68. Limitless

               One question that I had going into this movie as not 1. Will this be a good movie. 2. What will be the twist in this movie but the question was this: Will Bradley Cooper be able to hold is own as the star of movie?

so this one little pill will make me a handsome leading man?

                Up  until then Cooper has been  regulated to supporting roles. You know the best friend, or like in A Team part of a big cast.  But in Limitless he finally gets the chance to shine and you know what he does just fine. And Limitless as a movie? Really good. The movie is about writer/slacker (Cooper) who is going no where in life. In fact the day we meet him he gets dumped.  Oh and he had been trying to write the same book for like 4 years. SO he runs into his ex-brother-in-law and he gives in to trying this new pill. This pill can open up your entire brain. So he is the perfect version of himself.

                What follows is kind of generic grant you.  Moral dilemmas, excess of riches, women, wine and song. But it keeps your attention and Cooper shows some real depth here in his struggle to find himself while in the midst of striving to survive.

Final Verdict: Maybe not own but I will watch again.

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.

30. Twilight

The Saga Begins!

               Where do I even begin? I have started an undertaking of watching all three Twilight movies in one day. Back to back to back. Traveling into the world of Bella Swan and her discovering of the fact that Vampires are not only real but that they sparkle and have cool hair.

                What we have here with the twilight series, both with the books and the movies, is the resurgence of Vampires into pop culture. But that is today, it's strange to think that when this movie was made it was considered to be a risk. The budget was small. No one could have predicted the phenomenon that would follow.  Ok the positives.  The Twilight moves stay true to the original book, which I always appreciate.  There a minor changes but overall a good adaption.  The soundtrack and music selection for this movie is great. It sets a great tone and one of the very few movies that I think the music enhances the movie.

                Now the bad and here comes wrath of junior high girls everywhere. The acting is the worst part of this movie. The two leads Kristen Stewart and Robert Pattinson are just not good in this movie. I do not know how people can tolerate them.  It's almost comical how many different ways that Edward and Bella can just sit and emote sadness.  It's such a distraction to me.  I'm interested to see if they improve over the next two movies. But as far this one it's subpar.  The real exception is Billy Burke who plays Bella’s dad Charlie.  He was great, spot on.  

Final Verdict: As of right now not worth owning but then again I'm not their target audience.

Other Tidbits:

-Author of the books Stephenie Meyer makes a cameo in the diner. She orders a veggie plate

-When Edward asks Bella to come over to his house for the first time and asks Bella if is she is worried you notice Pattinson's spot on British accent.

28. The Wedding Singer

                I love the Wedding Singer for many reasons. It’s funny, great soundtrack and I think it’s the first time we got to see some depth in Sandler. Up until now we have had Billy Madison (Classic!), Happy Gilmore (classic) but with the Wedding Singer this was the first time that Sandler broke away from the frat boy comedy for the entire movie and showed that underneath he is a romantic. It was also genius for being the first movie to really tap into the 80’s nostalgia. It not only paid off in the film but also the box office. The Wedding Singer became his biggest hit up to that point in his career.

                The wedding singer follows Sandler who starts as, well, a wedding singer.  His character is a romantic and after singing at weddings for years he finally gets his own wedding. But he gets left at the altar and becomes a cynic (LOVE STINKS!). This is also the first pairing for Sandler and Drew Barrymore who I think is the closest thing my generation has to the same magic that Hanks/Ryan have. Barrymore plays Julia, soon to be married and become Julia Gulia.

                Sandler falls for Barrymore but Barrymore is stuck with Glenn. A jerk that says he wants to marry Julia but still cheats around on her.  Sandler finally realizes his love for Julia and things culminate with an awesome song that Sandler sings to Barrymore on a plane right before she takes off to Vegas to marry the before mentioned jerk. Oh and Billy Idol is there too. I’m telling you this is a great movie.   

Final Verdict: Worth owning.

23. The Ring Two

Poster says "Super Scary". No.

        This movie did not need to be made. Why do I own this? The first movie, The Ring, was so good. Such a great mind bender.  When did people get together and say “Let’s make another one” and actually agree this was a good idea. I am such a big fan of the first and the only times I have watched this dvd was when I had just watched the first one. But watching this on its own I really started to notice how weak this movie is. But can you really own the first one and not own the second one?

Not that there aren’t some scary moments.  I think that Naomi Watts tries her best here to make the movie work. The script and plot are very vague and stretch to try and capture the magic of the first one. I think, if a sequel was needed, they would have done better to totally break from the first movie, the first cast, the first family and to have it continue on the same path but in a different venue. For example having the video going viral or spread through email because even though this was made in 2005 who still used VHS even then?  Makes me really wish someone would make a third just to redeem the lameness of The Ring Two.  

 Final Verdict: Not worth owning but I might keep it simply because I own the first. 

Other Tidbits:

-Simon Baker, The Mentalist, plays a minor role in this movie. But even his brain power can’t save him.

22. Sky High

               Who are your parents? Mine are not super heroes.  So with that fact I guess I will never be attending Sky High--the high school for off springs of Super Heroes. 

                Sky High follows Will Stronghold the child of The Commander (super strong) and Jetstream (she can fly) who embarks on his first day at Sky High. By this time most children of super heroes already know what their super power is. They range from the normal, Super Stretch, to the not so normal, become a Gerbil. But poor Will, the child of the two most famous super heroes, doesn’t even know his power yet. So he is downgraded to Side Kick classes. But that doesn’t last long. Will soon finds out that he is super strong like his father

Our Hero!

                Sky High is like most high schools. There are bullies, teachers who are mean, and the popular girls. The only difference is that in this high school when you make enemies, you literally make enemies. The arch kind! Will and friends must save the school from a group of students who are trying to take over all the super children. The movie is really funny, well acted, lots of action and really clean family film. I love this movie. 

Final Verdict: A Must own! 

Other tidbits:

-Jim Rash who plays the sidekick to the main evil guy Stitches is also the Dean from Community!

-Lots of alum from the comedy troupe Kids in the Hall play small roles in this movie.

21. Mrs Doubtfire

           When you think of Mrs. Doubtfire what comes to mind? You think of the funny movie starring Robin Williams. Still his most popular comedy yet not starring a Genie, right? But after my first viewing in many years (at least 5) the thing that stood out to me was how depressing this movie is. Within ten minutes the family gets divorced and the dad loses time with his children.  The movie is so misleading. Funny Funny Funny Funny then BAM! It hits you in the gut.

                Don’t get me wrong. The movie is funny. Just the whole premise of Robin Williams dressing up as an English housekeeper is funny in its own right. The insanity that this involves is crazy and humorous. But underlining this is not really a family heart but an over the top depressing act. To me, watching it now, that out ways the funny parts. It makes the movie drag down.  My view of this movie is now tainted!!! I did watch it with one of my college students (Gears!) who really wanted to come over and take part in a random movie. He too was super excited to watch this movie since he hasn’t seen in it years either.  So I though I’d let him share his thoughts below. 

• Final Verdict for me: Worth owning but for different reasons now.  And…………..here’s Gears!

                Mrs. Doubtfire is a spectacular movie I think it is so worth owning not only because it is one of Robin Williams Greatest films but because of the drama suspense and pure comedic genius of the movie I love it. It had been so long since I had seen it that I forgot Pierce Brosnan was in it as a guy named STU that is such a weird name. Seriously though the Ups and Downs of this movie tore me up there were times when I wanted to cry from the sadness of the movie and there were times when I wanted to cry because of the pure comedy that is Robin Williams especially when they played “Dude look like a lady” by Aerosmith that was great. Really that is all I have to say so if you are not doing something or actually even if you are Watch Mrs. Doubt fire it is fun and educational! 

20. Armageddon

Bruce Willis saves the world.

             Let me just say at the start of this blog that I love this movie. No really. It is one of my most favorite movies of all time. I remember seeing it in theater (despite the STRONG objection from a certain girl that we will just call Comer) and being absolutely mind blown by this movie. It’s Michael Bay at his finest--even better than Transformers.

                This movie has everything that I love. Humor, Actors I like (BW baby!), Action, explosions and tender moments.  Armageddon is an awesome movie.  It’s fun from beginning to end. In case you have been living on an asteroid for the past 12 years you need to know that this movie is simply about an Asteroid heading to earth. IF we can’t stop it then we are all done for.  What do we do?

Talk about the Wrong Stuff

                What we do is call Bruce Willis. Willis is Harry Stamper, the best deep oil driller on the face of the planet.  He and his rag tag group of guys are shuttled off to space to land on the asteroid, drill a hole into it, and blow the thing up from the inside. Far fetched, I know. But there are some times movies are meant to be out of this world.  Did I mention that his rag tag group of guys includes Owen Wilson, Ben Affleck, Steve Buscemi, Michael Clarke Duncan and the scene stealer of the entire movie Peter Stormare who plays the Russian astronaut Lev.  I can’t imagine anyone who hasn’t seen this movie but if you are one of those please do so. It’s Great! 

Final Verdict: A must own!!!

19. Son in Law

Thank God Im a country boy!

                Ah. The genius of Pauly Shore. Nothing is better than a snow day, stuck inside, can't go anywhere, and viewing of the classic Son in Law.  Even more enjoyable is that my wife has never seen it nor did she even know who Pauly Shore was.

                Like many comedians who have a certain niche or character that they have made famous, Shore is a love him or hate type of persona. If you don’t like him or find him funny then having to sit through a full hour and half of him might be unbearable. But I happen to like him so I'm good. And Son in Law is his best performance. Encino Man is great.  As is In the Army now. Then Jury Duty and it stops.

Munchin on some Grindage

                Son in Law is the story about a girl from a small country town in North Dakota who decides to go the west coast for college. While there she meets her RA named Crawl who transforms our lovely Bec-ca into a hip and dangerous west coaster! The story takes off and turns Hilarious! When Becca invites Crawl home for thanksgiving.  Through a strange twist of events Crawl announces to all that he and Becca are in engaged and planning for a life of marriage.  Needless to say her parents aren’t happy. Then Crawl tries to become a farmer. You should watch it just for that part alone. 

Final Verdict: A Must own Bud-dy.