Hot Tub Time Machine (2010)

So what would you do if you had the opportunity to travel back in time? I would try to correct so many mistakes I made that by the time I finished with all of them, I would probably be back at the present. And I know it’s not just me, everyone, or almost everyone would take that chance to go back and change something or maybe just to relive a special moment they shared in their life. The sheer idea of time travel, though not yet available in real life, has been the topic of numerous movies so far. The Time Machine (duh), Back to the Future, even Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventure capitalized on the fantasy concept and has entertained audiences and readers throughout history. The latest film to use this plot line is the utterly, yes I said utterly, hilarious comedy directed by Steve Pink, Hot Tub Time Machine.

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Motivation

Random Joke:

A man requests for a personal trainer and receives a hot blonde female.  She says, "If you can catch me then you can have me".  Motivated, the man tries catching her and fails.  The next week, a hot brunette is sent over.  She also says, "If you can catch me, you can have me".  He trains for a couple of weeks and awaits the arrival of his new trainer.  When he answers his door, his new trainer is a muscle bound man who says, "If I catch you, you are mine!".

The Voice and The Boss

For the most part sports are sports, we cheer, we scream, we root for our favorite team or player. Sometimes we boo, we heckle, we shout obscenities, we throw things and we are heartbroken over a loss. But sometimes a loss in the sports world means something much more than just one less win. Sometimes it's losing a person and it can feel as if you have lost a family member or a good friend.

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Predators (2010)

There are films that are so good that they are created into franchises. Some of these films are well done and the franchise is successful because all of the succeeding films are good as well. There are films that are good that are made into franchises that aren’t successful. Then there are films that are bad that are also made into franchises that turn out to be way more successful than the original movie. Hope that wasn’t too confusing. Everyone still with me? Good. This film is somewhere in-between if there is an in-between. Some films cannot be outdone, remade, revamped or whatever you want to call it. It’s just impossible. Whether it’s because of the story, acting, directing, cinematography, controversy or it may simply hold a special place in your movie heart. The year 1987, governors Schwarzenegger and Ventura, Carl “Action Jackson/Apollo Creed” Weathers and director John McTiernan brought us one of those kinds of films, Predator. A marvel in its own time and a classic that will forever live on in movie lore, I remember watching this with my father as a kid and recall being scared of the alien monster and rooting for “Ahnuld” at the same time. Not to mention the trauma and nightmares I received from seeing the kind of gore that a child should never be subjected to. But, what doesn’t turn us into insane serial killers only makes us into movie critics.

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The Summer of Lebron

The summer season has always proven to be the highest grossing period for movies out of the entire year. The primetime, the main event, the go-to era. Those certain number of months ranging between around May and the end of August are the money makers for box offices around the world. For whatever reason, when the weather gets warm, or more realistically a scorching boil, patrons seem to flock to the comfortable air conditioned environment of the inside of a movie theater to catch their most anticipated blockbuster. Although I've gotten into the habit of bringing a sweat shirt with me because that "comfortable air conditioning" can begin to feel like January especially during a two hour film with a large ice cold Sprite. Plus that type of heads up consideration really impresses the ladies. But on to the topic at hand. This summer's most anticipated blockbuster is not on the big screen this year. It has all the specifics you would want in a big budget film as well, in fact, it probably takes the cake, and ice cream, money wise. Suspense, drama, laughs, excitement, thrills and maybe even some horror at the end for some people. This mega event, however, appeals to sports fans especially basketball fans. Especially NBA basketball fans. Yes, my friends I am speaking of the 2010 NBA Free Agency epic that has the entire world entrenched.

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9 (2009)

Going into this movie, I thought the dark, apocalyptic atmosphere in it that was inhabited by animated dolls had to be the obvious results straight out of the mind of the imaginative Tim Burton. I was partly right, but mostly wrong. The CGI produced 9 is actually based off of a short film by director Shane Acker as a student project for the UCLA Animation Workshop. The piece, which took roughly four years to complete caught the attention of one Tim Burton and was then made into the feature film that we know today. Burton was one of the producers for the film while Acker was allowed to also direct the full length version of his original project.

9 puts a slightly different spin on films based around the apocalyptic film genre. For one, it’s animated, all CGI, but not necessarily meant for children with a PG-13 rating. Two, its main characters are dolls. Yup, dolls, nine of them to be exact who have the task of hopefully rebuilding the bleak and seemingly doomed present state of the world into a bright one. Machines created by a scientist to bring and maintain peace about the Earth developed minds of their own and instead destroyed all of humanity. Sound familiar? Terminator, I, Robot, The Matrix. These dolls, created by the same scientist are the last parts of humanity left.

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Knight and Day (2010)

Ok, so the last time actors named Cruise and Diaz were combined, the final product was a seriously confusing and jumbled story titled Vanilla Sky. The best thing about that tangled web of plotlines was the inclusion of one of Cruise’s ex’s with a similar sounding last name, Penelope. Nine years later, Tom and Cameron have returned but with a different director, James Mangold; different writer, Patrick O’ Neill; and a different genre, action, with some subtle comedy blended in, to bring us Knight and Day.

Roy Miller (Tom Cruise) is a CIA agent who has possibly or possibly not gone rogue due to his knowledge of the whereabouts of a special power source that is wanted by, well, everyone. He “accidentally” bumps into vintage automobile restorer, June Havens (Cameron Diaz), at the airport in order to get the package through security for him, without her knowledge of course. They find themselves on the same flight destined for Boston and get to know each other. During a bathroom trip, June realizes she is smitten with her new airplane buddy and decides to make a go at him while oblivious to the ruckus occurring outside the restroom. A ruckus that includes everyone and everyone, even the pilots, attacking Roy because yes, you guessed it, they are all after that little package I told you about earlier.

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