That's My Boy

Starring: Adam Sandler, Andy Samberg, & Vanilla Ice
Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

Occasionally Adam Sandler channels his inner demons and goes back to his roots to make an unbelievably funny movie. Based on his recent track record, it's sometimes hard to remember, but when Adam Sandler is on, he is one of the funniest people alive, and That's My Boy is a prime example of it. This is hands down the funniest Sandler film I've seen in the last 10 years. The story follows a 13 year old boy, who becomes a national celebrity, after he knocks up his 7th grade teacher. Fast forward 20 years and that boy is a has-been, and his son is off the radar, but that's all about to change when dad sees a wedding notice in the newspaper. The movie isn't just funny, it's actually a pretty good story, and the cameos are amazing. I'm certainly not going to give anything away, but even if you're not a huge Sandler fan, the movie is worth watching just for the unbelievable cameos, by people I haven't seen in years. I went in hoping to see a classic Sandler movie and was not disappointed, this is one of the funniest movies of the year and you shouldn't miss it!

Storage Wars

Starring: David Hester, Barry Weiss, Jarrod Schulz, & Darrell Sheets

Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

Two years ago, A&E's Storage Wars came out of nowhere and quickly became one of the highest rated shows on cable. The show is extremely addictive and I watch it religiously, but why? Most people think it has something to with the mystery about what's behind the door or the hunt for buried treasure, as usual; I have a different take on things. The reason this show is as popular as is it, is the buyers themselves. Reality TV is about watching real people in real situations. We like to see people who are just like us, struggling to survive, fighting with assholes at work, etc. The cast of Storage Wars are people that we can relate to and more than that, they are interesting as hell. Every week I can't wait to see what Barry does, who Dave's gonna piss off, and what inappropriate thing Jarrod is going to say to his wife. I believe the show’s popularity has little to do with what's behind the door. It's the unique and interesting cast that keeps us coming back for more. The truth is that doesn't matter if it's storage auction buyers, repo men, meter maids, or hand fisherman, what we want is people we like and can easily relate to in different situation both inside and out of the office, and Storage Wars provides that and then some.



The Great Debaters

Starring: Denzel Washington, Forest Whitaker, & Jurnee Smollett
Rating: 5 out of 5 stars

The Great Debaters is another inspirational tale of the oppressed, but unlike most, this film has the distinction of being pretty close to historically accurate. I was hesitant to see this film, because who wants to watch a film about a debate team? Denzel Washington, however, happens to be one of my favorite actors, so I gave it a shot and learned quite a bit. The debate team was just an instrument, and was comprised of four people who would all go on to play significant roles in the Civil Rights Movement. The films follows award winning author, Melvin Tolson (Washington), on his journey to create the best African-American College debate team in the country, a team that would eventually go on to challenge the debate team at Harvard University. Everything about this movie was extremely powerful and well done. From the language to the graphic imagery to the story and the performances I was completely blown away by this film. I went into it thinking, if it's bad I'll turn if off after a half-hour. Now, I'm thinking about watching it again tomorrow. This is the way historical films should be done, The Great Debaters was fair, accurate, and just a great film!

Into The Wild

Starring: Emile Hirsch, Hal Holbrook, & Kristen Stewart
Rating: 2 out of 5 stars

It was critically acclaimed, full of stars, and Academy nominated, but Into The Wild wasn't for me. The film is based on the true story of Christopher McCandless, a young man in search of true freedom. A recent college graduate, inspired by naturalist literature, McCandless decided to travel to Alaska and live off the land. The film follows his journey, from college graduation and is an amazing story. Emile Hirsch gives an unbelievable performance as McCandless but was snubbed by the Academy. I suspect it was for the same reason I didn't like the film, it is unbelievably slow. The story and cast are amazing, but everything is so sedentary and precise, that you can barely sit through the thing! Some three hour plus films, don't feel anywhere near that long, that's how you know they're great. On the other hand, Into The Wild easily feels much longer than three hours and unfortunately doesn't do the story justice.

Torque

Starring: Martin Henderson, Ice Cube, & Jamie Pressley
Rating: 1 1/2 out of 5 stars

WOW! It's the Fast & the Furious on motorcycles! Torque is a ridiculous film from the producers of the Fast & the Furious, and it's basically the same movie except for a few key points. First they didn't have the budget of the Fast & the Furious which is evident by the stunts, which at times actually looked like a video game. I'm all for stunt men doing impossible things, and I don't mind good computer generated action either, however the CGI in Torque is just ridiculously bad, it is however nowhere near as bad as the acting. Instead of Vin Diesel and the dashing Paul Walker, the producers of this film settled for Ice Cube and some guy no one has ever heard of and trust me, the inexperience shows. This film is just as bad as all the other reviews say it is. Some poorly written, badly acted films, can be entertaining...Torque is not!

Fear Island

Starring: Aaron Ashmore & Haylie Duff
Rating: 3 out of 5 stars

For some odd reason I like things that take place on deserted islands. J.J. Abrams has showed us that there are so many ways to go and that the possibilities are endless, but to be honest I didn't expect much from this film. As it turns out, Haylie Duff isn't a bad actress and Fear Island wasn't a bad movie! This film was exciting, engaging, smart, and pretty well written. Many parts of the story, especially the ending were predictable; however it was still a great story. Fear Island is one of those movies you watch because it appears in your instant recommendations and there isn't anything else to watch, so you give it a chance, and what you find is that it's actually a pretty worthwhile film.

Chronicle (2012)

Starring: Dane DeHaan, Alex Russell, & Michael B. Jordan
Rating: 3 1/2 out of 5 stars

Using just a video camera, High School outcast, Andrew, documents the events surrounding a recent discovery. In the woods, he and his friends discovered something unexplainable, something that gives them supernatural powers. What I loved about this film, is unlike, many many others, these kids didn't take these powers and become superheroes, instead they did what any real life teenager would do and use them for pranks, popularity, and various other things. Also unlike similar "camcorder" films, it wasn't jumpy or choppy and it was quite easy to follow. The first hour of this film was amazing, unfortunately it did go downhill at the end. The whole film was done in a realistic fashion, making science fiction seem possible, until the end, when all hell breaks loose and it honestly just destroyed the whole thing for me. It was such a strong start, but such an awful ending. Most of the cast were newcomers and were very good, the story was also very solid, but this film needs a much better ending if it wants to be considered a classic.

Lack of Updates

Hey folks, I'd like to apologize for the lack of updates recently. My computer was hit with a massive virus that wiped my hard drive clean! I can understand these people who create viruses to steal, but what's the point of creating a program to just wipe out someone's computer? It doesn't make a whole lot of sense to me. I had all my files triple backed up, but my software was not. I had to re-aquire and re-install everything and some things I can't get back like Microsoft Works! If it were something cheap it wouldn't be a big deal, but if you lost your disk, it costs $200 to get another! Please take my advice! Back up your files, hold on to the disks that came with your computer, and update your virus scan and other protective software as often as you can! There are some cruel people out there with nothing better to do and one of them got me good!