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I'm also writing about science fiction movies for examiner.com.  You'll find it all at this link:  examiner.com...  Please check it out, especially if you're a sci-fi fan... when you're there, you'll find me under the Rochester, NY examiners.  Hey - you can even subscribe to me there...

NEW RELEASES:




Salt  (Tremendous)
Before there was CGI, there was the CIA.  And the FBI. And the KGB.  And back then, the organizations with those initials were responsible for our spy thrillers.  They renew their rivalry in the new Angelina Jolie thriller Salt, and fittingly, the movie is a throwback to days when stunts – not special effects – drove an action movie... As much of a throwback as Salt is, it also make some strides.  Salt is clearly intended to be a new action movie franchise, and there aren’t that many like it headlined by a woman.  In fact, Salt was written for man, but Jolie proves a good actor in good, athletic shape is a good actor in good athletic shape, regardless of gender.
Full review at moviejungle.com

Inception   (Tremendous)
Is it all just a dream?  In the middle of a summer of lackluster sequels and unimaginative ideas, has the creator of the cult hit Memento put together a movie with just as fantastic a concept?... Is a thought-provoking action flick also the best movie of the summer?  No, you’re not dreaming, but you’ll question what’s real and what isn’t as you remain glued to Christopher Nolan’s Inception...  No matter how twisted or ludicrous a dream gets, you will buy into it.  Nobody ever does anything corny like sit straight up, look at the camera and scream.  The only ones screaming will be Nolan’s Hollywood rivals – who are probably wishing they had Cobb in their employ.  The germ of an idea behind Inception would have been worth stealing. 
Full review at moviejungle.com

Grown Ups  (Tremendous)
Before and after he was a Hollywood heavyweight, Adam Sandler has populated his movies with his friends. With Grown Ups, the actor/writer/producer may be taking this “Six Degrees of Adam Sandler” to the extreme. The movie is peppered with people he’s worked with in all stages of his career.  This is either a Sandler Vanity Project or a tender reunion of friends, depending on how you look at it.  And how you look at it may depend on how much you like these friends...  It may be a disappointment for their fans to see them all in “Dad mode,” but that’s not to say it isn’t funny.  Mostly, it’s funny watching the five friends interact.  They do nothing but trash talk each other in a comfortable way only close friends can.   
Full review at moviejungle.com

The Karate Kid    (It Is What It Is)
Each Karate Kid’s target audience is about the same age of the kid in the title role... Don’t go to the new one for nostalgia, you won’t get it... The karate scenes are few and far between as director Harald Zwart attempts to teach us all patience... but a paying audience should demand more.   (Kids) likely won’t be able to sit still unless they’ve had proper training on keeping butts in seats.
Full review at moviejungle.com

Splice   (Tremendous)
Technology has gotten more advanced since Dr. Frankenstein put an abnormal brain in a corpse to create artificial life.  The new Splice is a much more modern tale, but the lesson is the same: don’t play God.  Bad things will happen.  But before we get too bogged down in morality, what really has to be said about Splice is: it’s a lot of sick fun. .. You’ll admire this story, even as you think only an abnormal brain could have come up with this.
Full review at moviejungle.com

Sex and the City 2  (Kept Checking My Watch)
Sex and the City the movie was a huge hit, so with the sequel just two years later, the girls kind of feel like they can do whatever they want.  They give the fans what they want in an over-the-top self-indulgent fashion (while wearing a lot of over-the-top self-indulgent fashions) ...has all the elements in place for a good, extended episode of Sex and the City.  Then after about 45 minutes, the girls leave the city. Then the movie becomes just plain stupid... They are living out a fantasy just because they can.
Didn’t they learn from their first hiatus that we want them to be themselves?
Full review at moviejungle.com
 
 

Just Wright  (Kept Checking My Watch)
This movie isn’t too hard.  It isn’t too soft.  But something about Just Wright isn’t right either.  The drama is never intense enough to have you concerned about the characters.  It’s never funny enough to be considered a romantic comedy... Queen Latifah is a beautiful woman, but because of her size, she isn’t always thought of as a sex symbol like some of her glamorous colleagues..  But does the movie have to be afraid to say that’s why McKnight falls for her gorgeous friend first?.. if Leslie isn’t going to show us her insecurities, how can the audience ever doubt things will turn out just right?...  Just Wright is really just… there.
Full review at moviejungle.com



Iron Man 2   (It Is What It Is)
A full write-up is on my Examiner page....  please follow this link:  
Looking back (already) at Iron Man 2

How to Train Your Dragon   (It Is What It Is)
“How to train your audience:  base your animated adventure on a children’s book, make sure they know it’s from the studio that brought you the Shrek films, and drive home the point that this movie is in 3-D… Actually, How to Train Your Dragon does have a bit in common with Avatar  – there are some visuals like nothing you’ve ever seen before, illustrating a story that’s well… a lot like something you have seen before…  But most noteworthy is the look – the animation is exquisitely detailed – from the freckles on Hiccup’s face and the scales on the dragons to the cascading oceans and the majestic mountains.  It’s all enhanced by being in 3-D.”   Full review at moviejungle.com






Our Family Wedding   (Kept Checking My Watch)
"Two cultures come together – but not with a bit of wit or originality.  Seriously, the best they could come up with was a grandma fainting at the site of her future black grandson-in-law.  Perhaps there’s no pleasing me, because if the bulk of the movie had played to stereotypes I would have blasted it for pandering... If we don’t see them embrace their own cultures, why should we believe the two fathers are so proud of their own?  The filmmakers would probably point to the overly long wedding itself – which is an explosion of poorly done slapstick, offensive stereotypes and loud reminders of everyone’s ethnicity.  It’s as if they forgot the racial comedy had no racial themes, so they crammed them all into the end.
Full review at moviejungle.com

NEW ON DVD:

Clash of the Titans    (Sam Worthington, Liam Neeson)
"Just release the Kraken already. “Release The Kraken” is a catchphrase that’s endured among fans of the 1981 original.  The studio behind the new one has made sure we hear the phrase in all the promos.  And as I sat there watching the new one, I wanted them to release the Kraken so I could see the cool special effects and then be released from sitting through this underwhelming remake... Liam Neeson is Zeus.  Ralph Fiennes is Hades.  I couldn’t help but wonder if two of them looked at each other, rolled their eyes and said:  “Dude, what happened here?  We were in Schindler's List”."
(Kept Checking My Watch)

The Book of Eli  (Denzel Washington, Gary Oldman)
“It takes forever to get to what isn’t so much an allegory but a flat-out obvious religious fable.  It’s almost the Left Behind movies with A-list stars. That’d be fine if it didn’t move so slowly and feel like any other post-apocalyptic thriller.  Everyone wears layers of clothes, including gun belts and knives.  There’s trading for goods, scavengers on the hunt and a lot of standoffs that end just after our hero tells the unsuspecting gang that “they better just move on.”  As directed by The Hughes Brothers, the world is very grey with occasional sunlight peeking through.  It looks cool, but not all that original.  Pardon the pun, but it’s all done by the post-apocalyptic book.”
(It Is What It Is)

Shutter Island   (Leonardo DiCaprio, Mark Ruffalo)
What exactly are we looking at as we wind through the Shutter Island labyrinth?  That’s the fun of the movie, as Leonardo DiCaprio starts to question who he can trust, what their motivations are and what’s even real in the first place.  And there are real surprises.  I admit at one point I was disappointed when I thought I had it all figured out – and thought the solution was something I’d seen before in better movies.  But the story fooled me...  Director Martin Scorsese lets the movie go too long.  Once the final secrets of Shutter Island are revealed, he really needed to go to black and put up the credit “Directed by Martin Scorsese.”  Instead, what was explained to us once is then acted out for us, and then explained again ad infinitum.  There’s even a scene that perhaps even the most avid Scorsese fan – with all the graphic imagery that comes with the distinction – might find too much.  Martin, there was no need to go crazy.   (Tremendous)

Dear John    (Channing Tatum, Amanda Seyfried)
Dear Young Women of America:  If you were into The Notebook, you’ll probably want to see Dear John.  And the film’s creators will do everything they can to manipulate you into liking it...  John is on leave from the U.S. Army Special Forces visiting his father in South Carolina.  He’s a big heroic lunk – a good boy now but there are hints that he used to be a bad boy.  He also spends a lot of time shirtless.  Savannah is an unbelievably good girl.  She’s a wide-eyed blonde all the boys like.  She thinks she has a bad girl streak because she swears – in her head!  Her ambition:  to someday open a ranch where autistic kids can play with horses (Wow, that’s unbelievably word-in-Savannah’s-head-ing wholesome)!...  pretty much everything we see coming in the most cornball presentation possible.
(For the record -- I actually don't mind The Notebook).   (Kept Checking My Watch)


 


Valentine's Day   (Ashton Kutcher, Jennifer Garner)
 Since all the movie really offers is big stars playing people who are connected getting paired off, we’ll describe the cast in pairs and point out how they’re kind of linked.  Marshall gives us two Jessicas (Alba & Biel), two Taylors (Swift & Lautner), two Roberts sisters (Julia & Emma), two stars of Grey’s Anatomy (Patrick “McDreamy” Dempsey & Eric “McSteamy” Bane), two stars of That ‘70s Show  (Ashton Kutcher & Topher Grace), two older women (Shirley MacLaine & Kathy Bates) two Hispanics (George Lopez & Hector Elizondo), and two African-Americans (Jamie Foxx & Queen Latifah)...   Is that everyone?  It’s hard to tell, because with so many people crammed in there, it’s really hard for anyone to stand out – especially since the storylines are no better than what you see in the average sitcom.    (It Is What It Is)

Invictus   (Morgan Freeman, Matt Damon)
"Last month, this critic was totally manipulated into liking the sports movie The Blind Side. I knew it was a corny movie, but I stand by my review, even if I knew I was being manipulated as it happened.  How did I let that happen?  Sandra Bullock and the people behind The Blind Side know a good sports story can rally an audience to their point of view and provide a giant shared feel-good moment.  Director Clint Eastwood knew it too while making Invictus, and South African President Nelson Mandela knew it while setting in motion the real-life events that inspired Eastwood’s film...  It’s an inspiring story, and just like Mandela and Eastwood wanted, I bought into it."   (Tremendous)




Edge of Darkness   (Mel Gibson, Ray Wintsone)
Fair or not, audiences and critics are going to judge Edge of Darkness entirely by its star.  The last time we saw Mel Gibson in front of a camera, it was a mug shot and he was on the edge of some personal darkness...  Edge of Darkness was a good choice for him.  Audiences should like a family man out to do good who has enough of an edge that action fans will like him.  He needs to be hero, not an anti-hero, and it’s certainly too soon for the guy who called a female cop “sugar t**s” to play a romantic lead.  You can’t help but notice there is no female lead in Edge of Darkness.  So – good choice, Mel...   but it’s only on the edge of being a good movie.  It’s on the edge of being an all-out action movie; it’s on the edge of being a murder mystery, and on the edge of being a political thriller.  It only touches on and is only average at each.    (It Is What It Is)


Avatar    (Sam Worthington, Zoe Saldana)
I'm tempted to say "I liked this movie the first time I saw it, when it was called Dances With Wolves."  The story of an outsider helping an indigenous people against his own has been pretty well covered already, from Westerns to Star Trek to little-seen animated pieces of crap like this year's Battle for Terra.  But that old joke won't work since on the visual level, Avatar is like nothing ever seen before.  It's not so much a movie as it is an experience, and you probably have to take it in.   (Tremendous)






Sherlock Holmes  (Robert Downey, Jr., Jude Law)
Robert Downey, Jr. is to Sherlock Holmes what Johnny Depp is to Pirates of the Caribbean – the right guy to guide a hard sell but good idea to the masses.  And by Jove, the old chap pulls it off strikingly.  When we like Downey (as we did in Iron Man), he’s a bit of a cad but also charming, witty and self-effacing.  He brings all that to Holmes and throws in a convincing English accent while he’s at it.  He’s buff, but not enough to make you think he can clean everyone’s clock.  He’s going to have to use his mind... Director Guy Ritchie slows the action down enough to let us hear Holmes think – and then he strikes, throwing punches that hit as hard as they do in any other Ritchie film.  It’s modern special effects fighting set in old England – and it works.   (Tremendous)

Fantastic Mr. Fox   (George Clooney, Meryl Streep)
"At first glance, The Fantastic Mr. Fox seems like it’s a kids' movie. It’s a stop-motion animation fable based on a book by Roald Dahl, about a fox who retired from chicken-stealing but comes out of retirement to steal from a trio of evil farmers. The cat-and-mouse game that follows is as funny as any Looney Tunes cartoon where animal and human do battle. And it’s very, very funny.  But it’s not funny because of animals getting flattened by anvils or because they use props that they ordered from Acme. It’s because it’s written for the screen and directed by Wes Anderson, who gave us the modern classics Rushmore and The Royal Tenenbaums. Fans of those movies (this critic included) love those films for their dry humor and quirky characters. Fantastic Mr. Fox is in the same tradition as those films; the only difference is the quirky characters are talking animals."
Full review is at my examiner page...   please click here for more...  (Tremendous)

The Blind Side   (Sandra Bullock, Quinton Aaron)
"There are certainly some eye-rolling cornball moments in the trailer for The Blind Side.  “You’re changing that boy’s life,” says a friend of adoptive mother Sandra Bullock.  “No, he’s changing mine,” she answers back predictably.   But The Blind Side is the opposite of a movie where the only good stuff is given away in the trailer.  While I knew which lines would make me roll my eyes, I don’t think I rolled my eyes any other time.  The Blind Side may be a corny story, but it’s also a true story.  And it’s a story well-told."   (Tremendous)  

Twilight:  New Moon  (Robert Pattinson, Kristen Stewart)
Why doesn't this girl just date nice kids and not vampires and werewolves?  That Mike kid that threw up at the action movie seemed nice (Team Mike!).   These movies are like watching a teenage girl cry over her boyfriend and yell at the world because they don't understand -- when you know somebody else will be along anyway.   (Kept Checking My Watch)





Did You Hear About The Morgans?   (Sarah Jessica Parker, Hugh Grant)
"It has an intriguing and somewhat unique enough premise, or at least one that should have made it stand out from other romantic comedies.  But once the creators had the initial idea, they let laziness set in...  Sarah Jessica Parker and Hugh Grant do just enough to remind you they’re Sarah Jessica Parker and Hugh Grant and aren’t other actors in disguise.  She’s a quirky yet sophisticated gal who loves New York City and wants to talk about her relationships.  He’s a droll Englishman with a witty charm who hides his true feelings.  They’ve each done these parts so many times before that they’re just phoning it in here.  Their delivery is so slow and so familiar; they both seem bored the entire time."  (Kept Checking My Watch)





2012   (John Cusack, Amanda Peet)
Indiana Jones fans will know about the moment that separated the fourth movie from the classics: it’s been nicknamed the “nuke the fridge” moment.  Without giving away too much, Indy escapes certain death thanks to a refrigerator, and the audience who’s been with Indy through snakes, rolling boulders and temples of doom finally rolls its eyes and says “oh, come on.”  2012 is a two and a half hour “nuke the fridge” moment.  John Cusack’s character is either the greatest driver who ever lived or the luckiest SOB on the planet...  Let’s hope the Mayans’ prediction that something terrible would happen in 2012 has been mistranslated into “something terrible will happen that’s called 2012.”    (Kept Checking My Watch)




Planet 51   (Dwayne Johnson, Justin Long)
"Any good UFO story is going to involve a good conspiracy theory, where the characters and audience try to unearth questions about what’s “really going on here.” Sometimes we get answers, sometimes we don’t – and after seeing Planet 51 I’m left with questions myself.  Mainly: who do they think this is for?...  None of it is particularly original, which gives logic-minded adults opportunity to think about those unanswered questions: how is it everyone speaks English, all the signs are in English, yet no one can read the wrapper on Chuck’s Twix bar?"  (It Is What It Is) 


Up In The Air   (George Clooney, Vera Farmiga)
Up In The Air ends the year -- heck, the decade -- with a look at where we stand now.  We're all in it together -- it even makes you feel sorry for people whose job it is to fire others.  It's also very funny as we look at the relationships George Clooney has (or tries not to have) with the people around him.  And just when you think it's going to be like any other movie, there's a great twist.    (Tremendous) 

Precious, Based On The Novel Push By Sapphire  (Gabourey Sibide, Mo'Nique)
The less said about Precious in this review, because while I will still rank the movie as "Tremendous," the hype kind of ruined it for me.   By the time I saw it,  I knew just about everything that happens to this poor girl.  So while I would have been otherwise horrified otherwise, I wasn't.  I kind of got numb to it as the writers kept piling things on her.  Still, it's worthy of the acccolades it's getting, especially in the acting categories.   (Tremendous)





The Informant!   (Matt Damon, Scott Bakula)
"Matt Damon gives a great performance in The Informant!, and director Steven Soderbergh has delivered another bit of quirky fun.  But the real star of The Informant! would be Damon’s inner voice, which goes absolutely everywhere...  He goes from focusing on the task at hand to wondering how some other guy got such a big office to imagining calling his home phone and hearing himself answer to wondering how a polar bear knows he has a black nose.  His disjointed thoughts are hysterical, and they also mean we never know what Whitacre is going to do next.  Neither does anybody else onscreen, which makes The Informant! so entertaining."   (Tremendous)

Zombieland   (Woody Harrelson, Jesse Eisenberg)
"It’s fitting that a rag-tag team of zombie killers are on an odyssey to an amusement park in Zombieland, since the creators are aiming for a thrill ride that leaves a smile on your face... If you’ve seen any other zombie movie you know how this all goes... It’s been done, well, to death.  We’ve seen everything from the gross-out metaphors of the George Romero Living Dead films to Michael Jackson’s Thriller.  We’ve seen it as a comedy before in Shaun of the Dead.  For director Ruben Fleischer to have a film that’s going to stand out among the bodies, he had to have something original.  So he went for strong, funny characters portrayed by strong, funny actors."    (Tremendous)

A Serious Man  (Michael Stuhlbarg, Sari Lennick)
I rented this to try and see all the Oscar-nominated films before the ceremony -- and after that ending, I think it should be named Up In The Air. I will try to focus on the very funny and very entertaining first hour and a half and not let the Coen Brothers crap ending ruin this movie the way they did No Country For Old Men.  (Tremendous)

Adam   (Hugh Dancy, Rose Byrne)
It's an unlikely love story -- a man with Asperberger's Syndrome has a relationship with his neighbor.   It creates awkward situations for each of them, which the movie deals with in fair, dramatic and funny fashions.  It's a sleeper romance.   (Tremendous)

This Is It   (Michael Jackson)
Whether he was performing, simply walking through a crowd or sitting in his thinking tree in that TV special from several years ago, you couldn’t look away from him.  Sadly, the gifted performer gave us few actual performances in the last few years and more train wreck moments than we can recount in this space.  But in This Is It, even though he may not have intended for us to see it, he finally gives us real performances.  He finally gives us something good to look at and reminds us of his considerable gifts... In the interviews he gave in the last several years, Jackson gave off the image of a mousy little boy and a victim to the world.  Fans of his music will love seeing him take charge:  telling a musician to wait for his cue, letting the sound engineer know the mix is too loud or explaining why there needs to be a long pause so that the music can “simmer.”  It’s a reminder he was a creative force.   (Tremendous)

The Hurt Locker   (Jeremy Renner, Anthony Mackie)
The Iraq War drama is free of politics and full of tension.  It's an interesting study of the type of guys who are willing to sacrifice what they do, and you realize they're sacrificing even beyond physical danger and time away from home.  So far, it's the best movie to cover the conflict there.      (Tremendous)

Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs   (Bill Hader, Anna Faris)
"I can’t forecast it for sure, but if there’s justice, the much beloved book Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs is about become a hit movie as well.  It’s a comedy that will make everyone in the family laugh out loud.  And that’s not because adults watching will get in touch with their inner child or because the humor is lowest common denominator jokes about bodily functions.  It’s because some things are just plain funny and very clever."   (Tremendous)   

District 9     (Sharlto Copley, Nathalie Boltt )
...some pretty heavy stuff – the kind of stuff the best science fiction deals with well.  And District 9 is absolutely the best kind of science fiction.  But before you have a chance to get too bogged down in the deeper meaning, the action happens.  A hapless drone is assigned to head up the relocation of the aliens from District 9 to what’s essentially an internment camp. Things go bad for him, things go bad from the aliens, and then the action begins.  And then this potentially heavy message movie becomes way freaking cool.   (Tremendous)

Up!  (Ed Asner, Jordan Agai
Up! is almost too emotionally manipulative -- it tries every way it can to tug at the emotions.  And it worked even on this cynic.  I'll be darned if the story of the lonely old man and the eager little kid isn't the most touching of all of Pixar's movies.  It's sadly not the funniest, but it works.   Still, there are some laughs to be had, especially if you listen closely to the talking dogs...  Squirrel!   (Tremendous)

(500) Days of Summer   (Joseph Gordon Leavitt, Zooey Deschanel)
"If you’ve ever been in a long-term relationship, then you’ve lived at least 400 of the 500 “Days of Summer.” But while they’re familiar situations, there’s nothing familiar about the movie. It jumps from, for example, Day (40) to Day (279) then back to Day (55); the jumps illuminate the different ways the relationship grows and/or deteriorates. It tells its story out of order and somehow it makes more sense than if it was traditionally linear. Ever been in relationship trouble that you didn’t see coming?   They and the audience don’t see the warning signs, but since the story’s told out of order, you experience their moments of clarity as they do. You’re right there with Tom as he thinks, “Oh yeah, I should have seen that coming.”  (Tremendous)

Inglorious Basterds   (Brad Pitt, Christoph Waltz)
With all due respect to The Hurt Locker and the real men and women it's based on, Basterds may be the most tense war movie of the year.  Christoph Waltz's Col. Landa is mesmerizing as he interrogates his eventual victims.  Quentin Tarantino's trademark dialogue and violent themes work just as well as a World War II revenge fantasy as they do in a modern gangland setting.  (Tremendous)

The Brothers Bloom    (Adrien Brody, Mark Ruffalo)
What we have in The Brothers Bloom is a familiar story to fans of heist movies:  a couple of con men hoping to pull off one last job.  And wouldn’t you know it?   Their mark is a beautiful woman named Penelope who Bloom can’t help but feel drawn to.  But writer/director Rian Johnson peppers the movie with all kinds of original touches that make it at times life-or-death dramatic or at other times pretty darn funny.  (Tremendous)

Paranormal Activity
This may be even better at home -- if you saw it in the theater, you got that nice buffer where you walked through the lobby, got to your car and drove home.  But it's highly effective to watch the horror on your TV, looking like a home movie -- and then shut out the lights immediately after.  (Tremendous)

 

The Hangover   (Bradley Cooper, Ed Helms)
There are guys who probably do have a raunchy decadent time on their Vegas vacations, and then there are guys who probably like to yell “Party!” and do a lot of fist pumping without really knowing how to pull it off.  The Hangover’s promos make it seem like a fist pumping kind of movie, but it really isn’t that.  That’s not necessarily a bad thing:  watching guys yell “Party!” is only funny for so long, so you have to give The Hangover credit for being a more mature comedy than it advertises... it tries too hard to be a cult classic, when what it really is is an ok comedy with a neat idea.  Personally, I found the solution to where the groom was and what really happened unsatisfying, but I will admit it’s an original solution, so you may feel differently.   (It Is What It Is)

Anvil: The Story of Anvil   (Lipps, Robb Reiner)
This Is Spinal Tap is the funniest movie ever made because it's so true.  Anvil: The Story of Anvil seems like the same thing.  It's funny because it's so true.  It's also sad because it's so true.  And amazingly moving and inspiring too.  It's a great movie for anyone who's wanted to please a crowd or been in a crowd and felt for someone when things aren't going right.  Metal on Metal!!!!      (Tremendous)

 


Harry Potter & The Half-Blood Prince   (Daniel Radcliffe, Emma Watson )
I’ll say this:  I enjoyed this one considerably more than the other two I saw.  I felt the other ones I saw were just going through the motions – that they were so concerned with recreating the experience of the book that they weren’t all that interesting as movies.  “You smiled with wonder when you read about Hogwarts.  Now, here it is.”  But eventually, in relying too much on the fun, returning director David Yates shoots himself in the foot.  We see so much of Harry Potter the man that we don’t see enough of Harry Potter the myth and the legend...  In this two and a half hour movie, we have a good two hour movie, and a half hour set up for the final installment.    (It Is What It Is)

Julie & Julia    (Amy Adams, Meryl Streep)
"It’s like a female version of The Godfather Part 2.  Two of the better actresses working today appear in the same movie, but their scenes are set decades apart, so we never see them together.  Instead, we watch how two lives in separate times can be so similar and how one can cast a heavy shadow over another.  Director/writer Nora Ephron (who’s given us some of the very best chick flicks) takes each of their stories and serves them to us in just the right doses.  She goes back and forth to show how each of their quests changes their lives and their relationships.  It’s fascinating to see how these journeys of self-discovery can affect those around them:  not just in the home but in their social circles.    (Tremendous)

Terminator Salvation  (Christian Bale, Sam Worthington)
"...There are spectacular chase scenes and plenty of fights – very loud fights.  I’m not sure I’ve ever heard such loud metallic crashes... But while the fights are interesting, the story really isn’t.  It’s a movie about destiny and keeping up the Terminator continuity – which means all the original ideas were spelled out for us in the first three movies... It’s too grim to be much fun."   (It Is What It Is)

Angels & Demons  (Tom Hanks, Ewan McGregor)
At the risk of sacrilege, let’s compare Dan Brown’s books and Ron Howard’s movie adaptations of them to a Sunday worship service.   Sometimes you go and you’re inspired when you hear a wonderful speaker with fresh ideas.  But sometimes, you listen to a sermon or a homily and you think your clergyman is just going through the motions...   
The Da Vinci Code held our attention because it looked at the idea that there were secrets we never knew about right in plain sight.  It’s not as fun to see a secret revealed that we never knew anything about anyway.  Since he’s chasing kidnappers based on clues they leave behind in the present day, it’s less like Langdon is unlocking pivotal historical mysteries and more like we’re watching Batman’s chased the Riddler from Gotham City to Vatican City."   (It Is What It Is)

I Love You, Man   (Paul Rudd, Jason Segel)
Finally, a relationship comedy aimed at both sexes that understands men.  We love you, women... but sometimes it's very important that we go over the set list from a Rush concert.   (Tremendous)

Four Christmases    (Vince Vaughn, Reese Witherspoon)
"At first, it may seem like this is Take 2 of the Vince Vaughn Holiday Classic Movie (a year ago, Vaughn starred in and produced the under-appreciated Fred Claus).  But don’t be fooled into thinking this is a holiday film... Four Christmases is s a comedy about relationships.  As Vince Vaughn movies go, Four Christmases is really a lot closer to The Break-Up than it is to Fred Claus."   (It Is What It Is)

Funny People   (Adam Sandler, Seth Rogen)
At one point, Adam Sandler's actor/comedian character checks his cell phone for messages while being forced to watch his ex-girlfriend's daughter in a home movie.  This had to be director Judd Apatow's sub-conscious telling him how self-indulgent his own movie is.  I'm a huge fan of everyone involved in funny people, but they all tested my patience here.   (Kept Checking My Watch)

Star Trek   (Chris Pine, Zachary Quinto)
J.J. Abrams has succesfully restarted the franchise by violating the prime directive -- he reset history.  You need not have seen a single thing with the words "Star Trek" in the title to enjoy this, yet with green chicks and red shirts, there is plenty here to keep the longtime fans happy.  The cast are wonderful -- they each play the part just right without ever becoming mimics, which had to be especially hard for those playing Scotsmen, Russians and Vulcans.    (Tremendous)


     

The Ugly Truth   (Katherine Heigl, Gerard Butler)
"I kid you not:  at my screening of The Ugly Truth, the film broke right at the film’s climax.  Katherine Heigl and Gerard Butler were acting out the pivotal scene that you knew was coming, and the film broke.  I could have waited for the film to be fixed just so I could see the last minute in between the unimaginative climax and the credits, but at that point, I had already correctly predicted every other single thing that was going to happen.  Why wait when I’m sure I know?...  If you think you know everything about Abby and Mike…  you’re right, you do.  These two characters are stereotypes, written with no imagination and acted with no originality by Heigl and Butler.    (Kept Checking My Watch)

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Finally, some misspellings of my name that I'm putting here to try and ensure that this site shows up when you search for it:
mike digeorgio
mike digregorio
mike digronizio
mike digorgio
mike degiorgio
mike degorgio
mike degeorgeo
nick ditucci
 
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Hello, and welcome to the site.  I'm proud to have kept at doing something I love:  writing about movies, TV and pop culture.  I admittedly never went to any kind of film school  (and if you look at this site, it's pretty obvious I never went to web design school either), but I think through years on Rochester radio as the Go-To-Guy for "Who's that guy in that movie who did that thing...?", I developed a rapport with listeners.  I'd like to think you knew me and trusted my opinion.

Some of my reviews are right here on the site, and some are at www.moviejungle.com, where I've joined up as a staff writer.  You should be able to find the complete versions under "staff reviews."  Thanks for your patience following the links.  Still, I'll try to provide excerpts and other fresh content here.  

I've got most of the movie reviews I've done for the last few years, some of which I did independently, some I wrote for other sites (links included) and some go back to my radio days.  I tend to tack new ones on top, so they're pretty much in order by release date.So please... click around!  And offer your own opinions by writing mikedigiorgio@aol.com!

Regards....

Mike DiGiorgio