Reviews by moviemaniac126

Based on Percy Jackson & the Olympians by Rick Riodoran and Directed by Chris Columbus (Harry potter and the sorcerer's stone, Rent). Percy Jackson isn't exactly enjoying his life, his mother Sally (Catherine Keener) is hanging out with a good for nothing loser boyfriend( Joe Pantoliano) and to make things worse, Percy, is dyslexic so school isn't going well for him either. Desperate for a drastic change , Percy , is then thrown into a world full of gods from Greek mythology. Percy quickly finds out that he is the son of Poseidon(Kevin Mckidd) and is accused of stealing Zeus's(Sean Bean) lightning bolt , hence the redundant title. As the movie progresses at it's slow but very interesting pace , we meet Annabeth daughter of Athena(Melina Kanakaredes),grover (a martin Lawrence like Brandon T. jackson) Percy's sworn protector, and Chiron( Pierce Brosnan)a centataur. Percy Jackson ,however is not drawn down by it's A-list cast which keeps the movie moving and delightful to watch. The performances from the main cast are great despite that Uma Thurman has overacted her Medusa and Pierce Brosnan's centataur like body movements are unnatural. Percy Jackson is nevertheless a family film definitely worth watching.

Imagine a world in which you tell someone exactly whats on your mind about them. Its dull, blunt, very truthful, no one has an opinion for themselves, and sometimes it's down right predictable, this is the world Mark Bellison (Ricky Gervais) lives in. However, mark's life is dull he is facing the fact that he is about to lose his job at lecture films (or paramount pictures in our world). Also Mark finds himself very interested in Anna McDoogles (the always very good Jennifer Garner) a women who is looking for family and kids. Then one day Mark realizes that he can tell people false truths or lies and they will believe him, because living life in a predictable world you are always looking for the unexpected in the expected. Ricky Gervais's directing debut(alongside Mathew Robinson) is different and worthwhile. This film is simple and yet it gets away from your average run of the mill romantic comedy. so if different is your type of movie , this is my recommendation. The Invention of Lying also stars Jomah Hill, The very funny Jeffrey Tambor, Louis C.K., Rob Lowe (in a different role than he normally is cast in), and the always entertaining Tina Fey. The cameos are great and even a little surprising.

Christopher Reeve's las outing of superman to say the least is nothing but crap. However, the cast returns once more for one last Hoo-rah. The world has officially entered the arms race ( with actual footage of Ronald Reagen delivering a speech about it) and the US is plagued with the idea of being number one on the list of most powerful countries, by who owns more nuclear weapons. This isn't a problem for superman until a little boy asks him to do something about it. Things aren't going well with the daily planet either. Perry white ( Jackie Cooper) is plagued with the idea that he might lose his job as the publisher of the Daily Planet unless his papers improve drastically. needless to say the end of this 90 minute (which is significantly short for a superman film) is drab and ever so dull. It shows clearly that director Sidney J. Purie and the writers of the film need a good lesson in humanity.

Rob zombie returns to direct Halloween 2 , the inevitable sequel , to his powerhouse re-imagining of the original John Carpenter film. Halloween 2 starts right where the first film left off. Laurie Strode (Scout Taylor-Compton) now living under careful watch of sheriff Lee Brackett (Brad Dourif) and his Daughter Annie Brackett (Danielle Harris), who too survived the wrath of Michael Myers.
This film like the original is predicable as any horror film can be. Although interesting at times , director rob zombie manages to explain why Michael Myers wants to kill his sister and more so why he killed in the first place using his mother (Sheri Moon Zombie) as the source of his problems. Dr. Samuel Loomis (Malcolm McDowell) is not involved at all with the main story and is just simply just living off the success of his first novel, and doing promotional events for his second. Sadly enough Halloween 2 is simply bland and lacks the character detail of the first film . There is cameos from Mark Boone Junior and Dayton callie (sons of anarchy).

When three Klingon battle cruisers are destroyed in the midst of a big blue cloud StarFleet is immediately blamed for the destruction of these ships. although that obviously isn't that case. So James Kirk(William Shatner returns to his one and only memorable role in which he , indeed overacts) Kirk who, is no longer the captain the of Enterprise is called into battle once again. Despite the fact that he surprised StarFleet with his request to return to the Enterprise.once Kirk is sent to active duty there is a scene that literally takes up half of the film and that is Kirk just plainly looking at the outside of the remodeled Enterprise in all of it's glory. Elsewhere on Vulcan Spock( the ever impressing Leonard Nimoy) is putting himself through a Vulcan test/achievement called Kelinarh(pronounced Kohl-in-ar). Which is the Vulcan mind reaching and fully understanding logic, this is no doubt what the film is all about. What happens when all that is logic and knowledge aren't enough? However, there is hope for the crew of the Enterprise when Kirk and crew travel to the cloud that killed the Klingon Battle cruisers. They encounter an entity called V'ger (in the original Trek episode that gave this movie life "the changeling" called Nomad). This Entity Learns quickly and doesn't react well to human emotions, because it simply doesn't have the ability to understand why they are or how they are logical. what happens in this film is priceless and very simple ,
so Star Trek the Motion Picture not only holds true to its origins and we finally get to see the halls of StarFleet for the first time and shows its still very relevant today and is very entertaing and very thought provoking , This is probably the bible (alongside the original series for old Trekkers) and recommended for new Trekkers to see how it really started.

Based on Richard Matheson's Short story "Button, Button". Richard Kelly(Donnie Darko, Southland tales)directs and writes this fine piece of film. The box has a very simple plot, it seems at first. The short story is basically summed up in the first thirty-five minutes of the film. Excluding the the end for a very promising, but different finale. The Box stars Cameron Diaz as Norma Lewis and James Marsden as Arthur Lewis respectively. A couple on the brink of losing everything they own, Then, Mr. Arlington Steward ( a very good and well chosen Frank Langella) delivers a package at their door-step with a note, saying that he will call at five 0' clock. Needless to say Mr. and Mrs. Lewis are offered a deal of a lifetime push the red button in the brown box and receive one million dollars for the death of someone they don't know. The suspense of the original story was does Mrs. Lewis push the button? and who dies? Richard kelly not only does this but takes us father and deeper than we have been before with this story. which is what happens after Mrs. Lewis pushes the button? The message here is clear and simple, individualism will be the end of humanity. The Box will not only please Richard kelly Fans but anyone who is interested this very cool premise. The acting is academy award worthy on Frank Langella's end.

the original Taking of Pelham ONE TWO THREE starred Walter Mathau (Bad News Bears, Grumpier old men) and Robert shaw(From Russia with Love) in one of his best performances to date. However the original film was racy,funny, and even ironic and yet very truthful to what the viewer was seeing. it also had a very unique cast which included Julius Harris, Jerry Stiller, Martin Balsam, and Hector Elizondo.With the unique cast the film not only worked well but the characters had an undying chemistry that made the film what it is and how it is known today.Needless to say with the films success it was again re-made later with Edward James Olmos(Battlestar Galactica) and vincent D'Onofrio. As we all know Hollywood likes to re-make films when it's ideas get predictable and tends not to sell as well. so Pelham was greenlit for a third round. this time with Denzel Washington in the lead role as walter Garber and John Travolta in the role of Ryder( Mr. blue of the original film). The new Pelham takes on a more personal role of it's characters and adds intensity to it. which clearly gets away from the comedy of the original version. Directed by Tony Scott (Man on Fire) the film is very jumpy and to the point but also has slow-mo views of New York which is a tony scott trademark. the film pays homage to the original film in many ways but in the end takes its own spin on things. so if you want to watch a film that will have you on the edge of your seat this is for you. the film in question co-stars James Gandolfini as the Mayor and Luis Guzman as Phil Ramos.

Quentin Tarantino returns for yet another fun and crazy ride in Inglorious Basterds. A world war 2 film set in Nazi-occupied France, the film focuses on one Jewish Survivor Shosanah Dreyfuss(Melanie Laurent) who escaped Col. Hans Landa (Christoph Waltz), Who found her hiding place. Then there is the Basterds commanded by LT. Aldo Raine(Brad Pitt in his best role since Fight Club) hell bent on killing every nazi possible. Til Schwieger plays Hugo Stigllitz a very funny and to the point man who has killed thirteen Nazi commanders and then joins the basterds.What happens in this film is extraordinary and very memorable, and what would have been nice to see happen in world war 2. The acting in is the film is superb as well as it's soundtrack which features David Bowie's "cat people (putting out the fire)" in what could a Miami Vice opening title sequence , In which Soshanah sets out to get revenge.Inglorious Basterds includes cameos from Mike Myers as the english General Edward Fenech and Samuel L. Jackson as the narrator. Quentin Tarantino's Inglorious Basterds is one of this year's best films "and believe me cousin, in business of killing Nazis ,business is a boomin'"-Lt. Aldo Raine

set in 1987 this supposed romantic comedy is about James Brennan(Jesse Eisenberg in a Michael Cera role). James was supposed to be going to Europe for the summer to learn and hopefully become a writer and move to New York. However none of this happened. Becasue his parents(Wendie Malick and Jack Gilpin) can't afford it.On top of it all he is dumped by his girlfriend. James is then forced to get a job, and wherever he applies (due to lack of work expierence) he does not get the job. So he applies for Adventureland, a games and rides kind of place (more like a year around town fair).James is willing hired as a games guy by Bobby(Bill Hader) and Paulette(Kristen Wiig).James is easily bored with his new job as the games guy, then James meets Emily(Kristen Stewart)a fellow employee of adventureland and student in new york, who saves him form being stabbed. However Emily is not all that she seems to be and is having an affair with connell(Ryan Reynolds) the maitinence man who is married. Things then get complicated when Lisa P.(Margarita Levieva) a hip clubber asks James out for a date. Adventureland not only captures the feel of the 80's but also how it feels to work in the workforce and have a relationship with a fellow emplyee, Adventureland is directed by superbad alum Greg Mottola.

Sacha Baron Cohen returns to complete his personality films in Bruno the third film based on Da Ali G show(the orgin of Cohen's characters which was on HBO for a whopping two seasons). With the first film being ALi G Indahouse, the second the highly controversial Borat-cultural Learnings of America for make benefit glorious nation of Kazahkhstan. Bruno who is just as crazy as Cohen's other characters and is an Austrian gay model who screws up on his walk on the stage. Then resorts to coming to Los Angeles to become a famous movie star. Bruno is a very funny film , although it is a required taste in comedy. The poster for Bruno says that Borat was so 2006 which makes us think it will be better. however, Bruno doesn't quite top Borat nor do I think it had any intentions of doing so. Bruno is filled with plenty of misadventures and just outright sick(meaning disgusting or did i really need to see that )scenes Fans of Da Ali G show will enjoy Bruno and will find it worth their every bit of ten dollars.