eric262003

In 2009, Sony Pictures Animation released "Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs", a film that had scored high points in originality and creativity and demonstrates that the sky is the limit in terms of our imagination. Based off of a classic children's novel by Judi and Ron Barrett, the visuals in that movie was taken at a highly professional level while at the same that action was over-the-top spontaneous while also being very clever in all essential areas of filmmaking. With a world that centres around the aftermath of a food apocalypse and the townspeople going to great lengths to clean up the town, while opening the gates for a new conflict our heroes have to enconter. Directors Phil Lord and Chris Miller created a world filled with action, adventure, and comedy that has something to offer for both kids and adults alike.

In 2013, the sequel "Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs" was released and it still captures a lot of the imagination, although the magic is gone in some areas, it's still very satisfying to watch. There is still plenty of entertainment for everyone to see, however the screenwriting is a bit of a red herring and the humour is a bit lowered down compared to the first installment, there is still plenty to love about this sequel and I'm sure kids and parents will have a fun time watching this one.

After the food-making machine which turned Swallow Falls into an edible disaster, the town is ready to move forwards and clean the mess up. With the help of Live Corp led by CEO Chester V (Will Forte), hires the aspiring inventor Flint Lockwood (Bill Hader) to work for his company, we later realize it was not for good intentions. Chester informs Flint that he needs to go back to his island residence to look into his food-prosessing device and to shut it down. The reason why is because the machine has created food-themed monsters running all over the town causing mischief towards the civilians. Flint is joined by his girlfriend, Sam (Anna Faris), Officer Earl (Terry Crews), Manny (Benjamin Bratt), Chicken Brent (Andy Samberg) and his father Tim (James Caan) to put a stop to this machine's madness. Flint's focus however is to make a lasting impression on Chester that often times takes over his consentraition by planting a USB device to shut down his machine.

Replacing Lord and Miller and a duo of new directors this time with Cody Cameron and Kris Pearn who succeed in keeping the cartoonish elements that worked successfully from the first movie. From the raw energy that worked effectively from the first movie to creating a Disney themed character-driven narrative that's pure in escapism where surrealism is king and the animators having more fun than labour in creating newly created monsters that will surely either scare you or make you hungry whichever comes first. They also were up to the challenge of creating new dangers and new adventures for Flint and his allies refraining from repeating the same story from the previous installment. The only weakness to this sequel is there is really not much to be surprised about.

With Swallow Falls being taken over by food-animal hybrids, we as the audience don't really know how to react when seeing these creatures because we don't know if they're dangerous or just a ragtag of misunderstood misfits with a physical and psychological unpredictability. One of the more better interaction of the food hybrids is when Tim seems to be on friendly terms with mutated pickles adopting himself as a father as he teaches them how to fish. There are more dangerous villainy food creatures like a crocodile-taco and a cheeseburger-spider with french fries for legs who seems to be transfixed under Chester's persuasions. But we can't ignore that cute strawberry with eyes named Berry, who's very harmless and just wants to be friends with Flint. These creatures are the reasons to be invested into the story and make up for the murky scrpit surrounding Chester V and his real plans. Whenever these critters come on screen, there is never a dull moment.

While the movie is endless barrage of whimsical wordplay especially when it comes to deciding what to named each food themed monster. The details put on display is met with great dedication to the craft at Sony Pictures Animation and truly deserve our praise to circle around original storytelling to an otherwise repeated atmosphere. It's just a shame that not enough heart was put into the story. The only subplot that had some heart was Tim who wanted to spend quality time with his son and had to adopt pickles to fill in the void. The Chester V and his evil schemes were exciting to watch, but felt very rushed with no time to saviour in the moments. The sequel does stand out as our heroes are dealt with another adventure this time dealing with the wildlife that has manifested in their humble little island town. The sequel may be inferior to the first movie, but there is something you can enjoy with friends and family of all ages.

Where is in the world will you find a town that actually rains cheeseburgers? Where meatballs acts like a hailstorm? Where else can you find a town that has ice-cream mountains and children everywhere are indulging on food they can enjoy? Not the food that has essential nutrients and vitamins for a healthy body, but unhealthy meals and sweet treats that will likely give you a tummy ache afterwards. "Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs" is truly one of the strangest movies I ever saw, but it stands out in terms of originality and creativity.

The movie itself is a 3-D animated film based off of the popular children's books back in the 1980's by Judi and Ron Barrett and is voiced by Bill Hader as the main character Flint Lockwood who lives in an Atlantic fishing community called Swallow Falls. They're famous for their sardine industry. When the sardine market starts to collapse due to economic constraints, Flint decides to invent a contraption that can help restore the food population just by adding a little water. Next thing you know, it starts raining cheeseburgers, and then ice cream starts to come down from the sky's above. Next thing you know we have a spaghetti hurricane and hail in the form of giant meatballs.

Ever since he was a little boy, Flint had the desire to become an inventor. However, his father, Tim (James Caan) wants him to work at his sardine store. I assume he needs the help knowing that his eyes seem to concealed by a big, bushy unibrow. Flint spends most of his time in his treehouse patenting his new food making apparatus which grows to epic proportions and voila, an instant success. Or so for the time being. Hate to sound cynical, but like all good tales, there is likely going to be some drawbacks, but in this movie, that's a big understatement.

I don't believe that "Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs" will be approved by health fanatics who have encouraged children for many many years to eat more healthier foods like vegetables or other essential nutrients for a well balanced diet. No the kids in this movie are scarfing down on pizza, burgers, ice-cream, gummi bears and chocolate. This machine can't make broccoli, asparagus and spinach, but who cares? The kids are having the time of their lives not caring about health risks like obesity and diabetes and premature heart disease. However, that's not the only problem. Eventually, Flint's machine ends up losing control and next things you know the island he lives on is now showered with mouth-watering foods. At least they won't have to worry about starvation for a while. It's up to Flint to find a way to stop the machine before things really start to go out of control.

The climax of the film features a dam and in it are leftovers causing a major avalanche to swoop over the town leaving it in a pile of rubble. Flint needs the USB drive to stop the machine which seems to have a mind of its own. He goes into a tunnel, but his girfriend Sam Sparks (Anna Faris) gets pierced by a peanut brittle and gets an allergic reaction. He stops the machine with his spray on shoes causing the machine and giant meatball to explode, the food storms die down and the island gets restored back to normal.

Aside from Flint, his girfriend Sam, and his father Tim, there are other remarkable characters that play prominent roles in the narrative. Bruce Campbell of "The Evil Dead" series was wonderful as corrupt Mayor Shelbourne. Andy Samberg is just a hoot as the voice of Brent McHale, who ever since infancy, has been the mascot for Baby Brent Sardines canned food. However, Neil Patrick Harris was excellent as Flint's monkey assistant, Steve who can translate his thoughts through a translator.

The animations basks in its own surrealism. Sure the hot fudge sundae mountains look bizarre, and the whole concpt of this movie might be appealing enough to keep the kids invested. But to the adults, we just think this movie went a step beyond weirdness. Even the physical looks of the characters. Flint looks like he his nose is bigger than his face and father Tim has one unibrow and no eyes.

I've seen my share of 3-D movies and several of them are either a hit or miss. "Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs" is a hit albeit of the stranger kind. From a technical standpoint, the 3-D elements are great upgrade that suceeds in providing an precise, clearer improvement compared to the one's before.

Michael Pare stars as sea-boat Captian Michael Stoddard, who leads a group of environmental activists led by Sandra Cresent (Jerri Manthey), along with her cohorts Jerry Ryan (Ryan McTavish), Carrie Evans (Renee Talbert), Ted Marks (Ted Monte), and Darla Marks (Glori-Anne Gilbert), to a mysterious island to explore a deep, dark secret about this island. As their search progresses, they find a research compound where Dr. Susan Richardson (Michelle Borth) is a lone survivor who's father was also leading the research team. Just then, the military calls in to action and the weary environmentalists are facing danger on every corner of the island as a giant mutated Komodo Dragon and a king-sized King Cobra are squashing humans and having them for a light snack. The surviving group members must scramble to safety to escape this island from these reptilian creatures and the military intervention.

While this is far from being anything Oscar calibre, or anything that will have you thinking because this movie is as stupid as it may come, I still found "Komodo vs. Cobra" very interesting and entertaining. For a monster movie, it had the potential to really stand out. One of those traits being that due to the limited cast, it gives these giant creatures plenty of time to have an altercation with each other. Sure for a small cast, we still get plenty of prey for the creatures to have a feast on, they never let their food go to waste. Sure there are plenty of kills featured here, it's shock value remains intact. The timing of this movie is short, but straight to the point and not a single moment is ever wasted. The climax is very atmospheric and the tension as the quest for survival becomes all the more mandatory is anticipated with excitement.

Of course under this sea of great praise, there is also a myriad of red herrings featured in this giant monster movie mash. It seems that after the success of "Jurassic Park" has progressively been downgraded to schlock like this. The CGI is absolutely pitiful even though CGI is supposed to have improved compared to the CGI from 1993's "Jurassic Park". It feels more archaic for a movie that was released in 2005. The execution of the creatures is almost unintentionally funny it's pathetic. Why hasn't any technological features gotten better over the years. Even when the two giant reptiles clash feels anti-climactic. The action is uneventful it is very unsatisfying. The script felt like it was written specifically to insult the viewer's intelligence. Environmental activists invade an obscure island to revolt against scientific researchers who's experiment went wrong only to find out that their lives are in danger is all there is to this plot? Talk about a story that has been done so many times before. Unoriginal sure, but there was a lot of potential to make this movie really interesting. It was all just a muddled mess of terrible cliche's and wooden performances.

In the end, "Komodo vs. Cobra" had all the makings for a fun and compelling monster movie in all its cheesy goodness. The reptiles were badly downgraded by 2005 standards, they looked like badly don caricatures from 1990's Super Nintendo games it's not that funny. Also the vulgar language is replaced with squacks which can be at times very annoying. It's not the worst movie out there, but it isn't really anything that great either.

Russell Crowe stars in this sentmental drama, "Fathers & Daughter" playing a Pulitzer Prize winning author named Jake Davis who lives with his young daughter Katie (Kylie Rogers). Things take a tragic turn when they get into a car crash which his wife, her mother dead, and Jake has become oppressed with depression and mental instability while also suffering from terrible seizures which eventually leads to him becoming a patient under psychiatric care. Little Katie is now under the custody of her uncle William (Bruce Greenwood) and her aunt Elizabeth (Diane Kruger). When Jake becomes discharged from the hospital, things are never the same as before. Cut to many decades later, Katie (Amanda Seyfried) is now a social worker and is working on helping traumatized kids who have been affected by events that have took a toll on their mental health like a stoic, unresponsive girl named Lucy (Quvenzhane Wallis). She's saving these kids while she herself needs some saving of her own. Then she meets a young man named Cameron (Aaron Paul) and that's where things go from sour to putrid.

I came to see "Fathers & Daughters" with very little expected of me, and in the result for such a richly done melodrama, I got very little out if it making this movie very unsatisfying. It felt like writer Brad Desch seems to have a read a few textbooks on the topic related to psychology and feels like he's an expert when it comes to the sunject so he decides to arbitrarily write a script related to grief and trauma by that book without really going far as to counsel those who have had real experience related to grief and depression. While Katie's depression issues regarding grief of losing both parents at a young age is right on the money, it still feels more like a hack effort created by a pseudo-expert on this subject making Desch a phony.

It's understanding that Katie's heartbreak regarding her father has been a burden within her even more so as an adult and has never overcame it. It might have blown over the water to some extent but I'm okay with that. Some people show their depressions in different ways whether being subtle or extravagant. The whole notion of her having sex with random men as a way to cope with her depression is problematic with me. However, when the beloved saviour of her life, Cameron decides to step in break her cycle to become the void she is missing becaoming the new Jake father-figure is downright unsettling. It's also in her favour that Katie is quite the looker because if she was homely, Cameron would never give her the time of day. It's also unjustified and quite unqualified that Katie, in spite of her being educated in the field of social work and therapy, that she's trying to interact with a trauma stricken Lucy, and yet she can't even save herself. It might sound like a nice gesture to help her out, but she chose this girl because Lucy fits perfectly from the horrific events she's experienced and to mean that approach is wrong. It's not about challenging herself to different children going through the motions, but about Lucy and how she's a mirror-image of the trauma Katie faced in her past.

Sure as a social worker, Katie like most other people of her calibre might pick this career choice because like her other people in that field might have suffered from various tragic events and will use their own personal experience in helping other kids who are feeling the same way in hope that they might overcome what's bothering them. Though she might seem selfless in helping others before helping herself. However, Katie must fight her own inner demons before passing on her knowledge to others. She clearly isn't eligible to help others and yet people want to turn a blind eye on that. Perhaps a more level-headed social worker would be more sufficient in helping out kids. Katie is just not reliable just yet, at least until her self-conflicted ways are expunged. I'm sure therapists who watch this film will know just how unprofessional and unqualified Katie is at helping kids.

The movie to me was an unsatisfying watch, although the actors put in their hearts to what was given to them. The cast did a great job capturing the image of people dealing with grief and death, it was still very overly melodramatic and cringe-inducing.

There's a saying that goes, be careful of the things you say and do or else karma is going to get back at you with a vengeance. There are a number of signs that "The Traveler" is going to be an unsettling watch. There's going to be vengeful integrity, ominous whistling, ironic moments, and even great moments that has a crossover between supernatural and crime drama that sadly never seems to develop into a cohesive narrative. By the time you get to the end, you wonder what in the world have I just seen?

Set on the evening of Christmas Eve at a police station, a mysterious blond-haired man dressed entirely in black (Val Kilmer) walks into the station to confess that murdered six people. Several of the officers take him seriously, while others think it's part of the job as there have been plenty of insane people who have walked through these doors saying the same diatribe. As usual, they go through the procedures only to discover that this man is in fact a Mr. Nobody, they examine his fingerprints which he doesn't have and he has no reflection of himself when he went to get his picture taken. He seems to cease to exist, though the police think he looks like somebody they know. When they led him to the interrogation room to confess, Mr. Nobody sits calmly, talks in subminal messages and pauses each time to confess that those around him will die while he never once leave his chair. How is that even possible? It feels like the script was rewritten at the last second without fully carefully knowing themselves.

We then cut to a flasback relating to a horrific incident not far back in time where a drifter was beaten mercilessly by those same cops as he kept pleading to them that was not the one who killed a small child. The beating was graphic and violent to the point where the victim was found lying in a coma. While Mr. Nobody continues his confession, more cops fall victim to their deaths while the flashback of them shows the ugliness and malice these cops had on this drifter. But the more time they keep going back to that incident, it starts to get tedious and repetitive.

As time progresses, the surving at the moment cops see an evil connection between Mr. Nobody's confession and the ironic deaths of the other cops that leads them to belive that they're part of a sinister plot of revenge that might have a paranormal feeling behind it. Even though their ruthless aggression is far from anything to get behind, we do feel a bit of sympathy for these cops due to the fact the aforementioned little girl that was murdered was the daughter of the detective. By the time we get to the climax, the cops realize that their fate is upon them and that they now regret of messing with the wrong person.

The Mr. Nobody character has a certain feeling of diabolical calmness to the character Keyser Soze from "The Usual Suspects", but then it gets dragged down to become a bloated it's either me or him picture in similar veins to "Assault on Precinct 13". Eventually it gets a similar vibe relating to police brutality anti-cop flick that would have Rodney King green with envy. Which would have been okay with me as Val Kilmer really nailed his performance as a cold, calm, and collected Mr. Nobody who presence is convincing enough to send shivers down your spine. In the end, the whole one cop after another gets killed is no different than all those slasher films with cops replacing teenagers who make dumb decisions in how to go to get themselves out of the metaphoric holes they dug for themselves to begin with. When they beat the drifter to bloody pulp, they acted so barbaric and ruthless, now with the situation they're encountering, they all seem weak and vulnerable. When we reach the climax, it all goes down, ruining all the intentions this film had its mind set at. The going back to the beatdown was cringe-inducing because there were way too many plot holes to the point where it becomes overwhelming.

Not only did this truly get the Pee-Wee Herman (Paul Reubens) character noticed by millions in his big screen debut, it was also the big picture debut of Tim Burton. It was also the big screen soundtrack debut for Danny Elfman. Therefore, "Pee-wee's Big Adventure" was milestone for these three who went onto big things in their careers as the years go by. Though Pee-wee is potrayed as an adult, but his approach and mannerisms might tell you another story. He acts very much like a child, still playing with toys, eating sugary cereal (like Mr. T cereal how 1980's can you get?), and seems to have this child-like innocence that we have grown to love and admire over the years and his schtick never grows old or stale. In his big screen debut, Pee-wee's favourite possession that means more to him than life itself is his prized bike that's filled with cool gadgets and stuff decorated all over it. However, another man-child named Francis (Mark Holton) seeems to like it too and wants to buy it from him, but Pee-wee refuses his and his father's offers and drives off with it. When he comes out of the bike shop, it's stolen and now he makes it his mission to go out on the road to get it back.

Much to the frustrations of bike shop employee Dottie (Elizabeth Daily) who seem to have a crush on Pee-wee, he stop at nothing to get it back. When he goes to a fortune teller (Erica Yohn), she tells him that his bike it situated in a basement located at the Alamo in San Antonio, Texas.

On his way to Texas, Pee-wee meets up with a barrage of unique characters along the way. This includes a dangerous criminal who cuts price tags off mattresses, a mysterious enity of a trucker named Large Marge (Alice Nunn) and befriends a kind-hearted waitress named Simone (Diane Salinger) who wants to go to France, but her jealous, giant of a boyfriend, Andy (John Harris) won't let her go and gives chase to Pee-wee. He eventually entertains a rambunctious motorcycle gang by doing a strange dance to the song "Tequila". By the time he finally get to The Alamo, he gets humiliated by the tour guide when asked about the basement.

After getting hurt and awaken in the hospital, it's revealed that his bike is in Hollywood and is being used as a prop for a movie. Eventually he gets it back and his adventures becomes turned into a movie albeit with a James Bond spin and has James Brolin playing the Pee-wee part with a more suave and maturity to the character. We get plenty of cameos from legendary comedian Milton Berle, slain comedian Phil Hartman, future teen star Jason Hervey, glam rock legends Twisted Sister, and blonde bombshell Morgan Fairchild.

When this movie was released it was a smashing success that made stars out of both Burton and turned Pee-wee into. Burton became quite successful as a director in such films as "Edward Scissorhands", "Batman", "Batman Returns" and "Ed Wood". While Reubens character Pee-wee Herman would have a home on CBS Saturday mornings.

The rating for this movie back in the day have been relatively, though in later years that bravado has took a subtle decline. The teen to young adult ratio loved it more with a 7.5 approval rating. While the older adults love it less with a 6.6 approval rating. Whatever the case, one thing for absolute certain, no one will ever say that they were bored with the movie.

Even though Reubens gave Pee-wee Herman more recognition than he had before, he was already famous on cable television with his live specials on HBO and on David Letterman. He would make other movies like "Big Top Pee-wee" and others, but they didn't live up to the hype. And then his career was dormant due to accusations for rather unflattering situations.

To me, his Saturday morning show outperformed even his movie debut, mostly because on his program, his character was more developed and we can see more of who this character is and how he interacts with the unique, strange people and creatures that inhabit his playhouse. He can relate to kids more than adults because he literally is a kid trapped in the body of an adult and that we can all be kids even as we grow older as long as you're not immature about it.

People just seem to naturally like this individual. Even the less than nicer characters seem to have some level of fondness for him. Dottie seems to like this man just the way he is, even though he acts more like a child than an adult, dresses like a cartoon charcater, and talks with a nerdy nasally voice that most people would be turned off in the real world. But she would not want him in any other way.

"Pacific Heights" is the perfect psychological thriller designed especially for those who are basking in money and wealth, along with your mortgage, finance, and just about anything to protect your investment when it comes to owning your own home. It's about a financially stable couple who move into a 19th century polychrome building located in the trendy Pacific Heights area in San Francisco, and serve as landlords in order to pay off the mortgage of their homes. The tenants consist of a loving Japanese couple (Mako and Nobu McCarthy) and a slick, debonair, but very suspicious Carter Hayes (Michael Keaton). Carter is truly a piece of work as like the the cockroaches he breeds, he freeloads off of them rent free, renovates the home even during late hours of the night and makes everybody's life in complete misery, even forcing the elderly Asian couple to leave at one point.

The thing about Carter is that he will latch onto this couple played by Melanie Griffith as Patty Palmer and Matthew Modine who stars as Drake Goodman just to be a creep and can play off of people like set pieces of a board game. Performance wise it is well acted even though the story is quite thin which gives lessons to aspiring landlords to choose your tennants wisely. They are a young couple who are living their dream lives of owning their own homes, while still tweeking it here and there in some areas. That is until Carter shows up at their doorstep and the nightmare goes on from there.

Carter has the same level of evil as the average slasher film villains, even though he's just incognito as an average slick, well-dressed business tycoon who takes advantage of anyone and manages to successfully get away with it. He acts as though Patty and Drake are nothing more like putty on his hands but they (as least Patty that is) knows that this creep is bad news. The soundtrack indicates that trouble is on the horizon for this couple, and the direction from John Schlesinger has the cameras running in a dizzying way that will truly make your heads spin.

Carter sernades himself as a well-adjusted successful business tycoon who takes great interest in the estate the minute he walk in promising six months of payment rent via wire transfer to make up for refusing to take a credit check. In reality he's a con artist who never gave a red cent to the couple, and locks himself into his apartment hammering at all hours of the night, while also placing cockroaches all over the building. When the couple tries to evict him, Carter goes full-blown psycho and takes his devilish ways to new heights. His mind games forces the couple to spiral in terms of relationship and financial stability. When they try to reach the authorties, they are in shock to realize that they are all on his side making him quite untouchable.

It appears that he has done it many times to other in the past. We also get word that his real name isn't Carter Hayes but James Danforth. He plays this scheme like a game for giggles and money. He cons gullible homeowners and blackmails these authoritative figures by paying them off to take his side.

Patty and Drake are the perfect guinea pigs for Carter to con. They need the money to pay off the estate and are desperate to bring tennants into their apartments without considering back checking on the history of who should move in. However, Patty, the smarter of the couple goes through great lengths to dig the dirt of who Carter really is. While Drake, who's short on brains, takes Cater in to prove that he is the one who's in charge (or so he thinks). Once he's proven wrong and finds himself house bound after a physical confrontation that leaves him wounded, he realizes he's goofed up really badly. Patty decides to play at his game, which drives him insane to the point he wants to kill them, only to end up dead by impalement by a broken water pipe.

The script by Daniel Pyne reflects on an experience he had with a freeloader who refused to leave their premises which cost him and his wife a lot of money. It gives the lesson of be careful who you rent your property to because even though they came out lucky, the same can't account to everyone.

Captain Lee Miller, an astronaut becomes the first person to ride the International Space Station in about 20 years to check if it's still able to function properly. During his time on space, he is alone and isolated which is a feeling no human really wants to position themselves in though mission control is keeping in contact with him frequently. That is until a tranmission malfunctions and communication gets cut off. At first Lee assumes it's all just a stress exercise until he realizes that there is trouble happening back home on Earth. Then for most of the movie, everything just goes silent. From his window he observes lights and explosions hitting Earth, while he's helpless, stranded in outer space all alone and not a soul to communicate with.

Written and directed by William Eubank, "Love" also features a soundtrack by the band Angels and Airwaves and how the human condition needs social interaction and the effects it has upon those who become deprived of it.

I'm a little doubtful if I am eligible to write a review of this calibre. There is a myriad of subliminal elements happening here, a lot of the material is a bit overwhelming to grasp at. I've had a few dreams of waking up only to find no one around to talk to. Though I'm not the social butterfly, I still feel the need to talk to someone every once in a while and I mean in person, not on social media behind a computer. It's both sad and frightening to feel this way even if I am organically introverted.

It must be a worse experience when you're in outer space alone, with no contact with anyone. Sure a lot of kids when asked what they wanted to be when they grew up, a lot of had ambitions of becoming an astronaut. To me, being that far away from home is something I would never dream of at all. I prefer the place I call home right here on Earth, even though it's not necessarily that safe with nautral disasters and unpredicatability, I'm okay where I am and I wouldn't want it any other way.

I don't envy Lee and the situation he's facing in this entire movie. Who needs a horror film to get a good scare? All you have to do is sit through Captain Lee Miller going through the emotions that he's alone and has no one to call for help.

To occupy his time, he does stretching excersises, make origami animals, and reads a journal from a Civil War soldier chronicling about his mission to find an unknown object which remains a secret. The more he reads the journal, the longer he is out there and is progressively losing his sanity.

Eubank does a confident directing job for a relative first-timer thanks to his years of experience as a cinamatographer. With inspiration from "2001: A Space Odyssey", "Solaris" and many other sci-fi dramas like this one, Eubank has movie that looks like something that could have been an award grabber.

Gunner Wright show just the perfect pitch of emotion as an isolated astronaut who you deeply sympathize with as his sanity is declining minute by minute. I was relieved when this movie ended and not in a bad way as I couldn't bear to sit through 90 minutes of watching a man lost in space and the number of years he spent alone on that spacecraft.

A lot of credit goes to the soundtrack by Angels and Airwaves led by former Blink-182 guitarist/frontman Tom DeLonge. Their music caught the mood perfectly for what we were about to sit through. It followed the sad and isolated journey our protagonist has to embark and it was spot on in its delivery.

There were moments in the film that at times confused me, but maybe it was done that way on purpose. The ending is an open field for drawing your own conclusions and interpretations and I like that very much. Maybe I feel satisfied that not all my questions have been answered as it maintains a mystery. If this movie was spoon-feeding us, it wouldn't be very effective in its storytelling and would lose all its darkness given to us. "Love" definitely deserves a second viewing or multiple viewing to get a better understanding of what's going on and through those viewings, you'll learn new things every time.

Though it may not be at the same level as Kevin Williamson's other successful thriller ride, "Scream", but I Know What You Did Last Summer" succeeds nicely on a cleverly written script, heavy on tension and sharply developed characters featuring a cast of young performers at the time, who were showing promise at the time. Based on the novel by Lois Duncan, Williamson counteracts from his "Scream" film which was played closer to parody to give "I Know What You Did Last Summer" a more realistic approach to a stressful predicament our heroes have to face as they are dealing with death, remorse, guilt and revenge from someone who knows what they did last summer.

Set on the 4th of July in a small fishing community in North Carolina, we see four young teenagers who decided to enjoy the summer together possibly one last time as they get drunk and start telling ghost stories over a campfire. Then they figure out what their plans are for the future. The brainy Julie James (Jennifer Love Hewitt) has plans for college, beauty queen Helen Shivers (Sarah Michelle Gellar) has ambitions of becoming an actress in hopes to star on a soap opera, Barry Cox (Ryan Phillippe) who's a jock has plans of getting a football scholarship in hopes to play for the NFL and Ray Bronson (Freddie Prinze Jr.) an average guy who has hopes he could get through life as he works at the docks with fellow rival, Max Neurick (Johnny Galecki).

What this movie succeeds to what "Scream" fails is that "I Know What You Did Last Summer" has narrative that strong in terms of morals and a life lesson that the quartet had to deal with. Unlike the novel by Duncan, Williamson made the film more tense, more conflicted, and way more violent as a way to somehow compete with "Scream". Under the direction of first-time director Jim Gilliespie, he ensured that the story and genre are handled in a simplistic, but still clever approach to a film that could've been just another cliche slasher film.

While getting inebriated on their ride home, Barry turns up the radio to loud alernative music, screaming out the roof of the car, drunken like the idiot that he is, when all of the sudden, they run over a person. Shaken, by what they encountered, Ray looks to see if the man, they ran over is dead. Ray assumes that he's deceased. Knowing that Barry's bottle was still filled with booze, reporting the incident to the police would lead all four teens to a possible arrest, the group decides to carry the body and throw him into the water and vow to never mention a word to anyone.

Things haven't been going to well for the four friends who have become somewhat embittered with each other, especially Barry who has become more angrier and hostile towards everybody. Julie's grades have been slipping since the horrific accident and Helen's dreams of becoming a soap opera star has diminished as she's now working at her father's store with her cynical, bossy sister Elsa (Bridgette Wilson).

A year later, Julie returns home and finds in her mail an anonymous latter that says, "I know what you did last summer". Now Julie get the gang together to further invesigate as to who's been sending these letters all the while a crazed madman sporting a fisherman's parka complete with a hook on his hand is on a killing spree might even be the one who knows what they did too.

When it came to casting, it was clever that Williamson casted the right young actors to play the roles that likely fit the roles they have been known for. Hewitt was the perfect choice for Julie James due to playing a similar role she famous for at the time whrn she starred on the CW teen drama "Party of Five" very much in the same vein of Neve Campbell's role in "Scream". Gellar who plays the likable Buffy Summers on "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" has similar likability here as Helen Shivers. Freddie Prinze Jr. Is effective as the more level-headed Ray that's needed for a film like this. Phillippe is believable as the understandably hostile and eterally angry Barry who coceals his fears and worries by acting more toxic with everyone he meets. Even Anne Heche plays a smaller and effective role as an eccentric woman who might be related to the hit-and-run victim.

The rookie director Gillespie succeeds in keeping our heroes in line with guilt-trodden, anxiety ridden, salvation seeking moments and an exciting climax that reveals everything to a satisfying conclusion. It really has a conclusion that will likely make Hitchcock green with envy. Other behind the scenes contributor deserve praise like production designer Gary Wissner, and director of photography Denis Crossan who captures horor fillm effects like smoke and fog along with dark shadows in the background. And finally composer John Debney who relies more on orchestral music, contrary to hard rock music that we are familiar in genres like these.

Written and directed by Harley Wallen, "Betrayed" marks his seventh film that he has contributed yo both on the screen and behind the camera. The movie itself should be noted that it is filled with an abundance of intense violence and very heavy vulgarity. The film runs just under the 90 minute mark. The film centres around the city of Detroit where the Mayor Alderman (John Savage) invites the Russian into the big city only to know later that they play to their game and that indicates kidnapping young ladies while selling them to prostitution. The Mayor originally hired these Russians to pave way for a cartel to arrive, but the Russians as you may know have other plans which has them eventually kidnap his young daughter, Marie (Kaiti Wallen).

The great thing that stands out about "Betrayed" is that it educates us about the evils of human trafficking. It's bold plus daring that very few people ever talk about. The story for the most part was quite compelling, though the dialogue was very muddled at times. It's demanding to have major and supporting characters to provide us with interesting dialogue that's both smart and informative. But we don't see that here at times. However, the story kept my interest and the characters remained compelling. The tone was quite dark and the feelings we get can be quite spine-chilling. It was expected being that this movie centred around hoodlums and human trafficking, and Wallen set the atmosphere at the right pitch.

Though it runs at a snail's pace, it's on target with the suspense that is provided for us. Sadly, I was hoping for a big payoff in the climax between the Russians and the Cartel. Instead they took the ending on a completely different route. Far for me to complain, it did result in a satisfying ending to the movie, I was just hoping for an electrifying gun fight. The real complaint I have was the constant shaky camera work. It distracted my attention I had for this movie making it off-putting at times.

The cast has lesser known performers like John Savage as Mayor Alderman, Kaiti Wallen as his kidnapped daughter Marie, Richard Tyson as Mr. Stone, Billy Wirth as Mike Wolf who becomes the vigilante in the film, Harley Wallen himself as the leading villain, Mikhail Kovelchek, Sean Rey as Darryl, and Aphrodite Nikolovski as Detective Sandra Miller. Everyone in the ensemble did an impressive job in their respected performances, but I was really invested in Sean Rey's performance. Though he is a card-carrying member of the this sadistic criminal mob, from his expression and body language, we can tell he doesn't want to be there. It's his devotion to the organization that keeps him there. For a villain, there is some subliminal level of sympathy that makes his character compelling.

John Savage who's career spans since the late 1960's does a wonderful job and his veteran talents really come into great effect. Billy Wirth was great in his role as a lone wolf hitman and is succeeds as anti-hero who saves the day in the end. Harley Wallen is wonderful being the villain as he adds that spark to the slimeball demeanour that makes Kovalchek such a loathsome bad guy.

Technical wise, the special effects were frugal in terms of budget, but it didn't ruin the movie at all. Sure the effects come to life during the shootout, but the practical effects were very effective during the exciting torture scene.

A horrible catastrope which will have an immediate effect on the entire universe as a black hole has emerged due to an experiment backfired at the Midwestern Quantum Research Laboratory in St. Louis, Missouri. This leads to overwhelmed scientist and former leader Dr. Eric Brice (Judd Nelson) to the scene to fix the problem before it's too late, only to discover that something evil is lurking within centre of this already scary disaster. While going through the evidence, this tranlucent creature seems to have the power to suck electicity into its system and kills anyone who crosses paths with him. While this is happening, the black hole is getting bigger, sucking everything in sight as time is running out and fast. The military forces feel the only solution is to detonate a nuclear weapon, but that will make the situation even worse as it will enlarge the black hole and it will cause St. Louis to be sucked into oblivion. Dr. Brice's plan is to manipulate with the creature and try to get it into the black hole which could save the city and humanity.

In the world of science, the theory of the black hole has been getting reseachers who study this particular field baffled by its origins, its capabilities and most importantly what to do when such a tragic event should occur. With its many unknowns as the scientific community continues to scratch their heads regarding this potentially destructive force which is an open centre for brilliant ideas in movies and television, sadly science-fiction has yet to embark a more realistic approach to the black hole theory. The earliest film that centres around the black hole phenomenom was from a 1970's episode of "Dr. Who" where the evil Time Lord created a black hole as an act of revenge to humanity. The first taste of a black hole being a force of nature as opposed to a fabrication comes from a 1975 episode of "Space: 1999" where a black hole materialized and the crew entered the vortex where they met God and came back to Earth unscathed. In can never fully understand why they needed to implement hideous creatures into the black hole narrative. In 1975, "The Giant Spider Invasion" featured a giant spider coming out of a black hole. Then there was a Disney feature called "The Black Hole" where a mad scientist enters a black hole only to discover that he entered the afterlife. The clost to ever get a real depiction of the black hole was in 2001's "The Void" where a team of scientists create a black hole that doesn't go as planned creating chaos across our planet.

The things that make black hole based movies quite upetting to me is that science-fiction seems to toy with the fictional aspects instead of going philospohical about this potentially dangerous catastrophe. Whether it's some irresistable force that suck out our entire universe or turning back time or bringing us into an alternative world, though the stories you could make out of all of this might seem imaginative, however it still remains quite hyperbolic. Sadly this 2006 version of "The Black Hole" had to dumb itself down to a glorified monster movie. People who wish to learn more about the physics of black holes will be sadly disappointed because very little emphasis on this subject matter has become an afterthought only to replaced by an opaque coloured creature who feeds on electricity. Civilians who have come at close range towards the black hole show little signs of effects when in reality the whole world feels it effects as everything like time comes to a stop and the vortex just swallows everything in sight.

The fear about the possibility the universe will become vanished has been expunged to the simliar panic equivalent of a tornado. Real black holes are quite power even light can't save this bad boy an no one or anything is safe from its evil intentions as we would all be sucked into extinction to the point of being ceasing to exist.

But in the end we are forced to fear the electrically charged creature than the fact we're about to be plunged into oblivion forever. Even the monster itself doesn't seem to have much of an impact to the narrative. The monster and the black hole are successful as they are both being in sync with each other and through use of low budget television footage, there is a connection between these two destructive forces.

Sadly we still get the same tiring cliches that come with the monster movie package. There's the panic on the streets as everyone tries to hurry out of the city, the anti-hero scientist who knows how to stop this monstrosity, the enforcers who dismiss his strategy by making the situation worse then it already is, and finally the scientist vigilante conjuring up the only solution to save the day and our planet.

In terms of star power is Judd Nelson who's quite convincing as the self-conflicted scientist who's the only one who seems reliant on defeating this monsrer and saving the world from utter disaster. Kristy Swanson was all right in her performance, however, there is very little she does here.

Two of the essential ingredients for a film to achieve the approval of the fans is when you juxtapose entertainment with artistic integrity. Of all the genres science-fiction can be the complex films to achieve that goal, but when it succeeds it can be quite rewarding. In 1979, director Ridley Scoot made his directorial debut on North American soil with "Alien". From a viewer's standpoint, it looks like a simple sci-fi creature feature picture as the crew from a financially unstable spaceship must battle a deadly alien creature that has found a way to get in their ship. What makes this movie a success is that the detail that was put into the story that has made it an iconic staple in the sci-fi genre. Everything about the creature works effectively from its ugly character design, to its deadly intentions and its hiss gives the Xenomorph a well-earned place in the annals of classic movie monsters.

The story is about the crew on The Nostromo are on their way back home to Earth. While they were deep in their hyper sleep a S. O. S. Transmission is ignited and an unknown vessel has arrived. After further research they discover upon a hidious alien creature that has an endless craving for blood and death. Under the leadership of Captain Dallas (Tom Skeritt) and his second-in-charge Ellen Ripley (Sigourney Weaver), they are now faced with danger as they must survive against an entity that is almost unbeatable and hard to comprehend. This commercial crew is the unfortunate underfogs as they never in their lives have met anything so enigmatic or dangerous.

"Alien" is obviously one of the most hardcore sci-fi movies ever been made. The opening sequences before the monster makes its way in has great moments of unsettling vibes. Even when we reach the end there is no general conclusion as we assume that there is something more out there that has been given to us in this wild roller-coaster of excitement and gruesome terror. The intensity level is raw, unsettling, and very graphic in detail. Even from the inside of the ship, Scott takes advantage to how very condemned this ship really is and how the crew will manage to survive considering the limited communication devices that are on this commercial spaceship and the limited technology that have to survive this deadly predicament no one was really prepared for.

The whole voyage to space truly exhibits psychological effects that the crew undertakes as we get the gist of lonliness and isolation that garners quite a great feeling of sympathy for them. Being away from home with little or no contact from inside their ship, sometimes you have to wonder if your dreams of being in space an honour or a nightmare. In this case of the crew from the Nostromo, it's a hellish nightmare once the evil creature enters their lives.

To get any feeling for anything considered sympathetic, we must have to depend solely on the very small crew. Though there is no true hero depicted here, the crew is still the ones we must trust if ever they are to survive the trenches of space and while encountering the monster. Though there may be very little in terms of character backstory, they do speak out in terms of interacting with one another which is good enough to get a bit of understanding why they chose this mission. Though some twists happen two-thirds along the way, including one character who is not what they seem, they are in the long run, likable, and we truly care about their well-being.

Of course we can't ignore the life of the party now can we? There's a lot going on in the physical and the mental state of The Xenomorph. The physical capabilities depicted in the creature are designed without it looking lopsided or cheesy and all of its attributes come to life in a belivable manner as when up close chills come tingling on my back. The special effects make this monster one of the most feared creatures in movie history and the added features it brings to the space crew is truly amazing. Like I mentioned earlier, the movie is more than just a "creature feature" movie, but has some elements of psychological drama as well. The nightmare level as at a fever pitch and no one on board is safe given the circumstances they have encountered.

Sure it was released in 1979, and a lot has changed over the years. But "Alien" is still en effective film that is still legitimate in this day and age. It combines both the horrors of dealing with a deadly monster while also looking at the emotional scars our astronauts are facing where contact is very limited. In the end, you will likely be uncomfortable once the credit roll.

Situated in the Atlantic Ocean, an oil rig has been eaten by a giant sea creature that materializes from the sea floor. Under the leadership of military commander General Hadley (Graham Greene), he assigns three pilots, Red (David Chokachi), Jim (Treach) and Tracey (Jackie Moore) to invesigate the scenery with the help of three Armadas which are giant robots programmed to explore happening under the bottom of the sea. When a giant sea creature makes his way to land, Red goes against military protocol and defeats the monster in his Red Armada. Though he declared the hero by the masses, he still went against military orders was punished by his superiors and was sentenced to isolation for his misdemeanour. While in the brig, more beasts keep emerging from the sea, terrorizing and killing civilians in their path and has made their way to New York City. Meanwhile, an eternally angry military commanding officer wants to go all in a demands that nuclear strike be in order, without a care regarding the consequences it will have with the human population.

Under the production company simply known as The Asylum, that have built a notoriety in making direct-to-video low budget films and making it into something known as "mockbusters". In 2005, Steven Spielberg went onto adapt a movie based on the novel by H. G. Wells simply known as "War of the Worlds". Asylum took the liberty to adapt their own version of the H. G. Wells novel and it was on display one day before Spielberg's adaptation was released. Since then, they had took the creative liberties and released their own versions of popular movies with a low-budget albeit cheeky fare and having a satirical spin on these big-budgeted movies.

In 2012, Guillermo Del Toro announced that he will be releasing a movie that features giant robots battling against giant sea creatures called "Pacific Rim". This gave Asylum the opportunity to have their take on this movie by switching oceans and they would have it on display four days before "Pacific Rim" would hit the theatres. And while "Pacific Rim" was not that successful at the box office, but became a cult classic, Asylum's "Atlantic Rim" was one of their more better films they've released over the years. It still wasn't very good, but better than most of the garbage they had released over the years.

Like the more successful "Pacific Rim", "Atlantic Rim" raises the same questions regarding humanity and why they think it's necessary that we must build giant robots to defeat giant sea creatures. Del Toro intead took a shortcut towards answering complex questions from psuedo-intellectuals by making his movie take place in the future. Sadly, Asylum couldn't get by that easily so they decided to set the film in the present day and made it out like the military needed top-of-the-line scientists and engineers in creating these robots in an effort to save humanity from being destroyed by these monsters.

What's even more illogical is that the whole concept of just testing out these Armadas without testing them to see if they're efficient or even safe for the pilots is quite baffling. They don't seem that reliable for underwater missions than compared to submarines. Their stamina underwater is quite problematic and even if they do make it to shore, the weight it carries would be difficult to make it to emerge.

In spite of its shortcomings, the special effects were better than most Asylum films. The fight scenes between the giant robots and sea creatures seemed convincingly intense and quite fun to watch. There were some highly impressive camera shots especially the scene where Red and his Armada reach the surface and levitate through the air as onlookers from below cheer upon his heroism. Other notable shots occur when the Armadas engage in battle with the sea creatures or when submarines get into collisions with aircraft carriers after the monsters thrown them out of the water. The cast as a whole seemed to have a great sense of likability especially Graham Greene as the firm but fair General Hadley.

While many people have ostracized and belittled the all-female remake of "Ghostbusters", I am not going to be one of those individuals. While it might be a harmless film overall, there are some weaknesses due to the lack of any kind of subtle moments. In spite of what was featured in the trailers, you might be surprised that this movie is in no way shape or form ham-fisted in its girl-power intentions and has succeeded in staying compassionate and true to the original 1984 movie that was loved and adored by many since its inception. Under the direction of Paul Feig, he and his cast provided enough laughs most of the time to keep us in stitches, but that shouldn't be surprising being that the four leading ladies are some of the best comediennes out there.

Kristen Wiig stars as Erin Gilbert, a hopelessly neorotic professor who has given up on her youthful beliefs of the paranormal and has settled to a world of incumbancy. Melissa McCarthy stars as Abbie Yates, Gilbert's spontaneous friend, who when she isn't picky about the slightest little thing, she still is a firm believer in ghosts. Both performers seem to be adjusted in the roles we have become familiar with in the past and though it might not be anything new, we know what this duo is capable of.

Abby makes one last effort to republish the book she and Erin co-wrote, but Erin is hesitant and wants Abby to take it off the market immediately. Erin meets Abby's colleague, an engineer named Jillian Holtzmann (Kate McKinnon) who shares several quirks to the legendary Doc Brown from "Back to the Future" or any other mad scientist trope. By the time you get invested in the movie, you might either love or loath Holtzmann depending on your sense of taste.

Abby takes in to Erin's suggestion, but only if she can help her with a certain malevolent entity located in a museum. When the mission does not go as planned, the footage gets leaked on social media. However, subway worker Patty Tolan (SNL's Leslie Jones) gets hold of the trifecta and asks that they meet her down here because she's having a hard time with a menacing supernatural manifestation. When the subway confrontation ends with diasterous results, Patty decides that she wants to be a part of the team to which they become The Ghostbusters.

Now from the trailers, they advertize this film right in your faces that the new Ghostbuster roster is an all-female unit, but in reality, they don't make this a primary issue. There is nothing that will damage any maculine fragility because nothing is ham-fisted or any "women are better than men" idiology delievered here. Maybe the closest we get is when the leading villain who wants to create a ghost apocalypse because he feels repressed only to have The Ghostbusters look at him like "as if" woman experience that every day from the moment they get out of bed. It might be a temporary moment of cringe, but no big deal, the film moves on. Sure there is some fun spoof on the concept of emasculating the male gender which comes from the acting of Chris Hemsworth's performance as The Ghostbuster's office assistant who's an incompetent buffoon but is employed by The Ghostbusters because he is eye candy. It's played for laughs and not for the sake of misandry. But Hemsworth manages to remain funny and likable that you genuinely care for his character. For the most part, the film does not have a feminist agenda, but instead chooses to be a comedy top priority over anything else.

Though the good outweighs the bad in this "Ghostbusters" remake, we still can't ignore the fact that it is still a remake from a classic film that has remained an untouchable movie in the last 39 years. Sure they made references and has brought back many set pieces from the original movie, albeit for the sake of nostalgia, it still lacks in originality and isn't at the same level as the 1984 movie, no matter how much it tries. Though it does provide a plethora of laughs, not all the humour works. However the lowest point of the movie is that it refrains from being deep-rooted in philosophy and just wants to be funny making it one-dimensional in its delivery. The 1984 movie was more than just four people with cool gadgets and a jet-pack destroying ghosts or other supernatural entities. In this remake, it's about the action, comedy and special effects and very little on philosophy or anything thought-provoking.

Paul Feig had assrued his audience that he put his heart into this movie and that this remake to the classic "Ghostbusters" was not a cash grab to a popluar film. Sure there was not really a necessity in remaking the film, it was enjoyable to watch though still inferior to the 1984 original. It's harmless in its delivery and isn't trying to trigger or offend anyone. It's more on the same level as "Ghostbusters 2" than anything else so it really wasn't that bad.

"Bend it Like Beacham" is filled with a plethora of subplots going for it. We have events happeing here and there like a big wedding, conflicts that relate to cultural differences, and a young lady trying to free herself from her parent's desires and trying to draw a path for herself. In the narrative that's similar to "My Big Fat Greek Wedding", it's a feel good comedy that will likely touch you in places that's entertaining, educational and most importantly inspirational. It's intentions are to encourage those who wish to choose their own jouney in life while keeping the subject matter light in its delivery.

Parminder Nagra stars as Jess, who lives in Great Britain in a Sikh family. She comes off as the typical average teenager with of course the pension to rebel. Her rebellious ways not met with bad intentions like delinquency or just hanging out with bad people, but just defying the expected standards with her very conservative traditionalist parents. Her ambition is to become a major soccer (football) player and be as good as her idol, David Beckham. And though her parents were lenient towards her aspirations when she was young, they want her to give up those dreams and settle for a traditional Indian life which means getting married, learn to cook and graduate from university. But just as her dreams were about to be crushed, Jess gets invited to audition to a semi-pro all-girls soccer team. A young soccer hopeful named Juliette (Keira Knightley) who has been seen Jess play before, recommends her to be coached by Joe (Jonathan Rhys-Meyers) who believes that Jess has a lot of potential. But since Jess has been restricted of her ambitions, she can only resort to one thing thing only, to sneak out of her house and keep the whole situation esoteric.

While "Bend it Like Beckham" succeeds in keeping the scenes and situations light and comical, there are few serious scenes that prevent it from being a full blown comedy. Such subjects involving culture clashing in which traditional standards are being put to the test against a more modern way of thinking. Even though race and gender issues do come up at times, it's not the central theme and it never tends to get overly political or preachy and keeps the flow to a lightweight approach.

Even though Jess is rebelling against her families restrictions, she's not doing this out of malice but rather something she's just been passionate about since she was a young girl playing soccer with other boys in the park and seemed organically good at the sport. There are quite a bit of subplots that flow nicely with the narrative. We see the romantic triangle where Jess seems to be smitten over Joe, however Juliette shares the same feelings as well which grows some tension between the two friends. Meanwhile Jess' close friend Tony (Ameet Chana) has a secret confession that he can't tell his mother for fear of being damaging their relationship. Then we have Jess questioning herself if she's really that good enough to win the semi-pro championship for her team which would qualify her to compete in the United States and play for a real professional team that pays. So then we get that all important game climax to which will determine whether she'll get in or not.

The cast was overall wonderful especially the casting of Keira Knightley and Parminder Nagra who each have great chemistry when they're on together. They're both likable and seem to act more closer to sisters than teammates. Jonathan Rhy-Meyers shows a great deal of likability to his role. Sure there are times where he might play it tough with his coaching techniques, but seems fair off the field and plays off like a friend to the team, especially with Jess and Juliette. Anupam Kher is wonderful as Jess' father who's role is self-conflicted because although he is much invested in traditional standards for Indian women, he still doesn't want to stand in the way of Jess' passion to play soccer. Though her role might sound like a red herring, Juliet Stevenson who plays Juliette's mother may come across as a bit of an out-of-place caricature fearing that her daughter might be lesbian because of her love of sports and spending too much time with Jess. But it's her ignorance that makes her character so unique and believable because those who grew up in different times are not always up to date on modern day ways of thinking.

Though "Bend it Like Beckham" delivers a feel-good message about chasing your dreams and not letting anyone or anything getting your way, it does so by refraining from becoming preachy or ham-fisted in its integrity. It's lightweight on comedy and director Gurinder Chadha show no apologies for delivering her film of this calibre. Sure it becomes catered towards what every sports movie and every teen comedy fan is expecting, with the all-important happy ending that might be a bit cliched, but it's still an enjoyable, sugary saturated cimematic triumph that will likely win the approval of its audience.

Just when you thought that "The Howling" sequels couldn't get any worst, well look no more. This one surely has my vote as the worst. With the horrible sequels that has materialized in this franchise, I was watching this through lower expectations with the expectations of seeing garbage. Turns out I was right so here we go again, another "Howling" movie ready to taken to the dumpster where it truly belongs.

What I will give credit to in this seventh instalment of "The Howling" series is the "Howling: New Moon Rising" has a new way to churn out a bad movie. Writer, director, producer and star Clive Turner stars as an Australian drifter named Ted Smith who just so happened popped into town and has himself employed as a bartender at Harriet and Pappy's Tavern in an old-styled Pioneer Town in California that in spite it being set in the modern day, the town looks like those old west dusty towns you see in Westerns. It seems like Ted seems to be conncted in some ways to the other "Howling" movies to some capacity. Like in previous movies of this calibre, we see a series of mysterious disappearances and murders and for some reason they are led to believe that Ted was behind them all. Even though they think the culprit is a "very large animal". You wonder? Meanwhile the local priest and the town inspector belive the grisly murders are from Marylou (the werewolf from "Howling 5") and that she has made her way into Pioneer Town.

The movie wastes little time to set up what's expected to come. We see three men standing in front of skeletal remains of a dead person with familiar catch phrases you would expect in a cheesy horror film. As the film progresses it starts to get more tedious and mundane.

It appears that the bar where Ted works at sees patrons spend most of their time, hanging out and drinking their heads off. Harriet and Pappy's Pioneer Town Palace is one of the saddest bars I have ever encountered. What I mean by sad is that the activities that occur there have some the most mundane, pathetic and poorly unfunny scenes ever seen in a movie, though they try their best to be funny, but they fail quite miserably. The worst part is that none of it has anything to do with the plot or has any kind of importance to the narrative. It's all just pointless filler that leads you to nowhere and gives you nothing but stolen moments of your life. There's a lot of line dancing where the dancers don't look like they're enjoying themselves. The men drink at all hours of the day and take verbal ribbing with unfunny jokes and even some might border offensive at times. If that's not enough to turn you off, there's just wat too many country music montages that becoming quite tedious after a while. They're singing at the bar, Pappy and Harriet even join them, they're singing around the campfire, it just never seems to stop. Though this does marks an uninspiring milestone as Clive Turner just invented the anti-climactic, boring werewolf, country musical. The jokes here are so awful they just keep repeating itself. How many times do we have to be reminded that there's dirt in Pappy's chili and all the stuff about not knowing who George Jones is shows little subtlety as to how stupid an uninformed this whole isolated town is.

In its failed attempt with coming up with something convincing, the priest and the inspector believe that the murders all have some connection from the previous three "Howling' movies. So what they're saying was that Ted escaped the castle from "The Howling 5"? Or that Ted was in the town of Drago with Marie Adams (with Romy Windsor making a cameo appearance) was killed in "The Howling 4" seems quite illogical. By the time we get to the climax, the scenes become so twisted it get way too out of proportions. The priest and the inspector bring up very convoluted conclusions as to who's the blame for the murders it get very muddled to the point where they don't know what they're talking about at times. We see three deceased men and they all believe Ted did it. They place him under house arrest, even though this is the work of Marylou who has know taken possession into the soul of a young local woman named Cheryl. There is never an explanation as to why she framed him or even if she had a motive behind her madness. Whatever the case may be it didn't go as planned as she thought it would.

As we enter the seventh part of the series, we do get a plethora of werewolf banter for sure. But we hardly see any werewolf at all except near the end and only for about 15 seconds. When Cheryl finally breaks out into one of the lamest transformation sequences in cinematic history, her demise is off-camera as the the residents just shoot at her until she dies.

This movie like all the other "Howling" sequels are just plain awful, but this one takes the cake. There's no redeeming qualities, the characters are wooden and uninspiring. Sure it tries hard to be funny, but even that it fails to do so. There's no need to see this sequel, unless you're curious then go ahead, otherwise don't bother. It's not worth the energy.

At the time of this movie, Steve Carrell was on the brink of becoming the new face of comedy after the success of the 2005 comedy classic "The 40-Year Old Virgin". Complete with a nice blend of immaculate features that include a bright smile, deadpan humour and natural flowing charisma here's a man that has gone on to become one of the more highly prolific stars of situation comedy.

And then came "Evan Almighty" to set him back a few steps. It seems like at the time Carrell was going a simiar path to other comedic performers who get tired of being in the comfort zones that they are accustomed to only to try out films they are not very comfortable with. Carrell seems like the rightful person to play comedic roles, but now he wants to take himself out of the comfort zone in raunchy comedies and to star in more light-fare kiddie stuff. He's almost becoming the modern day Eddie Murphy and that's not necessarily a good thing. As a sequel to the very successful 2003 movie "Bruce Almighty", director Tom Shadyac God (Morgan Freeman) gives Bruce powers that are exclusive. Carrell was a supporting charcter in the first of the "Almighty" series as an arrogant news reporter who everyone loved to hate. In the sequel where he is now the star here, Evan Baxter has softened up and has become more sympathetic is leaving the newsroom is now entering the world of politics where he running for Congress. He and his family which include three sons, Dylan, Jordan and Ryan (Johnny Simmons, Graham Phillips and Jimmy Bennett) and his wife Joan (played with little enthusiasm by Lauren Graham) leave their cozy lives in Buffalo, New York and are living in an elegant home in the suburbs of Virginia. From the early stages of the movie, we can see the reluctance his family has with the long move. One night as Evan and Joan have some quiet time together, one of their sons ask if they could all pray together as composer John Debney's score soars in the background with ambient music playing giving us that less than subtle indication that this film is aimed towards the Christian community.

As I started to roll my eyes in disbelief knowing where this is coming from, I still found it in me to sit through it wondering where it will all go from here. So Evan gets a call from God (Morgan Freeman reprising his role as God) send Evan on a mission while playing with his mind during the whole movie for good measure as he wants him to build an ark because he tells him of a great flood is going to strike on September 22 (mark that on your calendars folks, you've been warned). Freeman seems to be enjoying himself playing the Almighty God and has a wide variety of costumes he wears quite frequently. This mission was to make Evan a busy man for the next couple of months and to change from his selfish ways to becoming a better person. I guess there's not going to be any relaxing weekends for the next couple of months.

For those who think that this message is some kind of a Christian passage about embracing the world that's surrounding you and finding God as your guiding light to eternal happiness, well "Evan Almighty" is not as holy as one might think. It's more of a poor effort at slapstick comedy complete with lots of bird poop. The plot is mundane and the ideas are contrived and banal. Steve Oedekerk who also wrote "Bruce Almighty" must have ran out of ideas when writing this sequel or just didn't put enough heart into it. Whatever the case, this movie is actually quite pitiful. Sure some of the ideas are visually hilarious like animals in pairs become very attached to Evan (obviously an act from God). There was a very memorable moment where Evan was at an important meeting with corrupt Congressman Chuck Long (John Goodman) and that Long had a large aquarium and that the fish were also zooming in on Evan. Wow! Even the aquatic animals have their focus primarily at Evan as they stare from the tank with their enlarged fish eyes.

It seems funny at first, but then the situation tends to repeat itself until it becomes tedious and repetitive to the point where you start asking yourself when will this angle end. I was hoping that the animals would have some dimension of comedy like from "Dr. Dolittle", unfortunately, they're just CGI images that just materialize as props accustomed to the spoon-fed narrative. The only time they seem to come alive is when the birds start dropping massive splatters from their behinds making things very messy and disgusting.

Evan at first had no profound interest in building the ark, but as time passed on he started growing facial hairs that he tried to shave, but just kept coming back rather quickly. He goes from wearing fancy business suits to wearing Biblical themed robes. Next thing you know, Evan becomes God's chosen saviour, but it feels more like he has become a puppet to God, forced into it rather than getting another person to his bidding. Carrell offers very little to this comedy except make dumb expressions and try to conceal anything that might potentially embarrass others or himself. He and his family are mocked constantly at this absurd notion of him building an ark and the expectency of a flood happening in a matter of months on a specific date. Plus also using archaic old tools used in Biblical times. One of Carrell's traits that make an extraordinary performer is that he can deliver that manic intensity in him like a ticking time bomb he can explode at any second. He can play that nice guy who's patience are tested and seems to have that look of the unhinged in his mindset. Here he just look too submissive and very compliant. It's almost as if he has fear of saying no to God fearing what will happen to him if he refuses to acquiesce. By the time we reach the end, Evan has now fully tranformed into a full-blown Noah character complete with a burlap robe, a white flowing beard and hair as he embraces everyone with his love that never once looks authentic but ridiculous and superficial. "Evan Almighty" is made to be a light fare family movie with the message of follow God's order of foing good for others and that's fine. I just think it's time for Carell to move forward and go another direction in his career.

There is no doubt that the positive outweight the negative in "Knocked Up", a 2007 movie directed by Judd Apatow. Though for a comedy, "Knocked Up" runs for well over two hours long it might run too long for a romantic comedy where most of them clock in at around 90 minutes long or a bit longer. Though much of the subject matter takes a plethora of risks, the content manages to have plenty of provocative attributes that makes this movie intriguing. The facinating thing thing about Apatow's direction is that he plays the beat to a different drum and never once does look back or care what others have to say.

In a similar vein to his previous work "The 40-Year Old Virgin", there are many risque moments featured here that is very daring, but original. While at the same time he succeeds in not trying to make his characters complex and unrelatable. While his characters have certain levels of cliche, it's still easy to forgive by making his characters real and their situations believable.

It's pretty much a movie strictly for the laughs top priority. Sure you can try and disect the subliminal hidden message in the narrative as to how this comedy works and its effectiveness in its storytelling. Apatow has succeeded in creating a story that focuses on comedy but the characters have situations that fare equally effective as a drama. Life has just as equal comedy parts as it has as a drama. Life without comedy isn't much of a life itself if everything is full of drama.

Katherine Heigl stars as Alison Scott, a very successful E channel talk show host who after she hearing the news that she's getting a promotion, she meets a pothead loser named Ben Stone (Seth Rogen). Though they couldn't be more opposites attract to each other, they still get it on just fine to the point where they make out eventually getting her pregnant.

The movie truly takes off once we get to what happens in the very next day. It's not an over-the-top moment being that Alison throws a screaming fit and throws the stoner slob out or having Ben come off as an easy laid-back problem solver. He knows what's coming to him and handles it very maturely. He's scared because now he has to finally break out of his man-child demeanour and become a responsible adult. Though she wants to limit her time with him, she doesn't have the heart to be in any way disrespectful. He does take a liking to her even though he anticipates she wants to get away from him What makes this situation funny is that it is undeniably awkward. It's not that we are laughing at the foolishness we're laughing because it could happen to anybody making every scene around them feel authentic.

Sure the thoughts of having an abortion is thought upon, but it never comes off as empowering or championed. Her mother over lunch feels that yes she should get an abortion and move on with her life. But Alison ends up deciding she is going to keep the baby and see how thing will work out with Ben who is willing to take responsibility. We get equal sides of both Alison's friends and family just as much as Ben's family and friends. Sure their opinions might be different, but at least everyone's voice is spoken.

There is also some equally poignant moments that centre around the fractured marriage between Alison's sister, Debbie (Leslie Mann) and her brother-in-law Pete (Paul Rudd). Though these characters might be supporting fillers to keep the story going, their scenes are explored to our fullest attention too. However, the scenes where Ben is living together with his stoner pals can become monotonous and repetitive.

There's a lot to explore in this movie you will have to see to believe and though the red herrings might be obvious, there's a lot to enjoy here as it'd comedy, but more intelligent than one might expect.

From an Australian standpoint, "High Ground" pays a great homage to the classic Westerns from the Golden Era of Hollywood where Indigenous people are confronting the Colonial people located in the Arnhem Land in Australia's Northern Territory in the early 20th century. Maybe the term "western" may not be the right word due to the location where hostile tensions are everywhere in this movie, but the feeling I get when watching has the integrity of a John Ford like classic. Though well put together and provocative, the action can be quite questionable at times. Stephen Maxwell Johnson has made his first movie in almost 20 years. Like his first outing from 2001, "Yolngu Boy" we get a refreshing take seen from the perpective of the Australian Indigenous people and to in a rare move to have their story and their voices heard.

With the number of stories that feature a myriad of culture and territorial clashes between Indigenous and Colonial people, it's safe to say "High Ground" will likely be a hit due to its original content that very few people ever talk about and also for its importance in educational purposes. It also doesn't hurt to have Simon Baker perform as the token white settler who has a touch of level-headedness. The remarkable script by Chris Anastassiades features a tale seen through the eyes of the Indigenous population of Australia making the movie feel unbiased in its storytelling ands refrains from turning it into a revisionist historical tale to fit towards a certain agenda.

The opening scenes in the movie give the audience a chance to embrace the wonderous beauty of the Australian outback. The fighting scenes are raw and unapologetically hard to watch, which makes it everything you would expect from a movie set in that era. There's going to be a lot of those brutal shooting scenes, so be advised those who can't stand that kind of carnage, well this may not be the right kind of movie for you. This is sincerity of the worst kind, brutal, honest and authentic. Sure these stories can be hidden away for a long time, but in the end the past will likely come back to haunt. Twelve years later the first of many fierce battles, the land that was conquered was struck back with a vengeance led by a fiercesome warrior named Bayarra (Sean Mununggurr) who was a descendent of Dharrpa. This leads to a loner bounty hunter named Travis (Baker) gets assigned by his superior Police Chief Moran (Jack Thompson) to track down Bayarra while hiring an adult Gutjuk (Jacob Junior Nayinggul) to serve as his tracker. While seeing where loyalties stand, Anastassiades' script doesn't depend heavily on dialogue, but instead relies more on pulling triggers instead.

The blowouts are rather explosive and aggressive like one would expect. There might be some dramatic licensing, however during this rather disturbing moment in history, what might appear to look hyperbolic on screen may not be completely superficial. For a film of its ilk, "High Ground" continues to play it subtle in its subject matter in spite of the massive body count presented here. Even with Simon Baker coming out as the great equalizer behind all the brutality, it still manages to successfully play it in a low prolific manner.

By the time you reach the film's climax, the epic encounters seems to have staged look like you know what's expected and whatever the outcome, everyone is not going to come out of it in one piece. That is quite offensive in its delivery and makes everything feel predictable. The violence serves as a catalyst streaming from the fact that no matter how many times Colonials fight with the Indigenous, the sad truth is that they have the upper hand being that they outnumber them and have more advanced weapons. Just like the old Westerns from the Golden Age era Colonists outnumbered Indigenous people and had a greater advantage to them. The sad truth was that what applied there took its toll in the Southern Hemisphere.

Set in the frozen Antarctic tundra at a U. S. research facility where a group of top scientists were exploring more about this frozen continent when all of the sudden a helicopter nearby starts chasing after a dog, hurling grenades at it. The dog makes its way to safety into the research facility. Unfortunately, the helicopter was not so lucky and no one on that plane survived. The chopper was from a Norweigan facility located an hour away from the research facility. This leads to their helicopter pilot R. J. McReady (Kurt Russell) and team physician Dr. Cooper (Richard Dysart) go to investigate their base to see why they would go so far as to shoot an innocent dog. When they get to their base, it's been bombarded with decaying corpses and the facility itself is burnt. The questions that came into effect were what exactly happened here and what was the reason behind them shooting down on the canine? Well it turns out that the dog is not as innocent as it looks and that something evil is about to take shape as the movie continues on.

When it was first released in 1982, it was badly condemned by the critics and fans at first as being a one-dimensional gore fest as crew members get obilterated one-by-one and nothing more. Years later, "The Thing" had become a cult classic as sci-fi and horror afficionados have gravitated to movie as being solid in its entertainment and has more underlying content under all the gore and unsettlement this movie has to offer. And though the special effects featured here may look archaic than compared by today's technological advancements, it still amazes that the shock value is actually effective in detail albeit used not as frequently which means those who would like an endless barrage of blood and guts might be a bit diappointed. Yes you might have to trek through some dialogue and overbearing scientific jargon before we come to the fun stuff.

Though it might have graphic elements going for it, I feel that "The Thing" feels more closer to a psychological thriller more than anything else. There's an alien that has made its way into their domain and has the ability to tranform the shape and the mannerisms of its victims. In the end it comes down to who can be trusted? Who's real and who's the alien? We can't tell, they can't tell because the alien looks and acts the same way as its victims. In many ways as we trek through life, "The Thing" can have a reflection towards ho we live in our daily lives ourselves. In the world where trust has become an issue we ask ourselves, who's really our friend or who's actually a back-stabbing turncoat. We never fully can separate the two because human beings are so unpredictable.

The best quality that makes "The Thing" stand out is that it lets its viewers tag along to pinpoint who's the human or who's the i alien in disguise. No matter who you choose it keeps you engaged the whole way through. Even though it might start off slow, the opening scenes gets you invested into the characters so that they don't come off as one-dimensional caricatures. It helps to create more unsettling moments as McReady and company try to determine who's real and who's not. Even when things gets resolved in the end, there's still tension that carries itself nicely through the exciting and heart-pounding climax.

If there was one main weakness, it comes from too many characters are featured here. Though they may be developed, their deaths seem at times quite abrupt and come across as people I hardly had a chance to know. The ones I hardly get to know are the ones I'm less interested to care about their demise. In the end there were only two survivors, most horror films need more to survive if ever they were to defeat the evil that has made its way into their lives.

Most of all the best element about "The Thing" is that the special effects are what carries this movie through. Sure we can see what ingredients were made when creating these effects like the slime, blood, carnage or the creature effects, it still makes for effective cinema watching. It's still more craftier than the CGI material that's been taking over the screens for many years. The effects then contribute to a more sinister side of unsettling eerieness by manipulating our minds in fear giving us nightmares at night after all that we have witnessed.

Sure it comes at no surprise that these men are going to meet their fate, but what's unpredictable is the events that spiral around the deaths rather than the deaths themselves. The civil unrest, the lack of trust within the characters, the cold, dark isolation and the fatigue within the two surviving characters are what keeps me compelled to watch.

So Liam Neeson is supposedly retiring from starring in the revenge thrillers he's been starring in since 2012when he starred in "Taken". The movies all shared a similar theme which has him on-the-prowl to take down miscreants who have taken innocent family member's lives and now he wants to get them back with eye-for-an-eye intentions. Though these thrillers are hit-or-miss, they're usually very entertaining and are quite original in its content. In this latest Liam Neeson revenge thriller, "Cold Pursuit" has him situated up north in the snowy town of Kehoe, Colorado where Liam Neeson plays the role of a decorated snow plough remover who seeks vengeance against a gang to thugs who may have been behind the murder of his son. The big twist is that this time, "Cold Pursuit" is a remake of a Scandinavian film from 2014 "In Order of Disappearance" which starred Stellan Skarsgaard.

In an obscure twist, this remake was directed by the same director in the original movie, Hans Petter Moland as our story emanates in the frosty winter heavily snowed town outside of Denver in Kehoe, Colorado. There we find Nels Coxman (Neeson) about to get a plaque for Citizen of the Year for his dedication in keeping the snow off the streets and making driving more safer and efficient. He is wed to Grace (Laura Dern who looked like she wanted to do her scene, collect her pay and get out of Dodge) and they have a son, Kyle (Michael Richardson) who gets killed by drug dealers that are led by Trevor "Viking" Calcote (Tom Bateman). In public, Viking shows zero sympathy for his fellow thugs, no signs of love towards his wife Aya (Julia Jones) or his son Ryan (Nicholas Holmes) who he over protects to the point where he freaks out if someone puts a chocolate cake in his luch box because he micro manages his eating habits. Nels knows very well that Viking and his thugs who drugged Kyle to his death which he finds suspicious because Kyle was a straight edged invidiual. With the cops fading out on the crime scene, Nels decides to take down the baddies as a one-man vigilante with the help of deadly snow plough and a gun and one-by-one everyone's going to pay.

There are quite a few memorable scenes, including one fight that takes place at a wedding dress shop. "Cold Pursuit" has more dimension that compared to the other revenge thrillers that Liam Neeson has starred in. Apparently a gang of Native hitmen enter the fray with Nels either siding with them as well. No matter what the outcome is, very few people will survive the ordeal. In typical gangster fasion, Moland has altered the gangsters with provocative, but effective nicknames to them such as Santa, Speedo, Eskimo, Limbo and more. Each of these baddies are given some background about their family as Nels is more than ready to take them down and take numbers.

With the beautiful location for a bloody massacre, "Cold Pursuit" has the opening scenes built on intensity while also succeeding in keeping the comical and thrilling aspects locked in a dark and hostile atmosphere. The second act kind of stalls a bit, but once the climax comes in full effect, the body count becomes overly exciting as we hope Nels get out of this alive. Though Neeson may not have looked at this movie with the highest of regards, it's still a great action flick. That will keep you amused.

I will admit that "Something Borrowed" has a lot more heavier baggage on its shoulders than compared to the myriad of other romantic comedies and had some potential to make a lot of the material really work. The novel this movie is adapted from by Emily Giffin succeeds in trying to be more mature beyond compare to other romantic novels, however the movie only makes a half-hazard effort in getting the material right only to make everything thing feel unsettling and unsatisfying.

The movie stars Ginnifer Goodwin as Rachel, an introverted mild speaking lawyer who has been unintentionally placed in a precarious situation that she can't fully escape from. Her attention-hungry, self-centred best friend, Darcy (Kate Hudson) is about to tie the knot with a young attorney named Dex (Colin Egglesfield), an ex-lover from her college days. But being that Darcy is way too over herself in the ego department, Rachel just doesn't have the bravery to tell her that she is still attracted to Dex. This leds to an endless flurry of events between two women fighting over one man.

One night Rachel and Dex go to a bar and get drunk, the next morning, they wake up in the same bed. This leads to Rachel in a precarious situation. Should she continue her relationship with Dex? Should she break up her best friend's wedding because she still has feelings for Dex? This movie is about making important decisions and the continuous angle is handled very well at times.

Sadly "Something Borrowed" has been another fine line of romantic comdies that have literally been borrowed before in terms of ideas, situations and scenarios. Everything just feels so recycled as there's too many scenes that have been done in before in more better films than this one. It becomes a formulaic lovers triangle as the meek underdog friend goes into a competitive entanglement with her friend while making one bad decision after another. Though Rachel may come across as a sweet, innocent type, she's anything but. She is double-crossing her best friend by sleeping with her ex-lover who's about to get married to her. Meanwhile, Darcy who is quite toxic in character, who treats Rachel at times as an inferior making her quite unlikable to even care for her is still being betrayed by Rachel and her fate of trust. The hypocrisy in this movie could have easily been solved if one of the party candidates actually told the truth.

When it came to casting choices I would say that it left me quite impressed as the performers seemed organic in their respected roles. Goodwin plays meek and mild quite convincingly. Hudson seems spot on as the overbearing best friend who's been betrayed by her most trusted friend (puuting that term rather loosely). And Egglesfield as Dex is just caught in the middle of this turmoil and doesn't really care who he ends up with once the film comes to a close. John Krasinski even joins the fray as Ethan, Rachel's platonic guy buddy who is not afraid to exploit all the lies Darcy has been saying to Rachel. At times I felt bad for the situations each of the characters are going through. But because there is so much betrayal, it made feeling sympathy towards them all the more difficult.

The thing that boggles the mind is why do these people even hang out with each other? Darcy and Dex are unconvincing as a soon-to-be-married couple. Rachel and Darcy are not real friends. However if you put them in more realistic situations then what's presented here, then it would've likely quenched my situation. Darcy got on my nerves the whole time, I can't show sympathy to someone like her. And Rachel is a chronic person wallowing in her conflicted ways she needs to simply get away from it all, and start a new life on her own. As for Dex, he's just a clueless moron who's not worthy of mention. Under the direction of Luke Greenfield, he seems very confused by the movie, he can't seem to iron out the problems with the script. Everything looks and feels very clustered even though it's set in New York City, everyone sees the same person over again and scenes just seem to repeat itself. They make New York City into a dull place where it's anything but. It's an achievement, but not in a good way.

Sure there was some moments where there's a lot of humour and the dramatic tensions can be quite emotional. It's just that it is all very scattered, nothing really fleshes out very well. It had potential to be a very provocative romantic comedy, but it's mindset is dated, recycled and cliched.

Coming from a large family as I was growing up, I can understand fully well the Buckman clan had experienced in the 1989 situation comedy "Parenthood" directed by Ron Howard. The trials and tribulations that embody the family may have some moments of absurdity, however underneath all the surreal moments there is a great hint of realism that the cast portrays. Many parents have dealt with the angst and anguish of parenting, but in spite of those difficult moments, it is always very rewarding. Aside from Ron Howard's masterful direction, he had a duo of wonderful screenwriters like Lowell Ganz and Babaloo Mandel.

Though regarded as an ensemble comedy, the main star of the movie is Steve Martin who stars as the long-suffering father Gil Buckman, who's life is filled to the brim with commitments. His work stresses him out to the point where he becomes betrayed by the company that he quits. Meanwhile he has to deal with his oldest son Kevin (Jasen Fisher) who's been battling chronic depression. Meanwhile his two younger children have issues of their own. If that doesn't overwhelm Gil, his wife, Karen (Mary Steenburgen) is having another child, but Gil isn't confident of that revelation for financial reasons. All of this had led Gil to be neurotic and cynical, but also happy that he brought life into the world and will bend over backwards to become a better father than his dad ever was.

Dianne Wiest who was nominated for an Oscar for Best Supporting Actress for her efforts was wonderful as recently divorced Helen Buckman Gil's sister, who's trying to cope with her two children who have become devastatingly heartbroken since then. Her daughter Julie (Martha Plimpton), has been involved in a provocative relationship with a drag racer, stoner named Tod (Keanu Reeves). Behind her mother's back, they make out in her bedroom, taking suggestive photos of each other, the break-up, reconcile and she ends up getting pregnant. Meanwhile her son Garry (Joaquin then known as Leaf) has been keeping distant from her.

The family circus doesn't stop from there as even the head patriarch Frank (Jason Robards) has issues of his own, being that he was not a good father during their childhood according to Gil, but does show a lot of emotional redemption when he tries to come to terms with his youngest son Larry (Tom Hulce) who might be regarded as the black sheep of the family. Larry has never had a real job instead he's going around looking for way to get rich quick. Larry is Frank's favourite child and tries to do everything he could to get him out of debt from which he owes quite a lump sum or he will be killed. He also knocked up a girl in Las Vegas and is now raising a son named Cool (Alex Burrall). Frank knows that Larry won't be back anytime soon, and decides to raise Cool on his own. There is some genuine moments and Robards and Hulce have great chemistry together.

The last pairing comes from Susan (Harley Kozak) who is Gil, Helen and Larry's sister who's a school teacher and while her scientist huband Nathan (Rick Moranis) is forcing their prodigal daughter, Patty (Ivyann Schwann) to become a more smarter kid beyond her years. However, Susan thinks this approach is too forceful and wants her to live like a normal regular child and to frolic and interact with kids her age instead of reading books by Franz Kafka. Though this family seems quite interesting in its premise, it's still the least structured of them all. No fault from the actors, just the air time. It's great that comic legends like Steve Martin and Rick Moranis exchange lines with each other while contradicting each other in their parenting ways.

Sure parenting is one of the hardest jobs in the world; waking up all hours in the night to scare off the monster under the bed, getting the kids ready for school, getting dressed and going to work, coming home feeling exhausted and lots of other commitments to follow. But it could also be rewarding too. Your day is never boring, there's always something new and exciting going on, and as you watch them grow up, it becomes very rewarding. Just live your day to the fullest and enjoy the life that you got and the life that you gave.

Sure I knew that after watching the original Joe Dante 1981 version on "The Howling", it was all downhill from there. And while the second and third installments were obviously inferior, they at least entertained me to some extent with some wild and wacky humour to go along with the werewolf scares and the insanity behind it all. This fourth installment of "The Howling" falls flatter than a pancake. One of the main reasons was that it lacked any kind of originality. Sure it's initiative was to be more true to the novel by Gary Brander novel, but was there any payback for its effort? Not exactly because a lot of the charisma Joe Dante put in the original "Howling" was lost in this mundane remake of the first installment. Not only that the movie does do some modifications to change things around which makes this movie hypocritical in its own oath. It's just a watered down version of the original without the originality, the effects, or even the humour from the first installment. It felt like a high schooler rewrote the original script for "The Howling" and just watering it down to reduce the gore, the effects, the acting, and just sucked the life out of the Joe Dante original movie.

So our leading protagonist is a writer named Marie Adams (Romy Windsor) who seems to traumatized by werevolves. Whom, I wonder why? Oh yeah, it's a werewolf movie, silly me. They took out the famous killer from the Dante adaptaion and his motives from the plot. She also has premonitions of events that hasn't occurred yet and total strangers she met before. I was expecting Slim Pickens to come around as The Sheriff, instead we get a discount rip-off of a sheriff to take his place. The eccentric lady who ran a store selling knick-knacks and antiques replaces the strange hippie lady from the original "Howling". This character is just a cheap rip-off of Elvira if you ask me. Not only that she's a homewrecking urchin for seducing Marie's husband, Richard (Michael T. Weiss) when in the original movie, he started it all. Later on, Richard transforms into a werewolf by melting into a big pile of goo. Wow talk about cheap effects here. I know it ran under a shoestring budget, but did it have to so obvious that it wasn't trying to prove us wrong? The climax ends when Marie lures the werewolves into the church and attempts to burn it down. The same church that they built, after ringing the bell that they carried all the way from Bulgaria, Marie gathers them in, but she just stands there and lets them attack her. How am I supposed to be sympathetic to someone who's just plain stupid?

Yeah, these follow-ups to the original are really bad and this one is right up there amongst the worst. It didn't really feel like a horror, but more like a mystery with horror elements and cheap special effects. Sad part is there really isn't anything mysterious about this movie. We knew from the beginning that the town where Marie and Richard were retreating from is crawling with werewolves, because primarily it's part of "The Howling" franchise. Everything from the acting, direction, production values, and special effects are cheap and uneventful. Even worse, there were hardly any werewolves. The only time we get some werewolf action is around the 70 minute mark and only on for about a few seconds. The only time exciting things takes shape is during the last 20 minutes. And this one good scary werewolf just stood there and did absolutely nothing. Another thing that's convoluted to the story was the church and the bell at the tower. It seems like the werewolves from this town Marie and Richard were staying at took the bell all the way from Bulgaria and placed it at the story. Seriously? Were they asking to be killed? It would be like vampires building a water fountain laced with garlic powder and holy water. This movie has no action, mystery or even logic. Even the werewolves didn't look like werewolves, but large dogs with glowing red eyes.

There is no denying that this film from 2000, "Love and Basketball" has what it takes to combine a romantic drama while also making the sport of basketball the drive that brings our two lovebirds together to make the perfect couple. What stands out about this movie is that it doesn't fall victim into sentimental mush, but at the same time the payoff in the end doesn't escalate into a big climactic game where the stakes are high. It's a simple tale of two young African-Americans who find the love for each other while dedicating their lives to the sport they are passionate about.

The movie centres around a young girl named Monica Wright (Kyla Pratt) who has a more tomboyish appearance about her much to the disapproval of her parent and her sister who want want her have a more feminine outlook. She dismisses them and instead she would rather be shooting hoops instead of going window shopping. Her family settle in the Los Angeles, a trendy neighbourhood. She becomes next-door neighbours to an NBA star Zeke McCall (Dennis Haysbert) who has a son named Quincy (Glenndon Chatman) and in 1981 Monica and Quincy meet for the first time. They challenge each other to casual but competitive gave of basketball, as Monica scores the first point, Quincy gives her shove that results in her getting a scar that remains on her face permanently.

But under that moment of roughness, Quincy then takes a liking for her and asks if they like to be together. At first she scoffs at the idea, but quickly takes it into consideration on account that she has no interest in flowers and that she can ride her own bike to school. It shows that Monica is okay with having a boyfriend, but she like to set her own regulations and independence.

As we move forward to 1988, Monica (Sanaa Lathan) and Quincy (Omar Epps) are now high school seniors and are ready to make it into the real world. And even though they're not in any steady relationship, they do remain close to one another like friends. When Quincy's father Zeke and his mother, Nona (Debbi Morgan) get into a loud quarrel, Quincy seeks comfort by retreating to her house and sleeping on the floor. When she finally does acquiesce to her mother and sister's advice to fix her hair, Monica goes out on a blind date. At the dance along with her date, Quincy is there too, while they're dancing with their dates, they can't stop looking at each other, indicating their attraction for one another.

They both enroll at USC and have become big time stars on their respected basketball teams. However, Monica is given a bit of an unfair penaization for a certain type of roughness that's frowned upon by the woman's team that's celebrated on the men's. Their romance has it's on again, off again moments like most steady relations have, but they eventually become pros while Quincy remains in America, Monica has to compete in Spain. Their reunion ends way too fast and unnatuarally way too soon to be believable.

The sport or the romance is not what really makes this movie stand-out. What really stand out is that it's directed by newbie Gina Prince-Bythewood and is produced by veteran Spike Lee, "Love and Basketball" is a sports movie seen through the woman's perspective for once. It remain sincere when talking about love and sex and it's handled in subtle and mature way. It also observes the world of basketball through hard work, skill, dedication and passion as both our main characters decided to make a career doing what they love best. The finale is more about dedication and perseverence insread of scoring that last seond final score. The sport of basketball is not the primary topic of the movie, but more or less brings the connection between two individuals who share the same interest that brings these two together.

Performance wise, Omar Epps is wonderful in his role though might be a tad old to be playing the role of a high-schooler. The real star here is Sanaa Lathan as Monica who combines a certain level of tomboy integrity while still in touch with her feminine side. She has some memorable scenes with her mother (Alfre Woodard) who supports the decisions she makes in life while trying to understand her feminist ways.

Epps has interesting scenes with his parents as well. First his father retires from the NBA, gets tangled up in a paternity suit, and Quincy starts to question his true feelings about his parents in heart-wrenching scenes.

Though the story could have been much tighter in its delivery, "Love and Basketball" has more of an emotional attraction that defies the cliches we get in most sports themed movies. It focuses on the relationship of the athlete and what they go through in their personal lives rather than psych up for that grand sport finale. In the end we hope for the best from each character.