Hit and Run

Thank god I saw this movie for free cause it was not worth ticket admission. Dax Shepard stared, directed, wrote, and edited this film, knowing he directed and wrote this, you know its going to be bad. The film did have some hilarious scenes, overall I still found it boring which is incredible to me that he actually made an action film boring. I only went to see this because of Chenoweth, she is barely in 15 minutes of this entire film. I did like that Sean Hayes appears right at the last minute of the film. I was a big fan of his when he played Jack on 'Will & Grace' he is super funny. Bradley Cooper is the lamest bad guy ever, he seemed more like a wannabe bad guy than an actual bad guy. I predict that this movie will tank. So save your money for something more worthwhile, say saving an endangered species of animal or plant, just don't waste your money on this. 

The Expendables 2

If you love over the top action films with incredible and hilarious cast members then this is the movie for you and everyone else. Have you ever wished to see all your favorite classic action stars in one movie? Well 'The Expendables' was every action movie enthusiast's dream come true and 'The Expendables 2' explosively improved that dream with more Schwarzenegger, Van Damme as the Villain and Chuck Norris. This movie was a great starting block for Arnold, who seems to be getting back into making action movies again now that he is no longer in office and needs money to pay off his problems. And as you would expect, Arnold is in many more scenes, has many more lines making fun of his movies and the cast members ages as well, this was a good comeback for him. Stallone was good too, he and Statham played off each other really well. His fight with Van Damme at the end of the movie was AWESOME! I won't give anything away, but the big fight at the end is really, really good. I actually like the female lead that they had this time over what they had in the first movie. The main female in the first film was just a typical damsel in distress, just someone for Stallone to save and look good next to him. The female lead in the sequel is an agent for Bruce Willis character and has some mad skills: she can fight, is strategic, and can fire weapons with great accuracy. If you saw 'The Hunger Games' back in March then you should recognize the new gun man as Hemsworth who played Gale. In the movie, I would say he is less of an actual person and more of a plot device, he dies just to give the cast a reason to pursue and kill the villains. I loved this movie and I am definitely planning to see it in theaters again.   

The Dark Knight Rises

I didn't have much expectation for this film, because of how good the previous film was; this film is actually worse than the first one. There are some good things about this film such as Bane and Catwoman. The bad things about this movie is the story and some of its logic, or lack of logic as it were. I know that this is a movie and its not meant to be realistic, but it doesn't even follow its own rules of logic. I had a hard time following the story, because there was so much they just threw in and didn't give any kind of backstory to explain. The action scenes are of course the best! The bridges blown up and the football field cracking up and falling apart was really quite good. The Villain's motivation is really confusing, 'What are they trying to prove about society and how does their actions in taking over the city and rigging a nuclear bomb justify that?'. Its not the worst movie, but its not the best either there's not much else to say about it; except that: ANNE HATHAWAY ROCKS THIS MOVIE!   

Anne Hathaway as Catwoman opening a safe.

When I first heard that Anne Hathaway was going to be the next Catwoman in the Dark Knight Rises, I was shocked that they picked sweet, cute, funny, quirky, Hathaway as the clever, sexy, sly, and deadly feline villain. She totally took over this film, she didn't play Catwoman, She was Catwoman! Every scene she was in she dominated with her performance and personality. I definitely would nominate her for best supporting actress at the Oscars next year for this role. If you love Anne Hathaway like me, you need to see her in this movie. 

Abraham Lincoln Vampire Hunter

 

"Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter" when I first heard the title of this film and saw the poster for it I said to myself 'WTF!!!'. I can understand making genre mesh-up movies like last summer's "Cowboys vs. Aliens" of course it didn't do very well at the box office. But making a film crossed with U.S. History and Paranormal/Action is just plain stupid. After watching it in theaters, I was surprised that it was actually decent and not insulting to our history or to Mr. Lincoln's memory. The actions scenes in this film are okay, nothing mind-blowing or different from what I have seen before. The horse stampede scene is really cool. The vampire actually picks up a huge horse by the foot and tosses it and hits Abe with it. Abe somehow survives having a horse land on him and axes out the vampire with a silver bullet from his AXE! The only thing that would make this a really great film is if Abe somehow travels to present day to slaughter the entire Cullen family of vampires starting with Bella for being the worst female protagonist in film history (so far). The scenes where Abe makes his famous speeches including his address at Gettysburg are really good, my mom really wanted to get up out of her seat and start clapping aloud when Abe made his big speech at the end of the film. 

Bad things about this film, the logic of the rules they set-up for the vampires are not very well explained, vague, and there are a few continuity issues. For example, through out the film they never explain how silver hurts vampires. We have a scene where the head of the vampires is able to touch Lincoln's silver watch and not react to in it what so ever. However, Lincoln holds the silver watch in his hand and is able to punch through the vampire's chest. The movie explains that vampires do have an issue with sunlight, but never explain how they are able to survive in the sun. The movie gives a few hints that the vampires apply a super sunscreen to protect themselves from the sun, they never say it but they hint at it. The film is based on the book "Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter" so the film seemed it was targeted towards those who have read the book. I know a few people who like it quite a bit, I personally don't really care for the film, also I am just so sick of vampire movies already. I know vampires are of the undead, but DIE ALREADY!!! Let some of the other monsters have a turn in the spotlight already or make some new ones already. If you still like vampire movies or you were a fan of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, check it out in theaters. Other wise, just wait for it to come out on DVD or onDemand if you have Comcast.

Next Time...  The Amazing Spider Man (or at least I hope its amazing!)

Have a Safe and Happy 4th of July!    

Brave

I love, love, love PIXAR films and this is another gem in the Pixar golden crown. Beautiful scenery, good story, really great characters, hilarious jokes, awesome fighting scenes, there is absolutely little to dislike about this movie. The film is about Princess Merida, Pixar's first female protagonist, in medieval Scotland and her relationship with her mother Queen Elinor. Merida wants to live her life her way while her mother wants her to follow their kingdoms' traditions and find her a suitor to maintain peace between all the clans. They hold a archery contest to determine Merida's suitor. Merida enters in the contest for her own hand and hits dead center on every target. This angers the Queen, for Merida went against tradition by participating in the contest and embarrassing the clans for outperforming them. This leads to a huge fight between the mother and daughter. Feeling hurt by her mothers words and actions, Merida rides off into the woods. She then comes across a sort of 'Stonehenge' circle where she is lead by some magic wisps to a witch. She asks for spell from the witch that will change her mother, thus changing her fate. The witch gives her a cake, which she gives to her mother. Her mother takes a bite of the cake and changes into a huge bear. From there the two take a sort of journey together knowing a little bit more of each other and understanding from their different point of views. I don't want to give away the rest of film but it is really quite good. 

What really makes this movie so good is not so much the story, but the characters and the animation technology is what really makes this film so great. Every single character in this film is really great and they are hilarious when they playoff each other and are even funnier when they fight with each other. My favorite character would have to be the King, Fergous, he is just so funny , especially when he is fighting with some of his friends from the other clans or when he is in trouble with his wife. He seems to have a lot in common with his daughter, they both like to make jokes, they like to fight, practice archery, they just seem to have a good relationship. The Queen is pretty good too, I love how much power and respect she carries, she can cease an entire war with one dirty look, now that is real power. As for Merida, I think she is an okay character, I certainly like her more than most than the other Disney Princesses. I like the fact that she is not crazy for a boy or looking for love like other female characters, in fact there is no love interest at all in this movie, I really like that about this movie. At one point in the movie she even has a sword fight with her father in order to defend her mother and actually is able to push him to the ground, that is some major 'bravery' right there. As one would expect from Pixar, the animation and the details in this movie are amazing. The bears they created for this film look like real bears. The most impressive is the waterfall scene, it looks like a real waterfall with real mist surrounding it. Its not Toy Story 3 and I don't it will be nominated for best film, but I have no doubts that come Oscar time it will win Best Animated film hands down.

I have already been to see this movie twice, that is how good it is. This movie is great for everyone, I urge you to go see it as soon as possible to enjoy all the laughs and beautiful scenes Pixar has to offer. 

    

Rock of Ages (80s Glee with bigger names)

I took my dad to see this as a treat for Father's Day, I thought I would hate it but the music was pretty good and that is all. I spent my early childhood years listening to every single song that was performed in this movie. I love to listen to classic 80s music even up to today, rock music was just so much fun to listen to from back then. Clearly this movie was targeted toward older audiences who were teens back in that decade. The cast was great, I recognized every single person in the film, even the 80s musicians who made cameos in it. If you have ever watched the TV show Glee, this is basically a 2-hour 80s version of that, famous people singing other peoples' classic songs.
The story is boring and over done, you know what is going to happen before it even happens. Girl moves to L.A. meets nice boy, share the same dream, love at first site, lovers montage, misunderstanding, break-up, and you all know the rest of the story. The acting was okay, except from the young lead actor and actress, but they performed the music numbers quite well, I was dancing inside my brain as they sang and dance to the songs they preformed. The two young lead characters are more boring than dry, hard, plain toast, I was more interested with what was going on with all the background or sub characters since they actually had PERSONALITIES! If you are a Catherine Zeta-Jones fan, you will be disappointed with her performance in this movie. She is not that bad, she does perform Pat Benator's hit song 'Hit me with your best shot' and she sings it very well, she just wasn't cast as a good character for her. She usually plays these really strong, sometimes evil, sexy, hot female characters, in this movie she plays a crazy woman who has a grudge against Stacee Jaxx and uses her political ties to ruin his career. That is not who she is, she is a strong, sexy woman who can also be dangerous when she needs to be, she makes crazy too crazy. I loved how funny Alec Baldwin and Russel Brand were in this and they made a great team, they just played off each other really well like real best friends. They even sing well together in the duet they share, not great singing voices, but they perform the song well. There is a scene where the two of them work too well together, but I won't spoil it for you, you'll have to see the movie if you want to know. Tom Cruise was okay, he sang very well in this film too. I thought he was just lip-syncing to some other person's voice, no he sang every song himself. I don't know what to think of his acting in this film, I question if he really was acting or was really drunk to get into his character, who is just weird beyond reason, which is good when you are playing a rock star. Definitly not a summer blockbuster! There are only two reasons to watch this movie in theaters: Alec Baldwin with Russel Brand and Tom Cruise as a weird A-hole. If you don't care about those actors then just buy the soundtrack on iTunes!

Next up...
Brave and Abraham Lincoln Vampire Hunter (I hope he is hunting Twilight vampires!)

Freddy's Frozen Custard & Steakburgers

 Happy belated Father's Day to all the Dads, Step-Dads, Father-In Laws, Grandpas, God-Fathers, and so on...
For Father's Day my family and I treated my Father to Freddy's because he was curious about it ever since they opened a few months ago in the shopping mall not to far from where I live. I thought it would be nice for him to try it before he left for his big trip with his buddy. And of course he enjoyed it, and so did the rest of my family. I wouldn't say it was special, I didn't hate it but it was okay, it was just a more expensive 50s themed fast-food restaurant with a drive-thru.



There really isn't much to say (or type in this case) about Freddy's because there really is very little that distinguishes it from other burger places, other than they use steakburgers. We did walk inside the place first, 5 seconds later we headed back out before we lost anymore blood from our ears and drove up to the drive-thru window. I have been to more rock concerts that were more quite and calm than this place. Even though I wasn't inside for very long, I saw enough of the inside to know they were going for "blah". Everything was red and white only and I mean "EVERYTHING" from the floors to the uniforms and the building itself. At least at McDonald's the interiors have a broader color palette. Its a no brain-er! The interior of your restaurant is just as important as how good your food is, and clearly they really don't care about their customer's comfort. As I said earlier it has a 50s theme to it, the 50s died a long time ago burger industry, JUST LET THEM REST IN PEACE ALREADY!!!! If you plan to visit Freddy's, just save your eyes and your ears by going through the drive thru.

Now the burgers and fries are the only thing that does set this burger joint apart from the other burger joints. From the pictures the burgers didn't look very good at all, they looked like shredded meat that was somehow put together. I ordered their #1 Combo (Original Double burger with fries and a Pepsi) and I really liked it. The steakburger was really different from a regular burger made from ground beef, it tasted just like a really tender steak. Hardly greasy, not enough to make you sick or cause your bun to collapse from the grease soak. Their fries are also unique, they are really thin. Thinner than shoestring fires, like the potato equivalent of onion strings you would get on a steak but not curly. Their fries are also crispy but still manage to have some softness when you chew. The food isn't the greatest but it's not the worst. I still prefer Smashburger or Five Guys for better burgers and fries, but I will keep Freddy's in mind if want something fast that is close by.

If you want to try a different fast food burger and fries then try Freddy's just drive up to the drive-thru window if want to enjoy them.