Monsters Vs. Aliens

Now we have had many animated movies in the past created by Dreamworks. We've seen the three Shrek movies, Shark Tale, and one of my favorites, Kung Fu Panda. Now we have another new movie about an alien invasion and the only way to stop them is by unleashing the monsters to stop them. A pretty creative storyline in my opinion. Along with the all star cast including Reese Witherspoon, Seth Rogan, and Steven Colbert as the president, this movie did not disappoint. The movie is centered about a women who is about to be married to a selfish husband(even though she doesn't notice it yet.) But, right before she gets married, a meteor crashes on her and causes her to turn into a giant. The government then captures her and takes her to a facility where other monsters are kept. There she meets four monsters, an overgrown cockroach(Hugh Laurie), the creature from the Black Lagoon( Will Arnet), a giant bug called Insectasurous, and the funniest character in the movie which is B.O.B(Seth Rogen) who is a giant blue ooze. The monsters then go on to destroy and alien race led by Galaxar(Raine Wilson.)
The humor in this movie kept me laughing until the end, the animation was good, and what also made this movie special was the 3-D effects. Almost everything in this movie was in 3-D and the effects were like none I've ever seen. Things were going at my eyes from everywhere. While not the best animated movie ever, this movie was still very enjoyable. 6.5 out of 10.

Marvel Update

-To my great regret, some of the upcoming Marvel Comic movies have been pushed back. In 2010, Iron Man 2 will stand alone. Then in 2011, Spider-Man 4 will come out in May, Thor will come out in June, and Captain America will come out in July. Sadly, the Avengers which will feature all of these characters, will not come out until 2012. It is said that marvel wants Jon Favreau(director of the Iron Man movies) to direct the Avengers and that it why they pushed it back. 2011 will be a big summer for super hero's. Besides the three movies that I just mentioned, Green Hornet will also be coming out that year. Some non-superhero flicks include the last Harry Potter and possibly Pirates of the Caribbean 4.
- CASTING CALL:

• Oscar nominated Mickey Rourke(The Wrestler) has been cast to play the villain in Iron Man 2. The villain's name is Whiplash.
• Scarlett Johansson(He's Just Not That Into You, The Other Boleyn Girl) has been cast as Black Widow, the Russian spy that works for Nick Fury( who will be played by Sam L. Jackson.) She will appear in Iron Man 2, the Avengers, and possibly other upcoming comic book movies.
• Natalie Portman is at the top of the list to play one of the two female leads in Thor. She may be playing Jane Foster which I believe is Thor's love interest; Not positive though.

Race to Witch Mountain.

Race To Witch Mountain is a movie high on action but small on plot detail and special effects. Witch Mountain is a movie about and ordinary taxi driver, Jack Bruno(Dwayne Johnson), who finds two children in the back of his cab one morning. They hand him a big wad of cash, he drives them to this abandoned shack, and he finds out that they are aliens. In order to save their planet, the children must get back to their spaceship which is locked up in Witch Mountain( a top secret government base.) Along the way they are pursued by the U.S. government and an alien assassin sent to dispose of the children.
That's the plot line. The movie doesn't go into much detail about why the children are there and it doesn't let you get to know the characters very well. There were also some small things I didn't think the movie needed, including the character Dr. Alex Friedman (who didn't really do anything in the movie except stand on the side and watch everyone) and a few men from the mob who try to get Jack Bruno to come with them and you never figure out why. The alien killer, which was pretty cool and looked like it came from the same planet as the Predator, also didn't have many scenes in the movie. It seems that it was just another thing for Dwayne Johnson to punch which made up the whole movie.
The special effects weren't the best for a sci-fi movie made in this generation thus making the movie a little less enjoyable. While some scenes like the one where the alien boy stopped hundreds of bullets from killing them were well done, other scenes with explosions and alien tech weren't the best I've seen.
On the other hand, the cast did a good job. In my opinion, everything with Dwayne Johnson is enjoyable. The movie was strictly a fast-paced action flick that's fun to watch while you're eating popcorn. Despite the cast's best efforts, this movie will not be in my list for best action flicks of 2009. 5.5 out of 10.

The Week of March 20th

-Marvel Studios has sadly pushed back many of the productions this week. I'm disappointed but when I think about it, it was almost too good to be true. Next year, Iron Man 2 will stand alone. In 2011, Spider-Man 4 will come out in May, Thor will come out in June, and Captain America will come out in July. Then, in 2012, The Avengers will be one of the first movies to come out in May.
-Marvel Studios is also rebooting several of their franchises. When I say reboot I mean new cast, new director, new everything. The reboots include Daredevil, Planet of the Apes, and Fantastic Four.
-Journey To the Center of the Earth is going to have a sequel. The plot will include elements from different novels by Jules Verne and Jonathan Swift. The movie will focus on a "mysterious island." To me, Journey was slightly entertaining but nothing special. Plus I didn't see it in
3-D. Another movie being made is the sequel to the highly successful Taken, staring Liam Neeson. This movie was almost better than the Bourne movies and in my opinion, Liam Neeson is better than Matt Damon; in this movie at least.

The Week of March 6th

We're already in the third month of the year. WOW! That means that the horrible movie season will be coming to an end near the middle of the month. However, even though the end of bad movie are near, a very highly anticipated movie comes out this Friday. Oh yeah, Watchmen premieres this Friday and the fans can't wait for this blockbuster film. Plus, there is a ton of news this week.

-Here is a list of set dates for upcoming movies.
Eclipse(the third Twilight movie): July 30th, 2010. I expect that to change.
The Green Lantern: December 17th, 2010
Sherlock Holmes: December 25th, 2009
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2: July 15th, 2011
Thor: July 16th, 2010
You knows what is really astonishing? There is another movie that is currently set for July 15, 2011, The Avengers. It looks like we're going to see who has the bigger fan club, Harry Potter or the Marvel comic's mightiest heroes.

-A fourth Shrek movie is in the works and is currently titled, Shrek Goes Fourth. Kind of catchy huh? The synopsis of this movie is as followed: After saving the day over and over again, what else can an ogre do? Well Shrek has settled down as a family man and is starting to miss the old days of chasing off men with pitchforks. That thought drives him to sign a pact with a devious character, Rumplestiltskin. Shrek then wakes up and finds himself in an alternate Far Far Away where Rumplestiltskin is king, evil is in control, ad Shrek and Fiona have never met. Now it is up to Shrek to save the day and find his one true love. This reminds me of a video game storyline instead of a movie. I love the Shrek series but there's a point when you find out that the studio has run out of good ideas. This might be that time.

-Apparently actor Sam L. Jackson has had a change of heart because the other day he signed contract with Marvel for NINE films! Everything I said about Sam Jackson I now take back. This means we'll see Nick Fury in all the upcoming films including Iron Man 2, Thor, Captain America, The Avengers, and maybe a S.H.E.I.L.D. movie. This actor is about to get an extremely huge paycheck.

Oscar Results

The 81st Academy Awards aired last week and Slumdog Millionaire received eight awards including best picture, best director, and best music. The Curious Case of Benjamin Button got the awards for art direction and make-up, Milk got the awards for best actor and best original screenplay, and The Dark Knight received the awards for sound editing and best supporting actor(Heath Ledger).