“The name’s… Rango!” Meet an ordinary chameleon, itching to be an actor living within his glass frame. When an untimely accident finds him stranded in the middle of the dessert, Rango must find a way to survive in the scorching heat. When his travels bring him to the town of Dirt, Rango will learn the most prized commodity for these people is water. Ultimately, what this town needs, is a hero. Putting his acting chops to work, Rango becomes the town’s sheriff and the leader in the quest to find where all the water went.

Starring Johnny Depp, Isla Fisher and Timothy Olyphant, this film has some of the best computer animation I’ve seen this in the last couple of months. What I enjoy about this movie is the approach that director Gore Verbinski took to have the actors record their voices. Rather than have them in a sound booth, Gore had the actors play out the scenes in live action to make their voices real to the situation. How cool right?

When it comes to the film, I thought this would a kids flick. Boy was I mistaken. In the theatre I watched the movie in, there were families and kids galore. However, I’m going to guarantee that 70% of the jokes in went over their heads. Most of the time I was laughing was because of a dirty joke told by Rango or the wise Raven, Ambrose. The plot is pretty interesting but the length and concept isn’t really aimed at the kids. I’m not sure if Nickelodeon just thought kids are desensitized now or what, but I wouldn’t recommend bring children under the age of 12 to this movie.

Check out some movie stills and the trailer after the jump.

Starring: Matt Damon and Emily Blunt.
Based on: Philip K. Dick short story Adjustment Team.
Written and directed by: George Nolfi.
Other notable cast: Anthony Mackie, Shohreh Aghdashloo, Michael Kelly, John Slattery, Terence Stamp, and Anthony Ruivivar.

The Adjustment Bureau is an entertaining romantic-action flick staring the Devil Bourne Wearing Prada couple Matt Damon and Emily Blunt. Both have a believable on screen chemistry that I found more and more appealing as the film progressed. I was surprised by how much this film focused on the love story between Emily and Matt; the trailers setup more of a Matrix style film in my mind. I was also surprised by how many religious references were incorporated. I actually like the way that they were able to weave the hand of god throughout the entire plot.

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A couple nights ago, I caught the pre-screen of the movie Hall Pass, a comedy starring SNL’s Jason Sudeikis as well as Owen Wilson, who you know from tons of other comedies, but mostly from his unique nose. I had no expectations going into this film, but I will tell you this…I was beyond pleasantly surprised.

Best friends Rick and Fred (Owen Wilson and Jason Sudeikis) have been married to their wives for several years now (Jenna Fisher and Christina Applegate). When the women start getting frustrated by their men always checking out other girls and always wanting to have sex, they decide to grant their men a one week Hall Pass, as recommended by their psychologist friend, played by Joy Behar from The View. What does that entail? The “Hall Pass” is a week off of marriage to do whatever they want…no questions asked. Of course it seems too good to be true at first, but then the guys realize it’s for real and they’re eager to take advantage of the opportunity. Of course, being “single” isn’t how they remember it to be, as they have changed and so has the scene.

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I actually had completely missed any kind of trailer for this movie before last week when my roommate Mia showed it to me. I was BLOWN AWAY! The second I saw it was texting up HQ at Homorazzi BEGGING to get me the screening passes…and they totally came through!

I Am Number Four is a movie based on a book written by Pittacus Lore which is the pen name of authors James Frey and Jobie Hughes. Yes the same Frey who wrote the masterpiece “A Million Little Pieces”…same guy. Here’s what you need to know about the story. There are 9 alien babies who look just like humans that escape a planet far away called Lorien each with a protector, right before the planet was destoryed by Mogadorians. Each of the children were decendants of members of the planet’s Garde, so they each have very special powers, what are called Legacies, in their blood. Each of the children is given a number, 1 through 9. The Mogadorians have found the 9 on Earth and want them dead. The thing is they need to be killed off in their order. Once one of them is dead, the other remaining kids get a scar on their leg in the same pattern as a medalion worn by the child who got killed…you with me still?

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Thanks to my friend Scott, this past weekend I was lucky enough to catch the screener of  Justin Bieber’s new film ‘Never Say Never‘ in 3D.  And now for a confession – I enjoyed it.

A few months back, I got to see Justin in concert and he was actually really good.  He put on a great show and – shocker – sang the whole thing live, which compared to most artists at least double his age, is a pretty big deal.  Anyway, after that concert I kind of understood the whole Bieber Fever thing.  I love ‘I Just Need Somebody to Love‘ and ‘U Smile’…ok, I love ‘Baby, Baby, Baby‘ and now ‘Never Say Never.’  Now that I’ve admitted that, we can talk about the movie.  The whole movie centers around the 10 days prior to Justin’s performance at Madison Square Garden and also tells the story of how he started out as a kid singing songs on YouTube.

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Hopkins and priests and possession OH MY!

I took in the premiere of The Rite this week, to see what was going down in the horror world. I would call myself a horror buff but had little to no expectations of another movie about a priest who may not believe in God, a mentor skilled in exorcism, and a whole lotta science vs. religion.

The movie opened up fantastically and set the scene for our main character Michael Kovak (played by relatively unknown Colin O’Donoghue), a twenty something year old trying to get away from taking over the family’s Funeral Home business. He decides to study the priesthood, fully conscious he may not believe in God, and after a full four years of school decides to resign. His superiors see potential in Michael, and somewhat blackmail him into studying a new exorcism program in Rome and staying in the priesthood. So out of America, and into the sweeping landscapes of Italy we go.

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Holy culture shock! Over the last three nights I have taken in three different cultural shows and performances, starting with a Hollywood Blockbuster film, followed my a Welsh play in a 150-person live theatre, and last, a documentary film from Finland in a high school theatre. What an adventure these last few days have been on my senses and mindset, specifically referring to the show that just wrapped up, Steam of Life. The film, by Joonas Berghall and Mika Hotakainen, is like nothing else I’ve ever had the pleasure of watching.

As mentioned, the film is a Finnish documentary following the lives of several men from Finland and their abilities to deal with some of life’s hardest tribulations, and their resorting to the cultural phenomena of saunas as a peace of solitude and cleansing. Throughout the film the audience is continually shown that the saunas are traditionally used for actual bathing, including a 51-year marriage between a man and a women, who have washed each other daily over the course of their relationship. And this was the opening sequence of the film!

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One of the first romantic comedies of 2011 is hitting theatres this Friday and I got to check it out a few days early. By myself. It was a weird experience seeing a movie solo, in a packed theatre surrounded by strangers. My boisterous laugh definitely has a definitive resonating sound which is much more embarrassing when you have no one to turn and blame! But that’s beside the point.

The movie I checked out was hilar-balls, with a sexual twist! The new-age rom-com, No Strings Attached stars my girl and soon-to-be Academy Award winner, Natalie Portman, and Bruce Willis’ son, Ashton Kutcher.* Natalie plays protagonist, Emma, an emotionally closed girl who refuses to allow any man to get close to her for fear of getting hurt. It’s unrealistic to dream anyone can go through life not feeling or allowing themselves to be loved, but Portman’s character was determined to die trying. Kutcher, naturally, played the male lead, Adam, a desperate and hopeless romantic. The flip-character story line of hard woman and soft man was the perfect switch from your typical rom-com plot.

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