Disappearing acts

This weekend I caught two flicks, The Call with Halle Berry and The Incredible Burt Wonderstone featuring Steve Carell, Steve Buscemi and Jim Carrey.

Now The Call I was skeptical about seeing because lately, Halle Berry's films haven't been all that great (cough-Movie 43-cough) but this one was really good! A total thriller, The Call is about a 911 dispatcher (Berry) who takes an emergency call from a young girl whose home is being broken into. Unfortunately, the police aren't able to make it to the girls home in time and the dispatcher has to listen to the poor girls screams for help, helpless herself to come to the girls aid. 

Cut to six months later, Berry's character is now responsible for training new dispatchers as she is no longer able to take calls herself. As she's finishing a tour of the calling center, Berry takes over a call when a newer dispatcher panics while taking trying to assist a girl in distress. Come to find out, this girl has been abducted by the same man who snatched and killed the girl from Berry's call six months before. How will Berry be able to help this girl from the other end of a phone line?

This one will keep you on the edge of your seat wondering what would happen next. I really liked it and thankfully, it wasn't one of those movies where the answer is so obviously in front of you yet the characters never actually use their common sense; this film hits everything and still keeps going! It's a guessing game and the chase is on to find the killer before another girl is victimized. 

If you like films like Taken or Taking Lives, you should be pleased with this one. I won't say it's the most amazing film ever or anything like that, but it was definitely better then I expected. Check it out. 

Having gone to Las Vegas for the first time last year, I now look forward to any movie based in Sin City and was therefore really excited about The Incredible Burt Wonderstone. Full of stars, this one looked like it would be full of non stop laughs and while it was very funny, the hour and forty five minute long film felt more like a four hour movie and I just kept wondering when it would end. I didn't hate it, it just seriously dragged. Saying that though, I don't know what they could have cut from the film, everything worked for the story. 

Burt Wonderstone is about two best friends who become magicians and grow up to become a well known Vegas duo. After ten years together as a Vegas staple, they start to get a little jaded and lose their love for the act-think David Copperfield (which is funny because he actually makes a tiny appearance in the film). Coupled with their lack luster act, a new "modern magician"  starts performing on the strip and slowly starts stealing their spotlight. I have to say, Carrey's character was my favorite because the writers were so very clearly poking fun at "performers" like Criss Angel and David Blaine. 

If you're a fan of Carell or Carrey, I recommend this one; but I wouldn't say it was one you need to see immediately. Don't take my word for it though, I was in a pretty full theater and a woman a few rows in front of me was positively dying throughout the entire film. She actually made me laugh more then the movie did. 

Fe-Fi-Fo-Fum

This weekend brought movie-goers three really good films. The first one I saw was Dead Man Down with Colin Farrell and Terrance Howard. 

I love mob movies and this one was excellent. It didn't have your typical mob movie storyline but it was all about revenge and double cross. Fans will spend the entire film following Colin Farrell's character as he tries to set a play in motion against members of an organized crime group that murdered his family. Like The Departed, this movie keeps folks on the edge of their seats wondering if and when Farrell will be found out and whether or not he'll make it out alive. 

If you're a fan of any of these kinds of films, you should check this one out for sure. 

I went and saw Jack the Giant Slayer next. Now, I must confess, I really wanted to see it for Ewan McGregors hair-do, boy looks good! But I was also interested in how Hollywood would run with this classic fairy tale. Would they over exaggerate everything like Hansel & Gretel? Would they underwhelm audiences like Snow White and the Huntsman? 

Thankfully, Hollywood got this one right! I felt this movie had a perfect blend of action, comedy and overall feel-good attitude. We all know the story of Jack and the magic beanstalk, but this time we get to see it all played out in giant splendor. The actors were great, the visuals were awesome and the plot kept you interested. I was also glad to see that it wasn't overly cheesy like these remakes can so often be. With a solid cast behind it, the story flowed seamlessly into a a film I think the whole family will enjoy. 

And finally, I returned to Oz.

Oz: The Great and Powerful, is the prequel to that classic film we all know and love only in this movie, no musical numbers-sorry music and theater geeks-you're just going to have to settle for a regular old awesome film. 

Another blockbuster packed with stars, much like Jack, this movie kept you entertained and waiting to see how everything would turn out. It was dark, it was light hearted, it was cute, it was scary, it was funny, and sometimes a bit sad; but all around the billion-or so people who saw it over the weekend left pleased with the film. 

I walked away happy as well and especially pleased to find that the writers gave a few subtle nods to the original Oz without actually being so obvious that they might as well have had a guy in the corner of the screen going "Hey! Remember when they had this in the first one?!". Subtly is key, less is more, and I think the writers on this one got it just right. 

The actors were all cracker-jacks as well. I won't give anything away but I will say Mila Kunis gave a decent performance. I wish I could go into further detail but I'm not in the business of spouting out spoiler alerts-I want you guys to enjoy these films as much as I did! So see it for yourself, I think you'll be glad you did.

Did we just kill Jeff Chang?

This afternoon I went and saw 21 and Over featuring up and coming "teen" hotties, Sklar Astin (Pitch Perfect), Justin Chong (Twilight) and Miles Teller (Project X-think a mini Vince Vaughn, that's all I could think while watching this kid).  

As the poster states, this puppy was written by the same team of "party boy" geniuses that brought us The Hangover. While this one was as epic as that classic, I think I almost liked it a little better. 21 and Over presents us with the tale of a young college student whose getting ready for an important interview set up by his over-bearing father. His two friends visit him on his 21st Birthday, the night before his 7am interview and convince him to go out on the town for birthday festivities. Naturally, drunken insanity ensues. 

This one was fun with an actual storyline behind all of the hilarity. If you're a fan of any classic college comedy, I don't see any reason why you'd want to miss this. 

Say No to Drugs...

...seriously, or The Rock will come after you. Just caught Snitch tonight and, surprise, surprise, it was awesome!

I love me a "Based on True Events" movie and this one certainly did not disappoint. I confess, I thought it would be a little slower paced then it actually was (I've been burned before), and was surprised by the amount of action throughout the entire film.

This movie actually sheds a lot of light on the messed up legal system we have to live with in this country. The war on drugs is so important to the American government, that it's regarded with more seriousness then child molestation, rape or murder. And again, while the film focuses on one father's mission to get his wrongfully imprisoned son out of jail, it does shine a light on just how flawed things are.

This totally makes up for the disappointing addition to the Die Hard family I caught a few weeks back. If you're looking for a good, (true) story that's action packed-I highly recommend this flick.