Paul

Seth Rogen meets Simon Pegg and Nick Frost; not exactly Superman meets Batman and Robin, more like the Flash meets the Wonder Twins. But regardless, these three comedy greats come together in Paul, a sci-fi comedy about a couple comic book geeks who cross paths with an alien in the Mojave desert. Needless to say, this is easily a formula for a fun movie filled with homages to a bundle of classic science fiction flicks.

Pegg and Frost, whom you probably know as the dynamic duo that stared in Shaun of the Dead and Hot Fuzz, play a pair of lifelong friends from England who are finally living their dream of attending Comic-con and road tripping across America to see its most famous UFO sights. On the way they run into Paul, a wisecracking, pot smoking alien, voiced by Seth Rogen. The little gray creature is on the run from the government, and convinces the nerds to give him a ride to a safe location.

Along the way they run into Kristen Wiig, who plays a Christan Creationist who loses her grip on reality when she lays her eyes upon Paul. Jason Bateman is the secret service agent who is hot on Paul's trail, while Bill Hader and Joe Lo Truglio are a couple bumbling cops assigned to assist Bateman. There's plenty of other cameos, but I'd rather not spoil it for you.

What makes the character Paul so likable is the fact that he's Seth Rogan, who pretty much plays himself in every movie he's in; a charming, smart-assed pothead that you can't help but root for. The only difference is that he's an alien, so he can do things like turn invisible, heal animals, and read minds. Seriously, about 30 minutes into the film, I thought to myself, "Man, it would be awesome to have a friend like Paul." When a movie makes you think that way, they've done their job.

This is probably one of the funnier movies to come out this year, but I can't recommend it as something to rush out for. The transition between the second and third act was also a bit slow.

Other than that, there isn't much wrong with Paul. It's a fun movie, especially if you're a science fiction fanboy that's in his 30s. There's no need to rush out for it right away, but if you've got some extra time and cash, go and enjoy yourself.

104 minutes long. Rated R. Image provided courtesy of TheMovieZones.com.

Season of the Witch

I think it's safe to say that Nicholas Cage has accepted that he isn't the most popular actor in Hollywood, so he'll do just about anything for a paycheck these days. Therefor, it's not that surprising that he took the lead role in Season of the Witch, a fantasy/horror/buddy/road trip hybrid of a snoozer.

Set in 14th century England, Cage and Ron Perlman play two Crusaders who've gone AWOL after realizing they've spilled too much innocent blood in the name of God. Unfortunately, the first town they stop in back home is suffering under the shadow of a deadly plague, a plague that the town has blamed on a young woman who happened to be passing through. The woman is accused of witchcraft and needs to be escorted to a monastery in the mountains where the monks will use their holy magic take her powers from her. Cage and Perlman are promised absolvement for their sins if they assist in the witch's transportation. But wait, isn't that what they went to the Crusades for? Ironyyyyyyy...

There's nothing particularly special about this movie. It's not completely horrible, but it's also not that great. It's just a boring waste of money that you probably won't even remember six months from now.

The plot in general is sadly predictable, and while the filmmakers want you to spend the whole time wondering whether the woman is a witch or not, the trailers kind of spoil it. That being said, Claire Foy does do a good job as the title character. So if you see this movie without having seen the trailer, her performance would probably seem a bit better.

Whenever Nicholas Cage was on the screen, I thought to myself, Thank God he's not trying to use an English accent, and whenever Ron Perlman was on screen, I thought, When is Hellboy 3 coming out? The pair does have a descent amount of chemistry in the film, but it's that cliche kind of chemistry that you see in any kind of buddy action movie. Their performances were pretty straight forward, cookie cutter, badass personas that plenty of lesser known actors could have done.

Speaking of English accents, how amazing is it that non-American actors like Christian Bale, Sam Worthington and Daniel Day-Lewis can play convincingly American characters, yet Americans can't be convincing as anything but Americans? Seriously, we have a huge outsourcing problem in this country. And I'm not talking about factory workers or call center employees, I'm talking about mainstream film acting jobs. It's kind of bizarre that the two main characters of a movie set in Medieval England are played by the only two non-European native actors in the cast.

Cage's character also keeps bringing up the fact that he no longer believes in the church and the imperfect men who run it. It's a common thing to see in religious themed movies these days; a protagonist who once believed in what preachers have told him who begins to question the church, due to an inner conflict of logic or emotion. I mean, sure, Christianity doesn't exactly have a model resume, and perhaps the church made a few mistakes over the last couple millenniums, but how much more anti-religious symbolism do we need? Then again, I guess a straight forward, zealous character would be too dry and politically incorrect for today's audience, wouldn't it?

While the technical side of the movie is good, including the special effects, Season of the Witch is an easy skip to make. It's a new year with plenty of other great stuff on the horizon, so just save your cash and ignore this one.

Machete

If you saw Grindhouse's theatrical release back in 2007, you may remember seeing a fake trailer for Machete. What's even more interesting is that Machete was an idea that first got into co-director/producer/writer Robert Rodriguez's head back in 1993 when he cast Danny Trejo for Desperado. In my opinion, this movie should have been made 10 years ago, because Trejo is a very underrated actor when it comes to action films. He's a former prison boxing champion and recovered drug addict turned actor who has never had a leading role until now. He's always a villain or a sidekick. And if Machete happened sooner, he'd be at a somewhat more convincing age for his character (the man is 66!)

In this Grindhouse style flick, the title character is an ex-Federale turned illegal day laborer who's hired by a shady businessman (Jeff Fahey) to assassinate a Texas state senator (Robert De Niro) who has strong views against illegal immigration. Little does he know that the job is a set-up to improve De Niro's chances for reelection. With help from an underground "Network" of immigrant activists lead by Michelle Rodriguez, and a sexy immigration enforcement officer (Jessica Alba), Machete must hunt the bad guys down to clear his name and get his revenge.

When you see a name like Robert Rodriguez in the credits, you know that this movie is all about fun and doesn't take itself too seriously. However, there's also a bit of a political message regarding immigration that actually makes the film a bit more enjoyable. And while the plot slows down a bit in the middle, it's still worth the price of a ticket. Just be ready for a lot of gore and nudity. Cheech Marin and Lindsay Lohan also have their own great comical roles, but I won't say any more than I need to.

Two issues I had with the casting was with Alba and Steven Seagal. Alba isn't known for he acting ability, just her looks; and Seagal is promoted as the first supporting actor, even though he doesn't get as much screen time as you'd expect. He also doesn't even get to be himself until the brief sword fight at the end. I think both of these actors were only cast for their names to help the movie sell better, and could have been easily replaced.

Overall, Machete isn't perfect, but it's still one of the most fun movies you'll see this year. Check it out, and feel free to speculate on whether we'll see this made into a trilogy.

Image provided courtesy of Wikipedia.org.

The Expendables

Star/director/co-writer Sylvester Stallone explained in an interview with G4's Attack of the Show that what made the blockbuster-action genre fade away was CGI. He said that every generation has to create their own style, so Hollywood began to focus on special effects and comic book plots. So to pay tribute to those great films of the 80's and early 90's, Stallone wrangled up some of the biggest action stars of the past and present in an attempt at a mega-blockbuster called The Expendables.

A five man team of mercenaries with the same name as the movie are offered a job by "Mr. Church" (Burce Willis). Their task is to liberate a tiny, fictional South American island-country from the clutches of a dictator. But the dictator is well protected, and has the financial support of a corrupt American businessman. Needless to say, the odds are stacked against The Expendables.

The movie's draw is the all-star cast of action heroes of today and yesterday. While Stallone's character leads the mercenary team, he's joined by British badass Jason Statham, martial arts legend Jet Li, former NFL player Terry Crews, and three time UFC heavyweight champion Randy "The Natural" Couture. Mickey Rourke also appears as the team's informant, Dolph Lundgren is a former Expendable turned villain, WWE Hall of Famer "Stone Cold" Steve Austin plays the evil American's right hand man, and California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger has a cameo as Stallone's bitter rival and competitor.

Each of these guys have their moments, but it feels like a lot of them had an unfair amount of screen time. Of course, this problem could be blamed on the size of the film's cast versus the film's length; it's less than two hours long. But even with these limitations, every member of the ensemble get's their moment of glory, whether it's making the audience laugh or gasp. The biggest reaction from the audience at the midnight showing I attended was an inside joke shared between Stallone and Willis about Schwarzenegger.

What also made The Expendables somewhat disappointing was the way the action was portrayed. Yes, there's fair amount of gore, but it just felt a bit lacking for film of this magnitude. The worst part was Li's fight with Lundgren, because there were too many camera angels. If you look at any fight scene from a quality martial arts film, you may notice that there are only two or three camera angles, and they're spread out enough to allow you to appreciate the talent of the people on camera. In the five minutes that Li and Lundgren get, cameras are changing every five seconds. You could blame this fight's failure on the mismatching of fighting styles; Li's fast paced kung fu versus Lundgren's wreckless brawling. But if that was intended, you may have to question the purpose of Li's casting in the first place. It seems that the studio relied too much on star power versus delivery.

Flaws aside, The Expendables is a great recovery movie for those that will be dragged to Eat, Pray, Love this weekend. Action fans who don't need to take things too seriously will enjoy themselves. Just be sure to cross your fingers in hopes that there won't be a sequel...unless it's better.

Toy Story 3

There was a part of me that believed that Toy Story didn't need a third movie. The guys at Pixar could have been like the guys that made Wayne's World 1 & 2; they could have stopped with what they had, appreciated their success, and moved on. Ironically, Toy Story 3 is all about learning to move on when it's time to do so. Since Pixar displayed such a strong emotional bond between the toys and their owner, Andy, ending their story must have been anything but easy. Thankfully, they didn't disappoint.

In (what is hopefully) the final chapter in the Toy Story saga, Andy is 17 years old and is getting ready for college. Unfortunately, he forgot about his beloved toys years ago, so his mom ends up donating them to the local daycare center. But the toys can't stand it there, because the children are anything but gentile when it comes to playtime, so they formulate a plan to escape the daycare center and get into Andy's moving boxes before he leaves home forever.

Obviously, this Disney produced movie is mainly for kids, but that doesn't mean adults won't enjoy it too, especially if they grew up with the franchise themselves. It has jokes for everyone, kids and adults, and there's even moments that can touch your heart if you let it. (Yes, my eyes leaked a little at the end. Shut up.) Most of the main characters and voice actors make their return, and there's plenty of new toys to meet too. Randy Newman even came back to write and perform the music, even though most of it is a remixed version of the "You've Got a Friend in Me" theme song.

I also saw Toy Story 3 in Dolby 3D, which, honestly, isn't the best kind there is out there. If you really want to get the image-popping experience like 3D first gave us when it was invented, you probably want to make the extra effort to see it in IMAX 3D. However, seeing this movie also made me realize that 3D animation looks a lot better in 3D than live footage or 2D cartoons. I've seen movies in Dolby 3D and Real3D, and both don't do as well. They're experiences are more like looking at things in layers, which eventually burn your eyes. So if you can't afford/get to an IMAX theater, just see the movie in 2D.

My only other concern is that Pixar might feel that three movies isn't enough. Hopefully, they'll learn from DreamWorks' mistakes with the Shrek movies, specifically parts 3 and 4. Instead of making a quality third installment to the series, DreakWorks got sloppy and threw together a weak "conclusion" to what was once a respected franchise. What's worse is they didn't learn to quit. Instead, they decided to go for the money and make a fourth movie, cutting corners along the way.

If you have kids, be a super cool parent and take them to see Toy Story 3. (Just make sure you they've seen the first two so they know what's going on.) If you don't have kids, but loved the first two, go see it. It might actually make you cry.

Toy Story 3 is rated G and is 103 minutes long. Image provided courtesy of Wikipedia.

Iron Man 2

A major issue with popcorn movies right now is the industry's addiction to sequels. As long as the first movie does well both at the box office and with the critics, producers will pump out half-hearted sequels, prequels and spin-offs to make more money. However, some companies actually care about their work, and make excellent sequels like The Dark Knight, Spider-man 2 and Hellboy 2.

While the first Iron Man movie was a surprising hit, Iron Man 2 would best be described as a respectable, yet failed attempt to match its predecessor. While Iron Man was great, Iron Man 2 was only good.

The film takes place six months after the first movie, when Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr.) is caught between the U.S. government trying to take his Iron Man suit, and his artificial heart poisoning his body and mind. Meanwhile, Ivan Vanko (Mickey Rourke), son of Stark's father's business partner, joins forces with Stark's rival, Justin Hammer (Sam Rockwell), after a failed assassination attempt as Whiplash. Hammer promises to financially back Whiplash if he builds him an army of Iron Man suits.

Unfortunately, like Jeff Bridges as Obadiah Stane in the first film, the villains feel a bit underused in this movie. In fact, there was one scene when Hammer and Whiplash begin feuding with each other that seems to overshadow anything else they do on screen. Even the final showdown with Whiplash was incredibly short and disappointing.

The movie also felt a bit longer than it actually was. It's a little over two hours long, but a few scenes feel dragged out and boring after a while.

Having said that, this movie was still wasn't bad. Director Jon Favreau did a descent job of balancing action with comedy and character development. I especially liked what happened with Lt. Colonel James "Rhodey" Rhodes (Don Cheadle) first puts on the War Machine suit. (You'll get what I mean when you see it.)

The cast, overall, gives a great performance as well. In fact, there's tons of celebrity cameos to keep an eye out for, from TV journalists, to musicians, to Favreau and Stan Lee (who constantly appear in their movies).

Overall, I think this movie was just OK at best. See a matinee showing or wait for the DVD. If you only want to see the secret ending after the credits, just look for it on YouTube.