Reviews by moviemaniac126

Cameron Crowe is good at one thing and that is making the audience that watches his films feel emotion. Vanilla Sky, Elizabethtown, and Jerry Maguire are all perfect examples of this. Fortunately, We Bought A Zoo follows in this line of succession and Cameron Crowe reminds us once more why his films are worth waiting for.

The film is based on a true story as well as a novel written by the main character of the film Benjamin Mee, who is played by the delightful Matt Damon. Benjamin is struggling with the recent loss of his beloved wife Katherine (Stephanie Szostak) and to make matters worse his son Dylan (Colin Ford) was expelled from school for stealing. So Ben courageously decides to pack his bags and kids, and look for something new.
Can we really blame the guy? I would want a fresh start too. So when looking for new homes nothing really quite stands out to Ben, until they get to one house and the realtor (JB Smoove) isn’t fourth coming about why the place is “complicated”. One could ponder why in the world a zoo is for sale through a plain jane real-estate company as well. Either way it didn’t stop Bejamin Mee from picking up the hammer and doing something good for the heck of it now did it?
We Bought A Zoo is funny, heartfelt, and is a good example of damn good storytelling. There are many times in the film that will make you want to question Ben’s logic and his Brother Duncan (Thomas Haden Church) won’t blame you.
However, all Zoos must have a staff and this one is a little short, but they make pretty good on their own. Scarlett Johansson is the lead Zookeeper Kelly Foster; she knows the animals and the staff like they are her own siblings.
Needless to say that Kelly isn’t alone with the Zoo keeping duties. Her team consists of the maintenance Guy Peter Macready (Angus MacFadyen), Robin (Patrick Fugit) who ceases to be seen without a monkey on his shoulders, and Rhonda (Carla Gallo) the financial assistant. Elle Fanning plays Lily who also helps out with things around the Zoo, but is here mainly as a love interest for Dylan’s sake.
The acting is superb from all the major players involved and is another reason why We Bought A Zoo is a worthwhile film. The movie plain and simply has a heart, it also isn’t afraid to ask questions. The most common of them throughout the whole film and Kelly says it for us all is “why”.
We Bought A Zoo not only answers all the questions it presents us, but it tells a good story and I think it is something that shouldn’t be missed. I also think that if you have never seen a film by Cameron Crowe that you are in for a real treat.

Of all the sci-fi and comic book-superhero movies that have come out in the last couple of months, none of them are near as entertaining as In Time. This film takes ahold of you and doesn’t let go until the time is right. However, due to the fact that we live in a world where there have been only so many stories told, there are bound to be times in which we see similar movies as well.
In Time is one of those rare classic movies that should not be missed. It has all the crucial elements that a good sci-fi film has. The villain (Vincent Karthieser) is very demeaning and sometimes completely unaware of his surroundings. There is a good guy (Justin Timberlake) who is not afraid to take someone for their money, or in this case time. Time is the element that makes all the characters in the film do the things that they, well do.
In Time in many ways is about how one would do more things in life granted, that more time was available to him or her. Thus, we meet Will Salas (Justin Timberlake) someone who works for a living and always has just enough time to get by. It appears Salas has a good life he has a mother (Olivia Wilde) and a good friend from work Borel (The Big Bang Theory’s Jonathan Galecki). Then one day he meets Henry Hamilton (White Collar’s Matt Bomer) in a bar that has over a decade’s worth of time. Salas then gets to know Henry, and from here the two go back to Salas’s place only to have Hamilton kill himself before Salas is able to stop him. However, due to the fact that time is so crucial in this film, the characters only live to the age of twenty-five or until their digital clocks, which are imprinted on their hands, runs out.


In more ways than one In time reminded me of another classic sci-fi film Logan’s Run. Which Starred Michael York (Romeo and Juliet) and Jenny Agutter, this is a fun film, but looks stupid today compared to all the glorious CGI that exists in today’s films. Logan’s Run may be what inspired director Andrew Niccol of Gattaca fame to write In Time. The plot is very similar, but has minor differences. For example instead of your clock running out, you die at the age of thirty and have five more years to live. Plus, you are judged by the almighty computer spirits to decide if you live for another thirty years. So in some ways the world in Logan’s Run is just that much better to live in.
However, as the story goes we find out more about the powers that be and the answer is never pleasing to anyone in the film.
The acting in both films is great, but they both take it to Bonnie and Clyde proportions with both leads male and female. Also the female leads played by both Jenny Agutter and Amanda Seyfried are virtually the same character, one could compare looks but, when it comes to film does it really matter that much?
In Time is definitely one of those movies that you won’t want to miss, but if you have the time check out Logan’s Run you’ll enjoy it just as much.

Adam Sandler is known for his childish moments and zany characters in his films;this outing in a double role as both Jack and Jill is not one of them. Mr. Deeds Had crazy eyes (played by a pre-Boardwalk Empire Steve Buscemi), Happy Gilmore had ,Shooter McGavin (Chris McDonald) a crazed lunatic ,hell-bent on beating Happy in 18 holes of golf and stealing Virginia Venit (Julie Bowen) from him.

These are crucial elements that Jack and Jill is missing, it's like Adam Sandler woke up one day and said "I'm going to do grown up comedies". Needless to say that grown ups is also one of those films that had the Sandler charm.

Sandler's Jack is the character ,it seems, he is trying so hard to become in the latest onslaught of his films. There has been a trend in his movies that display a more grown up Sandler,but yet he still manages to show his inner child in them. Sandler's Jill couldn't fill this part any better because, she is obnoxious like any other of Sandler's characters.

Anyways, Jack and Jill is about Jack trying ,throughout the whole film, to get Al Pacino to do a Dunk N'Donuts commercial. Low and behold, one day, Jack and Jill go to a Lakers game and Al Pacino is there in the flesh and has the hots for Jill. Pacino claims Jill will "bring him back to reality" and tells Jack to get his sister for him and he'll do the commercial.

The only redeeming quality in this movie is Katie Holmes as Jack's wife Erin. This is because she is nice, she stands up for Jill when necessary,but is faithful and defends her not so nice husband jack. Also if Holmes had not been so good looking I may have gotten up and left the theater altogether.

This seems like a good plot for a comedy,but it falls short due the lack of anything funny that could have been possibly concieved. I would say that Jack and Jill is nothing more than a good rental at best, but I would be lying. Wait for it to come on the free TV networks. Jack and Jill is not worth your twenty bucks, avoid this movie at any given opportunity, you'll thank me later.

If you were to take Funny People(2009) and switch the Adam Sandler character and seth Rogen Character, then add in a cancer stricken Joseph Gordon-Levitt; 50/50 is what you'll have.

50/50 feels like Funny people(2009) because it is funny, but at the same time it is a dark and serious film. Joseph Gordon-Levitt plays Adam Lerner who has everything going right for him and then stops by his doctor's office for a routine checkup and bam! here it is. He has a malignant tumor in his back and after doing some research he discovers he has a fifty/fifty percent chance of living and dyeing.

However, Adam is not alone in life he has a friend Kyle (Seth Rogen) as well as a girlfriend (Bryce Dallas Howard) and a father and mother(Anjelica Huston). Though these people Adam finds the support he needs. During his chemo sessions he meets Alan (Philip Baker hall) and Mitch (Matt Frewer). These two old men are in the same situation Adam is , they just don't have the same type of cancer he does. In fact they provide some very good laughs throughout the film.

As no one in life is perfect Adam, meets Katherine (Anna Kendrick) every week, whom is a therapist and it is her job to help those dealing with cancer. Through these sessions Both Katherine and Adam realizes that more is at hand than Adam dealing with cancer. They have a connection and surprise! Adam's girlfriend winds up cheating on him.

The Seth Rogen Character of Kyle in a lot of ways reminded me of the Adam Sandler Character in Funny People(2009). In Funny People Adam Sandler , after a gig, brings home two gorgeuous women. One for Himself and one for Seth Rogen. However, The Seth Rogen character winds up dry a few scenes later and then Sandler comes along and collects the other girl Rogen did nothing with.

There are several scenes in 50/50 where we see Rogen going after women and using Adam's excuse to bed them. It's not enough that he's there for Adam , he just has to screw anyone with a vagina along the way.

I have a friend whom I work with and he recently just got over cancer. The connection here is his wife left him as well during his treatment. This is more than enough to make one wonder, why women freak out when bad things happen as well as why they do the things they do when dealing with someone that is severely sick and may possibly die. This is the time when they are needed the most , because in the end they wind up causing more damage to the person in need instead of helping out.

50/50 is a solid good movie, it is however, a melodramatic comedy. There are highs and lows , but is more than enjoyable.

Drive is a very fun and Beautifully shot movie, that immediately reminded me of To Live and Die In LA. Although To live and Die In LA was a movie about counterfeiting money, the feel is very much the same. The credits are written in hot pink, the film pays attention to even the minimalist of details, and the music compliments what is shown on-screen and how the characters are feeling.

Drive, like To Live and Die In LA, is very well cast and provides some very well needed escapism from the boundaries of day-to-day life. It allows you to feel as if you were riding in the car alongside the characters.

Drive is a very dark film and it's driver (Ryan Gosling) does not like to break his own rules. His rules are strict , but they allow you to get in and out in just enough time. Also the driver does stunts for movies in Hollywood, this gig is given to him through his mechanic friend and boss Shannon (Bryan Cranston). The driver is a very kind and caring person, he is also smart and can handle the wheel of any car that he comes in contact with.

One elevator ride is all it takes to mess up what the driver had going for him. In this ride he meets the very attractive Irene (Carey Mulligan) whom Befriends the driver and gives him something to do in his free time. That is until her trouble-making husband Standard(Oscar Issac) comes home and bad things start happening at the apartment complex. Standard owes money to Nino (Ron Perlman) and he comes to the driver in need of assistance.

Albert Brooks is in an unusual role here as Bernie Rose, the town kingpin. However, Brooks is great in the role and he makes his Bernie Rose a force to be reckoned with.

Drive is a great ride and completely unexpected considering, yet another bad summer of movies. It is a great way to let the fall term of movies and Oscar contenders begin. Drive is by no means Oscar worthy,but it does allow us to get out of the habbit of seeing things go crash and boom. Drive is very well acted,directed, and a piece of great entertainment.

Hesher is one of those strange films that for some god-awful reason, garnishes cult acclaim. Hesher (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) is drifter who likes rock n' roll, porn, and Natalie Portman. Somehow on top of all of this he manages to try and do well by everyone, despite the fact that he may use your washer and dryer with or without your permission.

This "life is rough" film is hard to understand; it can't decide if it wants to be a deep drama or a dark comedy. There was several moments that were hysterical in the film and several elements that made you wonder what exactly was going on in the mind of Hesher himself.

The film opens with a kid chasing after a red car , as if it is the only thing that has any meaning in his life. This kid is moving, if he gets stopped ,he finds away around the obstacle. He wants this car. Shortly hereafter we discover that this kid goes by the name of T.J.(David Brochu) and he is a very troubled little boy. However, the car is his nonetheless. We don't know how he came about owning a car at his young age or why it was wrecked in the first place.

T.J. also has a bully problem that he just passively deals with as if it were meant to be. This bully of his is mean and cruel; were talking throwing the kid across the room and then sitting on him and spitting in his face cruel.

It seems as if Hesher comes out of nowhere and suddenly tries to help T.J. and his family. This is helpful and it isn't at the same time. Hesher in many ways works like management, to solve the problem he must first observe it and then deal with it. There are times when he is helpful for T.J. and there are times where he is just as cruel as the above mentioned bully. However, Hesher is more helful when it comes to solving problems in the house or taking grandma Madeliene (Piper Laurie) out for a walk.

The character of Nicole (Natalie Portman) bugged me the most throughout the whole film. Her encounter with T.J. was at most helpful and at the same time counter-productive in the same light. T.J. was being bullied and she stopped the bully from doing more bully like things. Nicole then continues to build a relationship with T.J. and they even share a moment where they truly connect. Then Hesher comes along and does well what Hesher does make the situation worse. I could go off into the nitty gritty , but I think it's obvious what happens next.

The film's climax is truly surprising because, we know something bad has happened it is just a matter of what. It is surprising that lifestyles can change when you lose someone who truly matters the most to you. This is what happens here and it is crazy to think that it must happen again to balance things out in life.

Hesher's message is clear and well delivered in a clever metaphor about either getting wet or avoiding the rain altogether. However, as bad things are bound to happen in life the best we can do is to not get down about them. Hesher himself doesn't seem to get down about anything; in fact he even smokes some mary jane with grandma Madeliene.

There are some well acted scenes here, most notable the scene where Nicole(Natalie Portman) and T.J.(David Brochu) Connect. However, the point of all this is delivered way late in the film and lacks any real closure. My Recommendation is to check the forecast and carry an umbrella, Hesher is not worth your time.

When I first saw the trailer for "Cowboys and Aliens" I thought, here we go another uninteresting action filled film, that lacks anything a good traditional science fiction film would have.

However, I was proven wrong. "Cowboys and Aliens" is done well and has characters and relationships we actually care about. This is unusual with the way films are made today.

Daniel Craig is Jake Longergan the wanted man with a past he cannot remember. Harrison Ford is Woodrow Dolarhyde the business man who provides most of the work for Absolution , the small town, in which the film takes place. Both actors play their roles well and Ford is given some priceless lines that will not be soon forgotten.

Jake Lonergan is the anti-hero in this western, without a doubt. The way in which we see Lonergan's path unfold is like any seen in a John Wayne classic. However, it is the fact that Longergan is an amnesiac that sets this film apart from this summer's blockbusters. Especially when we have films like "Priest" which rely on the lead character's intuition and "knowing".

"Cowboys and Aliens" is in a couple of words the perfect summer movie. The pacing is right , the acting is superb, and the story is well thought out and makes you ask questions.

"Cowboys and Aliens" also stars Olivia Wilde, Paul Dano, Keith Carradine, Clancy Brown, and Sam Rockwell as Doc. "Cowboys and Aliens" is one of the better summer movies of 2011. If you want a western with a twist, this is it.

Transformers : Dark of the moon is fast moving and is two movies in one. One of the two is the landing on the moon,this is fun while it lasts. Then there is the action-packed special effects finale,that is the Michael Bay film. The moon landing storyline could alone have been a great conspiracy theory movie,but instead its wasted on Hasbro toys.

Had it not been for the fact that Shia LaBeouf can spit out more useless dialogue than a hippie protesting Vietnam, he would be out of work. Seeing as though Michael Bay likes his actors running their hearts out and yelling meaningless lines. "Run, jump, the decepticons are back!!". This is all we see really happen between characters.

Their has been a lot of disappointment over the Megan Fox firing. However, her presence is not at all missed, Rosie Huntington-Whitely is a more than perfect replacement. She is even more pleasing to the eye than Fox ever could be, because the role really doesn't require much acting. In fact standing around as the world explodes around her, is exactly what Fox did, when she didn't have a mini-auto-bot humping her leg.

Transformers has more of a plot in it's third installment. This is good and it's bad , because as we reach the third act in the film we suddenly begin to see more action than necessary. This involves the new auto-bot ,sentinel prime, whose story is brief and yet meaningful all the same. This could be said about the addition of Agent Mearing, Frances McDormand, whose job is to tell the auto-bots what to do and when to do it.

However , as the new trend for summer blockbusters go McDormand is not the only addition. Both Rosie Huntington-Whitely and Shia LaBeouf get bosses in the form of Patrick Dempsay and John Malkovich respectively. Malkovich does what Malkovich does , provide comic relief in situations where it is needed. Needless to say that Patrick Dempsey is the ladies man and even upstages LaBeouf in his introductory scene.


Josh Duhamel, Tyrese Gibson, and John Turturro do what they have done in the last two films which is do a favor for uncle Sam when called upon. Kevin Dunn and Julie white who play the parents of Sam Whitwicky (Shia LaBeouf) appear to have taken a chill pill, and now show that playing with robots is mere child play no matter if the world be in harms way.

Transformers : Dark of the moon lacks the potential to actually be a great summer blockbuster. Which is strange considering the fact that it had more than enough material to use. The Writer ,Ehren Kruger, who has written everything from Reindeer Games to Blood and Chocolate shows that his writing is still in the amateur at best.


Dark of the Moon is a must for die-hard fans , but for the most part I recommend waiting until the Blu-ray is released. I left the theater with mixed feelings on weather or not I actually enjoyed it.

Ed Helms is Tim Lippe who lives and sells insurance in Brown valley under Brownstar. Tim is also one of the few people in life who can say he screwed his 6th grade teacher Mrs. Vanderhei. Mrs. Vanderhei is played by Sigourney Weaver who is great in the role , but knows it isn't going to last long. In fact, she bails when things get bad for Tim.

Then the unexpected happens one of Brownstar's employees dies from some sort drug related incident. It is mentioned what happens to the employee , however it's early in the film and we still show an hour and seven minutes remaining. Then as these predictable cheesy comedies go, Tim is asked to replace the drug riddled employee.

What ensues from this point is nothing but bad decision making, adultery, and of course drug abuse. Cedar Rapids is like watching a melodramatic version of The Hangover. It is cracked out on nothing fun and continues to not make one laugh for long periods of time.

Anne Heche, Isaiah whitlock , Jr. , Kurtwood Smith, Mike O' Malley, Stephen Root, and John C. Reilly. All star in this would be great comedy. What Cedar Rapids lacks in a funny script and a real problem to deal with. Not the dilemma we are left with at the end of the film, that has Joan Fox(Anne Heche) walking off towards the inevitability that is; life at home with a husband and children.

For those that have read the book many times you will wonder if this film met or even exceeded those expectations that the book set fourth. "Harry Potter and the sorcerer's stone" is not only a classic , but an epic film and idea since it's inception in January of 01. What filmmakers called a challenge , is exactly what the reader likes to see, a-true-the-page adoption. Harry Potter provides just that. Cast as Harry is Daniel Radcliffe who played the character with dignity and respect for the role. Rupert Grint is Ron Weasley who comes from a poor family of five children, and Emma Watson is the know-it-all of the trio who plays her character with some spunk. Needless to say her character is the only one who seems capable of seeing events as a whole , when they unravel.These three young actors together created a chemistry that almost lasted a decade as the Potter films progressed. These three couldn't have done so without the ensemble case of adult actors ; which included Alan Rickman ,Maggie Smith, Fiona Shaw,Richard Griffiths,Ian Hart, Robbie Coltrane, and the late Richard Harris (to be replaced in the prisoner of azkaban by Michael Gambon). Set in a world of wizards and warlocks we are told the tragic story of Harry and the loss of his parents to "he who must not be named" an evil-doer who all wizards fear. During that fateful night when his parents were killed , somehow, harry survived and thus has become famous for it. Although famous, Harry , seems to careless. which shows us an anti-hero at the mercy of the universe around him. Harry is raised by his remaining family as someone they could care less about , but yet they know his family secrets , when letters come from a wizardry school by the hundreds. Harry Potter provides us with a world filled with unicorns, three headed-dogs, and dragons. It's messages are pure and to the point unlike most films of today. For example when Harry has become amused with the idea of seeing his parents everyday in the mirror of Arisette. Albus Dumbledore (Richard Harris in a perfect role) is there to set harry straight. "a truly Happy man would look into that mirror and see himself exactly the way he is". If you loved the Novel by J.K. Rowling you'll love the movie as well.