The Perfect Game

This movie was the perfect end to my day at the theater. It is based on the true story of a little league team from Monterrey, Mexico, and their undefeated season as they went to win the Little League World Series in 1957. The movie is heartwarming and wonderfully acted with a cast that includes Clifton Collins Jr., Cheech Marin, Emilie de Ravin and the seldom seen Lou Gossett Jr. It seems that some of the best movies are always sports movies especially if they are based on real events. All of the kids in the movie were amazing and it was great seeing the dads bringing in their kids to the theater in their baseball uniforms to see the film.

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The Joneses

Who knew a movie about the ultimate form of product placement would be so engaging or could it be that Demi Moore is still smokin' hot even though married to Ashton Kutcher and still can act? The premise is a fake family who are really shills for selling the "American Dream" to their neighbors brought to you by Sony and Ethan Allen. The cast includes the lovely Amber Heard last seen in Zombieland as the sexy girl from apartment 406, Gary Cole and Glenne Headly as the envious neighbors,and the wonderful Lauren Hutton as the creator of the marketing strategy. Honestly, I just checked this out because of Demi. It is worth checking out when it hits cable or DVD even if you are not in to Demi as much as me.

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Death at a Funeral

Chris Rock leads an ensemble cast in this new comedy about a family who comes together at the funeral of the family patriarch and the hilarity that ensues. The standout comedic performance is given by James Marsden as the fiance of Zoe Saldana who is accidentally dosed with a hallucinogen and freaks out overturning the coffin and eventually ending up naked on the roof. Also worth mentioning is Peter Dinklage's role as the pint-sized former lover of the deceased and his extortion of the Aaron and Ryan, played by Rock and Martin Lawrence. It is odd that the best comedy performances are given by the only white members of an all black ensemble. The movie is a remake of the 2007 Frank Oz feature film which begs the question of why this film was needed so soon but, all and all, it is funny and worth seeing at a matinee if you have the time to kill.

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The Runaways

Being a huge fan of Joan Jett and her music, I was thrilled when I learned about this bio-pic and happy to see Kristen Stewart in something other than the Twilight films. The story centers around Stewart and Dakota Fanning as Jett and Cherie Currie and the formation and eventual break-up of a 70's all-girl, teenage, rock band. The music is great and Stewart's portrayal of Jett seems dead on while Fanning pulls out the sexy stops as the reluctant front-woman who gets caught up in a drug frenzy and implodes. Although I enjoyed the film thoroughly an older couple decided to leave the theater when Jett and Currie started making out. Hey it's rock-n-roll - what where you expecting?

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Date Night

Steve Carell and Tina Fey star as Phil and Claire Foster who up the ante of date night by taking another couple's reservation at a popular restaurant and then run in to trouble when two thugs show up looking for them as the couple who stole from their boss. The trailer looked funny and thankfully the movie lived up to my expectations with a great depiction of a well-grounded married couple. Other cast notables were Kristen Wiig and Mark Ruffalo as a couple splitting up making the Foster's question their own relationship and Mark Wahlberg as a hunky former client of Claire's that turns out to be a spy. The car chase sequence is one of the best I have seen in a comedy in awhile. The film is well worth seeing and would make a great date night viewing regardless of the title.

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Kick-Ass

Matthew Vaughn, the director behind Layer Cake and Stardust, brings Mark Millar's comic to the big screen about a nobody teenager who decides to be a real life superhero who has no powers or any training and runs in to some unsavory characters on both sides of the mask. Like the comic, this movie has very adult themes and definitely relishes its R rating which lets all of the colorful characters from the comic come to life on the screen in hilarious and ultra-violent brilliance. The hero everyone loves and that steals every scene she is in is Hit-Girl, played by Chloe Moretz, who is a 12 year old spitfire who loves weapons, kills like a ninja in a full on blood fury, curses like a sailor but loves her Big Daddy played by Nicolas Cage. After you get past the comedy, the violence, and costumed vigilante heroes you still have a great little story that made the transition for the illustrated page to the screen without losing a single drop of its charm or wit. I loved getting a chance to see this advanced screening and have already twittered my peeps to see who are up for seeing this with me again once it is out in general release on April 16th - just f@#king awesome!

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Boarding House

This C grade movie holds a special place in my heart as being the first R-rated movie I saw in the theater much to the chagrin of my mother with a supposed best friend and his mother at the time back in 1982 in good old Bluefield, WV. The movie, and now the DVD in my collection, was everything a 13 year old boy could want to see - nudity, horror featuring "horror vision", and without my mother's knowledge, permission or consent. There was a bet between my friend and his mother on who could stay in the theater the longest without leaving and I can proudly say I won hands down and laughed loudly as they both left the theater and I was still there watching the "sinful" movie - nothing was budging me from my seat until the end credits rolled by. The joke of it was that with horror vision, a 70's & early 80's riff on the tactics of William Castle and Alfred Hitchcock, the film would flash a black glove or play some odd music to let you know when a scene of "intense" horror was coming up. The trailer below gives the plot but basically it was a movie about a bachelor setting up a house with all girl roommates so he could bed them all but a crazy mental patient daughter of the previous owner escapes to find her house over run but she possesses telekinetic abilities which she uses to kill off the the tenants until the final showdown of telekinetic wills between the bachelor, paired with his conquest of the day, and the nut case daughter ends the movie - just what every pubescent male teen wants to see!

Click here to see the official trailer.

Jack Ketchum's The Girl Next Door

For a long time I have always said Bret Easton Ellis' American Psycho was the scariest book and movie I had ever read or seen until I just watched this film based on Jack Ketchum's novel which was based or inspired by a true story. As my friend Geoff always says, if the "based on a true story" tag line is there it is always a hook to see a movie but it seems most of the films that have this moniker are always horrific in nature. This story is about a young girl in the 50's who is brutalized and tortured by the woman and her sons that she and her sister are forced to live with after the death of her parents and how the neighborhood kids are pulled in to participate in the domestic violence. The movie could have easily just fallen in to pure exploitation but it does not cross the line and the moral outrage and the inability of our child protagonist to stop what is happening to Meg is truly heart wrenching. This is not an easy film to watch but it does show that the 50s where not the happy times that nostalgia would have us believe and is well worth seeing if you can take it.

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Let The Right One In (Lat den ratte komma in)

I have been hearing about this film for a while now and decided to pick it up Saturday at my local BestBuy. The premise is about a 12 year old boy who is tormented at school by bullies but finds friendship with the new girl across the hall who turns about to be a vampire who has been 12 years for awhile. A very unique movie that delivers a great coming of age story and shows that even vampires need friends and are not the glamorous or sparkling things that are the current craze. The English dubbing is a bit off but the movie delivers good horror that fits the realistic setting and does not require any effort to suspend disbelief. I recommend this film as a must see for all jaded vampire fans to show that creativity and good storytelling still exists in the genre.

Click here to check out the official website.

Clash of the Titans

1981's Clash of the Titans gets the remake treatment and opened this weekend starring new action thriller go-to-guy Sam Worthing, as Perseus, who must save Alexa Davalos, as Andromeda, and the people of Argos from the wraith of the Gods they no longer pray to. The story has changed a bit from the original film but still hits all the same core beats and is worth seeing if you are a fan of Greek mythology. Ray Harryhausens's classic stop motion has been replaced with new state of the art CGI and the new Kraken does look cool but the sentimental kid in me still prefers the classic special effects. My favorite part was seeing the Bubo cameo that may be lost on a lot of the new viewers but did put a huge shit-eating grin on my face. It did suck to hear that the new film was done in 3D only after the film was completed to bring in more money from the audience; so I passed on this and opted to see it on the screen as it was suppose to be seen and save my wallet an undue diet.

Click here to check out the official website.