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(5.5 out of 10) First and foremost I am not going to mention Michael Bay in this review aside from this because I am sick and tired of reading about him. The jokes about his movies were not funny the first time around. So, moving along. With “Transformers 2″ what you see is what you get and it fits the requirements for a Summer movie perfectly. Now, the film has its fair share of problems, but the overall ride with these characters makes up for much of them. Sure, I could spend the next ten to fifteen pages picking this movie apart. but what is the point of that? If you disliked the first movie then you are going to really hate this one. It does nothing, story or character development wise, to rise above its predecessor and even dips below it frequently.

With all the time this movie spends dry humping Megan Fox on screen I sure hope it plans to keep in touch.

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(2 out of 10) At the heart of “Year One” there is something clever. That cleverness, however, is mostly lost or flat out wasted. It all comes down to the direction, the script and Jack Black. It is perhaps time for him to try something new, because, the same old same old is not working anymore. There was a time when Black was refreshing and new but his bit does not seem to resonate now. Perhaps, worse than Black, is the fact that the movie often is not funny and even rather tedious. I kept waiting for the plot to advance so it could be over or at least make me laugh again.

So what of that cleverness then you ask? Well, when the movie works it is poking some good fun at the Bible. The best of these bits involves David Cross as Cain and Paul Rudd as his brother Abel. Those characters and a few others showcase where the film could have gone and perhaps wanted to. Instead we are left with a multitude of gay jokes, fart jokes and everything in between. There are a few choice jokes but “Year One” manages to stay on the comfortable side of controversial jokes most of the time.

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(7.5 out of 10) Sure the trailer looked hilarious and every crowd I saw it with laughed continuously throughout. Yet I feared that as it often happens they put all of the best parts in the trailer and the rest just does not measure up. Either that or they were mashing together unrelated scenes to create something funny out of nothing. So with lowered expectations I was very surprised at how enjoyable “The Hangover” was

“The Hangover” is an true adult comedy that makes no apologies for the fact that it does not try to insert some humor to please a younger audience. I had thought the concept of an adult comedy was dead, but, providing that this movie is successful perhaps they can make a come back. While our heroes spend much of the movie outside of reality, I never felt it went to far to as to take me out of these poor guys plight to piece together a lost night of partying

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(10 out of 10) Initially I was tempted to write a single line review, because that is all this movie requires. That would have been, “It’s Pixar… go see it.” That should be sufficient for the only production company, possibly ever, that has that kind of credibility. Yet “Up” is so incredibly satisfying of an experience that it does deserve at least a little more praise. This is truly confident storytelling here, be it animated or otherwise, and possibly the best Pixar has come up with to date.

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(4 out of 10) Generic. Average. Ordinary. None of those words does any fan of the “Terminator” series want to hear used in association with the latest in the franchise. Sadly they and more like it are more than apt. At the end of the day while being a reasonably entertaining Summer movie, “Terminator Salvation” is run of the mill. It has none of the heart, none of the character development of the first couple of films. Ultimately we learn nothing about John Connor that we did not already know. Worse yet the movie has little regard for some of the scenes which should have meant something but were instead abused.

Originally I was going to write that this one was better than “Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines” but in the end I am not sure if that is even really the case anymore. At the very least the third film felt like a Terminator film. Sure it had major problems and basically rehashed the second movie minus the better writing, direction and most everything else, but still. In “Terminator Salvation” we should have been given that really satisfying glimpse into the future to see the culmination of John Connors early life preparing himself for his destiny.

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Call it what you will, an apology for what they did to “Firefly”, or a miracle, but against all odds FOX has given “Dollhouse” a second chance. Despite seriously declining ratings, the network has green lit a second season of the Joss Whedon show. Unfortunately, they are keeping it on Friday nights, which I believe is part of the problem with its ratings in the first place, but, beggars cannot be choosers. The second season order will be for thirteen episodes.

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(4 out of 10) When you look at “X-Men Origins: Wolverine” the cast and people behind the camera should have equaled something at the very least as entertaining as the first couple of “X-Men” features. Instead, what we are left with is a film with a few entertaining set pieces, but one that is ultimately all over the place and heartless. The screenplay is the killer here as it never really gets into any sort of a consistent grove.

Part of the problem is that there is a lot of story to tell simply regarding Wolverine and his history but they waste a lot of time cramming in every side character they can think of. Sure many fans demanded to finally see Gambit and he is here but only as a convenient plot device than anything else. Also, was it just me or did Taylor Kitsch (Gambit) seem to randomly lose his accent? Anyway, this review is not intended to be from a comic book fanatics perspective as there’s no way any movie can live up to the comic book world. Yet, even within the mythology the movie world creates they make a few bizarre blunders.

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The remake has been a fact of life for the film industry for as long as I can remember now. However, in the last ten years it seems like every other movie is a remake or a re-imagination of an original. Various movie related websites forums and comment sections are constantly littered with people complaining that said remake is trashing the spirit of the original. Or simply because they dared to do something different. I will admit, that I used to be one of those people who cried fowl at even the slightest of changes, but recently, I have had a change of heart.

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(5 out of 10) So I found myself sitting in the theater, down near the front where I like to sit watching one of the craziest movies that I have ever seen theatrically. There has been many a film like “Crank: High Voltage”, but they are usually reserved for smaller budget home video releases. It all has very little rhyme or reason to it and in the end you are either going to love it or sit in the middle like myself. Yes, it is a creative and innovative film full of people who seemed to be having a ball doing one insane thing after another. On the other hand it is also an empty movie that is not as extreme as it wants to be and ultimately forgettable as soon as you leave the theater.

Given how the first film ended, with our hero falling to his certain death and full of poison, I do not think anyone expected there to be a sequel. Yet, here we are and Chev Chelios (played again by Jason Statham) is back, but this time someone has taken his heart. In its place he has an artificial one that is running out of electricity which he needs to constantly replenish.

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(1.5 out of 10) “Observe and Report” is written and directed by the same man who brought us, “Foot Fist Way” which received a lot of hype thank in part to Wil Ferrel, named Jody Hill. When I eventually saw “Foot Fist Way” it was difficult to see what Ferrel had been so enamored with because the movie was dull but mostly because its main character was almost completely unlikable. Years later he brings us, “Observe and Report” which fails because of the exact same reason his last did.

Seth Rogan is a very talented comedian who has stared in some great films and others where he was the only good thing about it. In this case he so convincingly plays someone that is immediately a douche bag that I was confused. Are we supposed to be rooting for his character to change his ways, to live his dream and become a police officer? Or are we supposed to feel sorry for him because of his family life and other personal issues?

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