Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian Pass

Even though I felt that the first Night at the Museum was better, I still enjoyed round two. There really isn’t too much to say about this movie, especially if you’ve seen the first one you will know what to expect. I will make two comments: 1. The Al Capone part is pretty funny and I like that they are in black and white 2. The Abraham Lincoln thing sort of killed the movie for me, I wish they would have taken that in a different direction.

Terminator Salvations: Pass

I am just going to straight forward about this movie. If you’ve seen the past Terminator movies then this will be a real treat for you. Since I had never seen any of the Terminator movies, I was pretty much scratching my head the whole time.

One actor from this movie that I would like to pass on a good word about is Anton Yelchin. He plays Kyle Reese in Terminator Salvations and Chekov in Star Trek. I’ve also seen him in Charlie Bartlett where he gives an amazing performance as a troubled trust fund kid, who has the ability to make you laugh one second and cry the next. Be looking out for him in the near future, I don’t think he has grown to his potential quite yet.

Angels and Demons: Pass

I felt that it was entertaining, but if you’re not into the whole Da Vinci Code thing (and I’m really not) then you won’t like this movie either. I felt that it was a lot of “Ah uh!” moments running to the next clue.

Sugar

I think baseball movies are simply one of the greatest genres of sports movies. I could sit and watch Bull Durham, Rookie of the Year, The Natural, A League of Their Own or The Minor Leagues collection for the rest of my days and be happy.

Sugar offers a perspective I couldn't help but think STL great Albert Pujols endured on his climb to fame. The movie is subtitled through most of the film as it depicts young men from the Dominican Republic coming to the States to play in minor league ball out in Iowa and Kansas. These men, just like young American boys, dream of the days the announcer calls their names over the loud speaker at Yankee Stadium.

These boys who get "the call" up to the States to play in these farm towns, barely speak English and what they do know of English is "fly ball, home run, strike." One particular scene in the restaurant harps on this fact as the boys eat french toast for a month at every meal, since they don't know how to say anything else.

The film takes a different spin after some time and you see Sugar (the main character) depart for New York and his desire to do everything possible to stay in the States. Really makes you appreciate the fact you're already here.

The Soloist

I've never really been a fan of Jamie Foxx. Not sure why, but I'm pretty sure it has everything to do with his The Jamie Foxx Show on The WB, back when The WB existed.

His performance in The Soloist was truly breathtaking. He plays the part perfectly and quite comically. And the movie was more than just the idea of someone who plays music beautifully; it was in sight into the Los Angeles homeless sector. Being someone who's been sheltered in suburbia, I found the scenes at the shelters extremely interesting and sad. Homelessness carries a stigma which isn't necessarily true. This film helps bring that thought to light.

The movie should have had a guitar box set up outside the theatre to collect spare change for the LA homeless shelters, as I wanted to empty my pockets of all the change.

Ghosts of Girlfriends Past

You know what you're getting into when you buy a ticket for a Rom-Com with Matthew McConaughey: eye candy for the next 1 1/2. Yet, throughout this film, I never saw it. He plays a successful photog who just loves women (hello ad man from How to Lose a Guy). To help him see his true gal pal for life love, he is visited by all of his girlfriends from the past who point him in the direction of Jenny, played by Jennifer Garner.

The true icing on this wedding cake were characters played by Emma Stone (Jules from Superbad) and Lacey Chabert (her father invented the Toaster Strudel in Mean Girls). Stone plays a ghost talking McConaughey through some past flames. Her outfit is amazing and when you learn of how her and McConaughey's character hooked up, you can't stop laughing. Chabert plays the lass marrying McConaughey's brother, played by Breckin Meyer (RoadTrip fame). She's a bridezilla on acid, crack and uppers. Watching her on screen is a treat.

As for Garner's character, I felt like she never got fully developed and she was hardly on screen. I was excited to see her paired with Rescue Me's fireman Daniel Sunjata, but felt like their scenes were cold and flat.

And having Michael Douglas in this film was completely unneccessary. He was a creepy corpse and extremely reminisent of the Tales from the Crypt guy. Douglas brought nothing to the screen and he looks awfully, awfully, painfully old. It was hard to watch.

This is one ghost I hope is done haunting me.

17 Again

Growing up, the go to movies in my family were What About Bob? and Big. So you can imagine my horror when 13 Going on 30 came out. But then I learned, not only did the main character age, so did the world around her. Okay, okay. Still a stolen idea, but only partially stolen.

17 Again is a direct ploy off of Big, just instead of getting older, you get younger. Three reasons why this movie was a rip off:

1) The go-to best friend to help you find your way through the newer/older you. Josh Baskins had Billy. In this film, we have Mike and Ned. Ned's character, played by Thomas Lennon, is quite possibly the greatest character in this movie. The Star Trek ears, the one-liners, his passion for the magical word, I couldn't get enough of it.

2) When Josh Baskins makes the switch to adulthood, he buys a sweet pad and fills it with all the greatest toys and furniture (I'm getting a trampoline in my apartment once the ceilings call for it). Mike moves in with his friend Ned, who being the complete weirdo he is, has a sweet pad full of fast cars, amazing pool and collectible toys and swords laying around. This film just switches out the bunk beds ("I call top!") for a race car.

3) The creepy item/person to get you to the new you. Josh Baskins tried his luck on the Zoltar machine, which really made me fearful of any type of tarot card reading and fortune tellings. Here, Mike looks to this creepy janitor who appears and then disappears. He's like a bad version Doc from Back to the Future holding a pail and mop instead of keys to a DeLorean.
At times, I must say, I did enjoy the film. But the whole Zac Efron (who plays the younger version of Matthew Perry's character Mike) and Leslie Mann, who plays Scarlett, Mike's nearly ex wife, were too creepy to enjoy. It was worse than Mrs. Robinson since at least Mrs. Robinson was seducing a recent college graduate and not a high school senior.

As the jerk Paul said at the Christmas Party in Big:
Paul: The guy's a goddamn knock-off artist.
Man: What do you mean?
Paul: The Amphibian?! He takes 10,000 G.I. Joes, slaps some gills on them, webs their feet and packages them in seaweed.

Looks like we have another knock-off artist behind 17 Again.