Stop-Loss

Stop-Loss (Rated R)

Running time: 1 hr 51 mins

Cast:

Ryan Phillipe
Abbie Cornish
Channing Tatum
Joseph Gordon-Levitt

Critical consensus (www.rottentomatoes.com):

*** out of *****

My consensus:

*** out of *****


The premise: A veteran soldier returns from his completed tour of duty in Iraq, only to find his life turned upside down when he is arbitrarily ordered to return to field duty by the Army.

My review: This movie falls into the same category as "The Bank Job". It's a forgettable film. Which is sad, because this is actually a very good one time movie. It has a touchy subject that hits close to home to I'm sure a lot of American families. The real life anger of these families is portrayed well here in this particular story I think. I'm not 100% sure what exactly a stop-loss soldier fully is, they don't really go into details about it, but I got the jist of it. It has some great writing, very good direction, and some solid performances. Especially from Ryan Phillipe (Cruel Intentions, Crash) and yet another wonderful performance from the rising star Joseph Gordon-Levitt (The Lookout, Brick). So put all that together, and we have a really good movie. It's just, it doesn't leave any profound impact in the end, causing you to forget about it. You would think a movie with this sort of story should leave a lasting impact on you...swing and a miss there I guess.

My advice: See it!

Dr. Seuss' Horton Hears A Who!

Dr. Seuss' Horton Hears A Who! (Rated G)

Running time: 1 hr 28 mins

Voice Cast:

Jim Carrey
Steve Carell
Carol Burnett
Will Arnett

Critical consensus (www.rottentomatoes.com):

***1/2 out of *****

My consensus:

****1/2 out of ****



The premise: Horton the Elephant struggles to protect a microscopic community from his neighbors who refuse to believe it exists.

My review: This is an excellent movie. One of the better animated films I've seen recently. I feel like it stayed true to the world of Dr. Seuss and that's all you can ask for. You don't over analyze a movie like this, it's geared towards kids for goodness sakes. With it being a childrens film, I thought the writing was outstanding, the story was sweet, and I loved all these crazy characters. Great voice over work by Jim Carrey and Steve Carell! This is just a really solid, fun movie that I would recommend for anyone of any age!

My advice: Definitely See it!

Shutter

Shutter (Rated PG-13)

Running time: 1 hr 25 mins

Cast:

Joshua Jackson
Rachel Taylor

Critical consensus (http://www.rottentomatoes.com/):

*1/2 out of *****

My consensus:

** out of *****

The premise: A newly married couple discovers disturbing, ghostly images in photographs they develop after a tragic accident. Fearing the manifestations may be connected, they investigate and learn that some mysteries are better left unsolved.

My review: Here we have our third American made, Japanese film ripoff. It's no the worst one of the three, in fact it's sort of in the middle. It isn't awful but isn't really a movie I can categorize as being...good. All it is, is decent. It follows the same formula as every other one of these types of films, so what more can you honesly expect from it or any other film of its kind to follow? I'm getting tired of these movies though. I want a horror film, especially one about ghosts, to be scary. Shutter is not scary. And you know fully well how this movie is going to end if you ever seen any other horror movie of this type. The one thing I liked about it, was the creepy ghost pictures. Real or not, they did a good job at making them. Yikes, is that all I can say about this movie? I guess so.

My advice: Eh, you've seen it before, Skip it!

The Bank Job

The Bank Job (Rated R)

Running time: 1 hr 51 mins

Cast:

Jason Statham
Saffron Burrows

Critical consensus (http://www.rottentomatoes.com/)

***1/2 out of *****

My consensus:

**1/2 out of *****

The premise: Martine offers Terry a lead on a foolproof bank hit on London's Baker Street. She targets a roomful of safe deposit boxes worth millions in cash and jewelry. But Terry and his crew don't realize the boxes also contain a treasure trove of dirty secrets - secrets that will thrust them into a deadly web of corruption and illicit scandal.

My review: I wasn't jumping for joy after this seeing this movie. It was pretty average and standard for my liking. I mean, it's a good movie the first time you see it, but honestly I saw it a while ago and I really don't remember much about it. It doesn't stick in your head as having anything memorable, from what I can remember it was sort of boring. There were almost no good action scenes. The story and performances were interesting enough to save it from being a complete snooze fest. It's based off a true story, which I'm usually a sucker for those types of films. But there were so many characters and I didn't know who was good, who was bad, it was all over the place.

My Advice: Don't waste your time, Skip it!

Forgetting Sarah Marshall

Forgetting Sarah Marshall (Rated R) *Male and female nudity*

Running time: 1 hr 52 mins

Cast:

Jason Segel
Kristen Bell
Mila Kunis
Russell Brand

Critical consensus (http://www.rottentomatoes.com/):

***1/2 out of *****

My consensus:

**** out of *****

The premise: Devastated Peter takes a Hawaii vacation in order to deal with recent break-up with his TV star girlfriend, Sarah. Little does he know Sarah's traveling to the same resort as her ex ... and she's bringing along her new boyfriend.

My review: We have another raunchy sex comedy from the Judd Apatow crew (Knocked Up, 40-Year Old Virgin). I wasn't a huge fan of the teams previous work, but I found myself enjoying this one. Let me put it out there, that I hate this type of comedy. I don't find sex jokes and nudity to be all that funny, I guess I prefer the more down to earth, clean humor. But unlike "Knocked Up" which was riddled with disgusting humor at almost every turn, this film makes its story the main focus and the sex humor is slightly put on the back burner. I liked the story of this movie, it was cutesy and funny. There was a lot of excellent writing that I found to be hillarious. The comedic timing of star Jason Segel (Knocked Up, 'How I Met Your Mother') was spot on and his supporting cast was just as good. I especially loved newcomer Russell Brand he started off kinda quiet, but in the second half of the film he was one of the funniest parts of the whole movie. And of course, the movie has its share of great cameos: Jonah Hill, Paul Rudd, etc. This is a great movie that more than tip toes over that raunch line, but it still works.

My advice: See it!