Rated: Rated R for horror violence/gore and language.

Genre: Action, Adventure, Comedy, Horror

Release Date: 2 October 2009

Runtime: 88 min

Director: Ruben Fleischer

Cast: Jesse Eisenberg, Woody Harrelson, Emma Stone, Abigail Breslin, Bill Murray

In the horror comedy Zombieland focuses on two men who run into one another, who have found a way to survive a world overrun by zombies. Columbus is a big wuss — but when you’re afraid of being eaten by zombies, fear can keep you alive. Moreover having a list or rules helps: Rule 1: Cardio, Rule 2: Beware of Bathrooms, Rule 3: Seatbelts, Rule 4: Doubletap (check out the 32 RULES) . Tallahassee is an AK-toting, zombie-slaying’ bad ass whose single determination is to get the last Twinkie on earth. As they join forces with Wichita and Little Rock, who have also found unique ways to survive the zombie mayhem, they will have to determine which is worse: relying on each other or succumbing to the zombies.

A hilarious film, clearly a hit for 2009. Zombieland is one of those movies people love because it does not require thinking, simply watching and laughing with the occasional OOHHH when a good hit is made. The movie is built around a road-trip concept loaded with stylish zombie kills and a blossoming relationship between possibly the only people left alive in Zombieland. The script itself is phenomenal, loaded with one-liners even Rodney Dangerfield would be proud of. The film includes horrific gore and is true to the genre of horror providing the audience with a reason to jump  a couple inches off their seats.

If you like zombie movies, horror comedies, or the joyously inventive massacre of the undead, I cannot recommend Zombieland enough. See it. Take a friend. Take your domesticated zombie. Just go. And 20 years from now, when you’re kids are experiencing Zombieland for the first time at a midnight showing on their college campus, you can tell them you saw it the first time around. And if the world is obliterated by a zombie apocalypse between now and then, at least you’ll have a few rules to live by.

carole Action, Adventure, Comedy, Horror

Rated:PG-13 for crude and sexual content throughout, and language

Genre:Comedy, Music

Release Date:22 May 2009

Runtime:83 min

Director:Damien Dante Wayans

Cast:Shoshana Bush, Damon Wayans Jr., Essence Atkins, Affion Crockett, Christina Murphy, David Alan Grier, Kim Wayans

The worlds of dancing and spoof step up and throw down in DANCE FLICK, the latest melange of movie parody from the Wayans clan. As the film opens, we meet Thomas Uncles (Damon Wayans Jr.), a hip-hop hopeful whose dance-competition loss puts him in debt to gargantuan gang leader Sugar Bear (David Alan Grier). But his luck begins to change when he meets the new girl at his performing-arts high school, Megan White (Shoshana Bush), an aspiring ballerina whose Juilliard dreams are shattered when her mother dies a heroically protracted death on her way to Megan’s audition.

Though they start as prickly competitors, it isn’t long before Thomas and Megan’s mutual love of dance enables them to overcome the social and racial barriers between them. But will their unlikely love story be enough to inspire all of the school’s students, rekindle Megan’s dreams, and save Thomas as he returns to the hip-hop battlefield of his earlier defeat? In true family style, star Wayans Jr. and director Damien Wayans were assisted by the talents of fellow Wayans Keenen Ivory, Shawn, Marlon, Craig, and Kim to bring the film to life. Poking fun at everything from FAME to HIGH SCHOOL MUSICAL to TWILIGHT, DANCE FLICK is a raucous send-up that keeps its scatological beat grooving from start to finish.

Dance Flick scores a few laughs thanks to the Wayans brothers’ exuberance, but it’s ultimately a scattershot collection of gags without much direction. (RottenTomatoes)

carole Comedy, Music

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

Rated: R

Genre: Comedy, Action, Drama, War

Release Date: 21 August 2009

Runtime: 153 min

Director: Quentin Tarantino

Cast: Brad Pitt, Eli Roth, Til Schweiger, Gedeon Burkhard, B. J. Novak, Omar Doom, Samm Levine, Paul Rust, Michael Bacall, Carlos Fidel, Harvey Keitel, Michael Fassbender, Mike Myers, Rod Taylor, Mélanie Laurent, Diane Kruger, Christoph Waltz, Daniel Brühl, Jacky Ido

In Nazi Occupied France a young Jewish refugee Shosanna Dreyfus witnesses the slaughter of her family by Colonel Hans Landa. Narrowly escaping with her life, she plots her revenge several years later when German war hero Fredrick Zoller quickly takes an interest in her and arranges an illustrious movie premiere at the theater she now runs. With the promise of every major Nazi officer in attendance, the event catches the attention of the “Basterds”, a group of Jewish-American guerrilla soldiers led by the ruthless Lt. Aldo Raine. As the relentless executioners advance and the conspiring young girl’s plans are set in motion, their paths will cross for a fateful evening that will shake and change the history of the world.

Inglourious Basterds, I can honestly say, is hands down the best film I have seen so far in 2009. The Writer/Producer Quentin Tarantino has rarely failed to entertain an audience as he most certainly has in his latest film.  His cast selection could not have been more appropriate and his different editing techniques, such as separating parts of the movies into Chapters, enhanced the appeal of the film.

In Chapter 2 of the movie when the camera spans across the 8 Basterds, introducing them to the audience, I could not imagine a more scandalous group of men who would suit the term basterds better. Hans Landa (Christoph Waltz) aka “The Jew Hunter” seemed to be the favourite of the crowded theatre, he definetely had something different about him, granted he was the “bad guy”, I could not help but love him.

The film was overly graphic to the extent that we saw scalps being cut off, heads bashed in, blood splatter whenever a gun showed up on screen… finally!!! Hollywood is showing it’s audience the stoamch twisting gore we all crave and loath at the same time. Moreover there was comedy, subtle humor that received theatre wide reaction. I get excited now just thinking about the movie from last night, and I am finding it hard to write about this movie without being tempted to throw out examples of what happened during the film and basically ruin it with spoilers. One final note… Tarintino ends his film in a different way then what really went down in the history books…what I suggest is that this MUST SEE film out to be added to everyones ’seen’ list.

carole Action, Comedy, Drama, War

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

Rated: R

Genre: Comedy, Drama, Romance

Release Date: 14 May 2004

Runtime: 93 min

Director: Yann Samuell

Cast: Guillaume Canet, Marion Cotillard, Emmanuelle Grönvold, Gérard Watkins

If you are a fan of international films, then Love Me If You Dare is a MUST see. It is no surprise why it was such a massive hit. These non-Hollywood films always seem to have some element that differs them from the mainstream that we are used to. The cutting of the reel throughout the film, although annoying at first, becomes an effective technique to force you to concentrate for fear you will miss out on something said.

The DARE game begins when Julien (Guillaume Canet) and Sophie (Marion Cotillard) are children, eight-year-old Sophie is the girl on the bus that everyone teases because she is Polish. Julien is the little boy that comes to her rescue. As they grow older the game intensifies and becomes more twisted and dangerous. Although they are in love with each other, the game of dare later dictates their future, and the dare even goes as far as hurting and tricking each other.

Julien is forced several times to pick between the childhood fun and candy-coated world represented by Sophie, or the expectations, demands, and successes of the adult world represented by his father and his eventual wife and children. Sophie, meanwhile, is content to live her life — as she puts it as “a cream puff”, becoming a trophy wife to a successful soccer player. Nonetheless, she keeps returning to Julien, despite her apparent happiness with what she has. The movie’s main theme of  ’true love overcoming all obsticles’ is represented through a different twist in this film. A truly enjoyable film and definitely worth the effort of reading throughout the whole 93mins (if you don’t understand french).

carole Comedy, Drama, Romance

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

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

Genre: Romance, Comedy, Musical

Release Date: 13 February 1957

Runtime: 103 min

Director: Stanley Donen

Cast: Audrey Hepburn, Fred Astaire, Kay Thompson, Michel Auclair, Robert Flemyng

In Funny Face a fashion photographer Dick Avery (Fred Astaire), is in search for an intellectual backdrop for an air-headed model, the photography team discovers a quaint Greenwich Village bookstore. When the photo session is over the store is left in a shambles, much to salesgirl Jo Stockton’s (Audrey Hepburn) dismay. Avery stays behind to help her clean up. Later, he examines the photos taken there and sees Jo in the background of one shot. He is intrigued by her unique appearance, as is Maggie Prescott (Kay Thompson, the editor of a leading fashion magazine. They offer Jo a modeling contract, which she reluctantly accepts only because it includes a trip to Paris. Eventually, her snobbish attitude toward the job softens, and Jo begins to enjoy the work and the company of her handsome photographer.

I cannot get over Audrey Hepburn.  She is absolutely stunning, graceful, has an amazing accent, and just fits whatever role she is tossed into. As for Fred Astaire he is a star through and through, always impressing with his dance skills and amazing singing. I cannot recall the number of times I have seen this film, and although not the best Hepburn out there I am still a fan of the songs and of the story. The only disappointment is that when you put together these two super stars of the 50s on screen together you would have expected a little bit more magic.

Hepburn never had formal training in acting, singing or dancing. Her lack in dance skills is pretty clear in this film. As she dances with her co-stars you can see the difference in level of dance expertise. However credit must be given to Hepburn, it could not have been easy to dance next to the great Astaire.

carole Comedy, Music, Romance