Short version: The Clone Wars is visually interesting, but in the end pointless - and worse: annoying.

Screen Rant reviews The Clone Wars

Holy cow there’s a lot of… angst? anger? annoyance? surrounding the latest addition to the Star Wars saga: The Clone Wars. Me, I’m indifferent. I’m not a huge Star Wars fan (although I was when the first three movies were released for the first time) and I think that George Lucas has run the franchise into the ground and it’s all about:

1. Visual Effects

2. Merchandising

3. Money (see #2)

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Short version: Journey to the Center of the Earth 3D is a great film to take the kids to, or if you’re a fan of 3D - otherwise don’t bother.

Screen Rant reviews Journey to the Center of the Earth 3D

I was trying to come up with a metaphor for Journey to the Center of the Earth 3D, and the perfect one came to mind:

Journey 3D is like vanilla pudding.

It was OK, not really awful or anything - but not something you would go out of your way to watch if there was something better available.

Short version: Wanted tries oh so hard to be the next Matrix, but despite insane amounts of action, falls short.

Screen Rant’s Wanted review

No doubt I’ll be taking a lot of heat for this since it seems that across the board, Wanted reviews are glowing and effusive in praise. I’ve seen many comments to the effect of “it was trash, but I loved it anyway.” While I certainly wouldn’t call it trash, it also failed to win me over.

Now don’t get me wrong… Pardon the pun, but going in I really wanted to love this movie. I didn’t go in with any thoughts that it would be high art or deep drama - just a cool popcorn flick. But even in popcorn action movies I can only suspend my disbelief so much.

There are minor spoilers related to the very first scene in the film below.

By Brian Rentschler

Short version: This movie starts out with some potential, but by the end, it’s over-the-top yet mediocre at the same time. It has its good spots, but overall its flaws are too distracting and frustrating for it to be truly enjoyable.

Didn’t I already see this movie a few years ago, and wasn’t it called Training Day? That might be because this movie was directed by the guy who wrote Training Day, David Ayer. However, I feel quite confident in saying that, unlike Training Day, this movie isn’t in danger of winning any Oscars, at least for acting or directing. It’s not terrible, but it’s far from great.

As usual, Keanu Reeves substitutes with likability what he lacks in acting ability. Throughout the entire movie, the believability factor of Reeves playing a cop is about the same as when Kevin Costner played Robin Hood. Somehow, it doesn’t matter, though. Far more detrimental to the movie are plot holes and logic gaps in the story that could accommodate a big rig. With the exception of Hugh Laurie, who plays Dr. House Captain Biggs, nearly every actor in this movie hams it up, even the Oscar-winning Forest Whitaker. With a better script and better direction, this movie had the potential to be something more and have something poignant to say. As it exists now, if I were a cop, I would probably feel insulted by this movie.

Short version: While there’s an attempt to make this a personal story, it’s really about what we thought it would be: Incredible vistas populated with a combination of ancient temples, pyramids, woolly mammoths and a cast of (CGI) thousands.

Two weeks ago I posted my thoughts about 10,000 B.C. based on what I’d seen so far and at the panel for the film at WonderCon, and one of the words that came to mind regarding what director Roland Emmerich had in mind for this film was “spectacle.”

Oh, and it tries oh so very hard to live up to that word.

The best I can say about 10,000 BC is that it wasn’t as bad as I was expecting it to be.

By Vic Holtreman

Short version: How can such an interesting concept end up as such a boring movie? One reason: Hayden Christensen.

I must be feeling generous with this Jumper review - despite the fact I’m giving it only 2.5 stars, that’s a rave compared to other movie reviews of this film.

I had really hoped this would be one of those little movies that turned out to be great, especially since I knew it was from Doug Limon, the director of The Bourne Identity and Mr & Mrs Smith. Those two films would look great on any director’s resume.

And then we had the screenplay, written by Jim Uhls, who wrote the script for the amazing film Fight Club and David S. Goyer whose written great stuff like Batman Begins and Dark City.

You’d think that this movie couldn’t miss with all that talent behind the camera… but unfortunately you’d be wrong.

By Vic Holtreman

Short version: A self-promoting, off-beat quasi-documentary that people in the lower ranks of the Hollywood movie machine will appreciate more than most of us.

I thought that with all the press surrounding Michael Moore and his latest film Sicko, it might be fun to review a (semi-)documentary about Michael Moore. Well, at least partially about him.

First off, you need to know that despite the promotional material and the title, Michael & Me is not really about Michael Moore, bashing or otherwise - so for both Moore haters and defenders there’s not really much to get bent out of shape over with this flick.

By Vic Holtreman

Short version: A schizophrenic and mind numbing movie. Who knew that so much action could be so boring?

I’m not going to spend too much time writing this review because I’m quite sure that it’s irrelevant. Based on the reaction of the audience at the screening I attended, most folks will not agree with this review, will go watch Transformers and leave the theater in a state of bliss.

Me? I just don’t get it.

Over the weekend I actually started to get excited about this movie based on the early reviews that had been coming out. I just checked Rottentomatoes.com and although in the overall category it’s just barely slipped into “Rotten” territory, the “Cream of the Crop” reviewer consensus is still well into “Ripe” (meaning good). Over at IMDB.com the user rating stands at 8.3 out of 10 at the time of this writing.

I can only conclude that all these people are on crack.

By M Holtreman

Short version: Not completely awful, unless you’re a big fan of Nancy Drew from the books and video games.

For this film, I present the inaugural review of my daughter. She saw the film and she is the target audience for Nancy Drew, so I thought it would be appropriate to have her write the review.
At the start of the film we find Nancy Drew (played by Emma Roberts) solving a burglary in her hometown of River Heights. She solves the case and the police catch the burglars.

By Vic Holtreman

Short version: Unfortunately Ghost Rider lives up to its pre-release buzz: Boring and bordering on cheesy.

As I had written earlier here at Screen Rant, I went in to Ghost Rider without any preconceived notions about the character since I had never read the comic book. I was also mildly optimistic (based on one of the trailers) that it might turn out to be at least good, if not great.

Oh well…

For those of you unfamiliar with the character, Ghost Rider is actually Johnny Blaze (seriously) who here is played by Nicolas Cage. I like watching Cage onscreen, although there’s a “sameness” to his performances from film to film that’s starting to wear a little thin on me. Nothing personal against the guy, but he has such a distinctively quirky delivery that it’s starting to overshadow the characters he plays.