Ice Age 3: The Dawn of the Dinosaurs (2009)

Following the events of Ice Age 2: The Meltdown, life has become relatively stable for the self-proclaimed "weirdest herd." Manny and Ellie are expecting a baby, leaving Sid eager to become a parent and Diego insecure about his age. When Sid steals three dinosaur eggs and is kidnapped by the mother dino, the herd is forced underground to the world of the dinosaurs in search of him, led by the clinically insane weasel Buck. Meanwhile, Scrat is torn between his beloved acorn and a foxy flying squirrel pursuing the same acorn.

The Ice Age franchise always struck me as trying desperately to fall in place with the Pixar masterpieces. The first one, I thought, was very close, and then went down hill with the second and now third. The simple plot and small cast of the first made it so charming; it left lots of room for every actor's voice work. When they added Queen Latifah and those very annoying possums, it started getting cluttered. Now, with the third, it gets even more chaotic, with a multi-layered world of ice age creatures and dinosaurs. However, the addition of Simon Pegg's character was a good move, his voice work was hilarious and overshadowed every other actor, even everybody's favorite sloth, Sid. It's a kid's movie through and through, though, as in the second one, there are some clunky, awkward sexual innuendos, but nothing that isn't encountered in every day life ANYWAY. The animation has moved in leaps and bounds since the first chunky shapes of the first movie, and the new technology is used to its fullest in creating colorful, spiky dinosaurs, furry creatures and the lush jungle of the underground world of the dinosaurs. The music is always cute, too, with old-fashioned sounding tunes and glittery instrumentals. I'd give this about two and a half stars, take the kids, but don't expect to be as entertained in Pixar's "Up."

Pan's Labyrinth (2006)

In the fascist Spain of 1944, the bookish young stepdaughter of a sadistic army officer escapes into an eerie but captivating fantasy world.

This is one of those rare films where every frame is soaked in beauty. It's nearly impossible to believe that the story is original, it seems like it was pulled right from the pages of some ancient fairy tale. Its Oscar win for Best Original Screenplay was deserved. The characters are either beautifully or terrifyingly drawn. The young heroine and her stepfather are exact opposites of each other in every way, where she is innocent, he is corrupt, where she is good, he is evil incarnate. There were so many aspects to the film, it was fascinating to see. It combines the history of Fascist Spain with eternal concepts found in fairy tales like good, evil and obedience. The soundtrack is tailored exactly to the movie's mood, and has some of the most haunting melodies I've ever heard. The movie is excellent, but not for everybody. My mother watched it with me and some of the images really disturbed her. The stepfather character's actions are repulsive, and some other people I know who watched it said he made them physically ill. All in all, the lines of good and evil are clearly drawn, and the ending is victorious. This is one of my favorite movies of all time.

Up (2009)

By tying thousands of balloon to his home, 78-year-old Carl Fredricksen sets out to fulfill his lifelong dream to see the wilds of South America. Right after lifting off, however, he learns he isn't alone on his journey, since Russell, a wilderness explorer 70 years his junior, has inadvertently become a stowaway on the trip.

I remember seeing the teaser for this months ago and thinking, "How can they do it? How can Pixar make a movie about a grumpy old man and balloons a hit?" They succeeded, in fact, they made one of their best movies. After the initial introduction to the movie, there's about a minute of no dialogue, just animation and music which describes the course of 40-odd years. It's brilliant. The next hour that follows is funny without trying. There's no unnatural gags or set-ups, just naturally humorous situations and conversations, which is perfect considering the movies' message of embracing the simple pleasures in life as the most significant. The voice work is excellent (my personal favorite is Dug the dog) and the soundtrack, though repetitive, fits perfectly. This is the kind of movie that proves animated films are just as credible as live-action, and, after seeing Bride Wars on cable the over night, much more credible. It's a story for those who have lived life and experienced its joys and pains. When I saw in theaters, there was a very young child in the audience, and I found it interesting her parents were enjoying the movie more than she (she got bored and starting singing to herself and chatting). "UP" is definitely one of Pixar's masterpieces.

Cthulhu (2007)

A homosexual Seattle history professor, drawn back to his estranged family on the Oregon coast to execute his late mother's estate, is reaquainted with his best friend from childhood, with whom he has a long-awaited tryst. Caught in an accelerating series of events, he discovers aspects of his father's New Age cult which take on a dangerous and apocalyptic significance.

This was a bizarre movie, but strangely fascinating. The plot is based on famous horror author H.P. Lovecraft's short story "The Shadow Over Innsmouth," which was written in 1926. Cthulhu has since then become a media icon of Pagan horror, present in other stories, films and video games. The story is interesting, but extremely incomplete and confusing. The ambiguous ending made me very angry; the movie had succeeded in getting me wrapped up in itself, and then completely slapped me in the face. I liked the eerie atmosphere; it would be a really good video game. It's an indie film, which I'm not especially "experienced" in, but still worth it to burn a couple hours on a Saturday night when nothing's on T.V.

Max Payne

Coming together to solve a series of murders in New York City are a DEA agent whose family was slain as part of a conspiracy and an assassin out to avenge her sister's death. The duo will be hunted by the police, the mob, and a ruthless corporation.

Saw this on Saturday instead of HSM3. YES!!!!!!! I was very relived.

I loved the cinematography of the movie, it was all carefully planned out and glossy and detailed. Very grungy, very dark, like the pages of a graphic novel, almost, which makes sense since the movie is based on a video game.

Having never played the game, I thought the story was engaging. The trailer is mysterious: I wasn't quite sure what was going on for the first half-hour, which is a good thing.

Acting not great, but they didn't pretend they were. They played their parts well enough, it really wasn't about them anyway.

A good movie to burn a Saturday night with. Better than wasting money on a Disney flick, that's for sure.

Kung Fu Panda

It's the story about a lazy, irreverent slacker panda, named Po, who is the biggest fan of Kung Fu around...which doesn't exactly come in handy while working every day in his family's noodle shop. Unexpectedly chosen to fulfill an ancient prophecy, Po's dreams become reality when he joins the world of Kung Fu and studies alongside his idols, the legendary Furious Five -- Tigress, Crane, Mantis, Viper and Monkey -- under the leadership of their guru, Master Shifu. But before they know it, the vengeful and treacherous snow leopard Tai Lung is headed their way, and it's up to Po to defend everyone from the oncoming threat. - Anthony Pereyra (imdb.com)

So I've seen this twice now, and I have to be honest, it's not a bad movie. Sure, it's not brilliant, it's not hilariously funny, but it's one of those animated flicks built on the power of one-liners and good voice work. I don't like Jack Black, but I like him in Kung Fu Panda. His casual, conversational style works well in animated movies. The other voices are decent - Seth Rogen was probably one of the better supporting parts just 'cause he has a very distinct sound. I have no idea why Angelina Jolie was even in the movie.

Usually movies made of one-liners don't work for me, but at least Kung Fu Panda was consistent. There's nothing that disappoints me more than a movie that starts out great, and then crams all the good lines in the first 40 minutes and has nothing left for the end. It kinda slips away into nothingness. In general, Panda relied on subtle-funny lines combined with the animation so it wasn't hard to distribute equally through the whole movie.

I thought the plot was good. It's a classic message (everyone has power, everyone has strength, yadda yadda) but delivered in a relatively un-cliche way. There's some background to characters, some depth, which is always refreshing. All around, a solid story.

In a nutshell, it's a fine movie. It's entertaining, positive, not stupid (most of the time)...a movie to see and walk away feeling pleased. Sure, in a week, one won't really remember it, but that's okay. You can always see it again.

Wall-E

In the distant future, a small waste collecting robot inadvertently embarks on a space journey that will ultimately decide the fate of mankind.

This movie has a lot of buzz. Teasers came out months ago, critics gushed over it, it's been called the next Pixar masterpiece, blah blah blah. I feel weird saying this, but I really wasn't loving it. First of all, it dragged on and on and on. It felt like that flexible lamp short gone horribly awry. Wall-E is cute, yes, the animators did a great job of giving such an ugly little robot personality, yes, I liked that, but we get it already. Let's just make the movie a clean 80 minutes. It just confused me. A lot. I couldn't figure out if it was for children or adults. It moved really slow, generally a trait of movies for more mature viewers, but the story was very simplistic, like a traditional kid's flick. Gah! WHAT ARE YOU, "WALL-E"!!?? The lack of humans was definitely a problem for me; I know the robots were supposed to replace the human qualities, but the robots were just so darn cute ALL THE TIME. And the actual humans were so depressing, I felt like I wanted to die. The end had hope for humanity, but STILL. They were just saaaaaad. Other Pixar movies are so much better. No robot with a two-word vocabulary can replace the voice work of Ellen Degeneres in "Finding Nemo," or the character of Mike in "Monsters Inc."