4 MOVIES YOU MIGHT NOT HAVE HEARD OF TO SEE THIS SUMMER...

These are 4 not mainstream movies that I think are worth your time on one of these hot sultry nights.

LET ME IN

Let me in is about a young boy that is bullied everyday at schools and dreams of getting revenge on these people. It takes place mostly in the apartment complex that he lives in. He goes out at night and spies on the people of the apartment complex. He becomes friends with a very strange little girl played by Chloë Grace Moretz. (If you don't know who she is, you soon will. She is not just a good child actor, she is a good actor period. She is good in Kickass, 500 Days of Summer and this.) Several murders begin to occur around the aparment complex, and the young boy begins to have suspicions of his new friend. I don't want to give anything away even though there is not too much to giveaway. I just think this was a great movie, and deserves more notice than it received. It is already on Netflix, if you want to check it out. It does have a few scary/gorey parts, if you don't like that.

Peter Traver's Take

Roger Ebert's Take

BARNEY'S VERSION

Mostly this is just because you should watch almost any movie with Paul Giammti! If he had the looks of Brad Pitt, he would be the one of the best actors to ever live, but then again looking the way he does may be what makes him great. Barney's Version is the story of a man's life told from his point of view. It goes through the 3 wives that he had and tells the story of each one with the last being the love of his life. He meets her and begins to persue her at his second wedding! He has many misadventures along the way with his father there for the ride played by the amazing Dustin Hoffman. This one is already on DVD, so go grab it!

EVERYTHING MUST GO

WILL FERRELL! Gotta love some Will Ferrell. This is about his 4th venture into a little more dramatic role. It does still have some of his comedy, but it is nothing like his normal roles. He is an alcholic who loses his job and his wife in the same day. He comes home from getting fired to all of his belongings on the front lawn, and the locks changed on the house. He proceeds to sit in his favorite chair on the front lawn and drink Pabst Blue Ribbon cans. He becomes friends with a young boy from down the street that helps him through this tough time. It was a great escape from the comic book movies and sequels of this summer. It is still on at some theaters.

MIDNIGHT IN PARIS

Midnight in Paris is one of those movies that I walked out of and wasn't so sure about, but that is, usually, how I feel after watching a Woody Allen movie. Now that I've had time to reflect on it, I did enjoy it and I think some of you would, too. A soon to be married couple (Owen Wison & Rachel McAdams) travel to Paris with the woman's family for business. Owen Wilson's character has a great love for Paris, and he begins to take these Midnight strolls around Paris. Very strange things begin to happen on these excursions as he goes back in time to the 1920s of Paris that he so admires. All the acting in the movie is great, and I enjoyed the overall message of the movie that everyone always thinks that another time, life, or place would be better than where they are now, but is it? It is still in the theatres, but, probably, not for long.

If you check out any of these movies, I hope you enjoy them as much as I did. I've gotten where the big budget movies don't do much for me, and all these type movies at least give you something to think about. Jon Favreau and Christopher Nolan are about the only big budget directors worth going to see now. I thought JJ Abrams was going to be until Super 8. He can still redeem himself. I give him a mulligan because Super 8 was a homage to Steven Spielberg. If you don't like these movies, don't complain to me. These are just my opinions, and everyone's got one...

HORRIBLE BOSSES

Movie information from rottentomatoes.com:

For Nick (Jason Bateman), Kurt (Jason Sudeikis) and Dale (Charlie Day), the only thing that would make the daily grind more tolerable would be to grind their intolerable bosses (Kevin Spacey, Colin Farrell, Jennifer Aniston) into dust. Quitting is not an option, so, with the benefit of a few-too-many drinks and some dubious advice from a hustling ex-con (Jamie Foxx), the three friends devise a convoluted and seemingly foolproof plan to rid themselves of their respective employers... permanently. There's only one problem: even the best laid plans are only as foolproof as the brains behind them

It would’ve been hard for this movie to not be good with the actors in it. Jason Sudekis, Charlie Day, and Jason Bateman play great roles of the everyday man getting pushed over by their bosses. The real comedy comes from the bigger stars in Spacey, Farrell, and Aniston. They are hilarious in their roles as the Horrible Bosses. The reason they want to kill their bosses is mostly revealed in the trailers. Bateman wants to kill Spacey because he gives a promotion to himself instead of Bateman’s character, Farrell is a coke head boss who takes over the company Sudekis works for after Farrell’s father passes away, and Aniston sexually harasses Day to no end. Aniston’s role is the hardest to believe because I think most men would be hard pressed to say no to a necked woman that looks like Aniston. Aniston is great in the role, and great to see her venture off from her normal romcom roles. Foxx plays the man they hire to help kill their bosses, but he is underutilized. The best part about Foxx’s character is his name! Their plan, of course, spirals out of control into some great scenes. In a summer full of crappy movies, I would, definitely, put this on the list of ones to go see.

3 1/2 OUT OF 5 M&Ms FOR THIS ONE

Roger Ebert's Take

Peter Travers' Take

5/23/2011 THOR

The introduction of Thor to comic book movie fans was a mediocre one.  Chris Hemsworth is great as Thor, but the movie lacks all believability and depth that the latest comic book movies have provided.  Iron Man and Batman have set the bar so high that it is hard to reach those.  I have never known much about Thor, so this movie did nothing to make me really want to know more. 

As most know, Thor is the God of Thunder, and he comes from another dimension not from earth.   He is cast away to Earth by his father, Odin, played by an underutilized in this movie, Anthony Hopkins.  There he is taken in by some earthlings with one being the beautiful Natalie Portman.  He, of course, falls in love with her in like a week.  He must prove to his hammer or his father that he is worthy of his godly powers to return to his dimension and have his super powers.

To be such a big budget style movie, there is not much depth or explanation of Thor and his world.  The overall plot is just not great at all.  The Frost Giants are just pretty pathetic villains, and are so insignificant.  There is no Joker or Obadiah Stane. It is just a wam bam thank you mam, meet Thor, come see the sequel, and go see Captain America/Avengers.  The problem with it all is that I will go do all the above because I have to finish it off, and see how they put it all together to make the Avengers in a couple summers.  Be sure and stay to watch all the credits like all the Avenger series movies to get a small sneak peak of what’s next.  Hopefully, Thor is not a big player in the next movies, or maybe the Thor sequel is a lot better.  I’ll give Thor another 3 M&Ms out of 5. 

Peter Travers' Take

Roger Ebert's Take

5/23/2011 Bridesmaids

Bridesmaids is not a bad movie, but I really don’t think it deserves a lot of the praise it has been getting.  It is underneath the few gross out comedic moments a chick flick. 

Bridesmaids is about, obviously, from the title, a bride and her bridesmaids in the pre-wedding rituals.  The main character is Annie played by Kristen Wiig.  I’ve always enjoyed her on SNL, and she does a great job in several scenes in the movie.  I think that she is just best in small doses.  Anyway, Annie is going to be the maid of honor in her friend’s wedding played by another SNL cast member, Maya Rudolph.   Annie lives in an apartment with a very odd English couple that I still haven’t figured out why that was even included in the movie because they were just strange and not funny at all.  She doesn’t have very high self esteem when it comes to men.  She continues to see a guy (John Hamm) that treats her like a piece of meat through most of the movie.  Couldn’t believe that Hamm agreed to his role, but it was kind of funny to see him in this type role.  Annie begins to unravel because of one of the other bridesmaids, Helen, begins to take a lot of the spotlight.  Helen wants to be in control of everything and she has the money to be in control, so this drives Annie nuts.  The journey goes through the almost bachelorette party, trying on dresses, shower, and then the eventual wedding.  Annie messes every one of these events up in some sort of fashion, and everything else in her life.  She meets the perfect guy by getting pulled over by a cop for her tail light being out, and runs him off because of her insecurities.      

Bridesmaids gets 3 M&Ms out of 5. There are several hilarious parts throughout the movie but to say it is on the level of the Hangover is a far reach.  The movie began to drag a little at the end, and turns into a straight chick flick for the last 20 minutes. If it would’ve been an hour and 44 minutes instead of 2 hours and 4, it might’ve been better.  Men go see it with your girlfriends, but don’t be fooled you will be singing “Hold On” by Wilson Phillips when you walk out of theater, and get your chick flick ending.  How else would it be? 

Peter Travers Take

Roger Ebert's Take 

4/21/11 INSIDIOUS!

Finally, a scary movie that is just that, scary! I had my hat covering my face through several scenes in the movie, while the two girls in front of us rarely looked up from their heads in their hands.

I can’t believe that this has not gotten more word of mouth, but it just did not have much money behind it. It is made by the same people who created Paranormal Activity and Saw. If you liked Paranormal, it is more in that realm than Saw. I’m not saying that it is a great movie or anything, so don’t go see it thinking it is an Oscar worthy movie. It is just a good ‘ol scary movie! I think they were hoping for the same response as the original Saw and Paranormal Activity, which were low budget and made a lot of money by word of mouth.

The movie begins with a family moving into a new house that creaks with every step, which is a must in these type of scary movies. Things begin to happen that are abnormal that makes the family assume that the house is haunted. You can see from the trailer that it is, actually, something other than a haunted house.

Insidious keeps from using gore, blood, and guts to scare you. There is hardly any blood in the entire movie. The director draws the audience into expecting things to happen at certain times, but then something pops out when you least expect it! It uses great sound and camera angles to provide the scariest movie I've seen in a long time.

I give it 4 M&Ms out of 5, which means it is a movie to see! I don't think that Insidious can turn into another franchise for the Paranormal and Saw folks, but it really doesn't need to be. It is what it needed to be, and they need to leave it at that. If you like scary movies, please go see this and let me know what you think!

Peter Traver's Review

Roger Ebert's Review

3/6/11 THE ADJUSTMENT BUREAU REVIEW

The Adjustment Bureau is one of those it is what it is movies.  If you’ve seen the trailer above, you pretty much can figure out what is going to happen.  It doesn’t go much deeper than what you see in the trailer.  I went into this one with decently high expectations.  I like Matt Damon a lot, and Emily Blunt Is not bad to look at for a couple of hours.  I always enjoy movies that go into the possibility of there being a plan to this life we live. 

The movie got off to a rocky start because it opens with him losing an election for Senate because of his immaturity, and then he meets Blunt in a bathroom where they kiss after talking for about 5 minutes.  Rather stupid in my opinion, but that is because that has never happened to me.  This may happen to people all the time, but I just don’t hear about it.  If it wasn’t for that scene, I might have been a little more into it.  I just felt that was a little bit absurd to have them kiss the first time they ever meet, and in a bathroom. 

The rest of the movie is about him trying to find her again.  The Bureau is supposed to keep them from meeting ever again.  I won’t go into why they don’t want them meet to again other than just think of someone that influences you in certain ways good or bad.  You will understand once you see the movie.  Basically, there is a plan to this life is what the movie entails, and the Adjustment Bureau is there to keep everything on track.  They carry around little books in their hands that can help them determine the decisions that a human is going to make.  If they want them to decide one way, they can influence that decision.  They can cause you to misplace your keys, so you might miss someone they don’t want you to see at a certain time.  It’s the little things in life that slow you down that they may have their hand in. 

My main problem with the movie is that they had an opportunity to go deep into this subject, but they kind of skated around it.  They spoke of the “Chairman”, but didn’t really go into what or who he/she is.  I guess they wanted to the audience to interpret that the way they want to interpret it.  The books that they carry around showed all kinds of symbols and things like the audience was supposed to be able to understand what they meant.  They would just glance at the book, and get concerned about the coming events.  There were a lot of unexplained things including why they felt that Matt Damon’s character was so important to go through all the trouble that they go through to keep him on plan.  They do a little, but not enough to appease me. 

Overall, I gave it 3 M&Ms out of 5, which means it is worth seeing.  It is a movie that ends up being about chance, and whether or not we are in control of our own lives.  The love story is forced, but Damon and Blunt do a good job of trying to save it.  Most of us like the idea of life having a plan, so that part of it is fun to watch unravel even if it doesn’t answer every question we may want answered in the end. 

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