Rated: R

Genre: Action, Fantasy, Sci-Fi, Thriller

Runtime: 162 mins

Released: March 6, 2009

Director: Zach Snyder

Cast: Malin Akerman, Billy Crudup, Matthew Goode, Jackie Earle Haley, Jeffrey Dean Morgan, Patrick Wilson, Carla Gugino

I finally saw Watchmen this weekend directed by Zach Snyder (300, Dawn on the Dead), which was originally a really graphic novel written by Alan Moore and illustrated by Dave Gibbons. The Movie is set In 1985, Richard Nixon is about to serve his third term as president of the United States and the world stands on the edge of destruction as the world’s two superpowers vie for nuclear supremacy. The only thing stopping the USSR from launching a doomsday attack is America’s Dr. Manhattan (played by Billy Crudup) a being with enough power to destroy planets and much else.

I never read the novel Watchmen nor am I familiar with the characters because I’ve never even heard of Watchmen before, that might be why this movie was “just ok” to me. I think there were too many characters to get familiar with; usually the audience is introduced to 1 or 2 main characters, but when you are trying to get them to care about 5 or 6 characters it starts to get fuzzy and boring. Not to mention the acting was just average.

The movie is also way to long, with flashback after flashback in the first 2 hours, by the time we hit the climax there is only 30 minutes left. With too many subplots (which come from out of nowhere) I think the only people who will enjoy this movie are fans of the novel, people who are already familiar with the characters.

Jenn Action, Fantasy, Sci-Fi

Released: October 31, 2008

Genre: Comedy, Romance

Rated: PG-13

Run Time: 1 hr 46 mins

Director: James Dodson

Cast: Jesse Metcalfe, Anupam Kher, Sara Foster, Austin Basis, Shriya Saran, Kit Hawksin

The Other End of the Line is a charming romantic comedy about global love connections and clashing cultures. An employee at an Indian call-center named Priya travels to San Francisco to meet a guy (Jesse Metcalfe) she falls in love with over the telephone.

Metcalfe plays the role of Granger Woodruff, an advertising hotshot who is trying to land a new client. Granger receives a call from “Jennifer David” who is actually Priya disguised as an American who lives in San Francisco (she is really in Mumbai, India) about fraudulent charges to one of his credit cards. They strike up a casual flirtation, which causes them both to question their respective romantic prospect: He, a diva-like girlfriend (Sara Foster); she, an arranged marriage to a mama’s boy.

When Granger has to go to San Francisco on business, he decides to ask Priya to meet him while he’s there, since she lives in Mumbai she declines at first, making something up. She then changes her mind and decides to take a chance. She finally meets him, but not as her alter ego (Jennifer, as he knows her). But with Priya’s traditionalist family on the hunt to find their “innocent” daughter, it isn’t long before the two are forced to confront their true identities and intentions.

I found this movie to be entertaining from beginning to end, with a fabulous story-line and great characters. I don’t particularly like Jessie Metcalfe’s movies; however he did a great job alongside Shriya Saran in this movie. She is quite lovely; I had never seen her in a movie before last night. I would recommend giving this under-the-radar movie a chance.

Jenn Comedy, Romance

Genre: Comedy, Drama, Romance

Rated: PG-13

Released: October 26, 2007

Run time: 87 mins

Director: Marcos Siega

Cast: Ryan Reynolds, Emily Mortimer, Stuart Townsend, Sarah Chalke

I can’t believe I didn’t hear about this movie until this weekend. I was searching for romantic comedies to watch (one of my favorite genres) and I came across a movie starring Ryan Reynolds so I had to watch it, him being one of my favorite actors. He’s great in every movie I watch him in, he cracks me up. His role in this movie however is different than his usual role as the funny guy.

Reynolds plays Frank Allen, an efficiency trainer by avocation; he’s a man whose life is organized entirely around to-do lists, time charts and abstrusely calculated probabilities. Then, one day Frank is forced to change his old ways of thinking and adopt a new philosophy of life altogether due to circumstances beyond his control. His old way of shuffling index cards to determine his next course of action is over.

Chaos Theory is a great story about truth and connection, and how sometimes connection needs to be restored and conserved even in the face of the failure to fully reveal the truth. The movie is a well-acted comedy-drama that delivers laughs at the right moments while delivering a well-structured story that is not entirely predictable. The ending is touching and well explained. It explores what is more important in life. Is it the job, family or deeper values such as forgiveness?

Watch this movie if you have the chance, great movie.

Jenn Comedy, Drama

GI Joe directed by Stephen Sommers in my opinion was not so great. The story line was blah and the acting was very bad. I went to see it last Friday with my boyfriend and was not surprised that the theater was full, I was expecting that. What I was not expecting was how boring the movie was; even the action scenes were boring. We wanted to leave after the first 30 minutes of the movie; however we ended up staying. It’s very rare I would leave a movie, even if it’s boring I could always take a nap.

There were a few humorous scenes that included Marlon Wayans who played Ripcord; I would say he was the highlight of the movie for me. I was very disappointed with Channing Tatum, who played the main character Duke. I’ve seen him in many other movies and always enjoyed his style. Sienna Miller must have been the worst I’ve ever seen her, the only reason I excuse her is because she is one hot lady!

GI Joe is based on a toy/comic/cartoon (which was actually called Action Force) from the 80’s, which would be targeting boys ages 5-12 years old, however since the movie is PG-13, I don’t think many young boys will be watching this movie.

I know a lot of amateur reviewers are complaining that critics are being too hard on this movie, calling them tight asses and going as far as writing such things like “the critics don’t deserve their jobs”. Is it just me or do these amateur reviewers have something up their asses? I think some people are being too defensive. Maybe they are a little to attach to their childhood toys to realize that they are not the only ones with opinions, which are what critics do, they give their opinions. People need to relax!

Jenn Action, Fantasy

Steve Carrel and Anne Hathaway star in the entertaining movie Get Smart as Maxwell Smart and Veteran agent 99. When the headquarters of U.S. spy agency control is attacked and the identities of its agents are compromised, the chief (Alan Arkin) has no choice but to promote his ever-enthusiastic analyst Maxwell Smart. Smart has always dreamed of working alongside superstar agent 23 (Dwayne Johnson), but instead gets paired up with the feisty Agent 99.

The pair set out on a mission to prevent the treat of world domination by the crime organization known as KOAS. Together they must prevent the doomsday plans of KAOS head Siegfried (Terrance Stamp). With little field experience and even less time to stop Siegfried. Smart who is armed with nothing but a few spy-tech gadgets makes for an attention-grabbing mission.

To my surprise, Carrel and Hathaway make for a great team despite the obvious age difference which is cleared up in the movie. I never really enjoyed Anne Hathaway’s performances before with the exception of Rachel Getting Married but I’m certainly a fan now, she is quite funny and sexy in Get Smart. You can expect all of the classic Carrel moments all wrapped into 110 minutes of comedy.

The movie is actually derived from the original “Get Smart” series which took place from 1965-1970, created by Mel Brooks and Buck Henry. If you enjoyed the original television series Get Smart, then you will definitely appreciate the movie which was released June 20, 2008.

Jenn Adventure, Comedy Anne Hathaway, Spy Movie, Steve Carrel

RV starring Robin William and Cheryl Hines is hilarious. I’m actually not a huge fan of Robin Williams, but he won me over in this family adventure with help from the supporting actors such as Jeff Daniels.

Bob Munro (Williams) is overwhelmed at work and decides to take a trip to Hawaii with his family for some rest and relaxation and of course some family bonding. However his boss demands he cancel the trip for work.  Bob ends up taking his unenthusiastic family on a road trip to have some quality family bonding time. Little does his family know he is actually focused on business and secretly tries to squeeze in some work (in bathrooms nonetheless) in between the constant run-ins with a very annoying family they meet?

Over the course of their trip Bob and his unhappy to be there tag-along family learn an important lesson. They realize how important family is and rekindle their forgotten family bond. I’m sure that everyone knew that is how it would end, it was quite predictable. What kind of family movie would end with the family hating each other?

This movie had many negative predictions circulating before the release of the movie in 2006 and I’m still not sure why. I didn’t see the movie until last night and never read any reviews or heard anything negative from friends so I went in without having expectations of any kind. I found it to be funny and a great movie to watch with the family, I would definitely categorize this movie in the family section. This movie actually reminds me of the good old classic Vacation Movies with Chevy Chase. I doubt RV will be a classic, but it’s definitely worth checking out.

Jenn Comedy, Family

Based on the novella by Stephen King, Directed by Brian Singer Apt Pupil is a disturbing Psychological Thriller about the relationship that forms between a teenage boy (Brad Renfro) and a neighbor (Ian McKellen) he discovers is a Nazi war criminal in hiding. This is one of the few books from Stephen King made into a movie that doesn’t have a lot to do with supernatural, but it’s still very riveting.

Apt Pupil addresses holocaust-related matters. Todd Bowen (Renfro) confronts Kurt Dussander (Ian McKellen) when he does a project for school and becomes fascinated with wartime atrocities. He blackmails the ex-Nazi, promising to keep his secret in exchange for Holocaust horror stories.

In his mission for information, Todd ignores his schoolwork and lets his mid-term grades slip, thus risking exposure of his after-school activities. At this point, Dussander turns the tables by pretending to be Todd’s grandfather and making a deal with his guidance counselor: Todd must get straight A’s in the finals in exchange for his poor mid-term grades being wiped off of his record. Dussander then uses the clever skills he acquired running a Nazi concentration camp and drives Todd to passing with straight A’s, something most would think impossible in just 3 weeks.

The changeover from blackmailer to apt pupil is done brilliantly, very much in the Stephen King style. In the last scene, where Todd is faced to deal with his guidance counselor, he displays why he deserves the title in more ways than one; for not only has Todd learnt the art of torture and discipline, but also how to manipulate people around him to suit his own agenda.

Jenn Drama

Reign over Me is one of the best movies I’ve seen in a while and I had never even heard of it before last night, when I noticed iReel had it in their movie library. I also realized that I really like Adam Sandler, more than I thought, he’s a fantastic actor and all of his movies are great and entertaining.

Reign over me is endearing and emotional and it makes you realize that life is short and at any moment life can change and you will never be the same again. That’s what happens in when Charlie (played by Adam Sandler) loses his wife and three daughters in a plane crash. The last 4 years of his life, he spent alone, not wanting to communicate with anyone who knew his family, he didn’t want to think or be reminded of them because it hurt too much. Then his old college roommate Alan (Don Cheadle) see’s him and tries to befriend him, he wants to help him.

What I like about this movie is that they don’t make everything turn out perfect in the end. It seems so real, this could really happen and I’m sure that it does somewhere around the world every day, someone loses someone they love. Unfortunately not everyone can move on with life as easily as others, some people are deeply pained and are never the same.

I must say this was the best performance I’ve seen from Adam Sandler, like I mentioned above he is just fantastic. I already love his movies, some of my favorites being Anger Management, Mr. Deeds, Happy Gilmore, Click and The Longest Yard. I think now he might even be one of my favorite actors.

Jenn Drama

I watched the movie Twins last night, what a great movie. I’ve seen it plenty of time before, but it never gets old or boring. Clearly not identical Twins Vincent (Danny DeVito) and Julius (Arnold Schwarzenegger) separated at birth meet after 35 years.

The story begins way back showing that their mother was involved in some kind of government experiment to make the “perfect human”. However after the birth, the mother, Mary-Ann Benedict was told by the doctor that her baby died, she didn’t even know she had twins. Julius was raised on an island in the south pacific with perfect surroundings, pure in mind and spirit, never having been exposed to the “real world”. Vincent on the other hand was sent to an orphanage where he became troubled and unloved.

The movie is about the twins and their adventure to discover their mother, with a side of deceit on Vincent’s part with his ulterior motives to get rich quick. A young Kelly Preston plays Marine, who falls for Julius. His first experience with a woman, he is actually is still a virgin.

DeVito and Schwarzenegger have great chemistry in Twins, a different approach then the usual movie genre for Arnold who usually is seen in action movies. But it works, he’s quite funny actually. Because he is not used to modern society, the trouble he gets himself into is amusing. His innocence is what gets me. Like the scene where the two men are trying to rob him, they try to grab his suit case but unlike any other regular person, he is extremely dense and doesn’t realize they are trying to rob him. He asks if he can help take the man to the hospital. “The pavement was his enemy” he tells the man!

Great movie, watch it if you haven’t yet!

Jenn Comedy

Rated: PG-13

Genre: Thriller

Release Date: April 24, 2009

Run time: 1 hr 49 min

Director: Steve Shill

Cast: Beyonce Knowles, Idris Elba, Ali Larter

I wasn’t expecting Obsessed to be a fantastic movie when I found out that Beyonce was in it, but I was not expecting it to be this terrible. Terrible might be an understatement actually. I was so bored with this movie; I don’t know how I even finished it. Maybe I was hoping it would get better.

Sharon (Beyonce) is the wife of V.P. Executive Derek (Idris Elba), once a temp who worked for him now the mother of his child. They have the perfect life and are happily in love. Along comes Lisa (Ali Larter) a gorgeous blond temp replacing Derek’s sick assistant Patrick. She immediately is drawn to Derek and the games begin. Certain incidents happen, in the bathroom at their Christmas party, then again in the parking garage. When Derek rejects her advances she becomes obsessed (as if you hadn’t figured that out yet) with him and starts stalking him. She is completely delusional, as she follows him to a business retreat and tries to kill herself in his hotel room.

Sharon gets upset (let’s make that hysterical) while the detective tries to talk to Derek about the incident in the hotel room, continuously interrupting the detective and giving such attitude without even hearing her own husbands point of view. She really annoyed me at this part, and then it only got worse. The confrontation between Lisa and Sharon is just ridiculous. I don’t even know what else to say about this movie, but it left me wishing I hadn’t watched it.

Jenn Thriller