Eagle Eye

MY RATING: 3.5 out of 5

Shia LaBeouf (Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull) stars with Michelle Monaghan in this action/thriller. It starts off very cool, in fact, it is absolutely awesome until who's behind everything is revealed. Then you have to park your brain and just try to enjoy the rest.

The premise is that LaBeouf's character has been framed by someone so that the government thinks he's a terrorist. He is helped by a mysterious woman to escape, who seems to be able to tap into phones, cameras, basically everything electronic and help him and another involuntary volunteer, Monaghan escape. The action is great, the story and dialogue is great, the stunts are great, the ending however was a little disappointing at first, but once I was willing to accept the premise, I think I can say I really enjoyed this.

Whole Nine Yards, The

MY RATING: 4 out of 5

I watched this with a buddy last night. I had forgotten how funny this was. Bruce Willis, Mathew Perry, Rosanna Arquette, Amanda Peet and the monster huge dude from The Green Mile star in this along with a bunch of other names and faces you'll recognize including Natasha Henstridge.

Perry plays a dentist in an awful marriage to Arquette who plays a French Canadian bitch (with the worst accent in movie history) who wants her husband dead. Willis plays Jimmy The Tulip, a mob hit man, who moves in next door. One thing leads to another, and they are all tied together in an attempted mob hit.

This is a movie where you piss yourself laughing from beginning to end. Perry is incredible in this and so are Willis and co. My only complaint is that the two Canadian cops are made out to be idiots for no real reason.

300

MY RATING: 4.5 out of 5

This movie is phenomenal. Not only is the acting and story terrific, it is a work of art. Based upon a graphic novel, it has the look and feel of a hand drawn masterpiece. The story is about 300 Spartans who head off on their own to stop the Persian Army of nearly one million men.

How closely this follows history can be debated, but even if there are a lot of historical inaccuracies, I say, who cares? This is just a great movie that is an absolute must own if you have a Blu-Ray player.

Animal, The

MY RATING: 1.5 out of 5

Ok, this is a very stupid movie starring Rob Schneider. But, as with most of his movies, I found I was pissing myself laughing at some points. The premise is that he is a loser (isn't he always) who can't make the cut to join the police force. He is however an evidence clerk, and while all the cool cops are at a local softball game, he responds to a call and ends up getting in a car accident. Badly injured, a mad scientist uses animal organs to save him.

Of course, we all know that this is a no-no, because you will obviously take on the traits of the animals.

So, tranplanted and alive, but not knowing why, hilarity ensues. Much of this will be found funny by kids, but there are quite a few sexual situations, albeit animal in nature, that I'd suggest only letting the very young or teenagers see it. The tweens should be sent to bed.

I, Robot

MY RATING: 3.5 out of 5

Man this is a good movie. I had only seen it once before when I first got the DVD, but I watched it again with my daughter and it was great. Will Smith stars along with some others I mostly didn't recognize in this sci-fi thriller loosely based upon the Three Laws of Robotics created by Isaac Asimov. It's supposed to take place I think about 30-50 years in the future where robots have become common place. For a reason not explained until later on, Smith, who plays a police detective, doesn't trust robots. A murder at the company responsible, USR (US Robotics, yup, check out your old modems for possible AI), sends Smith there to investigate.

While no one will believe him, he is convinced a robot murdered a human, which is supposed to be impossible. A new major delivery of robots is about to happen, and he thinks something sinister is afoot.

Excellent story, great acting, wicked effects, and a vision of the future, with the exception of them killing machines, that is tres cool.

Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkhaban

MY RATING: 3.5 out of 5

At the office we have someone that I have nicknamed "The Dementor". Anyone who has seen this movie will understand that he is someone who can suck the joy out of life just be entering a room.

The Dementors make their debut in this movie, the third in the series, and so does an new character played by the ever awesome Gary Oldman. I'm always impressed by how many great actors this series has managed to attract. I'm curious to see who they pull in for the final three movies (yes, the seventh one will be a two-parter because apparently they needed another billion dollars).

This one is about a prisoner, played by Oldman, who escapes from Azkhaban, the wizard prison. The prisoner is apparantly the man who betrayed Harry's parents and the Dementors are after him. Because they think that he might be after Harry, the Dementors are sent to guard Hogwarts.

Great movie and continues the tradition of each successive one being better than the first.

Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix

MY RATING: 3.5 out of 5

This is the latest of the Harry Potter films as of today, and I think the best. It is definitely getting darker as the wizard war is about to start. As well, since the characters are getting older, the childishness of some of the earlier movies is pretty much gone.

I saw this in the theatre the first time with a portion of it in IMAX-3D which was very cool. I was disappointed that the Blu-Ray I bought didn't have this 3D portion. The transfer was good and the picture/sound quality is excellent.

This story is the fifth in the series, therefore they are in their fifth year of school when the Ministry of Magic decides to take over Hogwarts. The character of the Ministry rep is played by an actress I recognized but can't name who played the part so well, you can't help but loathe her from the get go.

I have to admit I am a closet Potter fan. I've read the first three books, own all five movies, and admit to them being one of my guilty pleasures. This one is the best in the series so far.

Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets

MY RATING: 3 out of 5

This is the second Harry Potter movie and it is pretty good. The premise is that a secret chamber, cleverly named, the Chamber of Secrets, has been opened and some evil presence is now killing mudbloods, or those who aren't of pure wizard blood. Introduces an element of racism from the wizard perspective, and the children are slightly older so the humor is a little less childish. The novelty factor though of the first movie has worn off a bit. I still enjoyed it, but not as much as the first. The third through fifth movies I found got progressively better.

Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire

MY RATING: 3 out of 5

This is the fourth movie and centers around an annual Tri-Wizard Cup competition. There are two visiting schools that allow them to introduce some interesting characters, and due to the ages now involved, love lives start to develop. The competition is extremely dangerous so no one under seventeen is allowed. Once student from each of the schools is chosen, but then the Goblet of Fire spits out a fourth name, Harry Potter's. Once named, you can't back out, so he's forced to fight for his life.

SPOILER: This movie has a significant character get killed so it could be shocking to the little ones, including a "torture" scene and some spooky stuff with the evil wizard, who of course I can't name.

Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone

MY RATING: 3.5 out of 5

First of the Harry Potter movies so there is the major "novelty" factor working here. The kids are young, all around 11-12 years old, so as an adult you have to park your brain a little more than in the later movies, but since it is all so new to the Harry Potter character, it is a lot of fun, and probably the most fun of all the movies since they progresively get darker.

Terry

MY RATING: 3 out of 5

This is a made for TV movie about Terry Fox, one of our nation's true heroes. Every Canadian, and most people in the informed world, have heard of him, but I have to admit I didn't know much about the trials and tribulations he went through while on his Marathon of Hope. How he was treated in Quebec is a national disgrace (and when I say national, I mean the Quebec nation because they certainly proved themselves distinct this time).

It covers from the dipping of the foot in the Atlantic in Newfoundland, all the way through to him having to quit running in Ontario where he eventually died. Once you get into the movie, I defy you to keep the eyes dry. Very moving, very well done and very well acted.

Sunshine

MY RATING: 2.5 out of 5

This was a great sci-fi movie up to the 1hr:14m mark. Then they ruined it. The premise is that the sun is dying. The nations of Earth send a mission to save restart the sun and it fails. Seven years later, the second mission is on its way. The sets are very detailed, the effects are great, the acting is decent, but then, at the 1hr:14m mark, they ruined it. From that point on it is just ok. Too bad, it had such potential to be a classic.

SPOILER: And what happened a the 1hr:14m mark? They encounter the original mission, where one of the crew has survived, burnt to a crisp by the sun, for six years, and he had gone crazy and starts to kill the new crew to prevent their mission from succeeding. It basically turns into a monster movie for the last hour. Very disappointing.

Webs

MY RATING: 1 out of 5

This was just so bad I had to stop after fifteen minutes. It's a Richard Greico "vehicle", I think a skateboard, not a real vehicle. He and a couple of electricians discover a scientist's experimental platform that sends them to an alternate universe, where giant spiders from space have taken over the planet. Yikes!

Just to bad to keep watching.

Watch it on Amazon: Webs

Dark Descent

MY RATING: 1 out of 5

This is just bad. It stars Dean Cain and a bunch of nobody's, the majority of whom have Russian accents. I don't know if this was filmed in Russia or not, but it should have stayed there. It takes place in the future on an underwater mining platform. Cain is a Marshall who puts a guy away for four years. He gets freed and comes back with a couple of buddies to kill him. Bad acting ensues.

I liked Cain in Lois and Clark and I've seen him in some other things that he was good in but this was just terrible. I know he's a better actor than this so I think it was the script. Sometimes he comes off as sympathetic, other times just cocky, especially when he's chomping on his gum. Loose the gum, be a little more serious in the role, and maybe this might have been better. Instead his character was inconsistent and just not likeable at times, when he is supposed to be the hero.

Secret of Hidden Lake

MY RATING: 2.5 out of 5

This has a couple of familiar faces from the Canadian acting pool but I couldn't name one of them for the life of me. A woman returns to her home town when her father, the sheriff, is shot accidentally. She begins to ask questions and it is soon determined that he was shot by someone else and so the mystery begins. This is actually a very good story (oh yeah, Cancer Man from X-Files is in this!) with decent acting and I have to admit I enjoyed it more than I thought I would.