I remember walking through the upper level of a local movie theater last year when I saw the large cardboard standup of a film called Beverly Hills Chihuahua. “Dear God in Heaven.  How ridiculous is that film going to be?  Well, I can scratch that one off the must-see list.”  Yup…those were pretty much my thoughts at the time.  Then I recently discovered that I would be reviewing it.  Ugh.  But, you have to take the good with the bad and not every film can be as riveting as The Kingdom, so I reluctantly ejected the previous disc from my PS3 and in went Beverly Hills Chihuahua.

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Gary Marshall is perhaps best known for his golden television era. He was the mastermind behind such shows as Happy Days, The Odd Couple, and Laverne And Shirley, going so far to cast his daughter as Laverne in two of the shows and as a secretary in the other. What appears to get lost in that part of his resume is that he created what has been described as the ultimate chick flick. I don’t mean the term in a derogatory manner, but just like guys love to see Clint Eastwood making our day or Bruce Willis shouting yippee kiyay, women love fairy tales. Read the full story

High School Musical originally aired as a television film by Disney. Upon its release it was the most successful television film for Disney, and its popularity has since only risen. High School Musical has been dubbed as a modern day Romeo and Juliet, as the story centers around the blossoming love of two high school students in rival cliques. I think any self respecting Shakespeare fan would find that comment laughable. Comparing a literary classic to this is amusing, a tale of two lovers bound apart by feuding families and two high school students who can’t date because one is cool and the other isn’t. Laugh out loud. Alright, I’ve never seen the movie, and I’m not about to write it off just yet. Disney doesn’t't often disappoint, and I happen to like musicals, a lot. I’m just going to have to rewind my mindset about 10 years and watch it from a pre teens point of view, who knows I might just be surprised. Read the full story

Growing up musical movies really captivated me, as they do most children. It’s something everyone can appreciate and have a good time with, however, call it growing up if you want, but Disney just hasn’t been on stride with musicals as of late. Sure the success of High School Musical and others can debate that, but there just hasn’t been that pizzazz that I yearn. But I open my eyes and mind going into The Cheetah Girls: One World, hoping for a nostalgic journey to when these films captivated my imagination. Is Cheetah Girls going to impress, or just be another contemporary drag? Read the full story

Not only is this the second Blu-ray release of I Am Legend, it is also the third time the Richard Matheson novel I Am Legend has been adapted to film. The first time was The Last Man on Earth, starring Vincent Price, still the best version in my mind to date. The second attempt was the cult classic The Omega Man starring Charlton Heston, although major portions of the adaption were changed from the book. Finally we have are third version, this 2008 release of I Am Legend starring Will Smith.

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When it comes to ranking concert films, the best always seem to have The Last Waltz at or near the top of a very short list. For those unfamiliar with the production, the film centers around the farewell concert of The Band, the Canadian group who helped Bob Dylan transform and expand creatively in the ‘60s, and Dylan’s assistance in their album “Music from Big Pink” was retribution for this. The album continues to be widely regarded as a very influential piece of music decades after its release. The group continued to release albums and tour at a frenetic pace, until Robertson had finally grown weary of the pace in 1976. Rather than hold a simple farewell concert, which would have been the easy choice, The Band decided to make the event a celebration of their careers in a very pure sense. They decided to hold it on Thanksgiving at San Francisco’s Winterland Ballroom, where they held their first live performance seven years earlier. They fed the several thousand concertgoers before bringing them the group’s work. And little did the fans know they would be witness to one of the great live performances captured on film.

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Tinker Bell has been a Walt Disney icon almost since its inception. The character has gone way beyond her appearance in Peter Pan. In the decades since, she has come to represent the magic of Walt Disney and its many incarnations. Seen at the beginning of every Disney title, Tinker Bell is likely as recognizable as Mickey Mouse and his many friends. John Lassiter and the animators of Disney’s new CG animation studios take on this monumental character in the first of at least 5 announced films to feature the little fairy. Read the full story

Chow Yun-Fat might not be a name known as well to those of us living in North America, at least not before the 2003 hit Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon. In his native China he has been a superstar for some time, redefining the martial arts film. Today he’s almost as well known here. The Replacement Killers was his first Western film. It’s one of those moments in cinema history where many audiences left without really knowing what to make of it all. I remember the first time that I saw the film, and I still don’t know how to quite describe it. The simple explanation is that it’s a typical Asian tough guy film like we’ve seen from Jackie Chan for about 20 years now Read the full story

A family travels across the United States in an RV. Along the way they encounter all sorts of mishaps and adventures. From that short synopsis you might think I was describing the hilarious National Lampoon’s Vacation film with Chevy Chase. Unfortunately I’m not. Robin Williams, who is arguably one of the funniest comedic actors of all time, isn’t being very particular where he gets his film material from these days. In fact, I expected more out of Barry Sonnenfeld as well. When you team creative people of that caliber, you just have a right to expect more than a decidedly unfunny ripoff of a classic comedy film. Williams is certainly capable of better humor than Chevy Chase. He’s got so much more energy and delivery. Sonnenfeld is the genius who gave us things like Men In Black and the recent wickedly funny series, Pushing Daisies. Of course, he also brought us the disaster that was the Will Smith Wild Wild West film in the 90’s, so maybe we don’t have so much of a right to expect more after all. Read the full story

Several weeks ago, I was given a number of Sony titles to review that were never sent to us for review. I made my choices and they were on their way to me. One of those Blu-rays was Running with Scissors. I chose it because I knew nothing about it and figured I would, without any kind of research, give it a shot. Once I got around to reviewing it, I truly wish I had chosen something else. Read the full story

“I am not a crook” said President Nixon as he vigorously defended his record in the Watergate case. This famous line would forever stain the president’s career and personal life. It’s hard to believe Watergate happened so many years ago, yet it still brings the controversy of all other legendary US cover-ups. Today I will review the film Nixon as presented for the first time on Blu-ray. Read the full story

Call me girly but as I get older, I am starting to appreciate romantic films and love stories. I don’t know what it is but I am willing to deal with it as long as I continue to like mindless action films as well. Released back in 2007, Catch and Release is a film that just may surprise you in that along with romance, there is some light comedy and even has Kevin Smith in the film too. Yes, that Kevin Smith. Read the full story

I am a sucker for a hot chick in a small bikini. I can also handle a handsome guy also appearing in the film, of course, with the eyes set solely on the bikini clad chick. Into The Blue has both and yet at the same time trying to give the viewer an interesting story. Thankfully, for Into the Blue, the story isn’t all that uninteresting. Read the full story

Since he got his big start on Saturday Night Live, Adam Sandler has had quite a bit of success. Films such as Big Daddy & The Longest Yard, among others, more than three quarters of the time, are a hit movie. It doesn’t matter that some of his films are completely, and utterly stupid, people just love his movies. In this film, 50 First Dates, Sandler teams up once again with Drew Barrymore in hope of finding that same chemistry they had in The Wedding Singer. Read the full story

I’ll admit right off the bat; this movie isn’t really for me. Maybe it’s because I’m getting older, maybe it’s because I’m a male, hell maybe it’s even because I can’t dance, I don’t know. What I do know is this… I really couldn’t, no matter how hard I tried, relate to this film. While my girlfriend loves these types of movies, she an active dancer though, I find it hard to believe that this movie would appeal to many outside the few it’s meant for. If you’re in your teen years, most likely female and love to dirty dance, this movie is totally for you, everyone else… yeah probably not. Read the full story

For starters, I am not a big fan of a couple of things. The first is rated “G” Disney movies that aren’t animated and the second thing being Martin Lawrence in a G-rated Disney movie that isn’t animated. My expectation for the movie going in was very low and I was dead on. Maybe it is my age. But even if I were a young kid, I don’t see me liking it any more. Read the full story

It seems every time you look for a new movie in the theaters, one of them is a remake from a TV show. Just recently, we had the release of Get Smart. We have also had The Brady Bunch, Mission Impossible and numerous others. Some of them worked, while others just fell flat. One of the latest Blu-ray imports I watched just so happened to be a TV show previously, and that being Starsky and Hutch. This, thankfully, worked out very well and is an entertaining watch. Read the full story