ESCAPE FROM PLANET EARTH

Rainmaker Entertainment

Rated PG

Running time: 89 minutes




Click below to watch the Escape From Planet Earth trailer.

 

In The Weinstein Company's animated film Escape From Planet Earth, egotistical astronaut Brendan Fraser is sent to investigate an SOS from the Dark Planet - Earth.

The Dark Planet is the place where representatives of famous alien races have disappeared, including the Roswell aliens. National hero astronaut Fraser, with his media attention and his marketing, reminds me of an egotistical version of Buzz Lightyear of Star Command, while his nerdy Mission Control brother Rob Corddry at BASA wants nothing to do with any kind of adventure. Actually the running joke in the movie was how nerdy Corddry got hot Sarah Jessica Parker to be his wife. When BASA's no-nonsense chief Jessica Alba sends Fraser into deep space to the Dark Planet, Fraser winds up at a 7-Eleven in the middle of nowhere and gets captured by William Shatner - and gets sent to Area 51. Now Corddry must leave his home planet of Baab to go rescue his brother on this strange dark planet called Earth.

This is a nice family film. The film has an impressive celebrity cast for an animated film, although I could barely tell their distinctive voices as I was too caught up in the characters themselves. I was expecting Ricky Gervais, as the computer, to have a larger computer role in the movie and was disappointed in that. 7-Eleven actually had a larger role in the movie than I would have thought. I was expecting just a simple product placement with 7-Eleven, but it actually had several scenes in the movie, with one of those fan-blown balloons becoming one of my favorite characters in the movie. It was rather sad to learn how and why Shatner became a bad guy who wants to wipe out all the aliens. The aliens at Area 51,  Craig Robinson, Jane Lynch, and George Lopez were great as Corddry's friends.

Rated PG for violence. Running time: 89 Minutes.

Pancho 
All people smile in the same language.
 

I Don't Know How She Does It

The Weinstein Company

PG-13

Running time: 89 Minutes



In The Weinstein Company's I Don't Know How She Does It, working mom Sarah Jessica Parker tries to balance career and motherhood.

Parker loves her work, but her devotion to her family gets in the way. With office rival Seth Meyers ready to pounce on her achievements - Parker possessively goes after mature partner Pierce Brosnan, for whom she is developing a dynamic new investment fund for, who is in their New York office. As the major breadwinner, now that husband Greg Kinnear left his job and is going out on his own as a freelance architect, the pressure increases for Parker for her to succeed and still take care of her family. It does make Parker feel extremely guilty that she is missing out on what is important in her children's lives at home, especially when she has to travel from city to city during the holidays.

The film is full of asides to the audience and interviews of the characters as they comment on Parker and their lives in general. While it seems hard to believe that Parker's company would be involved in developing a brand new fund as most investments are already in place, it seems almost appropriate that it would take that long to develop a brand new fund.

Rated PG-13 for language and sexual situations. Running time: 89 Minutes.

Pancho
All people smile in the same language.

Sex & the City 2

New Line Cinema

Rated R

Running time: 146 minutes



Based on the TV series Sex and the City, it has been two years since the events from the movie Sex and the City when Sarah Jessica Parker got married. Now Parker is a married lady who is in a rut with her husband Mr. Big Chris Noth and is afraid of being a boring married couple. With all the hassles of home, life and work, Kim Cattrall persuades Parker as well as the other girls, Kristin Davis and Cynthia Nixon, to go with Cattrall to Abu Dhabi where Kim's former boyfriend is making a movie and the movie's producer is a sheik.

Even though I have never watched the TV series, I was able to follow and understand the characters as they undergo their trials - such as mother Kristin Davis worrying about her nanny's huge buxom breasts or lawyer Cynthia Nixon quitting her job because of her chauvinistic boss.  You know sex-bomb Kim Cattrall is going to get into trouble in Abu Dhabi as she tests the conservative people there. Cattrall's almost pornographic flaunting of herself is disrespectful in that country and in one sense I was almost looking forward to her getting in trouble for it as she makes no apologies for her actions.

Rated R for sexual situations and language. Running time: 146 minutes.

Pancho
All people smile in the same language.