Category: 2009

REVIEW: ‘The Proposal’

Cast:
Sandra Bullock
Ryan Reynolds
Mary Steenburgen
Craig T. Nelson
Betty White
Rated: PG-13

Ah romcoms, the genre that keeps on giving.

“The Proposal” follows the character Margaret (Bullock), a no-nonsense boss and her assistant Andrew (Reynolds). In the office setting, Margaret is harsh 24/7 and Andrew is the only one who can put up with her.

However, Margaret’s world begins to crash down when she finds she will lose her job because of an issue with her visa and could have to move back to Canada. To keep her in the States, she fakes an engagement with Andrew. Through the predicament, they end up having to go to Alaska to meet Andrew’s family.

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REVIEW: ‘The Hangover’

Cast:
Bradley Cooper
Ed Helms
Zach Galifianakis
Justin Bartha
Rated: R

This is likely the best comedy in years.

The film follows a group of four guys who are headed to Vegas for a Bachelor’s Party before one of them gets married. Three of the guys, Stu (Helms), Phil (Cooper) and Doug (Bartha) are best friends and they end up bringing Doug’s future brother-in-law Alan (Galifianakis).

Despite Alan’s awkwardness, the four eventually get together for a fun night in the town, but the story starts with the morning after. Stu, Phil and Alan wake up and find that Doug is missing, with few clues about where he is.

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REVIEW: ‘Up’ by Pixar

Cast:
Edward Asner
Christopher Plummer
Jordan Nagai
Bob Peterson
Rated: PG

“Up” is an absolutely perfect film… For 10 minutes.

The latest picture from Pixar studios tells the story of Carl (Asner), a man whose biggest dream is to travel to South America. That dream was one he shared with his deceased wife Ellie. One day, Carl decides to set out for South American in an unorthodox fashion, by flying his entire house there using balloons.

The problem, though, is that a young boy scout named Russell (Nagai) manages to get ‘on board’ and is taken with to South America. Additionally, the new continent is more difficult than first imagined.

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REVIEW: ‘Terminator Salvation’

Cast:
Christian Bale
Sam Worthington
Moon Bloodgood
Helena Bonham Carter
Anton Yelchin
Rated: PG-13

“Terminator Salvation” is a pretty good action movie, just not the best “Terminator” movie.

The film follows a grown up John Conner (Bale), now a military officer in the human resistance against the machine army controlled by the Skynet program. Because Skynet is constructing new terminators, the battle for humans is even more uphill.

Meanwhile, there’s another character named Marcus (Worthington) who wakes up with no memory of the entire war and is trying to survive.

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REVIEW: ‘Star Trek’

Cast:
Chris Pine
Zachary Quinto
Leonard Nimoy
Eric Bana
Rated: PG-13

What a great way to kick off the summer movie season.

This reboot of the original “Star Trek” premise opens with the death of James T. Kirk’s (Pine) father at the hands of an unknown enemy. As a result, Kirk has grown up rather rebellious. Meanwhile on Vulcan, a young Spock (Quinto) is also finding a rebellious path in life.

The movie follows both characters’ journey to joining the Federation Star Fleet and how they become stationed on the USS Enterprise. Along for the ride are other members of the classic crew.

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REVIEW: ‘X-Men Origins Wolverine’

Cast:
Hugh Jackman
Liev Schreiber
Danny Huston
Will i Am
Lynn Collins
Rated: PG-13

Well, it was better than “Last Stand.”

Rather than another sequel, “Origins” serves as a prequel to the first three movies, displaying the backstory of Logan, also known as Wolverine (Jackman). The movie begins with Logan’s youth in Canada where he discovers his powers and runs away from his family with his brother Sabertooth (Schreiber).

After running away, the film follows their lives through various wars before being recruited by the U.S. government for special missions with other mutants.

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REVIEW: ’17 Again’

Cast:
Zac Efron
Leslie Mann
Thomas Lennon
Matthew Perry
Sterling Knight
Michelle Trachtenberg
Rated: PG-13

Not bad Zac Efron, not too bad.

In this twist on a high school comedy, the story centers around Mike (played by Perry and Efron), once a popular basketball star in high school who missed out on a chance to go to college. The film picks up as his life is hitting a rocky point, as he’s in a dead end job, facing divorce and has a bad relationship with his kids.

This changes, though, when he falls into some sort of whirlpool and is suddenly 17 years old again. For this reason, he gets another look at life and a chance to fix his relationships with his family from another angle.

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REVIEW: ‘Monsters vs Aliens’

Cast:
Reese Witherspoon
Seth Rogen
Hugh Laurie
Will Arnett
Rated: PG

It’s classic ginormous monsters taking on alien invaders in this animated picture, setting up a heavyweight bout.

The film mainly centers around the character Susan (Witherspoon), who gets smashed by a meteor and absorbs super powers on her wedding day causing her to grow to 49 feet and 11 inches while also getting enhanced strength and agility. For this reason she’s taken into a government facility with other monsters who are kept for research.

The team of monsters get a chance to get unleashed, though, when an alien species, after the powers that Susan now has, comes to Earth.

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REVIEW: ‘Knowing’

Cast:
Nicolas Cage
Chandler Canterbury
Rose Byrne
Lara Robinson
Rated: PG-13

Nicolas Cage’s career is going off the rails.

This movie starts in 1959 with a school putting a time capsule in the ground to be opened in 50 years. One of the items in there is a list of random numbers. The film then cuts to the present day with a professor named John (Cage), who’s also a single father to his son Caleb (Canterbury). Caleb just happens to be at the school with the capsule and brings home the list of numbers.

While looking it over, John begins to see a pattern through all of the numbers and realizes that all of the disasters over the last 50 years were prophesied. After this realization, he begins investigating what it all means.

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REVIEW ‘Watchmen’

Cast:
Malin Akerman
Billy Crudup
Matthew Goode
Jackie Earle Haley
Jeffrey Dean Morgan
Patrick Wilson
Rated: R

Disclaimer: I haven’t read the graphic novel, just keep that in mind.

“Watchmen” takes place in an alternate 1985. During the World War II era, unlike our timeline, super heroes came to be a mainstay in American culture. This both helped and hurt this alternate timeline, as the extra security provided by American heroes has caused the Russians to take increased precautions, further arming their nuclear weapon stockpiles.

The movie starts off with this tense situation between the U.S.A. and the U.S.S.R. Right in the middle of that tension is a murder of one of the Watchmen, a super hero team that has been largely splintered over the years.

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