Becky and I went to see Lady in the Water on Friday night at the AMC Theater in Highlands Ranch. The Fandango movie website at Lady in the Water describes the movie as follows:

“When Cleveland Heep (Paul Giamatti) rescues an enigmatic young woman (Bryce Dallas Howard) from danger, little does he know that she is a character from a bedtime story, who is trying to return to her world. As he falls deeply in love with her, he begins to realize that he and fellow tenants are also characters in the fable, and they must work together to protect her from those who would prevent her from returning home.”

The Review
Lady in the Water is a whacky, kind of spooky film that is a bedtime story gone awry. If you read the description above before you go into this film then it will make sense and you will probably enjoy it. I didn’t read it going in, but had the patience to figure it out. Becky on the other hand fell asleep and hated this movie. She put it right up there with The Village, which is another M. Night Shyamalan movie that was not as good as this one in my opinion.

If you like this guy’s work than you will probably like the movie. A few people clapped at the end, other people yawned after waking up and some people just left completely confused. In other words, enter this movie at your own risk.

You may want to wait for the rental when you can pause, rewind, or turn it off. Plus, you can share the cost with a friend and figure it out together.

John – ** Rental
Becky – * Don’t Bother
_________________________________________________________________________
Auto Broker – John Boyd “The Cool Car Guy”
John is an automotive consultant with JFR & Associates in Denver, Colorado. He can help you save time and money on any make or model, new or used, lease or purchase – nationwide! Call or email John about your next vehicle! jboyd@coolcarguy.com

Becky and I took the kids to see Monster House on Saturday morning at the AMC Theater in Highlands Ranch. The Fandango movie website at Monster House describes the movie as follows:

“No adults believe three youths’ assertion that a neighboring residence is a living creature that means them harm. With Halloween approaching, the trio must find a way to destroy the structure before innocent trick-or-treaters meet ghastly ends.”

The Review
Monster House is a pretty spooky film for kids and a for it being a cartoon.  Our little girl Bianca said that it should have been released around Halloween and I would have to agree.  It’s a great story and has plenty of laughs and adult humor while being a bit scary for the kids.  It definitely lives up to its name for sure.

Monster House is a story that is about the creepy house on the block that kids don’t want to venture near, much less into, with the mean guy who wants kids to stay off of his lawn.  It reminded me of the 1980’s movie “The Burbs”, with Tom Hanks, only for kids.  The characters in this cartoon are hilarious and the animation is so good that you would swear that you’re watching a movie with real actors.

It’s rated PG, but is probably not a good film for really little kids that are sure to be scared.  Our five-year old Bianca was a bit scared at times, but the boys loved it.  It’s a very fun kids film that is different than most of the films you’ll see. 

The only thing that we didn’t like was the lead character saying “Oh my God” instead of “Oh my goodness” or “Oh my gosh”, like most cartoons, since so many Christians and Jews don’t believe in taking God’s name in vain.  Other than that it was definitely Worth The Trip.

John – *** Worth The Trip
Becky – *** Worth The Trip

The Kids Review
Corban – **** Don’t Miss It
Bianca – *** Worth The Trip
Conroy – **** Don’t Miss It
_________________________________________________________________________
Auto Broker – John Boyd “The Cool Car Guy”
John is an automotive consultant with JFR & Associates in Denver, Colorado. He can help you save time and money on any make or model, new or used, lease or purchase – nationwide! Call or email John about your next vehicle! jboyd@coolcarguy.com

Becky and I went to see My Super Ex-Girlfriend tonight at the AMC Theater in Highlands Ranch (great popcorn). The Fandango movie website at My Super Ex-Girlfriend describes the movie as follows:

“ A young man (Luke Wilson) discovers that the beautiful but manipulative woman (Uma Thurman) he is dating is really a superheroine known as G-Girl. After he breaks up with her, he learns that “hell hath no fury like a woman scorned” as she unleashes her considerable powers against him.”

The Review
This movie was rated PG-13 for – sexual content, crude humor, language and brief nudity. They definitely got the reasons why it was rated PG-13 right because not only is it a stupid film, but it’s pretty raunchy in the language and sexual situations departments.

My Super Ex-Girlfriend is as bad as the name of the movie. There are very few good laughs, and the plot, storyline and characters are so ridiculous that it’s laughable.

We were glad that we had discount tickets to see this one because it certainly wasn’t worth the price of admission. In fact, it would have been better at a $1.00 theater or on the $.99 rental rack. Luke Wilson and Uma Thurman are great actors, along with their supporting cast, but this film didn’t work for anyone involved.

There were very few people in the movie that were laughing and a few people were obviously sorry they brought their teenagers to the film. Don’t waste your money at the Box Office on this one. If you really want to see it then wait for it come to a rental store near you, which shouldn’t be very long of a wait.

John – ** Rental
Becky – ** Rental
_________________________________________________________________________
Auto Broker – John Boyd “The Cool Car Guy”
John is an automotive consultant with JFR & Associates in Denver, Colorado. He can help you save time and money on any make or model, new or used, lease or purchase – nationwide! Call or email John about your next vehicle! jboyd@coolcarguy.com

Becky and I went to see You, Me and Dupree on Friday night at the AMC Theater in Highlands Ranch. The Fandango movie website at You, Me and Dupree describes the movie as follows:

“Newlyweds Carl and Molly are anxious to start their lives together, but the pair soon become a trio when Carl invites his jobless buddy, Randy, to crash at their place until he gets back on his feet. At first, Carl is happy to have him around, but that soon turns to annoyance when Randy threatens to become a permanent fixture in their home.”

The Review
If you go and see You, Me and Dupree be ready for a very far fetched and stupid film that has quite a few laughs, but jumps around more than a Mexican jumping bean at a first grader’s Birthday party.

This movie has a little bit of everything that you’ve seen before and a number of things you haven’t seen or probably won’t see again.  The story is pretty terrible, but you can definitely relate to the characters since just about everyone has had these type of people in their lives before.

The story is about two newlyweds who bring in the Best Man to live with them because the guy is too much of a loser to get or hold down a job.  A successful and whacky father-in-law played by Michael Douglas is a bit over the edge about his only daughter having married one of his employees.  This makes for some pretty funny dialogue between Matt Dillon and Douglas.

There are wild thiry-something friends that just like to party and watch porn while trying to influence Matt Dillon’s character who is almost as stupid as his best friend Dupree (Owen Wilson).  Kate Hudson is good in the film too, but she’s a bit too patient compared to most women who wouldn’t put up with a best friend moving in after the Honeymoon.

All of this makes for a very strange film, but there are plenty of laughs even if some of them are a bit crude in a “Something About Mary” sort of way.  I have to say that we did actually like it since there were some really funny parts of the movie, even if they were far-fetched. 

By the end of the film it at least tried to tie it all together with Dupree finding his purpose in life.  I don’t know if it was actually worth the price of admission, but there were some good laughs and it would definitely make for a great rental.

John – ** Rental
Becky – *** Worth The Trip
_________________________________________________________________________
Auto Broker – John Boyd “The Cool Car Guy”
John is an automotive consultant with JFR & Associates in Denver, Colorado. He can help you save time and money on any make or model, new or used, lease or purchase – nationwide! Call or email John about your next vehicle! jboyd@coolcarguy.com

Becky and I took the kids to see Pirates of the Caribbean on Saturday afternoon at a sold out AMC Theater in Highlands Ranch. For those of you who don’t know, the AMC Theaters in Highlands Ranch has a deal where you can get into see a movie for just $5 on Saturday mornings. The MSN movie website at Pirates Of The Caribbean describes the movie as follows:

“Captain Jack Sparrow (Johnny Depp) returns to the screen for another round of supernatural adventures on the high seas in this spirited sequel to the 2003 Disney hit, which re-teams original director Gore Verbinski with original screenwriters Ted Elliott and Terry Rossio. As Will (Orlando Bloom) and Elizabeth (Keira Knightley) prepare to exchange vows at the alter, their wedding plans hit rough waters with the arrival of sea-bound scallywag Jack Sparrow. It seems that Sparrow owes a substantial blood debt to Scottish sea captain Davy Jones (Bill Nighy), and that the only way for the flamboyant sea rover to elude the wrath of his otherworldy pursuer is to seek the aid of Gypsy queen Tia Dalma (Naomie Harris), whose power to resurrect the dead and gaze into the future may provide just the advantage needed to avoid a waterlogged fate in the locker of his legendary nemesis.”

The Review
The first of the series of Pirates of the Caribbean was one of my favorite epic adventures, so I was really looking forward to seeing the second installment like millions of other fans.

Dead Man’s Chest was exciting, but pretty far fetched and kind of long and drawn out in parts. The movie had too many plots going on at one time and spent way too much time on some goofy aspects of the film like when Jack Sparrow and crew are captured by cannibals. It kind of reminded me of what George Lucas did with his Star Wars little Ewoks that wrecked the third Star Wars film.

It had a surprise ending with plenty of backstabbing that I guess one would expect from pirates, however I wasnt’ prepared for a two part series to conclude Dead Man’s Chest. It was kind of like watching a television show only to realize at the end that they left you hanging for next week’s episode. That was extremely disappointing compared to the first installment where they brought everything to a conclusion for the audience.
We waited until the end of the credits for an extra scene that wasn’t worth the extra time, so don’t bother sitting through the credits unless you like to read them. In the end, I liked the film, but not as much as Curse of the Black Pearl. Becky and I both thought it was Worth The Trip and Conroy and Corban loved it. Bianca thought it was stupid even though she liked the first one. She was probably too little to see it.
John – *** Worth The Trip
Becky – *** Worth The Trip

The Kids Review
Corban – **** Don’t Miss It
Bianca – * Don’t Bother
Conroy – **** Don’t Miss It
_________________________________________________________________________
Auto Broker – John Boyd “The Cool Car Guy”
John is an automotive consultant with JFR & Associates in Denver, Colorado. He can help you save time and money on any make or model, new or used, lease or purchase – nationwide! Call or email John about your next vehicle! jboyd@coolcarguy.com

Becky and I went to see The Devil Wears Prada on Saturday night at the AMC Theaters in Highlands Ranch. The Fandango website at The Devil Wears Prada describes the movie as follows:

“Andy is a recent college graduate with big dreams. Upon landing a job at prestigious Runway magazine, she finds herself the assistant to diabolical Miranda Priestly. Andy questions her ability to survive her grim tour as Miranda’s whipping girl without getting scorched. Based on the novel by Lauren Weisberger.”

The Review
The Devil Wears Prada had a pretty catchy title, but we didn’t know what to expect. I saw a number of women reading the book in the airport when I was coming back from a recent trip to Arizona, so I was half expecting it to be a very lame chick flick. It wasn’t at all what I was thinking.

This was definitely one of the better comedies of the year. Meryl Streep was awesome as Miranda, who is the Editor in Cheif of a top fashion magazine. Anne Hathaway was great as Andy, who is forced to do some soul searching after working for Miranda who is a power driven, self serving, work-a-holic that everyone in the fashion industry respects and fears – much like the Devil himself.

It has a number of good messages about life, relationships, work and having balance.  There are some strange situations that evolve from putting people in last place and it will definitely make you think.  You’ll also see some personalities that you’ve probably met in real life before.

I don’t want to give away the film. We both thought it was definitely Worth The Trip and is one of the better films in theaters right now.

John – *** Worth The Trip
Becky – *** Worth The Trip
_________________________________________________________________________
Auto Broker – John Boyd “The Cool Car Guy”
John is an automotive consultant with JFR & Associates in Denver, Colorado. He can help you save time and money on any make or model, new or used, lease or purchase – nationwide! Call or email John about your next vehicle! jboyd@coolcarguy.com

Becky and I went to see Superman Returns the other night at the Colorado Cimemas in Castle Rock. The Fandango website at Superman Returns describes the movie as follows:

While an old enemy plots to destroy him once and for all, the Man of Steel returns after a long absence to a much-changed world. Lois Lane has moved on with her life, and society has learned to survive without him. Superman must find a way to reconnect with her and find his place in a world that may no longer need him.

The Review
As a Superman and comic book character fan I was looking forward to seeing this new installment of the “Man of Steel”. Becky was less interested in seeing it than I was, but she went with me, and we took a bus load of teenagers along with the youth Pastor for The Rock.org to see a late show.

Superman is a kid’s comic book character, but in this installment it’s a long, drawn out drama that is definitely not a kid’s film. Our younger kids would have been bored out of their heads. Most of the teenagers who went with us were bored for 2 1/2 hours. Becky was bored and I was even pretty bored watching this romantic love story between Lois Lane and Superman unfold.

The crazy thing about it was that Superman and Lois couldn’t even have a boy chases girl relationship and stay true to the comic book because Lois had a boyfriend, or a husband, and a child. Of course, she is still in love with Superman and he helps her quit smoking. We find out later that there is a major twist in the plot with her son and her, but it’s a pretty goofy story overall.

Lex Luther played by Kevin Spacey was aweseome as his character to take over the world and to destroy his enemy. Lois Lane is beautiful Kate Bosworth and Brandon Routh looks amazingly like Superman and Christopher Reeves.

As big of a disappointment as the story is the special effects are first class and it’s still going to be a Summer blockbuster that you will probably want to go see. You might want to think twice about taking your kids, unless you want them to become a bigger fan of Spiderman and X-Men. Becky thought it was definitely a Rental and I would have to agree, unless you’re a Superman fan, in which case it was still Worth The Trip.

John – *** Worth The Trip
Becky – ** Rental
_________________________________________________________________________
Auto Broker – John Boyd “The Cool Car Guy”
John is an automotive consultant with JFR & Associates in Denver, Colorado. He can help you save time and money on any make or model, new or used, lease or purchase – nationwide! Call or email John about your next vehicle! jboyd@coolcarguy.com

Becky and I went to see Click the other night at the AMC theaters in Highlands Ranch. The MovieFone website at Click describes the movie as follows:

‘Click’ focuses on a workaholic architect, Michael Newman, (Adam Sandler) who discovers a universal remote control which allows him to fast-forward and rewind through different parts of his life. However, when the remote begins overriding his choices, life goes from calm to chaos overnight.

The Review

When I first saw the previews for Click I thought it looked pretty lame and figured it would be another predictable and pretty stupid Adam Sandler film. I was hopeful that it might have the kinds of laughs that Happy Gilmore had, but I didn’t have high expectations for Click.

That may be why the film clicked with us. It is as much a drama as a comedy. It’s definitely not a chidren’s film by any stretch with adult language and situations. Click has a very good story and shows how easy it is to get lost in work while missing out on the best things that life has to offer. It also showed how easy it is to mentally tune people while still being physically around and get lost in your own world, which I think many viewers will relate to.

Adam Sandler was believable in the role as Michael Newman who is a workaholic architect who gets a universal remote control that allows him to control his own universe. It doesn’t take long to realize that fast-forwarding through the difficulties of life’s relationships and situations or spending your life living in the past is a terrible idea. God allows us to go through challenges to build character and give us the opportunity to impact the lives of others. That’s what was great about Click.

Becky thought the message of the story was the same as that of RV and I would have to agree, but it was very well done. Becky and I both thought tht it was Worth The Trip.

John – *** Worth The Trip
Becky – *** Worth The Trip
_________________________________________________________________________
Auto Broker – John Boyd “The Cool Car Guy”
John is an automotive consultant with JFR & Associates in Denver, Colorado. He can help you save time and money on any make or model, new or used, lease or purchase – nationwide! Call or email John about your next vehicle! jboyd@coolcarguy.com

Becky and I took the kids to see Nacho Libre last Wednesday. AMC theaters have a deal that on Wednesday nights you get free popcorn with your Movie Watcher card. Keep that in mind for taking your kids to the movies. The Fandango website at Nacho Libre describes the movie as follows:

Jack Black stars as Ignacio (friends call him Nacho), a Mexican cook who moonlights as a lucha libre wrestler to raise money for an orphanage in this comedy from the creators of Napoleon Dynamite and the writer of School of Rock.

The Review

Like Napoleon Dynamite, Nacho Libre is such a stupid movie that it’s quite funny. The kids all thought it was a funny movie and there were a few scenes where we were wondering if it was age appropriate, but overall it’s definitely a kid’s film.

There are a few parts of the movie that are pretty mean-spirited and it’s not a film of non-stop laughs. It’s just really silly and I think that there will be plenty of people repeating lines from this film for some time. Jack Black is funny as always and there are some really funny parts of the movie, especially if you have any sort of Catholic or wrestling background.

Becky and I thought it was more of a rental, but the kids thought it was worth the trip.

John – ** Rental
Becky – ** Rental

The Kids Review
Corban – *** Worth The Trip
Bianca – *** Worth The Trip
Conroy – *** Worth The Trip
_________________________________________________________________________
Auto Broker – John Boyd “The Cool Car Guy”
John is an automotive consultant with JFR & Associates in Denver, Colorado. He can help you save time and money on any make or model, new or used, lease or purchase – nationwide! Call or email John about your next vehicle! jboyd@coolcarguy.com

Becky and I went to see the new Sandra Bullock & Keanu Reeves film The Lake House this Friday in Castle Rock at the Colorado Cinema theaters. The Yahoo Movies site describes The Lake House as follows:

“An independent-minded doctor (Sandra Bullock) who once occupied an unusual lakeside home begins exchanging love letters with its newest resident, a frustrated architect (Keanu Reeves). When they discover that they’re actually living two years apart, they must try to unravel the mystery behind their extraordinary romance before it’s too late.”

The Review
Becky and I are suckers for romance movies and we thought The Lake House would be a good one based on the reviews by the film critics. Well, they could have called this movie “The Magical Mailbox” and it might have made more sense. Actually, it wouldn’t have made anymore sense no matter what you called this flick.

A woman doctor leaves a glass house to move to the city and puts an envelope in the mailbox for the new tenant. The new tenant happens to live in the past, about two years before the doctor, and they start writing love letters and leaving them in the mailbox for each other. Who needs email when you have a mailbox like this one?

The Lake House is whacky to say the least, but you will get emotionally involved in the film. The characters are good together, which we all discovered when the two paired up in the movie Speed years ago. Sandra Bullock is great in the movie, even though the script is kind of nuts. Keanu is his normal monotone self, much like his character Neo in the Matrix in construction clothes rather than black leather and sunglasses.

Becky really didn’t like this movie because it was so confusing. I didn’t have as much of a problem with the bizarre plot as she did, but I would suggest waiting for the rental.

John – ** Rental
Becky – * Don’t Bother
_________________________________________________________________________
Auto Broker – John Boyd “The Cool Car Guy”
John is an automotive consultant with JFR & Associates in Denver, Colorado. He can help you save time and money on any make or model, new or used, lease or purchase – nationwide! Call or email John about your next vehicle! jboyd@coolcarguy.com