Boondock Saints II: All Saints Day – A Movie Review

When a priest is murdered in Boston, the MacManus brothers abandon their secluded life in Ireland to look into the case. Don’t let the lack of promotion for “Boondock Saints 2” fool you. The plot picks up in Ireland where brothers Connor (Sean Patrick Flannery) and Murphy (Norman Reedus) McManus are hiding out after the events of the last movie. A priest shot in Boston, in the same style the brothers are known for, makes them the prime suspects. Writer/ director Troy Duffy is going for the old-school Charles Bronson-style vigilante movie, and achieves something pretty close to that.

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In Tranzit – A Movie Review

In this unlikely and at times wrenching love story, World War II has just ended and a processing error wrongfully lands 51 German POWs in a Soviet prison camp run by women. The guards’ task of outing the SS officers hiding among the prisoners pits the men and women against each other. As the truth of the situation comes to light, hostility remains between some while love blossoms between others. It’s a movie worth watching, but it didn’t live up to it’s potential.

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The Goods – A Movie Review

In a desperate attempt to save his rapidly failing used car dealership, Ben Selleck hires a crack team of “car mercenaries” to ramp up sales during the Fourth of July weekend. Led by the fast-talking, foul-mouthed, self-assured Don “The Goods” Ready, the group has three days to sell over 200 cars. There were a few laugh out loud moments, and lots of mild humor throughout. The characters played their parts well. It’s worth renting.

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Men Who Stare at Goats, The – A Movie Review

Reporter Bob Wilton is in search of his next big story when he encounters Lyn Cassady, a shadowy figure who claims to be part of an experimental U.S. military unit. According to Cassady, the New Earth Army is changing the way wars are fought. A legion of “Warrior Monks” with unparalleled psychic powers can read the enemy’s thoughts, pass through solid walls, and even kill a goat simply by staring at it. Not a terrible movie, but I was expecting more.

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Monsters vs Aliens – A Movie Review

When California girl Susan Murphy is unwittingly clobbered by a meteor full of outer space gunk on her wedding day, she mysteriously grows to 49-feet-11-inches tall. Alerted to the threat of this new monster, the military jumps into action and Susan is captured and secreted away to a covert government compound. There, she is renamed Ginormica and placed in confinement with a ragtag group of other monsters. I would give the movie 7/10. It is an animated movie that you can actually volunteer to take your kids to and enjoy it just as much as they can.

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Paranormal Activity

After a young, middle class couple moves into what seems like a typical suburban “starter” tract house, they become increasingly disturbed by a presence that may or may not be demonic, but is certainly most active in the middle of the night. Especially when they sleep. Or try to. The concept was OK, but it’s been done before to much better effect. Overall, neither one of us found the movie scray at all.

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CineBistro in Hyde Park

CineBistro is a concept created by Cobb Theaters. Each features an upscale, yet inviting and comfortable atmosphere in which to dine while watching a major motion picture. It was, for us, a pleasant experience, but I think to do the whole thing (dinner and movie), the cost is a bit high. We’ll see how well the concept can catch on. Lay thinks they won’t make it. I think they might.

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Next Day Air – A Movie Review

When two bumbling criminals accidentally receive a package of grade-A cocaine, they think they’ve hit the jackpot. But when they try to cash in on their luck, it triggers a series of events that forever changes the lives of ten people. Smalltime hoods Brody and Guch have seen better days. But when a wacked-out courier accidentally brings them a box containing 10 kilos of high-quality cocaine meant for their next-door neighbors, it sets in motion a chain of events that could cost all of them their lives. Brody and Guch immediately arrange to sell the coke to Brody’s drug dealer cousin and his tightlipped bodyguard. But when the intended recipients of the package, wannabe gangster Jesus and his feisty girlfriend, realize the box hasn’t arrived, they set out on a desperate search to find it before ruthless drug kingpin Bodega Diablo notices it’s missing. But they’re too late. There’s some fun watching how we think delivery services handle our packages. But it was, otherwise, a bit predictable.

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Zombieland – A Movie Review

Two men have found a way to survive a world overrun by zombies. Columbus is a big wuss — but when you’re afraid of being eaten by zombies, fear can keep you alive. Tallahassee is an AK-totin’, zombie-slayin’ badass whose single determination is to get the last Twinkie on earth. As they join forces with Wichita and Little Rock, who have also found unique ways to survive the zombie mayhem, they will have to determine which is worse: relying on each other or succumbing to the zombies. It’s just a fun movie, probably worth watching, but won’t make it on anyone’s greatest films ever award.

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Shrink – A Movie Review

What happens when the people we count on to hold us together are barely holding it together themselves? Henry Carter is a psychiatrist with an A-list clientele, including a once-famous actress, an insecure young writer, and a comically obsessive-compulsive super agent. Henry is not in a good place, however. Watch it but don’t expect too much.

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