True Grit

Who: Bill
What: True Grit
Where: Turner Classic Movies
Why: A classic John Wayne movie

No performer defined the western film genre better than John Wayne. One of his most defining performances is the character Rooster Cogburn in 1969's True Grit, which earned Wayne his only Oscar.

When her father Frank Ross is murdered, young Mattie (Kim Darby) embarks on a search to find his killer. She is smart, tough and emboldened with, well, "true grit". On her quest, she learns of the aging, tough and gritty U.S. Marshall named Cogburn. Mattie seeks his assistance, but Cogburn has doubts. Nonetheless, Mattie's determination and stubbornness impresses Cogburn who finds that Mattie reminds him a lot about himself. Also looking for Ross's killer is a Texas Ranger named Le Boeuf (Glen Campbell), who joins Cogburn and Mattie. He also hopes to collect a reward for capturing the outlaw named Tom Chaney (Jeff Corey), who had earlier killed a Texas Senator.

John Wayne excels as Rooster Cogburn in all the character's irritable, hard-drinking, unclean, patch-wearing, anti-hero glory. You simply DON'T MESS with Cogburn. He is one tough SOB. Period. This was a tailor-made role for Wayne, then at the pinnacle of an extremely successful career. Adding credibility to their roles are Kim Darby and Glen Campbell. Darby continues to occasionally appear in movies and on television as well as teach acting classes. Campbell of course is a popular Grammy-winning country singer and its been said that Wayne personally selected him for the part of La Boeuf. He also sings the film's title song. Other performers of note include Robert Duvall as Lucky Ned Pepper, Dennis Hopper as Moon, and John Fiedler as a lawyer named Daggett, whom Mattie references throughout the story.

Wayne would return to play Cogburn in 1975's aptly titled Rooster Cogburn with Katharine Hepburn. A TV movie with Warren Oates as Cogburn titled True Grit: A Further Adventure would follow in 1978, and in 2009 it was announced that Joel and Ethan Cohen are planning a remake of the original movie which would more closely follow the novel upon which it was based.

Blue Streak

Who:  Amber
What:  Blue Streak
Where:  cable
Why: I can watch this movie over and over

I've seen this movie 100 times, and I'll probably watch it 100 more.  It's one of those movies where I can just have it on in the background, and it's still hilarious.

Martin Lawrence (in his hey day) is a bank robber.  A heist goes wrong when his partner turns on him.  Martin escapes by entering a building that's under construction.  He hides a giant diamond he was stealing, then the cops find him.

Fast forward 2 years, and Martin is out of jail.  First stop - go back to that building that was under construction and get that diamond.  Unfortunately that once under construction building has been completed … into a police station.  He can't just stroll in there and head up to the 3rd floor.  He tried to fake deliver a pizza, and that doesn't work.  So he turns to another con-man who makes a bunch of fake IDs for him, and a phony police career as a new transfer.

Since Martin is a criminal, he knows how criminals work.  The minute he walks into the police station, they get a robbery call.  He just wants to get his diamond and get out of there before they realize his police record is 100% fake.  Instead he gets thrown with a partner (Luke Wilson), who's a quiet, nerdy guy, but he's smart.  With Martin's genius criminal mind, he is solving crimes left and right.  With in the hour, he's promoted!

He tries to weasel out of police work, so he has time to search the air ducts for his diamond.  Of course he eventually finds it, and drops it in a huge pile of drug evidence.

Queue the action car chase scene with the FBI as Martin works 'undercover' to recover his diamond.  Everything is for this diamond!

Will Luke Wilson figure out that Martin is a bogus cop?  He's pretty smart, but he's also pretty gullible.  How about the double crossing partner of his ... where is he after the bank robbing gone bad?  I'm sure he's after the diamond as well (hint, hint). 

Find this '90s movie on cable.  I guarantee you'll laugh.

Star Wars: The Clone Wars

Who:  Amber & Jonathan
What:  Star Wars:  The Clone Wars
Where:  @ home on DVD
Why:  It was Jonathan's b-day present

**Warning - I will be spelling every single Star Wars name incorrectly!**  Ever since we went to Disney's Star Wars Weekends and saw Ashley Eckstein (the voice of Asoka), we've been The Clone Wars fans.  Thanks to DirectTV, we recorded all of season 1 of the animated series.  But the movie preceded the animated series, and I've always been curious about where Asoka came from.

Unfortunately, this movie doesn't answer any of those questions.  Asoka just shows up because Obi Wan Kanobi wanted another padawan learner.  Since Anakin turned out awesome, he's ready to teach again.  Asoka shows up and says she's here to learn from Anakin, not Obi Wan.  Well, he has no interest in a padawan learner.  He's a free spirit, he's reckless, he can't teach somebody. Nice switcher-o Obi Wan!

The Clone Wars is in full swing.  Obi Wan, Anakin and Asoka go from one battle to another. When to Jedi's rest or even eat or sleep?

Then Jabba the Hutt calls.  His son is missing!  Even though he's not a friend of the Republic (the good guys), helping out Jabba will be a great ally for later.  The Jedi's find Jabba's son right away, but he's very sick.  They need to get him back to Jabba alive, or he'll kill the Jedi's.  Also, the Empire (the bad guys) are trying to kill the Jedi's as well.  Count Duko (the main bad guy) has Jabba convinced that the Jedi's have already killed his son, and they are coming to kill Jabba as well.  Of course, the opposite is true.  Count Duko is the one who has actually captured his son.

Holy cow - Jabba is ugly, but his little baby son is adorable!  It makes me wonder, where do little Jabba's come from?!?  Think about that for a moment.

In typical Star Wars fashion, many droids are killed.  Red and blue gun fire is everywhere.  The clone troopers also fall dead left and right.  It's not bloody or anything, but those are still people dying.  It's kind-of graphic for little kids.  Although, also in typical Star Wars fashion, the Jedi win, and the bad guys loose.

The movie doesn't really end per say … this part of the battle is over, but there are many, many other battles to be won.  Stay tuned to Comedy Central for the continuation of the story.  Star Wars just keeps going and going and going!

Grosse Point Blank

Who:  Amber
What:  Grosse Point Blank
Where:  @ home on cable
Why:  John Cussak (sp?) is always fun!

Martin (Cussak) and is a tough hitman, but he's a little messed up in the head. He has recurring dreams about his high school girlfriend, who he stood up on prom night 10 years ago.

Thankfully, his 10 year class reunion is coming up! And, he's got a hitman job to do around the same time, so he heads home to Grosse Point, Michigan.

His high school girlfriend Debi (Minnie Driver) is kind-of a moron. She seems stuck in the 80s, and she's pretty annoyed at Martin for ditching her at prom. Martin is pretty open and honest about being a hitman, but nobody seems to A) believe him or B) care. Martin and Debi hang out and have a great time at the reunion ... until another hitman shows up to get rid of Martin. Seems like his agency has decided that he's no longer needed. I think there was a back story that I missed or didn't really understand.

Debi finally realizes that Martin is a real killer (when she finds him sitting next to the hitman who came to kill him, and Martin is covered in blood) and totally freaks out!

Remember the hitman job that Martin has in Michigan. Could it be a good friend of Debi's? Will she finally realize Martin loves her, and give him another chance?

The Running Man

Who:  Amber & Jonathan
What:  The Running Man
Where:  @ home off cable
Why:  Jonathan has never seen it, and it's a classic in my book

In the far future ... 2017 ... the world economy has collapsed. Sounds familiar huh? Well, in the late '80s, the year 2017 was far away.

The US has become totally controlled by the government, even TV. The most popular TV show is called The Running Man. It shows a couple criminals running away from "the stalkers" whose job is to kill them. Literally - kill them. People love seeing criminals killed by the stalkers!

Ben Richards (Schwarzenegger) used to be an Army military pilot. On a routine mission, the Army asks Ben to fire on some innocent people. He refuses and his Army captain knocks him out, and fires on the innocent people. Then he frames Ben, and he goes to jail for 2 years ... until he escapes!

Unfortunately, he doesn't get very far. Next thing he knows he's on The Running Man, along with 3 of his good buddies.

Richards is a tough dude. Unstead of being killed by the stalkers, he takes them out one by one.

This movie is a cheesy ball of goodness! Although, I highly recommend the short story by Richard Bachman (aka: Steven King). It's a fantastic read! Way better than the movie!

Live Free or Die Hard

Who:  Amber
What:  Live Free or Die Hard
Where:  @ home, I own it on DVD
Why:  It's a classic!

NYPD Detective John McClane (Bruce Willis) randomly receives a phone call from the FBI to drive NY hacker named Matt Farrell (Justin Long) down to Washington. Turns out there was a hack in an FBI computer system, so they would like to question all hackers who are on the "list".

Right when John gets to Matt's apartment, a group of men show up and try to kill John and Matt. Of course, McClane manages to get them both out, and kill a bunch of the bad guys in the process.

As it turns out, a group of terrorists have hacked into EVERYTHING - shutting down airports, traffic lights, social security, everything!

Thankfully, Matt knows enough about hacking and can help McClane shut them down. But not with out some crazy adventures! Since the hackers can see everything (there are cameras everywhere you know), they are making it extremely hard for our 2 heros. McClane kills more bad guys and gets him self out of unbelievable situations (seriously - they were a tad unbelievable).

The final straw is when the hackers kidnap Lucy, McClane's college age daughter. Yippe-ki-aye - let's go rescue her!!!

If you love action movies, then this is a MUST SEE. There are some great action and fight scenes. Did you know you can blow up a helicopter with a car? And Justin Long and Bruce Willis work really well together. Bruce Willis is an old school dude, and Justin Long is a young whipper snapper. But their banter back and forth is hilarious!

Sleath

Who:  Amber & Jonathan
What:  Slealth
Where:  @ home off cable
Why:  It looked decent

In the not-so-distant future, the Navy has teamed the 3 best fighter pilots together. Ironically, they are the 3 most gorgeous people in the world (Josh Lucas - man, he's got some great eyes, Jessica Biel and Jamie Foxx). At first, my thought was "Jessica Biel as a fight pilot, this is so lame!" But I've got to give her a hand, she was really believable. She was covered up the entire time. Even at a nightclub scene she has on the standard white navy uniform. Kudos Jessica Biel!

But, alas, the Navy is introducing a 4th member to the close knit team, a fighter jet piloted by a computer. Josh Lucas, the leader of the team, is leary of the new jet. He thinks you need emotions and moral judgement to fight in wars.

Of course, he's correct. As the jet "learns" combat manuevers from the super attractive human pilots, he learns some bad mannars as well. It also doesn't help that 'he' got struck by lightning!

Ok, seriously, this sounds like a horrible movie huh? Computer controlled jet, struck by lighting ... but this all happens with in the first hour. Then the movie gets really good. Jessica Biel has to parachute out of her plane into North Korea, and Josh Lucas has to crash land in Alaska, then attempt to save Jessica Biel.

Honestly, this movie is pretty good - if you enjoy action/adventure type stuff.

Pineapple Express

Who:  Amber & Jonathan
What:  Pineapple Express
Where:  rented from Blockbuster
Why:  We both wanted to see it

I'm a Judd Apatow, gross comedy movie fan.  This movie wasn't his typical lots of swearing, 'maybe this should be rated more than R' type movie.  It was really, really funny, but it wasn't openly funny.  It seemed like all the characters were just winging their dialog.  A lot of random stuff was said under their breath.  I think if I saw this movie a 2nd or 3rd time, it would be even funnier b/c I would hear more stuff.

Dale (Seth Rogan) is a process server.  He drives around and hands out court appointed papers.  It's an easy job that allows him to drive around and do the 2 things he loves:  smoke weed and listen to AM talk radio.  He's been recently buying weed from Saul (James Franco - almost unrecognizable from his Spiderman roll).  Saul was a weird character.  He seemed pretty intelligent, and he loves his grandma, but he's also a drug dealer and kind-of a moron.  Regardless, his Jaws t-shirt from the '80s and his Zumba pants.  (if you're a football fan, you know what I'm talking about!  Actually, they're not really Zumba brand, but they have that Zumba feel to them).

As Dale drives out to a big house to serve some papers, he sees a cop and a guy shoot somebody.  He freaks out, drops his weed (he's smoking 24/7!) and drives away (hitting the cop car in the process).  Unfortunately, the guy who murdered somebody was the head drug dealer in town.  Even more unfortunately, the weed he dropped was the infamous Pineapple Express weed.  Only one dealer in town had it - Saul.  So now Dale and Saul are on the run!  They can't go to the cops, because they are in on it!

The rest of the movie shows them on the run for the next 2 days, until the big showdown in a huge drug warehouse.  Dale and Saul are unlikely heros, but they manage to come out ok.  See this movie for the hilarious banter between Dale and Saul, for Dale's hilarious girlfriend, and even more hilarious father of the girlfriend!

One big bummer - that snazzy song from the previews is nowhere to be found.

Pineapple Express

Who: Liz and Robert
What: Pineapple Express
Where: home
Why: we wanted to
Well, I have to be in the mood for movies like this and I sort of enjoyed it. The whole premise of this movie is this stoner, is about to serve a asubpoena to this guy and he watches the guy murder someone! This is after he has just picked up some new type of pot from his dealer. Well, it is all about trying to not be found by the guy who murdered the person and what happens to the stoner guy, ( I forget the names of the characters) and his drug dealer and the drug dealer’s drug dealer. It was such a farce because with all the shooting going on, people should actually be dead, but similar to a cartoon, these folks live and actually walk around! Without medical intervention- I mean this doesn’t happen in real life.
The funniest part of the whole movie was dinner with the stoner’s girlfriends’ parents. I really laughed out loud at that part, but the rest of it was just kind of stupid.
If you are in the mood to just laugh and put aside all normal ideas about the way things happen, then this movie is for you.

Smokin' Aces

Who:  Amber & Jonathan
What:  Smokin' Aces
Where:  @ home - recorded off cable
Why:  Nothing else to watch

Ok - can somebody explain this movie to me?  I understand most of it, but the ending was a little confusing to me.

Backing up, this movie was really good.  I really enjoy movies with 400 characters, like this one.  Also, I dare you to find Matthew Fox.  He's in 1 scene for about 5 minutes, and I didn't recognize him at all.

Ok, so there is a super mega mob boss who is offering $1 million dollar to any hit man who can kill Jeremy Piven (he plays such a great scummy Vegas loser).  So there are 4 sets of hit men who are on the case, as well as the FBI, who really need Jeremy Piven to testify against this super mega mob boss.

The hit men are awesome!  There is a crazy guy who loves torture.  A master of disguise guy.  3 low life Vegas bail bonds guys (they are way out of their league).  A set of girls (Alicia Keys is one), and a set of 3 INSANE brothers (seriously, they are insane).  Throw in Ray Liotta and Ryan Reynolds, and you've got yourself a drool-fest!

All these players head to Reno to find Jeremy Piven.  And I'll stop there ... I don't want to give anything away.  Since everybody gets to Reno when the movie is only 20 minutes in, you know nobody will kill him right away.  So there are a million twists and turns.  And the ending ... well, I'm going to need a little help with that.  Somebody explain it to me!

S.W.A.T

Who:  Amber
What:  S.W.A.T.
Where:  @ home - recorded off cable
Why:  I like action stuff

This movie has Samuel L. Jackson.  He's so cool.

This movie was really LONG.  It took a while for the action to get going.  It was about 1 hour of character development, which I guess isn't such a bad thing.  Still, let's get to the action!

This movie followed 6 new S.W.A.T. team members thru their training.  Of course it's a rag tag group of guys (and 1 girl).  There's no way they'll complete their training and pass the imposible test!!!  (of course they do).

Then a European guy, who's wanted all over the world, ends up in their lap.  As he's being hauled off to some LA jail yells, "I'll give $100 million dollars to anybody who helps me get out of jail!"  So of course all the bad guys in LA are out to ambush the S.W.A.T. guys and help out this guy.  It was a pretty interesting twist on the typical action flick.

Did some of the S.W.A.T. guys take the $100 million dollar bait?  Stay tuned ...

Valkyrie

Who:  Amber & Jonathan
What:  Valkyrie
Where:  AMC Pleasure Island
Why:  Jonathan picked

Let me start by saying I had NO desire to see this movie.  I don't like war movies and I'm not a Tom Cruise fan.  I was going to split up from Jonathan and see ANY OTHER movie at the theater, but there was nothing!  Not one single thing I wanted to see.  So I sucked it up and saw Valkyrie.

And I actually enjoyed myself!

If you know your history (which I don't, and I knew this!), Hitler is not assassinated.  So you know from the get go that Tom Cruise's plan isn't going to work.  Yet the movie is still interesting to see how many people hated Hilter, and how many people tried to assassinate him over and over again.

This movie got a little heat because of how un-German Tom Cruise is.  However, the first 5 minutes kind-of clear up that fact.  It's hard to explain, but I actually enjoyed a 100% English movie.  No super fake accents or hard to understand dialogue.

What would've made this movie great for me, is to show a montage at the end of the real men involved.  For example, Tom Cruise was General Staffenburg.  I wanted to see who the real General Staffenburg was.  I love when "real story" movie actually show the real people at the end - like the football movie Invincible!

Judge Dredd

Who:  Amber
What:  Judge Dredd
Where:  @ home - off cable
Why:  Why not?

Diane Lane in an action cop movie?  Who knew!

This movie is set in the future.  Cops are now called "Judges".  They catch you committing a crime, they try you on the spot and sentence you.  The future is not a fun place to be.  There is crime everywhere, and the Judges are pretty cool people.

The coolest judge of all is Sly Stalone, or Judge Joseph Dredd.  He's a spandex wearing bad boy!  And by "bad", I mean really good.  He loves the law (almost a little too much), and loves upholding it.

Too bad his clone of a brother (seriously!) is a bad boy.  And by "bad", I mean really evil!  He commits a crime, and convinces everybody that Dredd is guilty.  Dredd and Rob Schnider (seriously!) are sent to jail.  Jail involved flying on a plane to some awful place.  A pack of crazy religious brothers shoot the plane down.  Dredd kicks some butt, and he and Rob Scheider escape.

Meantime, in the horrible future city, Diane Lane and the other Judges are being attacked by the clone brother.  The clone brother is trying to make more evil clones ...  Dredd comes in to save the day!

Did I mention the horrible graphics?

This movie wasn't all bad.  It was a bunch of cheesy lines and random action, but I enjoy random action!

Quantum of Solace

Who:  Amber & Jonathan
What:  Quantum of Solace - James Bond
Where:  AMC Pleasure Island
Why:  Jonathan likes James Bond

I might classify "action" as my favorite movie genre.  Although I don't like movies where I have to think really, really hard.

This movie was a little confusing, but I was able to follow it, which is kind-of a big deal.  I'm not a James Bond super fan, so I went to see this movie for a the action, no the James Bond-y stuff.

This movie starts where Casino Royal leaves off.  If you didn't see Casino Royal (the last James Bond movie), just know that James Bond is mad and wants revenge for something that happened in that movie.  I won't ruin the ending for you.

If you like car chases - check this out.  If you like boat chases - check this out.  If you like airplane chases - check this out.  If you like running chases - check this out!  We just needed a train chase of some kind, then this would've been the perfect storm.

Basically James Bond (Daniel Craig) jet sets around the globe (Russia, Italy, South America, etc...) trying to catch some bad guys.  There is a Bond girl (of course), but she's pretty tough too.  Both Bond and this girl are out for revenge.  Ironically, their revenges are different, but the involve the same group of bad guys.

There is a cheesy named other Bond girl as well.  Her last name in the movie is "Fields".  I'll let you guess what her fruity first name is.

The Marine

Who:  Amber
What:  The Marine
Where:  @ home - free HBO weekend
Why:  It has John Cena in it

I figured a movie made by "WWE Films" won't be winning any awards anytime soon, which means it was made for me!

This was just a good old fashioned action movie.

John Cena (character's name was also John) is a Marine.  A Marine with huge muscles!!!  John Cena is a WWE wrestler, and a nice looking man.  He breaks a Marine rule and is discharged.  He is devistated, but his wife is glad he's home and out of harms way.

Meanwhile, some bad guys rob a jewelry store and kill some cops.

The wife recommends they hop in the car and go for a drive.  Unfortunately, they end up at a gas station with the thieves.  One things leads to another, and the wife is kidnaped.  And the chase begins!!

John miraculously survives being blown up 3 times, shot at about 100 times and eaten by alligators.  Will he save his wife?  Well, of course he will.  It's still a fun, pointless, action packed movie.

Did I mention John Cena is pretty hot?

Grindhouse - Planet Terror

Who:  Amber & Jonathan
What:  Grindhouse - Planet Terror
Where:  @ home - free HBO weekend
Why:  I've been dying to see it!

Let's just say, I can see why Grindhouse didn't make any money at the box office.  This sucker is long!  I only watched the first movie, and I was tired.  I don't think I could've handled seeing both movies at the same time.

Planet Terror is the movie with the girl with the machine gun for a leg.  I know you know what I'm talking about!

It was actually a pretty cool movie.  There is a crazy radiation leak, and it turns pretty much everybody into a zombie.  There are a handful of people who are immune (for some reason), and they go around killing zombies.  The zombies can be killed (I think), if you blow them away with a powerful gun.  Luckily everybody seems to have an incredibly powerful gun.

When I say killing zombies, I mean blowing them apart.  I think I saw more blood in this movie than at a blood bank.  Who knew a gunshot to the chest made you explode?

Did I mention there was a chick with a machine gun for a leg?

Grindhouse was supposed to be a throw back to stupid 70's horror movies.  So sometimes the screen is kind-of fuzzy, you see film real lines, and during a sex scene (w/ machine gun leg chick), the 'film reel' actually melts.

This movie ends, I think, at Tulum in Mexico.  It's where Jonathan and I visited during our last Disney Cruise.  If it's not Tulum, it looks just like it.

If you have FOREVER to kill, then check out Grindhouse.  If you only have 1.5 hours to kill, then check out Planet Terror.  It's worth it just to see what happens to Quinten Terrintino's wang.  Ouch!  Seriously ...

No Country For Old Men

Who:  Jonathan & Amber
What:  No Country For Old Men
Where:  @ home - free Starz weekend
Why:  Jonathan picked it

Normally I stay far, far away from award winning movies.  Normally I find them boring.  But why didn't anybody tell me about this movie before?  It was a violent massacre - right up my ally!

However, in true award winning movie format, it's hard to tell what the point of the movie was.  It was one of those movies that just ends, and you're like, "what the ???".

Luanne (I'm sure I'm spelling that wrong - it's a guy!) is hunting in Texas.  He sees a bunch of abandoned trucks in the distance.  When walks closer, he finds a massacre of dead bodies and truck full of drugs.  Luanne is no dummy - he knows there where there are drugs, there is money.  One guy is still alive (barely) and points to the way to the money.  A mile down the road Luanne finds the last dead guy with a suitcase full of money.

Later that night, Luanne wakes up and decides to go help out the half dead guy.  Smooth move exlax!  He is where his life turns upside down.  When he gets back to the massacre site, the guy is dead (duh!) and some guys from Mexico show up looking for their drug money.

Luanne manages to get away, but the Mexicans are after him.  One other guy is after him too.  It's creepy hair guy (Javier Barden), which you may remember from the Oscars (he won best supporting actor).  Javier Barden is a bad dude.  He's got no morals, he just kills and kills and kills.  Luanne is a pretty smart guy, and this cat and mouse chase lasts for days.

It's pretty suspenseful, and also pretty graphic.  Javier is such a great killer, that you assume he'll get him in the end.  But Luanne shows off his skills and smarts.

I don't want to give away the ending or anything.  If you enjoy artsy movies - check this out.  If you enjoy violence - check this out.  If you like it when a movie gives you no closure what so ever (grrrrr!) - then check this out!

Reno 911! Miami

Who:  Jonathan & Amber
What:  Reno 911! Miami
Where:  @ home - borrowed the DVD from a friend
Why:  We love the TV show

This movie was really funny.  Although, if you've never seen the TV show, I don't think you would enjoy this movie.

The movie features our 8 favorite police officers from Reno.  They get invited to Miami for a Police convention.  Of course, they give the registration info to Weigel (the most moronic cop) and of course she screws it up.  So now they are in Miami with no convention.

Long story short, the Miami PD needs their help!  Like the TV show, they go on 911 calls, and hilarity ensues.  Just wait until you see 2 of the beach officers - yowsers!

The best part of the movie is that all the random regulars from the TV show are there too.  Patton Oswald, Terry (the guy on rollerskates), Pee Wee Herman (almost unrecognizable!) and others are all here.

Again, if you're a fan of the show, then I would recommend this movie.  I'm guessing it will be on Comedy Central in about a year, so just wait it out.  And if you've never seen Reno 911!, I recommend that too.  I've seen commercials for it forever, and I thought it looked so lame, but it's actually quite good.  All the cops are so funny, and their personalities really shine.  None of them are 'bad' cops, they all do their job pretty well, but funny stuff always happens to them.

12 Monkeys

Who:  Amber & Jonathan
What:  12 Monkeys
Where:  @ home - free HBO weekend
Why:  I wanted Jonathan to see it

I really like this movie.  First of all, it's got hot, short haired Brad Pitt (for the first 1/2 of the movie anyways - then his hair gets long and he's got a scary mustache).  Second of all, it's a very unique movie.  It really makes you think.  You're not thinking about life or anything important, just thinking about the twists and turns of the movie.

Bruce Willis is a prisoner in the future.  The "scientists" (creepy people!) send him back in time (to the early 90's, or "present day") to help figure out what happened.  You see, everybody in the future is living underground.  Turns out 90% of the world's population died in 1996.

Unfortunatly, when you travel back in time, and try to convince people that you're from the future, they think you're nuts.  Bruce Willis ends up in the nut house, where he meets Brad Pitt (who is also nuts).  His shrink thinks Bruce Willis looks really familiar, but thinks he's nuts none the less.

Bruce Willis escapes from the nut house, kidnaps the scientist, and tries to prove to her that he's from the future.  Bruce Willis knows what radical group is going to kill 90% of the world ... or does he?  Will be able to stop them with the scientists help?  Will crazy Brad Pitt successfully kill pretty much everybody?

I highly encourage you to find this movie on cable.  It's very different and it's a good time!  Did I mention hot short haired Brad Pitt is in this movie?

Righteous Kill

Who: Jaclyn (and my dad)
What: Righteous Kill
Where: AMC Pleasure Island
Why: Who can resist a De Niro/Pacino movie?

Two NYPD partners Turk and Rooster (Robert De Niro and Al Pacino) go on a hunt for a serial killer who kills people they feel should be punished for their actions/crimes.

Another two cops from the other side of town, Perez and Riley (John Leguizamo and Donny Wahlberg) end up joining Turk and Rooster on their manhunt since one of the vicitims lands in their jurisdiction. The more time that passes, Perez and Riley begin to think the killer is a cop and go to great lengths to prove it. Oddly enough, 50 Cent is in this movie too.

The movie starts off slightly boring but it starts to get better about 15 minutes in...but not by much. I'm glad I saw it, but it's nothing that hasn't been done before. Save your money kids.

Bonus: We happened to be at DTD Westside at the right time...the Year of a Million Dreams dork squad were handing out free Mickey ear hats.