Who doesn’t love the Muppets? I have fond memories of their earlier movies, as well as the old Muppet Babies cartoon and their appearances on Sesame Street. When the franchise was re-started a couple years ago, I’m sure many adults like myself were brought back to their childhood, with all the familiar faces and behaviors. I very much enjoyed the 2011 reboot. The new Muppets Most Wanted doesn’t quite reach the same level for me, though admittedly that may be due to my own sentimentality. Something can only be new and fresh once.

As a movie on its own feet, it’s not bad. There is plenty of humor and the Muppets’ antics are enjoyable as always. Ricky Gervais in the lead didn’t connect with me as well as Jason Segel in the first movie, his role (and acting) seemed very rote with little personality. But Tina Fey was great, and as you can expect from a Muppets film there were cameos galore. If you don’t go online and read the list of the cast, which I made sure to avoid, you will be surprised at every turn with another star’s face. The music is fun though not as catchy (again, my opinion) as the first one’s. Of course, the Muppets themselves make light of all this, even in the opening musical number they joke that “sequels are never quite as good.” While a good movie overall (I’m sure the kids, like myself back in the early 80’s, will love it), I tend to agree with them.

If you’ve been to a movie anytime in the last 3 months, you’ve probably seen a trailer for Bad Words. Starring Jason Bateman (and in his directorial debut), it is about a 40 year old that finds a loophole to enter a spelling bee. Up against pre-teen kids, he angers parents and verbally abuses his competitors. The premise sounds funny and indeed Bateman’s vulgar words directed at those around him is certainly hilarious at times, unfortunately as a whole the movie is pretty forgettable. It is held together by a loose plot of why he is doing all this in the first place, but when the plot takes a back seat to the star’s antics on the camera, there’s a problem. When you do find out the reason half way through the film, it comes as no surprise and is generally a letdown, not to mention you find it hard to root for a person that has been so thoughtless to those around him. Thankfully the movie is only about 90 minutes long, and just about the time you start to look at your watch, they wrap it up quickly and end it.

The movie is funny, you’ll laugh during it, and for the humor alone it is worth seeing once. But once is enough for this one.

Saw Enemy this morning, and even now, several hours later, I can’t decide if I like it or not. It stars Jake Gyllenhaal as a rather boring college professor who one day sees his doppelganger in a movie. It’s a total independent art-style film, so as expected there are plenty of slow scenes with not much dialogue. That doesn’t bother me, as long as it is done well, and it is in Enemy. The soundtrack is always building suspense, and the whole movie has you feeling something terrible is just about to happen. I’m not going to give anything away and tell if ever does or not.

As Jake hunts down his twin and the two interact in each other’s (and each other’s family’s) lives, the watcher really starts to question who is good and who is bad. But what keeps me thinking about it is the ending. The last 15 minutes or so are a total trip, and the very last scene left me befuddled. I can’t make up my mind as to whether this is an outstanding movie with more meaning and depth that I’m capable of catching, or if it is just a total mess. Gyllenhaal is certainly known for doing movies like this, and if you are a fan of some of his previous works, you’ll probably dig this one too.

I have a thing for dystopian and/or post-apocalyptic movies. Even the duds I tend to generally like more than others might. Thus I was excited to see Divergent, a movie that takes place 100 years in the future after some major war has forced a society to build classes to keep its citizens under control. The movie is based on a young adult book, and unfortunately some elements clearly aimed at a younger audience made it into the film, dumbing down what I think could have been a stellar flick.

Overall I thought it was still good. A little predictable, sure, but a generally rewarding film. There were a few too many scenes and dialogue though that felt very campy or hokey, followed by scenes of extreme violence, almost as if the film’s makers couldn’t decide what demographic they were aiming for. The musical score was awful, with an almost teen top-40 kind of feel that severely detracted from the mood I wanted the film to create, a place that it never quite reached.

Divergent is just book one of a trilogy, and there seems to all ready be plans to make the following 2 in to films as well. I just hope they don’t try so hard to appeal to all age groups, and just make a solid movie. If they do, they could be a lot better.

Don’t get me wrong, I don’t think this movie is as bad as some of the critics are saying. I really enjoyed the racing in it, but unfortunately, that’s the best part of the movie. Having played several of the Need for Speed video games back in the day (what child of the 90’s didn’t?!), I couldn’t help but smile when the police started pulling out all the stops to take down the street racers. Sadly though, the characters are paper-thin, and the dialogue is groan worthy at times. There just wasn’t enough meat and potatoes to hold this movie together.

Aaron Paul is the one good actor in this crowd, and anyone that saw Breaking Bad knows his chops. For that show he is a 2-time Emmy winner and Golden Globe nominee (how he lost to Jon Voight is a mystery this world will never know). No idea why he picked this mess as his first leading role. But he is captivating in the movie, and hopefully this film doesn’t derail what should be a burgeoning career for him.

I never saw a single episode of Veronica Mars when it was airing back in the mid 2000’s. I admittedly watch a lot of movies, but don’t watch many tv shows. And Mars didn’t look like my cup of tea on the surface. The story of a high school girl going all P.I. on her classmates and neighborhood seemed a little campy for me. And I wasn’t the only one missing it; despite nearly universal critical acclaim (especially the first two seasons), it drew low ratings and was cancelled after its third season. However, almost immediately talk of a film started up, fueled by a rabid fan base. After a kickstarter campaign very quickly raised the funds, this film was made.

Veronica Mars the movie is getting very good reviews and is extremely highly rated on Rotten Tomatoes, IMDB, etc, but it is always hard to go on this alone when you are talking a fan-flick. Its loyal base could be (and probably are) artificially raising the ratings. However this is actually a very good movie. Having gone into it cold, not ever having seen a single episode of its show or really knowing much about it, I didn’t know what to expect. I was happily surprised. It isn’t going to win any awards or anything, and I don’t think it is necessarily a very memorable movie, but it is a funny and interesting film. Veronica’s witty quips to those she doesn’t care for, and even those she does, provide plenty of humorous dialogue, and the mystery who-done-it story has plenty of subtle surprises.

The movie is a little hokey at times, but the writers keep it moving, and Kristen Bell is a very likable Veronica Mars. It was most definitely made for its fans, as there seems to be a lot of “hey former classmate, what are you up to these days?” stuff going on throughout, but that never detracts from the pace of the film. I’m not quite sure it is enough to make me go back and watch the show on Netflix, but the movie is definitely worth a watch, even if you aren’t a die-hard fan.

I have to admit, this movie wasn’t initially on my list to go see. But some of the others I’m waiting for are taking their time to make it to my local theaters (gotta love those limited releases!), and I had a night free, so I went. Very glad I did.

When I first saw a trailer for this movie, I thought it was a little weird. Today’s kids, and even kids from 10-15 years ago, won’t even know who these characters are. Even I only vaguely remember them from re-runs of the Rocky and Bullwinkle show when I was very young. I didn’t think it would be easy for this movie to find an audience, and perhaps I was correct. It did $32 million last weekend, which is very good obviously, but lower than some of this studio’s past movies like How to Train Your Dragon. It will also face stiff competition next week up against the new Muppets movie. However, it is getting getting some great word-of-mouth (77% on Rotten Tomatoes, an “A” on Cinemascore), so maybe it will hold for awhile.

Having said all that, this is a great family film. It is cute, funny, and you even might learn a thing or two from the genius Mr. Peabody. The films puts a funny spin on history, such as the French Revolution starting over Marie Antoinette’s love of cakes (lavish aristocracy vs the poor, starving population), or the Greek officer warning Sherman to not visit Oedipus (“very awkward house around the holidays”). Even how Mona Lisa gave us that enigmatic smile. And you can’t help but chuckle at Mr. Peabody’s eye-rolling puns throughout.

This is a film for everyone. The kids in the theater were laughing at Sherman and his friend’s antics, and the adults were laughing at the dialogue that was a little over the young-ins heads. This movie does a fantastic job of blending it all together, and with a heart-warming story to boot.

I sort of liked the original 300. I say sort of because while I thought it was good when I saw it, looking back later, I couldn’t remember much about it. It all came back when I went and saw 300: Rise of an Empire, but unfortunately, I didn’t even leave the theater thinking this was a good one this time.

This movie really just felt like 300 on the high seas. Most of the battles take place ship-to-ship, but the style is all lifted straight from the original film. Perhaps the movie makers thought if the first movie did so well, why break the formula? While the first one seemed fresh at the time, this one just felt old. I was falling asleep in the theater during a battle scene, and if that can’t keep my attention, you can bet the “story” couldn’t either. It also felt very gimmicky. While I saw the movie in 2D, it was obviously made for 3D. There were a lot of scenes of blood spattering towards the viewer, and long sweeping sword strikes past the front of the screen. Personally, I enjoy 3D movies where you forget it is in 3D, where the makers immerse you in the film without beating you over the head with it.

In the end, this one is just for people that really loved the first one and hoped it was exactly 1 hour 42 minutes longer.

Saw Non-Stop last night, starring Liam Neeson. Though he is perhaps getting a little old to play the action hero, he is awfully good at it and Non-Stop is another successful stint for him.

Liam Neeson is an air marshal on a crowded, long Atlantic flight, when he receives a message that someone will be killed every 20 minutes. On the surface this just seems like another generic “good guy hunting down the bad guy before he kills a bunch of people” film, but there are some twists. Obviously it takes place in the sky on an airplane, which when you hear it seems gimmicky, but it works well. Also, the bad guy goes about his killings in unique ways. I don’t want to give anything anyway, but the movie does a great job of making you question every single passenger, as Liam himself has to. The trailers leading up to the movie suggested it could be one particular person, and I’m glad it ended up being someone else. I hate trailers that give away too much, and the ending was plenty surprising for me.

My friends joked that this was simply Taken 3, and it’s not (that film is going to be made next year!), but it does seem Liam has found a niche here with these kinds of roles. Though his action characters are a bit one dimensional, he has the voice and the mannerisms to make them very believable.

I was up for something different for this trip to the movies, and you can’t get much different than The Wind Rises. This is a Japanese animated film, written and directed by Hayao Miyazaki, who has been called the Walt Disney of Japan for his long and celebrated career in anime and manga there. Several of his films have made it to the states over the years, though this is the first time I’ve seen one on the big screen.

The Wind Rises is a biography (though I’m not sure how accurate) of Jiro Horikoshi, designer of Japanese fighter planes used in World War II. It starts with his youth and continues through until his final design is hashed out and finally successful, after numerous failed attempts. In the movie he is portrayed as an optimistic engineer. He knows his design will be used for war, but several times makes jokes that it would be a better plane without the guns. He is simply trying to build the best plane he can, at a time when Japanese technology is decades behind their competition in other countries.

I enjoyed the film thoroughly. The artistry is superb, rich colors and beautiful scenes permeate throughout. You never forget it is a Japanese animated film, as there are a couple characters that are a little over-the-top in that style, but it is beautifully written. The American voice cast includes plenty of big names too, with Joseph Gordon-Levitt and John Krasinski in the leads, supported by Emily Blunt, Stanley Tucci, and Mandy Patinkin to name a few. If you’d like to sit back and see a kind of movie us westerners won’t normally get to see, this is well worth an evening.