Avatar movie

I was lucky to see Avatar at a pre-screening a few hours ago. It completely blew me and the whole room away and i dare to say it will do so to 80% of any audience anywhere. The remaining 20%, who always finds something to complain about, will whine about character development, dialog, story or the pop-corn.

Well, let me tell you: they went to this movie with the wrong expectations.

You have most likely met Cameron's previous work(s): Aliens, Terminator 1 & 2, The Abyss, Titanic (!), just to name a few.

So WHAT should you expect from Avatar??? MORE of the same!!! More of revolutionary film-making, more of grandiose new ideas, more of never-before-seen special effects, more of 150 minutes without relapsing, more of the James Cameron genius...

I am very happy that the trailers didn't give the full story away. Lots of emotions are waiting for the viewer, laughter and tears also. Cameron was very smart keeping the teasers as teasers, nothing more... as the full movie will take your breath away.

You will practically not notice that you are watching a non-existing world, it is sooo real. Attention to detail is superb. You computer geeks will know what I am talking about. This move was not rushed in the making. No wonder it could not have been done before - not having the proper computing power.

The wild life, the jungle, the animals, the Na'vi-s, or the dragon-like flying creatures are all so life-like, they almost pop-off the screen (and in 3D they actually do :) .

The sound effects were so well done, that when I saw at the credits that Skywalker Sound was behind it, i could only think of "yessss... now THAT makes sense." Cameron is a visionaire - and again, he delivers, with full blast.

A certain character says in the movie that Pandora (the planet where the story takes place) became his real world. My advice to you: let Pandora become YOUR real world for two and a half hours, let it make you completely forget about your life and problems, let it entertain you, move you, let it carry you away.

Because THAT is what i expect as an exchange for my ticket.

And a few hours ago i got tens of tickets worth of that.

Avatar movie download

Ed White, Jimmy Stewart inducted in Aviation Hall

Astronaut Edward White, who gave his life as part of man's race to the moon, was inducted into the National Aviation Hall of Fame on Saturday along with the first female shuttle pilot and the late Hollywood actor Jimmy Stewart.

White, who made America's first spacewalk in 1965 but was killed in a spacecraft fire two years later, was presented for enshrinement by the man who first set foot on the lunar surface.

"Ed had an acute dedication to his work," Neil Armstrong said. "And he was committed to superiority in the conquest of space."

Joining White as enshrinees in Saturday night's ceremony, which hundreds of people attended, were Eileen Collins, the first woman to command an American space mission; Russell Meyer Jr., former head of the Cessna Aircraft Co., and Stewart, who was a bomber pilot during World War II before starring in such classic movies as "It's a Wonderful Life" and Alfred Hitchcock's "Rear Window."

On Friday night, the hall presented its Spirit of Flight Award to the Apollo astronaut crews for their roles in the moon missions.

White, who grew up in Washington D.C., flew in the Air Force and was among the second group of astronauts selected. His first mission was as pilot for Gemini IV, the first long-duration flight for the Gemini program.

During White's 21-minute spacewalk on the mission in 1965, he maneuvered on the end of a 25-foot tether using a handheld gas gun.

He died Jan. 27, 1967, when a flash fire swept through their Apollo I spacecraft during a pre-launch test at Cape Kennedy, Fla. Virgil "Gus" Grissom and Roger Chaffee also perished in the blaze.

Stewart, born in Indiana, Pa., was a private pilot who enlisted in the Army in 1941 at the age of 33. He sought posting to a flying unit and was assigned to the U.K.-based 445th Bomb Group, first as a squadron operations officer and then as its commander.

He flew 20 combat missions in B-24s, earning the Distinguished Flying Cross twice, the Croix de Guerre and the Air Medal with three oak leaf clusters.

Continuing his post-war service with the U.S. Air Force Reserve, he achieved the rank of brigadier general in 1959, retiring from active duty in 1968. He remained an American airpower advocate until his death in 1997.

Jimmy Stewart Museum president Carson Greene said Stewart was "a good guy _ devoted to family, country and craft."

"If Jimmy were here, and I believe he is tonight," Greene said, "he would be honored to be among these inductees."

Collins, born in Elmira, N.Y., was the Air Force's first female flight instructor and was chosen to be an astronaut in 1991.

In 1995, she became the first woman to pilot a space shuttle, and she became the first to command an American space mission when she served on a shuttle in 1999. She flew four shuttle missions, logging 872 hours before retiring in 2006.

She said she discovered the space program when she was in fourth grade.

"I fell in love with the astronauts, the Gemini astronauts," she said. "I wanted to be just like them."

Collins defended the space program, telling the people in attendance that if they ever hear someone say NASA is adrift or no longer inspirational, that's not true.

"We have the most focused, passionate, motivated and skilled employees," she said.

Meyer, who's from Davenport, Iowa, was a fighter pilot in the Air Force and Marine Reserves from 1955-61. In 1974, he joined the Cessna Aircraft Co. as executive vice president and a year later was named chairman and CEO. He led the development of a program that created more than 50,000 new licensed pilots.

"For somebody who knew at the age of 4 that he wanted to be an aviator," Meyer said, "joining the National Aviation Hall of Fame with all the pioneers that created this great industry is an absolute dream come true."

The aviation hall was founded in 1962 in Dayton, hometown of the Wright brothers, and later was chartered by Congress. Wilbur and Orville Wright were the first inductees.

Other enshrinees include Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin, who landed on the moon together on July 20, 1969, and William Boeing, the entrepreneur who established the company that became the Boeing Airplane Co.

Potter - conjures up $159.7 million in 5 days

Harry Potter has returned with some princely returns at the box office. The new big-screen adventure "Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince" took in $79.5 million domestically over opening weekend and $159.7 million since debuting last Wednesday.

That's the second-highest start ever for a movie premiering on Wednesday, trailing the $200 million five-day opening for last month's "Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen."

Jackie Chan praises kung fu of Will Smith's son

Jackie Chan says "Kung Fu Kid" co-star Jaden Smith's dedication to martial arts puts his own son to shame.

The 11-year-old son of Hollywood stars Will Smith and Jada Pinkett Smith has been training under Chan's stunt co-ordinator for his role in the China Film Group-Columbia Pictures remake of the 1984 hit "The Karate Kid," which kicked off filming in Beijing on July 11.

In a diary entry on his official Web site, Chan said he was deeply impressed by the younger Smith's progress when he visited Los Angeles last month.

The veteran Hong Kong action star said Jaden Smith learned the Chinese phrases for different kung fu moves, responded to orders in Mandarin, and treated his teacher, Wu Gang, according to traditional Chinese custom.

"When he was thirsty, he gave the traditional hand gesture, putting one fist into the palm of the other, bowed and asked permission to drink some water," Chan said.

Chan said Smith even learned the drunken fighter routine he made famous in his 1978 film "Drunken Master."

"He put my son to shame! I provided my son with the best martial artists in the world, and he could not be persuaded to try it. In just two months, Jaden had learned so much. He is truly a talented boy," he said, adding he felt Smith was ready to perform his own stunts in "Kung Fu Kid."

Chan's son, Jaycee, is a singer and actor but has not followed in his father's footsteps as an action star.

Chan posted several photos with the diary entry showing him with Jaden Smith and his father.

He said he was skeptical at first of Jaden Smith's work ethic because he was born into a privileged family.

"Training in martial arts is hard work. It takes years to perfect even one punch or kick. Jaden's father is a famous celebrity, and Jaden probably knows he could get away without having to work very hard. If I couldn't get my own son to train in martial arts, how could anybody else succeed?" Chan said.

Chan said he suggested to Will Smith that he send his son to China for a few years of kung fu training, predicting "when he returns, his martial arts will be truly incredible."

Jaden Smith costarred with his father in the 2006 movie "The Pursuit of Happyness" and appeared in the 2008 Keanu Reeves sci-fi movie "The Day the Earth Stood Still."

Bruno 2009 movie

Cast: Sacha Baron Cohen, Gustaf Hammarsten
Director: Larry Charles
Genres: Satire, Mockumentary, Comedy


Bruno, who has no known surname, is a homosexual Austrian fashionista claiming to be a reporter from an Austrian television station. Sacha Baron Cohen who plays Bruno interviews unsuspecting guests about topics such as fashion, entertainment , celebrities and homosexuality, with an emphasis on the latter as each interview progresses.




Brüno, the latest character to be pulled out of Sacha Baron Cohen's closet, is a comic subversive of such wild extremes that brother Borat has got to be blushing his way out the backdoor in disguise.

If you find yourself in a similar flush, do resist the urge to flee. Like a wayward love child of Lenny Bruce and the Three Stooges, Brüno is an idiot savant of penetration -- breaking through borders, boundaries and anything that resembles good taste on his way to whipping up as much cultural anarchy as he can. I would guess Brüno is holding on to an R rating for this sublimely spicy soufflé by the skin of his, well, let's just not say.

As a towering gay Austrian fashionista who's been waxed stem to stern, Baron Cohen brings a multiplicity of stereotypical sins to bear as he searches out the line between social satire and garden-variety sacrilege. Though I'm sure if he ever found the actual "line," he would immediately flounce across it, possibly in some fetching bondage wear, with director Larry Charles and the rest of the guerrilla camera crew in tow.

It's the subtext running through all of Baron Cohen's work: Whatever naked truth I'm exposing, it's only for the greater good; if you're uncomfortable, that's your problem. Besides, the whole boundary-pushing business is historically ever so thankless a task, just ask martyrs, comics and politicians. So let me take a moment to thank Baron Cohen, our very own hall monitor for humanity, for all the necessary havoc he's wreaked for the rest of us.

Like Borat, Brüno is on a journey. Technically his destination is Hollywood, where fame perfumes the air, but really that's just a ruse for more rounds of the gotcha game Baron Cohen always plays to brilliant effect. Watching is akin to that horror film feeling: the cringe as the unsuspecting soul approaches the trap, the wince as it snaps closed and the hysteria-tinged laughter as the flailing begins. It's strangers Brüno has his eye on, but sometimes I think the unsuspecting soul might be us.

The film opens with a "What would Larry, Curly and Moe do?" moment, if they were X-rated, gay and had a lot of playtime on their hands. There is mostly unmentionable usage of equipment and substances accompanied by a lot of broad physical naked silliness in an extensive sex scene featuring Brüno at the opulent height of his European television talk show career. Ah, the glory days.

But as so often happens, excess brings a fall from grace, and the rest of the film is spent as Brüno tries to resurrect his career. That is, of course, if you buy into the idea that simply being famous is a career, which the ubiquitousness of the Kardashians, the Bachelorettes, the Housewives and the Hills would most definitely attest to. Sigh.

If Brüno is to be believed, what a heart of darkness the pursuit of fame has become. This is apocalypse now. Fortunately for Brüno, camouflage is still a viable fashion option, so it's a jungle he can thrive in.

Baron Cohen, Anthony Hines, Dan Mazer and Jeff Schaffer are responsible for the stun gun of a script that really starts as Brüno wonders how he might become as famous as that other Austrian offspring, Hitler, just in case they haven't shocked you into submission with the earlier bacchanal.

To reach this new low, Brüno stumbles through the anorexia of Milan's fashion week, adopts a black African orphan he names O.J., creates a talk show with Mexican gardeners as benches for B-list celebrities, meets with the head honcho of a terrorist cell that specializes in suicide bombings, does a casting session with stage parents who are almost as scary and, in a final bid at stardom, undertakes a gay-to-straight makeover that takes him into "Deliverance" country where tempers are short and guns are loaded.

Pushing the hot buttons of racism, sexism, egoism, fill-in-the-blank-ism has always been Baron Cohen's specialty. Easy targets picked for maximum impact -- it doesn't take Jon Stewart to know that beer-soaked cage-fighting fans will throw chairs if the combatants start kissing. Yet when the target is an actual terrorist with armed bodyguards, you have to wonder whether it's really worth the risk for Baron Cohen to get that laugh.

The actor, an awkwardly tall British comic who always seems shy as himself, is fearless when he strips down as someone else. As Brüno, he's at his most naked: a guy who can comfortably order TV porn in his hotel room by clenching a remote control in his lower cheeks; or can turn his penis into a full-frontal swinging trapeze act of sorts, a multifaceted member that can also sing out the word Brüno on cue. So clearly we're talking about someone with, um, talent.

Baron Cohen's talent is actually part of the problem. One of the questions dogging the film has been how it can top the pure invention and surprise of Borat. The answer? Go worldwide, go celebrity, go more outrageous and, as often as possible, go naked. That will buy you giant waves of laughter, but hanging out fame's dirty laundry does not trump Kazakhstan's cultural education, if for no other reason than we've had front row seats to the celebrity mess for years.

Ultimately, we're left searching for those moments when the film succeeds in revealing something about ourselves and the times that we don't already know -- though I guess the stage mother who agreed to get her toddler liposuction might qualify.

Lenny Bruce famously said that "satire is tragedy plus time. You give it enough time, the public, the reviewers will allow you to satirize it." It explains why the words that bought Bruce obscenity trials in the '60s are many of the same ones that will no doubt soon be funding a lap pool or some other nicety in Baron Cohen's backyard.

But will a swinging, singing penis buy anything more than a pack of cigarettes and cough 40 years hence? I don't think so.

In Brüno, Baron Cohen tries to serve up an interactive, down-market street version of the provocative intellectual freestyle that Bruce mastered in comedy clubs before they started banning him. Both comics succeed in eliciting laughter and discomfort in equal measure.

But it often seems with Baron Cohen that we're only getting the first half of the joke. Yes, people will look shocked in an airport terminal if your baggage turns out to be a black baby in a box. But maybe it's not only the boxed baby that's horrified them but also the film crew.

And does the outrage from a largely black audience to the O.J. baby on a Dallas talk show speak to their stupidity, as the film suggests, or is Baron Cohen being punked by a group that understands its role as part of this absurdist theater better than he does?

With Bruce there was always a biting moral to the story. With Larry, Curly and Moe, the message was delivered with a bruising bop on the head. Brüno is easy to dismiss as salacious comedy on the cheap, and at times that's what it feels like. But in a world where mercy is a celebrity adoption and the only pain an adulterous governor feels is his own ("Do Cry for Me Argentina"?), Baron Cohen's instincts for outrage are spot on. It's not insight we need at all right now, but a very sharp bonk on the head.

Transformers Ice Age tie for No 1 at $42.5M

Prehistoric creatures and robots are in a photo finish for the Fourth of July box-office crown.

The studios behind "Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen" and "Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs" are reporting their movies in a tie for the No. 1 spot with $42.5 million in ticket sales each.

Numbers reported over the weekend are estimates based on the studio's projections for how much business the movies will do on Sunday. Final numbers Monday will sort out which movie actually came in first, Paramount's "Transformers" or 20th Century Fox's "Ice Age."

Johnny Depp and Christian Bale's gangster epic "Public Enemies" debuted a solid No. 3 with $26.2 million.

Watchmen movie (2009) Critic Review

Alan Moore was right. There isn't a movie in his landmark graphic novel Watchmen -- at least not a really good one. What we get instead is something acceptable but pedestrian, an adaptation that is more a prisoner of its story than the master of it.

The difficulty is not with a lack of fidelity to this dark tale's narrative about an apparent plot to eliminate costumed superheroes from the alternative reality America they've protected and defended. The changes to the story, including updating its 1985 situations to include a subplot about the energy crisis, are so nonessential that you might wonder why Moore has, in addition to taking his name off the project, vowed to "spit venom all over" the film version.

Director Zack Snyder's nonstop public pledges of fidelity to the story notwithstanding, the core of what made Watchmen Watchmen, what turned it into the only graphic novel to land on Time magazine's list of the 100 best English-language novels, is by its nature next to impossible to re-create on screen, even with a 2-hour and 41-minute running time.

For Watchmen on the page has the kind of structural denseness and complexity, a heft and texture that are difficult for film to deliver. Moore and his co-creator, artist Dave Gibbons, added layers on top of layers to the story, for instance ending each of the 12 chapters with different kinds of printed textual material, including book chapters and psychiatric reports. There is even a comic-within-a-comic, "Tales of the Black Freighter," now scheduled to become a separate animated piece with its own DVD release.

All these elements, and more, inform, expand on and comment about the core story in an almost Talmudic way. As Gibbons himself has said, the graphic novel "became much more about the telling than the tale itself. The plot itself is of no great consequence . . . it just really isn't the most thrilling thing about Watchmen."

To be fair, on the other hand, Watchmen's plot is in no way chopped liver, and reverentially sticking to the source material, as the first Harry Potter films did, is the only thing that gives this film what watchability it has. Even if you haven't read the book, even if your first exposure to the story is in this denatured form, you can at least sense the power of the original, and that's what will stay in your mind, not what's on the screen.

The story, as scripted by David Hayter and Alex Tse, begins, as all good mysteries do, with a murder. A man named Edward Blake, otherwise known as the superhero the Comedian (Jeffrey Dean Morgan), is brutally killed in October 1985, and lots of people want to know why. This murder takes place in an alternative universe very much like our own but with key differences. Richard Nixon is an American president in both, but in the Watchmen world he's been elected to five terms. This universe has a tradition of masked crime fighters. A group of them banded together in the 1940s as the Minutemen, and another group was formed decades later.

Since the 1977 passage of the Keene Act, this new generation of so-called vigilantes has been forced to retire, and that's what Silk Spectre (Malin Akerman), Ozymandias (Matthew Goode) and Nite Owl (Patrick Wilson) have done. Still active, each in his own way, are the most compelling of the group, Dr. Manhattan (Billy Crudup) and Rorschach (Jackie Earle Haley).

Dr. Manhattan, once physicist Jon Osterman, is the only being in the Watchmen world with true superpowers, courtesy of your standard scientific experiment gone horribly wrong. Often seen pale blue and naked (don't ask), the good doctor is a master of space and time, capable of bending matter to his will. He works for the government now, serving, among other things, as a one-man shield against the ever-increasing possibility of Russian nuclear attack.

At the other end of the spectrum is the hunted Rorschach, the sociopathic terror of the group, given to writing things in his journal like "the night reeks of fornication and bad consciences." With his face a mask of shifting inkblots, he is the first to suspect that "somebody's gunning for masks" and the first to investigate what that might mean.

Given that this is just the hint of an outline of Watchmen's complexities, it's not clear what any director could have done with the material, though many big names, including Terry Gilliam and Paul Greengrass, were given a shot. Though Snyder does not exactly embarrass the material, his selection has not had inspiring results.

For one thing, Snyder has been unable to create a satisfying tone for the proceedings. While the graphic novel played everything as realistically as it could, the film feels artificially stylized and inappropriately cartoonish. That, in turn, undercuts the film's key point that these superheroes have very human flaws and limitations.

With only Dawn of the Dead and 300 in his feature background, Snyder does not have a lot of experience with emotional reality and, except for Haley's bravura performance as the lunatic Rorschach, that hurts everyone.

Unlike 300, which was visually striking (albeit moronic dramatically), Watchmen plays it safe cinematically. Despite being prematurely canonized by the film's publicity apparatus, Snyder stands revealed here as more of a beginner than a visionary in his uncertain approach to making an on-screen world come alive. His decision to up the novel's violence quotient to at times grotesque levels doesn't help.

Ultimately, however, it's hard to fault anyone for this Watchmen's disappointments. It's not a wasted opportunity; it never should have been turned into a film in the first place. But when hundreds of millions of fanboy dollars are at stake, that is not going to happen. Maybe in an alternative reality, but not in ours.

The Hangover (2009) movie

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Cast: Bradley Cooper, Ed Helms, Zach Galifianakis, Heather Graham, Justin Bartha, Jeffrey Tambor
Director: Todd Phillips
Genres: Farce, Absurd Comedy, Buddy Film, Comedy

Two days before his wedding, Doug and three friends drive to Las Vegas for a wild and memorable stag party. In fact, when the three groomsmen wake up the next morning, they can't remember a thing; nor can they find Doug. With little time to spare , the three hazy pals try to re-trace their steps and find Doug so they can get him back to Los Angeles in time to walk down the aisle.

The Hangover Critic Reviews:
Amid all the debris of The Hangover, and it is considerable -- the tooth, the Taser, the tiger, the puke, the police, the stripper, the shots and so very much more -- there is a sort of perverse brilliance or brilliant perverseness to be found in this story of a bachelor party gone terribly wrong.

The basic conceit is nothing new: Guys go to Vegas to give groom one last night of debauched fun. But in The Hangover, director Todd Phillips and the screenwriting team of Jon Lucas and Scott Moore have created a heart-of-darkness comedy running naked and wild through the streets. Hysterically and embarrassingly black, The Hangover nevertheless is filled with moments as softhearted as they are crude, as forgiving as unforgivable. And it all begins when they lose Doug.

Doug is the groom played by Justin Bartha. He and BFFs Phil (Bradley Cooper) and Stu (Ed Helms) and brother-in-law-to-be Alan (Zach Galifianakis) make up this wolf pack, as the slightly cracked Alan puts it during a rooftop toast over shots of Jägermeister. At one point, Phil nods in Alan's direction and asks Doug, "Should we be worried about him?" The correct answer would be "Yes," if for no other reason than Galifianakis steals the show.

There is far more than 300 miles of desert separating the two worlds of The Hangover.The sumptuous perfection of wedding cakes, lush flowers and an even more luscious bride back in L.A. is the one the pack is running from. The neon glitz of the Las Vegas Strip with its "we won't tell" promise is the dream they're heading toward, that and a $4,000-a-night suite in Caesars Palace where Alan can wear a man purse while chanting "Who Let The Dogs Out" and seem almost normal.

Doug, the straight arrow in a designer suit with the rich fiancée on his arm, is the one who drew the success card years ago. Since he's lost for much of the film, we really don't get to know him; just as well since he's basically just a nice guy in a bad spot.

Stu, a dentist, is the nerd of the group and hasn't colored outside the lines since the first grade. That he's got a controlling girlfriend is no surprise, though Rachael Harris' Melissa creates a whole new level of acerbic, as in scar-you-for-life acerbic. She's just one of the women that this movie doesn't like. In fact, except for Heather Graham's stripper, Jade, and I would remind you she is a stripper, you get the feeling the filmmakers don't like women at all. That might be more of an issue if they were anything more than window dressing, particularly the bride, Tracy (Sasha Barrese), whose main job is to look great while doing her nails and occasionally frown and pout during phone calls. I think "Where is Doug?" and "Where the hell is Doug?" might be her only lines of dialogue.

Phil, a married schoolteacher with a kid, is the cool guy conflicted by how conventional his life has become. He's supposed to be the leader of the pack, Mr. Confident, we're adults, we can figure this out. His arrogance is hard to take at times, but he does get things going after the guys wake up to a morning-after of what utter mayhem must look like. Their luxury suite is awash with bodily fluids and floating blow-up dolls; clothing, food and empty bottles are strewn everywhere; there's an unidentified baby in a closet, an unidentified tiger in the bathroom and blinding headaches you can almost feel. What there isn't, yet, is any shred of regret.

Like the chicken that is picking its way through this mess, Phil starts trying to get the guys to help reconstruct the night they can't remember.

If you're a gambler, and we're in Vegas after all, the friend to bet on is Galifianakis' Alan, the most complex and strangely likable one of the bunch. Socially awkward, completely inappropriate, genuinely innocent and prescient at the same time, he's like having an R-rated kid on your hands.

When you tire of Stu whining over his missing tooth, or the endless invective of a small, naked, gay Chinese high-rolling mobster named Mr. Chow (Ken Jeong) representing every possible cliché and racial slur rolled into one angry body, Alan is there doing the hard emotional work of The Hangover. While his scenes with the baby are priceless (and sometimes tasteless), Alan turns out to be the one with the emotional depth.

Piece by sordid piece, the night starts coming back to them: the hospital, the police station, the wedding chapel, and, in keeping with its theme of overindulgence, much more. Some bits are better than others, but one of the best comes when former heavyweight champ Mike Tyson enters the picture, his right hook still deadly and his version of Phil Collins' "In the Air Tonight" already a YouTube classic.

Another saving grace is the soundtrack. The music provides its own narrative score, whether an oldie such as "It's Now or Never" that has that born-in-Vegas feel, or Kanye West's "Can't Tell Me Nothing" that plays as Vegas' neon skyline unfolds in front of us.

And of course Alan is in there too, finding his inner absurdity and delivering yet another deft touch that lifts the film beyond the ordinary. His best musical moment comes in the back seat of the classic Mercedes convertible his father (Jeffrey Tambor) lent them for the trip. Bruised and nearly broken, both the car and the boys, they are heading toward what they hope will finally be Doug.

It's a simple sing-song that goes something like this, "We're the three best friends that anyone could have, we're the three best friends that anyone could have . . . " Which is also what passes for the moral of this story -- in spite of everything that does happen in Vegas, you could do worse than having friends like these.

Next Day Air (2009) movie

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Cast: Donald Faison, Mike Epps, Darius McCrary, Mos Def, Wood Harris, Yasmin Deliz, Omari Hardwick, Emilio Rivera, Cisco Reyes
Director: Benny Boom
Genres: Comedy of Errors, Crime Comedy, Comedy

When two bumbling criminals (Mike Epps and Wood Harris) accidentally receive a package of grade-A cocaine, they think they've hit the jackpot. But when they try to cash in on their luck, it triggers a series of events that forever changes the lives of ten people in Next Day Air, an uproarious action comedy featuring an all-star cast including Donald Faison, Mos Def and Debbie Allen.


Next Day Air Critic Reviews:
Next Day Air can't decide whether it's a broad stoner comedy or a gritty Tarantino-esque action flick. The humor is there, but violence brings the laughter to an abrupt halt.

Scrubs' Donald Faison plays Leo, a pot-addled delivery man who drops off a package containing a shipment of cocaine to the wrong apartment. The residents, a pair of petty thugs (Mike Epps, Wood Harris), regard it as a gift from God and make plans to sell it to a dealer cousin (Omari Hardwick).

The crook waiting for the coke shipment is their unsavory next-door neighbor, Jesus (Cisco Reyes), and his take-charge girlfriend, Chita (Yasmin Deliz). Deliz is hilarious as a sassy Latina who makes Rosie Perez seem like a shrinking violet. Fearing for their lives, Jesus and Chita try to track down the drug shipment. All signs point to Leo or a fellow delivery man, Eric (Mos Def).

The funniest gag comes when Epps has an incomprehensible phone conversation with Hardwick which necessitates subtitles. The formal translation of their trash talk is reminiscent of Airplane's Barbara Billingsley and her "I speak jive" bit.

Director Benny Boom is aiming for a jokier Guy Ritchie caper, interspersing events with quick cuts, flashbacks and freeze-frames. But when the would-be criminal neighbors meet, guns blazing, things get shockingly ugly. It's the bullet-riddled finale that lands the death blow on a film that would have been better had it blunted the shocks and focused on the guffaws.

State of Play (2009) movie

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Cast: Russell Crowe, Ben Affleck, Rachel McAdams, Helen Mirren, Robin Wright Penn, Jason Bateman, Jeff Daniels
Director: Kevin Macdonald
Genres: Political Drama, Drama


Oscar® winner Russell Crowe leads an all-star cast in a blistering thriller about a rising congressman and an investigative journalist embroiled in an case of seemingly unrelated, brutal murders. Crowe plays D.C. reporter Cal McCaffrey, whose street smarts lead him to untangle a mystery of murder and collusion among some of the nation’s most promising political and corporate figures in State of Play, from acclaimed director Kevin Macdonald (The Last King of Scotland).

Handsome, unflappable U.S. Congressman Stephen Collins (Ben Affleck) is the future of his political party: an honorable appointee who serves as the chairman of a committee overseeing defense spending. All eyes are upon the rising star to be his party’s contender for the upcoming presidential race. Until his research assistant/mistress is brutally murdered and buried secrets come tumbling out.


State of Play Critic Reviews:
There is a rich tradition in film of taking a political thriller and putting it squarely in the cross hairs of an investigative journalist -- think All the President's Men, The Killing Fields and The Year of Living Dangerously. State of Play definitely wants to join that crowd, and with a cast headed by Russell Crowe, Ben Affleck, Rachel McAdams and Helen Mirren, you'd expect all the stars to align.

Yet instead of another classic, what director Kevin Macdonald has given us is a meandering movie that sometimes hits dead center and sometimes misfires dismally, resulting in a drama more tangled than taut.

There are all sorts of reasons why this particular intersection is such an intriguing one to filmmakers: the stakes are always high, whether it's lives or a country's future on the line; the DNA of investigative journalists is not unlike a Michael Vick pit bull -- they are programmed to go for the kill; nothing is ever quite as it seems, which, with luck, keeps us guessing until the final denouement; and there is that precious high moral ground that flawed humans are clawing to take.

Inspired (and, if you've seen it, overshadowed) by the exceedingly fine 2003 BBC miniseries, the film is set in Washington in what feels like the later days of the Bush administration when disillusionment was running high and a fresh-faced congressman with a fistful of integrity could make a mark. Two seemingly unrelated murders jump-start the action, at least one coming with a juicy, and familiar, Beltway back story: beautiful young aide involved with her married boss -- Affleck as Congressman Stephen Collins, whose rapid ascent on the back of a congressional hearing into corporate high jinks just might be derailed now.

Collins' old college roommate, Cal McAffrey (Crowe), is a hard-boiled investigative reporter now with a Washington Post-styled newspaper, madly trying to crack the case before the cops or the competition. In short order, it's hard to tell whether Collins is more valuable to McAffrey as his friend or as an extremely well-placed source.

Though there are many players in keeping with Washington's legions of the self-interested, the narrative circles around three -- the beefy and unkempt veteran journalist (does Hollywood create any other kind?), the polished-to-a-high-sheen politico and a newspaper industry, like the politician, fighting for its life.

McAdams comes into the picture as a hyperaggressive new-generation blogger, essentially serving as little more than a tote bag of a collaborator for Crowe rather than a real window into the friction between Web and print; and Mirren gives us a finely executed Kay Graham-styled newspaper editor, whose acerbic tongue and desperation are equally lethal.

As he sometimes has in recent years, Crowe seems not all that interested in his character, who could have used some of the roguish charm he brought to 3:10 to Yuma. Meanwhile Affleck struggles to give texture and depth to his compromised congressman. That presents a real problem for State of Play, which needs these two characters to feed off of each other to work.

That McAffrey slept with the congressman's wife (Robin Wright Penn) years ago, which should have cast a shadow on the relationship, results in nothing more than a few throwaway moments with no payoff other than a little screen time for Penn, who wears years of disappointment and resignation well.

When the characters are on the move, the film works, whether it's Crowe's pressuring (and secretly videotaping, which I'm pretty sure we're not allowed to do) a source for information on one of the murders, or Penn at Affleck's side facing down the chorus of humiliating questions from reporters about his infidelity, essentially taking that vow of silence we see all too often in the nation's capital.

The filmmakers know how to mine political and journalistic turf for tension. Macdonald took us inside the treacherous palace of Uganda's Idi Amin in The Last King of Scotland. And the extensive screenwriting team includes Matthew Michael Carnahan (The Kingdom), Tony Gilroy ( Michael Clayton), Billy Ray (Shattered Glass) and some uncredited revisions by Macdonald friend Peter Morgan (Frost/Nixon).

Yet despite all of their experience in those very same trenches, somehow when State of Play should be at its stomach-clenching best, the tension simply evaporates.

What the film does well is to remind us that when corporations with billions of dollars at stake come to Washington, someone besides the politicians better be watching. In the world Macdonald has created, a nettlesome press willing to dig through all the numbers, the subterfuge and the garbage literal and otherwise, remains our last best hope -- it's just not as fearsome and passionate a place as it should be.

Drag Me to Hell (2009) movie

Cast: Alison Lohman, Justin Long, Lorna Raver, David Paymer, Dileep Rao
Director: Sam Raimi
Genres: Supernatural Horror, Horror

Evil Dead director Sam Raimi takes the helm for this spook-a-blast shocker about an ambitious L.A. loan officer who incurs the wrath of a malevolent gypsy by refusing to grant her an extension on her home loan. Determined to impress her boss and get a much-needed promotion at work, Christine Brown (Alison Lohman) lays down the law when mysterious Mrs. Ganush literally comes begging for mercy at her feet. In retaliation for being publicly shamed, Mrs. Ganush places the dreaded curse of Lamia on her unfortunate target, transforming Christine's life into a waking nightmare. Her skeptical boyfriend Clay (Justin Long) casually brushing off her disturbing encounters as mere coincidence, Christine attempts to escape eternal damnation by seeking out the aid of seer Rham Jas (Dileep Rao ). But Christine's time is fast running out, and unless she's able to break the curse, she'll be tormented by a demon for three days before literally being dragged to hell. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide

Obsessed (2009) movie

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Cast: Idris Elba, Beyoncé Knowles, Ali Larter, Bruce McGill, Jerry O'Connell
Director: Steven Shill
Genres: Psychological Thriller, Thriller

Derek Charles (Idris Elba), a successful asset manager who has just received a huge promotion, is blissfully happy in his career and in his marriage to the beautiful Sharon (Beyoncé Knowles). But when Lisa (Ali Larter), a temp worker, starts stalking Derek, all the things he's worked so hard for are placed in jeopardy.


Obsessed Critic Reviews:
Don't expect a pot full of boiling bunnies, because nothing so creatively crazy ever happens in Obsessed, a Fatal Attraction-inspired predatory-female domestic thriller that spends much time spinning its wheels and making auds practically beg for an explanation to all the madness and obsession. Beyonce Knowles may be the big B.O. draw in this Stephen Shill-helmed psychodrama, which topped the weekend B.O. with a surprising $28.5 million opening, but she's barely a supporting player: The movie belongs to Ali Larter, who's long overdue for some kind of bigscreen breakout.

Sultry blonde Larter (Heroes) plays office temp/temptress Lisa Sheridan, who isn't even off the elevator at her latest job before she's set her psychotic sights on Derek (Idris Elba), a good-looking, happily married, up-and-coming investment broker at a flourishing downtown Los Angeles firm. Derek and wife Sharon (Knowles), who have a kid, have just moved into a cavernous old house with a wobbly attic floor and a glass-top table directly underneath it downstairs (remember this later!).

They seem the picture of contentment, save for Sharon's obvious unhappiness with the fact that Derek has a new female assistant. "I want her fired immediately," Sharon says (so much for sisterhood), and no one seems to think this marks any instability in what is soon to be one plutonium-enriched domestic partnership. But Derek, it seems, met Sharon at work, too (cue the organist).

Sharon doesn't leave a good impression, but Derek is the picture of marital fidelity: No matter how slinkily Lisa comports herself, Derek says no, thanks. Derek is believable enough; not so Lisa, whose inappropriate antics wouldn't be tolerated for five minutes in today's sexual harassment-conscious corporate atmosphere. David Loughery's screenplay never provides any explanation for why she is who she is: She has no motives other than mad obsession (which isn't that interesting, really; even the Wicked Witch of the West had reasons), and she has no backstory: Unless her temp agency recruits its workers outside Home Depot, Lisa would have to have references, and she would have to have acquired them from somewhere outside the mental-health community.

If Derek had actually slept with Lisa, a la Michael Douglas in Fatal Attraction, Obsessed would at least have had the spurned-woman gambit to play, however hoary. But Shill and Loughery aren't overly concerned with plausibility: There isn't one woman in a position higher than secretary at Derek's firm, and this alone makes the pic as shaky as Derek's attic floor. The seldom-seen Christine Lahti does play the requisite detective, albeit one who has a tendency to show up just as the action has come to an end.

Bruce McGill is his usual sturdy self as Derek's boss, but Jerry O'Connell gives one weird performance as his office pal, Ben. Ben may be in love with Derek. It seems to be an unhealthy trend.

Dance Flick (2009) movie

Cast: Damon Wayans Jr., Craig Wayans, Shoshanna Bush, Essence Atkins, Affion Crockett
Director: Damien Dante Wayans
Genres: Parody/Spoof, Comedy, Dance Film

"Dance Flick" is a hilarious new comedy that brings together the talents of two generations of the Wayans family, the explosively funny clan who brought us the "Scary Movie" franchise and "White Chicks", as well as the groundbreaking TV series "In Living Color." In "Dance Flick," a young street dancer, Thomas Uncles (Damon Wayans, Jr.), from the wrong side of the tracks and a beautiful young woman, Megan White (Shoshana Bush), are brought together by their passion for dancing and put to the test in the mother of all dance battles. "Dance Flick" sends up the dance movie genre, including such recent hits as "Step Up" and "You Got Served", as well as the classic "Flashdance".

A privileged white girl from the suburbs moves to the inner city and attempts to perfect her notoriously clumsy dance moves in this parody of popular dance movies. Damon Wayans Jr. and Craig Wayans star in a comedy co-written by Shawn, Keenen Ivory, Marlon, Craig, and Damien Wayans, who also directs.


Dance FlickCritic Reviews: Glenn Whipp
After flashing a dismal move that would make Dancing With the Stars judge Len Goodman weep uncontrollably, the emcee in the Wayans brothers' latest parody, Dance Flick, holds his nose and proclaims, "That's not just bad. That's everything-on-the-CW bad."

What the character should have said was that the intentionally bad dancing was way worse (which is to say, funnier) than just about any of the sorry sketches found in the proliferation of parody movies that arrived after the Wayans' deadly funny Scary Movie back in 2000.

The Wayans had nothing to do with those fatigued exercises in tedium (Date Movie, Epic Movie, etc.), but the assumption remains that they did, tainting "Dance Flick" by association. But this send-up, created in large part by new-generation family members Damon Jr., Craig and Damien Dante Wayans, possesses a more nimble comic footing. We'll stop short of calling it graceful, given that the movie's second joke involves a dance competitor sticking his head up his behind.

Yes, it's that kind of comedy, a buzz saw grinding its way through formulas found in such recent dance movies as Step Up, Stomp the Yard and You Got Served, not to mention such "classics" as Flashdance and Fame. The latter comes into play when a Zac Efron-styled high school student makes like Irene Cara and sings not about living forever, but coming out with . . . um . . . pride.

Efron should probably pass on seeing this one, likewise Halle Berry, whose persona sets one of the "plot" points in motion with a gruesome hit-and-run accident. For these new Wayans, every scene can be improved by adding a violent beating. Example: A Ray Charles stand-in shows up, ostensibly only to spill hot coffee in his mother's lap. (Yes, he hits the road, Jack.)

The miss-and-hit parodies score best when focusing on the Julia Stiles-styled girl next door (Shoshana Bush) chasing her dream of becoming a ballet dancer while attending Musical High. It's not in the Wayans' family makeup to develop an actual plot with connective tissue, but had they stayed within the school's corridors, they could have had a lot more fun with Marlon Wayans' aptly named drama teacher Mr. Moody and the vindictive girls gym instructor (Heather McDonald), whose name, like most of the movie's humor, we dare not speak.

17 Again Movie (2009)

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Cast: Zac Efron, Leslie Mann, Thomas Lennon, Matthew Perry, Tyler Steelman
Director: Burr Steers
Genres: Fantasy Comedy, Teen Movie, Comedy, Family Drama

Mike O'Donnell (Matthew Perry) was a high-school basketball star with a bright future. But he threw it all away to marry his girlfriend and raise their child. Almost 20 years later, Mike's marriage has failed, his kids think he's a loser, and his job is going nowhere. He gets a chance to correct the mistakes of his past and change his life when he is miraculously transformed back into a teenager (Zac Efron), but in trying to fix his past, Mike may be jeopardizing his present and future.

Star Trek (2009)

Cast: Chris Pine, Zachary Quinto, Leonard Nimoy, Eric Bana, Bruce Greenwood, Karl Urban
Director: J.J. Abrams
Genres: Sci-Fi Action, Space Adventure, Science Fiction

From director J.J. Abrams ("Mission: Impossible III," "Lost" and "Alias"), producers Damon Lindelof and Bryan Burk and screenwriters Roberto Orci & Alex Kurtzman ("Transformers," "MI: III") comes a new vision of the greatest space adventure of all time, "Star Trek," featuring a young, new crew venturing boldly where no one has gone before.

Star TrekCritic Reviews: Kenneth Turan
Here's a challenge: How do you implant a potentially lethal alien organism into a body that desperately needs the help but might die if things don't go just right? No, it's not the plot of an old Star Trek episode, it's the back story of the new Star Trek motion picture.

It's no secret that director J.J. Abrams and his writers of choice, Roberto Orci and Alex Kurtzman, were brought in by Paramount to reformulate the venerable space opera franchise that was viewed as requiring a jolt of energy. What was not often focused on was that the differences between what they wanted to do and what had gone before made this a perilous endeavor.

So it is pleasant to report that though it's not perfect, the reconstituted Star Trek is successful enough for everyone to breathe a sigh of relief. Though it has its over-caffeinated aspects and its missteps, this Star Trek has in general bridged the gap between the old and the new with alacrity and purpose.

Part of the reason for the film's success was its decision to position itself as Star Trek: The Young Years. Back we go to the maiden voyage of the starship Enterprise, to the first meetings of future Capt. James T. Kirk (Chris Pine) and his baby-faced crew: Spock (Zachary Quinto), Uhura (Zoe Saldana), "Bones" McCoy (Karl Urban), "Scotty" (Simon Pegg), Chekov (Anton Yelchin) and Sulu (John Cho).

In addition to using capable actors who were not marquee names and working in a satisfying role for Leonard Nimoy as Spock Prime (you'll have to see the movie if you want that explained), Abrams and company have come up with a serviceable "the Earth must be saved" plot. Involved are such science fiction staples as alternate realities and black holes as well as a tattooed Romulan evildoer named Captain Nemo (a capable Eric Bana) who looks like the frontman for a nasty rock band from the north of England.

The plot is also the frame on which numerous action sequences are hung, big ticket items that emphasize stunts, special effects and all the other goodies that all the other franchise movies have. As a known invigorator of pop culture enterprises (Mission: Impossible III), Abrams has not shied away from that particular mission.

The difficulty is that Abrams' mandate to a certain extent conflicts with the Star Trek ethos, a clash that can't be easily ignored. Despite all the glib talk about how moribund the franchise has become, any TV series that spawned 10 preveious motion pictures and several small-screen series has the kind of deep appeal that Hollywood ignores at its peril.

Terminator Salvation

Cast: Christian Bale, Sam Worthington, Anton Yelchin, Moon Bloodgood, Bryce Dallas Howard, Common
Director: McG
Genres: Sci-Fi Action, Science Fiction

In the fourth installment of the Terminator series, Christian Bale stars as John Connor, the eventual leader of mankind's fight againts the machines. The setting is 2018, focusing on the war between the humans and the computer network Skynet. Anton Yelchin co-stars as soldier Kyle Reese, and Sam Worthington appears as new terminator Marcus Wright.

Plot Synopsis by Jason Buchanan:

The fourth installment of the Terminator series follows an adult John Connor (played by Christian Bale) as he attempts to organize a human resistance force which could prove to be mankind's last true hope in the war against the machines. Opening in the year 2018, Terminator Salvation finds John Connor's certainty about the future shaken by the sudden appearance of a mysterious stranger named Marcus Wright (Sam Worthington), whose last memory is of sitting on death row and awaiting execution. Unable to determine whether Marcus was sent from the future or rescued from the past, Connor begins to wonder whether there is still any hope left for the human race as the robots grow more powerful and aggressive than ever before. It appears that Skynet is preparing a devastating final attack designed to eliminate the human resistance once and for all, leaving Connor and Marcus with no choice but to strike back at the cybernetic heart of Skynet's operations. Once there, the two battle-scarred soldiers discover a devastating secret regarding the potential annihilation of all humankind. Anton Yelchin fills Michael Biehn's shoes as a young Kyle Reese in the first installment of a planned Terminator trilogy from director McG

Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian

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Cast: Ben Stiller, Amy Adams, Robin Williams, Ricky Gervais, Owen Wilson
Director: Shawn Levy
Genres: Adventure Comedy, Fantasy Adventure, Adventure, Comedy

Overview and Synopsis:
When the Museum of Natural History is closed for upgrades and renovations, the museum pieces are moved into federal storage at the famous Washington Museums. Security guard Larry Daley (Ben Stiller) infiltrates the Smithsonian Institute in order to rescue Jedediah (Owen Wilson) and Octavius (Steve Coogan), who have been shipped to the museum by mistake. The centrepiece of the film will be bringing to life the Smithsonian Institution, which houses the world's largest museum complex with more than 136 million items in its collections, ranging from the plane Amelia Earhart (Amy Adams) flew on her non-stop solo flight across the Atlantic and Al Capone's rap sheet and mug shot to Dorothy's ruby red slippers, Fonzie's jacket from Happy Days and Archie Bunker's lounge chair from All in the Family.


The AMG Review:
With its savvy mix of kid-friendly special effects and parent-friendly comedy, Night at the Museum became a box office smash. Sadly, the uninspired sequel, Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian, manages to offer fewer joys on either of those fronts.

Ben Stiller returns as Larry Daley, who has left his night watchman gig at the Natural History Museum to become the CEO of a successful company that sells his quirky inventions, such as a glow-in-the-dark flashlight. On a return visit to the museum, he learns that most of the exhibits are being shipped to deep storage at the Smithsonian. This news disappoints his young son, but not until Larry gets an alarming call from miniature cowboy Jed (Owen Wilson) does he set off to help his old friends who are engaged in a battle with the ancient leader Kahmunrah (Hank Azaria) who – thanks to the magical tablet from the first movie – has sprung back to life with a thirst for world domination.

What follows is a collection of loud, mostly pointless effects sequences occasionally offset by a laugh, often thanks to Azaria, a master of comic timing. His grandiose, yet slightly fey bad guy is equally funny when he’s chewing out minions as he is when deliberating if Oscar the Grouch and Darth Vader are evil enough to join his team.

Without Azaria’s comedic gifts, the movie would be close to unendurable since Larry is utterly blasé about the spectacular events going on around him. There is no sense of wonder or amazement in our hero, not even when The Lincoln Memorial comes back to life; it’s just another obstacle for him to overcome on his adventure. And since Larry is our guide into this magical realm, his failure to stop and go “WOW!” drains the wonder and fun right out of the movie. Sure, there are some funny moments in Battle of the Smithsonian, but without that sense of childhood glee, the whole thing becomes nothing more than a stale, would-be summer blockbuster, devoid of the playful innocence that made the first one so appealing.

Up movie

Cast: Ed Asner, Christopher Plummer, John Ratzenberger, Jordan Nagai, Delroy Lindo
Director: Peter Docter
Genres: Family-Oriented Adventure, Children's/Family

Carl Fredricksen, a 78-year-old balloon salesman, finally fulfills his lifelong dream of a great adventure when he ties thousands of balloons to his house and flies away to the wilds of South America. But he discovers all too late that his biggest nightmare has stowed away on the trip: an overly optimistic 8-year-old Wilderness Explorer named Russell. From the Academy Award®-nominated director Pete Docter (Monsters, Inc.), Disney•Pixar’s “Up” invites you on a hilarious journey into a lost world, with the least likely duo on Earth. “Up” will be presented in Disney Digital 3-D in select theaters.

Full Synopsis:
A feisty septuagenarian teams with a fearless wilderness ranger to do battle with a vicious band of beasts and villains in this computer-animated adventure scripted by Pixar veteran Bob Peterson and co-directed by Peterson and Monsters, Inc. director Peter Docter. Carl Fredricksen is a 78-year-old balloon salesman. His entire life, Carl has longed to wander the wilds of South America. Then, one day, the irascible senior citizen shocks his neighbors by tying thousands of balloons to his home and finally taking flight. But Carl isn't alone on his once-in-a-lifetime journey, because stowed away on his front porch is an excitable eight-year-old wilderness explorer named Russell. Later, as the house touches down on the world's second largest continent, Carl and his unlikely traveling companion step outside to discover that not only is their new front lawn considerably larger, but that the predators therein are much more ferocious than anything they ever faced back home

Ghosts of Girlfriends Past

Cast: Matthew McConaughey, Jennifer Garner, Michael Douglas, Breckin Meyer, Lacey Chabert
Director: Mark S. Waters
Genres: Romantic Comedy, Fantasy Comedy, Comedy

A bachelor goes to his younger brother's wedding, where he is visited by the ghosts of his past girlfriends.




Ghosts of Girlfriends PastCritic Reviews: Claudia Puig

Ghosts of Girlfriends Past probably won't scare up many laughs. Nor will it make you long for past or future loves. It just makes you yearn for Matthew McConaughey to wipe that smirk off his face.

Ghosts can't make up its mind whether it wants to be a racy raunchfest or a sentimental celebration of soul mates. So it ends up being a sappy, sleazy hybrid.

McConaughey reprises his cocky "player" persona to limited comic success. The lasting image after seeing it is his blindingly white teeth.

The formulaic story evaporates faster than cotton candy, and it's often as cloyingly sweet and tacky.

Womanizing photographer Connor Mead is the sort of guy you'd warn your sister, daughter or best friend about. His relationships often last only minutes, and he has several going on at once. He has been known to break up via conference call and "in bulk" seconds before setting up his next date.

In contrast, his brother Paul (Breckin Meyer) is the settling-down type. He's about to marry Sandra (Lacey Chabert), and Connor is his best man. Returning to their childhood home brings memories flooding back for Connor. One that looms large is his affection for his childhood friend Jenny (Jennifer Garner). But while he's being rakish, cynical about marriage and generally putting a damper on the pre-wedding festivities, he is visited by the ghost of his Uncle Wayne (Michael Douglas), a hard-partying playboy who taught Connor everything he knows. Douglas' sunglasses-wearing cad is one of the movie's few highlights, along with Emma Stone as the ghost of Connor's first girlfriend.

From his initial encounter with his deceased uncle, Connor visits old and present girlfriends and gets a glimpse of his future in a gimmicky mangling of A Christmas Carol. Jennifer Garner is low-key and appealing, but she's not given enough to do and deserves better material. So funny and endearing as a romantic lead in 13 Going on 30, Garner is mismatched here and lacks chemistry with McConaughey. Ghosts' focus is Connor's unconvincing redemption and transformation from love Scrooge to good guy. Garner's character seems almost incidental.

McConaughey's laid-back style and Texas drawl is meant to be charming and likable, but he comes across smug and unsympathetic. The role isn't much different from every other one he has done (except for his turn in Tropic Thunder, his funniest to date).

The story is hackneyed and tiresome, bouncing from one witless and wince-inducing situation to another. There's little romance or comedy in this predictable and leaden rom-com.

Angels & Demons movie

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Cast: Tom Hanks, Ayelet Zurer, Ewan McGregor, Stellan Skarsgård, Pierfrancesco Favino
Director: Ron Howard
Genres: Crime Thriller, Religious Drama, Thriller

When Robert Langdon (Tom Hanks) discovers evidence of the resurgence of an ancient secret brotherhood known as the illuminati—the most powerful underground organization in history—he also faces a deadly threat to the existence of the secret organization’s most despised enemy: the Catholic Church. When Langdon learns that the clock is ticking on an unstoppable illuminati time bomb, he jets to Rome, where he joins forces with Vittoria Vetra, a beautiful and enigmatic Italian scientist. Embarking on a nonstop, action-packed hunt through sealed crypts, dangerous catacombs, deserted cathedrals, and even to the heart of the most secretive vault on earth, Langdon and Vetra will follow a 400-year-old train of ancient symbols that mark the Vatican’s only hope for survival.


Angels & DemonsCritic Reviews: Betsy Sharkey

There are too many demons, too few angels and not nearly enough grace to save Angels & Demons, the latest Dan Brown-inspired religious action thriller (three words you don't usually see together). Nail-biting, God-fearing and unfolding at a breakneck pace -- a little like The Da Vinci Code on celestial speed -- ultimately everything wilts under the weight of the complicated story lines of its many saints and sinners.

Tom Hanks is back, with much better hair, as Professor Robert Langdon, the Harvard symbologist we first encountered in 2006 cracking the Da Vinci Code and unlocking its Mona Lisa mysteries. In Langdon, Brown has created a cross between a claustrophobic Columbo of Catholicism and a biblically inclined Indiana Jones, and it's hard to imagine anyone but Hanks being able to pull off the role in any credible way.

Science and religion are at war here, an ages-old grudge match that goes back to a rift between Galileo and the Vatican, when freethinkers of all stripes were forced underground if they wanted to keep discussing crazy theories like the Earth spinning around the sun. Out of that repression, the Illuminati, a secret society, with a serious decoder system of churches and statues and rituals and words, was born.

Just when everyone thought they'd long since disappeared, four Cardinals are kidnapped on the eve of a conclave called to replace the pope, a progressive thinker who has conveniently died. The Illuminati is not only claiming responsibility but setting about to brand (yes, brand, as in molten metal searing skin) each of the Cardinals before killing them at the rate of one an hour and gruesomely staged for maximum effect. If that wasn't frightening enough, there are dark hints of the Vatican being consumed by light at the stroke of midnight.

Meanwhile (there is always a "meanwhile" in Dan Brown's densely plotted tomes), a prominent research facility in Geneva has succeeded in creating anti-matter, the substance that everything is made of. Creation, my friends, courtesy of colliding particles, and we get to see it. Though before we witness the Big Bang, those unseen particles -- dubbed "God particles" in case you've missed the allusions that have been falling around us like a hard rain -- race through a complex maze of underground pipes that look like they might carry sewage except they're polished to a blinding high sheen. Even a Hans Zimmer orchestration with lots of swells and cymbals (versus symbols) doesn't help.

Then, wouldn't you know it, despite incredible levels of security, one of the anti-matter canisters is stolen and its lava-lamp likeness turns up on a Vatican camera, though in this high-tech wireless world, the Swiss Guards who protect the pope and his environs have no idea where it is, an issue they've hopefully resolved since the book came out.

Through all this Langdon has been swimming laps at the Harvard gym. But wave the word "Illuminati" in front of him and he's at Vatican headquarters in a flash -- ahem, a man of science called to save the church.

"Oh, good, the symbologist has arrived," says a droll Swiss Guard Commander Richter ( Stellan Skarsgard), whose biting skepticism helps keep the pompous in perspective. (He's not the only actor who seems to be telegraphing that Angels & Demons shouldn't be taken all that seriously.) By now the beautiful Italian scientist Vittoria Vetra, an underused Ayelet Zurer, has shown up as the brains behind the anti-matter brew.

As if this arena weren't already standing room only, there's the plethora of villains and heroes, most prominently Ewan McGregor's Camerlengo Patrick McKenna, whose pale skin, watery eyes and soulful observations are a perfect fit for playing the late pope's right-hand man.

Many weighty philosophical questions are thrown out along the way, including the "big" one, "Do you believe in God?" posed by the Camerlengo to Langdon. I suspect they were designed to fool you into thinking Angels & Demons is more than what it is -- an old-fashioned, big-budget action flick dressed up in cassocks and collars, bleeding red and pretending spirituality.

To his credit, director Ron Howard tried to make some course corrections after The Da Vinci Code. He and screenwriters David Koepp and Akiva Goldsman have lost a few of the book's schemes and schemers to keep the film on fast forward. The Angels' killer is dressed in a natty suit rather than wool robes that hid a penchant for self-mutilation that we had to suffer through in Da Vinci, though the killings themselves are far more perverse and brutal. And much of what is supposed to pass for dialogue is merely a recitation of fact, but at least we've been spared the historical flashbacks with the books-on-tape voice-overs that so pulled at the seams of The Da Vinci Code.

Where Angels & Demons succeeds best is in its look and speed. With much of the story set in and around Vatican City, a shrine to art as much as God, Howard has a rich canvas, used to great effect by production designer Allan Cameron. Meanwhile, the action and the effects come so fast and furiously, if you turn away for a second you may miss a murder.

Where the film ultimately fails is that Howard never really takes control of the ideas. The director is far too reverential, leaving Angels & Demons to reflect Dan Brown's hackneyed vision rather than his own.

Fast & Furious 4 movie

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Cast: Vin Diesel, Paul Walker, Michelle Rodriguez, Jordana Brewster, John Ortiz, Laz Alonso
Director: Justin Lin
Genres: Action Thriller, Chase Movie, Action

Heading back to the streets where it all began, two men rejoin two women to blast muscle, tuner and exotic cars across Los Angeles and floor through the Mexican desert. When a crime brings them back to L.A., fugitive ex-con Dom Toretto reignites his feud with agent Brian O'Connor. But as they are forced to confront a shared enemy, Dom and Brian must give in to an uncertain new trust if they hope to outmaneuver him. And from convoy heists to precision tunnel crawls across international lines, two men will find the best way to get revenge: push the limits of what's possible behind the wheel.



Fast & FuriousCritic Reviews: Betsy Sharkey

If you're a lover of stomach-clenching speed that turns the world into a neon blur; if you thrill to the sight of high-gloss chassis screeching, spinning and slow-rolling into explosive fires and flying debris; if your eyes go soft in the presence of a gleaming motor; if a pounding bass is the bump-and-grind background music of your dreams -- or put more simply, if you're in the mood for a lot of vroom, vroom, thump, thump, then Fast & Furious, the fourth edition of that metal-twisting series, should leave you exhausted and satiated for a very long time.

The pit crew from The Fast and the Furious, or most of it, is back, led by Vin Diesel's Dom -- all ripped muscles, fast cars and evil deeds -- as enigmatic as ever, and still with girlfriend Letty (Michelle Rodriguez), the only one who's ever been able to push past Dom's "auto" erotic zone to touch that slow beating heart of his. It takes a tragedy to pull rogue FBI agent Brian O'Conner (Paul Walker) back into Dom's life, and Brian realizes he still has a real soft spot for Dom's sister Mia (Jordana Brewster, looking more than ever like a young Demi Moore).

It is no small irony that this righteous ode to muscle cars -- and a bygone era when all America wanted from its wheels was speed, power and pumped-up style -- comes to theaters just as the U.S. auto industry is imploding, in part because it too was clinging to the memory of what was. All of which turns Fast & Furious into a strange piece of nostalgia, where, without apology, fast cars still rule and fuel is burned with abandon.

Director Justin Lin is behind the wheel again -- he of the beautiful moving metal of Tokyo Drift, the one redeeming aspect of No. 3 in the franchise, except for the wry Vin cameo at the end. Lin brought a tight new torque to the series even though he didn't have the best story line and characters to work with (not that there's much story to be found in any of these vehicles).

Lin infuses the necessary full-throttle bits with a dynamic lyricism, choreographing the chaos like a whipped-up jazz-fusion set -- trusting absolutely in the hypnotic power and beauty of strength and movement. Which is why Fast & Furious is, in a very bizarre way, a thing of gasp-inducing artistry to watch, even if you're not a member of the NASCAR, gear-head, street-racing crowd.

Even with all the movie's speed, at the deep center of its adrenaline-charged heart Fast & Furious is a love story of boys and their cars, with all of the longing looks sweeping right past the barely clad bones of girls who gather like flies to honey, draping themselves over the cars and the guys, anything to get close to the power that rumbles to furious life within.

Looking back to 2001, it is remarkable that the original brought on such fever dreams, with its relative restraint and its far more tentative soul. The new movie's energy field is vibrating on high from the beginning. Fast & Furious picks up Dom's story in the Dominican Republic, where he's apparently been sitting out the series since the first one ended with him heading for the Mexico border.

Dom, Letty and a new crew are boosting oil tanks, taking them right off the back of truck cabs as they're heading to market at 100-plus mph on pockmarked roads perched on the edge of deadly drop-offs high above the blue Caribbean. It's been a good run for Dom, but one that is about to end with law enforcement hot on his heels.

A quick plot twist and a few fast cuts and we're back in L.A. where it all began. Suddenly, there are major scores to settle. At the center of the action is a ruthless Mexican drug lord who is running a high-stakes operation that has the fastest drivers he can find moving product across the border, caravan style, at 200 mph.

Dom and the FBI, with Brian driving their fleet, want to bring him down, but for different reasons. What happens next isn't really important as long as you know there are a series of extreme and extended demolition derbies -- needless to say countless cars gave their lives to make this movie possible.

As much as metal rules in Fast & Furious, it would be nothing (well, almost) without Diesel, as Universal found out when the studio tried to re-create the magic in No. 2 and No. 3 without him and box-office numbers began a downward slide. When Diesel's characters work, they are compelling in the most counterintuitive of ways.

Dom never stops being the outsider, even with his own crew, always existing on the edges of any given moment or situation, without the slightest trace of emotion. Facing off against a psychopath with endless depths of fury, Diesel is always implacable, unreadable. He just . . . is. Yet somehow his apparent absence of malice is reassuring, because you just know, no matter what, he will punch the clock, he will get the job done.

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Hollywood lands in DC for 'Museum' premiere

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Abraham Lincoln rises from his chair at his memorial to keep the peace among warring characters from history who came to life Thursday in the premiere of the film, "Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian."

It was the first Hollywood premiere ever for the world's largest museum complex, the Smithsonian Institution, which is also the setting for the sequel to 2006's "Night at the Museum." And one of the most popular of its 19 museums, the National Air and Space Museum, rolled out the red carpet for stars of Hollywood and politics alike.

The film's stars, Ben Stiller, Amy Adams, Robin Williams, Owen Wilson and Hank Azaria, mixed with Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts and members of Congress.

Stiller, who starred in both movies, said he was happy the way the sequel turned out.

"The Smithsonian was the springboard for doing the whole thing again," Stiller said.

Stiller's character, security guard Larry Daley, comes to Washington to find his museum friends from the first movie, who had been shipped from New York to a mythical vault under the National Mall.

"Creatively, I think it turned out better than the first movie," Director Shawn Levy said.

Martin Scorsese to direct biopic of Frank Sinatra

LOS ANGELES (AP) -- Martin Scorsese will tell Frank Sinatra's life story on film.

The Academy Award-winning director of "The Departed" will direct "Sinatra," the first feature film about Ol' Blue Eyes' life, Universal Pictures and Mandalay Pictures said Wednesday.

The film will be "an unconventional biopic," said Mandalay Pictures President Cathy Shulman, who is co-producing the film with Mandalay Chairman Peter Guber.


"It's not a cradle-to-the-grave traditional portrait of the consecutive events in a man's life," Shulman said. "Instead it's more of a collage and, in many ways, it will feel like an album itself. It's a collection of various moments and impressions in his life and together we hope they'll tell the full story and present full themes."

Oscar-nominated screenwriter Phil Alden Robinson ("Field of Dreams") has spent "at least a year buried in 30,000 pages of research" to write the screenplay, Schulman said.

No casting decisions have been made and no production date has been determined, she said, adding: "It's everyone's hope that this will be a movie that comes to the screen shortly."

It took two years to secure the rights to Sinatra's life and music, Shulman said. Warner Music Group and the Sinatra estate are partners on the project.

Having Scorsese bring "Sinatra" to the screen "seems like a match made in heaven," she said.

"In any family, you're dealing with a precious life, and in this case, you're dealing with an extraordinary life," she said. "We knew Scorsese would lead the troops to a true, fair, exciting and entertaining portrait of the man."

Sinatra's daughter, Tina, said it was "personally pleasing" to know Scorsese would oversee the celluloid version of her father's life story.

"My father had great admiration for the talent of the people he chose to work with, and the talented people who worked with my father had great admiration for him," she said, adding, "to me that this paradigm continues with Marty Scorsese at the helm of the Sinatra film."

An iconic entertainer, Sinatra was known for his smooth voice and even smoother personal style. He was part of the Rat Pack that included Dean Martin, Sammy Davis Jr. and Peter Lawford.

Sinatra "was indisputably the 20th century's greatest singer of popular song," according to Rolling Stone.

"Not only did his freely interpretive approach pave the way for the idiosyncrasies of rock singing, but with his character a mix of tough-guy cool and romantic vulnerability, he became the first true pop idol, a superstar who through his music established a persona audiences found compelling and true," the magazine says on its Web site.

Sinatra, who died in 1998, performed on more than 1,400 musical recordings, was awarded 31 gold records and earned 10 Grammys. He also appeared in 58 films and won a supporting-actor Oscar for 1953's "From Here to Eternity." In 1971, he was presented with another Oscar: the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award.

Sinatra's story has been told before on the small screen. A 1992 made-for-TV movie, "Sinatra," starred Philip Casnoff in the title role. It won a Golden Globe for best miniseries and an Emmy for director James Sadwith. Ray Liotta played Sinatra in the 1998 HBO film, "The Rat Pack."

At one time, Scorsese was in talks to direct a Dean Martin biopic, but that project never came to fruition.
Associated Press.

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Anne Hathaway and All-Star Cast Celebrate 'Valentine's Day'

Julia Roberts and Anne Hathaway are just two of the many stars involved in Garry Marshall's new romantic comedy "Valentine's Day."

New Line Cinema is also negotiating with Jennifer Garner, Ashton Kutcher, Bradley Cooper, Shirley MacLaine, Jessica Biel, and Jessica Alba, The Hollywood Reporter says.

The comedy will tell five interconnecting stories during Valentine's Day in Los Angeles, the trade paper says.

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Actor Tobey Maguire's wife gives birth to baby boy

LOS ANGELES (AP) -- The wife of "Spider-Man" star Tobey Maguire has given birth to the couple's second child, a boy.

People.com reports that 31-year-old Jennifer Meyer gave birth to a baby boy on Friday. Maguire publicist Kelly Bush on Sunday confirmed the birth but gave no other details.

Meyer gave birth to the couple's daughter, Ruby Sweetheart Maguire, more than two years ago.

The 33-year-old Maguire and Meyer met in 2003 and were married in 2007.


Meyer is the daughter of Ron Meyer, president and chief operating officer of Universal Studios.


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Race to Witch Mountain movie

Download Race to Witch Mountain movie

Race to Witch Mountain Overview and Synopsis

For years, stories have circulated about a secret place in the middle of the Nevada desert, known for unexplained phenomena and strange sightings. It is called Witch Mountain, and when a Las Vegas cab driver (Dwayne Johnson) finds two teens with supernatural powers in his cab, he suddenly finds himself in the middle of an adventure he can’t explain. When they discover that the only chance to save the world lies in unraveling the secrets of Witch Mountain, the race begins, as the government, mobsters and even extraterrestrials try to stop them.


Race to Witch Mountain Critic Reviews:

Betsy Sharkey
Here's a tip for parents: If you toss the kids the keys to the spaceship and tell them to "go save Earth," make sure they hook up with former stock car driver Jack Bruno, whose skill behind the wheel will come in handy when they have to outrun the Department of Defense or some other rogue agency of the government. Yes, he's a former felon, and yes, he used to work for the Las Vegas mob, but he's a really nice guy and a lot smarter and more sentimental than the brawn would suggest. Besides, you need a little muscle when you're trying to save the world.

In case you don't live on another planet, hang onto the keys and go with the kids to see Race to Witch Mountain, which is a fast and furious (yes "fast and furious" in that way) wild ride of a movie in which the good guys are good (some of them really, really good), the bad guys are good (very scary good) and the car chases (around a thousand of them by my count, though it was hard to keep track with all the screeching tires and twisted metal) are pretty spectacular.

The film stars Dwayne Johnson -- who still has steel-cut abs and a wingspan that would shame a 747 though he's left his wrestling days as the Rock behind -- as Jack Bruno, the Vegas cab driver who finds himself with a most unusual fare.

Though Jack is, indeed, smarter than you'd think at first glance, he really should have figured out that the teenage siblings who suddenly appear in his back seat have to be from some other world. I mean they aren't surly, there are no piercings, they never ask him to turn on the radio and they have cash. Lots of it. Come on, Jack, pay attention!

Sara and Seth (AnnaSophia Robb and Alexander Ludwig) do have something in common with teenagers everywhere: They don't trust adults. Only after a few narrow escapes on their way to a little spot of nowhere in the Nevada desert that just happens to have an underground labyrinth filled with mysteriously glowing pods, does Jack Bruno, as Sara calls him, begin to figure out there's more at work here than the outrage of his former mob bosses.

Still, it takes some convincing for Jack to buy into the alien thing. Fortunately Sara can levitate objects and Seth can reach through metal so you know it's more than AP classes that make these kids different. But Jack is a tough guy, trying to remake his life, do the right thing -- getting involved with aliens on the run isn't exactly what he had in mind. But he just can't help himself.

In Johnson's hands, Jack soon becomes a rock with a very soft center, which is probably the most relevant and resonant quality Johnson has as an actor -- that ability to charm everyone around him, bad guys excluded. There are times in "Witch Mountain" when he's being particularly sweet to Sara and Seth in that "Oh ya big lug" way that you can almost hear the audience sigh "ahhhh."

Director Andy Fickman and screenwriters Matt Lopez and Mark Bomback know Johnson's strengths and, well, limitations and play to them here. So there are lots of short one-liners and nearly as many intensely choreographed fight scenes in which Johnson is steamrolling through flanks of assault-rifle-carrying agency operatives (it helps that Seth can stop bullets with his mind, though it takes a lot of concentration to pull that one off) or going up against the towering programmed-to-kill cyborg sent from Sara- and Seth-land to kill them.

And if you think the cyborg is frightening, just look into the cold, dead eyes of Ciarán Hinds' Henry Burke, who's leading the "good" guys as they try to round up the aliens; they must be dissected and studied immediately, it's that important to national security, like we haven't heard that one before. The film also comes with a PG rating that has more earmarks than an Obama budget, a tip-off if there ever was one that the action, violence and fear factors are intense so parents of young kids be prepared.

Robb is exceptional as Sara, delivering the stilted alien-speak lines as if she's been talking that way her entire life. And the chemistry between Robb and Johnson is just short of terrific -- you know Jack would protect Sara with his life and not because he has to.

Fickman has said he wanted to make sure Race to Witch Mountain would be true to the spirit of its ancestors, beginning with 1975's Escape to Witch Mountain. To that end, there are a couple of nice touches for fans of the earlier films, especially cameos by its alien kids now grown older (apparently aging is inevitable no matter which planet you're on).

It happens in a roadside restaurant in a showdown with the feds. Jack, Sara and Seth are surrounded, it looks impossible, and there are no guarantees the three desperadoes will make it out alive, but Kim Richards as their waitress and Iake Eissinmann as Sheriff Antony, are darned sure going to see what they can do about that.

I won't tell you what happens, but just don't be surprised if Sara and Seth show up on Jack Bruno's doorstep again in the not too distant future.