Movie reviews

This is a well made comedy drama for a journey of self discovery, focusing on a law student Sherman Black played by Michael Shulman who discovers a little about himself and life from a road trip with a two-time Olympian, Palmer played by James LeGros (Ally McBeal).

We meet Sherman with his girlfriend Marcy played by the lovely Lacey Chabert (she has grown quite a lot since the amazing child actress in Party of Five). Marcy has issues with Sherman for not taking charge and making his own decisions, it turns out every aspect of his life is being controlled by his powerful mother Evelyn, played by Donna Murphy (she still looks as ageless as she did with Patrick Stewart in Star Trek: Insurrection), she controls which law firm he chooses to do his internship, and is against him spending the summer with Marcy.

Sherman decides to go against the grain and prove to Marcy that he can make decisions for himself, and attempts to ignore his mother's wishes by spending the summer with Marcy, without letting her know, he intends to just turn up at her door step, in the process he happens to bump into another fellow who helps him with his luggage, on both of them reaching Marcy's front door, he is a little surprised to see Marcy kissing the guy, she eventually notices him and while he walks away in a rage, she follows him, but instead of apologising she says "this is what it seems" and tells him she is just trying to explore the different options life has in store for her.

In his anger Sherman decides to go back to the law internship his mother had arranged for him, and hails a driver to give him a lift, and Palmer arrives, fresh from an unfortunate performance at a car dealership, which he left with a classic vehicle nicknamed "The Rooster", it turns out Palmer is estranged from his son, and would like to give him "The Rooster" as a graduation present, except his son graduated three years ago. After a short stop at a dinner, Sherman unfortunately finds out he has lost his wallet getting into Palmer's car, and has no option but to phone his mother for financial assistance, however he takes this opportunity to stand his ground against her demands, and stays with Palmer to prove a point to himself that he can make his own decisions.

The two unlucky individuals find themselves paired together at the home of Palmer's friend D.J., played by Enrico Colantoni (A.I.), and although they seem to be polar opposites; with Sherman intent on keeping a schedule, while Palmer on the other hand would rather take life as it comes, they end up learning from each other. While Palmer's Rooster is being fixed Sherman does some shopping around the town for his supplies, and bumps into the lovely and odd Addy, played by Brooke Nevin (The 4400), they become friendly and Sherman asks her on a date, unfortunately he cannot drive, neither can he swim, and ends up having Palmer drive both of them around, where they end up in a lake, in a very comical scene.

It is a lovely romantic movie, many will enjoy.

Labels: Brooke Nevin, comedy, Donna Murphy, drama, Enrico Colantoni, film review, film reviews, films, James LeGros, Lacey Chabert, Michael Shulman, Movie Review, Movie Reviews, movies, relationship, Sherman\'s Way

This is a well made comedy drama, starring Ray McKinnon in two roles as Randy Pearson, a good natured happy go lucky "big shot" who owns a number of businesses, but is currently in a financial mess, and Cecil his twin brother.

Randy happens to borrow money from a loan shark, which unbeknown to him is connected with the Mob. Soon afterwards he starts getting phone calls from a Mob guy, Franco played by Paul Ben-Victor (Tombstone) as to when and how he is going to settle his debt, Randy tries to explain that as hard as he has tried he cannot come up with the money for the debt as well as his increasing debt with the IRS (Internal Revenue Service).

After asking around and finding out that he could be in some serious trouble with the Mafia, Randy contemplates selling one of his businesses to Elmore Culpepper where Burt Reynolds (Boogie Nights) does a short cameo.

Surprisingly Franco has a solution to his financial troubles, and that involves sending Tino Armani played surprisingly well by Walton Goggins (unrecognisable from his character in The Shield), to sort out his financial troubles, even so much as to pay off the IRS. On their first meeting Randy is amazed to find out that Tino has the same country dialect as he does, to which Tino responds he never judges people by the pigment in their skin or their dialect. After a while Randy is even more impressed by how seemingly good natured Tino is, and soon all in the small community are besotted by Tino. He even manages to improve the menu on one of Randy's restaurant businesses that had so many people queueing to get in when Randy arrived he automatically assumed there was an incident and that the police had been called. At this stage it should be mentioned Randy has an on-going problem with one of the local law enforcement officers Griff Postell, played by Brent Briscoe (Mulholland Drive) who seems to have it in for him at every opportunity, since Griff blames him for a "whooping" he gave him in the third grade, which many witnessed, but Griff subsequently gave Randy a "whooping" in the sixth grade, but unfortunately no one witnessed it.

As well as trying to solve his financial troubles, Randy has to cope with his wife Charlotte, played by the lovely Lisa Blount (The Accountant) newly acquired Carpal Tunnel Syndrome from dancing lessons she has been giving, which has left her a little depressed, and trying to patch the relationship with his gay twin brother and his partner Bill played by Tim DeKay (The Russell Girl). A relationship Randy has never accepted, much to the annoyance of his twin and his partner.

This is a surprisingly genial comedy drama, and it contains some classic scenes, especially where Randy is on the phone to Franco while at a rubbish tip.

Ray McKinnon is effortlessly adept between the two roles, and it is an entertaining movie many will enjoy.

Labels: Burt Reynolds, comedy, crime, drama, film review, film reviews, films, Lisa Blount, mafia, Movie Review, Movie Reviews, movies, Paul Ben-Victor, Randy and The Mob, Ray McKinnon, siblings, Tim Dekay, Walton Goggins

This is a very touching drama about the relationship between an estranged father and his attempts to reconcile with his son.

It stars Sal Landi (24, Ugly Betty) as Skip, and his son Danny played by Matt Dallas (Kyle XY).

We meet Skip in a limousine, having a drink, but after a few moments, we see him stay still in apparent discomfort, while two of his companions wonder what is wrong. He is next at the doctor's being told that his liver is failing after years of substance and drug abuse, and at this stage he needs a partial liver transplant from an immediate family member, the doctor asks if he has any children, Skip doesn't answer, but later on Skip looks at a faded picture of Danny, and we realise he does have a son.

We meet Danny who is being cared for by Skip's sister, Carrie played by Jane Higginson (she has incredibly fascinating eyes), since his mother died when he was two. He calls her mum, and treats her as his own mother, however Danny lacks any direction and as Carrie's friend Mona played by Angela Lanza; is constantly telling her, he needs some direction in his life from a father figure. It turns out that Danny had been to a party a few days earlier where he was thrown out as he was not invited, and was simply crashing the party, although to be fair he was minding his own business, but the host realised she didn't know who he was, and so he was subsequently thrown out. In his anger and frustration, he vandalises a nearby shop, but left a vital clue, for the police to track him down.

Prior to this Skip makes an attempt to see his sister and Danny, but his attempts were dismissed by the both of them, as being too little too late. When Danny gets arrested for the vandalism, his bail is set at $50,000. Carrie as a nurse simply cannot afford the bail, and she calls on Skip to provide the bail, as a last gasp opportunity to save Danny from jail, in exchange he gets to spend some time with him as he wants while Carrie relocates to another nursing vacancy. Danny makes a promise to Carrie as a condition of being bailed to agree to go along with whoever is in the house while Carrie relocates for her new nursing vacancy, but the relationship between Skip and Danny is no better than a the beginning of the movie when they met after a long hiatus, with Danny eager to avoid him at every opportunity and Skip desperately trying to find a way into his son's heart. He happens to see in the garage, parts of an old worn out Indian bike, and knowing that at least Danny likes bikes, he decides to to use this as a way into his son's heart by enlisting the help of a father and daughter team, to help him get the parts and fix the bike. The father and daughter team of Ted and Shelby played by Corbin Timbrook and the gorgeous Alison Haislip respectively, have their own issues, with Ted's wife having walked out on him and Shelby. She spends most of the time fixing the parts of the Indian, and inevitably takes a liking to Danny, all the while being watched by Skip.

It is a poignant tale of a father's desperate attempt to save himself which may at the same time be able to repair the fragile relationship with his son and sister.

Labels: absent father, Alison Haislip, drama, family, father and son, film review, film reviews, films, ill health, illness, Jane Higginson, Matt Dallas, Movie Review, Movie Reviews, movies, romance, Sal Landi, The Indian

This is an interesting dark comedy starring the legendary Robin Williams (RV) as Lance Clayton, a school teacher at a high school his son Kyle played by Daryl Sabara (Spy Kids), also goes to.

From the onset we see the relationship between father and son is not optimum at the best of times, as Lance walks in unexpectedly on Kyle to find him in an embarrassing position with a belt around his neck, Lance panics thinking he is dead, only for Kyle to critique his father for catching him at an anxious moment. Lance is long suffering towards his son, while Kyle on the other hand is rude and obnoxious at every opportunity, case in point when caught with his trousers down he ridicules his father by calling him a homosexual, but Lance fires an equally quick retort saying that he fathered him so he is not a homosexual.


Later on we join Kyle at school, where he continues his behaviour, by making an off-hand rude remark to a girl and is summoned to Principal Anderson's office, played by Geoffrey Pierson (24), along with Lance. It seems Kyle has been getting into trouble at school for quite sometime and is given one last chance.

It becomes obvious that Kyle has no intention of changing, despite Lance trying to participate more in his son's life by trying to involve him in his day to day activities, even though Kyle typically finds a way to resist. On this particular occasion he comes along with his dad on a date with another teacher at the school, Claire played by the lovely Alexie Gilmore (something about her smile just lights up the entire room).


The date didn't go as well as Lance hoped for, because although Lance assumed everything went OK, Kyle on the other hand was busy taking pictures of Claire under the table with his mobile phone. As well as trying to win the affections of Claire from another teacher and basketball coach Mike Lane, played by Henry Simmons (Shark), we find out that Lance is also trying to get established as an author, but all attempts so far have failed, and his frustration is even more apparent as Mike's first time publication to the New York Times is published amidst congratulations from fellow teachers. Lance's frustration is about to come to an end, because something happens that opens up his literature to the world, and the much needed respect, recognition, and romance from Claire are soon at his fingertips.

At times this is sad and poignant. Some of the crude humor fits in well with the scenes, and as usual Robin Williams does a superb job capturing the lonely single parent, desperate to bring his son into line.

Labels: Alexie Gilmore, comedy, dark comedy, Daryl Sabara, drama, film review, film reviews, films, Mike Lane, Movie Review, Movie Reviews, movies, Robin Williams, World\'s Greatest Dad

This is a fantastic science fiction movie that served as a template to launch a new action star in Vin Diesel (Saving Private Ryan, something about his voice reminds me of an engine).

He stars as Richard B. Riddick, a no-nonsense convict, who is being transported by an equally rugged bounty hunter William J. Johns played by Cole Hauser (Too Fast Too Furious). The rest of the crew headed by the captain Carolyn Fry, played by the lovely Radha Mitchell (Phone Booth), are all told to steer clear of Riddick as he is considered extremely dangerous, hence the very large bounty on his head, and are told Riddick would sooner take the ship and leave every one stranded if he could, in order to save his skin.

They crash land on an apparently desert planet, with supplies running low, and the crew of the ship made up of an Imam, Abu Al Walid played by Keith David (Crash) and his disciples searching for New Mecca. In a desperate search for water, they happen to come across what looks like trees from a distance but on closer inspection it seems it is the skull of a dead animal almost like a dinosaur. It soon becomes obvious to the rest of crew that there is life on this planet, and eerily, this particular night, an eclipse will occur which would mean the nightlife will come out in search of food, seeking out fresh victims in the crew.

The captain makes a decision that they must all work together if they are to successfully get out of this planet, and that involves freeing Riddick, while Riddick's bounty hunter William keeps a close guard, weapon at the ready in case Riddick tries anything.

Riddick seems to have gotten a fan in the midst of the crew, which could end up ominously for all involved.

In the midst of all this Riddick does have a little advantage over all the other members of the crew, his eyesight is superb in the dark, however he is extremely sensitive to light not unlike the creatures on the planet, and he has to wear some made to order goggles to protect his eyesight. Since Riddick is the only one able to navigate at night when the creatures on the planet are hunting, he is the only one best equipped to gather the equipment needed to fix the ship, so they can all fly out of this dangerous planet, but Riddick seems to only look out for himself, unless Fry can convince him to show some humanity, which is not one of his strong traits.

Labels: Action, Cole Hauser, drama, fantasy, film review, film reviews, films, Keith David, Movie Review, Movie Reviews, movies, Pitch Black, Radha Mitchell, Rhianna Griffith, sci-fi, science fiction, suspense, Vin Diesel

This is a modern day re-telling of the age-old tale of the youth rebelling against established authority, in this case a street dancer getting into a prestigious schoo, Maryland School of the Arts (MSA) that doesn't recognise or appreciate her street dancing techniques, and at the same time competing in the much respected street dance tournament known as The Streets.

It stars the gorgeous Briana Evigan (a brilliant classically trained dancer) as Andie, a member of the notorious 410 dance crew, who is staying with her mother's best friend Sarah played by Sonja Sohn (the pregnant doctor in Brothers and Sisters), but having some problems as inevitably teenagers go through, especially since her mother is no longer around.

She is given an ultimatum to either start working hard at school and avoid trouble, or move in with her aunt. Channing Tatum (Fighting, as well as in the prequel Step Up) does a cameo as Tyler Gage, he helps her get a dance audition at the prestigious MSA which is the only way her guardian would allow her to stay if she is at such a prestigious school.

It turns out the 410 crew have been winning the Street Dancing tournaments consecutively for a few years now, and Andie has missed a few practice sessions on account of her enrolment at the prestigious MSA, which she has kept a secret to the rest of the 410 crew, apart from her close friend Felica played by Telisha Shaw.

She faces being thrown out of the 410 crew if the leader Tuck played by Black Thomas finds out that she is putting anything over the 410 crew. She regards the 410 crew as the only family she has ever known, but she also would like to succeed at the prestigious MSA, one of the star pupils Chase Collins played by Robert Hoffman, the brother of the principal Blake Collins (played stoically by another classically trained actor Will Kemp), takes a liking to Andie, and although she resists at first romance is on the cards, that puts her at odds with the 410 crew.

She finds a whole new group of exceptional dancers at the school, but are they all good enough to compete at The Streets?

The dancing is what makes this movie special, everyone is a phenomenal dancer, and the audience can just sit back and enjoy the fantastic art form of street dancing, some of the scenes are already ingrained in popular culture such as the dancing in the rain and Chase placing his hand just over Andie's chest, moving it up and down simulating a pulsating heartbeat. You can tell from the out takes at the end credits, that it was a great deal of fun making such a movie.

Labels: Briana Evigan, dance, drama, film review, film reviews, films, Movie Review, Movie Reviews, movies, Robert Hoffman, romance, romantic, Step UP 2 The Streets, street dancing, Tyler Gage, Will Kemp

This is a charming-magical movie about the age-old topic of believing in Santa Claus and the magic of Christmas.

It stars the lovely Nicole De Boer (Cube, Star Trek: Deep Space Nine) as Liz McCann a Real Estate agent who doesn't believe in Christmas but sees it just as any other holiday, and would rather be working.

However she is a single mother to a young Mason played by Gig Morton who is eagerly in the festive spirit. While at work Liz gets a phone call from her father played by Gary Chalk (Stargate SG-1), inviting her and Mason to come along and pay him a visit at Hollyville and celebrate Christmas with him, she initially declines as she remembers her dad never celebrated Christmas.

It so happens that her dad phones again while they are at home, and asks her a second time, Mason happens to be around, and not wanting to dash his hopes she agrees.

On their trip they are unable to find Hollyville, until the car breaks down and Mason spots a reindeer in the woods, Liz doesn't see the reindeer and dismisses it, while she runs after Mason they both see Hollyville lighted up in the midst of all the trees.

On arriving at the town Liz is extremely surprised to find her father working at the local restaurant where everyone seems so happy, she has never seen her father so happy and friendly, and at one point she asks him "Who are you and what have you done to my dad"?

It so happens her father would like to make up for all the years he was never any good at making her happy especially during Christmas, and he would like to make this Christmas special not just for his grandson but for his daughter too.

Mason on the other hand has found some surprising discoveries, the quiet town is home to N.P. Enterprises short for North Pole Enterprises, whose business seems to be transport all over the globe.

There is also the case of a mysterious sleigh the local mechanic is fixing that is considered top secret, and characters that could easily be ascribed to those of elves. Of course Liz finds all this hard to believe, but Mason is eager to prove his mother wrong and make her a believer, while there is potential for some romance for Liz from Kevin (played by Paul Muldoon [Star Ship Troopers], his mannerisms are a lot similar to Rob Lowe), the boss of the diner her father works at.

It is a lovely magical movie the entire family will enjoy.

Labels: Christmas, Christmas Town, family, fantasy, film review, film reviews, films, Gary Chalk, Gig Morton, magical, Movie Review, Movie Reviews, movies, Nicole De Boer, Paul Muldoon, romance

This is a very entertaining futuristic science fiction movie, that has one of the best trailers out there purely for its suspense.

It stars Bruce Willis (Die Hard) as James Cole who has been placed in a psychiatric ward, lead by Kathryn Railly played by the lovely Madeleine Stowe (We were soldiers), in the same ward is Jeffrey Goines played charismatically by Brad Pitt, he simply steals the show in every scene he is in.

Cole tells an unbelieving Kathryn that he is from the future where there are no animals, and a plague has wiped out most of humanity, and his mission is to prevent the first occurrence of the virus that lead to the plague.

However he is constantly taken back to the future for a progress report, which disorientates his thoughts and mindset. It turns out he is a prisoner in the future, and doing this mission will guarantee a pardon.

It seems there are problems sending him back to the correct time line to continue his mission; after being debriefed on how progress on the mission is going. When sent back, in some cases he is several years out of sync with the proposed date he is supposed to be in, with one occurrence landing him in the trenches of the First World War where he is unfortunately shot in the leg.

Of course Kathryn doesn't believe a word he says, and sees him as an advanced delusional schizophrenic, until she happens to look through an archive book of the First World War, and sees a clear picture of James in it, she also happens to have the bullet from World War One in his leg removed and analysed, and she confronts him as to how he came to have a bullet from World War One in his leg.

At this point she begins to believe him, and although James wishes for it not to be true, and that he is still a psychiatric patient (since he prefers this timeline) in a world without a plague, realises he must continue his mission of preventing the plague that has wiped out most of humanity. It becomes a desperate race against time for James and Kathryn to find who is responsible for the plague, the only clue they have to go on is a sect called the Twelve Monkeys that may or may not be responsible for setting off the first instance of the plague.

Labels: 12 Monkeys, Brad Pitt, Bruce Willis, drama, fantasy, film review, film reviews, films, Madeleine Stowe, Movie Review, Movie Reviews, movies, science fiction, suspense

This is a very strange, often hilarious, alternate scenario of the Second World War. Focusing on the events surrounding a few individuals who aim to bring down the Third Reich, it is directed by Quentin Tarantino of Pulp Fiction notoriety, so don't be surprised if our protagonists are a little sadistic.

It stars Brad Pitt as Lieutenant Aldo Raine, who leads a team of Jewish-Americans, in occupied France launching hit and run missions, that have managed to make them all legendary with the Nazis as the Inglourious Basterds. Their antics have reached the ears of Hitler himself played by Martin Wuttke. He particularly wants to meet one hapless soldier who was let go as an example when his squad was unfortunate enough to encounter them.

We meet the main antagonist Colonel Hans Landa played superbly by Christopher Waltz (Goldeneye) as a Nazi detective nicknamed "the Jew hunter" for his ability to find stowaways.

He and his soldiers approach a farm run by Perrier LaPadite (played by Denis Menochet) and his three daughters, as typical with Quentin Tarantino films, the suspense builds up during the conversations, with a seemingly ordinary and pleasant conversation that after a short while makes the audience realise the stage is being set, and something ominous is about to happen; possibly to Perrier or his family.

During his conversation Perrier eventually gives in and reveals to Hans that there are Jews hidden under the basement, whereby he orders his men to shoot into the basement, however one of the girls hidden in the basement, Shosanna Dreyfus played by the lovely Melanie Laurent, escapes.

We meet her four years later, as she runs a cinema under an assumed name of course, where much to her frustration she is being chased romantically by a German officer Private Frederick Zoller played by Daniel Bruhl, who is instantly recognised wherever he goes for killing several hundred Allied soldiers as a sniper, the audience will no doubt feel a little sorry for the romantic soldier as since we are privy to the secrets Shohannah carries, we can understand immediately that he has a mountain to climb to stand a chance of any romance. He has gotten so much praise that Hitler's number one in command Goebbels, played by Sylvester Groth has made a film about him, starring Private Zoller as himself, and Goebbels after meeting Shosannah wants the venue for their premiere of this movie in her cinema, but not after she bumps into Colonel Hans, responsible for executing her family some four years earlier, fortunately for her he doesn't seem to recognise her, but she and the audience are in two minds if this is a ploy, as when she ran away from the farm she assumed he didn't see her face.

The Inglourious Basterds hear about the cinema event, as well as a British agent Lieutenant Archie Hicox played magnificently by Michael Fassbander (300, Hex), along with a double agent Bridget Von Hammersmark played by the gorgeous Diane Kruger (National Treasure) intend on causing a large amount of casualties during the premiere, that could possibly end the war.

The versatility of the actors in moving from German to English to French and Italian is impressive.

It is a typical Quentin Tarantino movie, lots of blood, and gore that is amusing but thoroughly enjoyable at the same time.

Labels: Brad Pitt, Diane Kruger, drama, film review, film reviews, films, Inglourious Basterds, Melanie Laurent, Michael Fassbender, Mike Myers, Movie Review, Movie Reviews, movies, Quentin Tarantino, Second World War

This is a charming movie about a street smart con-man and the relationship with his son.

It stars Christopher Walken (his performance in the Deer Hunter still remains legendary) as Nat Parker, who is using the system for his benefit, trying to patch his relationship with his son Ritchie played by Alessandro Nivola (Jurassic Park III).

We meet Ritchie at his place of work and soon we find out he is let go after the manager finds out he has a criminal past, he gets home only to find out his girlfriend Maggie played by the lovely Amanda Peet (The Whole Nine Yards) is leaving him, he happens to find a letter from his father that he had previously put in the trash. We find out that the two are estranged as Ritchie went to jail, taking the fall for a scam his father pulled, where he buys an automobile, replaces the part with junk takes it back to the salesman and gets a replacement saying the car he bought was nothing but junk. It turns out that one time the institution caught on, but his son's name was what was used on the paperwork, so Ritchie spends a considerable amount of time in jail for a crime his father committed, and he is none too pleased with his father about this.

Nat would like to make it up to him, and added the incentive that he is dying of a brain tumor, so Ritchie should come up and see him in an all expenses paid trip to Mexico where there is a new age treatment, that may or may not work, but after a while you realise, Nat simply wants to spend some time with his son.

The relationship between father and son is close, and you can tell immediately whatever bad feelings Ritchie had with his father, you know he can forgive him for anything, even when Ritchie finds out, it was his father who reported him to his place of work, that he had a criminal record, so he can be fired, as an impetus to get him to pay him a visit, as Nat puts it, the job was closing Ritchie in; he was too good for it.

On their road trip, Nat is in his element, with his social awareness able to get him into parties, and get many things for free, as he puts it you can survive on 5 dollars a day, hence the title. There is a brief cameo by Sharon Stone (Basic Instinct) as Dolores Jones, who is eternally grateful to Nat for helping her get her Rotary license. It turns out Dolores used to babysit for Ritchie, and Ritchie remembers her fondly as she was his first infatuation, but it seems she only has eyes for his father.

This is a very nice warm feeling of a movie, and Christopher Walken is his usual quirky self.

Labels: $5 a day, Alessandro Nivola, Amanda Peet, Christopher Walken, drama, father and son, film review, film reviews, films, Movie Review, Movie Reviews, movies, relationship, road trip, Sharon Stone

This is a very enjoyable road trip movie starring the superb Jeff Bridges (Starman) as Kyle Garrett, a baseball legend, who has chosen to live his life away from his wife Katherine played by the lovely Mary Steenburgen (Back to the future part 3) and son Carlton played by Justin Timberlake (Black snake moan).

Matters come to a head, when Katherine is diagnosed with a heart condition that needs surgery, but she will not have the surgery unless her husband comes to pay her a visit. It falls to Carlton to find his father and somehow convince him to turn up so his mother can have the surgery.

He takes along his friend Lucy, played by the lovely Kate Mara (Transsiberian), and together they find Kyle signing autographs, and being charming to all who recognise him as the legendary baseball player he was.

It turns out Carlton has been trying to follow in his father's footsteps, but things are not going so well with him at his team, his coach played by Ted Danson (Friends) does a short cameo, and tells him if he doesn't sort his mind out, someone else will take his place.

Along with trying to convince his absent father, to come along with him; so his wife, and his mother can have the live saving surgery she needs, he also has regrets over breaking off with Lucy, and inevitably Kyle notices the friction between the two of them.

On meeting Kyle again after an approximate four year span, we get a little insight into the relationship between father and son. Kyle is signing autographs and introduces Carlton to a colleague as a fan, but the colleague does a confused look when Carlton purposefully introduces himself as "Carlton... Garrett".

On explaining to Kyle that his wife is sick, and has requested him at her bedside, surprisingly for Carlton his father agrees, and he phones his mother at the airport, telling her he is looking right at him, and that they are coming to see her, much to her joy.

However it turns out things are not so straightforward as Kyle has apparently lost his wallet, and he will not be allowed to board the flight without suitable identification. Lucy suggests they drive instead, and hence the title.

It tells of the broken relationship between a father and a son, and their journey together to fix this in more ways than one, during this road trip.

Labels: drama, father and son, film review, film reviews, films, Jeff Bridges, Justin Timberlake, Kate Mara, Mary Steenburgen, Movie Review, Movie Reviews, movies, relationship, romance, romantic, The Open Road

This is a dark futuristic view of how the world could possibly become, where everyone has a surrogate, a robot with all the features of a human, that is controlled remotely by the owner, with the owner having all their senses interact with whatever the machine is encountering. The owner lives in a virtual world, where the surrogate lives his or her life for him or her, the plausible justification for it of course is that the owner is less at risk from disease and infection, and indeed any harm to their real body, they can virtually go to work, and play, with no worries about their real body, all the toll is taken on the surrogate.

From the opening credits we get introduced to the justification for surrogates, with first a machine where a monkey controls an arm containing a nut with just its mind, to people who are paralysed, controlling robots to do their daily tasks, and people in the army using surrogates for war without any fear of their real bodies being in danger.

Soon Congress signs in to law surrogates for the use in every day lives, but as usual there are objectors to this whole idea of surrogates, the main opponent of this is The Prophet played by Ving Rhames (Pulp fiction), who has set up communes where only humans are allowed. We meet our protagonist, a very young looking Bruce Willis (12 Monkeys) as Tom Greer along with his partner Peters played by the lovely Radha Mitchell (Pitch Black), who are investigating the murder of a surrogate, but in this case, the owner of the surrogate died at the same time the surrogate was destroyed. It turns out that the owner of the surrogate is non other than the son of the inventor of surrogates, Canter played by the dependable James Cromwell (L.A. Confidential).

It seems a weapon has been developed that not only can destroy surrogates, but can at the same time end the life of the operator connected to the surrogate. Tom has personally set himself the task of finding out who murdered Canter's son and getting hold of this deadly weapon, but he has a mountain to climb to get to the bottom of this, with the head of his department Stone played by Boris Kodjoe (Starship Troopers 3 : Marauder), not happy with his tactics, and Tom himself having doubts about the whole idea of surrogates, unlike his wife Maggie played by the gorgeous Rosamund Pike (The Libertine), who prefers this new life than any other, and looking at her surrogate and indeed virtually all of the surrogates, you can see why, as they all look young and flawless, there is a memorable scene where the real Tom comes into his police department and the clerk surrogate looks at him and mutters "you look terrible".

This of course is a warning about how the current state of the Internet could evolve, from people able to do many things online they previously had to do in person, to being able to do their daily tasks from the comfort of their computer.

Labels: Boris Kodjoe, Bruce Willis, film review, film reviews, films, internet, James Cromwell, machines, Movie Review, Movie Reviews, movies, Radha Mitchell, Rosamund Pike, sci-fi, Surrogates, suspense, thriller

This is a very surreal futuristic suspense thriller produced by Peter Jackson (Lord of the Rings Trilogy).

It stars an almost all South African cast, with Sharlto Copley in the lead role as Wikus Van De Merwe an NMU (Multinational United) who is in charge of relocating approximately 1 million aliens, whose spaceship has hovered to rest above Johannesburg, the aliens on first contact were all found to be malnourished, sick, and needing shelter.

The problem of course is housing over a million aliens, when the local populace are frightened by their looks, demeanour, and mannerisms as a local indigen paraphrased says "if there were from this planet we would understand but they are not even from this planet", they also have a penchant for cat food, as well as some sudden bursts of anger.

NMU has appointed the happy go lucky Wikus to for see the mass evacuation of these aliens, who the humans have termed "prauns" because they look like prawns.

The story is told in flashback, with several interviews from people who knew Wikus and the mass evacuation operation, you start to wonder what happened to Wikus as they all speak of some ominous event.

It turns out during the mass evacuations NMU had to serve each of the aliens with an evacuation order, where they had to sign, of course most of the aliens do not understand what an evacuation means, and there are violent scuffles, as Wikus accompanied with the mandatory NMU military personnel try to get the aliens to sign the evacuation order, in some cases according to Wikus, the aliens hitting the piece of paper away is counted as an agreement. The real reason of course for the evacuation according to the flashback interviews was to find alien weapons, it turns out the advanced weapons of the aliens are biologically engineered to be operated by them only.

Wikus also takes the opportunity during these evacuation notices to ransack the homes of the aliens looking for anything illegal, during the process he finds an object, he thinks is some kind of gas canister that could be a weapon, so he confiscates it, not before attempting to find out how it works, and getting sprayed in the face by a dark fluid. It turns out the alien who had that object was a little smarter than most of the "prauns" and the canister was needed to operate his shuttle hidden underground, back to the mother ship.

Inevitably Wikus gets involved with a violent "praun", and needs a cast on his left arm, but you notice soon after he is not looking well at all, culminating to him passing out puking black blood at a party, he is rushed to the hospital, and he wakes up alarmingly to find his left arm has adopted the features of a "praun". NMU military whisk him away to their medical facilities, where despite his protestions he is made to operate a series of alien weapons. He is regarded as the very first human and alien hybrid and the military arm of NMU are eager to harvest his organs for bioengineering. However Wikus just wants the alien arm removed, and wants to get back to his wife. He manages to escape, but chances of him going back home are made virtually impossible with all the media reporting malicious rumors about him and the entire NMU military arm looking for him.

He is left with no choice but to go back to the "prauns" he despises, in a desperate bid for help before the metamorphosis is complete.

It is mesmerising viewing, and Wikus captures the desperation of a man about to lose everything to the point of his humanity brilliantly.

It is rare science-fiction film, as it is set in South Africa, but you realise soon after the reasons why, as it parallels victimisation of the "prauns" with apartheid.

Labels: aliens, apartheid, District 9, film review, film reviews, films, Marian Hooman, Movie Review, Movie Reviews, movies, sci-fi, Sharlto Copley, South Africa, Vanessa Haywood, William Allen Young

This is a strange surreal science fiction movie that follows beings the rest of the world do not see, but are responsible for our dreams and sometimes nightmares.

We first see some flashbacks of a very busy businessman John played by Chris Kelly, who has just recently divorced from his wife, and spending some time with his daughter Emma played by Quinn Hunchar, he at first is reluctant to play her games, saying her mother is much more suited to it than him, but he relinquishes eventually and joins her in fighting the "invisible monster" who has come to kidnap her.

Later on you realise the game was a foretelling of what is about to happen because there is a monster who does come and kidnap her.

In the evening some interesting beings materialise on the street and all go into peoples' homes, at first you wonder what on earth is happening. Soon after when everybody goes to sleep, and Emma has to appease her grandmother that she is asleep by making some snoring noises, as soon as you see them put their hands on the foreheads of the people whose homes they have come into, and smile, you realise immediately there are responsible for relaxing peaceful dreams, the one responsible for Emma's peaceful dreams, Allel played by the lovely Jennifer Batter was watching in amusement while Emma pretended to be snoring.

After a short while some other beings materialise (Incubi), and with the ominous mood surrounding them it becomes obvious that they are responsible for nightmares.

A short while a being materialises, and goes into the bedroom of the little girl at the beginning, and places his hand on her forehead, she immediately wakes up, or her unconscious wakes up in her dream state (she is still asleep in the real world), several of the good beings materialise and there is an all out battle, where they all try to stop the monster from taking the girl, apparently during the battle as furniture and equipment is destroyed, they all revert back to their original form and place, in the real world, which makes some sense as all this is going on in the dream world.

The monster takes the girl and as perplexed as we all are to the reasons, we eventually find out that he is a "Drifter" called Ink, someone who has died and is wandering this surreal world without a purpose, and wears a hood to cover his scarred form, hoping to take the girl to the leader of the Incubi in other to be one of them.

Meanwhile the beings responsible for good dreams (Storytellers) have asked the help of a blind "Pathfinder" Jacob played by Jeremy Make; to help them locate the girl where Ink has her, he suggests they go into the real world and find her father, that her father holds the key to saving her life, as apparently in the real world she is now in a coma, and if Ink succeeds in taking her to the leader of the nightmare beings she will die in the real world, so Allel, Gabe played by Eme Ikuakor, and Sara played by Shelby Malone venture into the real world but no one can see neither can they affect any physical thing. Another Storyteller Liev played by the lovely Jessica Duffy locates Ink, and after a short battle Ink takes her prisoner and is planning on taking her along with the girl to the leader of the Incubi.

It is a fascinating science fiction storyline, with a fresh twist on this genre, with an equally gripping suspense throughout.

Labels: Chris Kelly, Eme Ikuakor, film review, film reviews, films, Ink, Jennifer Batter, Jeremy Make, Jessica Duffy, Movie Review, Movie Reviews, movies, Quinn Hunchar, science-fiction, Shelby Malone

This is a very amusing horror comedy, in the vein of Shaun of the Dead, that focuses on a similar world where everyone or most of the world is a zombie.

We meet Columbus (everyone in the movie calls themselves by places instead of real names) played by Jesse Eisenberg (he has one of those faces you are sure you have seen somewhere but can't quite identify where) who is one of the last surviving humans in the U.S. and has developed a variety of rules to staying alive such as limbering up before going into any vicinity where zombies may be around, keeping his heart fit, and always taking care when at his most vulnerable i.e. when in the toilet.

We also get flashbacks to unfortunate victims who fell to the zombie plague, all through the opening credits,. It turns out Columbus only survived because he kept to himself, and only found out about the plague, when a lovely girl came knocking at his door, complaining that a tramp had sprinted at her, at first she thought he was chasing someone, but when he reached her he bit her. Columbus was more interested that such a lovely girl would be at his door, and was stroking her hair as she fell asleep when inevitably she turned into a zombie and started lunging at him.

Columbus happens to bump into Tallahassee played by Woody Harrelson (No country for old men), there is a amicable stand-off where the pair think each other is a zombie and wait for any hints at humanity before introducing one another. Together they plan on going to Columbia where Columbus has a faint hope his parents may still be alive, as he puts it, he is a loner who didn't appreciate those who cared about him or anyone in particular when the world was OK, but now just seeing a familiar face would make things a lot more easier.

On their way to helping Tallahassee find a Twinky, with Tallahassee's usual antics of antagonising the zombies with loud noises so they come out and get the customary treatment with whatever he happens to have in hand, they bump into two sisters, Wichita played by the gorgeous Emma Stone (The House Bunny) and Little Rock played by the lovely Abigal Breslin (Little Miss Sunshine) who luckily are still alive, but trick them into taking their ammunition and their vehicle.

Of course they inevitably meet again, after the car they have stolen from Columbus and Tallahassee breaks down, and are forced on a road trip together, but not before Tallahassee and Columbus find a vehicle containing plenty of ammunition to which Tallahassee says "Thank God for rednecks".

As they pass by Hollywood, Tallahassee decides to take them to the home of a superstar (as he puts it even bigger than Tom Cruise). There is a lovely cameo by Bill Murray (Ghostbusters) playing himself, he happens to dress up as a zombie to fit around, and he even joins them re-enacting scenes from Ghostbusters.

Columbus meanwhile is beginning to fall for Wichita, who equally has trust issues, and Tallahassee is still after that Twinky.

It is a hilarious horror-comedy, many will like instantly.

Labels: Abigail Breslin, Bill Murray, comedy, Emma Stone, film review, film reviews, films, horror, horror-comedy, Jesse Eisenberg, Movie Review, Movie Reviews, movies, Woody Harrelson, Zombieland, zombies

This is a charming fantasy with friends star Matthew Perry, and Zac Efron of High school musical, interchangeably as Mike O'Donnell in the lead roles.

It is a little similar to Big starring Tom Hanks.

We meet Mike 20 years ago about to be signed up to college basketball, but he finds out some news that meant he had to make a choice between his girlfriend Scarlett or his professional dreams.

We fast forward to the present and Mike is a little disappointed in the way his life has turned, as he and his wife Scarlett played by the lovely Leslie Mann (The 40 year old virgin) are facing a divorce, and all Mike can do is reminiscence on how his life could have turned out, in the meantime he crashes at the home of his best friend an extreme dork/geek Ned Gold played hilariously by Thomas Lennon (Reno 911).

Mike happens to bump into a mysterious old man as a janitor played by Brain Doyle-Murray (Bedazzled, looks a little like M.C. Gainey, Tom in Lost), who asks him what he would like to change in his life, he replies if he could go back to high school and do things differently, the Janitor asks him if he is sure, to which to reinforces his wish. Soon afterwards he sees the Janitor leap off a bridge and in the process of trying to save him, finds himself falling down the bridge into a portal, he wakes up in the home of his best friend but inside the body of himself when he was 17.

This is where the fun begins, as he sees this as a chance to be closer to his kids, because he enrols back in his high school, the same high school his kids now go to, Alex and Maggie played by Sterling Knight and Michelle Trachtenberg respectively, there is a funny sequence where he tries to encourage everyone in the class to abstain from sex apart from marriage, whilst not that far away the local troublemaker is kissing his daughter.

He also has to handle his soon to be ex, who finds he looks remarkbly similar to what Mike looked like in high school, when she first meets him as a 17 year old again, she can't help pulling his face like a plasticine, much to the embarrassment of her friend, and Mike takes this chance at trying a reconciliation with his wife (on his older self's behalf of course).

His best friend, Ned who now acts as his father also has fallen for the local school principal, Jane Masterson played by the lovely Melora Hardin (The Office), and he is using all his means to get her to at least agree on a date.

It is a charming fantasy, many will sure to reminiscence about their high school years.

Labels: 17 Again, Brian Doyle-Murray, comedy, fantasy, film review, film reviews, films, funny, Leslie Mann, Matthew Perry, Movie Review, Movie Reviews, movies, romance, romantic, Thomas Lennon, Zac Efron

This is a lovely movie encompassing sadness, hope and suspense.

It is shot almost as a documentary in the life of one charming Senegalese taxi driver played wonderfully and humanely by Souleymane Sy Savane , who is commonly referred to as Solo.

He is trying to get into flight school, as well as looking after his new wife, adopted daughter and baby on the way.

He happens to come across an elderly gentleman, William played with a great deal of melancholy by Red West (former bodyguard of Elvis) in his cab, who wants him to pick him up on a certain date no questions asked, and take him to "Blow Rock" where he is never coming back all for a considerable amount of money for a taxi driver.

Solo is a little saddened at this, as he says in his country, everybody looks after the elderly, even so much as to put food in their mouths if they have no teeth.

Solo is a little apprehensive, but takes the money, but he is hoping whatever William is planning on doing he can be dissuade him. He reckons he probably just needs a friend to get him to see how much life is worth living, and so Solo takes on the task of being his friend, introducing him to his lovely step daughter Alex played by the adorable Diana Franco Galindo, and his pregnant wife Quiera played by Carmen Leyva who isn't too pleased with Solo bringing in a stranger into the house.

Solo charms his way into the William's life, at least the little he knows of it so far, and tries to get William to reveal a little about himself, any family if any, and the reasons why he would like to go to "Blow Rock" and never want to return, Solo tries to get William introduced to his family, his friends and associates, surprisingly the gentleman does seem cordial and sociable at these moments, but there is a deep sadness in his eyes when alone. Just as the audience begins to believe Solo is making headway it suddenly changes, which keeps the suspense enthralling throughout.

Labels: Carmen Levya, Diana Franco Galindo, drama, film review, film reviews, films, friendship, Goodbye Solo, Movie Review, Movie Reviews, movies, Red West, Souleymane Sy Savane, suspense, taxi, taxi-cab

This is a wonderful magical fantasy, with an all star cast narrated by Ian Mckellen (Gandalf in Lord of the Rings).

It stars Charlie Cox as Tristan in the middle century, where there is a wall somewhere in England humans are not supposed to cross, in fact there is a 97 year old man played by David Kelly (Charlie and the chocolate factory) who guards it.

It so happens that Tristan's father Humphrey, played by Nathaniel Parker (Bleak House) 18 years previously had somehow got across from the real world into the fantasy world, and had met a trapped princess, Uma played by the lovely Kate Magowan (Blade 2), they spent the night and 9 months later he was handed a basket containing Tristan.

18 years on in the fantasy world, the king of that kingdom played by the legendary Peter O'Toole (Venus), is facing his death bed, and with his sons he sets a challenge that whosoever can retrieve the fallen star he has just set loose gets to be the new king, all the sons are as ruthless in chasing this just as the king was ruthless against his brothers before he became king, the chief of the king's sons is Septimus played wonderfully by Mark Strong (RocknRolla).

In the real world Tristan is trying to impress the girl of his dreams, Victoria played by the lovely Sienna Miller (Casanova), but she has a suitor she prefers, and even though she enjoys getting Tristan to do things for her, the love is never returned.

Tristan happens to find out from the 97 year old guard that his father had previously crossed the wall, on confronting his father over this, his father tells him the truth, and shows him the items that came along with Tristan in the basket, one a magical Babylon candle that can transport anyone to wherever they are thinking of going, "the fastest way to travel" as Tristan's mother puts it, in the letter she left for him in his basket.

Tristan uses the candle and ends up in the fantasy world, where he happens to encounter the fallen star , which apparently is a person called Yvaine in the form of the lovely Claire Danes (Romeo and Juliet). At first Tristan plans to take the star to Victoria in order to get her to marry him, and although they get on awkwardly at first, the inevitable romance soon blossoms, however there is trouble in the form of Michelle Pfeiffer (The Witches of Eastwick) as Lamia, a desperate witch who along with her sisters wants to eat the Star to maintain their immortality.

It is a wonderfully enchanting movie the whole family will enjoy, and many will be surprised by how enjoyable it is.

Labels: Charlie Cox, Claire Danes, fantasy, film review, film reviews, films, Ian Mckellen, Mark Strong, Michelle Pfeiffer, Movie Review, Movie Reviews, movies, Robert De Niro, Sienna Miller, Stardust