The Muppets

2 ½  pipes out of 4

After 12 years on the bench, the Muppets have returned to theaters with a vengeance. In a script co-written by Jason Segel, The Muppets pay homage to their original gags. Jason Segel plays Gary, the brother of Walter, a puppet whose dream it is to meet the Muppets. When they finally visit Muppet Studios they find it in ruins and being sold to evil oil baron Tex Richman (Chris Cooper) and the only way to save it is to raise 10 million dollars. Walter takes it upon himself to get all the Muppets back together and hijinks ensue. As the Muppets are brought back there are celebrities cameo’s galore and other classic Muppet moments. There are not a whole lot of original moments in the new movie so it is not as good as its previous movies but it still beats out a number of current movies. Amy Adams comes off of her Acadamy Award nomination with the supporting role as Gary's Girlfriend Mary. One problem which is only a problem for the older generation who remember the originals, the voices are not the same as they use to be. The biggest difference is Fozzy Bear who sounds completely different from his old self. Another problem I had is that they minimized Pepe the King Prawn and completely eliminated Rizo the rat, the two best characters. Because I am loyal to the original movies I can only give The Muppets  

X-Men: First Class

3 out of 4 Pipes

James McAvoy has finally shown me that he can actually act. I have always hated him since he was in wanted but after seeing X-Men: First Class, I can no longer hold on to my hatred. The plot was a huge improvement from X-Men Origins: Wolverine and it brought the action down making it appear as a genuinely new movie and not just another comic book movie. One flaw that it had which wasn’t even really a flaw, it was just odd, was Kevin Bacon shifting from a German accented scientist to an American accented mutant seeking nuclear apocalypse. The movie begins with an early look into Magneto’s life in a German concentration camp in World War II. What impressed me about this was that it remained incredibly true to the flashback that was seen in X-Men: The Last Stand. In the previous movie Eric can be seen as a young boy being dragged away from his mother and destroying the metal gate in between them. X-Men First class has the exact same scene but they then expand on it. This is amazing for a prequel movie to incorporate a previous flashback used in an earlier movie that was set in the future. We are then introduced to mystique when she is stealing food from Charles Xavier. What is interesting about this scene and quite unrealistic is that Xavier quickly becomes her friend and then somehow her brother. One aspect I found quite interesting was that the typical vision of Magneto is that he was always a master of his power but this movie changes that view and he only masters his abilities through the help of Charles. Something that I noticed about X-Men: First Class is that it changed preconceptions that were told to us from the previous X-Men movies. The biggest of these is that according to the original movies, Celebro was said to be developed by both Magneto and Charles but in X-Men: First Class it was developed only by Beast. Granted, Celebro was destroyed at the end of the movie but it is unlikely for Magneto and Charles to get together and put it back together. First Class ended the movie magnificently with leaving a small cliffhanger; enough to leave it open for a sequel or leaving it alone with the current films. 

Rise Of the Planet Of The Apes

3 pipes out of 4

James Franco is one of the most inconsistent actors in Hollywood. He goes from making Pineapple express where he plays a stoner, to an Oscar nominated role in 127 hours. Then he returns to being a stoner in Your Highness. His ability to choose the right roles is mediocre at best but he chose another good one in Rise Of The Planet Of The Apes. He has shown us that he can act by playing famous hiker Aron Ralston who has to cut off his own arm in 127 hours and he finally uses his acting skills as Will Rodman, a doctor trying to cure Alzheimer’s in order to help his father. Not much was expected out of this movie because of Franco being cast in it but he again shocks us all with his beautiful acting and the inspiring role of Andy Serkis who plays Cesar, the primary ape. I am calling it right now, we may have the first Oscar nominated actor to play an animal. Rodman’s work finally seems to pay off with an ape named Bright Eyes who seems to be showing incredible promise until an accident causes the program to be shut down.  As it so happens, Bright Eyes had a son and Franco takes him home in order to save him from euthanasia. Due to the formula that was it Bright Eyes, it was passed down to the chimp who Franco names Cesar (Andy Serkis). As the movie progresses Cesar falls in love with his family but begins to question why he is inferior to humans. After an incident with the neighbor Cesar is forced to live in a primate sanctuary with an abusive caretaker Malfoy, oh wait, that was his last movie, Tom Felton. This is where there are some problems with the plot of Rise, it has it set up so that you are rooting for Cesar to take over the planet. This then contradicts the original where you root for Charlton Heston overtaking the apes. Similar to X-Men First Class Planet of the Apes leaves the ending open enough to make another movie or have this be the only one. 

Transformers: Dark Of The Moon

1½ pipes out of 4

Worst write out in movie history, I am saying it right now. Michael Bay spent two movies building up the relationship of Sam Whitwiky and Michaela making it as strong as possible only to write Megan Fox out of the series with the line “she broke up with me”. No other explanation is given throughout the movie and Megan is only mentioned once more during the film by Sam’s parents when Sam is having a rough patch with Rosie and they don’t want him to get dumped again. Other than that, Transformers is a really good movie, once you get passed the first hour of talking. the last hour of the film is actually a good action film but you have to get through the a hour of attempted acting, a jumbled plot, and little to no action. Michael Bay tries to make this Transformers something it is not, a drama. He makes it incredibly depressing as well as trying to build a strong relationship between Sam and his new girlfriend Marley. The most interesting fact I find about this relationship is that it took Sam two whole movies to say he loved Michaela but in the third movie he said it in the first 30 minutes. The acting is mediocre at best and only makes it that high because of the legendary Leonard Nemoy. I will admit I went in not knowing he had a part in the movie and I totally geeked out. There actually are some big surprises throughout the film but, just like in Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen, the ending battle ends too quickly and is won to easily.

The Green Lantern

1½ pipes out of 4

One would think that with the group of big name actors Mark Strong, Jeffery Rush, Ryan Reynolds, Blake Lively and Peter Sarsgaard , the Green lantern would be one of the most epic comic book films ever made, rivaling The Dark Knight. Unfortunately all of these actors attached themselves to albeit an entertaining film, a terrible plot. Ryan Reynolds plays a risk taking test fighter pilot who is still trying to get over his father’s death in a piloting accident. This is a good idea for a conflict with the main character thinking he is not worth the gifts that he has been given but the problem is that he gets over his fears way to quickly with a small pep talk by his love interest Blake Lively. One bright spot in the film is Peter Sarsgaard who plays an outcast scientist who discovers an alien who crashes to earth. The alien was infected by the evil essence known as Parallax who wants to take over the universe by harvesting fear. It soon infects Sarsgaard and he puts on a fantastic performance as deranged and outcast, constantly jealous of Reynolds and longing for Lively. Mark Strong plays the leader of the Green Lantern Core who believes that the core is invincible and should use any power available in order to gain victory. Rush only has a minor role as the tour guide to Reynolds when he becomes a Green Lantern. The movie wasn’t all bad because it had the hot Blake Lively and some cool action but not enough to make it a great movie. I disagree with most of the critics saying The Green Lantern is the worst film of the summer, That Title Easily goes to Horrible Bosses.

Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides

2 pipes out of 4

Pirates has returned with a bang! And that’s about it. Don’t get me wrong, it is better without Orlando Bloom and Keira Knightley but the plot just seemed to be a quickly thrown together cluster fudge. No Pirates can top the original Pirates of the Caribbean Curse of the Black Pearl but On Stranger Tides easily tops Pirates 2 and 3. With Knighltey and Bloom removed, the uneventful and bothersome love relationship where Bloom could not make up his mind whether he wanted his father or his wife. It opens the door for a new romantic dynamic with Jack and Angelica. The story follows Jack Sparrow (Johnny Depp) as he meets Angelica (Penelope Cruz), a former flame, who is impersonating him to recruit a crew. He ends up shanghaied on Blackbeard’s ship on his way to the fountain of youth. While on the way they must gather several items, a mermaid’s tear and two chalices. Angelica saves a missionaries life in an attempt to save the soul of Blackbeard. Barbossa (Geoffrey Rush) also is after the fountain of youth in the name of the English Crown to keep it away from the Spanish which causes some interesting encounters between the two groups along the way. There are a couple of plot holes in the film that can be pointed out, such as when the missionary is injured and asks for the mermaid to kiss him in order to save him, she does so but then plunges him into the depths of the sea and we never see if he is saved or not but other than the small amount you can point out, the plot just seems to go on and on and have only a very general destination with random twists and additions. It is also quite predictable all the way through for instance when Blackbeard is prophesized to die by the hands of a one legged man, it is quite obvious who that man is. It was still an okay movie which can derive only from the fact that Johnny Depp carried it and he even seemed uninterested and blasé. Comedy returns like in the original as well but this time it is mostly derived from the sexual tension between Jack and Angelica. Another issue that I had with On Stranger Tides is that throughout the film Jack and his first mate Gibbs continually reference events and places that they had done and been in the past to explain how they did something. This allowed a lot of speculation on how they managed to perform some unimaginable feats. I also would like to know, if Blackbeard can control his entire ship with his magical sword, why does he even need a crew that can cause a mutiny? Just some food for thought. All in all I was let down by Pirates 4 but would still watch it over Dead Man’s Chest any day of the week.

Fast Five

½ pipe out of 4

Let it be known right now that I think the Fast and the Furious franchise is turning into the new Saw franchise, they just don’t know when to stop. And with the ending of Fast Five it is quite obvious that they will be making a 6^th. I did not go into Fast Five with my hopes high but even the low standards I was expecting were barely met. There were numerous problems with the plot and with the realism of the movie. The story begins with explaining how Ex FBI agent Brian O’Connor (Paul Walker) and Mia Toretto break Dominic Toretto (Vin Diesel) out of prison which is unrealistic to begin with. It also shows again the bad decision making of O’Connor that has plagued him throughout the entire series and makes you wonder why anyone keeps following his decisions. After a heist goes wrong the group starts a war with the Crime boss of Rio and also move themselves to the top of the most wanted list which brings in Federal Agent Luke Hobbs (Dwayne Johnson) to hunt down Toretto. In order to bring down the Crime boss, they have to bring in Tyrese Gybson , Ludacris and others from the previous Fast and Furious’, which again brings in Han Lue which again must make this a prequel to Tokyo Drift. Another fact for the case that Tokyo Drift should never have been made despite it being the best one of the series. the only way this movie was saved and not total hogwash was that it had The Rock in it and had some pretty cool car chases, albeit unrealistic car chases. The acting was mediocre at best and Diesel can’t decide if he wants to be the serious bad boy that he has been the entire series or try and become more of a nice family man which does not fit him at all. 

Thor

3 pipes out of 4

Anthony Hopkins is back everyone! He has returned from mediocre to downright terrible films like The Rite, The Wolfman and Beowulf to show us what he really can do. Now it is not an Oscar worthy part but still better than the before mentioned parts. We are also introduced to little known actor Chris Hemsworth who you may recognize as Kirk’s father in the Star Trek reboot. And he certainly puts on a show. The action is amazing as the story follows Thor (Chris Hemsworht), son of Odin (Anthony Hopkins) as he is banished from the mythical land of Asgard due to his deviant brother Loki who wants to take the thrown from his brother. He lands in New Mexico in front of scientists Jane Foster (Natalie Portman) and Dr. Eric Selvig (Stellan Skarsgård) along with their assistant Darcy Lewis (Kat Dennings). While a romantic relationship develops between Thor and Jane, Darcy is there to lighten the mood with her young college student quirks. Like when they first meet Thor Jane wants Darcy to drive their van into a tornado to which she responds “I am not dying for 6 college credits”. The story continues as Loki tries to manipulate all those around him, even his father, in order to move up in the pecking order for the thrown. This is a film for both the women and the men for the women can drool at the sight of Hemsworth’s ripped body without a shirt and the men can appreciate a total BAMF. I can find very little wrong with Thor, the only thing being that there were Easter eggs throughout the film which hint at the other members of the Avengers and the new Avengers movie but they are not really explained. Other than that Thor was very well done for a comic movie, especially following Iron Man.

Repo: The Genetic Opera

 0 pipes out of 4

This is by far one of the worst movies I have ever seen. It is not as bad as Intolerable Cruelty but the plot is awful, the singing is awful and the acting is awful. It is just a trifecta of awful. The only thing that makes this movie even remotely watchable is the fact that Alexa Vega from Spy Kids fame is in it and it makes you reminisce about the good old days when she was in good kids movies and not total crap. The second redeeming quality is the Grave-robber character for it brings some comedy and he just looks cool. Albeit he brings nothing to the movie and I am still trying to figure out why he was even in the movie. WARNING: SPOILERS AHEAD! The story begins in the not so distant future after an organ failure epidemic almost killed humanity and was only saved by Rotti Largo who created Genco which sells organs to the public. If they can’t afford it he finances the organ but if they fall behind on their payments Largo sends out the Repo man to repossess their organ. It also follows 17 year old Shilo Wallace (Alexa Vega) who has a blood disorder which makes her have to stay locked in her room. Her father has kept her secluded ever since he killed his wife on accident when she was pregnant and chose to save Shilo instead of her mother. As the movie goes on it becomes evident that it was Largo who had poisoned Shilo’s mother in order to get revenge and get Shilo’s father to become his Repo Man. Largo finds out he is dying and wants to leave his fortune to Shilo instead of his three children. This just adds another horrible dynamic to the picture as one of his children is played by Paris Hilton of all people and she is awful. Being that this is supposed to be a genetic opera, there is quite a bit of singing but the songs are awful. The only somewhat good song is sung by, you guessed it, the Grave-robber and it’s even titled Grave-robber. There also an absurd amount of blood and guts, literally, that is totally unnecessary. The Repo man goes around repossessing organs but decides to do it while the people are still alive so they die of blood loss or having their hearts removed from their bodies. Also one of Largo’s children has a vicious temper which causes him to just randomly kill people, and instead of quick deaths, we get to see a nurse bleed out in front of us while the cast sings about gaining control of the company. I am only scratching the surface as to how bad this movie really is so my recommendation is, do not see this movie. I was told to see it because it was so bad it was good which is impossible.

Philadelphia

4 pipes out of 4

A 1993 best picture winner and it completely deserves it. This is easily the best movie that I have ever seen. The acting was absolutely superb and could not have been done any better by any other actors. Philadelphia follows lawyer Andrew Beckett (Tom Hanks), who is gay and has AIDS, is suing his former law firm for wrongful termination. He contracts a former opponent lawyer Joe Miller (Denzel Washington) to take his case to court. Antonio Banderas also costars in the film as Andrew’s partner causing an interesting dynamic between these three big names. Philadelphia brings to the forefront a huge issue that was being dealt with throughout the 70’, 80’s with the misconception of AIDS. Andrew was fired from his job because he contracted AIDS and his work ethic as well as personal life is called into question. What I like best about Philadelphia is that Miller begins the movie with a hatred of homosexuals and fear of AIDS but as the movie progresses we see him to begin to change his beliefs. He is not changed completely by the end which ads a sense of realism to the film. The issue of homosexuality is not the only thing that is called into question for it causes the audience to question all of our views on whether we discriminate in some way and if we were taught to do so by society. One of the best scenes of the film is when Hanks and Washington are going over Hanks’ Q&A of the trial for the next day. As Washington continues to ask Hanks questions, Hanks diverts them by asking Washington his own questions about beliefs. Don’t get me wrong, this is a very difficult movie to watch and at times is quite depressing, it also doesn’t help that you can pretty much guess what happens to Beckett at the end of the movie. This will be the first movie that I have ever rated as a 5 pipes out of 5 and it was completely unexpected. I had heard that it was a very good film but I had no idea how good it was. It will be very difficult for any movie to top the masterpiece that is Philadelphia.

Dead Poets Society

3 ½ pipes out of 4

Find yourself and have your own identity. That is the message of the Dead Poets Society. Robin Williams does a wonderful job as an English teacher in one of his few non comedies. From what I heard from friends and critics it was supposed to be an uplifting film but it was much more depressing than I had anticipated. The film follows a group of young boys who are enrolled in prep school who are charged by their exuberant new English teacher John Keating (Robin Williams) to “Carpe Diem”, seize the day and make their lives extraordinary instead of conforming. The boys take this charge to hart and form group known as the Dead Poets Society where they socialize and let poetry flow through them until issues arise. The question now is do they stick together or abandon all that Keating had been trying to teach them? This is a very emotionally charged drama with the restrictions of private school and of family expectations raining down on the boys. There were a few problems I had with it for there is a love story that includes one of the boys but it is completely kicked to the curb and forgotten when big issue arises. Now I know that it would have been difficult, maybe even callous for the director to tear away from the issue and go back to a love story but he should have thought of that before he even put the plotline in the movie. Other than that I liked it, even with the surprise depressing ending, it ads character and realism.

Beyond Borders

3 pipes out of 4

Clive Owen is known for his action films and not acting films. But put him with Angelina Jolie and you have both an action film and wonderful acting. Now it’s not the action you might expect from Owen but action none the less. Beyond Borders follows an epic love story across three continents. The story begins with Dr. Nick Callahan’s (Clive Owen) desperate plea for help at a fundraiser for fighting hunger where Sarah Jordan (Angelina Jolie) is stricken by his plea and uses all of her savings to bring supplies to Callahan’s camp in Ethiopia. She is driven by what she sees to make it her life mission to help those struck by famine and war. Jordan eventually reunite with Callahan a camp in Cambodia where things go wrong and they are forced to flee but they realize their love for each other. They are again separated but Callahan has realized that relief always comes with a price and he eventually must pay it. With Nick in trouble Sarah must go and find him. The movie has a couple locations where there are either plot holes or it is unrealistic but it remains mostly true to form. It is incredibly realistic with gruesome scenes of famine and war throughout. This film attempts to get the viewer to realize that people are suffering and politics are causing a lack of funding for help. You may want to pay attention to the details in the movie because there are several spots where there is foreshadowing to what will happen later in the movie. Don’t worry if you miss them for you will be reminded of them when the event actually happens. Be forewarned that this is quite a depressing movie and gave me an unexpected ending but also gives you a small grain of hope.

The Source Code

3 pipes out of 4

When going into The Source Code one expects an action thriller without great acting but entertaining. When you come out you are completely surprised in with the acting and message. The Source Code takes you on an emotional journey and question what is the cost of safety. Blackhawk Helicopter Pilot Colter Stevens (Jake Gyllenhaal) wakes up in the source code with no memory how he got there but is told by his one link to the outside world mission controller Carol Goodwin (Vera Farmiga) that he is the only hope to find the culprit who bombed a commuter train in Chicago. He can find the culprit by using a government program called the Source Code which allows him to go back and live in the last 8 minutes of a person’s life who was on the train. The story appears completely predictable from the beginning but it turns you upside down with a completely different ending than predicted. The only real identifiable actor in this film is Jake Gyllenhaal but some may know Michelle Monaghan from Eagle Eye or Made of honor. Even without the big name actors this film brings expert acting exciting action into one great movie.

Hanna

2 pipes out of 4

Get ready for action and depression. Hanna (Saoirse Ronan) is  a secret CIA project that went wrong and her father (Eric Bana) takes her to the Arctic. Once she is ready Hanna is on a mission to kill CIA operative Marissa (Cate Blanchett) and Marissa is trying to capture Hanna. Twists and turns abound with an emphasis on the Brothers Grimm fairy tales. The fairy tales are Hanna’s one grip on a real life because she was raised in the Arctic since early childhood. Hanna is a very depressing movie because whenever a speck of hope arises for Hanna it is immediately crushed by the relentless Marissa who will do anything and kill anyone to find her. The mood is brought up with all the action that takes place throughout the film but don’t go to this movie expecting an ending where it all works out because you will be in for a surprise. There are also a couple of plot holes that need explaining near the end but not important enough to deter you from the movie. Hanna is a good action film similar to Salt in that it has good action but not the everybody’s happy ending.

John Q

3 ½  pipes out of 4

The health care system is pretty messed up right now and this movie shows us just how screwed up it really is. It is a tragic story about a down on his luck father John Quincy Archibald (Denzel Washington) whose son needs a heart transplant but his insurance won’t cover it. In order to get his son the surgery John takes a hospital emergency room hostage until the hospital gets the heart. John Q also stars Robert Duval as the police hostage negotiator and James Woods as a stuck up doctor. I love this movie because both Washington and Duval give heartfelt performances while Woods, as well as Anne Heche who plays an uncaring hospital executive, give a face to the problems with the health care system. The ending does not go completely as you might want it to but it is much more realistic. This is not an uplifting film so if you’re looking for a lovie dovie film you won’t find it hear. It really makes you think about the issues of today and who is at fault.

Limitless

½  pipe out of 4 

Robert De Niro has made some pretty great movies during his acting career but as of late he has chosen bad movie after bad movie such as Righteous Kill, Little Fockers and now Limitless. The film also stars Bradley Cooper but I don’t expect much out of him as a lead role because the best movie he has done was about a bachelor party where he gets rooffied and can’t remember anything. Limitless follows the strife of a struggling author Eddie Morra (Bradley Cooper) who has writers block and his girlfriend just broke-up with him. He runs into a former acquaintance who offers him a miracle drug that lets him access all of his brain. He is immediately hooked and becomes incredibly successful until he runs into huge business owner Carl Van Loon (Robert De Niro) and he runs out of the drug. Limitless had an incredible similarity to Law Abiding Citizen but instead of rooting for the bad guy you are rooting against the good guy. Bradley Cooper’s character makes himself look like a douche and an idiot but at the end of the movie you’re supposed to like that he outsmarted De Niro. When it comes down to it you want Morra to fail and especially not get back together with his girlfriend after she takes the drug and realizes that it changes the person who takes it. The ending also leaves you with more questions than answers because in an epilog there are 12 months that pass where we don’t know what happens. It really says something when the best part of the movie doesn’t come from the movie itself but from the audience’s reaction to the realization that Morra will drink the blood of another human who has the drug in his blood system in order to get the drug.

Law Abiding Citizen

1 pipe out of 4

This is a terrible movie because it had me rooting for the bad guy through the entire film. The story begins with Clyde Shelton (Gerard Butler) witnessing the brutal murder of his wife and daughter only to see the successful attorney Nick Rice (Jamie Fox) cut a deal with the leading man who flips on his partner. You feel for Clyde because he cannot understand why Rice would not prosecute both men to the fullest of the law. It appears that Rice only wants to get a conviction and not do the right thing. In this first part of the movie it appears that Clyde is the protagonist and Rice is the antagonist but suddenly they switch when Clyde takes the law into his own hands and begins killing everyone involved in the case that saw the man who butchered his family get only three years in prison. So apparently the viewer is supposed to feel for Rice now but for me I continued to want Clyde to win because he brought up all the things that are wrong with our system he was trying to fix it. Granted he went about fixing it in the totally wrong way but he still was showing us that we let killers and rapists free on plea deals every day. Law Abiding Citizen was not a total waste of my time because it had decent suspense and I genuinely thought that Clyde might win. There were also cool explosions and it had Gerard Butler as a total BAMF.

All The Pretty Horses

1 pipes out of 4

This movie is just a random series of events with a very general plot of two boys trying to find a better life only to find their way back home. The story follows John Grady Cole (Matt Damon) and Lacy Rawlins (Henry Thomas) as set off in search for better ranches in Mexico as ranching in the U.S. is going down in the 1940’s. They run into a boy named Jimmy Blevins (Lucas Black) who is also looking into the better life of ranching. Once they get a job on a Ranch Cole falls in love with the Rancher’s Daughter (Penelope Cruz) and Blevins makes a huge mistake. This movie jumps from scene to scene with little explanation about what is happening. Case in point, Lacy Rawlins is stabbed repeatedly in prison and you are made to believe that he is dead until John Cole is stabbed and then released from prison and we find Rawlins waiting for him on the outside with no explanation on how he lived and how they got out. It is explained how they got out of prison later on in the movie but it is never explained how Rawlins lived other than they pumped a liter of Mexican blood into him. All The Pretty Horses is also an incredibly depressing movie with a depressing but deep message and that message is the only reason that I can see Matt Damon signed on to this Billy Bob Thorton directed atrocity. That message is human’s are cruel to each other, as demonstrated by the scene where a Mexican police captain drags Blevins out into the desert and shoots him even after the person who paid to kill Blevins himself refuses. This is just a depressing movie with no fantastic acting or fight scenes to rationalize the brutality.

Battle: Los Angeles

2 ½ pipes out of 4 

This is another alien invasion movie and may seem predictable. That is where you’re wrong because this movie is not as predictable as you might think. The director throws a nice right hook to all other alien invasion films that figure out how to kill the aliens and wrap up their defeat in ten minutes or less. Battle: LA follows Sergeant Michael Nantz (Aaron Eckhart) and a group of marines that he is leading into the battle zone and behind enemy lines in Los Angeles during an Alien invasion to rescue civilians trapped in a police station. The Aliens are said to be invading for our resources and the first rule of colonization is to eliminate the indigenous population. Nantz clashes with the 2^nd Lieutenant William Martinez (Ramon Rodriguez) who is a month out of officer’s school and incredibly inexperienced. You may remember Rodriguez from his comedic role in Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen as Shia Labeouf’s quirky roommate but in this movie takes a drastic shift from that role being much more serious. The topic of the military is very close to my heart because I have a brother in the military so I can always picture him in these types of situations. Battle: LA can be quite depressing at times because a lot and I mean a lot of people die. There are several holes in the plot of this film such as if a Forward Operating Base has been destroyed and the marines can’t contact anyone on the radio during most of the movie, how is it that when they need and air strike called in they get right through and the missiles come without delay? There are more like this but the movie does have you on the edge of your seat from the first 15 minutes to the closing credits. There is nonstop action all throughout this film so there are not a whole lot of places to insert great acting scenes. If you are looking for a great acting and great action film like District 9 you won’t find it hear but if you’re just looking for a great action film with small moments of good acting than this is the movie for you. 

The Fighter

3½ out of 4 pipes

Mark Wahlberg has had a lot of hit or miss movies. The Fighter is one of his hits. It is one of the best movies of the year and that is saying a lot with movies like Inception, Black Swan and The Kings Speech. It is an inspirational true story that follows the life of boxer Micky Ward (Mark Wahlberg) and his brother Dick Ecklund (Christian Bale). Micky is a boxer who has always dreamed of becoming world champ but has had a series of bad fights set up by his mother and brother. Dicky is former boxer that turned crack addict who still tries to live in his  minute of fame when he knocked down Sugar Ray Lenard and his mother (Melissa Leo) is unwilling to accept see it so Micky takes the brunt of his mothers neglect. He finds redemption through a bartender named Charlene (Amy Adams) until his family threatens to tear itself apart with his apparent betrayal and this could derail his dream of one day becoming world champion. The Fighter deals with some serious issues such as drug use and serious family dysfunction and for that reason, as well as extensive swearing, is rated R but for the adults out there this is a must see movie. It will have you jumping up and down in your seats and cheering with every punch. The one problem with the movie is that there is no specific main character. Micky Ward is supposed to be the main character but he is out performed by his supporting cast of Christian Bale and Melissa Leo who both won Oscars for their performances. Amy Adams also steals the spotlight from Wahlberg with her not type casted role. Normally Adams plays the innocent good girl but here she goes against her usual image to be a hardened bartender who deals with drunks on a daily basis and it earned her an Oscar nomination. The Fighter will keep you on the edge of your seat all the way through on an emotional rollercoaster and realistic fights.

The Adjustment Bureau

3 pipes out of 4

If you are heavily religious person and not comfortable with seeing movies that question or are about god do not see this movie. Everyone else should defiantly see it. Matt Damon has done it again giving his adoring public another thriller. But don’t go expecting another Bourne because this one focuses more on the relationship between a New York congressman and a ballet dancer. The story follows David Norris (Matt Damon), a prominent bad boy New York congressman who chance runs into the girl of his dreams Elise Sellas (Emily Blunt) in a men’s bathroom. Was it Chance or fate? David has a checkered past and has lost both his parents and his brother before even getting to high school. He has become the youngest New York Congressman at age 24 and is now running for a Senate seat. Once after bumping into Elise, a group called the adjustment bureau says they are never supposed to see each other again which poses David and Elise with the question do they want to fight fate to stay together? At first glance, The Adjustment Bureau looks like an action packed thriller but actually is more of a romantic drama with big thrills thrown in throughout with a big finish. I have not found a movie that Damon has attached himself to that has not either done very well had a powerful message. He reunites with The Bourne Ultimatum screenwriter George Nolfi who makes his directing debut with this wonderful film.  Nolfi has shown that he is a talented screenwriter with such screenplays as The Bourne Ultimatum, The Sentinel and Oceans Twelve and he delivers again. This movie will leave you with thoughts in your head that you didn’t even know existed and question whether life is predestined or if we have a choice.