A very wide vareity of new movies to pick from this week….

New at Theaters (Friday): “The Box”, “A Christmas Carol” (3D & IMAX), “The Fourth Kind”, “Men Who Stare at Goats”, “More Than A Game” (limited), “Big Fan” (The Harbor Theater in Muskegon), “September Issue” (The Harbor Theater in Muskegon), “No Impact Man” (UICA in Grand Rapids), “The Way We Get By” (UICA in Grand Rapids)

Limited Release in Grand Rapids market: 
“More Than A Game” (Celebration! North),
“Big Fan” (The Harbor Theater in Muskegon),
“September Issue” (The Harbor Theater in Muskegon),
“No Impact Man” (UICA in Grand Rapids),
“The Way We Get By” (UICA in Grand Rapids)

Moving to Woodland Mall this week ($4.00 shows): “Whip It”, “Inglorious Basterds”, “Capitalism: A Love Story”, “Shorts”, “Sorority Row”

Best Bet(s): I have not seen any of the new movies in wide release YET…  but at least two of the four are getting moderate-to-average reviews (”A Christmas Carol” and “Men Who Stare at Goats”). “Big Fan” is getting some good response and it plays in Muskegon for a week and then will be at the UICA on 11/20.   And for $4.00, the filmed in Michigan comedy-drama “Whip It”  is more than worth the price of admission… so is “500 Days of Summer”… go see that if you haven’t already for gosh sakes!

 CLICK HERE TO FIND A MOVIE SHOWTIME

New this Week on DVD: “Aliens in the Attic”, “The Answer Man”, “Food, Inc.”, “G.I. Joe: Rise of Cobra”, “I Love You Beth Cooper”,  “The Taking of Pelham 1 2 3″, “Command Performance”

Best Bets: The Waterfront Film Festival alum “The Answer Man” is a fun laugh out loud romantic comedy starring Michigan native Jeff Daniels… the thriller remake “The Taking of Pelham 1 2 3″ that I liked but many others weren’t impressed by… and if you were a fan of the 1980s “G.I. Joe” cartoons or like over-the-top action movies  “G.I. Joe: Rise of Cobra” is for you (I liked it for what it was).   You’re on your own for: “Food, Inc.” an eye-opening documentary, “Aliens in the Attic” is a family adventure, fans of Hayden Pannetiere (”Heroes”) might like “I Love You Beth Cooper” which actually got some good reviews, and fans of Dolph Lundgren might consider “Command Performance”.

Next Week at Theaters: “2012″, “Pirate Radio”, “Act of God” (UICA in Grand Rapids), “World’s Greatest Dad” (The Harbor Theater in Muskegon)

11/25 – “A Serious Man” (limited)

Next Week on DVD: “Up”, “The Accidental Husband”, “The Merry Gentleman”, “Spread”, “The Ugly Truth”, “Watchmen” (Director’s cut)

MY REVIEWS OF OTHER MOVIES CURRENTLY PLAYING IN THEATERS OR AVAILABLE TO RENT/BUY: 

Playing at West Michigan movie theaters:
“500 Days of Summer” (9.5 / 10)
“District 9″ (9.0 / 10)
“The Hurt Locker” (8.9/ 10)
“Star Trek” (8.5 / 10)
“Paranormal Activity” (8.5 / 10)
“The Hangover” (8.0 / 10)
“Where The Wild Things Are” (7.9 / 10)
“Angels & Demons” (8.5 / 10) – on DVD 11/24
“Whip It” (7.9 / 10)
“Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs” (7.5 / 10)
“Couples Retreat” (7.5 / 10)
“Weather Girl” (7.5 / 10)
“Four Christmases”  (7.5 / 10) – on DVD 11/24
“Law Abiding Citizen” (7.5 / 10)
“The Ugly Truth” (7.5 / 10)
“This Is It” (7.0 / 10)
“Extract” (6.5 /10)
“Surrogates” (6.5 / 10)
“Love Happens” (7.0* review deferred to my wife)
“All About Steve” (5.5 / 10)

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Available to rent or buy:
“Slumdog Millionaire” (9.5/ 10)
“The Curious Case of Benjamin Button” (9.5 / 10)
“The Dark Knight” (9.5 / 10)
“Changeling”  (9.5 / 10)
“WALL-E” (9.0)
“Pride and Glory” (9.0 / 10)
“The Wrestler” (8.9 / 10)
“Righteous Kill” (8.9 / 10)
“Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen”  (8.9 / 10)
“Eagle Eye” (8.5 / 10)
“Burn After Reading” (8.5 / 10)
“The Answer Man” (8.5 / 10)
“Wanted” (8.0 / 10)
“Defiance” (8.0 / 10)
“I Love You, Man” (8.0/ 10)
“The Proposal” (8.0 /10)
“State of Play” (8.0 / 10)
“The Visitor” (8.0 / 10)
“The Taking of Pelham 1 2 3″ (8.0/ 10)
“Australia”  (7.9 / 10)
“Frozen River” (7.9 / 10)
“Revolutionary Road” (7.9 / 10)
“New in Town” (7.9 / 10)
“Felon” (7.9 / 10)
“X-Men Origins: Wolverine” (7.5 / 10)
“Quantum of Solace”  (7.5 / 10)
“Taken” (7.5 / 10)
“G.I. Joe: Rise of Cobra” (7.5 / 10)
“The Air I Breathe” 
“Hancock” 
“Fanboys” (8.5 for me, adjusted to 7.5 for most)
“Traitor” (7.5 / 10)
“The Bank Job” 
“He’s Just Not That Into You” (7.5 / 10)
“The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian”
“Role Models” (7.5 / 10)
“The Boy in the Striped Pajamas” (7.5 / 10 )
“Marley & Me” (7.5 / 10)
“Bride Wars” (7.5 / 10)
“The Women” (7.5 / 10)
“Rachel Getting Married” (7.0)
“Paul Blart: Mall Cop” (7.0 / 10)
“Get Smart” (7.0 / 10)
“The Happening” 
“Bedtime Stories” (7.0 / 10)
“Twilight”  (7.0 / 10)
“Knowing” (7.0 / 10)
“Watchmen” (7.0 / 10)
“Funny Games” 
“Nights in Rodanthe” (7.0 / 10)
“Hotel for Dogs” (7.0 / 10)
“Forgetting Sarah Marshall” (6.9 / 10)
“Appaloosa” (6.9 / 10)
“Surveillance” (6.9 / 10)
“Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull” 
“The Invasion” 
“What Just Happened” (6.5 / 10)
“Hamlet 2″ 
“Lakeview Terrace” (6.5 / 10)
“Before the Devil Knows You’re Dead”
“Imagine That” (6.5 / 10)
“Hellboy II: Golden Army” (6.5 / 10)
“Tropic Thunder” (6.5 /10)
“Good Luck Chuck”
“The Day the Earth Stood Still” (6.5 / 10)
“Ghosts of Girlfriends Past” (6.0 / 10)
“Journey to the Center of the Earth” 
“Star Wars: The Clone Wars” (6.0 / 10)
“Body of Lies” (6.0)
“Monsters Vs. Aliens” (6.0 / 10)
“Zach and Miri Make a Porno” (6.0 / 10)
“Noise” (6.0 / 10)
“The Chaos Experiment” (6.0 / 10)**
“Fragments” (5.5 / 10)
“Confessions of A Shopaholic” (5.5 / 10)
“My Life in Ruins” (5.5 / 10)
“Quarantine” (5.5 / 10)
“Charlie Wilson’s War” 
“Mad Money” 
“Year One” (4.0 / 10)
“Dance Flick” (2.0 / 10)

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This is one of those weekends where most of the new offerings would be a good choice… BUT LET ME WARN YOU, from what I’ve heard while “Where The Wild Things Are” is based on a children’s book, the movie may be scary for young children.

New at Theaters (Friday): “Where The Wild Things Are”, “The Stepfather”, “Law Abiding Citizen”, “Paranormal Activity” (limited), “Opa!” (limited)

Limited Release in Grand Rapids market: 
“Paranormal Activity” (Celebration Rivertown),
“Opa!” (Celebration! North, Celebration Rivertown, Celebration Crossroads)
“Seraphine” (UICA in Grand Rapids opens 10/16)
“Adam” (The Harbor Theater in Muskegon 10/16 – 10/22)
“In The Loop” (The Harbor Theater in Muskegon 10/16 – 10/22)

Moving to Woodland Mall this week ($4.00 shows): “District 9″, “All About Steve”, “Paper Heart”, “Monsters Vs. Aliens”

Best Bet(s): “Paranormal Activity” plays at one theater this weekend and is on the verge of becoming a cult classic horror (about the movie) like 1999’s “Blair Witch Project” it will be expanding to more theaters next Friday… “Where The Wild Things Are” is a movie thats been in the works for years to perfect and is getting good reviews but this isn’t a movie for young kids as some kids at screenings have found the film scary… ”Law Abiding Citizen” is a good-looking thriller, “The Stepfather” is a remake of a 1987 horror/thriller, and “Opa!” is a romantic comedy.

 CLICK HERE TO FIND A MOVIE SHOWTIME

New on DVD (Tuesday): “Adoration”, “American Violet”, “Drag Me To Hell”, “Land of the Lost”, “The Proposal”

Best Bet(s): One of the best romantic comedies of the year “The Proposal”… now may be the time to see “Land of the Lost”… and if you’re into horror: Sam Raimi’s “Drag Me To Hell”… and while I haven’t seen them either: “Adoration” and “American Violet” may be worth checking out.

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Next Week at Theaters: “Amelia”, “Astro Boy”, “Cirque Du Freak: The Vampire’s Assistant”, “Paranormal Activity” (expansion),  ”Saw VI”, “Good Hair” (limited), “Bright Star” (The Harbor Theater in Muskegon)

November 6th: “A Serious Man” (limited), “More Than A Game” (limited)

Next Week on DVD: “Blood: The Last Vampire”, “Cheri”, “Love N’ Dancing”, “Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen”, “Wrong Turn 3: Left For Dead”

MY REVIEWS OF OTHER MOVIES CURRENTLY PLAYING IN THEATERS OR AVAILABLE TO RENT/BUY:  (more…)

New at Theaters (Friday): “Away We Go”, “My Sister’s Keeper”, “Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen”  (Wednesday)

Best Bet(s): 3 very different movie ths weekend: the sci-fi action blockbuster “Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen”, the romantic comedy “Away We Go”, and the heartbreaking drama “My Siser’s Keeper”… so depending on what your in the mood for… this weekend is wide-open.

New on DVD (Tuesday): “Confessions of A Shopaholic”, “Inkheart”, “Pink Panther 2″, “Waltz With Bashir”

Best Bet(s): “Waltz With Bashir” was an Oscar nominated foreign animated drama, the other three had mixed success and reviews

 CLICK HERE TO FIND A MOVIE SHOWTIME

Next Week at Theaters: “Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs” (Wednesday), “Public Enemies” (Wednesday), “Whatever Works” (might play in Grand Rapids & Lansing)

Next Week on DVD: “12 Rounds”, “The Betrayed”, “The Education of Charlie Banks”, “The Jonas Brothers 3-D Concert Experience”, “Street Fighter: The Legend of Chun-Li”, “Two Lovers”

MY REVIEWS OF OTHER MOVIES CURRENTLY PLAYING IN THEATERS OR AVAILABLE TO RENT/BUY: 

(more…)

New at Theaters (Friday): “Angels & Demons”, “Is Anybody There?” (limited release), “The Chaos Experiment” (May 15-21 limited run at Celebration! Lansing only)

Best Bet(s): If you’re really looking forward to seeing “Angels & Demons” (read my review), then you shouldn’t be disappointed, but if you haven’t seen “Star Trek” (read my review) yet, its the movie to see even if you aren’t a fan of the franchise, it has wide ranging appeal and it may turn out to be the “Iron Man” of this summer with its wide-ranging appeal and positive reviews.

New on DVD (Tuesday): “The Grudge 3″, “Passengers”, “Personal Effects”, “Taken”, “Underworld: Rise of the Lycans”

Best Bet(s): One of the early surprises for many at the box office this year was the staying power of the action thriller “Taken”, for more, check out my interview with actress Maggie Grace about her role in the movie.

 CLICK HERE TO FIND A MOVIE SHOWTIME

Next Week at Theaters: “Terminator Salvation” (Thursday)

Next Week on DVD: “Fanboys”, “My Bloody Valentine”, “Outlander”, “Paul Blart: Mall Cop”, “Valkyrie”

MY REVIEWS OF OTHER MOVIES CURRENTLY PLAYING IN THEATERS OR AVAILABLE TO RENT/BUY: 

(more…)

New on DVD (Tuesday): “College”, “Fireproof”, “Lakeview Terrace”, “The Lucky Ones”, “Pride and Glory”, “The Rocker”, “RockNRolla”, “Vicky Cristina Barcelona”

BEST BET: “Pride and Glory”, but from what I’ve heard… EVERYTHING on this week’s list *except*  is worth a rent, although “The Rocker” disappointed at the box office.  Don’t forget “Fireproof”, the romantic drama surprised critics at the box office and did very well for a small budget Christian movie.

New at Theaters (Friday): “New in Town”, “Taken”, “The Uninvited”

BEST BET: Finally… I hope… “Taken” is scheduled to open this weekend… I say that because after I saw the trailer back in August, the release date moved from September 19th to January 23rd to now this Friday, January 30th !!!  I have a feeling my review will be impacted by this massive delay.

Also new this week the cute and funny date movie “New in Town” with Renee Zellweger and Harry Conick, Jr. and the horror flick “The Uninvited” from the producers of “The Ring”.

MY REVIEWS OF OTHER MOVIES CURRENTLY PLAYING IN THEATERS OR AVAILABLE TO RENT: 

(more…)

The new options at theaters (3 movies with Academy Award nominations) are clearly better than the options of movies coming out on DVD this week!   “The Dark Knight” is back in IMAX this Friday!!
You’ve also been warned: “Repo! The Genetic Opera” is considered by many to be the worst movie of the year – so don’t rent it!  

New this week at Theaters (Friday): “Revolutionary Road” (wide release), ”The Wrestler” (wide release), “Inkheart”, “Possession”, “Underworld: Rise of the Lycans”, “The Dark Knight” (IMAX re-issue)

New this week on DVD (Tuesday): “City of Ember”, “The Express”, “Henry Poole is Here”, “Igor”, “Max Payne”, “Repo! The Genetic Opera”, “Saw V”, “Amusement”

MY REVIEWS OF OTHER MOVIES CURRENTLY PLAYING IN THEATERS OR AVAILABLE TO RENT: 

(more…)

New at Theaters (Friday): “Defiance” (wide release), “Hotel for Dogs”, “Last Chance Harvey” (wide release), “My Bloody Valentine 3-D”, “Notorious”, “Paul Blart: Mall Cop”

New on DVD (Tuesday): “Appaloosa”, “Brideshead Revisted”, “Mirrors”, “My Best Friend’s Girl”, “Swing Vote”, “Tyler Perry’s The Family That Preys”

Looking for other rentals?  Check out these movies: (more…)

I had to add a correction and a clarification…

For some reason (lack of sleep?) I left The Unborn off the new in theaters list… and “Revolutionary Road” is still in limited release and not coming to the Grand Rapids market until January 23rd…. sorry !!!
I also received word that “The Reader” is moving from Celebration! Woodland to Celebration! Rivertown this weekend.

New this week in Theaters (Friday): “Bridewars”, “Not Easily Broken”, “Gran Torino” (Grand Rapids), “The Unborn”

New this week on DVD (Tuesday) (more…)

I had to add a correction and a clarification…

For some reason (lack of sleep?) I left “The Unborn” off the new in theaters list… and “Revolutionary Road” is still in limited release and not coming to the Grand Rapids market January 23rd…. sorry !!! 
I also received word that “The Reader” is moving from Celebration! Woodland to Celebration! Rivertown this weekend.

New this week in Theaters (Friday): “Bridewars”, “Not Easily Broken”, “Gran Torino” (Grand Rapids), “The Unborn”

New this week on DVD (Tuesday): “Pineapple Express”, “Righteous Kill”, “Babylon A.D.”, “Bangkok Dangerous”, “Disaster Movie”, “The Wackness”

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MY TAKE ON WHAT’S NEW ON DVD: Okay, I know I’m one of the few people who actually liked the Pacino/DeNiro movie “Righteous Kill”, but if you listened to most critics and waited to rent it, now’s the time to see it.  

The other five movies I haven’t seen but have varying levels of concern: “Pineapple Express” is a stoner/action/comedy that was well received by some audiences and critics, “Disaster Movie” is another farce by the producers of all those other recent spoof movies, “The Wackness” got some good reviews by the limited audiences that saw it… it also has a *pot* plot.

And then there are the box office stinkers “Babylon A.D.” and “Bangkok Dangerous”, yes the second was #1 the week it opened, but there was nothing else in wide release that week, audiences for both movies dropped signigicantly the 2nd week at the theater and by the way scored very low on most reviews.

Looking for other rentals?   Check out these movies:
“The Dark Knight” (9.5 / 10)
“Eagle Eye” (8.5 / 10)
“Wanted” (8.0 / 10)
“Burn After Reading” (8.5 / 10)
“Traitor” (7.5 / 10)
“The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian”

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MY TAKE ON WHAT’S NEW IN THEATERS: 1 Oscar contender, a romantic comedy aimed at the ladies, a romantic drama, and a horror movie.  “Gran Torino” was filmed in Detroit and Clint Eastwood has said its his last acting appearance, although he plans to keep directing, Eastwood has received several nominations for his acting in “Gran Torino”.   “Bridewars” is the light-hearted “date” movie of the bunch about two friends Kate Hudson and Anne Hathaway who dream of having their weddings at the same hard-to-book location.     “Not Easily Broken” is a movie I haven’t heard much about, but its about a couple and how a life-changing event tests their relationship.   “The Unborn” is another seemingly formulaic, yet unique horror flick about a girl who discovers her unborn twin is haunting her.

MY REVIEWS OF MOVIES CURRENTLY PLAYING IN THEATERS: 

(more…)

This is a good week to play catch up with all the movies that have released on DVD/in theaters the last 2 weeks because there isn’t much this week…

New this week at Theaters: “The Reader” (Woodland Mall – Grand Rapids)

New this week on DVD: “The Duchess” (last Saturday), “Eagle Eye” (last Saturday), “Ghost Town” (last Saturday), “An American Carol”, “Surfer, Dude”, “Towelhead” 

 MY TAKE ON WHAT’S NEW IN THEATERS: There’s only one new movie in theaters this weekend… actually in one theater in the Grand Rapids market… at Woodland Mall… that’s the World War II-era period piece with Kate Winslett ”The Reader”, I haven’t seen it, but critics says Winslett’s performance is award worthy.

MY REVIEWS OF MOVIES CURRENTLY PLAYING IN THEATERS:
“Marley & Me” (7.5)
“The Curious Case of Benjamin Button” (9.5)
“The Day the Earth Stood Still” (6.5)
“Four Christmases”  (7.5)
“Twilight”  (7.0)
“Australia”  (7.9)
“Quantum of Solace”  (7.5)
“Role Models”  (7.5)
“Slumdog Millionaire”  (9.5)
“The Boy in the Striped Pajamas”  (7.5)
“Changeling”  (9.5)
“What Just Happened”  (6.5)

MY TAKE ON WHAT’S NEW ON DVD: There’s only two movies to recommend this week – the high-octane action thriller “Eagle Eye” that I really liked… or the well reviewed period piece “The Duchess” with Keira Knightley and Ralph Fiennes.. that I haven’t seen yet.

Looking for other rentals? 

(more…)