Movies

LAND OF THE LOST

By: Lee Rice

Although it has a few funny moments, the laughs are few and far between in ‘Land of the Lost,’ the new, comedic adaptation of a popular 1970’s television series.

The basic premise remains the same, people fall through a time portal, get stuck in a pocket dimension filled with people and objects from the past, present and future, and adventure ensues.

REVIEW: ANGELS & DEMONS 

By: Lee Rice

Although the splendor of Vatican City really shines in ‘Angels & Demons,’ the scenery is the only thing that manages to keep the viewers attention away from the undercooked character development, apocalyptic pseudo-science, and mind-sapping exposition.

MOVIE REVIEW: STAR TREK

By: Lee Rice

Returning to a much loved franchise with new actors in old roles is a monumental task for anyone, but thanks to the quality of those new actors and an excellent screenplay that manages to turn nearly a half decade of Trek lore on its head, J.J. Abrahm’s relaunch of Star Trek is an exercise in brilliance.

MOVIE REVIEW

X-MEN ORIGINS: WOLVERINE

By: Lee Rice

He’s the best there is at what he does, but is Fox pictures up to bringing this much beloved Wolvreine action character to the screen? Unfortunately, the answer is both yes and no.

OBSERVE AND REPORT

By: Lee Rice

After the recent "Zack and Miri Make a Porno," I was rather skeptical about seeing another Seth Rogan comedy. After all, it seems that he’s rapidly becoming overused as Hollywood’s new go-to man for comedy.

Fortunately, although "Observe and Report" does go over the top at a few points, it manages to stay within the realm of good taste and delivers a funny and largely entertaining good time.

FAST & FURIOUS

By: Lee Rice

Fast cars, beautiful women, and Vin Diesel in a role from the days before he was reduced to doing dreck like Babylon A.D.

What’s not to like?

Everything else.

‘Fast & Furious’ lives up to its title, packing its run time with frenetically-shot car chases that are admittedly a cut above other action fare that I’ve seen lately, but real problems arise when the film fails to deliver any real character development or a decent story.

KNOWING

By: Lee Rice

If Nicholas Cage could predict disasters in real life, one wonders how many bad films he could have avoided starring in. Fortunately, he’s picked right this time in choosing "Knowing," an interesting blend of supernatural suspense and disaster movie.

RACE TO WITCH MOUNTAIN

By: Lee Rice

It seems that even Disney has bowed to the recent trend of sequel/prequel films, adding another installment in the "Escape to Witch Mountain" series. The original "Escape," along with its sequels, concerned a brother and sister pair with strange powers who discover that they are actually aliens, and that their memories of being in a boat accident are actually memories of when their ship crashed into the sea. When I was younger, I used to enjoy the original because of its charm and sense of fun.

THE WATCHMEN

By: Lee Rice

In an industry already inundated with comic book movies, it seems rather odd that "Watchmen," the supposedly unadaptable graphic novel by comics guru Alan Moore, ever got made.

Back in the 1980’s, Moore decided to challenge pretty much every comic book stereotype known to man, exploring not only what the world would be like if superheroes existed, but asking what those heroes might actually be like.

"Friday The 13th"

By: Lee Rice

When a remake is released, there is usually a flurry of resentment from some people who loved the original movie. They feel that the very idea of a remake is an insult to the original film, implying that it wasn’t done well enough, and that the new filmmaker feels he can top it.