Battle: Los Angeles

I had a battle with myself to try and make it to the end of this movie. It’s that boring.
Who would have thought that the story of a Marine platoon that faces off against an alien invasion in Los Angeles would be slow and tedious. The movie stars Aaron Eckhart who has done great work in other movies but the story regarding his character and others we have seen many times before. The aliens come directly from the movie District 9 which was outstanding compared to Battle: Los Angeles. I imagine that the pitch for this movie was: Take Black Hawk Down, add District 9 aliens. You now have a movie that was not scheduled to premiere during this summer because Sony Studios knew they had a dud.
Another case of a trailer being way better than the movie.

Verdict:
Independence Day 2 is in pre production for 2014 with Will Smith and I can’t wait.

Hall Pass

Any woman who has seen the trailer for this movie would think that this comedy was a guy flick. In a sense it is but it is truly a movie for people who are married. The story is about a married man who is granted the opportunity to have an affair by his wife. The movie is very predictable but the Farrelly Bros. nail the story because the story resonates with married couples.
Hall Pass tries to be like the movie The Hangover in some scenes that don't work, but when the story revolves around the issues that come up between a married couple the film works.
Owen Wilson does a fine job of under playing his usual self as the lead character and his wing man, Jason Sudeikis from Saturday Night Live, is hysterical. Christina Applegate, from the movie The Rocker and Stephen Merchant, from The Office, are also very good.

Verdict:
Don’t believe the poor reviews from the critics, I laughed until I cried. In fact the entire audience was laughing in the theater I viewed this in.

Just Go With It

I saw this movie weeks ago and after watching it I was not motivated to write a review.
Don’t get me wrong, I am a HUGE fan of Adam Sandler but this latest effort is very weak.
Just go for it is about a plastic surgeon who convinces his assistant to pose as his soon-to-be-divorced wife in order to cover up a lie he told to his younger girlfriend.
The Adam Sandler character is slimy! He uses a wedding ring to score with women. He’s not a character you really care about regardless of how he started down this road of shame.
Jenifer Aniston plays his assistant but watch any Jennifer Aniston movie and all she does is play herself. Proving once again that she does not have the depth to be a movie star.
Nicole Kidman shows up in a cameo role with Dave Mathews. They are good supporting cast members but the characters they play has been seen before.

Verdict: I wouldn’t even recommend this for Adam Sandler fans.

I am Number Four

With the success of the Twilight movie series you can expect that there will be plenty of movies that will try to emulate it. In fact young vampires are almost out of fashion. This movie the hero is not a vampire but an Alien. Director D.J. Caruso
tries very hard to make you care about the young leads and their love interest. The Producers set it up so that this movie does not have an ending so that a franchise can be built.
The story is about an alien teen, masking his true identity and passing as a typical high school student to elude a deadly enemy seeking to destroy him. Three like him have already been killed he is Number Four.
There is a lot of talk regarding his background but none of it matters or makes sense. The focus should have been on the action which does not take place until the end of the movie.
Alex Pettyfer is the flavor of the month and he acts as well as many of the other young actors today but it does not seem to have the staying power.

Verdict:
There will be a I am Number Four Part 2 but WHY????

Unknown

All I can say is that if you are expecting Taken Part 2 you can forget about it.
Liam Neesom plays a man who awakens from a coma, only to discover that someone has taken on his identity and that no one, (not even his wife), believes him.
Unknown comes off at first like a Hitchcock movie with the audience totally engaged. Halfway through the movie slowly looses steam and meanders until you find out that the whole story is about something that you really don't care about.
Diane Kruger does a good job a supporting Liam but January Jones, the bitchy wife from Mad Men, is totally wasted in this movie.
There is not much more to say about the movie but Liam is great playing a tough guy but he needs better material.

Verdict:
Taken 2 is a no brainer. Just have Liam go save some other kid in a foreign country.

The Dilemma

How could this movie end up being so bad? You have 2 of the best comedy actors, Vince Vaughn and Kevin Smith, coming off of a string of hit movies. You also have one of the best movie trailers of the year. However The Dilemma is a lemon, dud, and a comedy that is not funny. The story is about a man who discovers that his best friend's wife is having an affair. The pacing is slow, the jokes are weak, there are unnecessary flashbacks, and having Queen Latifah in a cameo role seems strained. Director Ron Howard should not have tried his hand at comedy again, The last hit comedy he had was Splash and Night Shift and that was in the early 80’s He has produced many hit movies that I have enjoyed however he has not had one lately and may be passed his prime.

Verdict: The premise was only good for a Saturday Night Live skit, not a 2 hr. movie.

The Mechanic

A 100 years ago there was a movie box office champion named Charles Bronson best known for Death Wish. One of the movies he made that became a cult favorite was The Mechanic where he starred as a killer for hire. The new movie has almost the same story but stars a different type of action star Jason Statham.
Bronson was older and didn’t say much in his movies. Statham is younger , and does most of his talking with his fists.
The movie follows an elite hit man as he teaches his trade to an apprentice who has a connection to one of his previous victims. Ben Foster from The Messenger stars as the apprentice.
I am a fan of Jason Statham and Charles Bronson and I found both movies very boring. The original and the remake try to be a psychological action flicks and to me they both fail. The original must have been a cult favorite of the director Simon West.

Verdict: With all the great movies that came be remade, this should have not been on the list.