He's Just Not That Into You

He's Just Not That Into You: I went into this movie with low expectations and to my surprise the movie was not all that bad, however, it was not a great romantic comedy either. It can best be summed up as “middle of the road fare”. The film is a collage of storylines dealing with different relationships between men and women. The movie has a rather large cast consisting of Jennifer Aniston, Ben Affleck, Jennifer Connelly, Justin Long, Drew Barrymore, and Scarlett Johansson. I know what you are thinking…where the hell is Hugh Grant, couldn’t they squeeze him in somewhere? I would sum up the laughter level for the film as “chuckle worthy”. It did not have any hard laughs, but at the same time it avoided stepping into any “roll your eye” moments. I guess it was the best I could ask for…

Slight "Pick It Up"

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Valkyrie DVD

Valkyrie: Jerry Maguire dons an eye patch and plots an assassination attempt on Adolph Hitler. Although we know how the assassination attempt turns out, the movie still does a fine job of stirring up some suspense. Cruise does a reasonable job of blending in, I mention this because he normally plays “Tom Cruise” and that can be distracting in a period piece. Here he plays Claus Von Stauffenberg, a colonel in the German army who was brave enough to plant a bomb inside Hitler’s headquarters. The film does supply one action scene on the battlefield, but make no mistake, this is more of a tense thriller than it is a war movie.

"Pick It Up"

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Taken DVD

Taken: Liam Neeson stars in what amounts to be a glorified “B-Movie”. Liam plays an ex-spy whose 17 year old daughter gets “taken” while on her European vacation (yes, it is as simple as the one word title). He sets out for Paris to find her and to get his revenge against the bad guys who took her. Hand-to-hand combat is the choice for most of the action with the main character mowing down people like he is in the Nintendo game Kung Fu. It all happens too easy and too fast, thus never letting the viewer care about the outcome. If it was a lesser known actor in the lead this would have been a direct to DVD release. That said, even with Liam in the movie I still thought the acting was dreadful, especially by the girl playing his daughter (I would have let her be taken).

“Kick it to the Floor”

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Nothing But The Truth DVD

Nothing But the Truth: Kate Beckinsale anchors a rather large cast in this thought provoking film. Beckinsale plays Rachel Armstrong, a political reporter for a Washington D.C. newspaper. She writes a story that accuses the President of ignoring vital information reported to him by a covert CIA agent. In her story she names the CIA agent which causes the government to come after her for breaching national security and to give up her source. When Rachel will not name her source she is held in contempt of court. I really appreciated the way the subject matter was handled. The film leaves it up to the viewer to determine who is right or wrong as this issue is not at all black and white. For this reason, the film opens up a dialogue for conversation once the credits roll.

"Pick it Up"

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Marley & Me on DVD

Marley & Me: This is the perfect movie for Jennifer Aniston to star in. She really can’t act, so you put her in a film that is a layup in the tears department. I mean who is not going to be touched by the story of a family dog shown from when he is a pup all the way to the time when they have to put him to sleep? (not a spoiler, we all know the dog dies at the end) The movie as a whole is below average at best. The same gag of Marley either chewing something up or running wild is used repeatedly to the point that you start to get annoyed of the canine. Meanwhile Owen Wilson plays more of a straight character that supplies very few laughs. If he is not being funny on screen, I notice that I start concentrating on his nose….and wondering what all went wrong there. The film does do a fine job capturing the special love a family has for their dog and vice versa, but that is not enough to save it from a trip to the pound.

“Kick it to the Floor”

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