Surrogates

Touchstone Pictures

Rated PG-13

Running time: 89 minutes



Touchstone Pictures Surrogates is about a world where androids are remote-controlled by human operators in all walks of life. The operators live their lives vicariously through their surrogates in both work and through pleasure with the surrogates assuming all the risk and danger, such as in war, while their operators are safe far away at home. When two surrogates are destroyed - killing their operators in the process - a discrete investigation into the deaths by FBI agent Bruce Willis is conducted before more operators get killed.

Surrogates is a combination of I, Robot and Live Free or Die Hard, with the implications that of living with technology - will eventually take over your life. The Amish style territories that are without technology reminds us of how to get back to nature, or at least with just being human. The surrogates look like young supermodels - while their operators are old, and not so pretty people. The surrogates also do not even have to represent who their operators really are - as Bruce makes a comment to a surrogate lawyer that Bruce really does not know what the woman lawyer really looks like, "I hate lawyers," Bruce later says. The best part of the movie was the introduction of the movie where, through the media, the movie explains how the surrogate phenomenon was created. It is one of the best introductions of a scientific concept that I have seen for a science fiction movie. That setup particularly had to be made - as owning a "surrogate" is big business and must cost at least the amount of a car with the whole world having them, as they had "reports" of surrogates from other countries. Aside from these concepts, the thriller aspect of the movie is a rather standard thriller, and is a fairly predictable thriller film as Bruce searches for the bad guys. The physical leaps and bounds made by the surrogates are pretty cool, although I grew up with the idea that these leaps and bounds would be done by superheroes rather than by android surrogates.

Rated PG-13 for violence. Running time: 89 minutes.

Pancho
All people smile in the same language.

Shorts

Warner Bros. Pictures

Rated PG

Running time: 89 minutes



Warner Bros. Pictures Shorts is another cute children's film by Robert Rodriguez. Made as a series of short vignettes, Shorts is about some kids finding a wishing rock and the greed everyone has for it.

With the film as a series of vignettes, the shorts are not always shown in sequential order which may make following the story a little confusing. Visually, the effects are better than the earlier of Rodriquez's children films. I liked that Jolie Vanier's character was named Helvetica Black, which is named after the type font. Even though she is named after a type font, Vanier was a sort of bad girl and her name sounded quite evil with the background choir chanting Helvetica, Helvetica as she races her bicycle down the street at night.

While the film has some heavy hitter stars such as James Spader and William H. Macy - Spader and Macy were never promoted in the marketing campaign as far as I know, as I never knew Spader and Macy were involved in the movie. Too bad about this lack of promotion, as they could have brought more interest to the movie with the adult audience - as well as getting more box office for the movie.

Rated PG. Running time: 89 minutes.

Pancho
All people smile in the same language.

Pancho's Movie Reviews

The Ugly Truth

Columbia Pictures

Rated R

Running time: 96 minutes


Columbia Pictures The Ugly Truth is about male chauvinist TV host Gerard Butler trying to teach his driven uptight woman TV producer Katherine Heigl on how to pick up guys.

This is a cute predictable romantic comedy set in the TV industry. The behind-the-scene aspects of the TV industry is fairly accurate of the industry in dealing with the egos in the TV industry and the business-driven concerns for TV ratings dollars. While there are child actors in the film, this is not a children's movie as the film deals with adult themes so you do not want to bring your kids to this movie to watch the kid actors.

Rated R for sexual situations. Running time: 96 minutes.

Pancho
All people smile in the same language.

Pancho's Movie Reviews

Funny People

Universal Pictures

Rated R

Running time: 146 minutes



Universal Pictures Funny People starring Adam Sandler and Seth Rogen is about comedian Adam Sandler who finds out he has a rare blood disease and hires fellow comedian Seth Rogen to write his jokes, but swears Rogen to secrecy about Sandler's disease. The marketing campaign makes the movie seem as more of a comedy, but this is really a dramatic film with Adam Sandler in his most dramatic role that I have ever seen him in. The comedy routines by the comedians can be funny, but do not expect the movie to be a laugh riot.

The first half of the movie deals with Sandler's life as a comedian, while the second half deals with Sandler's ex-girlfriend Leslie Mann who now has her own family. The film is also a long movie. I did not check my watch, but I did keep wondering towards the second half of the movie "when is this over?" The family aspect of the movie was interesting, but that made the film too long and the family storyline is good enough for a movie to be developed on it's own.

Rated R for language. Running time: 146 minutes.

Pancho
All people smile in the same language.

 Pancho's Movie Reviews

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince

Warner Bros. Pictures

Rated PG

Running time: 153 minutes



Warner Bros. Pictures Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince is one of the best Harry Potter movies. From the first shot of Daniel Radcliffe as Harry Potter, you can see how the actors, like Emma Watson and Rupert Grint, as well as the movies have grown up. Instead of a children's magical film with dramatic elements, as the first few films were, the Half-Blood Prince is an adult dramatic film with magical elements. As a result of which, I was more focused on the film than comparing it with the book by J.K. Rowling as I did with the other movies. This is also one of the few films where you do not have to know the books to understand what is happening. This is an acting and story driven film instead of a digitally enhanced driven film like Transformers 2.

While a student at Hogwart's, a school for wizardry, Harry Potter is entrusted by the school's headmaster Dumbledore to learn about a secret memory from the potions teacher Jim Broadbent who taught former student Tom Riddle, now the dark wizard Lord Voldermart. While there are some light-hearted moments with the students all falling in love with each other, the focus of the movie is on discovering the dark secret behind Tom Riddle/Voldermart. The film is rated PG, but there are a couple of intense scenes which I think is much closer to a PG-13 rating. The ending is a shocker - except for those who have read the book. I read the book, and the ending still made me teary-eyed. These child stars have grown up in their roles as actors and as a result their maturity has made the film very dramatic.

At the end of the movie, as I watched the end credits and listened to the music, there were groups of the audience still in their seats discussing the film. That is the result of how much the film has had an affect on the audience. The general consensus was that they enjoyed the film as much as I did.

Rated PG for violence. Running time: 153 minutes.

Pancho
All people smile in the same language.

 Pancho's Movie Reviews

G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra

Paramount Pictures

Rated PG-13

Running time: 118 minutes


Click below to watch the G.I. Joe: The Rise of the Cobra trailer.



A weapons dealer, Christopher Eccleston, whose company has supplied the U.S. military with weapons, has made some warheads with nanotechnology that eats metal. The G.I. Joe team must stop this turncoat and his Cobras from destroying the world's city capitals.

G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra, based on the Hasbro Company toys and the comic book, is set in the near distant future, so the futuristic technology could be acceptable. Certainly the high energy digital effects make some of it acceptable. Otherwise, the technology detracts from the realistic version of the military that started out the movie if it was set today. The G.I. Joe team, that technically does not exist, is made of the best special operations soldiers from around the world - which differs from the comic of which the team was all-American special operations. This is a rather upsetting idea to me as the term "G.I. Joe" is a World War II term which referred to the American soldiers.

The best characterizations come from Channing Tatum as Duke and Sienna Miller as the Baroness - as well as the characters Snake-Eyes, Ray Park, and Storm Shadow, Byung-hun Lee. With so many characters, you never really get to know the other Joes or Cobras aside from the stars of the movie. The relationship with Scarlet, Rachel Nichols, and RipCord, Marlon Wayans, is different than their relationships in the comic and in the movie this relationship somehow demeans Scarlet as a person, although the women in the film are very smart. If they kept the relationship with Scarlet and Snake-Eyes, that would have developed both of these characters since Marlon Wayans has enough talent to develop his own character on his own if they had just let him go to town.

Rated PG-13 for violence. Running time: 118 minutes.

See book review:
G.I. JOE - THE RISE OF COBRA

Pancho
All people smile in the same language.

Star Trek

Paramount Pictures

Rated PG-13

Running time: 127 minutes


In Paramount Pictures update of the TV series. the movie is very true to the spirit of Star Trek. It brings the crew of the starship Enterprise together for the first time, and is very optimistic and fun with a level of intensity that is more than a typical TV episode of Star Trek. There are a couple of plot points which changes traditional Star Trek canon, but this might make for interesting story-telling for future films. With Spock, Leonard Nimoy, going back in time, this film is on a different timeline than the TV series. It was nice to see George Kirk, Chris Hemsworth, as the father of James T. Kirk, Chris Pine.  Zachary Quinto is perfect as the young Spock. I could see him as the original Spock in the 1960's TV series. Anton Yelchin was appropriatlely very young as Chekov. As Simon Pegg, who plays chief engineer Montgomery Scott, says "I like this ship!"

Rated PG-13 for violence. Running time: 127 minutes.

Pancho
All people smile in the same language.

Pancho's Movie Reviews

Terminator Salvation

Warner Bros. Pictures

Rated PG-13

Running time: 115 minutes




Terminator Salvation is I think one of the best Terminator movies. It does not deal with time travel - but the actual war with the computer network Skynet and the Terminators. This time you get to see the different kinds of Terminators - with Skynet building even more new models. Christian Bale is great as John Connor - although he is in only half the movie. The other half of the movie focuses on criminal survivor Sam Worthington. There is one continuous CGI tracking effect with Christian Bale and a helicopter in the beginning of the movie that to me makes the entire movie. I almost wish the rest of the movie was like that one shot. Anton Yelchin, who plays Chekov in Star Trek, plays Kyle Reese in this film. I did not recognize Anton Yelchin until I saw the credits, which shows how good of an actor he is. For those of you who are not familiar with the Terminator films, Kyle Reese is an important part of the Terminator saga. Considering what will happen with Reese, it is interesting to see his development in this movie with Christian Bale as John Connor searches for Reese.

Rated PG-13 for violence. Running time: 115 minutes.

See book review:
Terminator - Salvation - From the Ashes 


Pancho
All people smile in the same language.

Pancho's Movie Reviews

The Hangover

Warner Bros. Pictures

Rated R

Running time: 100 minutes




The Hangover is about four guys going to Las Vegas for a bachelor party. It gives new meaning to "What happens in Vegas stays in Vegas" or more appropriately "What happened in Vegas?" After a wild night, the guys can't remember what happened, and spend the rest of the movie figuring out what happened that night - especially since they misplaced the groom-to-be. This film seems like an adult version of Superbad as all sorts of outrageous events happen to the guys, one of the guys even had a Las Vegas wedding. Too bad the baby is not as involved with the story as the trailer makes it out to be, which means the movie is NOT a remake of Three Men and a Baby as the marketing campaigns make it appear to be.

Rated R for sexual situations and violence. Running time: 100 minutes.

Pancho
All people smile in the same language.

The Proposal

Touchstone Pictures

Rated PG-13

Running time: 108 minutes



The Proposal, the story of Canadian boss Sandra Bullock coerces her American executive secretary Ryan Reynolds to marry her - or she will be deported.

While cute and predictable, The Proposal is a cynical version of While You Were Sleeping as Sandra Bullock switches from her usual good girl character - to a bitchy character. In fact, many of the story elements were the exact opposite of While You Were Sleeping. The most obvious comparison of the two movies is the wedding scene as her opinion of Reynolds upgrades from lowly secretary to prodigal rich son with a loving family. If you don't mind feeling as if you have seen this movie before, then this movie is for you.

Rated PG-13 for sexual situations. Running time: 108 minutes.

Pancho
All people smile in the same language.

Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen

Paramount Pictures/ DreamWorks SKG

PG-13

Running time: 150 minutes





Paramount Pictures Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen, is an action-packed sequel to Transformers. Shia LaBeouf goes off to college, but is accidentally downloaded with mysterious symbols into his mind whose symbols the Decepticons are after. The Autobots must now protect Shia from the Decepticons.

I think Revenge of the Fallen has a better story than the first Transformers as the Decepticons seek control of the Fallen, Tony Todd. However the climax had so much action that I do not remember how the climax actually ended, and some of the characters had no strong conclusion and just seemed to vanish. The Transformers, both Autobots and Decepticons, were so mechanized that when they were battling, I had difficulty telling who was who - especially since they did not seem to have much characterization to begin with. These were just battles to me and I did not care about who was battling. It is incredible how much computer software can create such an intense level of detail - now the problem is to learn how to use the software without overwhelming the audience. Unless you are a die-hard fan, you can not tell which Transformer was which and even then that could be difficult since in the battle scenes they all look alike. As a result, I was much more interested in the human characters than the Transformers themselves - and the Transformers are what the movie is supposed to be all about.

Rated PG-13 for violence. Running time: 150 minutes.

Pancho
All people smile in the same language.

Land of the Lost

Universal Studios

Rated PG-13

Running time: 102 minutes



Land of the Lost, Universal Studios updated version of the TV series Land of the Lost, is a Will Ferrell vehicle. Do not expect the family based TV show on which the movie is based on. Just think of this movie as a Will Ferrell movie with elements of the Land of the Lost TV show. There was one point in the movie where I sang the theme song, actually two points in the movie as the theme song was actually done in the movie. Since the main characters have been replaced by adults, there are adult themes in the movie - as a result, this is not a good film to bring young children to.

TV host Matt Lauer bashes Will Ferrell in a TV interview. To prove himself, Ferrell, Anna Friel, and Danny McBride search for proof - and fall through a space-time vortex. They get sucked into the Land of the Lost - which holds iconic junk from our universe, along with dinosaurs, cave person Jorma Taccone as Cha-Ka, and the remains of a lizard-like civilization.

I saw this movie with family and friends. We went to this movie expecting a light-hearted film. Being a fan of the TV show which I saw when I was a kid, I was surprised the movie was better than I thought it would be given that I knew it was going to be a Will Ferrell movie - and not really based on the TV show. If you look at it as a light-hearted comment on society and not some deep intellectual film, you can have some fun with it.

Rated PG-13 for violence and sexual situations. Running time: 102 minutes.

Pancho
All people smile in the same language.