Edge of Darkness

For the past decade, Mel Gibson has received more attention for his work behind the camera than in front of it. Passion of the Christ, a powerful film that uses the graphicness of violence inflicted on Jesus to demonstrate the suffering he endured because of his love for humanity, was a box office smash upon its release in 2004. Then he received quite a bit of negative press for such incidents as a receiving a DUI in 2006 and making anti-Semitic remarks to the officer. Now he's back in the spotlight in an acting role, doing an admirable job in a film that draws some comparison to last year's Taken. In this story, however, Gibson's daughter is killed within the first ten minutes of the film, and Gibson's character, Thomas Craven, wants revenge. Will Craven be able to stay level headed in his pursuit of justice or will his quest for retribution be too much for him to handle? This is a pretty good thriller, one I would recommend, but ultimately fogettable in the grand scheme of things.

American Radical: The Trials of Norman Finkelstein

There's something about outspoken people that always gets my attention. People who have strong views on things and are not afraid to speak of them in public draws both feelings of irritation and admiration from me. Initially, I'm angry that they don't seem to give a crap about other people's thoughts and feelings when they express them. Then again, maybe I'm just too worried about what people think. Ultimately, I admire them because they are willing to make a stand on something they believe to be the truth and are not swayed by negative comments from others. Norman Finkelstein certainly falls under the outspoken category, and definitely the controversial category as well. A Jew raised by parents who survived the Holocaust, Finkelstein went on to teach at several universities in the United States while expressing critical views on Israel in what he calls the Holocaust Industry. Finkelstein believes Israel must take responsibility for its murder of countless Palestinians and using the memory of the Holocaust to gain immunity from any criticism by other nations on its policies and to further its financial interests. Wherever he speaks, Finkelstein is greeted with hardcore supporters and opponents. Although I have neither ties to Israel nor Palestine, I found it very interesting to watch this man and the way he spread his message. I'm not sure he's somebody I'd have a beer with, but Finkelstein is a great example of a man committed to standing firm even when it's unpopular to do so.

Percy Jackson and the Olympians: The Lightning Thief or Jason makes a savings throw versus nostalgia

1. Did I enjoy the movie? YES
I have not enjoyed Chris Columbus' movies in the past. Yet, with this film he hit the right notes. Notes building to chords of myth, action, and magic reminding me of a summer past.

I don't know why my dad asked me to keep Kevin Ryan's nephew company that summer before sixth grade. I did not mind. He seemed like a cool kid. A little older than me but not haughty. (Wanting to watch Clash Of The Titans was a big plus.) Something in that movie clicked with me.

My classmates knew the latest sexual innuendo and I knew the Olympians. They had access to cable without adult supervision. I had access to the Kankakee Public Library's children section. Oh it was marvelous. I would love to walk down the dull stone stairs turn and be blasted by the primary intensity of colors. There was a series of books covering the myths of the world. Those were my go-to books. I would be lost in the stories. When waiting for class to begin I would devour these stories of heroes and monsters from afar-ago. There was a realness, without being real if that makes sense, that the Bozo Show lacked. (Side note: as I type this I am trying to decide if I just drank a glass of urine or bad smelling water.)

"You should be playing Dungeons and Dragons," Kevin Ryan's nephew said to me as I explain the myths that were cobbled together to build Clash Of The Titans' narrative.

Wow, was he right. I LOVED it. Loved it like how you love your your first girlfriend and don't notice her flaws but everyone else does. Yeah. Like that. I bought the red Basic Set and it was brought to a new world. A place where I had powers and weapons. A world with no homework, gym class, indifferent classmates, and angry fathers.

2. Would I watch the movie again? MAYBE
I enjoyed all of the book but only most of the movie. The divergence in the character of Luke from the book to the movie gives me pause. Patriarchal rage is converted to blind megalomania. It cheapens the character and also reduces the power of the "absent parents" theme running through the movie.

Extraordinary Measures

Harrison Ford is one of those actors who has been in a lot of good movies, but not many great ones (aside from the Star Wars and Indiana Jones series). He really deserves to have an Oscar winning role at some point, although he will now have to win it in what might be the final decade of his career. It will not happen for his role in Extraordinary Measures, however, which is another good film with Ford, but far from great. He costars with Brendan Frasier, the latter of whom plays a father desperately trying to save his son and daughter from a disease known as Pompe. All the doctors say there is no cure, so Frasier decides to contact Ford, who plays a researcher trying to develop an enzyme treatment for the disease. There are really no surprises here, but this is a feel-good film that made me aware of a disease I never knew existed. If you think of it, Redbox it next time you shop for groceries.

Date Night

Steve Carrell first caught my attention in Bruce Almighty as a news anchorman who was suddenly controlled by the Godlike powers of Jim Carrey. After the 40 Year Old Virgin and the hilarious TV show The Office, I was hooked on Carrell's brand of humor. Here he teams up with fellow NBC comedian Tiny Fey. Together they play a couple that tries to spice up their marriage by going to a really expensive restaurant. However, when they pretend to be another couple in order to get a table, the evening takes an unexpected turn into a night of danger. I smiled quite a few times during this film and was pleasantly entertained for the evening, which was enough for me to recommend it. This is not a pee-in-your-pants comedy but it is fun, especially for fans of the two leads.

Hot Tub Time Machine

I had very low expectations for this film and boy was I pleasantly surprised! What a crazy idea, four guys going back to the 1980s after an accidental mishap in the hot tub. And that's just the beginning! To give away the laughs in this movie would just be wrong because so many of the gags work because they take you by surprise. All I will say is that the jokes with animals are in my opinion the best. I will admit that several jokes with sexual humor went too far for me, but the jokes that did work were so pee-in-your-pants funny that I forgave these crude interludes. If you're looking for some solid belly laughs and know going in some parts might be a bit offensive, you'll be in for a hilarious surprise.

The Wolfman

When I saw the trailer for this film and the werewolf makeup on the poster, I was really excited to see this re-imagined classic horror tale. To be fair, the makeup and look of the picture is the best I have seen in a werewolf film. However, I was really let down by most everything else. Let's start with the acting. Anthony Hopkins is going through the motions in this movie. The other actors are okay, although I didn't sense a strong chemistry in the romance part of the story. The screenplay has some really laughable dialogue, with several of these howls (the wrong kind) being delivered by Hopkins himself. The pacing and the use of music and sound is also wrong. It begins way too fast, the werewolf attacks at super-powered speed and the sound and music tell us when to be scared rather than support the natural scares. The technology is also faulty, the obvious CGI werewolf running through the woods looks fake. I could go on, but you get the point. I'm sad that such excellent costumes, sets and makeup were placed in such a bad movie. An early candidate for my least favorite films of the year.

Hot Tub Time Machine or Jason drinks 12 Chernobyly and can see through time! (Though he can also see through time anytime he sits down to watch television, so maybe its not that big a deal.)

1. Did I enjoy the movie?     YES
I have to love a movie where a man says to a group of people, gathered in the back of a bar to watch him preform fellatio on his best friend after losing a bet on a football game because the squirrell he had puked on earlier disrupted the timestream, "Where do you people come from?"

2. Would I watch it again? YES
It's been almost two weeks since I've seen the film and I'm still talking about. This is going to be a cult film and I will need to work on memorizing the lines. I do wonder who I will be bonding with over quips from this film?

If I had a time machine would I go back to that sad glad rightside down time of my life that was nineteen. Being thirty-five, the obvious answer is no. No thank you! I am old enough to realize my youthfull dream to marry Corrine from Sleater-kinney would still not happen. Even with my older mature knowledge. (Knowing how to program an Ipod really won't help much here) I am wise enough to be okay with that. Time does that. Heals all wounds as our forefathers used to say.

And maybe the men in this movie did the same. They did not actually travel through time. Maybe these three men did not travel through time back to when they were eighteen, but merely entered their memories of being eighteen and came to grips with what happenned. In the Tarot, the symbol of the cups represents emotion and the memory.  Isn't a hot tub nothing but a giant cup. Introduce the power of will and intellect through the symbol of air: the lightning bolt on the Chernobyly, and BAM! Time-Travel! Back in the past, back inside their memories of the past, they find things are not as they remember. It's called maturation. It happens to everyone. Most memories when closely examined are not what we thought they were.  The schoolyard seems smaller then you remember. You have kids and understand why your parents did what they did. This is the mechanism of memory at work. You travel back to a past point of time. You inhabit the person you were but can't help but think like the person you are. You realize the past wasn't everything you thought it was. You come to accept that what you considered failures might actually be successes. You return from your memories. You now see what you thought was the life you ended up with is actually the life you have built. Empowered you make new choices, hopefully better choices. Or at least, that's what I try to do. How about you?

Mystery Team

Mystery Team is a fun film written and starring its three leads: D.C Pierson, Donald Glover and Dominic Dierkes. Its basic premise involves three kid detectives dedicated to solving child-sized mysteries. The kids are now teenagers and about to graduate high school. Is it time to finally put their childish mystery gang to rest? That question is more difficult than it initially appears when a little girl asks them to solve a grown up mystery: find out who killed her parents!

I enjoyed this film, its primary strength being its rapid gags and one-liners. For a movie made by young performers just breaking into the industry, this shows a lot of promise. I was also pleased to see Aubrey Plaza in this film, who I also liked in last year's Funny People.

The filmmakers also informed the audience I was with that they believe their debut feature film rises above their short films because it has good character development and an actual story rather than just being a series of gags. While there is evidence the writers desired to produce these things, I don't think that is why the film works. Like films such as Airplane! or even the Ernest P. Worrell movies, we don't go to see them for a breathtaking story and well-rounded characters. It's the gags, the funny parts, not the tacked-on message. While this was only a one-time viewing movie for me, what good fun that time was!

Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Squeakquel or Jason doesn't want all his money back, just some of it.

If you won't do it for the children, then do it for the parents that are dragged along.

Do what? Why develop the story fully so I can "enjoy" a movie with my son instead of "sit" through a movie with my son.

For example: Why did Alvin turn his back on his brothers. I could not tell you. Nor could my wife or anyone else I asked. The movie presents no basis for why Alvin, who is a world famous rock musician, is driven to win over the approval of some high school jocks. I am sure I could come up with any number of reasons on my own, but that is not my job. It is the filmmaker's. I feel sorry for kids nowadays if this is the state of children's filmmaking.

Why is it the criteria for good cinema seems to only apply to movies for grown-ups.  Plot, characterization, theme, and symbolism should be a criteria for ALL cinema regardless of the audience. Children are more creative and aware than people think. There is a complexity at work in children most people miss. Would Pixar have done as well as they have if children could only digest mindless or half-formed stories.

Even something as commercial and profit-driven as Alvin can have depth and resonance. Use the Chippettes memories of struggle to make it in their small town as a a foil for the Chipmunks. Place a few literary references in the back ground or on a chalkboard. Stop having Alvin just regurgitate random pop phrases. (That last one will most likely remain because little kids do talk like that.) Have Toby explain a plot for a video game that foreshadows the coming split between the brothers. Stuff like that.

Jason's Predictions for the Top Ten Box Office Grosses of 2010 or I am going to be so wrong.

1. Iron Man 2
2. Chronicles of Narnia: Voyage of the Dawn Treader
3. Shrek Forever After
4. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1
5. Toy Story 3
6. Twilight Saga: Eclipse
7. Get Him to the Greek
8. Inception
9. Love and Other Drugs
10. Yogi Bear

Bob's Predictions for the Top Ten Box Office Grosses of 2010

1. Iron Man 2
2. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1
3. Toy Story 3
4. The Twilight Saga: Eclipse
5. Due Date
6. Inception
7. The Green Hornet
8. Shrek Forever After
9. The Karate Kid
10. Yogi Bear