The 2009 Movie Genre of the Month

[Heineken Skywalker]

FINDING NEMO (2003)

When a little clownfish named Nemo, is captured by a diver and taken to Sydney, his anxiety-ridden father, Marlin, must search the oceans to retrieve him. Along the way, Marlin meets Dory, a blue tang fish with short-memory loss. Together they inadvertently join a rehab group for sharks, maneuver their way through jellyfish, and catch a ride with some "totally awesome" turtles.
Meanwhile, Nemo has ended up in the aquarium of a dentist's office, where he plans his escape with the help of the other fish within the fishtank.

The voice work, especially from Albert Brooks as Marlin, and Ellen DeGeneres as Dory, really brings the characters to life. And speaking of "life", the computer-animated ocean and all it's aquatic inhabitants look absolutely jaw-dropping amazing in this film. This is still one of the most visually pleasing and colorful animated films ever made.
Plus, it's just a lot of fun while also telling a great father and son story.
Another modern classic from the gang at Pixar.

8.5/10

[Heineken Skywalker]

SURF'S UP (2007)

"Mockumentary" focusing on penguins, specifically a teenage newcomer named Cody Maverick (Shia LaBeouf), who are all participating in a huge annual surfing competition called the "Big Z Memorial Surf Off". The contest is held in honor of "Big Z," a deceased surfing legend.
During the competition, Cody meets Geek (Jeff Bridges), an aging former surfer and recluse who teaches Cody important life and surfing lessons.

Not an amazing movie, but it does feature some really great animation, decent characters, and some nice voice work by LaBeouf and especially Bridges, who essentially revives his BIG LEBOWSKI character, "the Dude".

7/10

[Heineken Skywalker]

MONSTER HOUSE (2006)

Three kids have a run-in with a creepy neighbor and his even creepier house, which seems to be alive, and where toys, dogs and even people are disappearing.
Good animated version of the old "haunted house" standby with some excellent animation, good voice work and cool character and set designs. The house looks great and kudos for making the three kids seem more like real kids than in some live action films I've seen.
Some nice, but subtle homages to the film's producers, Robert Zemeckis and Steven Spielberg.

7/10

ICE AGE (2002)

Set 20,000 years ago, when the planet is entering an ice age, and most creatures are heading south, three animals, Sid the sloth, Manny the mammoth and Diego the saber-toothed tiger, reluctantly join forces to try to return a human baby to its father. Along the way they must contend with the elements and other predators.
Added comedy-relief comes in the form of an acorn-loving prehistoric squirrel named Scrat who appears from time to time.
The animation is very good, but the real star of this one is the voice work, dialog and chemistry between the three main characters. John Leguizamo as Sid is the goofy one of the group and gets most of the laughs, but Ray Romano as Manny and Denis Leary as Diego are every bit as good in the more serious roles.

8/10

[slayrrr666]

Hoodwinked-2005
This was one I wanted to see for a while, but never found it or plain forgot about it, but I really ended up liking this one a lot more than I thought I would. It looked good and goofy in the previews, and it didn't disappoint here at all with some great moments in here. The hyper-speed squirrel was definitely hilarious, the twisting of the myth into a huge mix-up is definitely a lot of fun and it mostly didn't disappoint at all, except for the Woodsman's story. Maybe it's because I haven't really liked a lot of Jim Belushi over the years, maybe it's the story just felt weak, but that could've been changed around considering the other three stories were really good, and the finale was a lot of fun. I'll have to give this a watch with my sister, she'll definitely like it.
8.5/10

[Heineken Skywalker]

MADAGASCAR (2005)

When they escape from the Central Park Zoo, and inadvertently end up in Madagascar, a group of domesticated animals have to adapt to jungle life while trying to figure out a way to get back to New York. Meanwhile, the leader of the group, Alex the lion, starts reverting to his natural instincts which means the others are in danger of becoming "cat chow".

Some really good voice work from the main cast (Ben Stiller, Chris Rock, David Schwimmer, Jada Pinkett Smith) and some hilarious scene stealing from a group of penguins, a couple of monkeys and the lemur king (Sacha Baron Cohen).

8/10

MADAGASCAR: ESCAPE 2 AFRICA (2008)

Picking up almost immediately where the first one left off. When the animal stars of the first movie attempt to leave Madagascar, they crash in the African wild, where Alex the lion (Ben Stiller) discovers he has a family, who he left many years earlier. Unfortunately, Alex has lived in the city for so long that he has little in common with the lions who have lived in the wild their whole lives.
Meanwhile, his friends find life outside of captivity isn't always everything it's cracked up to be, especially Marty the zebra, who realizes that he's not unique anymore.

Even though the story borrows a little bit from THE LION KING, it's a pretty decent sequel with a few solid laughs. I did think they overdid the stuff with the old lady a bit though.
Besides Stiller, all of the main cast, David Schwimmer, Jada Pinkett Smith, Chris Rock and Sacha Baron Cohen reprise their voice roles.

7/10

[Heineken Skywalker]

In honor of Memorial Day (May 25th), I'm calling this month's Genre of the Month:

A SOLDIER'S STORY

Films where the main character, or characters, are in the military.

Some rules or guidelines, if you will:

1. Films watched can be dramas, biopics, comedies, action-adventure, documentaries, etc., but you should try to see a variety of types of films.

2. The setting can be basic training, during combat or peace time, or even after the soldier(s) has returned to civilian life, as long as the main character is or was a soldier and that's what the main story is centering around.

3. The characters can be in any branch of the military and the movie can take place at any time in history. Don't just think WWII and Vietnam movies.

4. All movies have to have been theatrical releases. No made for tv or made for cable movies, ie: HBO, Showtime, Sci-Fi Channel, etc., are not eligible. No television mini-series either.

5. Whenever you watch one, feel free to post it in "Just Watched Movies" like you normally would, or even write a review for "Review Hell" if so inclined, but post here also, so we can see what everyone's watching within the genre. Feel free to tell us what you thought of the film and score it using the 1 to 10 system, ie: 1 being just awful, 5 is average and 10 being perfect. Half points, ie: 8.5/10 are also allowed.

6. You have until May 31st, and then on June 1st I'll announce the next genre or category.

7. Try to watch at least four, one per week, but watch as many, or few, as you feel comfortable with.
Hopefully at the end of it all, you'll feel like you saw some movies you might not have watched otherwise and actually enjoyed some of them.

[slayrrr666]

Ok, so any branch, any time, as long as one of the top personnel is a military man? And that's for any country right? Just to officially get this free and clear.

[Heineken Skywalker]

Memorial Day is mainly an American holiday, but since we're not counting points and all that anymore, I won't be a stickler about that kind of thing.
As long as the main character or characters are in the military, or veterans, country of origin doesn't matter.

Even if the main character or characters are never even seen in a military uniform, their military service has to be an important aspect of the plot of the movie though.

[slayrrr666]

All right, I'm good and clear.

[Heineken Skywalker]

TIGERLAND (2000)

Follows a platoon of young recruits in 1971 as they train to go to Vietnam and centers around Roland Bozz (Colin Ferrell), a misfit who has issues with authority figures and the war, even though his superiors recognize his leadership abilities. The second half of the film takes place in Tigerland, a training ground in Louisiana which is a close approximation to the real Vietnam and is supposed to give the platoon an experience very close to the real war.
Ferrell gives one of his better performances and of course there are the usual scenes of R&R, and run-ins with sergeants and fellow soldiers. Pretty good, though as far as training for war movies, it's not as powerful as the first half of FULL METAL JACKET.

6.5/10

THE DIRTY DOZEN (1967)

During WWII, a major is assigned with the task of training a group of 12 soldiers for a suicide mission of parachuting across enemy lines, raiding a chateau used by the Germans for R&R, and taking out as many Nazi officers as possible. The catch is that the 12 soldiers are "convicts, psychos, lunkheads and losers", who because they're already army prisoners, some with death sentences, have nothing to lose, but will earn their freedom if they survive.

Great old-fashioned action-adventure with a cool cast of movie tough guys and character actors, including Lee Marvin, Charles Bronson, Jim Brown, John Cassavetes, Telly Savalas, Donald Sutherland and Ernest Borgnine.
Lots of fun.

8/10

[Heineken Skywalker]

RESCUE DAWN (2006)

Christian Bale stars in this real-life story as U.S. fighter pilot Dieter Dengler, who, on his very first mission in 1965, was shot down and crashed in the jungles of Laos during the Vietnam War. He was soon captured, tortured and locked up in a prisoner of war camp where he met five other prisoners. Dengler was soon organizing and carrying out an escape plan with them.

A little slow at times, not much to do in a P.O.W. camp except try to stay sane and not get shot, but I was impressed by Dengler's ingenuity, leadership and survival skills, and there are good performances by Bale, as well as Steve Zahn and Jeremy Davies as two of the other prisoners.

7/10

[slayrrr666]

Kelly's Heroes-1970
It is a little weird for me seeing Clint away from the Spaghetti West or the streets of San Francisco, but this one wasn't all too bad. Since most of the film was spent with basic training at boot camp, it was a little dull at times as there wasn't much of what I wanted in action films (lots of things blowing up or people being shot up) and it did feel a little overlong at times, but oddly, I didn't mind as it kept my interest when it wasn't doing those things. It's not the worst War movie I've seen, but I've seen a lot better.
7.5/10

[Heineken Skywalker]

HEARTBREAK RIDGE (1986)

A Marine Gunnery Sergeant (Clint Eastwood), who is a tough veteran of both Korea and Vietnam, is assigned the training of a recon unit made up of lazy deadbeats. They butt heads, but of course you know they'll come to respect him in the end. He also has run-ins with his superiors and his ex-wife.
His new unit has to prove themselves when they are called into action during the invasion of Grenada in 1983.
This was an odd flick because it feels like two different movies that didn't always mesh. Eastwood completely brings his A-game and is totally believable as a grizzled Marine Sergeant, but the young recruits are cartoonish and over the top. Mario Van Peebles as a wannabe rock star is just annoying. I also didn't really care about the stuff with his ex-wife (Marsha Mason). The story offers no surprises and while some of the training and later the actual battle are decent, overall, it's fairly forgettable.
I would've liked to have seen Eastwood's character in a much more serious and realistic film, but alas that's not what we got here.

5.5/10

[slayrrr666]

Hot Shots-1992
I've seen this one numerous times in the past when I was on spoof kicks, and while it's not in the same league as Airplane and the first two Naked Gun movies, this is still a top-notch quality edition to that genre. Largely overlooked (hardly anyone mentions it anymore when discussing the top ones of the style) as it sometimes gets a little too clumsy for it's own good, and as it's so close to Top Gun, some of the parodies are so out there you're expecting what happened in that one and instead just cringe a little when seeing this one, but frankly, there's just enough laughs to always make this one enjoyable and entertaining.
9/10

Hot Shots: Part Deux-1993
I think I like this one more than the original, which you can tell I'm a big fan of. Most likely this is due to it parodying movies I liked to begin with, or that more of the jokes and gags land successfully rather than just getting a chuckle or that look of surprise from the former. Too many good gags to count, but that's the good thing about it, it's actually funny and silly and is supposed to be. About the same rating as the original, but know that I like it more. Eh, I'll come up with a new rating for it.
9.25/10

[Heineken Skywalker]

I pretty much agree. I think HOT SHOTS, parts 1 and 2 are both extremely underrated. Probably the last two parody films I saw that were actually really funny.