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I really love this type of film; ensemble casts and witty humor make for great movies. It’s hard to live up to what the first one was because to me the Ocean’s Eleven really was a surprise; It had potential and really outperformed it. Ocean’s Twelve was very good as well but was over shadowed by the first film. The third no loner had to live up to the hype of the first, but only to better then the second and it definitely was. I found myself watching this movie twice in the first three days I had it. The original cast of characters are all back with the exception of the female characters. In this film the job they pulled a revenge job when Willie Bank (played by Al Pacino making his series debut) crossed Elliot Gould’s character and took over control of the casino they were building. So George Clooney, Brad Pitt, and the gang couldn’t just sit back and allow this to happen.

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This movie is the spoof of all spoofs of this generation. It wasn’t the first one created and it’s definitely not the last - especially since this movie itself has spawned three sequels and numerous other spin-off spoofs. As is the case with many of these “spoof” films, it is written, directed, and stars the Wayans Brothers. It directly spoofs Scream, I Know What You Did Last Summer, and every teen slasher flick from the late 90’s. Unlikely most of the lame spoof movies that are released this one is truly hilarious. The Wayans found a way to take crude sexual humor and make it funny again. There is a reason this movie made so much money and a lot of that is due to the great word of mouth it received. It isn’t anything new and some of the gags have at this point been done to death. But I still found this movie amusing.

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Cars is an animated tale of a world much like ours with one major exception - there are no people, everyone is a car or some variation there of. It is another in the line of extremely well liked and extremely successful films from Disney and Pixar studios. In my opinion it is the worst film in the Pixar line; but of course the most wrinkled 100 dollar bill in your wallet is still a 100 dollar bill. It is the story of a hot shot rookie driver voiced by the always entertaining Owen Wilson. He is all about winning and all about instant gratification. It isn’t until he gets stranded in a small town that is no longer on the beaten path does he realize there is more to life. He finds out that are more important things such as friendship and enjoying the journey along the way.

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As a film, Hostel is in a class of it’s own. It takes the “disturbing gore” genre to a whole new level. There isn’t much in between ground for this film. You will either really enjoy the film or you will be very much disgusted. The plot of the film revolves around two college students and a friend they recently met as they journey across Europe. They are looking to have a good time and “meet” as many women as possible along the way. They journey from Hostel to Hostel. At one point they are starting to feel as if they have hit their peak. This changes when they are getting high with a local named Alex who recommends this Hostel he knows of in the small country of Slovakia. Supposedly at this Hostel the girls are more beautiful and are turned on even more by American men.

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I’m not sure where the mass-disappointment came from regarding the third installment of this hugely successful trilogy. The action scenes where incredible, the dialogue makes this movie the funniest of three, the story was non-stop and the characters were developed well considering how many they introduced. Many people found a problem that there were two villains. How is that bad? More bad guys, means more action.

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The sequel to 28 Days Later was definitely a success. I have a hard time calling it better or worse then the original because it was very much the same; although I would lean toward better if I had to. It took what the first one gave you and ran with it. The first one was done in a small way and done that way on purpose, and this one had the same feel but on a slightly bigger scale. There were more characters and more of the infected. There was still a great deal of emotion and feelings and that’s what separated this franchise from most horror flicks.

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28 Days Later is one of the few horror movies that actually does something different, setting a new standard for zombie movies. It is a groundbreaking film in it’s genre in many ways. The story deals with an “infection” of rage that sweeps through the United Kingdom either transforming or killing everyone it comes into contact with. Within 28 days, almost the entire country has been wiped out. There are a few survivors who are struggling to stay hidden and find enough food and water to try and wait for help. The main character of the movie is played by Cilian Murphy (Batman Begins). He plays a bike messenger who was hit by a car and put in a coma. When he awakens the hospital and streets of the city are completely trashed and there isn’t a single person for miles until he final runs into some of the infected.

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Surf’s Up is a movie about a Penguin who is tired of living his normal boring life in Antarctica and dreams of becoming the greatest surfing penguin the world has ever seen. Of course it makes it challenging when there isn’t a single penguin in Antarctica that believes he can do it. The movie, which is completely CG, is shot like a documentary and done extremely well. Sony’s animation studio is really stepping there game up to another level. The main characters in this feel good family flick are voiced by the talents of Shia Labeouf (Transformers), Jeff Bridges (The Big Lebowski), Jon Heder (Napoleon Dynamite), and James Woods (Any Given Sunday).

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This movie has grown on me over the years. My expectations were way to high the first time I saw it and it initially let me down; but I’ve leveled those expectations into and realized it is a very good disaster movie with great special effects. The story of the movie revolves around global warming and the effects it has on the planet. It has gotten so bad that it has caused extreme weather such as hurricanes, tornadoes, and floods throughout the entire planet. It is setting us back into another ice age. A scientist played by Dennis Quaid figures this out and tries to share his grim findings with the vice president but is ignored until it is to late. His son, played by Jake Gylennhal is trapped in New York when the massive storms start to hit. Dennis Quaid decides to journey to New York to save him.

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This is an acclaimed movie by many with an all-star cast that deals with Bram Stoker’s version of Dracula. It is directed by Francis Ford Coppola who gets an “A” for effort in his attempt at this but I thought this movie wasn’t very impressive. It stars Gary Oldman (Air Force One, Fifth Element) as Dracula. His love interest in his past and present life is dually played by Winona Ryder, her present time fiancé is Keanu Reeves, and the legendary vampire slayer is played by Anthony Hopkins.

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House of 1000 Corpses deals with two young couples who are traveling around the country looking for off-the-wall spots that tourists can visit as they journey through America. They stop at a gas station and are treated to a story of a local legend name Dr. Satan. During their investigation of it they were captured by a psychotic family of murderers and cannibals and taken to their home. It was there they were tortured and mutilated as they attempted escape.
It makes you wonder what kind of drugs Rob Zombie was on when he was writing and directing this movie.

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Reign Over Me is the story of a former dentist who’s wife and three daughters died on one of the planes in the attack on the World Trade Centers on 9/11. From that moment on, the character played by Adam Sandler, completely shut down. He stopped working. He cut off all ties with his in laws and friends. He basically acted as if he couldn’t remember a thing about them and stayed away from anyone who could. One day as he was riding around through the city he was spotted by his college roommate played by Don Cheadle. Don Cheadle’s character befriends him and does his best to bring him out of the funk he is in and back to reality. They are both at the point in their lives where a renewed friendship becomes key to improving themselves.

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Out For Justice is a classic Steven Seagal action flick set in the mean streets of Brooklyn. Seagal plays a cop named Gino who has seen the ups and downs of the neighborhood, but has done his best to keep it safe and running as smooth as possible. His childhood adversary, turned criminal scum (William Forsythe), has turned the streets into a war zone leaving a huge trail of dead bodies in his wake. Seagal decides to “take care of him” personally rather than bringing him to justice.

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This is absolutely one of my favorite movies in this genre. It’s an epic war movie that deals with the Greeks and their massive army trying to take over the city of Troy. The feud starts when Paris (Orlando Bloom, Pirates of the Caribbean and Lord of the Rings), one of the princes of Troy, falls in love with Helen of Sparta. He takes her home with her, triggering the war. The ruthless King Agamemnon of Greece, played by Brian Cox (X-men 2), comes to the aid of his brother, King Menelaus of Sparta (Brendan Gleeson, Lake Placid), who is married to Helen. King Agamemnon uses his brother’s anger as an excuse to go to war, as he has been aspiring to take over Troy for many years.

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Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer returns all four members from the first movie with Julian Mcmahon again as Doctor Doom. This movie deals with Mr. Fantastic and the Invisible Woman trying to plan their wedding and get married. It is all society can talk about as they have become bigger celebrities then superheroes. The whole time, against his fiancé’s wishes, Mr. Fantastic is working on helping the government solve mysterious global events that have occurred involving that turn out to be the Silver Surfer.

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Underworld deals with a war that has been going on for several centuries involving vampires and werewolves, and centers around a human descendant of the werewolves whose blood is deemed capable of creating a more powerful creature. At first glance it could come of as a cheesy horror gore fest but they really do a great job of not making that so. It is first and foremost an action movie. They even manage to mix in some emotion and the beginnings of a love story between a vampire (Kate Beckinsdale) and the human/werewolf character played by Scott Freedman.

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The story of We Are Marshall is one of a college football team at the University of Marshall who lost an entire team in a plane crash. The movie is based on a true story and how the people affected by it had to react. Not only was the team on the plane but also the entire coaching staff and many of the teams financial sponsors including many of the towns doctors, lawyers and other important members. It was a crushing blow to an entire community and they were going to cancel the football program indefinitely.

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For those of you who don’t know, A Few Good Men revolves around the case of two marines who are charged with murder of another marine in their platoon on an army base in Cuba. The victim was a sub-par marine who wanted off the base so badly he was willing to rat out one of his fellow marines about an illegal fence line shooting. The base is run by a hard nose Colonel (Jack Nicholson) who prefers things to be handled from within. The case is being handled by a couple of inexperienced lawyers played by Tom Cruise and Demi Moore, in hope that the trial never sees the inside of the court room. At first, the trial seems to be nothing more than a case that can be plea bargained, until they start digging and realize it goes much deeper than that.

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The concept of the film The Condemned deals with a sleazy producer who comes up with the idea of bringing 10 criminals who are on death row to an island with the notion that the last man or woman alive gets to be set free. Of course there is one character who has been wrongly imprisoned and is brought there by accident and as you guessed it, that character is Jack Riley (“Stone Cold” Steve Austin). In order to persuade them, he rigs a bomb to their ankles set to explode within 30 hours. There are hundreds of cameras set on this island, which has been hidden from the outside world as to not alert government presence, and the show is broadcast on the World Wide Web for a meager price of $49.95. It makes for good programming until the realism starts setting in to some of the crew and the U.S. government takes notice.

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