The Change-Up

2011 Comedy/Romantic Comedy by director David Dobkin

Description:  Dave, a lawyer by day and a family man, with a wife and 3 kids by night and his long time friend Mitch, slacker/stoner/very small time actor are about to take a ride on the weird roller coaster.  After an evening watching the game at a bar and getting a little drunk Mitch and Dave accidently pee in a fountain while wishing for each other’s lives.  So as is common when simultaneously peeing and wishing in the presence of a statue or fountain or in this case both, they wake up in the other’s body.  Let’s see just how much damage Mitch can do to Dave’s life and how many awkward situations Dave can experience with Mitch’s.

Review: Can I just express my favoritism here for both Jason Bateman & Ryan Reynolds? They are so funny!  But they have totally different styles of humor. Ok, on with it… Out of all the “trading bodies” movies out there, this one definitely just knocked my number 1 down a peg. Although the plot of the story isn’t original, it’s the writing and the delivery that I love. The physical and visual comedies are just hilarious. The character Tatiana is so messed up and Mitch is sick and twisted for actively perusing and just being involved! Watching Ryan & Jason play each other is great, because you get to see through their eyes kind of; body language, facial expressions, verbal character (pitch, whine, assertiveness, etc). Do not miss this movie.

My ratings:
Storyline & Plot – 9
Acting – 10
Comedy – 9.5
Romance – 7.5

My favorite quotes:

ü  “You’d be early too, if all you did all day is eat hummus and masturbate.”

ü  “I’m the mother, its 3 o’clock in the morning! Get the fuck outta the bed right now before I fucking cut you!”

ü  “No way! Phil Neikro is like my number one favorite of all time! Why is my voice so high?”

ü  I’m goin to work today, I’m gonna quit my job. I’m goin to apply to um Kinkos alright? Or maybe Chick-fil-A or Waffle House, huh? Foot Locker….”

Lead cast: Ryan Reynolds, Jason Bateman, Leslie Mann
Supporting cast: Olivia Wilde, Alan Arkin, Mircea Monroe

Friends With Benefits

2011 Romantic Comedy/Drama by Will Gluck

Description:  Jamie is a New Yorker corporate head hunter looking to fill an executive position at GQ magazine.  Dylan is a successful writer for a very popular internet news blog from LA. When Jamie convinces Dylan to come to NYC to meet with GQ a friendship sparks.  Both are recently dumped and bummed about their single status.  After drink a few beers and watching a goopey romance movie they decide to add a few benefits to their friendship.  They do pretty good for a while… But eventually find that they have both invested more than intended in their sexual relationship.

Review: The story is kinda “been there, done that”, especially lately with “No Strings Attached” releasing in January 2011 and this one releasing in July 2011.  Seeing as how I have seen both and am reviewing one I will try to keep an open mind and do this like I haven’t seen the other.  There was a sad element to this movie so it wasn’t all ewwy gooey through the whole thing.  It was definitely funny, and I thought that the flash mob thing was cool.  Mila and Justin work really well off of each other.  There were several interesting twists throughout the film.  There was a lot of sex going on, like more than normal even for romantic comedies.  Not bad… J

My ratings:
Storyline & Plot – 7
Acting – 7.5
Comedy – 8
Romance – 8
Drama – 8

My favorite quotes:

ü  “I don’t want to be the guy that shits the bed.”

ü  “Why don’t they ever make a movie about what happens after the big kiss? – They do… It’s called porn.”

ü  “I love women. They’re beautiful, majestic, mysterious, mesmerizing creatures.  Smart, empathetic, far superior to men in every way and if I had a choice I would be with women to my dying day.  But me likes cock, so I’m strictly dick-ly.”

Lead cast: Mila Kunis, Justin Timberlake, Woody Harrelson
Supporting cast: Richard Jenkins, Jenna Elfman, Patricia Clarkson, Bryan Greenberg

Breakfast With Scot

2007 Comedy/Drama by director Laurie Lynd

Description:  A former tough guy pro hockey player, Eric, and his lawyer, Sam, who is Eric’s partner, are tasked with temporary custody of a young boy after his mom dies.  Eric is mortified when he discovers that young Scot has a liking for the flamboyant, gaudy, feminine side of things.  While trying to care for and protect Scot from being teased and picked on, Eric unintentionally gives the impression that Scot can’t be himself.  How high is the price of Scot appearing to be a “normal” child?

Review: A really great movie, with a great story, and great actors portraying great characters.  It shows the struggles of both children and grownups and it served up good “it’s ok to be yourself” lessons all around the table. I really like Tom Cavanagh as an actor; I don’t think that I have ever seen him in a bad movie.  I don’t want to say diamond in the rough because that seems too cliché and not quite right.  But how about if I say that it was a treasure buried in a sea of movies and is not likely to show up on a lot of people’s radars.  So if you are reading this, I hope that you will rent this title.  I have not read the book that this movie is based on, but I think that I will have to pick it up; if the movie was this good I can only imagine what the book will be.

My ratings:
Storyline & Plot – 9.5
Acting – 9.5
Comedy – 9
Drama – 9

My favorite quotes:

ü  “Look Sam, You wanna be worried about anything? Worry that that kid’s upstairs singing Christmas carols in October… To himself… By himself.”

ü  “When you’re out in public, watch the twirling, ok?”

ü  “You’re gonna get tall and you voice is gonna change and your face is gonna change and it’ll all be amazingly different.  But it’ll all happen so slowly, you won’t even notice. But I’d notice. I’d notice you. Every day I notice you.”
ü “We're all a little sissy around here."

Lead cast: Tom Cavanagh, Ben Shenkman, Noah Bennett
Supporting cast: Jeananne Goosen, Dylan Everett, Fiona Reid

Surf's Up

2009 Animation/Comedy/Family by directors Ash Brannon & Chris Buck

Description:  A young penguin, Cody, just wants to get out of his small town home of Shiverpool, Antarctica, when a scout for the annual Penguin World Surfing Championship comes to town.  Feeling like this is his big break; Cody follows the scout to the sunny tropic island where the championship is being held.  Surf along with Cody as he deals with a big bully, big waves and a larger than life role model.

Review: Great movie, it really was delivered well.  Most streamline animated movies are made for children with a few adult elements thrown in so the parents watching with their kids are completely bored.  But it’s almost as if Surf’s Up is the opposite; made for adults but fun for kids too.  I was also impressed that it has a real music soundtrack… Most “family animations” have a score of made for the movie songs.  It also did a really awesome job trying to make the camera shots as realistic as possible.  Plus this movie has “The Dude” in it :oP

My ratings:
Storyline & Plot – 8
Acting – 8
Child Friendly – 7.5
Comedy – 8

My favorite quotes:

ü  “He’s a dirty trash can full of poop.”

ü  “Dude, she's totally into you! She called you crap!”

ü  “I'm gonna chum the water with your head!

Lead cast: Shia LeBouf, Jeff Bridges, Zooey Deschanel
Supporting cast: Jon Heder, James Wood, Diedrich Bader

The River Why

2010 Drama/Comedy by director Matthew Leutwyler

Description: A coming of life story about a young man who wants nothing more than to live in the river, Gus. Raised by a by the book fly fisherman and a spontaneous bait fisherwoman, Gus decides that it is time to get out of his dueling parents line of fire and strike out on his own.  Now, spending all of his time on the river, he begins to question his beliefs in everything.

Review: A wonderful tale, great characters and contrasting points of view on the “whys” of life.  The pace of the movie is on track with the pace of fly fishing.   It’s not a well known movie I guess, but it was definitely a good find.  The actors did a great job portraying their very different character roles. Beautiful footage of the NW United States scenery!

My ratings:
Storyline & Plot – 8.5
Acting – 8.5
Drama – 5
Comedy – 6.5

My favorite quotes:

ü  “Um, Titus? The dog’s in Dochart’s chair now… And he’s rocking… Should I tell him to get down?  It’s amazing, how did you teach him to rock a chair like that?”

ü  “How can you be so patient when searching for fish and so hasty to write off your soul because you can’t see it?”

Lead cast: Zach Gilford, Amber Heard, William Hurt, Dallas Roberts
Supporting cast: Kathleen Quinlan, William Devane, Gattlin Griffith

Star Trek

2009 Action/Adventure/Sci-Fi/Comedy by director J.J. Abrams

Description: On the day of James Kirk's birth, his father dies on his ship in a last stand against a mysterious alien vessel. He was looking for Ambassador Spock, who is a child on Vulcan at that time, disdained by his neighbors for his half-human nature. Twenty-five years later, Kirk has grown into a young troublemaker inspired by Captain Christopher Pike to fulfill his potential in Starfleet even as he annoys his instructors like young Commander Spock. Suddenly, there is an emergency at Vulcan and the newly commissioned USS Enterprise is crewed with promising cadets like Nyota Uhura, Hikaru Sulu, Pavel Chekov and even Kirk himself thanks to Leonard McCoy's medical trickery. Together, this crew will have an adventure in the final frontier where the old legend is altered forever even as the new version of it is just beginning. (I liked their description so much that I borrowed it from imdb.com)

Review: Ok, so I should start out by saying that I am not a trekkie per se but have always been a fan of Star Trek and grew up watching the tv shows. But I really enjoyed the opportunity to see the beginnings of our favorite Star Trek characters.  This rendition has edginess that the previous movies and tv shows have lacked.  I was so happy and surprised to see Leonard Nimoy.  Chris Pine’s Jim Kirk is so cocky that it is undeniable that he will grow up to be William Shattner!  There are so many great actors in this movie; I don’t have the space to list them all!  J.J. Abrams did an amazing job!

My ratings:
Storyline & Plot – 9
Acting – 9
Action – 7
Comedy – 7

My favorite quotes:

ü  “Are you out of your Vulcan mind?”

ü  “You got numb tongue? I can fix that!”

ü  “Come with me… Cupcake.”

ü  “Live long and prosper”

ü  “Damn it man, I’m a doctor!”

ü  “I’m giving it all she’s got captain!”

Lead cast: Chris Pine, Zachary Quinto, Karl Urban, Zoe Saldana
Supporting cast: Eric Bana, Leonard Nimoy, Bruce Greenwood, John Cho, Anton Yelchin

Tuck Everlasting

2002 – Drama/Romance by director Jay Russell

Description: A young sheltered girl from a wealthy family meets a young man, or so she thinks… At 15 Winnie is faced with a life that is all planned out by her parents.  When she meets Jesse Tuck she is able to experience a completely different way of life and she falls in love with his family’s easy go with the flow way of being. She also falls in love with Jesse.  But as it turns out the whole Tuck family has never aged since drinking from a spring of youth. Now Winnie must make one of the most important decision of her life that she will have to live with for the rest of her life: She has to decide if she will drink from the spring and live forever or stay on a human time line.

Review: A nice young person’s movie that contains a few good lessons to be learned. I did like the character’s different perspectives on immortality and what makes your life a ‘good life’.  The story was well written and well delivered by the director and actors.

My ratings:
Storyline & Plot – 8
Acting – 8
Drama – 7
Romance – 5.5

My favorite quotes:

ü  “I need a new name, one that’s not all worn out from being called so much.”

ü  “I’m never gonna let you go.”

ü  “What we Tucks have, you can’t call it living. We just….. Are.”

Lead cast: Alexis Bledel, Jonathan Jackson, William Hurt, Sissy Spacek
Supporting cast: Ben Kingsley, Scott Bairstow, Victor Garber, Amy Irving

The Guardian

2006 – Inspirational/Action/Drama/Military by director Andrew Davis

Description: Senior Chief Ben Randall is forced to take a break from U.S. Coast Guard rescue swimming and is ordered to either instruct potential future swimmers at A school or ride a desk.  Airman Jake Fischer, is fresh out of basic training with awesome potential, has a massive chip on his shoulder, has a hard time with authority, and with being anything other than the best.  Although they are a few decades apart in age, these two have a lot more in common than either of them is willing to admit to and lay on the table. Watch as Randall pushes Fischer to his full potential and to humble his at the same time and Fischer forces Senior Chief to come to terms with his own demons.

Review: I love this movie!  It’s one of my favorites in the inspirational genre.  Kevin Costner played the role of Senior Chief amazingly.  And it was no shocker that Ashton Kutcher was completely believable as the cocky, smart-alecky, super star kid fresh out of his teens, but he did a really good job showing his serious side in this film.  This is a great movie for everybody but it is a good coming of age or accepting your age film… I really liked the chance to see the U.S. Coast Guard Rescue Swimmers in the spotlight.  Great writing, great direction, great acting, just all over great!

My ratings:
Storyline & Plot – 10
Acting – 10
Comedy – 9
Drama – 9
Action – 8

My favorite quotes:

ü  “When storms shut down entire ports, we go out. When hurricanes ground the United States Navy, we go out. And when the holy lord himself reaches down from heaven and destroys his good work with winds that rip houses off the ground… We go out.”

ü  “What if another swimmer had cut into your lane? For the love of god, you could have been killed!”

ü  “There will come a time when you are going to have to say no.”

ü  “You might want to re-check your compass… This ain’t no puddle pirate bar.”

Lead cast: Kevin Costner, Ashton Kutcher, Sela Ward, Melissa Sagemiller
Supporting cast: Brian Geraghty, Neal McDonough, Clancy Brown