I wasn’t expecting much from this one so it was a great surpise when I watched it. Paul Rudd has seen a career resurgence lately and Our Idiot Brother is far and away the best I’ve seen him.

Paul plays Ned Rochlin, who is the title idiot brother. He was so good as this lovable idiot. Ned always means well, he just has the terrible habit of jamming his foot into his mouth. He’s got three sisters who are very busy and important people in their own worlds and it’s always Ned who screws them up.

This was really well written, they carefuly avoided making Ned a terrible person which would have killed the movie. I always felt sympothy for him and saw him as a guy who wears his heart on a his sleeve. Couple the writing with Rudd’s acting and you have a great, three diminsional character. There’s a stacked cast here too (Elizabeth Banks, Adam Scott, Rashida Jones, Zooey Deschanel, Steve Coogan, TJ Miller and an awesome godlen retriever) that was great to watch work together.

Our Idiot Brother is movie with a lot of heart that is damn funny at times. I recommend it.

I didn’t think much of Real Steek when it came out last year. Seemed a little cheesy to me. After watching it, I’ve come away more impressed than anything.

Real Steel owes a lot to Rocky. It’s an underdog boxing story set in the not to distant future. Human boxing has been outlawed and robot fighting as taken it’s place. Audiences wanted more unholds barred and feroucious fighting and when robots are pummeling each other, it’s quite the spectacle. Charlie (Hugh Jackman) is a former boxer, current dead beat dad. When his ex dies, his son Max (who he hasn’t seen in 10 years) comes to live with him for the summer.

The set up is pretty standard and while the movie is rather predictable (estranged father and son grow close when they bond over a common interest) the movie won me over with it’s charm. It also helps that the robot special effects are fantastic. Boxing is quickly becoming passe as MMA continues to dominate professional fighting today. The choregraphy and motion capture for the fighting robots was done by professional boxers and supervised by Sugar Ray Leonard. Great idea and execusion that shows off some terrific fighting on screen. I can’t remember the last time I was that entertained watching boxing, The chemistry between Charlie and Max is good and there are some funny moments. There was a surprising amount of light cursing (I think they could have changed it pretty easily without it being awkward) and the robot violence got this a PG-13 rating but I think this is great for kids 10 and over.

At 2 hours it felt a little too long, but it doesn’t hold Real Steel back from being a good movie. Great for a rainy day this fall.

A good sci-fi movie is hard to come by these days. Prometheus was really promising but lost its way. Ener Looper from writer/director Rian Johnson who did Brick (which also starred Joseph Gordon Levitt) which I absolutly loved. Rian also directed two episodes of Breaking Bad which makes him even greater in my eyes.

Looper is a time traveling movie. Joe (Joseph Gordon Levitt) is a “Looper”, an assassin who kills the people that his mob employer send back to be disposed of. Time travel is a possible and outlawed 30 years in the future (the movie takes place in 2044, so 2074 for this time tech) so only the bad guys are using it. Here’s the catch, being a Looper means you’re in a contract with a rather harsh end. You “close the loop” when the mob sends your future self back to yourself so you can kill…yourself. You get paid off and your contract is finished. They do that to server all ties to you being an assasssin and working for them. So if you are a live 30 years (or so) in the future, you’re going to kill yourself.

How is that for mind bending? But there’s more. There’s some (extra) shady busisness going on with the mob and Future Joe (Bruce Willis) isn’t having any of it. Future Joe manages to get away from Present Joe and the chase is on. Present Joe is in a heap of trouble.

So it’s a cat and mouse chase that is so smart an inventive. The set up and execusion is so well done and handled. The cast is brilliant. Looking at JGL with the prothsteics to make him resemble Bruce Willis looks odd at first, but that feeling quickly melted away and JGL plays a younger Willis so well that I really thought I was watching the same person 30 years apart. There’s quite a bit more to the story, but I think that’ll ruin it too much if I say more. Future Joe’s reasoning and methods really push the concept and story forward.

I loved every second of it. Please go see it, this one needs to be a huge success, we don’t get many movies of this quality that offen.

I’ve watched a lot of movies waiting for the Fall TV season to come and most of what I’ve seen can be put into quick hits.

Shame- Michael Fastbender as a sex addict equals Fastbender in a shockingly boring movie. This movie was all hyped up because of it’s subject matter and nudity. I found his character to be so incredibly pathetic and weird that seeing the credits roll was the best part of the movie.

Hesher- Joseph Gordon Levitt is Hesher, a guy who just doesn’t give a fuck. Who is he, where is from, where does he go? No one knows. He befriends a kid, TJ who recently lost his mother and generally hates life. Hesher, through a weird series of events helps the kid through the most difficult part of his life. Liked this one a lot and it took me by surprise. It was on odd but unique and touching story. You’re never really sure where it’s going but in the end the story is a good one. Natalie Portman, Rainn Wilson and JGL are all awesome and Devin Brochu as TJ was really impressive.

Project X- A High School party movie using the found footage directing technique. It’s cast well, the situations get bigger and crazier…even though it doesn’t really do anything terribly new, I thought it was a fun movie.

The Grey- It’s Liam Neeson giving Les Stroud a run for his money! Can this guy do no wrong or what? This time he’s caught in the woods trying to survive. Aside from some awkward looking wolf puppet attacks, it looked awesome and was a fun ride. Really liked the ending.

The Thing- The new one. I’m kinda torn about this one. Carpenter’s the thing is pretty much a masterpiece so it’s really hard for anything to walk anywhere near this universe. I think it did a lot of things right, it looked like it took place in the same time and place, it fits into the beginning of Carpenter’s movie well. The paranoia was played up well and they wisely avoided directly ripping the big moments off from Carpenter. That said. they didn’t really have a huge moment to hang their hat on. They show a lot of the monster frequently and it reminded me a lot of the stuff you see in anime (especially Gluttony from Full Metal Alchemist). I really want to see a making of to see how and why they choose to do things, what’s cg and what isn’t. It looks like they did as much as they could practically, added CG to enhance and full CG where they had to. I’m wondering if just being able to say that they did it with cg makes it less intense. Just knowing it’s digital makes it easier to brush aside [there is some wild shit they did with the attacks]. I got confused a lot because all the guys have beards so they all look alike. When the eating starts it was difficult to remember who was left alive. I’m totally on the fence about this flick. It wasn’t bad, it respected Carpenters movie but there’s just something that wasn’t right. I guess i’m just thinking it shouldn’t have been made which sounds really harsh. That makes it sound like the Psycho remake.

Chronicle is a movie that snuck up on people. There was no buzz while it was being made with no big name actors to draw attention to it. Then the marketing department came up with some great ideas an it caught some curiosity. $100 million or so on a $12 million budget is a cracking good start for everyone involved.

Here’s the story: three high school friends find a hole in the ground that seems out of the ordinary. They go exploring inside and when they make it out they’ve been given telekinesis powers. Slowly they learn to use their extraordinary power and expand what they can do. Soon a power struggle emerges between the boys which quickly spirals out of control.

Chronicle is a bit like a comic book movie, but more established in reality. It’s a “What if…” tale that asks you what would happen if you could move things with your mind? Would you be able to control it and yourself? The classic ethos of “With great power comes great responsibility” is literally told here.

I really liked how this story was handled and shown to the audience. All the actors are good, their motivations clear to understand. For a movie with such a low budget, the FX are done really well. There is some rough compositing and weird fake physics that clearly shows, but for the most part it all works and sells itself well. Really impressive. There’s a lot of great ideas (direction and action wise) at work here.

The choice of going with “found footage” like Blair Witch Project is bold one as you’d think it would really limit on what you’d be able to show as you need a character to hold a camera the whole time. I noticed one or two suspect moments where the camera location would be suspect (near the end, there’s no way you’d hear what the characters are saying in the situation we are shown). The main character, Andrew, is going through a really bad part of his life and decides to record everything. While he learns to use his powers, he figures out how to make his camera float around while doing something else. Not only does this open the doors to camera movement and placement, it also shows how much better he is at controlling his powers than the other two boys. Another character is said to have a video blog, so she is recording everything she does too. While an obvious reach to get another camera rolling for parts where Andrew isn’t around, I let any nagging thoughts go and let it ride.

I’m a big fan of Chronicle, I had a great time watching it. Reminded me a bit of Moon where this little project from the minds of a few ingenious people comes to life on screen. I hope the writer and director continue on from this great start.

This is a very simple review to write. If you are an action fan, you have to see The Raid. I wish I saw this in theaters, for some reason I slept on it and decided to wait for it to hit home screens. Writer and Director Gareth Evans has some serious talent.

Set in Jakarta, there is an apartment complex that is run by a crimelord that no one has been able to touch for years. It’s considered off limits to authorities, until an elite squad of officers are assembled to go in and bring out the crimelord. He’s believed to be on the 30th floor, the very top of the building. The team makes it to the sixth.

This movie is just packed with some of the best fight choreography seen in years. Guns, an alarming amount of knives, fist and feet aplenty go flying for an hour and a half. It’s hard to describe the amount and quality of athletic prowess on display. The direction is expertly thought out and serves up clear widescreen carnage that very few American directors even dare to think about. Really heroic stuff matched musically by Mike Shinoda (Linkin Park).

A must watch, The Raid has it all. Solid actors with a simple and effective plot and a story that keeps you engaged through every tight and explosive action scene. People will be passing this around for years as an example of the best of the genre. If this is just the beginning, the sequel is going to redefine the game.

The Campaign is Will Ferrell and Jay Roach’s latest tag team effort. Calling an audible they take on another sport: politics. Ferrell plays Cam Brady who is a long sitting Congressman for the state of North Carolina. When the Motch brothers decide to swing influence in the favor of their mega corporation they tap the unwitting Marty Huggins (a beardless Zach Galifianakis), an innocent, doe eyed director at the local tourism center.

There’s some really funny parts here, but they’re spread apart pretty far. It’s a big hill and valley kind of ride with this movie. At times it felt a little too real despite all of the more outlandish moments. There’s a kernel of truth to each outlandish set up that kind of marred the experience to me. While fitting for the times we’re in with a good cast, I can’t shake the feeling that this is a better rental than a full ticket price movie.

I’m a huge Batman fan, so I have a obvious bias towards these movies. I love Christopher Nolan’s work and I’ve loved the first two Nolan Batman movies. I like the vision he and his team created and ran with.

I watched Batman Begins and The Dark Knight just before going to The Dark Knight Rises. So glad I did, it refreshed me on each story and the overall arc of the trilogy. A lot comes back into play in Rises and being immediately familiar helped me enjoy the movie even more.

This is a really epic movie, the scope is huge, and coming from TDK, that’s saying something. While the Joker was anarchy, Bane is a more militant and physical threat. Pulling off a huge overthrow of Gotham, Bane takes complete control of the city while leaving its already “disgraced” hero broken and shattered. The villains win for most of this movie, giving a real sense of a phoenix rising mentality to the end of this Baman tale.

It’s a dark and complex world that Bruce Wayne has found himself in. He relies a lot on friends in this one, especially Jim Gordon and most notably Selina Kyle (Catwoman). I’ve never been a fan of Anne Hathaway, but she completely won me over in her take on Selina. Hathway takes a refreshing spin on Michelle Pfeiffers ‘ Catwoman. She’s sexy and sneaky, but she doesn’t have the feral nature that Pfeiffer goes with. She works really well in scenes with Bruce Wayne and Batman. Tom Hardy also impressed me as Bane, a real unique and daring bit of work (which really describes Rises as a whole to me). Heath Ledger as Joker is the Everest of character acting and while Bane really isn’t as strong of a character, his presence and actions are unique and leave a lasting impression. Joseph Gordon-Levitt as police officer Blake is another wonderful addition, he’s one of the best actors working today.

The movie just looks amazing, there are so many amazing shots and set ups, it’s just too much to describe. The vision and scope is immense and matched perfectly by Hans Zimmer’s powerful score. Christopher Nolan does as much in camera as he can and uses CG to augment the special effects only when necessary. Stunt guys all over the place, very little obvious CG elements, the integration of the real and the fantasy is tightly knit together.

Christopher Nolan likes to keep brewing his story from start to finish and that often makes things more messy than it needs to be. At two hours and forty minutes, Rises is a wicker basket of a story. The set up of a cleaned up city that is still rotten, Bruce Wayne’s tortured soul from the events of the last film, Bane’s underground moves to take over, all the chess pieces of old and new characters being moved around. There’s a lot of foreshadowing and if you know the Batman stories, the big reveal isn’t a reveal. When everything is working, I’m completely sucked in to the world. In the first chase scene with Batman, he’s on the Bat Pod when he goes into a tunnel and hits an EMP device to disable the lights and vehicles around him. You see his shadow flitting around the cop cars and then his glorious reveal as he starts taking down the bad guys actually gave me a head rush. A super hero come to life right in front of me. A few minutes later the introduction of Batman’s new ride The Bat from the alley way? Forget it, just so cool it made me smile like a 6 year old. But when the movie missteps, it feels that much more odd, like a jolt to a train car. Sometimes it’s little things like dialog that could have been improved. Then there are the odd bits of comic book logic and/or strange editing (the opening action sequence would leave wreckage for about 20 miles, wouldn’t look like an accident, sudden skips of time that can be hard to keep track of, how did Bruce get from the prison to Gotham and find who he needed right out the gate at just the right time). The choice to make Gotham not look like Gotham from each movie is really odd though. TDK was Chicago and Rises is mostly NYC and Philly, the aesthetic that Begins started was dropped for reasons I can’t think of. Thankfully it’s nothing that ruined the experience for me. Most of the problems I have I think could be fixed with some different editing choices.

As the credits rolled I felt really satisfied. The Batman book that Nolan brought to us in seven years was complete using his own words and images. The end is a mixture of emotions with some awesome visuals (I just can’t keep saying that enough) that filled me with hope. Even in great darkness, good will always be there to fight evil. Now someone give Nolan the directors chair for the next James Bond movie.

After Sam Raimi and company piledrove the Spiderman films into the dirt with Spiderman 3 in 2007, Sony needed to kick start their franchise again (for legal and creative differences). The Amazing Spiderman reboot is the result and it’s pretty much a success.

I consider the first move to be overrated, 2 is a truley great movie and 3 is a complete mess. Here we are given a new cast, new director, new stunt team, slightly new story. Here’s the main problem with the movie: it’s a reboot. There’s really no reason to do an origin story again when it’s only a decade after it was first brought to the movies. This could have just been a direct sequel, ignoring anything that happened in 3. Everyone knows the start so it’s just redundant. That said, it’s done well. A different take on the Peter Parker and Uncle Ben catalyst for the superhero starts us off and thankfully they’ve done with a new villain with Dr. Curt Connors (The Lizard).

I really liked the new cast, Andrew Garfield is a perfect Peter Parker and Emma Stone as Gwen Stacy is a perfect match. I didn’t miss Tobey Maguire at all. He’s more of the comic smart ass here and they have him using mechanical web shooters like the comic as well. It’s a nicely layered movie, it’s a smooth track to setting up the loveable teenager to heroic hero as the stakes are gradually ratcheted up. “With great power comes great responsibility” is well at work here.

The unique fight scenes are great, really pushing the difference between Spiderman and all other superheroes abilities. There’s a great weight to all the hits but the quickness of a super nimble person. It’s a lot of fun to watch him disable people with webbing and then swing around different ways in each scene. The 3D isn’t anything really worth mentioning. It’s used subtly in dialog scenes but there is next to no separation during the big action scenes. There’s some great work done with traveling as Spiderman in the first person perspective, but it looked surprisingly flat in 3D. There either very little visual depth or the background is in such a blur the whole image just turns into a streak. Not worth the money.

I think it’s worth watching, if only to get another one with this cast. Spiderman has some life in him, something I didn’t think was possible after watching 3.

I’ve watched a lot of stuff in the past few weeks from being off work and healing up the old eyeball. Gaming was too much of a strain so I stuck to TV and movies. So much so that it makes the most sense to make a quick hits post for it all.

Tower Heist A good movie until the last act where it turns too Hollywood. Ben Stiller leads the cast of this Robin Hood like heist movie. It’s a fun story, but when they throw plausibility out the window to get to the end, it really ruined it for me.

Safe House Excellent rental. Ryan Reynolds shows up in another movie, this time teamed up with/against Denzel Washington as the bad guy. A fun concept that’s pulled off well. Interesting action scenes, perfect run time, solid movie.

Beats Rhymes & Life: The Travels of a Tribe Called Quest Really liked this documentary on a Tribe Called Quest. Fantastic soundtrack to a terrific story. Taking the viewer back to the real honest and pure days of hip hop, Beats gives the fantastic journey of one of the most influential groups in the game. The nucleus of this is the rift that came between Q Tip and Phife Dawg…a power and respect struggle that stretched for years. Director Michael Rapaport tries to lay everything out as honestly as possible and I think he accomplished that. Keeping it all down to a reasonable runtime restricts the full story and I’m not too sure who was in the wrong. I can see both angles from their specific sides…I’m really left thinking that they’re both in the right. Just personality clashes that couldn’t be avoided. Growing up seems to have helped in the end. Highly recommended.

Jeff, Who Lives At Home An arrested development coming of age tale. I’m a fan of Jason Segel and really makes the Jeff character work. Ed Helms as his brother was great casting, they work well together.

Everything Must Go This one is in the same genre as Jeff, Who Lives At Home. Will Ferrell plays Nick, a middle management type at a car dealership who has an alcoholic relapse. It costs him his job and his wife, planting him squarely on his front lawn for some self-reflection and character building. I’m a Will Ferrell fan and I like when he takes the roles where he’s not an athlete of any kind. With a more grounded role he doesn’t do anything wacky here but he is a sad character. Sad is actually too strong of a word, he’s just in a low place in his life. While being sad and angry with his life, he doesn’t grate on you. Will brings a certain level of compassion and likeability to Nick and his growing relationships with his neighbors Kenny and Samantha is a good one. While this isn’t really an original tale (changing your life, moving on, father/son relationship) it is a solid one.

Warrior I’ve read a lot of good things about this one, but the entire time I watched it, I couldn’t stop thinking about how much better The Fighter is. It’s easy to compare the two with the story focused on two brothers and fighting (MMA and Boxing), but I thought the characters of The Fighter were just way better. While Warrior is well made with some good acting (I like Tom Hardy a lot), nothing about it made me think that The Fighter is not the better use of the medium.

The Woman in Black I watched this movie specifically for Daniel Radcliffe and it’s so boring that I wish I didn’t. Dark hallways and jump scares fill this movie and that’s about it. Don’t bother, just watch one of the Paranormal Activity movies if you are looking to scratch that ghost story itch.

Underworld: Awakening Kate Beckinsale back in skin tight lycra suit! Besides the obvious eye candy, Awakening continues this competent Werewolf Vs vampire franchise. Enter a new found daughter for Selene to protect and the stage is set for some more carnage. If you like the other Underworld movies, dive right in. If not, it really doesn’t mess with the formula so you won’t be missing anything.

Brave is a beautiful story from a beautiful company. Pixar has quite the track record in animated films and I’m happy to see Brave continue the tradition. Family values are the center piece of this one which is always a solid foundation to build on. Mix in some fairytale mythos and you’ve got a movie that will be remembered fondly for generations.

Princess Merida is a very strong willed and determined young woman. When thrust into the tradition of betrothal, Merida rebels and mistakenly unleashes a curse that threatens to ruin everything she knows and cares for. It’s a simple tale with a neat little twist filled with endearing characters that you can’t help but root for.

As with every release, Pixar updates their visual game with some of the best animation in the world. The landscapes are just stunning, the character designs are unique and charming and all the special effects make for a truly believable world. I was surprised at how much slap stick humor was in this one, but I didn’t think it distracted from anything. The voice cast goes a long way too, some great performances throughout (Kelly Macdonald in particular, I’m a big fan of hers).

The Pixar name sets a certain bar of expectation and I think Brave fits into the family very well. With the two Cars movies giving me the only sense of “ho-hum” from this studio I am happy to see this return to form. It’s a really well made story for kids and adults, with a real vibe of love and care pushing it forward. There’s a fun lead in, a dramatic turn and then a courageous mad dash at the end. Now while it’s not my favorite Pixar movie, Brave is better than most movies released today.

30 years after making his last science fiction movie, Ridley Scott returns to the genre with ! A prequel to Alien, the hype behind this movie was at an all time high just before it’s release. A tall hill to climb for any filmmaker, most seem pretty disappointed.

I liked it. It’s definably not as good as I (and everyone) hoped, but after watching and reading about online, it’s clear that a lot was cut out. The first 2/3 are very strong it’s the last act where a lot of the logic of the story swerves around and the guess work seems to take hold. With the heritage of the Alien franchise (the original and the first sequel are cinema classics) at it’s genesis in this movie, it didn’t answer a whole lot and that bugs a lot of people. The set up is great and easy to understand. In the not too distant future, archeologists find some evidence of a civilization that points them to explore the stars in search of answers. It might even be an invitation. Hop on board the Prometheus along with the crew, it’s going to be a promising trip! Cue the horror show! That’s all great. The buildup to the panic is great too. It’s interesting, engadging and you’re always wondering what is just around the corner.

The pacing of the movie seems a little off. You find yourself watching on uneasy footing but the set up and follow through don’t work well enough in the end so instead of an lasting adrenalin rush, you’re left feeling way more confused than you ever should be. There’s really weird character behavior too. The part that really bugged me was after an emergency procedure, Shaw doesn’t even try to tell anyone about what happened to her. The set up from a crew mate, and the seriousproblem that is developing at an alarming rate. All stuff you’d be screaming at to anyone you saw. She’s practically crawling down hallways, sweating like a maniac for the rest of the movie and no one bats an eye at her.

This all sounds really negative, but I did enjoy the movie. It just had surprising problems. On a technical level, Prometheus is a masterpiece. It’s one of the best looking movies ever made, the visuals of direction and production design coupled with the best special effects in the business is a site to behold. Quality acting too, even if some actors (Idris Elba) are underused (Michael Fastbender is absolute tops and I liked Noomi Rapace a lot).

Each movie in the Alien franchise is very different, Prometheus continues (or starts it, if you take the story timeline into account) that linage. I think this movie will ultimately be remembered fondly. I’m looking forward to seeing it again to see the stuff I missed, there’s a lot to take in and digest. The home release should be packed with extras.