Are you wondering why Fox is in such a hurry to get its new movie sequel to Diary of a Wimpy kid out? Well, the 2010 hit brought in $65 mil! In fact, the series on which this new movie release is based, “Diary of a Wimpy Kid” by Jeff Kinney, has sold 43 million copies so far. Upcoming movie, “Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Rodrick Rules,” is a safe bet. The sequel is even better than the first movie. It’s all about Greg’s relationship with his older brother. The box office is probably going to be as good, but not better, than for the first movie, as the books continue to be popular and the first movie will be one of the releases on DVD that will stimulate interest in the sequel.
All of the actors, except for co-star Chloe Grace Moretz, are back for the second movie. This movie picture is all about family. Greg, played by Zachary Gordon, and his brother Rodrick, played by Devon Bostick, have a hard time getting along and their mom, Susan, played by Rachael Harris, and their dad, Frank, played by Steve Zahn, are determined to have them learn how to coexist. This film has quite a few scenes in which Greg is embarrassed. Zachary Gordon seems to be very good natured about acting in scenes that involve Speedos and jockey shorts. He has lots to write about in his diary as his big brother enjoys pushing him into birthday cakes and being locked in the cellar. Best friend Rowley Jefferson, played by Robert Capron, is back but he’s a little quieter than he was in the last movie. He’s putting together a magic show for a community talent event and this is keeping him quite busy. The movie’s big scene is when the brothers are left on their own for a weekend as punishment, rather than going away with the rest of the family. Rodrick sees it as a chance to have a party and both brothers quickly regret this idea.
The big talent show is the climax of the movie. Everybody is in on this act and there are lessons learned across the board. This movie is not a whole lot different than the “Malcolm in the Middle” sit-com but it is entertaining and fun – especially for tweens. David Bowers, the director, has come to this movie with a background in animation and it shows, giving the movie a nice cartoon feeling. Gordon is great at being Greg, although not as much of a geek as the book’s Greg. Bostick is a great Rodrick. Zahn is not very impressive in his role as dad, but Harris is wonderful as the mother, despite the fact that she strongly resembles Sarah Palin. Everyone will love Peyton List as the girl Greg adores but will never have. Laine MacNeil reprises her role as Patty, the bane of Greg’s existence.
Posts Tagged ‘Review’
Diary of a Wimpy Kid Rodrick Rules Movie Review
February 18th, 2010Winnie The Pooh Movie Review
February 15th, 2010New movie release “Winnie the Pooh” is a Disney refurbishment of a fifty year old cash cow. The animated upcoming movie features the voices of Craig Ferguson, Jim Cummings, Tom Kenny, John Cleese, and the singing of Zooey Deschanel. It’s a sweet, loving, new look at A.A. Milne’s characters. The new movie is 69 minutes long but that includes ten minutes of credits and a six minute intro about the Loch Ness Monster entitled “The Ballad of Nessie.”
In movie news now, “Winnie the Pooh” will undoubtedly draw in quite a few pre-schoolers and their parents during matinees and will then do well on home video and TV. “Winnie the Pooh” is opening in France April 13, in the United Kingdom and Germany on April 14, and in seven other places before the launch in the U.S. on July 15.
Directors Stephen Anderson and Don Hall have kept the simple, soft, pastel illustrations of the British countryside that were the original E.H. Shepard works. They’re offering beautiful backdrops for the characters’ gentle antics.
Milne’s creations tend to play a little bit like stuffed animals and Pooh’s search for honey and Eeyore’s unhappiness over the loss of his tail are only interesting for so long. They’re most appealing to people who are still attached to their teddy bears and other nap companions.
The music is also a bit of a throwback. Zooey Deschanel redoes the songs of the Sherman Brothers but adds some new tunes as well. Kids are going to like this movie but parents will be glad that it’ll be over in 69 minutes.
The Cable Guy Movie Review Starring Jim Carrey & Matthew Broderick
January 26th, 2010The Cable Guy (Jim Carrey) enjoys the power and freedom that his profession provides him. Not only does he get invited into the homes of many he also can grant his favorite customers with free premium channels. Steven Kovacs (Matthew Broderick) decides to take his friend Rick’s (Jack Black) advices and considers bribing the cable guy with fifty bucks to hook up his new place. After four hours of waiting around the Cable Guy shows up to get Steven’s new apartment connected.
Immediately we see the quirky and hilarious Cable Guy in action as he probes Steven’s apartment looking for the cable sweet spot. The Cable Guy goes one step further and completely reconfigures Steven’s apartment for optimal cable reception. After an uncomfortable exchange he agrees to provide Steven with free premium channels and a friendship is formed. He invites Steven to check out the satellite dish with him the following day and the uncomfortable relationship begins.
As the two get deeper into their friendship Steven learns more about the Cable Guy, who goes by Chip Douglas, and his social inadequacies. Steven finds it a bit odd how much Chip knows about his life and his ex girlfriend Robin Harris (Leslie Mann). Chip sees a friendship opportunity with Steven if he can help get the two of them back together so he tries his best to provide his services.
Chip is introduced to Steven’s friends in the hilarious basketball scene where Chip joins their pickup game. The group is not quite sure how to take Chip with his tight shorts, tank-top and mouth guard as Chip takes the game far too serious. The game ends when Chip smashes the backboard with one of his power dunks.
The movie takes a bit of a dark spin when Steven starts pushing Chip away when he realizes that he is not stable. Chip is so upset with how Steven is ignoring him that he starts tampering with his relationships and his work life. When Steven puts the pieces together he decides to do some research on Chip and finds out more than he had bargained for. As suspected Chip ends up as messed up as the audience thought all along.
Unfortunately for Carrey the Cable Guy was not one of his best films. Carrey did an amazing job with his performance of Chip Douglas but there wasn’t a great story behind his work. The Cable Guy has some brilliant comedy scenes but fails to put together a great storyline behind them.
The Dead Pool Movie Review Starring Clint Eastwood & Liam Neeson
January 25th, 2010The fifth and final film in the Dirty Harry series was The Dead Pool starring Clint Eastwood and Liam Neeson. Those that have followed along with the series know that Dirty Harry likes to take the law into his own hands whenever possible. The movie was filmed in 1988 and was one of only three movies directed by Buddy Van Horn and it shows.
The Dead Pool opens up and Clint Eastwood is getting chased by what he believes to be mobsters sent to kill him for imprisoning their boss. The chase ends in a ten minute bullet-fest where the three angry mobsters completely cover Harry’s car with bullets. As is customary in these films, Harry escapes the car unharmed and removes all of the men with single shots. It of course wouldn’t be a Dirty Harry movie without the highly predictable end to the chase scene.
The premise of the movie is Peter Swan (Liam Neeson) is participating in a game called dead pool. Every member of the dead pool game creates a list of people who they think are going to die within the year. The people on Peter’s list are ending up murdered and it is up to Dirty Harry and his partner Inspector Al Quan (Evan C. Kim) to get to the bottom of the case.
The surprise of the film came early on in the movie when Jim Carrey appeared playing the role of the strung out rock-n-roll star Johnny Squares. Although Johnny was only in the movie for a brief time because he was on Peter’s dead pool list, Carrey was able to show off some of his early physical comedy talent as he lip synched Welcome To The Jungle by Guns N’ Roses. Unfortunately this was probably the highlight of the film.
Dirty Harry continues tracking down suspects in numerous fights until he finally locates the guilty party and takes them out. Although the film is over twent years old it was still a terrible way to go out for such a great character. Being the fifth sequel I think they were resting a little too much on the Dirty Harry name. Unless your goal is to watch every Clint Eastwood or Jim Carrey movie, stay away from this one.
Iron Man – Movie Review
January 21st, 2010“Iron Man” is a hugely popular action film that was released in 2008. It is rated PG-13.
Tony Stark (Robert Downey, Jr.) is a rich, arrogant genius who heads up Stark Enterprises, a huge company with a lot of lucrative military contracts. He inherited the company from his father and has continued to grow the business with his many inventions.
Tony takes a trip to Afghanistan to demonstrate to the military leaders there a new weapon he has created, named the “Jericho” missile. The demo goes over well but as they head back to the base his convoy is attacked and he is injured and captured by a terrorist group called The Ten Rings. He is taken back their cave hideout and is treated by a fellow prisoner, Dr. Yinsen. The doctor placed a battery powered electromagnet into his chest for the purpose of keeping shrapnel out of his heart, thus saving his life. Stark is told by the terrorist leader that he must build a Jericho missile for him or be killed. At this time Stark learns that the terrorists have a huge stockpile of weapons made by his company.
With the doctor to assist him Tony builds a small but powerful arc reactor to replace the bulky car battery that powers the electromagnet. Instead of building a missile they secretly begin construction on a crude suit of armor that will be powered by the arc reactor. The terrorists get tired of waiting for him to complete the missile and give him a 24 hour deadline to complete it. They finish the suit but the doctor gets killed during the escape. As he leaves the cave he is attacked and responds with a built-in flamethrower and small dart-like missiles. Under heavy fire when he gets outside he manages to set fire to most of the munitions in the camp before flying away. He lands on a sand dune and the suit falls to pieces. After he is rescued by an American helicopter the terrorists find the suit and salvage all of the parts.
Once home Stark declares that Stark Industries will no longer produce weapons but will concentrate on peaceful pursuits. The stock price drops like a rock and his business partner Obadiah Stane manages to get control of the company. Tony holes up in his futuristic workshop in his home and works on perfecting a new suit. After a number of trials and failures he manages to design a suit that fits his needs, including a computer that runs all of the complicated software he has built into it. He also builds a better and more powerful arc reactor and gives the old one to his assistant “Pepper” Potts as a souvenir. While he is working on the suit Stane sells more munitions to the Ten Rings, including a Jericho missile. When Stark hears that terrorists are using his weapons he flies to Afghanistan and attacks them, destroying the munitions. When he leaves he is attacked by American fighter planes and barely manages to escape.
Stane goes to the Middle East to meet the terrorist leader. He and his men kill the terrorists and take the prototype of the armored suit and the blueprints that had been left behind. He takes these back to his engineers and have them create a suit that is huge and loaded with weapons. The only problem is that they cannot reproduce the arc reactor that Tony had invented. So Stane goes to Stark’s home and uses a device that temporarily paralyzes Tony and steals his arc reactor from his chest, leaving him there to die. Stark manages to get downstairs to his lab and retrieve the original arc reactor that Pepper had put into a display case. With this reactor he goes forth to challenge Stane, or Iron Monger as he is known in the comics.
During this time Pepper had led Agent Coulson of S.H.I.E.L.D. to Stane’s lab and they discovered Stane in his new armor. He kills a couple of agents and while threatening Pepper he is attacked by Stark. They fight desperately but Stane’s armor is very strong and Stark’s old arc reactor is losing power. Tony manages to disable the computer in Stane’s suit and while he is out of control he has Pepper blow the large reactor below them. Stane apparently dies in the explosion.
The fight made news headlines and Stark was given a cover story by S.H.I.E.L.D., including a statement that the “Iron Man” was simply a large bodyguard. However, he decides to steal the spotlight and announces to the world that he is indeed “Iron Man”.
My Recommendation
If you like action movies at all, see this one. The fight and flight scenes alone are worth the price of admission but Robert Downey, Jr. was the icing on the cake. When I first heard that he had been cast as Tony Stark I thought it was a bad choice. However, after only a few minutes of the movie he had me hooked. Now I can’t imagine anybody else playing the part, probably due to his genius in portraying the arrogant jerk who still manages to get us to like him.
Jon Favreau not only dirercted the film but also played as Stark’s driver and bodyguard, Happy Hogan. He did a marvelous job of showing us the evolution of the suit and how Tony Stark learns how to master it. His character was also funny and a good counterpoint to some of the more serious characters.
I have seen this movie three times already and will continue to watch it over the years. Every time I watch it it delivers adrenaline and laughs. Watch it and experience it for yourself.
The Six Wives of Henry Lefay – Movie Review
January 20th, 2010“The Six Wives of Henry Lefay” is a comedy film released in 2009 and is rated PG-13.
Henry Lefay (Tim Allen) is a rich and successful businessman from Ithica, NY. He owns a chain of audio/visual discount stores and does very well at it. In the opening of the film Henry is in Cancun, Mexico getting ready to go out to sea for a para-sailing excursion. He is accompanied by another tourist named Lipshitz. As we watch, Lefay puts the jacket on and gets strapped to the parachute. The camera moves back to the beach, and we see a man fall from the sail into the sea.
Barbara “Barbie” Lefay receives a phone call telling her that her father has died and she should come to New York from California for the funeral. She thinks that it is a prank from he father but finds that it is the truth. She and her boyfriend Lloyd travel to Ithica to attend what is sure to be a circus of a funeral. As it states in the title, Henry Lefay has been married six times, though two of them were to the same woman. As they get ready to leave Barbie recalls the last time that they spoke and we are taken back one year to see the events of that time.
Henry had fooled Barbie into coming home by telling her that he had been in an accident. She arrives to find that he is well and now remarried for the fifth time to a woman named Autumn who happens to be 28 years old, the same age as Barbie. He later tells her that he is now engaged to another woman and wants her to tell Autumn that he wants a divorce, which she refuses to do.
Later she finds that her father’s latest fiancee’ is Sarah Jane, a woman with whom she went to high school and who has always had it in for her. Angry, she leaves and tells him that she never wants to see his “stupid face” again.
Now back in the present time they arrive for the funeral and meet with the various wives, including her own mother Kate (Andie McDowell) who seems to be faring well. Ophelia (Jenna Elfman), the second and fourth wife, is crying when they arrive to her house but she recovers quickly and actually hits on Lloyd while they are there. When everyone goes to the funeral home it is discovered that each wife had a different idea of how Henry wanted his remains to be handled. Ophelia said that he wanted to be cremated, Autumn said he had purchased two plots for them in one cemetery while Veronica said he had two plots for them in a different cemetery. Also joining them is Henry’s first wife, an African American woman he had married while very young and living in Chicago. Their marriage only lasted a few months but he had recently contacted her and they had been emailing each other every day. The others did not even know that she existed as Henry had never spoken of her.
Ophelia tricks the head of the funeral home into cremating Henry and then tries to steal the urn with his ashes. The others chase her into town where the urn gets broken and the ashes scatter into the wind. They get another urn and have the funeral as planned. However, they get a big surprise when Henry walks in playing his harmonica. He is alive and well. It turns out that the other tourist had been the one to fall to his death and he had freaked out and gotten drunk and disappeared for a few days. He finally made it back home just in time to arrive at his own funeral.
Barbie sends her boyfriend home broken hearted. He had proposed many times to her but she had always turned him down. Now she reveals that she may never get married and that she doesn’t want to make a mistake and marry the wrong man. Her mother is sick and goes to the hospital the next day after they have a big argument. She goes to the hospital and sees her father leaving her mother’s room quickly as if he doesn’t want to be seen. After speaking with her mother for a few minutes she realizes that she has made a big mistake with Lloyd , that her father’s many marriages have made it difficult for her to trust the promise made by any man.
At the end of the movie Barbie and Lloyd get married and she and her father dance to their song, “Blue Skies”.
My Recommendation
When I watched this movie I hadn’t read anything about it, I just knew that it starred Tim Allen. I was pleasantly surprised by the cast. Andie McDowell and Jenna Elfman are wonderful in their own rights and Elisha Cuthbert was very good as Barbie.
It was pretty obvious from the beginning that it wasn’t Henry who had fallen to his death but the craziness that was his funeral was still fun to watch. You could say that he was just a cheating husband who couldn’t settle down but I found something more in him than that. He had a big lust for life, as well as women, that couldn’t be denied. He genuinely cared for all of his wives, he just couldn’t stay away from other women, even though he knew he would hurt the one he was with.
I say go ahead and watch it. The cast was great, the storyline was thin but not too bad, and my wife and I both enjoyed the silliness of the women and their relationships with Henry.
Robin Hood – Movie Review
January 19th, 2010“Robin Hood” is one of the top action movies of 2010. It is rated PG-13.
I probably read “Robin Hood” for the first time when I was around 10 years old. I then re-read it a number of times over the next few years. The release of “Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves” was a red letter day for me and I enjoyed that film a lot. The latest version, the “Robin Hood” we are discussing today, has a number of twists that made it even more interesting as I tried to guess what would happen.
Robin Longstride (Russel Crowe) has been fighting for years in the Crusades with King Richard’s army. During the last siege before returning to England, King Richard is killed with a crossbow bolt in the neck (first big surprise). His right hand man Robert Locksley is tasked with bringing the crown back to London in order to have it presented to the next king, Richard’s brother John. John’s boyhood friend and trusted companion Sir Godfrey turns out to be a traitor and is actively helping King Philip of France to take advantage of England’s weakness. He and a number of French soldiers ambush Robert Locksley and his escort before they can leave France. He wants to capture the crown but is thwarted by Robin Longstride and his friends who have left the army and are trying to find their own way home ahead of the army. They discover the ambush and in turn surprise the French soldiers, killing most of them and wounding Godfrey who escapes.
Locksley manages to live long enough to give Robin his sword and asks him to return it to his father, the Lord of Nottingham. Robin and his friends pretend to be knights in order to get back to England. He presents the crown in London and then rides off to Nottingham. When he gets there the Lord Locksley asks him to impersonate his returned son in order to protect the inheritance of dead son’s wife, the Lady Marian (Cate Blanchett). He agrees and with the reluctant help of Marian he soon proves that he can be of great help to them all.
Godfrey is commissioned by John to go the the northern Baronies to collect back taxes. These areas have already been impoverished by taxes to pay for the Crusades and they don’t have the money to pay what is owed. Godfrey leads his English men into another ambush where they are all killed and replaced with French soldiers. They then proceed to attack cities and towns to not only collect money but to rouse the anger of the barons against John in the hope that they will commit to civil war.
Godfrey learns that Robin is in Nottingham and leads his men to attack the town. Godfrey kills the old lord and has his men put many of the townspeople, including Marian into a building and set it on fire. Robin, who had been out of town getting the support of the barons, returns with an army that kills the French invaders and learns that the French fleet will be landing soon. The army of the barons and the king join forces to meet the fleet and repel the invading army. While John actually joins the fighting, when the French surrender the English soldiers cheer for Robin. John becomes jealous and breaks his promise to provide greater freedoms to his people and naming Robin an outlaw. Robin and Marian then make their way into Sherwood Forest.
My Recommendation
I liked the movie and the unexpected twists that were written into the script. Seeing Robin start out as a regular guy and then becoming Robin of Locksley through deception was a neat rewrite from the book and made the entire film more interesting. The action scenes were great with Robin actually using a sword almost as much as he use his bow. The final battle on the beach was not historically correct but who cares? It was well done and we did get to see Robin pull off a spectacular bow shot to finally put an end to Godfrey.
I’ve admired Cate Blanchett ever since her portrayal of Katherine Hepburn in “The Aviator”. She was definitely the best Maid Marian I’ve seen although technically she was no longer a “Maid” but a married woman. Her character did not mind jumping in to plow a field, shoe a horse, or pull livestock from the mud. I didn’t really feel any chemistry between Cate Blanchett and Russel Crowe but then again, it wasn’t a romantic comedy so I don’t really mind that. In fact, I never mind that as much as my lovely wife does.
Overall I have no problem recommending the movie to the guys or ladies. The ladies get to see Mr. Crowe with his shirt off and the guys get to see him shoot arrows into the bad guys. That’s a good trade-off, right?
Nanny McPhee – Movie Review
January 17th, 2010A widower with seven (7) children, Mr. Cedric Brown has difficulty relating to his kids after the death of his wife. The children become quite rowdy and misbehave so badly that they drive away all of the seventeen (17) nannies that he has hired. After the last nanny flees he finds that the agency does not have any more who would be willing to work for him. “The person you need is Nanny McPhee”. These are the mysterious words that lead to his hiring the somewhat unattractive but undeniably effective Nanny McPhee.
As the children find out quickly, when the new nanny says something, she means it. She comes into their home with certain rules that must be learned. Her magical duties will not last forever though. As she says, “While you need me but do not want me I must stay. When you want me but no longer need me I must leave.” For the Brown children the choice is clear, she must go!
Mr. Brown, while employed as an undertaker, does not make enough money to care for the children and to hire a nanny as well as his cook and maid. However, his late wife’s aunt, the Lady Adelaide, is loaded, with money and opinions. She gives him an ultimatum, get married by the end of the month or have her financial help cut off.
While Mr. Brown looks for a way to save his family, his kids are looking for ways to get rid of Nanny McPhee. Along the way they all learn valuable lessons about life, love, and the importance of family.
My Recommendation
I loved this movie and I’ve seen it at least four times. My wife loves it as well and we had to watch it again before going out to the theater to watch the new sequel, “Nanny McPhee Returns.”
The bright colors in the Brown home and the clothing that was worn by some of the main characters take the story somewhere out of time, like it was a fairy tale. My wife particularly liked the underlying love story that culminated with a happy ending. I tend to enjoy movies that feature magic so it was a natural for me.
Watch this film with your loved ones and be prepared for a good time.
Read a Review Before You Buy Movie Tickets
January 7th, 2010Bollywood movies have a huge fan following and there are countless people interested in reviews of the movies that are released. When a new movie is released, you want to know what the story is about. More importantly, you want to know whether the movie will be a worthy watch, or not.
Definitely, you will want to spend your money buying tickets for a movie that is good. To make sure that the movie you are going to watch is a good one or not, you have to go through the reviews. After the first day of the movie’s first show, you can browse through various websites for the reviews. You will find that the reviews may differ from one website to the other. What you need to do is, go through several websites and try to get a general view of the movie and response of viewers.
Bollywood movie reviews play a significant role in the success of a movie. When it comes to a blockbuster hit, you will find that the movie reviews provide high ratings for that particular movie. Like Hollywood, Bollywood movies also owe a lot to good reviews. It has been observed that a good film review works wonders for a Bollywood movie, while a bad film review may be really nasty for a movie causing it to flop at the box office.
Film critics, who analyze a film, write a review depending on various standards. Critics study the plot of the movie and also write about the performance of the actors in the movie. Other topics which are usually discussed in Bollywood movie reviews are music, direction, screenplay, choreography, and a general view of the film.
A film review gives away a lot of the movie’s story, so it might decrease your curiosity about the movie to a great extent. However, not getting prejudiced only by common opinion and watching the film yourself would be a wiser idea. Often, it has been seen that a much talked about film turns out to be a “flop”. While a less heard about movie, or one that has not done very well at the box office is actually a good watch. Film reviews definitely guide the viewer and portray a general opinion about a particular movie.
From leading newspapers, to magazines and latest Bollywood news websites, to blog posts; movie reviews are easily accessible and can be read at leisure. So before you make up your mind to watch a movie read a review on it. It would definitely help you decide what to watch, and what not to watch.