Starring: Mark Wahlberg, Zooey Deschanel, John Leguizamo, Betty Buckley, Spencer Breslin, and Ashlyn Sanchez

Directed by: M. Night Shyamalan

I have to admit that M. Night Shyamalan movies have been a guilty pleasure of mine. If I’m being totally honest, I even found The Village and Lady in the Water entertaining. Even though they weren’t the same caliber as The Sixth Sense they had that air of cleverness to them that draws us to his movies. With that said, and just having seen his latest release, The Happening, I think I’m going to be turning in my M. Night fan club badge. What an utter disappointment this movie was. The concept was clever and original as always, however, the story and the implementation were second-rate at best. This film suffers from extreme schizophrenia. The movie flipped back and forth between a seriously intense horror film, a gore film, a horror parody, a blatent b-movie, and a political/environmental statement. Throughout The Happening I was having horrible Snakes on a Plane flashbacks. How could anyone make that mistake again. The sad part is that I will most likely be first in line at his next movie. I’m obviously a glutton for punishment.

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Starring: Jack Black, Lucy Liu, Dustin Hoffman, Dustin Hoffman, Angelina Jolie, Ian McShane, and Jackie Chan

Directed by: Mark Osborne, and John Stevenson

Those who know me, know what a huge fan I am of CGI animated movies, especially those made by Pixar. With that said, I must say, “Watch out Pixar, here comes DreamWorks Animation.” Pixar still leads the the field of CGI animated feature films, but with DreamWorks’ latest release of Kung Fu Panda, the gap has narrowed. Not only have they created a more superior CGI product than their past efforts, but an equally impressive story and cast, making Kung Fu Panda one of my favorite movies so far this year.

I have to first acknowledge the casting director — job well done! This is one of the best cast animated movie’s I’ve seen to date. Especially the casting of Jack Black fittingly as the unlikely hero Po, the portly, quirky Panda from the title, and the casting of Dustin Hoffman as Kung Fu Master Shifu, a small Yoda-like Fu-Manchu-wearing Red Panda. Equally well cast are that of Shifu’s elite squad of Kung Fu experts, the Furious Five — Tigress (Angelina Jolie), Crane (David Cross), Monkey (Jackie Chan), Viper (Lucy Liu), and Mantis (Seth Rogen).

The story line is the very formulaic “unlikely hero saves the day,” however it is the movie’s lighthearted nature, brilliant humor and enjoyable characters that make this such a great movie. I was laughing so hard at the acupuncture, and the chopstick-battle scenes that my laughter carried on well into the next scenes. It’s moments like this and the brilliantly choreographed Kung Fu fight scenes that really brought this movie into Pixar territory. This is definitely a movie I can see more than once… or five times.

Again, well done Dreamworks. Hopefully you’ll stay on track with your next release, Monsters vs. Aliens.

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Starring: Harrison Ford, Shia LaBeouf, Cate Blanchett, Ray Winstone, Karen Allen, John Hurt, and Jim Broadbent

Directed by: Steven Spielberg

I really wanted to like this movie and I tried to convince myself it was good even after leaving the theater, but the truth wins in the end. This movie was a big let-down. The action was great, the story was classic Indiana Jones, however it was missing that one special element that made us fall in love with Indiana Jones… the humor formula. The abundance of humor and comic relief found in the older installments helped us connect with the characters the way we did. The most amazing part about this to me is that Harrison Ford had been waiting for the perfect script before he would get on board again. So, I have to say he’s as much to blame as Lucas, and Spielberg.

*Note to George Lucas: You should know better! You ruined Star Wars in the same manner as you’re now ruining Indiana Jones. If you make another sequel, to anything, remember the formula that made the originals so amazing — great script, great characters and great comic relief.

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Starring: Robert Downey Jr., Jeff Bridges, Gwyneth Paltrow, Terrence Howard, Shaun Toub, Leslie Bibb, Bill Smitrovich, and Nazanin Boniadi

Directed by: Jon Favreau

Being that Iron Man was one of the first comic books I ever purchased as a kid, I was eagerly awaiting the release of this movie. I felt sure that I’d be disappointed once again in yet another failed comic book turned movie, but this time it was different. I loved it. Great cast. Great script. Great movie. I just hope that Robert Downy Jr. stays on the wagon so there will be good sequels to follow.

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