2010

Starring: Gerard Butler and Jennifer Aniston

Written by: Sarah Thorp

Directed by: Andy Tennant

I can’t muster up enough enthusiasm one way or another about this film to be honest – and that’s almost worse than having a negative review. At least with a negative review it stirred something, it made it’s mark. This film is a TBS Saturday flick that you might choose to watch if absolutely nothing else is on. But you’re not buying the DVD.

2010

Starring: John Cusack, Rob Corddry, Craig Robinson, Clark Duke, Collette Wolf, Lizzy Caplan, Kellee Stewart, and Chevy Chase

Written by: Josh Heald, Jarrad Paul, and Sean Anders

Directed by: Steve Pink

Ok if you don’t know what kind of film this is going to be just by the title, than you might as well not even bother watching it. I don’t know the evolution of this film or if it started out even semi-serius at any given time, but at some point the filmmakers, etc. just realized how silly it was and instead of trying to make it something it wasn’t just completely embraced the fact and went completely over the top with it.

2009

Starring: Heath Ledger, Christopher Plummer, Verne Troyer, Lily Gold, Andrew Garfield, Tom Waits, and Johnny Depp, Clive Owen, and Jude Law

Written by: Terry Gilliam and Charles McKeown

Directed by: Terry Gilliam

I want to start this off just praising Terry Gilliam’s brilliance. In a world full of drab, cliched storytelling with the same old actors doing the same story with little twists, when you see a Terry Gilliam film, you know you are going to see something different and creative. This is certainly not Gilliam’s best films but it is a step back up after the more pedestrian (for him) Brothers’ Grimm.

2010

Starring: Sam Worthington, Gemma Arterton, Mads Mikkelsen, Alexa Davalos, Danny Huston, Pete Postelthwaite, Ralph Fiennes, and Liam Neeson

Written by: Lawrence Kasdan, Travis Beacham, Phil Hay, and Matt Manfredi

Directed by: Louis Leterrier

I finally got around to it. Readers of mine noted that I watched and reviewed the original in preparation of going to see this version…well it finally happened. And I’m honestly glad I waited. I had been hyped and then after a bit of bashing and critical scarring, I feel I was in a better place to watch the film.

2009

Starring: Michael Cera, Portia Doubleday, Jean Smart, Mary Kay Place, Fred Willard, Zach Galifianakis, Justin Long, Ray Liotta, and Steve Buscemi

Written by: Gustin Nash and C.D. Payne (who wrote the original novel)

Directed by: Miguel Arteta

Michael Cera always seems to play Michael Cera (or given that I don’t know him, the same type of character he always plays) and this is the second Nick he’s played. So you always know what kind of film you’re going to get. A nerdy kid who can’t get laid in some kind of coming of age story. The most important question than is how.

- Good chemistry between Claudia and Eureka guest star Dr. Fargo who showed up to give the Warehouse 13 security system an overhaul

- Probably the best straight episode of the series

- Cool seeing a slight shakeup with Claudia and Myka going out on a mission and letting Pete recover from last episode

- Fun to see Pete and Myka switch bodies and have the actors attempt to be each other while in their own bodies. McClintock owns Kelly though as his Myka in Pete’s body was downright hilarious and spot on. She was okay, but not as perfect as his.

Myka in a dress – Hot.
Pete and Myka’s slowly building relationship – not too quickly, but enough there dangling to make you know it’s developing.
Claudia’s very awkward “relationship” with town geek. It’s cute, and necessary for her character so she doesn’t grow stagnant.
Throwaway artifacts and explanations such as Excalibur and how Arthur got it out of the stone, and the Original Ray’s Pizza location.

2010

Starring: Leonardo DiCaprio, Ben Kingsely, Mark Ruffalo, Michelle Williams, Jackie Earle Haley, and Max Von Sydow

Written by: Laeta Kalogridis and Steven Knight based on Dennis Lehane’s novel

Directed by: Martin Scorcese

Martin Scorcese is perhaps America’s greatest living director and Shutter Island is an example of why this is so. The fact is simply that the film’s storyline would have been newish about 10 years ago. In a psychological thriller that owes much to Fight Club and the Sixth Sense, the story these days is fairly predictable enough to a point. Sure there are details the audience doesn’t get, but it’s pretty simple from the beginning.

Starring: Bruce Willis, Tracy Morgan, Sean William Scott, Kevin Pollack, Adrien Brody, and Jason Lee

Written by: Mark and Robb Cullen

Directed by: Kevin Smith

Funny enough that I review this directly after Shutter Island. Funny because I feel that this film is yet another example of what a director can bring to the table to elevate an otherwise mediocre piece. Cop Out is a film that is again nothing new. It’s a traditional 80s buddy-cop film with a few twists and turns to make it a bit different. But nostalgia certainly runs wild.

The show which really found it’s groove towards the end of the season starts off with a strong episode filled with twists, turns, and irreverance
that truly helped make the show successful. We pick up right where season 1 ended, with Artie caught in an explosion set by MacPherson as he escaped with help from the mind controlled Leena.

Ok, it’s time to surrender. If this series has always given a special nod towards geeks, this episode it does away with any pretenses and just becomes an all out homage to it’s
biggest fanbase…the geek.

The bad news. It’s really more of a filler which makes two filler episodes in a row with no real mention of HG Wells and the overall arc. The good news is that it’s still a fairly entertaining if not exactly necessary viewing episode.

2010

Starring: Robert Downey Jr., Gwyneth Paltrow, Don Cheadle, Mickey Rourke, Scarlet Johansson, Sam Rockwell, and Samuel L. Jackson

Written by: Justin Theroux based on the comic by Stan Lee, Larry Leiber, Don Heck, and Jack Kirby

Directed by: Jon Favreau

Wow so I saw a pretty cool outline of Iron Man 2. Lots of action, sprinklings of humor, and of course some great scenes for Downey to ham his way through with his imitable charm and eccentricity. I’m sure they’ll flesh it out and give it some more character moments, and an overall acr before it gets to the theater…um…wait what? This IS the film. Oh. Oh dear.

2009

Starring: Malin Akerman, Billy Crudup, Matthew Goode, Carla Gugino, Jackie Earle Haley, Jeffrey Dean Morgan, Patrick Wilson, Matt Frewer, and Stephen McHattie

Written by David Hater and Alex Tse based on the comic book series by Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons

Directed by: Zack Snyder

Wow! An extremely polarizing film. Most people I’ve talked to about this particular film definitely had a reaction one way or the other. There was little middle ground. I thought that it was the perfect time for me to go see the film as while I had read the original material, it had been quite a long time since I picked it up — maybe a good fifteen years. So I was familiar with the material but not so much that I had preconceived notions.