15. The Devil Wears Prada

               Can you still be a real man and really like this movie? Geez I hope so. I do love this movie.  It is very funny, well acted and well written. However, I do not think this of this movie as “Chick Flick” or a “Romantic Comedy” at all.  I think of this movie as a straight up Comedy.  It’s a just a great movie. Technically this is not one of my movies but I didn’t complain to have to watch it.

                Now if you haven’t seen DWP then you should. It stars Anne Hathaway (in her best role since the Princess Diaries) and Meryl Streep. Streep stars as Miranda Priestly the world famous editor of Runway magazine. Hathaway plays the girl who is the unconventional and unexpected choice to be her new second assistant. Lame plot? Except for the fact the Priestly is a viscous and mean boss who controls all aspects of her employees’ lives, expects the absurd and impossible from them, and whose wrath is particularly painful.  The payoff is that if you can survive a year as her assistant then you can get any dream job you could want.

                The movie has heart to go along with its comedy. Emily Blunt stars as another runaway assistant and steals a lot of the scenes. Along with a fine and very underrated actor Stanley Tucci who is also a Runway employee. I think that a lot of people (guys) will write this movie off right away because it’s geared towards females. But I love it. It is so funny. Any guy should use this movie as a chance to score brownie points with his lady and volunteer to watch this. You might find out you like it! 

Final Verdict: Worth owning even if you are guy!

14. The Sandlot

American classic!

               In the world of sports movies very few have stood the test of time like The Sandlot. I still remember when this movie came out--while I was in high school. It was, in all senses of word, an instant classic. It is extremely funny and well written. The characters are memorable and everyone has their favorites.  How can you even pick a favorite scene in this movie? There are so many!!

                I love this movie because it really captures the love of baseball. Especially from the point of a child loving baseball. Being a child that grew up in awe of the sport I can relate. I have so many great memories from playing baseball as a child. From midget league, little league to Babe Ruth I grew up loving baseball.  A love that has continued into adulthood. Even those people who aren’t particularly fond of the sport of baseball (we call them weirdoes) love The Sandlot. Following this band of 9 friends over the course of the summer as they bond and take on the neighbor monster known as THE BEAST!

SQUINTS!

                Even today at 35 years old I still love this movie. Not only for the move itself but also for the memories I have of watching this movie growing up.  It’s a special bond that many from my generation have for this movie. You go up to almost anyone at baseball game saying “You’re killing me Smalls” and that person will instantly join in laughing. Even with the fact that the movie was degraded into having cheap knockoff sequels made it still has a special rank of its own.  Long Live The Sandlot.  God bless America and its past time! 

Final verdict: You are not American if you don’t own The Sandlot!

13. The Perfect Score

The advertisement read “Breakfast Club meets Ocean’s Eleven.”

                The Perfect Score is a simple movie.  6 high schoolers band together to steal the answers to the SAT . All have their various reasons: from getting into their choice college, to trying to impress their parents or (my favorite) “it sounds like fun”.  Despite the absurd plot the movie is fun.  It stars Chris Evans (pre-Fantastic Four) and Scarlett Johansson (pre-being Scarlett Johansson) as the leaders of the group.

    Ocean’s Eleven it is not. But it does has its moments of action and suspense. And it does have a lot of humor. You can call it Oceans Lite if you will.  Leonardo Nam plays the token “Stoner guy” and what could have just been a normal part actually ends up stealing most of the movie with this character. He has the best one liners and makes the most of his screen time.  FYI former NBA lottery pick Darious Miles plays Desmond the high school superstar who needs a 900 to get into St. Johns. He made the wise choice to stick with sports. Acting is not his strong point.  

Leonardo Nam aka Roy

Final Verdict: Not as funny as I remembered.  Not worth owning. 

Quick Tidbits:

-Matthew Lillard (shaggy of Scooby Doo) plays a minor role as the older, wiser brother.  What happened to that guy?

-Director is Brian Robbins the creator of All That! and Good Burger

 

12. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles

               Hands down one of the best movies of all time! I was so happy when the Magical Movie Box chose this movie for me.  It is one of my all time favorite movies. In fact it is currently number 5 on my all time favorites list. Yes, I am that lame that I have a top ten favorite movies list. The Goonies currently holds down the top spot!

                I can go on and on about this movie. I practically have it memorized. I can’t even begin to count the number of times I have seen it since it came out when I was a freshman in high school! Overall I think it is fair adaption of the beloved cartoon. The basic story is the same. A rat, 4 turtles, a shredder and some Pizza are all thrown in the mix.  So many funny moments and so many great one liners make it an outstanding film except….

                Allow me to rant and rave about what has allows bugged my about this movie.  Why in the world does Raphael get such a big part in this?! It is not fair at all! Donatello is by far the best turtle! In this movie he gets no love! They rarely even touch on the fact that he is a genius! The smartest of all the turtles! In the cartoon Donatello is constantly saving the day. But not here Raphael is the star. Whooppee! Not to mention Donatello get Corey Feldman to do his voice! But man you have got to love Turtle Power (best movie song ever!)

Final Verdict: Worth owning. Duh.

Other tidbits:

-If you notice in April’s apartment when she goes to answer the door there is an Elvis statue on the dresser by the door. It’s the same Elvis statue featured on Saved by the Bell that was broken when they had a party at Screech’s house. Now what other blog gives you that kind of info!

11. Legend of the Guardians:The Owls of Ga'Hoole

                Known for the longest time to me simply as “The Owl Movie”.  My wife has been dying forever for us to watch this movie and we finally got around to watching it. Brought to us by Netflix on stunning blu ray. Speaking of which, this movie is superb is HD, absolutely spectacular.

                So the movie. Well I really enjoyed it. It was directed by Zack Snyder who made the 300 movie (haven’t seen it) and based on the books by Kathryn Lasky. The story tells of the legendary Guardians. A group of owls who have sworn to protect all of owl kind.  But it has been years since Guardians had been seen or heard and their tale of legends are now believed by many to be myth. But no to our hero of the movie Soren.  A young owl who is kidnapped, along with his brother Kludd and taken away to be enslaved by a group of owls called The Pure Ones.

                The best part that I liked about this movie is that action actually holds up. The flight and fight scenes are top notch.  Just as fast and action packed as say Top Gun or Star Wars. The pure ones have an evil plan to trap and destroy the Guardians. This movie surprised me.  Once you get past the fact they are owls and it has music in it from Owl City it is really, really good. I got way into it. My wife has read all the books and said that they did a decent job adapting the first part of the story although there were a couple of big changes that it was hard for her to get around, but she said they probably made those changes to simplify and not make the story as dark as the books. I would recommend it. It might surprise you.  Besides that it is amazing in blu ray! 

 

Final Verdict: I could see me owning it if they make more movies. 

A Few Differences between the Movie and the Book Series (without giving too much away):

- The Pure Ones and St. Aggies' are two different groups of owls both with evil intentions

- Kludd's character is much more evil (if you can believe it)

- Soren doesn't find out until much later that Ezlryb is Lyze of Kiel

- Digger and Twilight are also orphaned owlettes not fully grown owls

10. Major Payne

Killin' is my bizness and bizness is good.

              “What we have heard is a failure to communicate!”  Major Payne, starring Damon Wayans, is about a killing machine Marine who is no longer needed in the army. So develops the movie where this hard core, highly trained soldier takes over the ROTC program and Madison Academy. If you haven’t seen it since its release in 1995 then please do so. It is, literally, laugh out loud funny.

One Tubby Tubby

                This is Damon Wayans at his best. He has always been great at characters even back to his days of In Living Color. His film career hasn’t always produced solid films (Blankman anyone?) but in Payne he clicked on all cylinders. It reminds me a lot of School of Rock. The person’s “career” isn’t working out so he takes up a chance with children. Damon is hilarious in this. Always talking about Charlie coming after him in the jungle and it’s funny to see him take the role of a nurturing father figure. Included in this is the telling of the Little Engine that Could seen below. 

 Final Verdict: So worth owning. Also one of the most quotable movies ever.

Other tidbits:    

-Karyn Parsons who plays the love interest in the movie is the same that brought us Hilary Banks in Fresh Prince of Bel-air.

-Cadet Williams of the ROTC program is also Wayans nephew.

9. The Green Hornet

                First I must give props to AMC theaters. I love it.  You can’t beat 5 dollars for a movie. Every Monday –Thursday before 4pm is 5 bucks. Then Saturdays before noon is 5 bucks. It’s a great deal. Never crowded. Never sold out. 

                So we ventured out on a cold Saturday morning to see the Green Hornet.  I am not a Seth Rogen fan at all. I haven’t seen most of his stuff because of the vulgarness of it so I didn’t really now what to think going into this. But I thought it was great. It was very funny, very fast pace. Now the script is a little loose. It has a lot of holes in it and some stuff doesn’t make sense. Like for instance they have the car The Black Beauty. In the Black Beauty they have everything.  Ejection seats, bulletproof glass, a fax machine and even a record player.  Are we really to believe that in all the bells and whistles in this car there is no wi-fi? Nothing that is able to handle a thumb drive?       

                The sidekick/partner/genius Kato that was made famous by Bruce Lee is now taken over by Taiwanese mega star Jay Chou.  In his first American role Chou does a great job here. His English is not that good but his charisma comes through and he was able to hold his own against Rogen. I was sad to see Cameron Diaz downgraded to “token pretty girl” I think she has way more in her and deserves better. BUT the absolutely best part of the movie was the opening scene where James Franco makes a cameo as an up and coming crime boss. Funniest thing I have seen in a movie in ages. I was crying. 

Final Verdict: Maybe not a buy it right when comes out but I can see myself owning it later when it's cheaper.  Worth seeing in theaters especially for 5 bucks.

8. The Waterboy

You can do it! Man, I totally forgot how funny this movie was.

                The Waterboy is a (can't believe I am saying this) Adam Sandler Classic.  Starring as the Cajun wonder Bobby Boucher, Sandler leads a crazy bunch of misfits to college football glory! So over the top, so crazy, so funny.  Not to mention it also stars Oscar winner Kathy Bates and the Fonz, Henry Winkler. In fact Coach Klein is one of the funniest parts of the movie. Nothing beats seeing the man who is a TV icon sitting on a football trying to hatch it like an egg!

Sandler's movies are not for everybody. His humor is off color, sophomoric and sometimes genius. I would have never have predicted or thought that the man who gave us Billy Madison who go on to be one of the most popular and highest grossing actors of all time. Not all his movies are frat boy comedy. Big Daddy has plenty of depth and heart. So does Spanglish or even Bedtime Stories. But not Click. That’s just depressing! Anyway, haven’t seen the Waterboy in years. It was great to watch it. Also great to watch it with my wife who has never seen it! Final Verdict: Worth owning!

Best Quote: “Did they ever catch that gorilla that done escape from the zoo and punched you in the eye?”  “ No momma, the search continues” 

From Christiana: Jimmy says that since we watched this one together I have to write something. So here it is. This is the first time that I have ever seen Waterboy. I have heard good and bad things about. I find Adam Sandler hit or miss but I enjoyed Waterboy. However, I don't think Jimmy should ever complain about another one of my movies being unrealistic again!

Check out more about of Christiana's thoughts at http://youthministerswife.blogspot.com