TOWER HEIST

Universal Pictures

Rated PG-13

Running time: 104 Minutes



In Universal Pictures Tower Heist, Ben Stiller is the building manager of a large hotel tower when he realizes that the tower's richest tenant Alan Alda, who Stiller has investing the employee's pension, has not only defrauded his clients money - but has defrauded their own employee pension as well. Feeling guilty for what he did in trusting Alda, Stiller wants to make things right - by stealing $20 million dollars from Alda.

In a cross between Die Hard, Horrible Bosses, and Ferris Bueller's Day Off, this is a cute action comedy of a tower heist, of which the tower was really Trump Tower in the movie. In the ultimate Upstairs, Downstairs situation, Stiller recruits his fellow staff members - concierge Casey Affleck, elevator operator Michael Peña, housekeeper Gabourey Sidibe and evicted tenant Matthew Broderick to make the heist of Alda's safe up in the penthouse suite. Realizing they do not know how to steal, Stiller then bails out his neighborhood thief Eddie Murphy to teach them all how to steal. Planning the heist soon becomes difficult as Stiller develops a relationship with FBI agent Téa Leoni, who is in charge of Alda's incarceration.

I liked the fact that Stiller and the others timed the heist with the Macy's Day Parade. It was great to see a cameo of Matt Lauer as part of the Parade. While having what is supposedly Steve McQueen's car in the movie was cool - what was even better was what they did with McQueen's car. A cameo by Victoria's Secret supermodel Kate Upton as Mr. Hightower's mistress is also cool. I would have liked to have seen more of the residents in the tower, as well as more of the security arrangements in the movie - given that they are about to pull off a heist, how are they going to get past those? What I do not like about the film is that you do not know what happened to Eddie Murphy at the very end of the movie. I was expecting the last shot to be of Murphy since they did not resolve his character like they did all of the other characters in the movie.

Rated PG-13 for language and violence. Running time: 104 minutes.

Pancho
All people smile in the same language.

Pancho's Movie Reviews

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.