UP

Carl Fredrickson wants to fulfill a promise to his wife that they'd go on a grand adventure, so he ties thousands of balloons to his house and floats off for South America. Russell, a young wilderness explorer stows away on the house and the adventure and comedy ensue.

Pixar goes 10 for 10. This movie is completely random, very original and lots of fun. It has so much heart to it, the opening 10-15 minutes will definitely tug at your heartstrings, but it also immediately endears you to the characters. It's clearly evident, yet again, that Pixar spends so much time on getting the story just right, adding the heart and selling you on it emotionally. There's lots of funny and random moments and characters. Kevin the bird and Doug the dog are particularly random and very entertaining. The character design is great, the rendering is amazing, the voice cast is perfect and animation is very well done. I saw it in 3D, which adds a little depth to it, but isn't really necessary. Plus, if you see it in 3D, you don't get to see Pixar's new animated short about a baby-delivering stork titled "Partly Cloudy", which was very disappointing not to see, so I'll have to see it again. There's also a trailer for Toy Story 3, which was fun.

**** out of 4 - Oscar Worthy

(Rated PG for action, violence and adult themes)

UP

Carl Fredricksen, a retired balloon salesmen, finally realizes his life long dream of adventure, when he ties thousands of balloons to his house to carry him off to the audacious wilds of South America.

I saw this in 3-D which really isn't necessary, as it adds nothing to the story, nevertheless...what a story. Truly creative with random twists that are absolutely charming. Pixar has once again proven that script is everything and that a good screenplay brings about fabulous character development. It seems that no matter how arbitrary, unlikely, and fanciful the subject matter they still flesh out the tale leaving nothing to chance.

This set up is very sentimental and sweet, that truth be told, might upset small children...or overly sensitive adults. The rest of the movie, you will find, that the dialogue is smart, the animation amazing, the characters adorable and it is over all an extremely fun, enchanting film.

**** Oscar Worthy (who are we kidding they've already won)

Rated PG

Easy Virtue

John Whittaker, a young British aristocrat has been off traveling Europe. His family, particularly his mother, all anxiously await his return. Upon his arrival however, they are less enthusiastic about his new bride, Larita, a glamorous young American, whose career and persona are a tad too much for the quiet country estate.

This is a fun Indy flick, set in the late twenties, early thirties--the clothes and cars alone are worth watching it for. The story is fun, simple, scandalous, and though slightly predictable is still very entertaining to watch. Jessica Biel was shockingly perfect for the role and Colin Firth always delivers. Kristen Scott Thomas is also excellent and the woman you love to hate. The indignation, the melodramatic, the retorts, not to mention the vocabulary are all sharply clever and fun.

If you like period pieces, independent film and screwball comedy - this is for you.

**1/2

Rated PG-13 (for sexual content)

Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian

Larry Daly, now a successful inventor returns to the Natural History Museum to find that many of his exhibit friends are being sent to the Federal Archives for storage. In an effort to save them, he travels to Washington DC to the basement of the Smithsonian where once again chaos ensues.

I was actually pleasantly surprised that this wasn't the same movie spun out just at a different location. There is a decent storyline and a lot of fun to be had combining world history with American iconography. It was cute, coherent, and despite the many loose ends that never really get tied up, still was an acceptable sequel. They wasted no time in setting up the story and the movie comes in under two hours.

Fine family fun.

*** Must See

Rated PG (mild violence)
Also on a side note--it made more money opening weekend than Terminator Salvation. :)

Terminator Salvation

John Conner leads a resistance group against Skynet, the technological monster behind the cyborgs that are determined to eradicate the human race.

Yeah, so what can I say...? I expected more. I remember my dad taking me and my brothers to see Terminator 2: Judgment Day and thinking it was scary, fun, and exciting all wrapped up into one gripping little package. Not that this flick isn't semi-entertaining and full of action, but it is also full of holes. Lots of holes. Things that could have been easily fixed in a more thorough script, it was like they didn't think it through completely. *sigh*. I don't want to spoil anything so I won't go into detail, but suffice it to say the story was a tad lacking. Did I mention the holes?

The deficient character development goes hand in hand with the impoverished plot. Matt touched on this a bit. Christian Bale annoyed me. I thought that he developed that grizzly growl way of talking just for the Batman series...apparently not. Also, as John Conner, he was the most apathetic of characters. Kind of flat and not very engaging. The rest of the cast however, I thought did a great job. In fact I don't know who this Sam Worthington is, but he was much more dynamic as his character, Marcus Wright, not to mention way cute. You are just more vested in watching him than you are John Conner. Pitiful.

Oh and one last thought, it took itself slightly too seriously and didn't defer enough to the originals -- Just my opinion.

Disenchanted but not disgusted.

** 1/2 Rentable

Rated PG-13 (for violence)

Terminator Salvation

The Terminator saga continues, this time in the present/future.  John Connor leads the human resistance against Skynet and it's ever improving machines that are bent on humanity's extermination.  

This movie is in the odd place that few movies can be in; it's part sequel, part prequel.  It's leading us into how we got the first Terminator movie yet also telling us what happens after Terminator 3, all the while dealing with time travel.  Some franchises haven't handled the sequel/prequel very well, no names need to be mentioned, but this does a fairly decent job.  The first half is very interesting and engaging, with loads of fun action (one of the best choreographed car chases I've seen in a while).  It loses a little bit of steam near the end as it gives us some stuff we've already seen in the previous three Terminator movies; a terminator chasing our hero around a half destroyed factory.  But overall it's entertaining, especially for Terminator fans.  It does a good job explaining certain details that fans have probably been wondering about since the first two movies.  There is however a lack of character development, yes we have known some of the characters for a couple of movies now, but I needed to care a little more about some of them.  The acting is good, special fx are good (the return of one character will have you wondering "How did they do that?").  Kudos on the running time at just under 2 hours, a welcome relief when so many big action movies are at least 30 minutes too long.  That could be because they're saving material, as the ending suggests the Terminator franchise...will be back... 

*** out of 4 - worth a trip to the theater 

(PG-13 for violence and language.)

Angels and Demons

Robert Langdon, noted symbologist, is called upon to help the Catholic Church find four kidnapped Cardinals and save the Vatican from obliteration.

I never read the books. Nevertheless I was much more entertained by this movie than I was DaVinci Code. Like Matt said, The DaVinci Code was too easy. Cracking codes left and right, never explaining how or why. This flick was much more engaging. It made more sense, was more intriguing, and had a greater sense of urgency.

I still thought, again having never read the book, that it was way too predictable, but I guess I was still entertained. Tom Hanks does a decent job and is much better in this one. The storyline was really interesting and I found myself wanting them to spend more time explaining the history behind the mystery. But hey they were limited on time, so I guess I will have to catch it on the History Channel.

Entertaining, despite its predictability.

**1/2 Rentable

Rated PG-13 (for violence)

Angels & Demons

Professor Robert Langdon is back in action, solving religious/scientific mysteries. The Pope has unexpectedly died and the Vatican fears a return of the Illuminati, as the Pope's four most likely successors have been kidnapped.  They subtly turn to Professor Langdon to figure out where they are and why.  

I didn't care for The Da Vinci Code, I thought it was too much like the National Treasure movies, in that everything falls into place too easily and they figure things out way too easily.  Angels & Demons still has some of that but not so much that I'm thinking "yeah right" every time they figure out a piece of the puzzle.  This is a fun, interesting and exciting mystery/action movie that brings up interesting thoughts about the balance between science and faith and how they can compliment each other.  There's also some interesting and touching twists at the end.  The acting is good enough all around.  The running time is a little too long, but it keeps you interested throughout.  

*** out of 4 - Maybe theater worthy  

(PG-13 for violence)      

Monsters VS Aliens (3D)

Susan, an everyday girl, is minutes away from her dream wedding when she is struck by an asteroid that turns her into 40 ft tall, "Ginormica".  The government takes her to a secret base where she and other monsters are kept out of the public's sight.  When aliens attack Earth in search of the same powerful substance that created Ginormica, and our weapons don't work against them, the government releases the monsters on the aliens and the chaos ensues. 

Dreamworks continues to be second fiddle to Pixar in the animation arena.  This is a moderately fun movie, with a couple of laughs here and there, but there's just no heart to it.  Something I seem to say after every Dreamworks Animation movie.  There's been the exceptions, with Prince of Egypt, Shrek, Over the Hedge and maybe Kung Fu Panda, but they're far from going 10 for 10 as Pixar is expected to do in two weeks with "Up" (early reviews are off the charts.)  That said, the character design and rendering of Dreamworks continues to be top notch.  Very original look to the characters, it's fun eye candy.  The 3D element is distracting at first but once you get used to it, it adds loads of depth to the movie.  It's really pretty cool, some parts you really feel like you could reach out and touch what's on screen.  And they don't have a lot of scenes where things pointlessly come out of the screen at your face just to show you they can do it.  I think just one scene at the very beginning is like that and I think it's to remind you it's 3D, the rest is pretty fun and adds to the experience.  The voice cast does a good job and is well cast, specifically Seth Rogan as Bob the blob.  The writing just could've been stepped up a notch.

** out of 4 - Rentable (unless you want to experience the 3D, otherwise just wait and see Up in 3D.)   

Star Trek

Prequels: The final frontier.
These are the voyages of the movie studios.
Their mission, to exploit the stories of old,
To seek out new money from the same civilization.
To boldly go where we have all been before....

A bit much? Perhaps, nevertheless true. In the last few years studios have made a killing off the idea that they can take a once lucrative franchise and start it over. Some, have been wildly successful. Batman and James Bond for instance have both been triumphantly reborn. Others... Star Wars, being the most odious example, tend to leave more than just a sour taste in our mouths--they ruin the whole story!

So how did Star Trek measure up you ask?

How sweet it is! First of all, as Matt has already mentioned, the casting was great. I should have taken notice or looked it up, but whomever the casting director was--brilliant! Not only did they get people that looked like their respective characters but they fit their age range as well. Second and really the most important--the story. It was fabulous! Engaging, fun, just complex enough to thrill the Trekkie's, and basic action/adventure enough to keep even the most anti-science fictionists entertained. As one who grew up in a Star Trek friendly home, it paid just enough homage to the originals to allow itself to create a whole new spectrum of events.

Move over Origins--this is the prequel that set the summer precedent. Terminator has a lot to live up to.

***1/2 - MUST SEE

Rated PG-13 (for violence and language)

Star Trek

Director J.J. Abrams (Lost, Cloverfield) gives the original Star Trek crew a reboot and origin stories to to go along with it.  We see where Kirk became Captain and how he teamed up with Spock, Bones, Scotty and the rest of the crew.

There's the "LET SUMMER BEGIN!" I was looking for.  Well done Mr. Abrams.  I'm not a Star Trek fan at all.  Never got into any of the TV shows and the only movie I liked was Star Trek: First Contact.  That said, I loved this movie.  It's loads of fun.  I saw it with a friend who is as "Trekkie" as they come and he thoroughly enjoyed it.  That's part of the fun; it can be enjoyed by either end of the Trekkie spectrum.  I grew up with a Dad and brother that were Star Trek fans, so I knew enough to understand a lot of the homages to the originals, which are very well played.  Each actor chosen to reprise the members of the Enterprise crew does a great job in look and performance.  There's lots of exciting action and fun dialogue.  The special fx are top notch, they did a lot of subtle things to make the effects look very realistic.  The story gets a little too "Trekkie" and jumbled in the middle, with a lot of time travel talk and explanation, but it's a small complaint and doesn't last very long.  Star Trek stepped it up for Summer '09, loads of fun.  Next up, Angels and Demons.  

***1/2 out of 4 - Must See 

(PG-13 for violence, language and some sensuality)

X-Men Origins: Wolverine

Two young mutants, with the ability to heal themselves and apparently unable to age after the age of 35 are finally discovered by the US Army. Asked to join up with a special task force, it reveals their true natures.

So I think that Matt did a pretty good job of taking this flick apart. He gave it the "Let Summer Begin" title which I figured it wouldn't live up to. I wasn't a fan of X-Men II or III and although had a little more hope for this film still went in with low expectations--sadly they weren't low enough.

Lots of plot holes, kind of boring--I caught myself dosing off, twice--and just not cool enough to be a fun superhero movie.

** Rentable

Rated PG-13 (for violence)

X-Men Origins: Wolverine

The story of how Wolverine came to be.

Good but not great, more "Let Summer begin.", than "LET SUMMER BEGIN!!!".  This movie just felt a little flat, not a lot of umph to it.  It also feels more like X-Men 4 than an origin story of Wolverine.  So many characters are thrown in and we don't get enough time with them.  I was expecting a little more of James Logan, aka Wolverine, discovering who he is and that he's not alone as a mutant.  Instead he seems to be fully aware of his kind from the beginning, way back in the 1800's.  But that aside, the beginning is pretty good when we start to learn what makes him become the angry Wolverine.  At times they quickly touch upon parts that could be very interesting, yet take a long time to get through other parts that seemed to already be partially explained in the X-Men movies, especially in part 2.  As I said, they throw in a lot of extra characters and by the end it just felt like an excuse to get more mutants on the screen and make money off the X-Men name than a need to put a great story on screen.  Also some of the special fx shots are poorly done.  At times his claws look really fake and a few other scenes looked hastily put together.  I also thought the look of the movie was a little too "clean", a little too green screen-ish, if that makes sense.  

As always, stay for after the credits as it will set up more sequel-prequels.  Apparently the origin story of Magneto is next.  Here's hoping Star Trek steps it up next week.

**1/2 out of 4 - Rentable