Review: Terminator Salvation

I’m a huge fan of the series. Personally, I would have been fine with them ending the franchise with Terminator 2. Part three truly was the lead into Part 4. And the television show is a nice filler between part 2 and part 3. But part 4 starts off confusing.

If you never watch the television show, then parts of the movie don’t make sense. I didn’t understand some characters and if they were terminators or not. Where does this sit in the timeline? For half of the movie, I was just confused. I’m so glad that I had a good friend who watched the show and filled me in.

In part 4, Skynet was trying to kill Kyle Reese, who if you watched the first Terminator, you know is John Conner’s father. Kyle and John were friends and Kyle volunteered to go back into time to save Sarah Conner. By killing Kyle, then John wouldn’t exist. But that’s wrong wouldn’t John still be alive since someone else impregnated Sarah originally, and there isn’t any proof that John really is Kyle’s. She could have already been pregnant. So many questions, No answers.

I can’t say that it was a bad movie, it was just okay. You have to see it on the big screen to appreciate it. But when you walk out, you know they are going to make part 5. And as a good friend said, “Maybe just like the new Batman franchise, the sequel will be a lot better than the one before it.” I pray so!

Grade: B -

Review: Night At the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian

If you saw the first Night at the Museum and liked it, then you will enjoy the second one. It’s the same humor but not as exciting. Yes, there are a lot more characters in this movie, but because you’ve seen all of the statues come to life before and you know why they come to life, some of the excitement from the first movie is lost.

You will learn a lot about the Smithsonian itself. I don’t think I ever realized how big the Smithsonian really is and that it ran under the National Mall. I still want to know how nobody else sees all of this stuff happening. But I guess you have to let that go since your watching the Abe Lincoln statue walk across the National Mall and not leave any footprints.

Overall, you’ll enjoy the movie. Kids will love it and adults will enjoy it too. Worth paying matinee price for but it will even better on DVD.

Grade: B

Opening May 29, 2009

I’m not a big horror movie person. Very few catch my attention. But I must admit there’s something about Drag Me To Hell that I want to see. Will I pay money to see it? I’m thinking not. But when it comes to DVD, I’ll rent it.




Got to love Pixar movies! I mean, these are the same people who made Toy Story, A Bug’s Life, Monster’s Inc, The Incredibles and last year’s hit, WALL-E. I don’t think they can do wrong. I’m looking forward to see what happens in UP.

Review: Angels & Demons

My new saying for 2009 is “You can’t make Diamonds out of Crap”. Well sad to say this is also the theme for Angels and Demons. Okay, the movie wasn’t total crap, but it was close to it.

In 2006, I remember being very excited to see Da Vinci Code. There was so much hype about the movie plus the controversy with the Catholic Church it was a must see! Being Catholic, I had to know what the talk was all about. Did this movie really shake some people’s faith? I went and well if you’ve seen the movie, you know that there was no reason to be upset or even excited about the movie. So when I saw the trailer for Angels and Demons, I again was a little excited but I was also a little nervous. Would A&D be better than DVC?

The answer is kinda. You would think that with Tom Hanks, an Oscar Winning actor and Ron Howard, an Oscar Winning director there should be MAGIC on the screen. Instead of being David Copperfield magic, we got the magician from Frosty The Snowman cartoon! There was no real excitement.

One of the things that make a movie great is if you start to care about the characters. There should be someone you are rooting for. You want that person to live and someone else to die. In A&D, there wasn’t any of that. The audience never really got to care about anybody when the action started. In any ‘who done-it’, you should want the bad guy to be caught or killed or that great battle between good and evil. That never really happened.

It was like watching a bad episode of Scooby-Doo. After a point, you ran out of characters so you knew who the villain was and you really didn’t care. There was the connection that was missing. No chemistry between anyone. Midway into the movie, I asked my cousin “is it almost over?” And she answered, “I wish”. And that’s a major problem! No one cheered or laughed or anything during the movie. We all sat like zombies wondering…“I spent money on this?”

Go see it? Not unless you are really bored and have money to spend. Again, Angels and Demons was better than the Da Vinci Code. The action was better and the plot was better but over all…A waste of time.

Grade: C

Opening May 21, 2009

As a huge fan of the Terminator franchise, I must admit that I’m pretty excited about seeing the 4th movie in the series. How will this end? Will it end? There is a big part of me that wants this to be the last one. But there’s that part that wants to hear those 3 words again and again…. “I’ll be back”!

Opening May 22, 2009

Those Wayans Brothers aren’t quite right but that’s what we love about them! Now to have Damon’s son get into acting and star in one of the films, WOW! This movie makes me think of the first Scary Movie film. Those were the days. I just hope they don’t do too many of these and they get stale!





The first Night at the Museum was really cute and funny. Yeah, other critics didn’t like it, but I did. It was interesting and different. Let’s see if they can top it or if they are going to mess up a good thing.

Opening May 15, 2009

Amazingly enough, Angels & Demons is the only national release this week. Interesting. I know the other studios couldn’t have been afraid to go up against it. I mean the other movie in the series, The Da Vince Code sucked so why be scared? But I will say that other critics say that Angels & Demons is better. The trailer looks good but so did the other one. I'm on the fence on paying to see this one.



With a limited release, you might not get to see the Brother’s Bloom until it comes out on DVD. From the trailer it looks like a cute movie but it reminds me a lot of 1988’s Dirty Rotten Scoundrels with Steve Martin and Michael Cain. Personally, I think I’ll wait until DVD.



Management is one of those quirky romantic comedies that on a lazy Sunday afternoon, you’d sit and watch it but to pay to see it? Houston that is a negative.




O'Horten seems to one of those odd little movies that could be good if you like odd movies and sub-titles. This movie screams CABLE!!!

Review: Star Trek

When I sat down in the theater with my popcorn to see Star Trek, I was so excited. I had been looking forward to seeing this movie every since it was announced and now I’m finally ready. Star Trek was absolutely great!

Was it the special effect that made the movie great? Yes and no. Now, it takes a lot for the special effects to blow me away. Some of the effects were really amazing but nothing that stood out. What made this movie worth the 2 hours were the storyline and the characters.

Unfortunately I can’t tell you much about the plot without giving it away, but I will say that there is a twist that happens very early in the movie. You’ll get the twist but it will make a lot of sense later. You’ll have that ‘Aw Ha’ moment and for the rest of the movie your mouth will be on the floor.

As for the characters, they are true to form. You really could see Christopher Pine as a young Kirk and John Cho as Sulu. There were a lot of questions if Zachary Quinto could pull off Spock because of the bad guy he plays on Heroes. May that was a leg up for him. Not sure, but I really fell for him. And so did someone else…oops said too much.

If you see no other movie this month, heck the whole summer, you must see this movie on the big screen! I’m a semi trekkie, which means I don’t speak Klingon or know the episode names, but I know the characters. If you are a true trekkie or a semi-trekkie like me it is worth full price twice! If you are a new school trekkie (Next Generation, Deep Space Nine, etc) or new to Star Trek, this is still a must see. You’ll get classic lines like “Damn it, I’m a doctor not a physicist" and much more. I’m looking forward to going back and seeing it again! I’m ready for the sequel, heck a whole new series. Dang it, I’ve too much again! UGH!!! So I'll just say...Live Long and Prosper - Good Luck! You'll get it once you see the movie.

Grade: A+

Review: X-Men Origins: Wolverine

As excited as I was to see Wolverine, I must admit I was a little nervous. The first X-Men movie was okay. X-Men 2 was better and X-Men 3 was bad except for the very end. The trailer looked great but would it live up to the hype?

Yes it did. Thank goodness. X-Men Origins: Wolverine really did take you from his first mutant experience to almost the beginning of the first X-Men movie. Some of the storyline conflicted with what I already knew about Wolverine, but then again the original X-Men movie was a conflicting. I will admit that the movie did answer a lot of questions that I had about Wolverine. From his memory loss, he’s relationship with Sabertooth, to the woman who broke his heart.

The action was excellent and the story line wasn’t bad either. The way they told the story was very interesting. Always knew that Logan was older than all of the other X-Men but I didn’t know how old. I won’t tell you hold old he is ‘cause that will spoil a little bit of the movie. We’ll just say he’s way older than you thought. How’s that?

Overall, was it worth seeing? Yes. And if you pay full price you won’t be mad. Magneto’s story comes out in 2011 but I just hope that 20th Century Fox keeps up the trend and does Professor X, and Storm. Those are only ones that I care about. Now I really think that Storm would have to be re-cast. Love Halle Berry and all but she’s not a good Storm at all. But that’s a WHOLE other subject. I will tell you this, no matter how much you plan to pay for this movie, you must see it on the big screen to get the full effect!

Opening May 8, 2009

It been a while since a good funny comedy that’s not just down right silly has hit theaters. I just hope Next Day Air leaves up to the trailers. But my real hope is that Benny Boom who is famous music video director does a good job with his first feature length film. You see how well Hype Williams did with Belly, right? Come on Benny with a hit!




Must see…enough said. Check back on Friday for my full review!

Summer of Movies

Do you remember when the big summer movies started on Memorial Day weekend? That was always the first big movie weekend. You couldn’t wait until the end of May for summer to start and the great movies to start. YEAH!! But now, the big movies are starting earlier and earlier.

Today is May 1st and the first blockbuster movie is hitting the screen. Wow! Let’s go through the Summer of Movies month by month. Will this summer live up to other summers? Especially since Memorial Day is on May 25th and summer doesn’t officially start until June 21st.

Title: X-Men Origins: Wolverine
Release Date: May 1st
Plot (from IMDB.com): Wolverine lives a mutant life, seeks revenge against Victor Creed (who will later become Sabertooth) for the death of his girlfriend, and ultimately ends up going through the mutant Weapon X program.
Thoughts: If this movie is ½ as good as the trailer, it will be better than all of the original X-Men movies!

Title: Star Trek
Release Date: May 8th
Plot (from IMDB.com): A chronicle of the early days of James T. Kirk and his fellow USS Enterprise crew members
Thoughts: As a semi-Trekkie, I’m so excited to see this movie. This is going to be a great movie.

Title: Angles & Demons
Release Date: May 15th
Plot (from IMDB.com): Harvard symbologist Robert Langdon works to solve a murder and prevent a terrorist act against the Vatican
Thoughts: Wasn't excited about the first one and I can't say I'm excited about this one.

Title: Terminator Salvation
Release Date: May 21st
Plot (from IMDB.com): After Skynet has destroyed much of humanity in a nuclear holocaust, a group of survivors led by John Connor (Bale) struggles to keep the machines from finishing the job.
Thoughts: Love the Terminator series, but I really hope we are coming to end. I'm not sure if the storyline will stay fresh with 5 more movies.

Title: Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian
Release Date: May 22nd
Plot (from IMDB.com): Security guard Larry Daley infiltrates the Smithsonian Institute in order to rescue Jedediah and Octavius, who have been shipped to the museum by mistake.
Thoughts: The first Night at the Museum was really cute. Not the best movie, but Ben Stiller has this quirkiness about him that you can't help but love, so I'm sure we'll all enjoy this one.

Title: Dance Flick
Release Date: May 22nd
Plot (from IMDB.com): Street dancer Thomas Uncles is from the wrong side of the tracks, but his bond with the beautiful Megan White might help the duo realize their dreams as the enter in the mother of all dance battles.
Thoughts: The Wayane's Brothers are at it again and I'm so happy!

Title: Up!
Release Date: May 29
Plot (from IMDB.com): By tying thousands of balloon to his home, 78-year-old Carl Fredricksen sets out to fulfill his lifelong dream to see the wilds of South America. Right after lifting off, however, he learns he isn't alone on his journey, since Russell, a wilderness explorer 70 years his junior, has inadvertently become a stowaway on the trip.
Thoughts: How can you not love Pixar? Who would have ever thought of this. I'm looking forward to seeing this one.

The beginning of June, look for a list of the big movies of the month. As always, I'll post the weekly movies with the trailers. Stay tune for more!!!