is a little transparent. Also, what kind of injury could kill a baseball player. There are some hugely fat guys, completely out of shape that play baseball. I see these dudes dying before a fit Robert Redford. I guess I should say SPOILERS, but everyone has seen this movie, right? I like The Natural and I give it 4 out of 5 stars.

The Color Purple was a great movie. I had never seen it before. I recommend everyone to see it. Whoopi is excellent. Oprah is OK. The whole thing just comes together so well. If there is a book I should probably read it. I guess I will have to look into that. I give The Color Purple 5 out of 5 stars and would like to encourage anyone who has not seen it to pick it up and watch it today!

What Happens In Vegas

I am sure you have heard of this movie. Cameron what's her name and Ashton Kutcher. This movie is pretty stupid, but has some funny parts. When Ashton is trying to tell the therapist that Cameron beat him for not straightening the towels is hilarious. You should rent this movie just for that part, but it is on the previews too, so you might have already seen it. There won't be any story reveal on this, as the preview does tell you the whole story. I am sure you all know they end up together.

I give this movie 2.5 out of 5 stars. I originally typed three stars and changed it.

Purple Violets

A week passes and I watch plenty of movies. Diana and I must watch 3 or 4 movies a week. Prepare for even more movie reviews as the day progresses. Purple Violets is an Edward Burns movie with Selma Blair and some other people. This was an OK movie. If you do not like bad language do not rent this movie.

**START SPOILERS**
Writer just wrote a book that is completely against his type. He writes police mystery/action novels. This novel is his story. People hate it. He re-connects with an old girlfriend (that is now married - but getting divorced - because the dude is a jerk). The old girlfriend is Selma Blair and she is a writer that is selling real estate - because her book flopped. They start getting back together - but she needs time. She needs to write her next book. He goes off and writes another cop book and everyone loves it. Has it been enough time for her? It has. They get together. Everyone is happy.
**END SPOILERS**

I give this movie 3 out of 5 stars. Rent it, it is not bad.

My Sassy Girl

Movie review. Diana really liked this movie. She says we should buy it. I think this movie was good, but no where near great.

**START SPOILERS**
Elisha Cuthbert is a drunkard, rich girl. The boy (don't remember his name) is a goody-goody. He falls in love with her at first site, and then kidnaps her (she blacked-out in the subway). They begin to fall in love by doing crazy and stupid things. He already is totally head over heels, so he will do anything. She is non-commital. His friends try to get her to leave her. He can't. In the end they separate for a year for her to get better, and then get put together by his aunt and her ex-fiance's mother.
**END SPOILERS**

I left a lot out of the spoilers because I really want you to see it yourself and make your own ideas about the movie. I give this movie 3.5 stars out of 5.

Sydney White

Sydney White is a modern Snow White. This was a pretty good movie. It has been a week or so since we watched it and I have too much to do tonight to write a lengthy review. Diana and I enjoyed watching Sydney White, it was a cute, fun movie that really had nothing bad in it. We even let the kids watch it the next day. One down part it that Amanda Bynes just can not act.

I give this movie 3.5 out of 5 stars. I say rent this movie and if your kids are over 10, let them watch it - but watch it with them.

Street Kings

Diana and I watched Street Kings. This movie had Keanu Reeves and a whole bunch of other mdium-name actors, Forrest Whitaker was in it as well and he was horrible. This movie was pretty good, but the story was very messed up.

**START SPOILERS**

Keanu Reeves is a psycho cop that is given free rein to do what he wants by his captain. He kills a bunch of guys and basically just thinks he can do what he wants. His old partner does not like him. They were both dirty cops when they were together, and his partner is trying to clean up, well, actually he is just snitching on the captain that is bad. Keanu follows his old partner one day as the partner gets brutally killed. The rest of the movie is finding who did the murder. Everyone watching knows that the captain, Forrest Whitaker, is the bad guy. Things get worse and worse for Keanu, he ends up killing his team and some undercover cops, and then the captain by the end of the show. The internal affairs team that is following Keanu lets him go at the end.

**END SPOILERS**

If you read the spoilers you know just how messed up this movie is. It needs a lot of help, but it is too late, this movie is already made and out to theatres and out on video. They are done with this one - and it is not very good. I am sure Keanu had a lot of fun shooting all the people he gets to kill in this movie.

I give this movie 2 out of 5 stars.

Art of War II: Betrayal

The only reason we rented this movie is because it has Wesley Snipes in it. In our house we like Wesley Snipes. He was a bad man in Blade and other action shows. Sadly, Art of War II does not live up to Blade, or almost any other movie. This movie was really bad.Diana told me to stop renting such bad movies after this one and even made me show her our queue on Blockbuster.com. I guess it is what it is. This movie sucked and I even rated it on Blockbuster with a half a star which means, "I hated this movie."

Do not rent this movie.

Star Wars: Clone Wars

This movie is really a pilot for the new Cartoon Network TV show that is going to be starting up in September. The movie is computer generated. Three actual star wars people lent their voices to the movie (I do not know if they will have their voices in the TV show): Samuel L. Jackson as Mace Windu, Anthony Daniels as C-3PO, and Christopher Lee as Count Dooku.
The movie was basically an actionfest of war and Jedi's running, jumping, and fighting. There was even some Sith action with Count Dooku fighting Anakin and Asajj Ventress (Dooku's apprentice) fighting Obi-Wan. The main point of the story is the Jedi's needing to find Joba the Hutt's kidnapped son, so Joba will form an alliance with the Republic and not with the Separatist.

Jordan liked to way the battle droids were funny during the movie. He laughed many times at them. I thought this movie was just OK, and at points I even wished that this movie was part of Episode II: Attack of the Clones. I was thinking that because Episode II was so bad.

I rate this movie 3 out of 5 stars, and if I did not like Star Wars I would probably barely give it 1 star. If you like Star Wars, check this movie out!

Doomsday

I watched a crazy action movie tonight. It was called Doomsday and I don't want to go overboard with the review. This was basically a movie where people got together and said, "how many crazy fight scenes and people getting squished can we put in one movie. We have some really cool ideas for gruesome deaths, too." And then someone gave them a couple million bucks to make a movie. The storyline was one we have seen a hundred times and they did not do anything different with it. This was not a horrible movie if you like action and gore like this. I give this movie 2.5 out of 5 stars.

Smart People

Tonight I started to watch a movie. Smart People had Dennis Quaid as a grouchy old professor. The Juno girl was his daughter. There was other people in the movie too. I did not think it was that good. It had some good points and was funny here and there. I left 40 minutes into it, so I won't do a review. Diana thought it was good. I hope she reviews it on her blog so I can know what I missed.

Lost Boys 2: The Tribe

Boy, I rent and then watch a lot of crappy movies. Lost Boys 2 added another to the list. Do not waste your time. 1 star out of 5 and I will not dignify this movie with a review. Do not rent this. Put it down.