HDR 43

Movie reviews are more fun in groups of 5!

30 days of night:
Vampire movie! Woo! Well, kind of. I think a good vampire movie should include lots of random death scenes including lots of screaming and blood only coming from 2 smallish holes in the neck about 1.5 - 2 inches apart much like 2 sharp fangs in a human mouth would produce. Also, there should be at least one scene of hot girls being stupid and getting killed and one scene of someone doing something idiotic and the audience being happy they died. This movie was set in the Arctic North of Alaska and didn't include much of the above. There were lots of screaming deaths yet the blood and gore was over the top and I think there was only one mildly hot girl in the movie and she was decked out in cold weather clothes 99% of the movie. I get the point that "up in the cold there's 30 days of night and the vampires don't get destroyed by the sun there" but the way they rampaged through the towns you'd think they'd rule the world in 30 mins. Anyway it was lame and over the top but not in a funny way therefore it just doesn't get a good grade.

Higherdef Rating: 2


You Don't Mess With The Zohan:
Parts of this were really funny and parts of it were in that Sandler category of funny that I just don't think is that funny. It was kind of like Billy Madison but Sandler is like 15 years older and it doesn't fit anymore. I think some immature humor is funny and other times it's just bad. Like I said, this movie had it's funny moments but in the parts that weren't funny it was REALLY not funny. Anyway it wasn't a terrible movie but it just didn't serve any purpose except to be funny and it didn't really accomplish that with a passing grade. I'd give it a 60 at best for funniness and that's a 3 out of 5 in my scale so that's how I'm grading it.

Higherdef Rating: 3


Holes:
A bunch of "bad" kids are sent to a rehabilitation center that involves digging holes to build character. The kids have a pretty miserable existence while digging but learn the ropes of the system and are working towards a better future. The overseers of this "prison" are pretty corrupt and clearly have an agenda but it takes a lucky break from an unsung hero who is wrongfully imprisoned to bring it out. There's a synopsis for you.
Decent movie about fate and luck. It was a "kids" movie but really was well done in general. It could have been tweaked just a tiny amount and really been pleasing to all audiences as well as children but they clearly had a younger crowd in mind when they made this movie. I think that Shia LaBeouf is a good actor and I'm extremely disapointed that he decided to take up smoking and being a jackass as he's aged. He still did a good job in this one and so did the rest of the cast. Even The Fonz did a good job as the dad of Shia.

Higherdef Rating: 3.5


Wanted:
I saw all the previews and really wanted to see this movie in theaters but b/c of all the other great movies that came out last summer this one didn't get seen until blu-ray DVD... sigh... I guess I'll survive. Wanted is a movie about an elite group of assassins that have a strange ability to see things slower and do things that are impossible. I liked the fact that the filmmakers really went outside the normal with the visualization and reality of this movie. They didn't try to make it realistic or stick with the norms of special effects. They did a lot of great live action shots and blended them in with special effects to near perfection. I liked the action and was def left wanting more. I would like to think that there will be another movie like this but I doubt there will be. The plot was a little strange and probably ended a little melodramatically but I still liked it.

Higherdef Rating: 4


Bangkok Dangerous:
This was a fitting movie for Nick Cage. He's getting a little up there in age and isn't quite living up to his bad ass persona as well as he once did. So in this movie he takes the role of a nearly retired hitman who is possibly making his last hit before calling it a career. He has a few rules to follow and ends up breaking a few of them along the way. I liked this movie but still haven't decided which ending I liked better. They both were good and I'm pretty sure the director made the correct choice in endings but it won't make as many people happy as the other but still a good artistic choice.

Higherdef Rating: 4

HDR 42

Welcome to another fly fabulous edition of the Higherdef Reviews!

Meet the Browns:
Tyler Perry movie and I've only seen maybe one or two of his things ever and haven't been too terribly impressed but since we are in the "Obama era" now I guess that means I can be extra harsh on a man of color's work right? Well, you are in luck b/c I have nothing terrible to say about this movie except for the stupid @$$ scenes with the old woman. WTF is up with that crap? Tyler Perry might love to dress up like an old woman and maybe that's just something that black men like to do.. I mean Eddie Murphy and Martin Lawerence did it too... but then again it does look fun so whatever.

Higherdef Rating: 3.5 (would have been 4 but that old lady crap has got to go)

Disaster movie:
Scary Movies were better. Not even on par with them. Blah.

Higherdef Rating: 2

Citizen Kane:
This is a great movie. I would say hat it was probably the first movie of it's kind and really changed movie going over the next 50+ years. I grew up practicially living with my grandparents and they watched ALL sorts of movies from "the golden era" and none were as good or dramatic as this one. Give props to Orsen Wells for his direction and great great stuff!

Higherdef Rating: 5

Whale Rider:
Ok, so I watched this movie and was blown away. The lead character (played by Keisha Castle-Hughes) was probably the best acting I have ever seen from a child ever. I seriously am upset that she didn't win an Oscar for this movie. I went and looked up who won that year and it was Charleiz Theron for Monster and I can see why but I'm going to have to take another look at that movie and really judge again. There is one part in the movie that I swear was one of the best acting scenes I've ever seen before. Mad props to her and this movie.

Higherdef Rating: 5

House Bunny:
Anna Faris is hot and she plays an ex-playmate who tries her hand at being a house mother for a local sorority or something like that. She gets the girls to open up and be themselves and get laid in the process. Anyway, good movie. Not great or bad or anything to remember after about 30 days but still worth killing 90 mins of boring thursday afternoon.

Higherdef Rating: 3.5

A prayer for Our President Obama

Welcome to leadership Mr President.

I offer this prayer to you and to yours as you start on this uphill battle that will b Leading Our Nation.

I pray you find safety and peace for you and your family over the next few years and your/their life time(s).

I pray you have the patience and knowledge in decision making.

I pray you have support and opposition when one is needed.

I pray you have trust in God and follow your heart with Him in times of need.

I pray that you have wisdom.

I pray that love for yourself and others, enemies included.

I pray that you pray to God often.

I pray that you become a great and humble leader that I can be proud of.

I pray for your family. Your Wife and two lovely girls.

I pray that your words will not be the only thing that gives us peace.

I pray that your decisions will not be done hastily and reap rewards sooner and later.

I pray that you make ethical and environmental choices that keep our planet safe for generations to come.

I pray that you will be an example that our country needs for 1,000s of people without a role model.

I pray that you succeed in your works and that I find myself happily voting for your re-election in a little less than four years.

finally,

I pray for OUR Great Nation and that God will remain a vital part in it.

Your will be done Lord, hear our prayer.

Amen.

HDR 41

Gonna keep the reviews coming so I can be so caught up I'll be behind on the watching!!


Forgetting Sarah Marshall:
Dude gets dumped. Dude is awesome. Chick is a slut. Dude says screw it, I'm going on vacation. Chick shows up at same time at same place as dude on vacation. $#!t hits fan but dude meets new chick and they are awesome together. blah blah blah. Decently funny movie but too much male nudity for me though. Call me crazy but seeing a guy's wang ain't gonna get anyone a good review in my book. Stil a funny movie but probably better in the theatrical version than the "unrated" version.

Higherdef Rating: 3.5


X-files: I want to believe:
They want to believe, and I wanted to like this movie. but it was just not that great. Why does everything have to be just bland and boring now days? I remember the X-Files bing awesome and creepy and weird and this was just creepy and weird but not in the good X-Files way but in a stupid love story in an X-Files movie type way. I just didn't really like this one as much as I thought I would.

Higherdef Rating: 2


Fallen:
Decent movie. It was pretty silly on how it ended but a good movie either way. Denzel doesn't really make a "bad" movie so you know it was going to be interesting. I thought the ending wasn't as well thought out as it could have been but then again, they couldn't have made the movie if they didn't have the ending they used but then again they could have had a better movie with a different ending. I know that last sentence didn't make any sense but I don't care b/c if sense were made all the time then sense and sensibility would be a movie I'd want to see and I don't want to make sense for that fact alone b/c that would be senseless.

Higherdef Rating: 3


Coach Carter:
Coach is a bball coach. Coach's kid is a bball player. Coach gets job offer for a team that is terrible and filled with "bad" players (bad as in good skillz but not so good grades and lives). Coach busts asses and turns the team around, coach is hero but team is still messed up and problems mount. I think that this movie was great. I think they did a good job of telling a story, relating to the audience, and hitting at your emotions. I won't get into the issues I had with this movie b/c if you haven't seen this movie it will ruin it for you. I'll only say that it seems like Disney is running out of "inspirational" true stories. But this was still a good movie.

Higherdef Rating: 4


Fred Claus:
Vince Vaughn is the brother of Santa Claus (Paul Giamatti). He's bitter and hateful b/c ol' St. Nick is a wang to his bro growing up and Santa's rents are jack@$$es to the fullest. So they are all blessed with the ability to age slower and stuff so in the year 2008 (or maybe 2007) tempers come to a head just at the right time when this bitter middle aged man played by Kevin Spacey comes to visit as an efficiency expert who's only motive is to shut down the North Pole! GASP!! Anyway, it was cute and interesting but not the greatest christmas movie ever by any stretch. In fact, I'll probably never watch this one again unless it's on TBS 10,000 times a day in a few years. Not terrible. Not great. like fruit cake!

Higherdef Rating: 3.5

Hang your banners high.

Wow.

This year's bowl season is PERFECT proof we need a playoff system.

OU (who lost to Texas) lost to Florida in the "national title game" and shouldn't have played in that game to begin with. Texas rightfully claimed stake for that game and never got a chance to play... but wait, so did So Cal and wait a minute there young'n... UTAH didn't even lose this year why not give them a shot?

There are 4 teams standing right now. Florida, Utah, Texas and So Cal. That's 4 teams that could be printing out national title banners, shirts and rings and claiming to be the best in the country but only Florida will be crowned the official "Champion".

It's crap and it's not the way it should be. There HAS to be a playoff in the future. There's more money in it. There's more to play for. And the games will mean more (even the regular season games).

It's sad to think how far there is to go until they fix it.

So mucho congrats to Utah, Texas, So Cal and esp Florida for earning that title on the field. Hang your banners high!

HDR 40

Last one... I'll stop at 40, nice even number.


Get Smart:
Funny, interesting, adaptation of the old show. Anne Hathaway is hot, the rock had a much smaller role than I expected and Steve C is very funny. Not worth seeing again but if you've got a Saturday without football to kill, go for it.

Higherdef Rating: 3.5


Manhattan:
Woody Allen is a great writer and boy can he write! Don't watch this movie with subtitles and give whoever did the subtitles for this one a raise! I liked the cinematography they used and the black-and-white made it very interesting. Good story. One of Woody's best flicks.

Higherdef Rating: 4


Journey to the center of the earth:
Vintage Brendan Frasier. Good movie but very cheesy and filled with over the top action jam packed into 100 mins of moive goodness. If you like the mummy movies and anything he's been in then you'll like this one too. If you think these movies are too cheesy and action packed, then you'll feel the same with this one too. I'm on the fence.

Higherdef Rating: 3.5


Ghandi:
Dang this is a long movie! it had a freaking intermission... ON THE DVD!! crazy stuff huh? Good though. I don't think I want to see it again though. EVER! Ghandi was a great dude. People sewk! There's 3 hours in 1 sentence for you. Oh and this movie won a bunch of awards and rightfully so.

Higherdef Rating: 4


Clone wars:
If they are going to keep making star wars movies, I say they should make them all like this from now on. I mean, if it's going to be computer animated then make it ALL computer animated with voice overs. If you are going ot make a real movie. Then make it ALL a real movie with no computer special effects. They ruined Star Wars with the crap that came out in the 90s. Give me a guy in a rubber suit covered in jello any day over a computerized jabba! This one was pretty good though.

Higherdef Rating: 3.5

HDR 39

Man, I'm going for another one!

One night with the king:
Interesting story from the Bible. Ruth in the Old Testiment or Hadassah as you might remember her from Broadway (I keed I keed). Good adaptation of this Biblical story and for all I can tell, pretty accurate. But then again, if you want to make something interesting you don't need to change the Bible too much. That thing is wild with ups and downs and plot twists.

Higherdef Rating: 4

Alvin and the chipmunks:
I CANNOT BELIEVE THEY MADE ANOTHER FREAKING SHOW/MOVIE/SONG WITH THESE ANNOYING GUYS! I hope this is the last one ever! creepy and not safe for anyone over 12.

Higherdef Rating: 1


Kung fu panda:
Jack Black was a voice of a panda. He was funny and the movie was good. Pixar is still rolling but it wasn't their best stuff. If you love Pixar and Jack Black and Pandas, you'll love this too. If not, it's still interesting.

Higherdef Rating: 3.5


Transiberian:
Long train ride through Russia. Shady drug stuff happening. Couple gets caught in the middle. Craziness ensues.
Long and a little slow at times but very dramatic. Not my favorite but not a bad movie either.

Higherdef Rating: 3


Futurama: bender's game:
I love futurama and they still rock. I'm always surprised when they can make a 30 min tv show into a 90 min movie and not lose the humor and style of the 30 min show. This was a great example of them succeeding.

Higherdef Rating: 5

HDR 38

Yes! 3 in a row!


The Dog Problem:
Dude, "finds" a dog. Dog comes with baggage. Some baggage good, some not so good. Dude is a writer and hasn't been writing much lately. In fact, he's pretty depressed in general. Dog makes him happy.... kinda. But dog also has troubled past that comes back to haunt them both. Interesting movie but not the greatest thing since chopped suey either... and I don't like chopped suey.

Higherdef Rating: 2.5


Iron Man
I was skeptical of Robert Downey Jr. as a super hero but I was wrong. He did a great job in a good movie. Nothing like The Dark Knight or anything but in my opinion better than any of the spider mans. Great special effects and cool action sequences. I'd watch this one again in a heartbeat, esp on blu-ray! YAY HD!

Higherdef Rating: 4


Off the black:
Nick Nolte stars as a high-school baseball umpire whose life, well... went to hell, some time ago and shows no sign of getting back on track. The umpire is actually prety lonely and has no people in his life until one night some pranksters from the high school vandalize his home, but he manages to catch one of the fleeing boys. They boy ends up becoming like a son to him and they strike up a friendship (in non-Liberaceway) and the boy actually finds out the ump is alone and has a son across the world who wants nothing to do with him and so he feels sorry for the old guy.

Pretty decent movie. Very sad and depressing but uplifting (if that makes any sense at all).

Higherdef Rating: 3.5

Tropic Thunder
Histerical! very very funny! Lots of crude and nasty humor so if you are a little weak stomached or have a lame sense of humor, stay away from this one but if you are like me and love over the top exaggerated humor you'll love this movie!

Higherdef Rating: 5


The heartbreak kid:
Why does Ben Stiller aways cast himself as the "woe-is-me" type of character? It was funny like maybe twice back in the 90s but now it's just getting old. Jerry Stiller held this movie together with his dirty old man role. Besides that, this movie wasn't much to talk about.

Higherdef Rating: 3

HDR 37

More yay!!

Beyond the Gates:
A dude goes to teach in Rwanda because he believes he can make a difference. All of a sudden these two tribes of Rwandans start killing each other (mostly ethnic cleansing on one side) When the school becomes a haven for thousands of Rwandans fleeing the genocide, the teacher promises his brightest pupil, Marie, that the UN soldiers will protect her from the hordes of extremist militia baying for blood outside the school. But that's not the way it happens when the stuff hits the fan. The teacher and the headmaster have to circle the wagons and wait for the UN to not do anything for weeks until it's time for pure evil to take over. Very sad movie based on a true story and shows the evils of humanity and how no culture is innocent of racism and closed minded atrocities.

Higherdef Rating: 3.5


21:
Let's go to vegas and count cards and make money! woo! I'll never get caught! I'll sleep with hot chicks and make millions and they'll never catch me!! woo!! oh, crap! I got caught! now I'm banned and beat up and they say they'll kill me and I've been framed!

There's 3/4 of the movie right there. Sound good and want to know the ending? See the movie. Sound stupid and don't want to know the ending. Watch another movie.

Higherdef Rating: 3


Eagle vs. Shark:
Artsy/dorky movie about two social outcasts who find love in a strange way. Not much of a chick flick and actually very funny in a quirky kind of way and was a pretty good movie for the most part. It dragged at times but very interesting.

Higherdef Rating: 3.5


Run, Fat Boy, Run
Guy can't finish anythign. Guy is about to lose everything b/c of it (including ex-wife and son). Guy says "i'll run a marathon"! Everyone says "yeah right". Guy trains. Attempts. _______. I'm not ruining the ending for you but there's the jist.

Higherdef Rating: 4


The Invasion:
Lame attempt at zombie type movie. People weren't dead but possessed by alien sickness and lost their own abilities to be normal. It happens when they fall asleep and this nasty mucus comes out their mouth and change them into zombies! Nicole Kidman was your "star" and she's not as hot as she was 5 years ago.

Higherdef Rating: 2.5

HDR 36

Man it's been too long and I'm getting too far behind so I'm going to do as many of these as I can in a little amount of time and catch up a little. I'll try and write more over the weekend too and completely catch up. I've only got like 40 movies to review opps hehe.

Let's get started!!

She creature:
Weird "mermaid" movie set on a boat in like the early 1800s or something. It was strange and considering the mermaid was topless the whole time, it was pretty disappointing. I mean, how you can screw up a topless mermaid plot line is beyond me but they did.

Higherdef Rating: 2.5


Full of it:
This was a movie about a kid who had a pretty dorky life and is changing HS. His parents could win the award for super dorks of the year and he fits nicely into his life with them.... until he switches HS that is. He realizes he's super dork jr and doesn't like it so he starts telling small lies everyday about ... well, everything. Well, as it turns out. Every lie he tells... comes true! Man I wish I had that ability. Well, it works out great for him with his lies about the hot teacher being in love with him and the super hot cheerleader girl being in love with him and him being a super awesome bball star and him having a 13' johnson but it doesn't work out that well for him when it comes to him not being no good at no math. So anyway you can see how the plot is going to go but it is a decently funny movie that is very interesting too. I wouldn't mind seeing this one again actually.

Higherdef Rating: 4


Rise: blood hunter
YES! VAMPIRE MOVIE! And this one was actually really good. So basically there is this clan of vampires in southern cali and they "turned" lucy lui (hot) into a vampire and she is pissed! she wants to get revenge on all the vampires who did this to her and stop the seemingly unstopped trend of new vampires from forming. Anyway, there's lots of bloody death scenes, lots of super hot chicks neked, and lots of good ol' vampire action.

Higherdef Rating: 4.5


What happens in vegas:
What happens in vegas, should have stayed in vegas. Chick flick. you can figure out the plot on your own if you've ever seen a movie before in your life. I think i might have chuckled once maybe...

Higherdef Rating: 3


The TV set:
A writer is making a new show and he's trying to get it into rotation. First it's gotta be a pilot. The studio "loves" it but wants to change pretty much everything. And he's gotta decide to sell-out and make money and change his idea of his baby, or hold to his original idea and possibly not ever get it out to the public. I won't say much more but it was a weird movie.

Higherdef Rating: 3