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.