Dinner for Schmucks in a Nutshell

You know those comedies that come out every so often that, though very stupid, are hilarious? Some examples are "Napoleon Dynamite", "Nacho Libre", and the best of all..."Dumb and Dummer." Well "Dinner for Schmucks definitely fits in to that category. With the mix of Steve Carell's crazy character, his many mice-art collections, and an IRS worker who thinks he has the power of mind control, this movie conatins some of the weirdest, most random things that could all be together in a film. But, sometimes that's just what a good comedy needs.

When Tim (Paul Rudd) needs a promotion, his boss says that the only way he can get it is if he comes to a dinner. Now this is no ordinary dinner because each guest must bring someone that all the other guests can make fun of. For example: a lady who can talk to dead animals or someone that thinks his wife is a ventriloquist doll. Well when Tim meets Barry, who collects stuffed mice and puts them together in different scenes like "The Last Supper," Tim believes he has found his fool. But when he starts to spend a little more time with Barry, a friendship starts to grow and Tim might realize he was wrong about his new pal.

Bottom line...this film made me laugh almost the entire two hours. Slapstick comedy, funny lines, or just downright "so stupid it's funny" elements were scattered throughout the movie and it's probably one of the funniest films I've seen this year.

The Sorcerer's Apprentice

Who would have thought that you could create a two hour film based off of a five minute animated musical short? Sure enough, big-producer Jerry Bruckheimer has teamed up with Nick Cage to create a magical story very loosely based off 1940's "The Sorcerer's Apprentice", a short included in "Disney's Fantasia" that stared our favorite magical mouse. But does this new adventure capture the magic that Mickey did 70 years ago? Sadly that goal is next to impossible to achieve.

It's 740 A.D. and the wizard Merlin has trained three apprentices, Balthazar Blake (Cage), Veronica (Monica Bellucci), and the back-stabbing Maxim Horvath (Alfred Molina). Horvath betrays Merlin and his two apprentices and sides with the evil sorceress, Morgana le Fay (Alice Krige). A battle ensues between the five characters ultimately resulting in Merlin's death and Balthazar trapping Morgana in the Grimhold, which resembles a nesting doll. Before his death, Merlin gives Balthazar his dragon ring and instructs Baltahzar to seek out his successor who will be known as the Prime Merlinian because only that person could kill Morgana once and for all.

Balthazar searches for centuries for the Prime Merlinian. Along the way he defeats foes trying to release Morgana and eventually defeats Horvath, trapping them all in the doll. Finally Balthazar finds his magician and his name is Dave (Jay Baruchel) who is a physics wiz at New York University. Balthazar tells his story to Dave and the boy agrees to train with him and help defeat Morgana. But things will get complicated because Horvath escapes from his prison and he plans on bringing a few friends to help bring down the two heroes.

There are two things that "The Sorcerer's Apprentice" relys on and they are visual effects and action scenes. The CGI was impressive whether it was a dragon tearing up Chinatown or a steel eagle from the Chrysler Building coming to life, everything looked good. Next to that the movie was pretty much a non-stop action roller coaster that ranged from wizards hurling spells at each other to car chases through the streets of Manhattan. However, there must be more than just good visuals and action to make a film decent, the disappointing "Transformer 2" proved that statement.

Now about the connection to this film and the cartoon on which it is based. There is really no similarities between the two with the exception of one scene where Dave tries to uses mops and brooms to clean his apartment (while the music from "Fantasia" is played) which is an ode to the animated short. Besides that it puzzles me why the makers of the film bothered to say that it is based off the cartoon and not just say it is its own film. But as it turns out, that one scene was probably my favorite in the film.

The main problem with "The Sorcerer's Apprentice" is this, at this time in cinema history where "Harry Potter" rules the magic/wizard genre, no film can quite live up to the originality and greatness of the "Harry Potter" films. "The Sorcerer's Apprentice" did not bring anything new or original to the table and ends up being just another visually impressing popcorn film that will very quickly be forgotten. I give it one and a half stars out of four.

"The Sorcerer's Apprentice" has a running time of 110 minutes and is rated PG for fantasy action violence, some mild rude humor and brief language.

How to Train Your Dragon in a nutshell

Who doesn't love Dreamworks films? I mean there's "Shrek" (awesome), "Madagascar", and "Kung Fu Panda." The newest addition to these characters is Hiccup, a scrawny son of a viking king who constantly has a pest problem on his hands...dragons. Hiccup was never meant to kill a dragon with his bare hands like everyone else. Instead he tries to use his inventions to do the job and one day it works. Hiccup doesn't catch just any old dragon, he catches the fastest, most dangerous kind of dragon called a Night Fury. When Hiccup realizes he can't kill the dragon, he decides to train the dragon and comes to name it Toothless (due to the fact that at first, the dragon seems to have no teeth.) The two embark on an adventure as Hiccup realizes that the dragons are nothing like the vikings make them out to be. This journey includes laughs, thrills, and a dragon so big that, if this wasn't a kids movie, would have killed all the dragons and vikings. Like all Dreamworks films, the animation is stunning. The different kinds of dragons, variety of vikings, and the scenery showed that the people at Dreamworks are moving in the right direction. The script was funny and contained absolutely no cheesy material. The films plot was firm and didn't wonder off into unneeded side stories *cough* Transformers 2 *cough* and the story was enjoyable and original. By the way, for some unknown reason, knowing that the head viking was voiced by Gerard Butler (300) made me enjoy the character more (like when he was laying the beat down on multiple dragons). So, in a nutshell, go see "How to Train Your Dragon." It's just proof the Dreamworks is getting closer and closer to topping Pixar.

2012 In A Nutshell

OK, so most people know that disaster films tend to suck right? Well I walked into the theater expecting nothing but special effects and death but fortunately came out happier than I expected.
In "2012" a father and his kids take a trip together to Yellowstone National Park(which is rumored to soon blow up). At the same time, it just so happens that the Earth's crust is breaking apart and people fear that the apocalypse is at hand. Because of this the government tries to devise a plan to keep everyone safe from harm by building giant ships that can hold hundreds of people and animals. Meanwhile, while the government is sorting out their plan, the innocent family at Yellowstone starts to witness signs of the destruction. This then leads to a number of disaster sequences that include thousands of people dieing and countless cities getting destroyed.
Now of course the special effects were sweet and were basically what made up the film. Other things I wasn't expecting included good acting, comedy, and heart. Sacrifice is immense in "2012". One of the not so swell aspects included the cheesy dialogue and situations. For example, the main character is in a RV that is about to plummet down deep into the Earth but at the last second...we see him crawl out of the giant crevice with no harm done. Bottom line, "2012" is probably worth seeing if you want a fun filled action film with kick-butt CGI. 2 stars out of 4.

Zombieland in a Nutshell.

Occasionally, if I see a movie a week or two after it comes out I'll do what I'm calling a nutshell review which means that it will only be one or two paragraphs summarizing the film. My first nutshell review is the R-rated zombie flick, Zombieland.
Within the first five seconds of the film you see a zombie tear out a piece of human flesh and start devouring the person's insides. Then it flashes to all kinds of cannibalism with people being eaten, zombies being shot, people getting thrown out of their cars and splattering on the road...and that's just in the first five minutes. Yes, Zombieland is defiantly the most disgusting movie I've ever seen. But it had plenty of laughs, loads of great action and showed us a crazy world where in order to survive you have to "nut up or shut up."
In Zombieland we see two characters, Columbus and Tallahassee, who, we find out later on, are both looking for a family to not feel as alone in the apocalyptic world. However, at first, Tallahassee doesn't show it. Instead, he does all he can to kill all the zombies he can find in a number of different ways. Soon the two find two other girls that are on their way to California and eventually they decide to team up. Together they travel across the country fighting zombies and growing closer to each other and becoming a family. One of the last lines of the film were, "We had hope, we had each other."
This film had plenty of laughs throughout the entire film both physical and verbal. This film also featured the best actor cameos and one of the funniest scenes I've seen all year. The action was amazing. It was a truly fun film to watch. Just to give you a little taste...Most of you know the swing rides they have at all the fairs where you get into a chair, it lifts you up, and it swings you around right? Well in the climax, Tallahassee runs up, jumps on this ride holding on with one hand, and shooting zombies with a machine gun with the other. AMAZING!
The only downsides to this film to me was that, since I don't have a strong stomach, I felt disgusted with the first ten minutes of the film. Also, the movie was decorated with f-bombs and other cursing that was unnecessary. However, Zombieland was a great film that I won't mind spending money on when it comes out on DVD. 2 stars out of 4.
Zombieland is rated R for horror/violence, gore, and language. It has a running time of about 80 minutes.