Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull (2.5/4 stars)

While I don't regret going to this movie at all, I am hard pressed to find things I can actually say were really good. The movie uses the typical action/adventure formula with goofy sidekicks, witty dialog and obvious story line (think The Mummy). So with that said, Spielberg disappointed me. Fortunately for him, this formula still works decently and made for a film that I enjoyed overall.

There were a couple of scenes that ruined my enjoyment however. To me, I separate the supernatural from the natural and when something in a movie that is supernatural occurs I am willing to believe it for the movie's sake. But when something natural happens that just couldn't happen, I have trouble getting past it. For example, in this movie Indiana takes cover in a refrigerator at a nuclear test site right before it is blown to smithereens. He then flies over a mile in the air and drops down without a scratch. These type of things ruin movies for me because they are just way too unrealistic.

Another scene was when Shai's character turns into Tarzan and is one with the monkeys. Sure monkey's are cool but this whole scene could have been removed.

It wasn't all like that, most of the action was fun to watch and even sometime funny. Overall I wasn't expecting much and it exceeded my expectations, but I was still expecting more from Spielberg who I have been slowly loosing faith in as a Director that can do something new and unique.

Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull Movie Reviews and Trailers

Teeth (3/4 stars)

I expected this to be horrible, but it is actually a really good comedy. The idea of the movie is interesting enough, but the acting and dialog was just awkwardly funny. I laughed aloud throughout the whole film and even though it wasn't a great story and you could see what was going to happen a mile away, it didn't really hurt the movie.

If this movie knew the plot was retarded and they exploited it and there is nothing better than a movie that makes fun of itself. As a horror, it isn't really there, though it did make me cringe a few times.

If you don't take this too seriously, you will laugh your ass off.

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World Trade Center (2/4 stars)

I wasn't sure what to expect with this movie, but I thought I was either going to love it or hate it. I can't honestly say I "hated it" but I was bored by it. I also couldn't help but think that if this movie wasn't about a real event that affected so many people around me that I would have probably turned it off.

The way Oliver Stone went about introducing the characters and their lives was ordinary and didn't every build anything up. They went into the building, they got trapped, they stayed their a while and they were rescued. The whole time I was hoping someone would rescue me from the movie.

If there was a silver lining with this movie, it was the emotional and heart-felt moments. I thought most of these were performed excellently by Maggie Gyllenhaal. Her performance was great.

I can’t see myself ever watching this movie again.

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It’s Showtime: FilmCrave Innovatively Adds Movie Trailers

FilmCrave.com, a Kansas City based movie social network, showed yet again that they hear their members by providing them with thousands of new movie titles and movie trailers. Unlike other social networks where member suggestions fall on deaf ears, the crew of FilmCrave wanted to make sure their members were happy.

"We had a few requests for movies that weren’t in our database, so we decided to take it a step further and have more than doubled our database." Said Alex Olson, one of the founders of FilmCrave.com.

Along with the doubling of their movie database, FilmCrave.com innovatively added movie trailers. The way in which the trailers are presented should enable users to participate on the site and watch trailers at the same time, proving usability is a priority. There are no pop ups and nothing to download, allowing for seamless integration with FilmCrave. "Usability has been a huge focus of FilmCrave from the beginning," replied Nick Barry, co-founder and lead programmer, when asked about the new features. "We consistently see other sites sprout up and fail. Most of the time it is because they don’t listen to their members."

The usability Nick refers to doesn’t just stop at movie trailers. It is shown throughout the website design, allowing new members to utilize full features of the site right away. Members can write and read movie reviews, share movie lists, chat with friends and participate on the website in countless other ways. In addition, FilmCrave spouts intuitive technology: incorporating their instant movie search, drag and drop movie lists, and advanced features that don’t require the page to refresh.

Much of the site’s direction has been chosen based on feedback provided by members. Member feedback has been gathered by communicating directly to members, conducting surveys that ask them for suggestions, and measuring satisfaction. Josh Collins, the third co-founder that currently makes up the FilmCrave trifecta, touts that, "by finding out exactly what our member’s want, we can avoid the pitfalls many of our competitors have fallen to."

FilmCrave realizes that in order to compete in the social networking arena, they have to go beyond just movie data. They have to innovate the way it is shown and how users interact with it. Other competitors struggle keeping members happy. FilmCrave’s founders attribute this to poor design and features that are hard to use.

Boys and Girls Guide to getting Down (3/4 stars)

A riot. The idea was clearly taken right from the "Hitchhiker's Guide." If you want a movie with a real plot this is not your film. However, if you want a movie with funny narration, interesting graphics and an almost documentary feel this is for you. The movie was broken up into several "guides" starting with how to get into clubs and eventually covering topics like "Sketchy drugs vs. Fun drugs" and "Greasing the Bartender's wheels".

I learned quite a bit about how to store cocaine, how to detect a coke whore, what to do to avoid the awkward morning after a hookup and how to get into a club. I think the movie is better if you can relate some of the things they go over, so if you are a homebody and have never been around that crowd you may find it hard to enjoy. But I could be wrong.

I give this movie 3 out of 4 coke lines off a nipple.

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Halloween 2007 (2.5/4 stars) - Too much of a good thing kills the movie

Very high expectations led me to be disappointed in this movie. Rob Zombie’s directing is proving to be mediocre with the same old formula of raw camera work, over-the-top dialog and gore that tries too hard to be shocking. Some of his movies this works, but with this one it hurt the mystique of the original movie.

Part of the reason the original Halloween was so good was because it took place in an ordinary town, with ordinary people and a seeming ordinary boy (Michael Myers) killed his family. But in Rob Zombie’s Halloween, Michael Myers family comprises of a stripper mother, a violent, drunk, cripple step dad, a teenage whore of a sister and Michael who tortures small animals. The town is also made up of degenerate white trash kids, which make it hard to relate to any of the characters. The dialog was part of the reason I found myself disconnected from movie, it was so exaggerated it came off as phony.

There were some good scenes relating to Michael Meyers and his history that I enjoyed, but half the movie was this back story and then the movie seemed to try to play catch up. Most of the killings were done pretty well and followed a typical hacker/slasher formula. I wish that there was a little bit more suspense with the killings. Occasionally, it would have been nice to show all the action and leave a little to your imagination. But that is defiantly something Rob Zombie is not known for.

Overall, it wasn’t good but it wasn’t bad. It also depends what type of horror you like. I like the eerie, suspenseful type of horror rather than the gore fests. If you love gore than this movie may appeal to you more.

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3:10 to Yuma (3.5/4 stars)

Not being a huge fan of westerns didn't keep me from thoroughly enjoying this movie. I thought the acting was great, the story was good (I never saw the 50's version so it was new for me), and the action sequences were awesome. The characters reminded me a lot of Tomestone's characters. They were bad-ass and you weren't sure which ones you liked best.

The plot consists of Dan (Christian Bale) an ordinary rancher who was down on his luck rising up to the challenge of bringing the most notorious criminal to justice. The plot was simple enough and I am a sucker for movies where the criminal's character goes into a deeper part of the human character. Kind of like Hannibal Lecter falling in love with Clarice Starling (or at least falling into fascination) these two unlikely characters shared a respect that carried them through the story.

Check this one out, you won't be sorry.

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Ball of Fury (1/4) This movie sucked some big balls

LAME! It was about 5 minutes in when I realized I haven't laughed yet. The movie kept that pace throughout, occasionally throwing us a funny bone but in the end I can count the time I laughed hard -- twice! That is not very good. To make matters worse, I didn't expect much with this movie. I heard it was bad so I thought that maybe it was like Zoolander or Beerfest (so bad they are great).

Speaking of Beerfest, this movie is exactly like that except for the aspect of it not being funny. It tried to hard to do the unexpected but in the end was completely predictable. Dan Fogler probably has no future in acting after this role, which is great for the rest of us who never have to see his fat ass again.

This is also the first time I saw the audience gladly leave during the credits when they were doing additional scenes. Most of the theatre left and didn't look back once to see if it was funny. Save your money, go and see Superbad again or rent Grandma's Boy.

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Stardust (3/4 stars)

Stardust was a joy to watch, it was funny, well acted, and the special effects were fantastic. The only reason I didn't rate this movie higher was because it was pretty cheesy at times. Even though it was cheesy it didn't take away from much during the film that was good. Most of the cheese revolved around romance between the "star" Yvaine (Claire Danes) and Tristen (Charlie Cox). It was a predictable fairy-tale and as you watched it you knew how it was going to end so you couldn't get too wrapped up in their setbacks along the way.

Still, it was a fun adventure and I thoroughly enjoyed watching it. The ghosts of the princes were amusing throughout and De Niro's flamboyant character "Captain Shakespeare" was hilarious at times. Who doesn't like a cross-dressing pirate?

Michelle Pfeiffer also showed that she still has it, she was both hot and evil at the same time. Not bad for a 50-year-old. Check this one out. It is bound to become one of the great date movies.

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Superbad (3.5/4 stars)

This is one of the funniest, awkward teen movies ever. The dialog was really dry and witty, though there was some physical comedy to mix it up. Most of the humor was toilet humor, which is exactly the way I like it. How many balls and vagina jokes can you hear before you get sick of them? I am not sure it is possible.

I am glad this movie was rated "R" because they could keep it in the gutter the whole time instead of trying to play for the younger crowd. But most of all I am glad that there is another male that is obsessed with drawing penises ever chance they can. What a relief!

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Sunshine (2/4 stars) Too much Blah, not enough Yeah!

Sunshine is the Sci-fi, action, adventure, horror, drama that I never wanted. Simply put this movie tried to wear too many hats, and the end result wasn't all that sunny.

The movie is broken into 3 distinct parts:

The first part was mainly character development and back story. The dialog was a bit forced and some scenes just seemed a little unnecessary since you would have figured it out by watching it. The major problem I have with this first part is the length, it was over half the movie. There was nice part to the start though, the computer that was running the ship, appropriately named "Icubus", had the hottest voice. At first I thought one of the main characters was having futuristic phone sex, but no... it was just the ship.

The next part was the horror. Yes, you read that correctly, horror. It was very reminiscent of Event Horizon. For the most part this was pretty effective and intense, so the movie was getting better!

Then the last part hit with about 20 minutes left. This part was a too chaotic. You have the horror still lingering, the tension at the end is building, but now all of a sudden it is mostly an action/sci-fi film where a bomb must be detonated by hand. Sound a little familiar? That is because it is. I am sick of movies where one person must sacrifice themselves to save the world.

I give this movie 2 out of 4 stars. One for each time I wanted the star to die and get the movie over with.

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The Simpsons Movie (3.5/4 stars)

Let it be known that I was not at all disappointed with the Simpson movie. It was funny throughout but best of all Matt Groening didn't sell out like George Lucas did with Star Wars. Instead, Matt Groening made it for the audience that loved it in the first place, most of whom are adults now. Sure, the younger crowd will enjoy it, but clearly it was made with the idea of making the references more adult and saying things they cannot on Fox.

Not selling out, that really sums up this movie. They could have tried to get it down to a PG rating to make more money but instead stayed true. Even there music was memorable, probably because the great Danny Elfman composed it. I could not think of a better way to end a series than with a movie that ties everything together and leaves nothing left unsaid... including Maggie who at the end of the credits says her first (and last) word!

check out this review and other reviews of mine at Filmcrave.com

Filmcrave.com is finally open for business

After almost a year and over 1000 hours Filmcrave.com is finally up and running. We are currently beta testing the website but users are welcome to come and sign up, rate movies and write reviews.

My profile name on the site is "Josh C" so make sure you look me up if you join!

Satan's Little Helper (2/4 stars)

This movie had the most annoying character ever but I still couldn’t turn away which is the making of a great drinking movie. There were some really funny scenes, mainly the ones where they mowed down a pregnant woman, a baby and a blind man with a shopping cart. Pair that with bad acting and an utterly predictable plot and you will find yourself at the pinnacle of a decent ‘B’ movie.

One thing is for sure, you will not find too many like it, so take a look but be prepared to be annoyed by the little chubby kid with glasses who is also know as Satan’s Little Helper.

FilmCrave.com coming August 1st!

Spiderman 3 (2/4 stars)

Too cliché and laughably bad plot. This movie must have been written by a ten-year-old! Within the first 15 minutes (keep in mind this movie was long) you knew everything that was going to unfold. Not only did this predictability hurt the movie but because it dragged on and on so slowly it made it almost unwatchable at times.

To make matters worse there was every cliché movie scene imaginable: from the comical spider man getting fed cookies from the girl next door to the overly insightful advice his aunt gives him. There were too many forced comical scenes which took the movie down a huge notch and made it hard to take any of it seriously. This was especially true when they took 30 seconds during a key battle to cut to Peter’s boss bargaining with a little girl for a camera. It was even worse that their was a whole sequence involving song and dance.

Still, the movie had great action and special effects, which helped, overcome some of its shortcomings. I wasn’t enough to make it good, but it was watchable. The acting was so-so, not nearly the best I have seen from Tobey Maguire.

The question I asked myself at the end of this movie was, “Is this really Spiderman 3?” It just seems like they could have made a good movie but chose to sell out to appeal more to kids and everyone else that wants a laugh.

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King Kong - 2006 (3/4 stars)

I really liked this film but am hesitant to watch it again but the first hour was so slow. Adrien Brody kept this movie going once they hit the island and although I liked Jack Black his character still reminded me to much of his comedies and that wasn’t what this movie was about. Still the special effects were great and it was nice to see most of the old scenes done in the new movie. This was especially true with the battling of the dinosaur, even though Peter Jackson had Kong fight numerous ones to make it more action packed.

Another benefit of the special effects was that Kong was able to have more of a personality mostly due to having pronounced facial expressions. This really helped drive the “beauty and the beast” drama home and made me feel for him more.

It has been almost two-years since I have seen this movie and so many scenes have stuck with me which is what makes a movie great. Still, I also remembered being bored off my ass for almost and hour at the start of the movie. Watch it for yourself and decide.

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Rules of Attraction (4/4 stars)

This is a classic tale of college students and how their lives intertwine with one another. James Van Der Beek is great in his role of playing an "Emotional Vampire" or simply put an asshole. He isn't inherently an ass, he just can't seem to figure things out for himself so he gives up and feeds on other's feelings to figure out how he should act. He thinks he has fallen in love, but it is not with the right girl and becomes more of a infatuation.
The other characters: the rich prick, the slut, the openly gay, the closet gay, the drug dealers and the posers all have a great part in showing the college experience. They each have something in common: none of them know what is really going on but they all think they know everything.

Aside from a great plot and good acting, the movie has a very memorable soundtrack. The soundtrack is very important to this film because it ties in so closely with the directing. So closely that when the movie is going back in time the music is playing backwards with it. Roger Avary who hasn't directed much shows his tallents with a very unique style of camera work. He breaks the typical mold and uses odd camera angles, split screens and a host of other interesting but effective techniques to bring the audience closer to the characters.

Simply a great film, and I hope that Roger Avary has more movies to direct soon.

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300 The Movie, 3/4 stars

An action inspired battle movie meets comic book madness. This is what 300 is all about! Bloody battle after bloody battle the special effects and directing are both beautiful and awe inspiring at times. Occasionally the blood spatters and giant foes go over the top but for the most part it is very well done and welcome.

My only real complaints with the movie is that it was a bit predictable, the narrator hurt the momentum and there was no emotions in this film. With this said, the acting was decent and Gerard Butler, King Leonidas, was very commanding and played the role of a fearless king very well. The narration helped explain the background of the film but would come at times where the battles just finished and the tension should be building. The tension probably would have been increased more if the audience was meant to care for any of the characters. Since the characters were mostly emotionless and nameless there was no hoping that they would live or die. The result is that the audience never feels tension and instead is left with just the pure amusement of the battle and the creative directing.

Like I said before, 300 is a mix of a action inspired battle movie with the creativity of a comic book. If you like how that sounds check it out, if not stay away.

More movie reviews at Filmcrave.com coming in Mid 2007.

Children of Men 3/4 stars

This movie was simply done well. Clive Owens character's misery and self pity was very believable until the end. The dialog could have been a bit better in this film, there were certain times where I found myself thinking that the only reason they were talking was to fill the audience in on what had happened in the past. I feel that this was not terrible and answered some of my questions but they could have done it a bit more sly.

One of the best parts of this film was the apocalyptic plot and war style action. This style of action was where the director excelled at and really brought the movie from just alright to really good. Michael Caine's character, Jasper, was a pot smoking, hippy scholar. He helped alleviate some of the dramatic scenes with some humor that didn't seem forced at all.

In the end I really enjoyed the idea behind the plot, it reminded me of an ultra-realistic version of Aeon Flux. Good enough to check out in the theater and defiantly worth a look in the movie store.

Film Crave is coming mid 2007 Filmcrave.com Movie Reviews and Top Movie Lists