43. Mamma Mia

                  Pierce Brosnan should not sing.  I was really tempted to make that the entire blog. Just wrap Mamma Mia up to that one point. I won't but I did want to stress that Pierce Brosnan should NOT sing.  Not his thing.

                Mamma Mia that hit musical based on the music of ABBA.  The story about a young girl who is getting married and wants her father to walk her down the aisle. Except she doesn’t know who her father is. She has, however, narrowed it down to three men who could be the one. So she invites all three to her wedding unbeknownst to her mother, played by Meryl Streep.  What goes on from there is a lot of singing and a lot of soul searching. Oh, and it all takes place in Greece. I will say this, the beauty of Greece really comes out in the bluray edition of this.

                Mamma Mia can be entertaining at times. It's funny in parts. But musicals are just not my thing.  It does help that ABBA music is not the traditional music that you hear in musicals. I do admire the creativity to take the ABBA classic pop songs and turn them into a story. I also admire the talent of Streep who can pull this role off just as well as she can anything else. But still Pierce Brosnan should not sing. Plus it really bugs me that they never tell you who the dad actually is. 

Final Verdict: I would never own it, but doesn’t matter since my wife has deemed it worthy of owning. And in blu ray!

42. Rat Race

               Genius. Pure Genius. One of the most underrated and underappreciated movies of all time. I can barely even think of a movie that is funnier than this movie. And the cast? Has there ever been a better ensemble cast for a movie--ever? Not a weak person in the cast. Again, this movie is pure genius.

                Rat Race is brought to you by the famous Jerry Zucker. Zucker who has also graced the world with Airplane! And The Naked Gun movies. Rat Race follows a group of people as they race from Las Vegas to Silver City New Mexico. Why are they racing? Well, they are racing to the train station in Silver City in the hopes of winning 2 million dollars in cash. Even though there is no actual guarantee that the money is even there. But off they Go!

Its a race! I hope I win!

                I could go on and on about the wonderful cast that includes Seth Myers, Whoopi Goldberg and Cuba Gooding Jr. But that would be a very long blog. So I will just address my favorite which is Rowan Atkinson.  He is absolutely the funniest thing in this movie. Literally from the moment he walks in (Have you seen this room?!) to the very end (I can almost touch it!) he steals the movie. Hands down. Atkinson is pure genius of comedy.  So if you are in the mood to watch a very, very, very funny movie, watch Rat Race. And if the humor isn’t enough the rock band Smash Mouth rocks out at the end.  Also Jon Lovitz giving a speech to a group of World War II veterans may just be the funniest scene of all time.

Final Verdict: I love this movie. A MUST OWN!

41. Kicking and Screaming

              Ok, well if you can get past the fact that Will Ferrell pushes a kid to the ground you will love this movie. No seriously, Will Ferrell is hit or miss for most people and this movie is no exception. The only exception is that his brand of Ferrell crazy is in the PG rating on this one.

too much coffee!

Ferrell plays Phil. Phil is a loser of a man who is so desperate to get back at his over competitive father that when he gets a chance to coach his son’s soccer team he takes it as his chance to get back at his dad. He even enlists the help of his dad’s arch enemy/neighbor Mike Ditka. Yes, THAT Mike Ditka.  Ditka takes the reins and tries to makes these kids winners. His tactics include having the kids wash his car and he gets some Italian boys to play on the team. But only after they are done with their Butching? for the day, MEAT FIRST.

get me a juice box!

                Some where along the lines Ferrell/Phil tries coffee for the first time. Coffee ends up being the trigger drug that turns Phil into a crazy, rantin' and ravin' psycho. Hence the pushing the kid to the ground and calling another kid “Fart face Jones” Again, if you think Ferrell is funny then you will love this. IF you don’t think the man child of Ferrell is funny, then you won't.   

 Final Verdict: Worth Owning.

40. Princess Diaries 2:Royal Engagement

                 It's hard to remember that Anne Hathaway started out her career as the magical Disney star of the Princess Diary movies and Ella Enchanted. But it was nice to travel back to the day of Princess Mia in the sequel where she tries to save her country of Genovia.

                Royal Engagement takes place after Mia graduates from College and she is off to spend some time in Genovia to get to know her grandmother Mary Poppins. Well not Poppins but Julie Andrews who plays her grandmother. Crisis hits when Mia discovers that she has to marry within one month or she will be forced to vacate her throne. She must choose between the likable but lame Andrew or Captain Kirk. Well not Captain Kirk but Chris Pine who plays the nephew of Lord Mabry who is trying to take over the throne.

                It’s a cute movie. I love the first P.D. movie and this was a quality but maybe not necessary movie. It is neat to see John Rhys-Davies play Lord Mabry but still hear the voice of Gimli from the Lord of the Rings movies. 

Final verdict: Worth owning if you own the first one.

39. Secretariat

                    I am typing this blog about 5 minutes after watching this movie and all I can say is WOW. Absolutely amazing film. I don’t know what exactly I was expecting going into this movie. I wanted to see it. I love all the Disney true life movies that have come out this past decade. Loved and own The Rookie, Miracle and Remember the Titans. But wow, this movie was phenomenal.

Secretariat is the true story of a woman and her horse. Penny Tweedy, whose family raised and sired horses, takes over the family business after her mother and father passes. Taking the last of the new born foals to raise and tries to save the farm/business. This last foal turns out to be Secretariat. The rest is history, literally. Secretariat goes on to be the first horse in 25 years to win the Triple Crown (the only since) in record time and makes Tweedy into a racing legend. You couldn’t write a better story.

                Man, I am still pumped! This movie was so good. Diane Lane plays Tweedy and does such an amazing job. Joining the awesome cast is John Malkovich as the French Canadian trainer Lucian. Both are so amazing in this. I thought every thing they did with this movie was top notch. The race scenes were so intense and watching it on blu-ray made it even more like you were there. The spiritual aspect of the movie was poignant throughout and Tweedy’s faith does shine.  I can't wait to see again. 

Final Verdict: We got it from Netflix but I can't wait to buy it.

38. Robin Hood

               First off I’m just going to say that a lot of people that I have talked to did not like this movie. Then I’m going to say that I don’t know why? I guess if you were going into to it expecting the same old traditional Robin Hood story then you would be disappointed because that is not what you are going to get.

                This Robin Hood starring Russell Crowe and directed by Ridley Scott is the origin story of how Robin Hood became Robin Hood.  Crowe stars at Robin Longstride, an Archer in the King’s army. In a twist of fate and destiny common but talented Longstride takes the identity of Robin Loxley, the king’s right hand man and a knight of noble birth. When Crowe goes to visit the Loxley household he finds a town, Nottingham, in dire straits due to the heavy tyranny of King John. King John is played wonderfully by Oscar Isaac and I thought he was the best part of the movie.

     Yes, Robin Hood can drag some and it takes a while pick up steam but it’s an Epic Movie. One that is rich in characters, battles and wonderful acting. If you go into this one open minded and just wanting to “feast” on a movie then you will enjoy this movie. If you want the traditional men in tights movie then you won’t like it. Oh and it looks great in blu-ray

Final Verdict: Well considering that we just bought it, worth owning. 

Other Tidbits:

The blu-ray includes a director’s cut edition which gives you more back story about the kids who have run off to live in Sherwood forest so that you feel more of a connection to them when they make the smaller cameos included in the theater edition.

37. Unkown

                Ventured this past Saturday to the AMC theater for the wonderful early morning 5 buck tickets to see Liam Neeson’s new movie UNKNOWN.  Billed as Taken meets Bourne. Well, having loved both Taken and all three Bourne movies I had extremely high hopes going into this movie. I couldn’t wait for Neeson to get his skull busting on.  Unknown is the story of 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. With the help of a young woman, he sets out to prove who he is.

Who Am I?

        I was disappointed.  It’s not that Unknown is a bad movie. It’s good. But that is the point. It’s just ok. I kept waiting the entire time for it too really take off and be awesome. And it just falls flat.  The previews make it seem like it’s this jampacked, action packed, fast paced movie and it wasn’t. It was more of a spy movie and it actually drags in some places.

                It’s no Taken which I think changed Neesons’ career.  The great thing about Taken vs Unknown is that you really care about the character. In Unknown you spend half the time confused by what is happening, and it’s supposed to keep you guessing but really the pay off at the end is really kind of….eh. Finally at the end you get to see Liam go straight into full on kick butt mode but by then it’s too late. 

Final Verdict: It’s unknown yet if I will own this.

36. D2: The Mighty Ducks

"The Quack Attack is back Jack!”  What do those words mean to you? Do you even know what it means? Do they excite you? Feel you with dread? Well if you have any soul at all then you should get excited when those words are spoken!

      D2 is the sequel to the hit movie The Mighty Ducks. This time Emilio Estevez stars has coach Gordon Bombay and he leads his team of Ducks to the Junior Olympics to represent Team USA. Along with the great Ducks of before, Charlie, Banks, Jesse, Fullerman, Goldberg and Averman they are joined by new comers that range from figure skaters, rodeo stars, a girl goalie, a fast skater who cant stop and Kenan Thompson. 

                The movie is such a great sequel. Its perfect in the fact that it captures the greatness of the first one while sending the Ducks on a new adventure. This is the formula that works here but doesn’t work in D3. Plus its great to see all the child stars your grew up with. Especially Joshua Jackson who went on to bring us Pacey in Dawson’s Creek and Peter Bishop in Fringe.  But whatever happen to GOLDBERG ATHE GAOLIE!!!!!! Its Knuckle Puck time!

Final Verdict: Ducks is a keeper.

35. Father of the Bride Part II

                I just love Steve Martin. I love everything from The Jerk to Bowfinger to Cheaper by the Dozen to the Pink Panther. Love Steve Martin.  And I love both the Father of the Bride movies.

                The sequel picks up a little after the last one ended. George Banks, aka Party Pooper, has watched his beloved daughter get married. Now the family faces a new crisis when they think Annie and Bryan are going to move to Boston. But little they did know that the real surprise is that Annie and Bryan are not moving but with Child! This puts George into a crazy mid life crisis that involves everything from hair dying to selling the beloved family home.

and who exactly is the father?

                The real twist is when George and Nina find out they too are pregnant! So it’s both mother and daughter pregnant at the same time. The best scene ever is when they are in the doctor’s office when they find out the news. George’s reaction is priceless.  Then since we are having two babies it’s a perfect reason to bring back Frank the party planner played again by the great and underrated Martin Short.  The movie gets a lot of depth out of the fact George is struggling with the self doubt of being both a new dad AND a new grandfather. So how does he cope? He takes a strong sleeping pill. LOL.

Final Verdict: Love it. Keep it.

34. Pete's Dragon

     “A Dragon! A Dragon! I swear I saw a Dragon!”

                Well I was waiting for it to happen. Waiting for the one time I would pull a movie from the Magical Movie Box that I had no desire in the watch. This movie is owned by my wife. It is one of her all time favorite movies and I set off on the task to watch this movie.      

       SO MUCH SINGING!!!!!!! My goodness it’s like every 5 seconds they break out in song. It was way too much.  The movie isn’t awful. I actually thought that the fact that the Dragon aka Elliot talked like one of the adults on Charlie Brown was humorous. It was so funny that the subtitles would say “Speaking Gibberish”  when the dragon spoke. BUT, So much singing! Pete’s dragon is about an orphan who runs away from his adoptive, slave driving family with his cartoon dragon.

                He winds up in the town of Paddamaddy, I man Quagyamogggy, I mean Pappsya daddsy…Passamaquoddy! There he is taken in and adopted by the local lighthouse keepers. His dragon causes a lot of trouble for the town and therefore Pete. Also added in is the fact the adoptive family, who never bathe, show up to get him back. Then a medicine “doctor” shows up to town and tries to steal the dragon. In fact, the doctor is the best part of this movie. 

Final Verdict: I survived.