If you are looking for a fun vampire movie, might I suggest Fright Night. This remake of the 1985 movie of the same name sees Colin Ferrell as Jerry. He’s the Fright in Night. A vampire of extreme methods and a zest for being a vampire. He moves in next to Charley (the always awesome Anton Yelchin) and it takes the disappearance of a friend that tips off Charley that Jerry isn’t human.

It’s a movie that doesn’t take it’s time to get to the point. It throws the Twilight style of vampire far behind and goes for the pure monster angle. Real refreshing to see, the cast is all great and it’s really well paced. It’s a good looking movie too. I only have 2 complaints.

Some of the CG effects are so bad it’s distracting. Terrible compromising, really awkward human animation, it’s easy to tell when the CG takes over. My other complaint is some weird acting by Colin Ferrell. He’s a great actor and he plays an outstanding villain here. But for some reason he decideds to really ham it up. It’s like watching vaudeville or something. The scene where he goes to Charley’s and asks him for some beer took such a weird turn I thought I was watching outtakes. At this point Jerry knows he’s been made and Charley is doing his best to stay cool and not tip his hand. So their interaction would be much different from a normal conversation, but it’s played so wrong you can’t help but laugh.

Aside from that, it’s a great rental at the very least. Easy to skip, I’d recommend you check it out for some good movie monster fun.

I’m a sucker for Greek and Roman mythology/time period movies and shows. It’s an intresting period that lends itself to the cinematic lens. Greek gods are always cool, I’ve been a fan with the likes of the Hercules and Xena TV shows from the 1990’s all the way to Spartacus on Starz today. Immortals, which was released late last year, fits the mold well.

Immortals is the story of Theseus versus Hyperion. King Hyperion is ravaging his was across Greece on the hunt for a legendary bow that has the power to unleash the Titans on humanity. If he succeeds then it means the end of mankind. The god Zeus favors Theseus, seeing the best of humanity in him. Over the years he’s been gently guiding Theseus, preparing him for this time when he is most needed.

The film most resembles the movie 300 with its digital backgrounds and blood. I really like the look, it’s a very grand and silky looking world, even when shown the most barren of landscapes. Henry Cavill as Theseus is really good and I love Mickey Rourke as Hyperion. He’s a great actor for a villain and unlike Iron Man 2, he’s used to great affect here. The action scenes are rather quick, but there’s good amount of them and each one is fun to watch. The score is a perfect fit as well, making for a fun movie. It runs about an hour and 45 minutes, which I thought was perfect. A well made film, even if it is a bit by the numbers. I’d put this easily above Colombiana if you are looking for an action movie to watch.

Hugowas a big favorite at this years Oscar awards. Director Martin Scorsese marks his first kids and 3D theatrical release in his long, historic career.

Hugo Cabret is an orphan who lives behind the walls of a train station in 1930’s Paris. When his father tragically dies, his uncle comes to pick him up to live and work at the train station. Bringing only the clothes on his back and the automation that he and his father were working to fix, Hugo learns to keep all the clocks running in the station. The mystery of the automation and another resident of the train station collide in front of Hugo, leading him down a new path of his young life.

This was a pretty cool movie and the 3D work has been alleged to been tops, but I watched it in trusty 2D. The main stars, Asa Butterfield and Chloe Grace Moretz are two of the best child actors working today. The whole movie rides on them and they’re both stars (Chloe in particular is really fantastic, she’s starting to blow up and should have a hell of a career). My only complaint is that the movie takes way too long to really get going. It’s a slow build up to what is a real treat of a late second to third act where everything comes together and the story telling is compelling and interesting. There’s a good 10-15 minutes of meandering that could have been trimmed. I could see it boring any young viewers who would never make it to the end. That said, it’s a good movie that really shows Scorsese love and care of cinema.

It feels a bit redundant to write a review of Marvel’s Avengers at this point since the entire country turn out this weekend and loved it. So I’ll just throw on some more praise to the pile.

Easily the best Marvel movie, if not the best comic book movie made yet. The Avengers is a huge movie with 6 major superheros throwing their weight around. It’s been a long time coming, the pieces of this adventure being put in place in the last 5 Marvel movies. Now, with an external threat to Earth, only the power of the Avengers can save us!

Writer/Director/Champion of the Nerds, Joss Whedon carefully crafted and brought to life an amazing ensamble of superheros. He juggles these characters in both dialog and action so well he should get an award just for that. It could have been a disaster (see X-Men 3) but his knowledge and love for these decades old characters shines through at every turn. They’re all distinct people with their own issues despite their tremendous physical and mental capabilities.

Mark Ruffalo as Bruce Banner/Hulk is my favorite. He’s the newest cast member (he’s the third actor to take the role) and he portrays the stress of holding the Hulk within him so well, you’d swear he’s not acting. The talk between Tony Stark (the always popular Robert Downey Jr.) and Bruce Banner in the lab was a real stand out for me. Two guys on the same wave length with seemingly opposite problems are actually shown to be pretty similar. Plus, when the Hulk shows up he steals every scene. His action segments are the best and Joss gave him some of the funniest moments in the movie.

One character never completely dominates the movie though. They all get their time to shine: alone, as a pair or in a group. Everyone is used and used well, the dialog is very sharp and surprisingly funny. We finally get to see Iron Man really do his thing in action (something I thought his two movies never did enough of) as well as Hawkeye and Black Widow.

The final act is really exceptional, with so much careful planning and foresight. It’s a massive action set piece in the NYC and the clarity and pace is second to none. There is so much going on, the Avengers are constantly engaged in different places and in different groupings, but you never get lost. You watch as they take down bad guys by themselves, then quickly see a team member help them out with such beautiful power and choreography. Iron Man and Captain America work together on the street at one point while Hulk and Thor just crush together while zooming around on enemy aircraft. Assaults from all sides, all the time! Truly something to behold. I found myself smiling all the time as they worked together in these brilliant ways.

It’s about 2 hours and 20 minutes long and any complaints are really just nitpicking. It takes a bit for the movie to really get rolling and you can think of more than a few plot holes (as is the case where you are dealing with super heroes. You need to just accept some things and keep going) if you really dissect it. The good far outweighs the bad and a new bar for comic book movies has been set.

Simply one of the best horror movies to come out in years. That’s my summary. Cabin is such a fun and inventive take on horror movies. The core of the movie is why people are horror fans; it’s intense, it’s creative, it’s funny. it keeps you guessing and you see people get fucked up.

It’s a mash up of the entire horror genre. The set up has been done forever: five college kids go to a cabin in the woods for a weekend break. Bad, mysterious things happen to be at the cabin waiting for them. The explanation and execution for the madness is such a good idea that it’s amazing it hasn’t been thought of before. But that’s usually the case, brilliant stuff is usually really simple and straight forward, it just takes the right mind to come up with it.

It’s best if that’s all you know about the movie before seeing it. The screenwriters tip their hat to countless horror movies and their established hooks and cliches. It’s like a amusement park ride that never physically moves you, but when it’s done you have a stupid grin on your face. Joss Whedon is on an unbelievable roll. Go see it!

The Hunger Games has been a long time coming, the ravanous fans of the book series devouring every bit of news from the production. So now it’s out, a few box office records have been broken and I just saw one of the most disappointing adaptations in my recent memory. I read the book about a year ago and leaving the theatre I felt like the essence of the book was missing.

First the good. Loved the cast. Great choices, mostly great performances and everyone looked how I thought they would in my head. Soundtrack is equally solid, music and sound effects really work in every scene. Special effects were mostly good as well. The presentation of the Tributes is a good example of the teeter totter effects work. The fire costumes for the Boy and Girl on Fire was nailed…but the crowd looked so fake it was distracting. Clearly a green screen backdrop that’s done in countless movies but just didn’t composite well here. A mild complaint, but that kind of stuff really jumps out at me.

Now the big draw backs for me: the script and the direction. Most of the book is Katniss’ internal dialog and that’s how you learn about most of the world she’s in and most importantly her feelings and intent toward the Games (and Peeta). In the movie, a lot of that is done with facial expressions or added dialog from other characters (like the explanation of what Tracker Jackers are). This was a really hard book to adapt and I really don’t know how else to tackle it. I never felt like I understood Katniss all that well or most of the people around her. Plus, the pace of the movie is really fast (and still clocks in at like 130 min) so that compounds the feeling that there are these big gaps in the story telling and characterization. While some of the scenes worked just as intended (Katniss and Rue is probably the best) others come off as really hokey and melodramatic (the cave scene with Katniss and Peeta).

Now for the direction. Holy crap, did Gary Ross ask Paul Greengrass to do most of the work for him? I can’t think of a movie with more close ups in it. It’s insane. The camera shake during action scenes is completely out of control. I’m going to go out on a limb and say that was done because they were terrified of getting an R rating. The very start of the Game at the Cornucopia is a prime example. That’s a very important scene and it’s very chaotic on the page. But it’s shot so wild that your spacial reasoning is sent reeling, it’s so hard to understand where and what anyone is doing. The violence is extremely vague, you more or less see flailing around cut with running, a still shot of someone hiding, more flailing with shaking and then maybe a spot of blood cut back and forth with shaky running and a body that is laying on the ground. Shortly after that scene, it’s announced that 13 of the 24 tributes have been killed. I think I saw three. It was a complete surprise that so many were killed. Every action scene is shot like that. I understand their concern with the violence part of it, but consider the source material! It is kids forced to kill each other, you can’t avoid it. Now I’m not saying that it should be a slasher movie, but the way it was done here just wasn’t right.

The close ups drove me nuts too. I was honestly shocked at how close up just about everything was filmed. It made everything feel so narrow and claustrophobic. The Potter movies feel like they exist and operate in a complete world, Hunger Games felt like it was taking place in 3 rooms, a train car, a gym and a 1 acre plot of a park. It seemed so weird to me, it felt like the story was so compressed that the visual scope of the world was too. Was it budget constraints? You just see tiny pieces of things, and when they do blow things out (like the Presentation of the Tributes I mentioned earlier) it looks fake. So that just made me think “well, they’re just in a room surrounded by green screens, not in an huge arena or open area. I could never sustain the belief that I was watching an event that takes place in the future.

A lot of people compare this to the book and movie “Battle Royale” that was made 12 years ago. They share the same core concept; the government forcing the young population picked by a lottery to fight to the death in contest as punishment. But that’s about it, they exist on 2 opposite sides of the same line. The set up, story, characters and execution are completely different. Battle Royale knocked me for a loop when I first saw it. It totally embraces and never looks away from the horror of it all. It’s more of a thriller/horror movie than HG and I really enjoyed that a lot more. The Lighthouse scene in that movie is one of the most intense things you will ever see. In fact, BR just hit English DVD/Blu for the first time and I highly recommend it.

This experience reminds me a lot of what I thought about The Last Airbender. Phenomenal source material that just didn’t survive the cramming and smashing to get it all into a 2 hour film adaptation. It’s just not as good as it should and could have been.

Some quick hits to completely catch me up!

Contagion– Remember the movie Outbreak? This is a new viral threat movie, but minus those pesky monkeys. Director Steven Soderbergh continues his solid legacy with this one. It’s a straight forward epidemic movie that’s going to make you want to wash your hands the second the credits roll. Gwyneth Paltrow is close to patient zero, in fact she brings it to the States. Never trust her.

Outrage-Yakuza! A big name boss needs a group of drug trafficers to be brought under control. He tells his right hand man to handle it who then passes it on to the guy below him. It doesn’t go well. Mistakes and misunderstandings are made and a whole lot of people end up paying with their lives. Beat Takeshi is the most well known actor here and he does his standard quality tough man gig here. Pretty good, but I’d only recommend it to yakuza genre fans.

30 Minutes or Less– This one got alot of weird looks when it came out because it kind of mimics a real life event where a pizza delivery guy actually had a bomb strapped to him and forced to rob a bank (he didn’t live). I don’t really see how this teased or made fun of that mans unfortunate end, but that might be just one of those things that people who like to get offended over cling to.

I watched this for the cast as I really like Eisenberg, Ansari, Swardson and McBride. It’s not a laugh a minute, but there is some great dialog and character interaction here and at 80 minutes long it doesn’t overstay its welcome. McBride and Swardson are a pair of dummies who get the idea of opening a massage parlor, but they don’t have the money to invest in it. But, McBride’s father does! They hire a hit man to take him out so McBride can get the inheritance but need 100 grand for the hitman. They spot Eiseneberg and decided to force him to rob a bank to put their plan into action.

It’s not going to win any awards, there is a love plot that really doesn’t mean much in the end and it’s not the funniest movie ever made, but I don’t think the movie deserved all the hate it got. Good rental to kill a rainy afternoon.

Tintinis an old comic created by Herge. Huge in Europe, Tintin never really caught on here. He’s a young detective who solves wondrous globe spanning mysteries with his trusty dog Snowy. A menagerie of characters accompany and hinder Tintin in the many stories that Herge wrote over a 50 year span.

This movie, spearheaded by Stephen Spielberg and Peter Jackson merges 2 stories, “The Crab with the Golden Claws” and “The Secret of the Unicorn”. The film feels and looks a lot like an Indiana Jones movie ( a lot better than Crystal Skull). It takes place in 1930 in various dusty locals around the world. The visuals are the most striking of all, by far the best motion capture based animation films I’ve seen. Realistic character movement and facial animation, incredible environmental effects. Easily on par with the best Pixar has offered to date. Given the virtual space, Spielberg went with a full digital camera system (as first used in 2006’s Monster House I think). This allowed him to move the camera around in ways that’s impossible to do in real life. The action set pieces often use these sweeping and long camera takes that are pretty breathtaking to be hold.

It’s a really well made movie, a lot of care and work went into this. Not being familiar with the original works, I can’t comment on how well they translated Tintin to the screen, but I liked what I saw. It’s a fun, adventurous story with memorable characters and great action. Recommended to everyone.

Remake or reboot? Either way Jonah Hill took on the task of reimagining the 80’s show for the movies and it works surprisingly well.

21 Jump Street is an undercover cop unit that infiltrates high schools to stop the growing scourge of illicit drugs. Here it’s a new synthetic drug that the authorities want stopped before it spreads to other schools. Schmidt (Hill) and Jenko (Channing Tatum) went to this school 7 years ago and became friends while going to police academy after graduation. A botched arrest puts them on this new task force where they need to find the dealer and then the supplier of the drug.

It’s a funny buddy cop movie, Hill and Tatum have a real chemistry that the movie really relys on. While the movie does go through the motions, some slight twists and bumps were wisely put in to keep it new and interesting. Great cameos by the main cast of the TV show give a nice final touch on the whole experience. I’d say it makes a quality rental.

Cowboys & Aliens has some pretty serious names behind it. Director Jon Favreau, stars Daniel Craig and Harrison Ford are the headliners. The idea for the movie is cool too: in 1873 a alien invasion starts abducting people in Wild Wild West Arizona. The local law and natives are forced to work together to get their people back and fight off the aliens.

The movie is well made too, all the quality Hollywood production is there and accounted for…but it’s a really average flick. Nothing about it feels new or fresh, like it’s just going through the motions. It’s not a bad movie, it’s just surprisingly dull. A rental at best. Like if you’re sick and need something to distract your soupy brains for a bit.

The first backlog of 2012! I have a few flicks under me that I haven’t talked about so let’s get to it.

Horrible Bosses– A great dark comedy. Three friends each have horrible bosses (is that where the title comes from?) and when things get to the boiling point, a tri-murder plot is hatched. Being average guys of average intellegence and a nice nature, they’re not too sure what to do. Bumbling and awkward situations ahoy!

Jason Bateman, Jason Sudeikis and Charlie Day are awesome together. Great casting really makes this movie work, I had a good time with it. Perfect length for a comedy, full of funny and memorable characters.

Rise of the Planet of the Apes– A mouthful of a title, but a hell of a movie! There was a lot of raised eyebrows on this one before it came out, but it surprised everyone (me included). Really well made, damn good cast, nothing that insults the audiences intelligence. Some of the best special effects bring these Apes to life, making them appear to be actual characters than just something made in a computer that can be easily dismissed. Excellent writing and pacing, the motion capture and animation makes for some really great story telling since the scenes with just the apes have no dialog. Powerful stuff a big congratulations to everyone who had a hand making it. Highly recommended.

Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides-The franchise was pretty much saved with this one. Not as good as the first, but a big step up from the third which was a mess of a movie (2 was good, but didn’t live up to the original). Johnny Depp does his thing here which is all anyone really looks for. A much more cohesive plot and action pieces with a satisfying ending. They really pulled things together for this one while keeping the crazy production values.

Conan the Barbarian– I wanted to like this a lot more than I did. It’s just really lopsided. Maybe the script was really good but it just didn’t all make it on screen as it should? The cast is good but the acting is all over the place. It looks good, the special effects are all done well for the most part. Some fun action scenes, but it’s all forgettable. I can’t really pick out why, it’s just an average at best film. You really aren’t missing anything if you don’t see it.

Kung Fu Panda 2– A solid sequel. If you liked the first one, jump right in. The best from Dreamworks Animation since How To Train Your Dragon. Po’s adventures continue with all of your favorte characters back with a great new villain. It looks fantastic too!

Fast Five– I can’t believe I didn’t write about this earlier, I watched it awhile ago. Probably my favorite action flick of 2011. I’m not a big fan of the FF franchise, but this one knocked it out of the park from beginning to end. Such a a great idea to get everyone back, really well written and some expert direction at work here. All the best characters are back and The Rock is a great addition as the law. He fits in perfectly and watching him and Vin Diesel butt heads is a ton of fun. The bank heist angle is a great twist for the franchise and the special effects are amazing (the should have gotten a Oscar nom).

Super 8– Another movie I liked a lot. The hype behind this JJ Abrams flick was massive and while it didn’t meet everyone’s expectations, I think it got the job done. A throw back to 80’s Spielberg, Super 8 is the adventure of a group of young kids who’s town is the epicenter of an alien escape. A fun movie with an awesome cast, check it out.

If you want to watch really good cinema these days, you can pretty much turn to documentaries to see the best stuff you could ever want to see. There’s a lot of stuff going on in the world and a lot of people brave and talented enough to cover it.

Enter Waiting For Superman. It’s about the failing US Public School system. The system has been on the decline for about 40 years now and the growing global economy is exacerbating the problem(s). Soon the United States won’t have the higher educated population to fill the high demand/paying jobs of the coming job market(s).

It’s a problem that has festered in a system that hasn’t changed to adapt to the changing world. There are people in power (two massive teachers unions in particular) that refuse to admit the problem and will not allow forward thinking people make the new steps we need. Time and a mind boggling amount of money is wasted every year. Waiting For Superman gives a very clear picture of today’s education system by following 5 students; showing what is really happening to real students all over the nation of every economic class.

A must watch.