At The Movies

TOY STORY 3 - After years of patience Ben finally got his wish of another chapter in the TOY STORY saga. With this 3rd installment Woody and Buzz and the rest of the toy gang have accepted reality that their owner Andy is never going to play with them again (he's going to college.) In one last attempt at playtime the gang decide to donate themselves to a daycare facility. But what at first appears to be heaven on earth turns out to be something far worse. We are all big fans of TOY STORY 1 & 2, and overall we liked part 3. However, I was surprised at how dark it was at times. There was one point near the end where the perils were so over-the-top I almost forgot I was watching a TOY STORY movie. The first 10 minutes are fantastic, and the ending is almost guaranteed to pull on your heart strings. Overall, the movie is another winner for Pixar. However, they have raised the bar so high with TOY STORY 1 & 2 that part 3 just doesn't quite measure up. Walking out of the theater Ben said he liked it, but he added that 2 was better.

SHUTTER ISLAND - Directed by the great Martin Scorsese, SHUTTER ISLAND is the creepy tale of Teddy Daniels, a U.S. marshall investigating the disappearance a woman who has escaped from an insane asylum. This is one of those mystery thrillers where you really need to pay attention to what's going on (one quick trip to the kitchen will leave you at a loss.) Overall this isn't one of Scorsese's best films, but I did enjoy it. There's a heavy creepiness to it that doesn't tip over into horror, which I really dug. Cool movie. I heard mixed reviews about this one but I liked it.

ADVENTURELAND - Jesse Eisenberg plays James Brennan, a graduating senior about to enter college. To help pay for the tuition he decides to get a summer job...at "Adventureland." Once he starts he meets Kristen Stewart (TWILIGHT) and a romance soon begins. The trailer for this movie had me thinking it would be a comedy, much like SUPERBAD (same director.) However, truth be told this movie is more of a teen drama, yet I still liked it for some reason. Maybe it was the fact the story takes place in 1987, and the director does a great job of recreating the look and feel of the classic teen drama from the 80's. Or maybe it was the great soundtrack. Either way the film isn't great or anything, but I admit I liked it more than I expected.

BAD LIEUTENANT: PORT OF CALL NEW ORLEANS - Nicholas Cage plays Terence, a drug addicted detective in post-Katrina New Orleans. As he investigates the murders of 5 immigrants he occasionally goes off the rails into drug use and debauchery. I wanted to like this movie, but I couldn't stand it. In fact, I think I turned it off before I finished it. Major disappointment.

QUARANTINE - This is the American remake of the spanish horror movie "REC." QUARANTINE is the story of an apartment building in Los Angeles that is quarantined off after reports surface about the outbreak of a horrifying virus. This is one of those "first-person-hand-held-camera" type movies, and in my opinion it's one of the best. For those of you who don't know what I'm talking about, "first-person-hand-held-camera" movies are when the character in the movie seems to be videotaping everything you're seeing on screen, therefore making the film more documentary-like. Most of the "video-camera" movies I've seen (like BLAIR WITCH PROJECT, CLOVERFIELD, and PARANORMAL ACTIVITY) always leave me saying "why would the characters keep filming while everything is happening to them?" However, in the case of QUARANTINE it makes perfect sense...which is why the movie worked for me. I'll be honest, the whole horror genre has really disappointed me over the past 10 years, but this one was an exception. A fun (and scary) movie that I really enjoyed watching.

OUTLANDER - This is the story of a tribe of vikings who discover a man who has crash landed on Earth from another planet. The man says he has come to Earth to hunt an alien predator, who has been hunting the vikings. If you recall movies like PREDATOR and THE 13TH WARRIOR then you'll know what this movie is like. I thought the trailer was pretty cool, so that's probably how I got sucked into watching it. As ridiculous as the premise sounds I'll admit it wasn't as bad as you may think...but it's nothing I would recommend.