"Red" Movie Review

Frank, played by Bruce Willis, is retired, bored and lonely living off of his government pension in a nondescript suburb in an equally nondescript house.  The only joy in Frank's life are his frequent calls to the government pension processing center where he gets to talk to his case worker Sarah, played by Mary-Louis Parker.  Sarah is just as bored and lonely as Frank and marks her conversations with the unknown Frank and her spy novels as the only things in her life that are considered fun.  When something in Franks past forces Frank back into his old line of work and puts an unwitting Sarah in the middle of the intrigue, Frank and Sarah are forced to meet up an begin a journey into Franks past with some of the most interesting people that he used to work with.  Like Frank they have all been tagged RED...Retired Extremely Dangerous.  

I kept this review short and sweet so I didn't give away to much of the movie and I hope you find it as interesting as I did.  It's a good watch.  Enjoy.

"Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps" Movie Review

"Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps" is the sequel to "Wall Street."  This movie was directed by Oliver Stone who also produced the 1991 hit "JFK" starring Kevin Costner.  What attracted me to this movie, since I have not seen the first movie, was the cast.  Mainly Michael Douglas and Shia LaBeouf.  Michael Douglas' character Gordon Gekko was thrown in jail for 8 years in the previous movie for money laundering.  This movie begins with Gordon Gekko getting out of jail and sadly nobody comes to meet him on that day.  The movie then jumps forward 7 years to Jake More, Shia LaBeouf's character, at his home with Winnie, played by Carrie Mulligan.  Jake is watching the news where he see's Gordon Gekko on T.V. promoting his book that he wrote in prison about greed.  Winnie immediately asks him to turn it off and he doesn't so she grabs the remote from him turns the T.V. off and begins crying.  This is were the audience picks up on the fact that Winnie has a emotional relationship with Gordon Gekko.  We later find out that Gordon is her father.  Jake works for a big business on Wall Street with his mentor and business owner Louis Zabel.  After Jake arrives at work Zabel asks him to come to his office.  Zabel presents Jake with a bonus check of $1,450,000.00.  Jake thanks him and Zabel asks him to leave.  Jake immediately goes and buys Winnie a wedding ring.  Jake is discussing the business with a friend of his and his friend tells him that he thinks Zabel's business is going to fail and Jake tells him that he is so confident in the business that he will put up the rest of his bonus check, which is $1,000,000, to buy stock in that company.  Jake does so and the following morning the stocks for Zabel's business plummet and Jake loses all his money.  The reason that the stocks plummeted is because of rumors going around about Zabel's business.  After this Jake attends a speaking engagement were Gordon Gekko is the speaker.  After the event Jake speaks with Gekko and Gekko reveals to Jake that the rumors were started by Bretton James, another Wall Street big shot, and that Bretton made millions betting against the stock in Zabel's business the day it crashed.  This is when Jake realized that this was all a set up so Bretton could acquire Zabel's business in a buy out and also this unfortunate event led Zabel to commit suicide.  Jake teams up with Gekko on a two-teird plan: To get revenge on the man that caused the death of his mentor, Zabel and to bring a huge scandal to Wall Street that opens Bretton as the ring leader.  Little did Jake know that Gekko is after revenge of his own and also for what got him in jail in the first place.  Money.

"Shrek Forever After" Movie Review

In the final installment of the Shrek Saga I can safely say this was one of the best Shrek movies to come out.  It starts out with Shrek enjoying his new family but it quickly turns to Shrek's life becoming routine and he doesn't like it.  He misses the days when people used to be afraid of him.  Back when he was a real ogre.  At his children's 1st birthday party he is hammered for autographs which infuriates him even further. This bring on an explosion of anger where Shrek tells Fiona that he wishes he never would have saved her from the tower and that he could just be an ogre again.  Little did he know that Rumplestiltskin over heard him.  Later on Rumplestiltskin then offers Shrek the deal of a lifetime.  He tells Shrek that if he will trade one meaningless day from his past he can spend one final day as an ogre.  Little did Shrek know which day Rumplestiltskin was going to take from him.  The day he was born.  This changes his life and the lives of everyone in Far Far Away and it is up to Shrek to get things back to how they were before which proves to be a very difficult task.  This is a great movie and would be perfect for parents to watch with their children.  Thanks for reading!

"Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1" Movie Review

I'm going to start with a disclaimer that this will be a long movie review as there is a vast quantity of information to cover.  Lets get started.  I have been a fan of Harry Potter ever since the first book came out and I can say I am glad to see it come to an end in the final movies just because it has had its time in the lime light and its time to move on.  While the books are way better than the movies the movies are still good.  But anyway on to the review.  In the first installment of the final chapter in the life of Harry Potter the adventures have an especially somber and scary coloration, as these friends are cast out from the protective surroundings of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry into a grown-up world of peril that test the independence they have struggled to obtain under the eyes of their teachers.  There is no time for quidditch, school uniforms, or classroom pranks and adult supervision has all but vanished.  Albus Dumbledore is dead, and though Hagrid and Mad-Eye Moody offer some assistance early on, Harry and his companions must rely on the kindness of house elves, on their own newly mastered wizarding skills and, above all, on one another.  This is especially difficult because of the rivalry for Hermione that has always simmered between Harry and Ron, has finally bubbled to the surface along with the resentment that Ron feels for being the "sidekick"to the Chosen One.  Hermione seems lonelier than ever because she has left her Muggle parents entirely, erasing herself from their memories to prevent them from being caught up in the war between the wizards.  For most of the movie Voldemort's forces are very much in ascendant.  Lord Voldemort is after Harry and his comrades because he wants to finish what he started 17 years ago and kill Harry once and for all.  Harry is also after Voldemort and wants him dead because of the murder of his parents.  Harry, Ron, and Hermione are after the horcruxes which contain part of the soul of Voldemort and in order to kill him they must destroy the horcruxes first which proves to be a difficult task until they discover the Sword of Griffendor at the bottom of a frozen lake.  The sword allows the horcruxes to be destroyed with easy.  During their journey to find the remaining horcruxes they discover a strange sign that is where the movies obtains part of the title "Deathly Hallows."  The story of the Deathly Hallows is portrayed in an animated short that is inserted into the film where Hermione narrates.  It is actually quite interesting.  The Deathly Hallows tie into what Voldemort is doing throughout the flashbacks that Harry experiences.  While I would love to tell you more about the movie I feel it would give away more than I already have and leave you knowing to much as you watch the movie.  This is a great movie and I hope you enjoy it as much as I have.

"Despicable Me" Movie Review

I literally just finished watching this movie with Chantel and Aspen and it was fantastic!  If you have kids I would recommend it because they will love it and it is great for the parents as well!  Steve Carell has done it again!  But anyway on to the review.  In a happy suburban neighborhood surrounded by white picket fences with flowering rose bushes, sits a black house with a dead lawn and no fences and it towers over the other houses.  But unknown to the neighbors, hidden beneath this home is a vast secret hideout.  Surrounded by a small army of minions, we discover Gru, planning the biggest heist in the history of the world.  Dr. Gru is going to steal the moon!  Gru delights in all things wicked.  Armed with his arsenal of shrink rays, freeze rays, and battle-ready vehicles for land and air, he vanquishes all who stand in his way including the up and coming villain Vector who is threatening his job as the worlds best villain.  But then one day he encounters the immense will of three little orphaned girls who look at him and see something that no one else has ever seen: a potential Dad.  The world's greatest villain has just met his greatest challenge: three little girls named Margo, Edith and Agnes.  This movie is a great cartoon and family movie that I strongly recommend!

"The Last Song" Movie Review

Okay...I know what your thinking.  "Why in the world would a guy watch a movie with Miley Cyrus in it?"  And I totally agree with you.  It's almost as bad as a grown, adult woman watching the Twilight movies.  But for the sake of this movie review lets just pretend I like Miley Cyrus...but I don't.  Anyway Chantel and I sat down to watch this movie one night a few weeks back and I was surprised that the movie was actually worth watching.  Miley Cyrus' character "Ronnie" is a girl that got in trouble with the law and her parents are divorced so to get her out of the scene for a while her mom sends her and her brother, Jonah, to their fathers house for the summer.  Immediately upon arrival Ronnie gets in with the wrong crowd by becoming friends with a local girl that is nothing but trouble.  Ronnie goes and hangs out with her friend and her friends boyfriend (confusing I know) but he makes a move on Ronnie but that makes Ronnie mad and she leaves.  But her friend saw this happen and it made her mad so when she runs into Ronnie in a local store she slips something in Ronnie's purse and she immediately gets caught and they think she stole it which she really didn't.  But in the mean time of all this happening Ronnie meets a boy.  I know thats always where the trouble lies right?  But this guys doesn't seem so bad until Ronnie finds out that he is really the son of a very wealthy family and that his family doesn't really approve of him dating a girl like Ronnie.  In the middle Ronnie and her family having the time of their life, along with Ronnie's boyfriend Will, Ronnie's father passes out and is rushed to the hospital where the discover some awful and heartbreaking news.  But I'm not telling you what that is because that would ruin the movie.  Needless to say this movie was great and I would watch it over again and I strongly recommend that you see it yourself.  Thanks for reading and enjoy the movie!

"Dinner For Schmucks" Movie Review

Last night Chantel had a church event to attend so I stayed home with Aspen.  I got bored after she got tired of playing with me so I decided to find a movie for Chantel and I to watch in bed that night.  I chose this movie thinking anything with Steve Carell would be funny and played Xbox until Chantel got home.  When we finally made it to bed we started watching the movie.  "Dinner for Schmucks."  A man named Tim, played by Paul Rudd, is a business man trying to make his way to the 7th floor where all the other big shots are.  He gets his chance when one of the guys gets fired and seizes the opportunity to try to take that position.  In a meeting he presents an idea that gets the bosses attention but Tim is soon let down because the boss lets another guy head up that idea.  As Tim is leaving his boss, Fender, calls him in an office.  Its the office of the guy that was fired that morning.  The boss and a few co-workers tell him how good this office is for him and just when he thinks the job is his he finds out the has been invited to a dinner.  The dinner has two purposes: 1. so the boss can get to know Tim a little better and 2. each person invited has to bring an idiot with him so they can make fun of the idiot.  Tim agrees to the dinner but when he tells his girl friend about it but she is less than pleased.  The following morning Tim is headed to work and he hits some guy with his Porsche.  Who is this guy?  None other than Barry, played by Steve Carell.  Barry is a mouse taxidermist and works for the IRS.  Since meeting Barry and inviting him to dinner Tim's life has gone crazy, all thanks to Barry.  This movie is hilarious and I recommend it because it gave me lots of laughs and I was laughing so hard I couldn't breathe and everybody needs some times like that.  Enjoy!