X-Men Origins: Wolverine

Director: Gavin Hood
Starring: Hugh Jackman, Liev Schreiber, Danny Huston, Lynn Collins, Ryan Reynolds, Taylor Kitsch, Daniel Henney

Synopsis:
The story gets under way as the boy who will become Wolverine makes a shocking discovery about his family bloodline, and gains a brother in the process. Flash forward to find the mutant siblings battling side by side through two world wars and Vietnam -- where they are sentenced to death for killing a commanding officer -- and Logan and his brother Victor Creed have joined a top-secret government task force. When their targets begin to include innocent civilians, conscientious Logan escapes to the Canadian Rockies, where he builds a home with pretty schoolteacher Kayla Silverfox. Informed by his old commanding officer William Stryker that the members of his old team are being targeted for death, Logan is heartbroken when Victor finds and kills Kayla. Vowing revenge, Logan agrees to take part in a dangerous experiment that will fuse his bones with a powerful metal alloy called adamantium, which makes him virtually indestructible and gives him the strength needed to defeat his powerful brother. Subsequently betrayed by Stryker, Logan (now Wolverine) sets out to find his blood-lusting brother and stop the cycle of violence once and for all. Along the way, the temperamental hero is joined by fellow mutants John Wraith and Remy LeBeau, but before Wolverine can seek vengeance against Striker and his brother, he'll have to do battle with Deadpool a formidable mutant instilled with many powers.

Scott's Review:
For all you X-Men fans out there, this story is not going to be what you expected or hoped. Most of the plot line is know to the audience before you even get in the movie, via X-Men 2. However, I was really hoping to get more about Wolverines youth but this is glossed over within the first min of the movie, in fact most of his early youth is shown in the trailers. I left the movie really confused as to what wolverines name actually was, in the begining he was called "Jimmy", then Logan, then Wolverine, know I understand that wolverine is his superhero name, but is his name Jimmy or Logan? If both when and why did it change. Although the movie was supposed to be about the Origins of wolverine it was more about the origins of Deadpool. The two saving graces for the movie were the acting and the special effects. The actors did a very good job of making me believe that they were the actual heroes/villains that their names portrayed. The special effects were great as one would hope from an X-men movie. I particularly like the effect when Deadpool gets the change to the skin around his eyes. Overall I would say its a toss up on whether or not to see this movie in the theater or wait until it comes out on DVD. If you are an X-man fan then definitely go see it in the theater otherwise I would wait.

Scott's Rating:

Dragonball: Evolution

Director: James Wong
Starring: Justin Chatwin, James Marsters, Emmy Rossum, Jamie Chung, Chow Yun-Fat

Synopsis
James Wong adapts the rich mythos of the Dragonball series that grew from a manga into various popular animated series with this 20th Century Fox production starring Justin Chatwin. The plot revolves around Goku (Chatwin), Earth's greatest champion, who must defend the planet against an invading race of alien warriors hell-bent on dominating the universe.

Scott's Review
For all of you animaniacs (not yakko, wakko, and dot fans) you will be sorely disappointed. While the characters are familiar they quickly depart from what we expect. The storyline is soso taking place is a futuristic earth. The character Goku is reminiscent of a much earlier Goku (Dragon Ball: Curse of the Blood Rubies era) not the teen aged Goku that is portrayed in the movie. Bulma and Yamcha made me want to hurl. Chi-Chi was kinda sweet but is not in the movie enough to make an honest judgment about. Master Roshi was far from the lecherous hermit that we all grew up with. Which brings us to our main villian, Piccolo. This is probably the one character in the entire movie that was done correctly (in my mind). His character is very much the King Piccolo that I expected. As far as the special effects, this movie had several good effects. Bulma's capsule vehicles were very well done. However, the Kamehameha was disappointing. Overall I would say don't waste your money seeing this, except at a discount theater or rent on DVD.

Scott's Rating

Monsters vs. Aliens

Genre: Family

Synopsis
When California girl Susan Murphy is unwittingly clobbered by a meteor full of outer space gunk on her wedding day, she mysteriously grows to 49-feet-11-inches tall. The military jumps into action and Susan is captured and secreted away to a covert government compound. There, she is renamed Ginormica and placed in confinement with a ragtag group of Monsters: the brilliant but insect-headed Dr. Cockroach, Ph.D.; the macho half-ape, half-fish The Missing Link; the gelatinous and indestructible B.O.B.; and the 350-foot grub called Insectosaurus. Their confinement is cut short, however, when a mysterious alien robot lands on Earth and begins storming the country. In a moment of desperation, the President is persuaded to enlist the motley crew of Monsters to combat the Alien Robot and save the world from imminent destruction.

Scott's Review
This is definitly a feel good movie. The storyline was easy to follow and well written. Although this is a kids movie there are some adult type themes for the parents, such as the parallels between the president and our former president.

Scott's Rating

Knowing

Genres : Sci-Fi, Action, Drama
Director: Alex Proyas
Starring: Nicolas Cage

Synopsis
A time capsule containing a cryptic message about the coming apocalypse sends a concerned father on a race to prevent the horrific events from unfolding as predicted in this sci-fi thriller directed by Alex Proyas (Dark City) and starring Nicolas Cage. 1958: As the dedication ceremony for a newly constructed elementary school gets under way, a time capsule containing student drawings of the future is buried on the grounds and scheduled to be unearthed on the school's 50th anniversary. Instead of submitting a drawing, however, one little girl scribbles a series of seemingly random numbers on her paper before it is buried. Fifty years later, the time capsule is unearthed for a new generation of students to examine. Young Caleb Koestler (Chandler Canterbury) is one of those students. The mysterious sequence of numbers falling into his possession, Caleb takes the paper to his father, Professor John Koestler (Cage), for examination. Studying the numbers, Professor Koestler soon discovers that they aren't random at all, but an encoded message containing the precise dates, death tolls, and coordinates of every major disaster since the time capsule was buried. Not only that, but the document also indicates that there will be three more such events, the last of which indicates a doomsday scenario that appears directly tied to Professor Koestler and Caleb. His desperate plea to authorities falling on deaf ears, Professor Koestler realizes that his only hope for preventing more lives from being lost is to take personal action. Though the author of the prophecies is no longer living, Professor Koestler is eventually able to track down her daughter Diana Wayland (Rose Byrne), and granddaughter Abby, who reluctantly agree to aid in the investigation. As the final date on the list draws near, Professor Koestler enters into a frantic race against time to prevent destruction on a global scale, in the process realizing that in order to save millions of lives, he may have to make the ultimate sacrifice.

Scott's Review
Hmm.... The storyline in this movie was only so so. I got the feeling that the writer wrote the story as the movie was being filmed. At times the plotline felt strained. Nicolas Cage's acting in the movie was ok but his character was poorly defined, he is a teacher, but a teacher of what? At the beginning I thought he was a philosophy professor but by the end of the movie he was acting more like a physics professor. The one question that I would like answered is, was the director/writer trying to pissoff or appease the religious community? Because elements of this movie will do both.

Scott's Rating:

Watchmen

Genres : Sci-Fi, Action, Drama
Director: Zack Snyder
Starring: Patrick Wilson, Jackie Earle Haley, Matthew Goode, Billy Crudup, Car;a Gugino, Jeffery Dean Morgan

Synopsis
300's Zack Snyder brings Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons' critically acclaimed comic book Watchmen to the big screen, courtesy of DC Comics and Warner Bros. Pictures. Set in an alternate universe circa 1985, the film's world is a highly unstable one where a nuclear war is imminent between America and Russia. Superheroes have long been made to hang up their tights thanks to the government-sponsored Keene Act, but that all changes with the death of The Comedian (Jeffrey Dean Morgan), a robust ex-hero commando whose mysterious free fall out a window perks the interest of one of the country's last remaining vigilantes, Rorschach (Jackie Earle Haley). His investigation leads him to caution many of his other former costumed colleagues, including Dr. Manhattan, Night Owl (Patrick Wilson), Ozymandias (Matthew Goode), Sally Jupiter (Carla Gugino), and her daughter, The Silk Spectre (Malin Akerman). Heralded for bringing the world of superheroes into the literary world, Watchmen gave the super-powered mythos a real-life grounding that had been missing in mainstream comics to that point.

Scott's Review
Growing up as a huge comic book fan I was looking forward to seeing this movie. This adaptation of the movie followed the storyline of the comic with few deversions. Overall the acting was good. At no time did I feel that the characters were not believable (in thier world). I had two negative comments to make about this movies, those being; The sex scene between Night Owl and The Silk Spectre just did not belong. It added nothing to the movies plotline except the gratuitous tit shot. Along those lines, to please or attract the female audience, Dr. Manhatten spent most of the movie in the buff with several scenes showing his penis. Why? It was obvious that he was not afraid to wear clothing as we see him several times in just a g-string type outfit. Overall this is a very good movie and will definitly see (or own) it again.

Scott's Rating:

Van Helsing

Starring : Hugh Jackman, Kate Beckinsale, Richard Roxburgh, David Wenham, Will Kemp
Produced by : Bob Ducsay
Written by : Stephen Sommers
Genre : Action, Horror

Set in the late 19th century, Bram Stoker's fabled monster hunter, Dr. Abraham Van Helsing, is summoned to a mysterious land in East Europe to vanquish evil forces in the form of: Count Dracula, the Wolf Man and Frankenstein's Monster. Assisting him once he gets there is Anna, the heir of a long-running family committed to hunting down and destroying Count Dracula.

Scott's Review
I guess the best way to describe this movie is that it lacks direction. Although it falls under the genre of action and horror it lacks both. There were far too few fight scenes to classify this as an action movie and the one attempt at grabbing the audience in the horror genre was not enough to frighten even a 2 year old. Personally I have trouble classifying this movie into any genre. The best I could come up with is a romantic flop. This movie has only two good things going for it; those being Kate Beckinsale who looks damn hot in her outfit, and the special effects. The screen play itself was mediocre as was the acting of Hugh Jackman.

Scott's Rating:

Ella Enchanted

Starring : Anne Hathaway, Hugh Dancy, Cary Elwes, Patrick Bergin, Steve Coogan
Directed by : Tommy O'Haver
Written by : Laurie Craig, Gail Carson Levine
Genre : Romance, Family

Ella lives in a fanciful and magical world where all children are given a "gift" from a fairy Godmother at the moment of their birth. Little Ella's birthright is the gift--and curse--of obedience. As a result of this unfortunate circumstance, Ella cannot refuse any command, and is often left at the mercy of unscrupulous personalities. In a bid to regain control of her life, Ella goes on a quest to free herself from this mysterious curse. Ella must outwit a kingdom filled with ogres, giants, wicked stepsisters, talking books and evil plots. And, if she's lucky, she may find love along the way.

Scott's Review
Ella Enchanted is Cinderella meets Robin Hood Men In Tights. This story has all of the classics done on a funny scale. Although this is not the type of movie that most guys will want to see, I would say anyone with children should definitely go see this movie. The acting in this movie is good considering the audience it is playing to and the sets are great.

Scott's Rating:

The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen

Starring - Sean Connery, Stuart Townsend, Peta Wilson, Shane West, James Babson

Story - Allan Quatermain, the world's greatest adventurer, leads a legion of superheroes the likes of which the world has never seen. Quatermain's extraordinary League is comprised of Captain Nemo, Dracula vampiress Mina Harker, an invisible man Rodney Skinner, American secret service agent Sawyer, Dorian Gray, Dr. Jekyll/Mr. Hyde and M--the League's enigmatic recruiter. The League members are staunch individualists, outcasts in fact, with checkered pasts and singular gifts that have been both blessing and curse. Now they must learn to trust each other and work as a team for the very hope of civilization. With little preparation and no time to lose, they will be transported via Captain Nemo's extraordinary submarine, the Nautilus, to the frontline of defense: Venice, Italy. There, a masked madman known as the Fantom plans to sabotage a conference of world leaders by setting off a domino chain of explosions, sinking the entire city. The threat is catastrophic, the risks are staggering. The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen has 96 hours to save the world.

Scott's Review
Don't waste your money! The story line stunk, the acting was mediocre. The best part of the movie was the Nautilus.

Scott's Rating:

Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl

Starring - Johnny Depp, Geoffrey Rush, Orlando Bloom, Keira Knightley, Jonathan Pryce

Story - A tale of adventure set during the 17th Century in the Caribbean Sea. For the roguish yet charming Captain Jack Sparrow, the crystalline waters of the Caribbean, like the high seas the world over, present a vast playground where adventure and mystery abound. But Jack's idyllic life capsizes after his nemesis, the wily Captain Barbossa, steals his ship, the Black Pearl, and later attacks the town of Port Royal, kidnapping the Governor's beautiful daughter, Elizabeth Swann. Elizabeth's childhood friend, Will Turner, joins forces with Jack to commandeer the fastest ship in the British fleet, the HMS Interceptor, in a gallant attempt to rescue her and recapture the Black Pearl. The duo and their crew are pursued by Elizabeth's betrothed, the debonair, ambitious Commodore Norrington, aboard the HMS dauntless. Unbeknownst to Will, there is a curse that has doomed Barbossa and his crew to live forever as the undead--when exposed to moonlight, they are exposed to living skeletons. The curse they carry can be broken, only if a once-plundered treasure is restored.

Scott's Review

This is definitely a must see movie. For anyone who has ever been to Disneyland and ridden the Pirates of the Caribbean ride you will definitely see all the imagery that you have come to love from the ride. I have to admit that I was pleasantly surprised by Johnny Depp's acting ability in this movie.

Scott's Rating:

Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle

Starring: Cameron Diaz, Drew Barrymore, Lucy Liu, Cyia Batten, John Cleese

Story - The Angels--Natalie Cook, Dylan Sanders, and Alex Munday-- prepare to strike without warning as they go undercover to retrieve two missing silver bands. These are no ordinary rings. They contain valuable encrypted information that reveal the new identities of every person in the Federal Witness Protection Program. When witnesses start turning up dead, only the Angels, using their expertise as masters of disguise, espionage and martial arts can stop the perpetrator, a mysterious "fallen" Angel. Aided by their trusty colleague, Jimmy Bosley, the Angels' adventure begins at a remote Mongolian outpost and ends only after Dylan is forced to face a dark secret from her past --a secret that puts the lives of her two best friends in danger.

Scott's Review

Well what can I say. If you liked the first Charles Angels movie you will not be disapointed in this one. Although the story line was less than impressive, the special effects made up for it. The guest appearence of one of the original Angels was well played.

Scott's Rating:

Finding Nemo

Starring - Erica Beck, Albert Brooks, Willem Dafoe, Ellen DeGeneres, Brad Garrett

Story - Life along the Great Barrier Reef is full of dangers when you are a tiny clown fish. And for Marlin, a single parent determined to protect his only son Nemo, there are constant fears and anxieties. When, on his first day of school, Nemo defies his father and swims off alone to investigate a boat, he is suddenly scooped up by a diver as Marlin helplessly watches. Marlin turns desperate as he frantically swims off in search for his son. As he passes a school of fish he bumps into Dory, an agreeable blue tang with severe short-term memory loss, who offers to help. Together this aquatic odd couple set out on an impossible mission, finding themselves in troubled waters and contending with such hazards as sharks, deadly angler fishes and a forest of jellyfish. Meanwhile, in a dentist's office overlooking Sydney Harbor, Nemo has landed in a fish tank that is home to a colorful group of characters who want to initiate him into their gang. When word of Marlin and Dory's ocean adventures gets back to Nemo, he is so thrilled to learn of his father's search for him that he becomes motivated to move forward with a daring escape plan of his own.

Scott's Review
Great movie for the kids. A definite must for anyone with children. One note make sure you stay through all the credits.

Scott's Rating: