IRON MAN II: ALL THE IRON, A LITTLE LESS MAN

Tony Stark: I am Iron Man. The suit and I are one.

Have I mentioned lately how much I love Robert Downey Jr? Love perhaps, is an understatement. So, Tony Stark is back, bigger better and more full of himself than from the first Iron Man, which is part of the reason why I loved this film. The problem is, that we already saw this in the first movie. So when seen again, it just doesn't have quite the same effect as it did when it was fresh and new. That is not to say, however, that it is not un-enjoyable. In this film, Tony Stark has been "outed" and everybody wants a piece of him. This includes the new bad guy lead, played well by Sam Rockwell and counterintelligence agent/avenger Scarlett Johansson in her formfitting cat woman-like suit. Mickey Rourke, added a little spice to this film as Russian bad guy Ivan Vanko and played pretty well as the muscle for Justin Hammer's (Rockwell) bad guy dictator. Gwyneth Paltrow is also back as Pepper Potts who in general was in character, but lacked the original chemistry she showed Stark. There was lots of action in this film, lots of things that blew up, lots of drama, but again, it just lacked the fresh appeal that came with the first film. This was a good film, however, I just had that feeling like I had seen it before. This is a film that I definitely would not miss, but not a film I would call best picture.

COP OUT: YUP, IT WAS

Paul Hodges: [screaming random movie lines to get a suspect to talk] Yippie-ki-yay, motherfucker!
Jimmy Monroe: I've never seen that movie before.

If I really have to spell it out to you, Jimmy Monroe is played by Bruce Willis and that's just one of the many fine zingers there are throughout this very odd script. This movie comes to us around Kevin Smith best known for Clerks is a bit of a homage to the buddy cop film. Tracy Morgan is of course Paul Hodges who is swept up by emotion and the excitement that real life might reflect one of the many films he has seen and can quote verbatim. Let's just say this is not the best buddy cop movie out there, but with two fine actors, there are certainly parts here and there that make it worth watching. The dialogue is quite clever in parts but the plot is a bit convoluted and certainly ends way too neatly with the big red bow. It was an entertaining film, just not the best film.

THE LAST SONG: LET THERE BE TEARS!

Okay, so I saw on Miley Cyrus film AND a Nicholas Sparks-based film and I lived to tell about it. The thing is, although it was cheesy as hell it wasn't half bad. Okay, maybe half bad. Cyrus is this misunderstood who is forced to live with her father for a summer along with her kid brother and of course she comes in with the bad attitude that all teenagers have and ends up at the end of the movie showing how wise she is beyond her years. Oh, and somebody dies. Isn't that pretty much the way a Nicholas Sparks novel goes? Greg Kinnear was also in this film and did a very good job as the guilty dad trying to make good. Of course there was a love interest, Liam Hensworth, and he was okay, nothing special though. This movie was what you'd expect from a Nicholas Sparks based film. I don't know if that's a good thing or a bad thing, I just know that I made it through the whole movie which was a surprise.

REPO MEN: FILM'S ALREADY BEEN REPOED

Remy: My job is simple. Can't pay for your car, the bank takes it back.

Can't pay for your house, the bank takes it back. Can't pay for your liver, well, that's where I come in.

I'm really torn on this one. The story concept is not new. It was set to music in the 2008 production of Repo the Genetic Opera (which was previously reviewed). It was set in a futuristic goth-like world whereas Repo Men is set to a futuristic Blade Runner type world. Partners Remy (Jude Law) and Jake (Forest Whitaker) have known each other since childhood and have each other's backs as they work as repo men, taking back body parts when payments have stalled. It's as gruesome as it sounds, but this movie with an excellent soundtrack softens the blow with a 1940's sort of feel mixed in. Everything is great until Remy decides he wants out and soon the hunter becomes the hunted. It was a well done movie. I watched the unreleased version which may or may not have been more bloody. Even if it was, the original still has a fair amount of blood and guts to it. The soundtrack really sets a tone that makes Remy human and likable. I did love the John Leguizamo brief uncredited appearance toward the end. Additionally both Liev Schreiber and Whitaker were strong co-stars. Alice Braga was the "girl" but had a strong enough personality that made her perfromance enjoyable. The highly sensualized "extraction" scene towards the end was a bit too much. I really don't know if I loved the ending or hated it, but it was one or the other. This will be a movie that people either love or hate. Me, I'm still in the horizontal mambo middle of it all.

THE RUNAWAYS: KEEP RUNNING

Kim Fowley: Girls nowadays, they don't have any role models.

This band is self-empowerment, man - Aphrodite, Cleopatra, Eurydice!

No more second-class status, sitting at concerts with asshole boyfriends who worship bands from a Popular Mechanics evaluation of amplifiers.

The Runaways have the most chance of any group I've seen...

To do with the Beatles did. To tear this world apart.

Terrible. terrible. Terrible. I wish the movie had been about Kim Fowley instead (Michael Shannon) as he was the much more passionate member of this band in this film. I was expecting a shocking, kick ass performance by Dakota Fanning as Cherrie Curry to show us all what a talent to be reckoned with she has become. Instead I kept waiting for her to wake up and start acting. For a set the world on fire band movie this was a fizzle. Fowley was the most interesting and spirited character with Kristen Stewart ringing in as Joan Jett as the close second. She was able to show some grit and some balls, but she was the only one. Otherwise it was a film about some silly little girls who started the first most successful all-girl rock band. Frankly, the band deserved better treatment than this. Fanning was a bomb, but no the kind Cherrie Curry was. Not a movie I recommend.

TEMPLE GRANDIN: A WINNING MOVIE ALL AROUND

Nature is cruel but we don't have to be. We owe them some respect.

I touched the first cow that was being stunned. In a few seconds it was going to be just another piece of beef, but in that moment it was still an individual. It was calm and then it was gone. I became aware of how precious life was....

Clare Danes is magic. Here she brings to life Temple Grandin, an autistic yet highly functioning woman struggling to make the world a better place. No, not just struggling, accomplishing. Her lack of ability to understand people is forgiven for her uncanny ability to relate with animals and wish them more humane treatment no matter their fate. Grandin thinks in pictures and understands far more than we think she can. Luckily there were some instrumental people in her life Aunt (played with warmth and compassion by Catherine O'Hara) and a very special teacher (David Strathairn in a similar role) and of course a determined mother (Julia Ormond). This movie is full of compassion, determination and exuberance. It was created by HBO, but is as fine if not more so than any movie on the big screen. Danes takes her character and becomes her with nothing but respect and reverence. All glamour aside, she IS Grandin and does a heartwarming job. This is the kind of movie I would love to see more often. A must see!

DATE NIGHT: CANCEL THIS DATE

From the writer who brought you Shrek... how high were our expectations for this film?! How can a movie staring two of the funniest actors turn out so bad? A terrible script. Just watch the gag reel at the end of the film to see that pairing these two together was a great idea, just not for this film. It was silly, boring and tiresome with an utterly predictable plot. The boring married couple try to spice up their lives by going into the City for dinner instead of the Denny's down the street and simply by taking someone elses reservation (what bastard would do that!?) they are led into a plot that feels much like a Three's Company episode. Tina Fey and Steve Carell are the Foster's and they are funny; just not in the way the film intended. This is the first movie where I actually felt embarrassed for the actors. How many times does the plot have to be explained by the characters in their dialogues? It was just terrible. Worse than that at 88 minutes it was still too long. The only thing that kept my interest was the many visits to Marky Mark Wahlberg without a shirt and even that grew tiresome. Go out on a date, just don't waste your time watching this dud.

ABANDONED: IS THE LEAST THIS FILM DESERVES TO BE

Staring at the skeletal shell that was once Brittany Murphy, this movie is one to be missed. Weak story, bad acting and terrible everything else. I fast forwarded during the many chase scenes but that still did not help. Do not see this movie. It is a waste to time and a poor memory of someone who deserves to rest in peace.

GHOST WRITER: SUPER FILM NOIR

The Ghost: Did you ever want to be a proper politician in your own right?
Ruth Lang: Of course, didn't you want to be a proper writer?

Roman Polanski is alive and well and still making excellent movies. This time we are brought into the world of a super politico, much like Tony Blair, who is being investigated for some unsavory crimes. Pierce Brosnan is Ex-Prime Minister Andrew Lang who is working on a book with a ghost writer that has come up dead on a beach. Cue Ewan McGregor as Ghost number two who enters softly and is brought up to speed much like a college hazing gone bad about the chaos he has surrounded himself with. What starts off as a slow and reasonable movie whips into a fury with an ending that spins out of control. McGregor is solid as the man whose normal boring life turns upside down. Brosnan is equally on par with McGregor. Who we don't see coming is Ruth Lang (Olivia Williams) the long suffering wife. Kim Cattrall makes an appearance as an actress despite her recent work on the SITC movie. The accent threw me a little, but otherwise she is poised. This was a really well done film and it's shame that Polanski's real life worries get in the way of how his work is viewed. Similarly it is interesting to note the similarities between the exiled ex-Prime Minister and Polanski's issues. Must see film.

AFTER.LIFE: DON'T BE SWAYED BY AN ALL STAR CAST

Eliot Deacon: I thought you were different.

You all say you're scared of death, but the truth is you're more scared of life.

Thank you Redbox! I love only spending a dollar on films that turn out really bad. This was one of them. Christina Ricci plays a schoolteacher who is having trouble trusting the boyfriend (Justin Long) who wants to marry her. After an argument, she gets in a car accident and "wakes up" in the morgue of a local funeral home. It is there that mortician Elliot Deacon (Liam Neeson) spends the rest of the movie convincing her that she is indeed dead and prepares her for her funeral. The whole movie just about centers on this theme of living life and how life is wasted and it is only at the end that our worst suspicions are confirmed and the film takes on more of a horror film air. Ricci practically sleepwalks through this film except that she over acts and one doesn't counter the other. Neeson is misplaced and how they got him to do this is beyond me. Long I don't care much about but he over did it just as much as everyone else. This was just a plain bad film. Thank you Redbox!

SEX IN THE CITY II: PASSPORT TO NOWHERE

Unless you're a big fan of SITC, don't even bother with this "film". I am a fan of the HBO series and I barely enjoyed this one. It wasn't such a movie as it was meeting up with friends you haven't seen in a long time for coffee and gossip. This time, on a much lighter note, the ladies travel to Abu Dhabi for some Samantha reason and get to spend time in a lavish mirage in the desert. Who wears Prada when you know you are going to be sweating? Of course Carrie (Sarah Jessica Parker) runs into ex-flame Aidan (John Corbett) and there is some... wait, the plot really doesn't matter. Unless you know SITC and its cast and characters DON'T SEE THIS FILM. I might say that if you DO know, but it is always slightly fun to catch up with the "girls". Nonetheless, it is a pretty bad movie. Save the time and read the reviews online and use your imagination instead.