THE MAN FROM U.N.C.L.E.

Warner Bros.

Rated PG-13

Running time: 116 Minutes

Click below to watch a movie trailer of The Man from UNCLE from YouTube.

In Warner Bros. The Man From U.N.C.L.E., CIA agent Napoleon Solo/Henry Cavill must join forces with KGB operative Illya Kuryakin/Armie Hammer to track down a private atom bomb.

Based on the television series The Man From U.N.C.L.E., the movie is Written and Directed by Guy Ritchie. The Man From U.N.C.L.E. is set during the height of the Cold War of the 1960's in 1963, soon after the Cuban Missile Crisis. News archive footage from British Pathe, including footage of President John F. Kennedy and World War II and atomic bomb footage, as well as the graphics at the beginning of the movie and throughout the movie reflect that time period. Not only does having the film set during the 60's retain the flavor of the TV series and the spy movies of the 60's, along with the music in the film, the 60's style separates the movie from the current series of spy films set in today's world. It was also nice that they incorporated the theme song from the TV series into the movie.

In a most dangerous time of our history, top CIA agent Solo/Cavill extracts Alicia Vikander, the daughter of Nazi scientist turned US collaborator at the end of World War II Christian Berkel from East Berlin - evading the best KGB operative within three years Kuryakin/Hammer. Vikander's uncle Sylvester Groth works for a shipping company owned by Elizabeth Debicki and Luca Calvani who are Nazi sympathizers and have ties to an international criminal organization that want to destabilize the fragile balance of power and intend to use Berkel to build thier own private atom bomb. Rivals used to working independently - Solo/Cavill and Kuryakin/Hammer are ordered by their governments to work together on this mission, as well as with Vikander to act as Kuryakin's/Hammer's fiancee, in order to locate Vikander's father Berkel and to stop Debicki and Calvani from succeeding in having Berkel developing the nuclear weapon.

I felt that The Man From U.N.C.L.E. is more fun than a James Bond movie in that the comedy comes from the character relationships, rather than the plot. I always felt a lot of the plot in a James Bond movie was contrived. It is curious that Ian Fleming developed both James Bond and The Man From U.N.C.L.E. A couple of the dining scenes reflect the humorous character relationships between Solo/Cavill and Kuryakin/Hammer when they are working together in the field as well as the relationships during the various chase scenes.

I loved the rivalry between Solo/Cavill and Kuryakin/Hammer and how they grew to respect each other. Actually, personally I related to Cavill more to his role as Napoleon Solo rather than Cavill in his role as Superman as Solo uses his criminal talents in infiltration as well as overcoming security systems. It is curious that Armie Hammer was once considered for the role of Superman. Cavill and Hammer did most of their own stunts, which I think was great - especially as Kuryakin/Hammer had more of a temper and Hammer doing his own stunts which would be shown onscreen. With Kuryakin/Hammer having a temper as well as being Vikander's "fiancee" and his relationship with her, it feels that Kuryakin/Hammer is more of the protagonist of the movie during most of the film instead of Solo/Cavill and Kuryakin/Hammer being equal.

I did not recognize Hugh Grant as Commander Waverly  as his hair has changed from the last time I saw him. It is funny that Grant is the only principle character that used his own accent in the movie.

Due to the various languages spoken in the film, such as Russian and Italian, there are subtitles in the movie. The movie has in international feel as it travels from East Berlin, to Rome.

The graphics of the end credits show the dossiers of the agents of The Man From U.N.C.L.E. - United Network Command for Law and Enforcement.

I am looking forward to more of The Man From U.N.C.L.E. films, even hopefully a film of The Girl From U.N.C.L.E.

On a sad note, before the movie started, the theater showed a video of emergency procedures for the theater in case of an event. It is a shame that with events that are happening in today's news that the movie going experience has come to this.

Rated PG-13 for violence, sexual situations, nudity. Running time: 116  Minutes.

Click below to watch another movie trailer of The Man From Uncle on YouTube.



Click below to watch the Comic-Con movie trailer of The Man From UNCLE on YouTube.



Click below to watch a 60's style movie trailer of The Man From UNCLE from YouTube.



Pancho
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ST. VINCENT

The Weinstein Company

Rated PG-13

Running time: 102 Minutes


Click below to watch a movie trailer of St. Vincent from YouTube.





In The Weinstein Company's St. Vincent, drunken, gambling slacker Bill Murray winds up being babysitter to next door neighbor boy Jaeden Lieberher.

Single mom Melissa McCarthy and her 12 year-old son Jaeden Lieberher move in next door to cantankerous Murray's home. Jobless, in debt, and desperate for money, a reluctant Murray offers up himself to being a babysitter and unwitting mentor to Lieberher.

As Lieberher's mother and being a nurse, this is probably the most normal role that I have seen Melissa McCarthy play in the movies. McCarthy's indignation to Murray's idea of after-school activities for Lieberher is pure mom, especially with Lieberher being in a private religious school. I did like the growing mentoring relationship between Murray and Lieberher, especially as you learn more about Murray. While I am not an expert, Murray's lady of the night Naomi Watts Russian accent seemed totally believable to me.

This is the best acting that I have seen Bill Murray do as his character goes through some changes. I would not be surprised if Murray gets nominated for an Oscar for Best Actor for this movie role.

After watching the Vietnam War pictures in the movie, it seemed appropriate that I saw St. Vincent on Veterans Day.

Rated PG-13 for Sexual Situations, Language, and Violence.

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DELIVERY MAN

Touchstone Pictures

Rated PG-13

Running time: 105 Minutes



Click below to watch the Delivery Man movie trailer.
 

In Touchstone Pictures Delivery Man, Vince Vaughn is a slacker working at his Father's butcher's shop delivering meat - when Vaughn discovers that his sperm donations have produced 533 children.

In this comedy remake of Writer/Director Ken Scott's French/Canadian film Starbuck, Vaughn owes $80,000 to some thugs and his girlfriend Police woman Cobie Smulders is pregnant with his baby. When lawyer Damian Young informs Vaughn that Vaughn's fertility clinic made a mistake and used his sperm multiple times, Vaughn suddenly finds himself the father of 533 children - adult, grown up children who have joined together in a class action lawsuit in order to force the clinic to reveal who their real father is. With the reluctant help of Vaughn's friend and lawyer Chris Pratt, Vaughn goes through the profiles of his children and finally finds his true purpose - deciding to be a guardian angel to his grown up children.

This was a cute film, and not as nasty about sperm donation that I thought the film would be. I liked the fact that Vaughn eventually decided to become involved in the lives of his children. Some of the children of course are a little suspicious of Vaughn, but to see the children's lives change for the better as a result of Vaughn's encouragement was a tear-jerker for me. Having Vaughn observing what their jobs and lives are like was very touching for me. What I did not like was the fact that there were several concepts and ideas that were brought up in the movie that were not followed up to their conclusions. And Vaughn's relationship with one child was both illogical plot wise considering the lawsuit and was not followed through to the end, although Vaughn's relationship with this child was a tear-jerker of a relationship.

Among the media coverage, cameos with Jay Leno and Bill Maher appear as themselves as they discuss who this mysterious father is as they appear on their talk shows in the movie.

Rated PG-13 for language. Running time: 105 Minutes.

Pancho
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LAST VEGAS

CBS Films

Rated PG-13

Running time: 105 Minutes


















Click below to watch the Last Vegas movie trailer.

 

In CBS Films Last Vegas, three sixty-something lifelong friends of 50 years from Brooklyn, New York, Robert De Niro, Morgan Freeman, and Kevin Kline travel to Las Vegas in order to throw a bachelor party in for their single pal Michael Douglas who is going to marry Bre Blair - a woman half his age.

Directed by Jon Turteltaub, Last Vegas is a comedic senior version of The Hangover. I loved the relationships between all of the characters, with the relationship between De Niro and Douglas being especially intense with their unresolved issues. Lounge singer Mary Steenburgen makes their way into their lives as she shows them around Vegas as the guys get into all kinds of trouble.

I liked the juxtaposition between seniors De Niro, Freeman, Kline, and Douglas and their younger selves RJ Fattori, Aaron Bantum, Phillip Wampler, and Noah Harden. This was also the first time that De Niro, Freeman, Kline and Douglas ever appeared together. Actually of the seniors, I was surprised at how old Kline got. I think the last time I saw Kline in a movie was in the movie Dave, which was done in 1993.

Although the movie is rated PG-13, Jon Turteltaub convinced the MPAA - Motion Picture Association of America - to bring the movie down from an initial R rating, so audiences should be prepared for the movie because of the sexual situations.

Rapper 50 Cent, credited under his real name as Curtis Jackson, makes a cameo. This was a delight, when the guys wound up with a celebrity suite at their casino hotel.

Rated PG-13 for violence, language, and sexual situations. Running time: 105 Minutes.

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WE'RE THE MILLERS

Warner Bros.

Rated R

Running time: 110 Minutes



Click below to watch a We're the Millers movie trailer clip.



In Warner Bros. We're the Millers, pot dealer Jason Sudeikis gets his drug money and stash stolen and is forced by his drug lord Ed Helms to bring a "smidgen" of marijuana across the border from Mexico - by using a fake family in an RV.

In this raunchy comedy, Sudeikis realizes the only way that he can get through border customs is to pose as a family. The dysfunctional group of people that he hires, stripper neighbor Jennifer Aniston, teen aged runaway girl Emma Roberts, along with his virgin neighbor Will Poulter to become the All-American Family the "Millers" in order to sneak past the border. The road trip back and forth from Mexico becomes even more raunchy when they meet up and make camp with their RV counterparts, the "Fitzgerald's" - Nick Offerman, Kathryn Hahn, and Molly Quinn. In the meantime, the "Millers" get chased by Mexican drug lord Tomer Sisley and his henchman, former NFL player Matthew Willig, because Sisley wants his marijuana back from Sudeikis.

I thought Jennifer Aniston was pretty hot as a stripper. I liked the fact that - despite the fact that they're not being a real family and rather hate each other - the "Millers" pull together and do become a family. Sudeikis reluctantly becomes a father to Poulter and Roberts, with Aniston being a natural mother. I actually thought that henchman Willig had more of a presence in the movie than his boss drug lord Sisley. Helms is decidedly sleazy as Sudeikis businessman drug lord.

At the end of the movie are bloopers, including a classic blooper concerning the Millers and Aniston.

Rated R for drug material, language, sexual situations, violence, nudity. Running time: 110 Minutes.

Click below to watch what I consider a red tag movie trailer of We're the Millers.

 
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 Pancho's Movie Reviews

MONSTERS UNIVERSITY

Walt Disney Pictures

Rated G

Running time: 104 Minutes



Click below to watch the movie trailer of Monsters University.



In Walt Disney Pictures Monsters University, before Mike - Billy Crystal - and Sulley - John Goodman - were Incorporated scarers, they had to go to school.

This film is the first prequel for Pixar. In this prequel to Monsters Inc. - a G Rated version of Revenge of the Nerds - before they were famous, Mike/Crystal and Sulley/Goodman are rival scare major students competing to be the best scarer during the Scare Games.

Several actors return to reprise their characters including Steve Buscemi, Bob Peterson, and John Ratzenberger.

I thought it was quite appropriate that the scariest monster to me in this academic setting was the Dean of the school, Helen Mirren. I thought the movie was cute - although I liked Monsters Inc. better, probably because of the relationship that Mike/Crystal and Sulley/Goodman were having with the human child Boo - Mary Gibbs - in the first movie. Mike/Crystal and Sulley's/Goodman's relationships with Oozma Kappa did not have the same emotional relationship to me, even with the big Sulley/Goodman going up against Oozma Kappa. Although I did like little Mike's/Crystal's tutoring of Oozma Kappa.

I was with my nieces, so we left when the credits started. As a result, I missed the fact that there is a scene during the end credits.

Monsters University also had the premier of the Pixar short film The Blue Umbrella which I thought was a really cute relationship film.

Click below to watch another movie trailer of Monsters University.



Rated G with mild violence. Running time: 104 Minutes.

Pancho 
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 Pancho's Movie Reviews


 

the INTERNSHIP

Twentieth Century Fox

Rated PG-13

Running time: 119 Minutes



Click below to watch a movie trailer of The Internship.



In Twentieth Century Fox's The Internship, obsolete salesmen Vince Vaughn and Owen Wilson suddenly lose their jobs when their company closes and they apply for a summer internship job - at Google, the gigantic Internet search engine.

Written, Produced, and Starring Vince Vaughn this comedy is a nice, feel-good movie for the summer with a strong Google and fanboy slant. Totally different from The Social Network - the other computer website related movie - and the small audience that I saw The Internship with was laughing throughout the entire movie. Actually, the young cast of the movie made me feel like I was watching a college oriented film with people who have dreams. What is sad is the reason that Vaughn and Owen lost their jobs. Now these old guys have to compete the young tech-savvy college crowd. As Owens says, They are looking at some sort of mental Hunger Games against a bunch of geniuses kids for just like a handful of jobs. Of course being the old interns, Vaughn and Owen have no idea of what all the fan boy slang is that the interns Josh Brener, Tiya Sircar, Dylan O'Brien, and Tobit Raphael are using.

I liked the fact that they played Muggle Quiditch. I had never realized that they actually had created a game called Muggle Quiditch. Given the fact that the game is played on the ground, Muggle Quiditch pretty much follows Wizard Quiditch. Muggle Quiditch was actually pretty much fun to watch.

John Goodman's uncredited cameo as Vaughn's and Wilson's boss was great as always. Will Ferrell's cameo was also uncredited. There is also a cameo by Google Co-Founder Sergey Brin.

This movie is basically about fitting in amongst this complicated world, especially with computers. Learning about computers in order to run the help desk appeared to be daunting as Vaughn can attest to. It is a sad state of affairs that Vaughn and Wilson lose their jobs because their company was outdated and the business had to close.

A lot of Google products were shown, including Google's Gmail, Google Plus, Google Wallet and Google Maps, and the Google's self-driving car gets a cameo too. While the movie may be considered a commercial for Google, I liked the fact that I got to know more about Google and it's culture. There have been reports from Google interns that a lot of the movie is pretty accurate. 

The end credits were designed by Google's creative team.

Rated PG-13 for sexual situations, language, and violence. Running time: 119 Minutes.

Click below to watch another movie trailer of The Internship.



Pancho 
All people smile in the same language.

Pancho's Movie Reviews

WARM BODIES

Summit Entertainment

Rated PG-13

Running time: 98 minutes



Click below to watch the Warm Bodies trailer.



In Summit Entertainment's Warm Bodies, Nicholas Hoult falls in love with Teresa Palmer - the problem is Hoult is a zombie.

Based on the novel by Isaac Marion, this is a different kind of zombie film with a "dead boy meets girl" plot, which is actually a loose retelling of Romeo and Juliet. I like that Palmer's best friend Analeigh Tipton is a nurse, similar to Juliet's having a nurse, as well as having an "R" and Juliet balcony scene in the movie. Warm Bodies is also told from the zombies point of view with Hoult's voice overs, which I do not think I have seen before. Usually it is zombies just walking around eating people, and there is some of that in the movie - including Palmer's boyfriend Dave Franco. I don't think I have ever seen zombies starting to be cured before and regaining their humanity. These elements make the movie different from what someone may expect from a regular zombie movie. What is curious from a movie making aspect, is that the zombie actors chose not to blink on screen, until they started to become more human.

I think my favorite scene in the movie, aside from Hoult's first meeting with his best friend Rob Corddry as "M", was the Pretty Woman scene with Roy Orbison. Music was a very important part of Hoult being a zombie, and probably added the most humanity to me aside from Hoult's relationship with Palmer. Having Hoult's home being at an airport was an interesting location for zombies that I never considered before.

John Malkovich was great as the para-military Colonel of the surviving humans defending their enclave amongst the zombie outbreak, almost despotic in his zeal of protecting his people and with killing zombies. I liked his video about zombies. The Bony zombies - zombies that are all muscle and bones - were appropriately scary and were definitely the horror part of the movie. I just wish the Bonys were more graphic as well as the child zombies.

I would not be surprised if Warm Bodies becomes a cult classic.

Rated PG-13 for violence and language. Running time: 98 Minutes.

Pancho 
All people smile in the same language.

  Pancho's Movie Reviews

MOVIE 43

Relativity Media

Rated R

Running time: 94 minutes



 Click below to watch the Movie 43 trailer.

 

In Relativity Media's Movie 43, filmmaker Dennis Quaid tries to convince movie producer Greg Kinnear to buy his movie script. As Quaid does his pitch of what the movie is about, the film turns into a series of 13 short raunchy films and commercials of what Quaid's movie is supposed to be about.

Make no mistake, this is a raunchy film that will have something in the movie to offend everybody. While everyone complains that this is a bad movie, the audience I saw the movie with was laughing throughout the entire movie - so there is an audience that would appreciate this movie, like me. I will admit, however, that the short film I was uncomfortable with was "Machine Kids" which was about children working inside machines. This was especially relevant to me, as we had just replaced a numbers of copiers at work.

While Quaid did lead the movie from one segment to another initially to describe his film - the many film shorts, each one directed by a different director, eventually ran into each other making me feel like I was at home watching TV with commercials coming on. I had to remember - I am in a theater watching a movie.

Apparently the framing story of the movie is different in other countries. Instead of a movie pitch, the films are connected by teenagers searching for the most banned movie in the world apparently online. As a result of which, the title of the movie refers to the forty-third rule of the Internet - you can find anything on the Internet if you are willing to look for it long enough.

While everyone laughed at the movie, no one laughed at the Hollywood jokes except for me. That was mainly because the Hollywood jokes were not raunchy, but more of a satire on Hollywood which only the Hollywood industry people like me would get.

The movie had a lot of stars in the movie. I think one reasons the producers were able to get such an ensemble of stars to act in this movie is because the actors might have liked the idea of doing a short film for their segment, similar along the lines of a student film, which will not take up a lot of time for them to do. Although apparently Richard Gere tried to get out of being in this movie and that the actor's agents did not want their big client actors working for scale. I can imagine how Halle Berry's agents would feel having their beautiful client winding up in huge ugly makeup, or Hugh Jackman with his makeup.

When the end credits start to roll concerning the various short films - stick around as there is one more short film to be shown after the preliminary end credits that stars Elizabeth Banks and a raunchy animated pet cat, which is basically a raunchier version of the movie Ted. Actually when the preliminary end credits started to roll, I felt that the movie was short. The extra short film at the very end filled out the movie, making the entire movie feel like the right length of time to be watching a movie.

Rated R for sexual situations, language, nudity, violence. Running time: 94 minutes.

Pancho 
All people smile in the same language.

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THE WATCH

20th Century Fox

Rated R

Running time: 102 Minutes



Click below to watch The Watch trailer.




In 20th Century Fox's The Watch, Ben Stiller forms a neighborhood watch - and soon discovers that their neighborhood is being invaded by aliens.

When his newly American citizen security guard Joe Nunez is killed at his store, Costco manager Ben Stiller makes an announcement at the local high school football game that he intends to find the killer and starts a neighborhood watch composed of Vince Vaughn, Jonah Hill, and Richard Ayoade to see if they can search for the killer. As they bumble through being a neighborhood watch amongst the quirky neighbors, rowdy teenagers gone wild, and the local small-town hick police Will Forte and Mel Rodriguez as the Watch looks for the killer, the Watch soon run into aliens hidden amongst the neighbors in the neighborhood as more people are killed for their skins and that anybody could be an alien amongst them.

A combination of Ghostbusters meets ET and Aliens, with the film co written by Seth Rogen, this was a cute science fiction comedy about aliens invading a neighborhood. Although I can not recall why they wanted to invade that out of the way neighborhood, so the reason did not make an impression on me. However, I thought the movie was funny.

With lonely Stiller continually forming groups that he is in charge of, Stiller's put upon and baby-starved wife Rosemarie DeWitt wants Stiller home so they can have a child and must compete with Stiller's new group - The Neighborhood Watch. Fellow Watch member Vaughn meanwhile designs their logo and has to deal with his teen aged daughter Erin Moriarty and her horny boyfriend Nicholas Braun, of whom Vaughn did not like at all. 

The core group of Stiller, Vaughn, Hill and Ayoade made a nice group for the Watch - a group similar to The Ghostbusters - although Ayoade does not have the star power of the others. I had never heard of Ayoade before, and Ayoade was much more subtle in his characterization when compared to the others - especially with wanting sex with an Asian housewife. Hill was a typical Jonah Hill character. R Lee Ermey was great in one of his rare non-military roles as a cantankerous gun-wielding neighbor. Billy Crudup was an appropriately creepy new neighbor for Stiller. I liked that DeWitt eventually became an unofficial part of the watch.

It is too bad that this movie did not get much promotion as I thought this was a fun movie. With Stiller being a manager at Costco, a lot of the jokes and scenes take place at the Costco store as well as the jokes happening throughout the neighborhood. The couple behind me were laughing a lot at this movie. Unfortunately, due to the shooting death of Trayvon Martin in Sanford, Florida shot by a neighborhood watch captain, 20th Century Fox altered their marketing for this movie. These changes in marketing, as well as the various events of the 2012 summer season and the movie's R rating, is what I believed helped kill the movie as I saw very little marketing for The Watch. I am also sure the film would have done better as a PG-13 film.

Rated R for language, sexual situations, violence. Running time: 102 Minutes

Click below to watch another trailer of The Watch.



Pancho
All people smile in the same language.
 Pancho's Movie Reviews

Ted

Universal

Rated R

Running time: 106 Minutes



Click below to watch the Ted trailer.



In Universal Pictures Ted, Mark Wahlberg's relationship with Mina Kulis is threateaned by his childhood relationship - with his Teddy Bear Ted, Seth MacFarlane.

This is the feature-length directorial debut of MacFarlane, who also wrote and produced Ted as well as the movie being the first live-action project for MacFarlane. MacFarlane does the voice-over for the grown-up Ted. After lonely child Bretton Manley wishes for his teddy bear to be a real-life friend, Teddy Zane Cowans becomes a real-life bear and soon becomes a celebrity. The movie then focuses on the present day, where Wahlberg and Ted/MacFarlane are now grown up - but very immature adults, even if they do have jobs. How Mila Kunis spent four years with Wahlberg and Ted/MacFarlane is a mystery to me. I could have accepted Kunis being with Wahlberg for four months instead, as in the movie Kunis finally has had enough of Wahlberg's and Ted/MacFarlane's relationship and immaturity.

While Ted is supposed to be a raunchy comedy, I found the movie uneven as half the time the movie seemed like a serious relationship drama. A chick flick. The movie is basically a dramatic version of the movie Paul, when I would have preferred Paul meets Superbad. I think part of the problem is that half of the characters were serious characters instead of off-the-wall characters which would have made the movie much funnier, much like the off-the-wall characters that were in the movie Horrible Bosses. There was a scene that was a takeoff of a scene in Airplane!, which I think would have made the movie much funnier if the entire movie was made like that - especially with the idea of a walking, talking, living teddy bear running around. Having Ted being a raunchy teddy bear was not enough, especially since in the film Ted is now a has-been 1980's celebrity and is an accepted member of society instead of some mythical character suddenly come to life. The movie opens with basically a 1950's feel with Wahlberg's childhood home, but then grows up into a raunchy film.

The 1980 film Flash Gordon was a great influence in the movie. The fact that the producers actually got Sam Jones from Flash Gordon to play himself in the movie was great. Although I prefered Jones as the kick-ass alien bounty hunter in Stargate SG-1 much more, rather than Jones portrayal as an aging actor trying to reclaim his glory as Flash Gordon in the movie. Cameos by singer Norah Jones, Tom Skerritt and archived footage of TV late-night host Johnny Carson integrated with Ted/Macfarlane was great. And an uncredited Ryan Reynolds made an impression with me. The opening and closing narration by Patrick Stewart had the right irreverance, which was first evident in the first couple of minutes of a politically incorrect statement. I just wish we got to see Wahlberg's parents Alex Borstein and Ralph Garman as characters when Manley grew up to be Wahlberg. Although I felt Manley was too old to be so excited about a stuffed bear, when Teddy became alive, I could accept Manley being excited about having a new friend.

For an R film, Giovanni Ribisi and his son Aedin Mincks were not creepily off-the-all enough for me to accept them being the movie's bad guys. They were just acceptable for a PG or PG-13 movie, but not enough for an R film. Actually having children actors in an R film, even if it is a comedy, is a little disturbing for me. Obviously, children could not see the movie - which cuts down on the box office on the family audiences that might have seen the movie. I just wonder if the child actors themselves saw the movie.

The computer graphics of Ted are very good due to MacFarlane being motion-captured. I just accepted Ted as a character, a living Teddy bear who even has sex. Ted/Macfarlane still can not run very convincingly, but the rest of the CGI and motion-capture appeared believable and was very detailed in his fur. It was cool to see the cosmic zoom from the Universal Pictures 100th Anniversary logo of Earth from space zooming down into Wahlberg's childhood neighborhood. I was surprised that various referances from several movie and TV studios were used in the movie. At first I thought that they all came from Universal as that would have been easy and cheap - until I recognized the theme from the Indiana Jones movies, and they were distributed by Paramount Studios and not Universal Pictures. Getting the rights to use all of these referances from the various studios and media would be difficult legally and expensive. For having Seth MacFarlane having the clout to get this personal project of his off the ground is incredible. For a small crowd in the theater, as the movie has been out for a few weeks already, there were quite a few laughs from the audience and I admit I laughed too - but I laughed very little as to me the movie was too much of a drama instead of a comedy.

Rated R for Language, Sexual Situations, and Drug Abuse. Running time: 106 Minutes.

Pancho
All people smile in the same language.

MEN IN BLACK 3

Columbia Pictures

Rated PG- 13

Running time: 106 Minutes



Click below to watch the MEN IN BLACK 3 trailer.



In Columbia Pictures Men in Black 3, directed by Barry Sonnenfeld, Earth is about to be invaded from space. Man in Black Will Smith must go back in time in order to save his partner Tommy Lee Jones life - who was killed 40 years earlier, thus wiping out Jones present-day existence - as well as restoring Earth's defense system which Jones had set up to prevent extraterrestrial invasion.

In a sequel to the Men in Black movies - based on the comic books created and written by Lowell Cunningham, which was based on the UFO phenomenon of the Men in Black - alien criminal Jemaine Clement escapes from prison and seeks revenge on the MIB agent who took his arm - Jones. Clement's alien appendages were pretty graphic, thus emphasizing his alienness and his evilness as the bad guy. Having Clement going back in time and meeting himself was a pretty fun meeting, as they are both pissed off at each other's actions. Sonnenfeld had studied the Back to the Future movies because those movies got time travel right, and watching the scenes where Michael Chernus or Michael Stuhlbarg talked about time travel and alternate timelines did have a Back to the Future type of feeling to me. The time travel sequence was similar to the time travel sequence to the movie The Time Machine, so the sequence was more visual than the Back to the Future time travel scenes.

Josh Brolin was great as the young Tommy Lee Jones. I could believe Brolin was a younger Jones, although Brolin as a character was happier in the past than the mature Jones was in the present. As Smith keeps asking Brolin, "What happened to you?" "I don't know. It hasn't happened yet."

There was a plot point towards the end of the movie that was totally predictable to me as a writer, once the plot point started to be set up and play out. Even then, knowing what was going to happen, I still teared up at the scenes. Despite the scene being totally predictable to me - the scene was a total surprise to the guy behind me, so the scene worked for the movie. When I saw the movie at an early matinee, there was a small crowd. Usually, a small crowd means that it would be fairly silent in the theater - but the audience was laughing and reacting to the movie. So I can imagine how the audience would have reacted if it was a crowded evening theater.

Since Rip Torn was not in this movie, the movie played up Torn being missing. There were also pictures of the alien talking dog, Frank the Pug, as a reference to the earlier movies as Frank was also not in the movie. Smith makes references that Smith has been an agent for 14 years. It is hard for me to think that the MIB films have been around for that long, but in reality the original Men in Black was released in 1997. You can see in Men in Black 3 that Smith is quite a veteran now as a Man in Black. While Emma Thompson replaced Torn in the movie, she does not have the film presence that Torn had as the head of the MIB. But it was nice to see that Thompson does have a relationship with Jones whose relationship originated in the past with Brolin and the young Thompson - Alice Eve. When Smith went back in time, David Rasche was the head of the MIB in the past. As a fan of David Rasche since the TV series Sledge Hammer!, when I saw that he was the head of the MIB, I thought Rasche would be great in that role. It is a shame that Rasche did not have much to do.  Rasche had basically a walk on part.

When the holder of the time machines Michael Chernus warns Smith that Smith will be traveling to 1969, Chernus warns Smith that 1969 was not a good time for Smith's people. While this idea is not politically correct, I wanted to see more confrontations for Smith about his being black back in 1969 as Smith searches for Jones and Clement. At least more than what was shown, and with Smith being a black comedian, his showing up the prejudice of the time and it's comeuppance amongst the bigots that were back then would have been great to see. That would have added more realism and relevance to the movie to see that. It was also nice having Asian aliens in the movie, like restaurant owner Keone Young. It is rare that I  get to see asians in a science fiction movie. Being set in 1969, there were also major references to the events of the year - including references to the Amazing Mets, Andy Warhol - Bill Hader - and the launch of the first lunar Moon landing in the movie. Having visited Cape Canaveral, otherwise known as Cape Kennedy back then, the recreation of the Cape Canaveral spectator area looked pretty realistic to me.

Click below to watch another trailer of Men in Black 3.



Rated PG-13 for violence. Running time: 106 Minutes.

Pancho
All people smile in the same language.

 Pancho's Movie Reviews

MIRROR MIRROR

Relativity Media

Rated PG

Running time: 106 Minutes



Click below to watch the Mirror Mirror trailer.



In Relativity Media's Mirror Mirror, evil Queen Julia Roberts steals control of her dead husband's kingdom and exiles her step-daughter Snow White, Lily Collins.

This retelling of the Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs story is a cute retelling of the story by The Brothers Grimm, and reminds me more of The Princess Bride rather than of the Disney Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs movie. The seven dwarfs also have different names in this movie than what they had in the Disney movie, such as Grimm, Butcher, Wolf, Napoleon, Half Pint, Grub, and Chuckles. The dwarfs on their stilts make awesome bandits and adds to the stylized look of the movie. When Collins discovers that Roberts servant Nathan Lane is collecting taxes from the poor people of the kingdom, Collins has the taxes returned to the people and credits the dwarfs for the money's return. Feeling appreciated, the dwarfs decide to teach Collins how to fight, and Collins soon learns to kick butt - thus making the movie a swashbuckler. Collins sword fight against Prince Armie Hammer is reminiscent of the sword fight in The Princess Bride, despite the fact that Collins loves Hammer. Having the Queen wanting to marry Hammer, both for his money and his looks is almost obscene - especially when she uses a love potion on him. It made me want Collins to thwart Roberts wedding plans and win back Collins birthright, which Collins was determined to do.

Instead of just talking with the magic mirror - which would have made me think that would have been one of the main points of the movie considering that the title of the movie is Mirror Mirror. Roberts walks into the mirror in her castle, and winds up in some type of other dimension besides a lakeside hut which houses the real magic mirror which contains Roberts reflection - who continually warns Roberts of the consequences of using magic.

The scene that got to me, was the scene where Roberts is undergoing a "beauty treatment" - with foul substances, as well as a "beauty treatment" with insects. Having all of that put on me would definitely creep me out. I could not watch that scene with the bugs. Arghhh! While the beast of the forest looks like something that could have survived in the forest, I wanted something bigger and scarier. At least the beast was something similar to the Disney beast from Disney's Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, which made the beast somewhat acceptable to me.

I liked the musical dance number that the characters did during the end credits of the movie.

Rated PG for violence. Running time: 106 Minutes.

Pancho
All people smile in the same language.

 Pancho's Movie Reviews

21 JUMP STREET

Columbia Pictures and MGM Pictures

Rated R

Running time: 109 Minutes





Click below to watch the 21 Jump Street trailer.



In Columbia Pictures and MGM Pictures 21 Jump Street, former high school adversaries and incompetent rookie cops Jonah Hill and Channing Tatum are transferred to the Jump Street program - where they are to become undercover high school students.

A loose sequel based on the 1980's dramatic TV show 21 Jump Street, created by Stephen J. Cannell and Patrick Hasburgh, the movie 21 Jump Street is a comedy with Hill and Tatum partnered up as undercover brothers by their Captain, Ice Cube because of their youthful looks in order to stop a synthetic drug from spreading out from the local high school into other schools being distributed by popular student dealer Dave Franco.

As a fan of the TV show, I was rather disappointed that the movie was basically a crude high school comedy, instead of a serious action drama that I was expecting - especially when the movie is dealing with hard drugs. Although the fact that the movie did make fun of the media not coming up with anything brand new and remaking old ideas was cute. However, the film is full of stereotypes and is very politically incorrect as the film makes fun of those stereotypes. With that said, the movie is a pretty funny comedy. With the film Written, Executive Produced, and Starring Jonah Hill, it makes it seem that Hill is going backward in his career in that he is doing high school comedies again, when I would much rather see him do more dramas like his baseball movie Moneyball. Although it was fun watching Hill and Tatum become brothers in this film and having them stay at home with Hill's parents. It was also fun having Hill dressed as Peter Pan which adds to a lot of jokes. Even if Tatum was the sports jock and Hill was the nerd, their roles were accidentally reversed when they go undercover - which breaks up the traditional buddy cop roles. I wish the rest of the movie was of that caliber, instead of the running joke of being able to remember the words to the Miranda Rights. Since the TV show was an ensemble show, I would have preferred Hill and Tatum working more with the other Jump Street undercover cops, like the girls, instead of just recruiting the other high school students to help them. Perhaps there will be more of an ensemble movie in the sequel, where Hill and Tatum will probably return as college students.

Having uncredited cameos with 21 Jump Street TV series stars Johnny Depp and Peter DeLuise reprising their TV roles was great to see in the movie with Depp and DeLuise portraying DEA agents and adds closure to their characters from the TV series. TV series star Dustin Nguyen was shown in TV clips in the movie, while TV series star Holly Robinson Peete was the only series regular who was actually credited in the movie. IMDB lists that TV series star Richard Grieco was also in the movie, which I did not know about and I do not know where he was in the movie as I did not notice him. Not having seen the TV show on the Fox Network in years, it was great that I was able to remember the words to the theme song - which was originally sung by Robinson Peete, with backup by Depp and DeLuise - when the song played during the end credits.

Rated R for language, violence, sexual situations, drug use.  Running time: 109 Minutes.

Pancho
All people smile in the same language.

Pancho's Movie Reviews