Becky and I took the kids to see the new Batman filmThe Dark Knight yesterday at the AMC theaters in Highlands Ranch, CO. The MSN movie website at The Dark Knight describes the movie as follows:

“Christopher Nolan steps back into the director’s chair for this sequel to Batman Begins, which finds the titular superhero coming face to face with his greatest nemesis — the dreaded Joker. Christian Bale returns to the role of Batman, Maggie Gyllenhaal takes over the role of Rachel Dawes (played by Katie Holmes in Batman Begins), and Brokeback Mountain star Heath Ledger dons the ghoulishly gleeful Joker makeup previously worn by Jack Nicholson and Cesar Romero. Just as it begins to appear as if Batman, Lt. James Gordon (Gary Oldman), and District Attorney Harvey Dent (Aaron Eckhart) are making headway in their tireless battle against the criminal element, a maniacal, wisecracking fiend plunges the streets of Gotham City into complete chaos. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide…”

The Review The Punisher ipod
The Dark Knight is the best super hero movie to date. It’s very dark, extremely violent as you might expect from a Batman and Joker film, but it’s done extremely well. The character of the Joker, played by the late Heath Ledger is driving record ticket sales as people flood to the box office to see him in record numbers. The film has broken box office records this weekend and I definitely thought it was worth the price of admission.

BASEketball full If you are a super hero, especially a Batman fan than you will love this movie. Becky didn’t like it and fell asleep, Bianca hated it, but the boys liked it. It’s very violent, definitely PG13 and probably too violent for kids under 10 years of age, so be forewarned. Heath Ledger should win an Oscar for his performance, even if he’s no longer here to receive it.

John – **** Don’t Miss It
Becky – * Don’t Bother

The Kids Review

Corban – **** Don’t Miss It
Conroy – **** Don’t Miss It
Bianca – * Don’t Bother _________________________________________________________________________

Auto Consultant – John Boyd: The Cool Car Guy

John is an auto 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 the new Brendan Fraser film Journey to the Center of the Earth earlier today at the Kerasotes theaters in Castle Rock, CO. The Fandango website at Journey to the Center of the Earth describes the movie as follows:

“During a scientific expedition in Iceland, visionary scientist Trevor Anderson (Brendan Fraser), his nephew Sean (Josh Hutcherson) and their beautiful local guide, Hannah (Anita Briem), are unexpectedly trapped in a cave from which their only escape is to go deeper and deeper into the depths of the Earth. Traveling through never-before-seen worlds, the trio comes face-to-face with surreal and unimaginable creatures–including man-eating plants, giant flying piranha, glow birds and terrifying dinosaurs from days past. The adventurers soon realize that as volcanic activity increases around them, they must find a way back to the Earth’s surface before it is too late…”

The Review
Journey to the Center of the Earth is a fantastic family film that is fun and exciting for the whole family. It’s being shown in 3D and we did’t go to it in 3D, but you can tell when you watch it that there is a great deal of 3D technology in the film. It was really good, but it’s probably great in 3D, so you may want to find a 3D theater if you are interested.

We still liked it though and thought it was a great deal of fun and excitement. The kids really liked it and I found that I jumped a couple times during the movie. Brendan Fraser did a great job acting in this movie, especially since so much of the film is green screen. There are some really wild parts of this film, including the dinosaur scenes and some of the other challenges the characters face during their journey to the center of the Earth.

We all liked it enough to recommend it as a Don’t Miss It.

John – **** Don’t Miss It
Becky – **** Don’t Miss It

The Kids Review

Corban – **** Don’t Miss It
Conroy – **** Don’t Miss It
Bianca – **** Don’t Miss It _________________________________________________________________________

Auto Consultant – John Boyd: The Cool Car Guy

John is an auto consultant with JFR & Associates BASEketball rip 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 talked me into seeing the new flick Mama Mia! at the AMC theaters in Highlands Ranch, Colorado on Friday night. The MSN movie website at Mama Mia! describes the movie as follows:

“Donna (Meryl Streep), an independent hotelier in the Greek islands, is preparing for her daughter’s wedding with the help of two old friends. Meanwhile Sophie, Donna’s spirited daughter, has a plan of her own. She secretly invites to the wedding three men from her mother’s past in hopes of meeting her real father and having him escort her down the aisle on her big day…”

The Review Dead Man movie
Mama Mia! is the adaptation of a play for the big screen with an all-star cast. I had no desire to see this film, but Becky talked me into it and since I wanted her to see The Dark Knight, I figured I should be flexible. To my surprise I actually liked Mama Mia!. Although, I can’t get some of the songs out of my head, which could be a side effect if you see this movie.

It’s not your typical musical where people just break out into song for no apparent reason, but it’s more like Grease where the songs are stationed at the right place in the movie. Meryl Streep is amazing in this movie and she will probably win the best actress award from the Academy this year for this performance. The music is also good, even if you’re not an Abba fan, you will recognize the songs.

Hollywood had to make sure they put in the token gay guy, but it doesn’t take away from the film. The movie is done well and Becky liked it enough that after the film she said she wanted to buy the DVD when it comes out. I wasn’t quite there, but I did like it enough to recommend it as a break from the super hero genre.

John – *** Worth The Trip
Becky – **** Don’t Miss It BASEketball buy

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Auto Consultant – John Boyd: The Cool Car Guy

John is an auto 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

I took the boys to see Hell Boy II: The Golden Army at the Kerasotes theaters in Castle Rock, Colorado on Saturday. The MSN movie website at Hell Boy II: The Golden Army describes the movie as follows:

“After an ancient truce existing between humankind and the invisible realm of the fantastic is broken, hell on Earth is ready to erupt. A ruthless leader who treads the world above and the one below defies his bloodline and awakens an unstoppable…”

The Review
Hell Boy II: The Golden Army is the sequel to the first Hell Boy movie starring Ron Perlman as a demon turned super hero for the U.S. Government. The premise is nuts, there is nothing theologically correct about this film, it’s just a crazy story about a demon who comes through a portal opened to the Underworld during World War II when Hitler was tapping into the occult in an attempt to take over the world.

Fast forward and Hell Boy is all grown-up and more human than he is monster from beyond. He’s fallen in love with a woman from the first film who has the ability to create fire when she gets angry and he once again is called on to save the world. This time though he has to battle a super Elf from a previous era of time on the planet, who is ready to destroy the world with his unstoppable Golden Army.

Hell Boy II: The Golden Army is pretty nuts and you may not like it. It’s a bit boring since it’s one more super hero movie and there have probably been too many of these this Summer. I liked it because the action is pretty good, the production design is wild looking and the creatures and special effects were awesome. However, it’s not a movie for everyone. I can’t recommend it for most people. The boys and their buddies sure liked it, more than I did. There are some really stupid aspects to the story itself that I didn’t like and that I thought could have been way better.

John – ** Rental Dead Man rip

The Kids Review

Corban – *** Worth The Trip
Conroy – *** Worth The Trip _________________________________________________________________________

Auto Consultant – John Boyd: The Cool Car Guy

John is an auto consultant with JFR & Associates

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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 When Did You Last See Your Father on Friday at the Chez Artiste theaters in Denver, Colorado. The Fandango website at When Did You Last See Your Father describes the movie as follows:

“As poet Blake Morrison (Colin Firth) visits his dying father (Jim Broadbent), he remembers the feeling of being overshadowed by his gregarious dad. Blake’s conflicted memories roam back and forth through the 1950s, the ’60s and then the late ’80s , the last in which Blake is a married man with a career of his own.”

The Review
When Did You Last See Your Father is a touching story about a guy who is dealing with the death of his father and looking back on his childhood as his father dies from cancer. He realizes how much he hates his Dad and he’s not sure why after a great deal of self evaluation, but he believes one reason is because his Father cheated on his Mother with her sister.

When Did You Last See Your Father is a pretty strange flick in that this guy has his own family and seems to be very good at judging his Dad’s life when his Dad clearly invested a ton of time into his son and at the same time he ignores his own children during the entire film. Becky and I were amazed at how the guy treated his wife and kids while throwing a pity party about how his Dad treated him.

I don’t want to be too harsh on the guy in this true story, but it was a bit ridiculous on how he dealt with the death of his father without focusing on his family that was living. In spite of that the movie had a redeeming quality to it as he is reconciled to his father at the end of his life. It also showed the importance of not waiting until your family member is on their death bed to be reconciled to them and putting the past behind you.

Overall, we both liked it, but we would recommend saving it as a good rental when it comes out.

John – ** Rental
Becky – ** Rental
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Auto Consultant – John Boyd: The Cool Car Guy

John is an auto 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 Hancock on Friday at the Kerasotes theaters in Castle Rock, Colorado. The Fandango website at Hancock describes the movie as follows:

“There are heroes… there are superheroes… and then there’s Hancock (Will Smith). With great power comes great responsibility — everyone knows that — everyone, that is, but Hancock. Edgy, conflicted, sarcastic, and misunderstood, Hancock’s well-intentioned heroics might get the job done and save countless lives, but always seem to leave jaw-dropping damage in their wake. The public has finally had enough — as grateful as they are to have their local hero, the good citizens of Los Angeles are wondering what they ever did to deserve this guy…”

The Review
Hancock is a huge hit for movie goers and most people will love this movie because it has Will Smith and is a different kind of Super Hero movie. For true Super Hero fans this film is no Incredible Hulk, Spider Man or Iron Man. Hancock is a drunk, who is not respected by anyone in the world as a bum of a super hero lost in his own world. It was like I Am Legend as a Super Hero with Will Smith’s character being all alone once again.

Hancock has extremely harsh language for a PG-13 movie that is as out of control as the Hancock character, including the use of the F bomb in the film and other harsh language that you would find used more than in some rated R films you may have seen. Definitely a movie we are glad we didn’t take our kids to see for sure and we heard several parents who left ticked off that they brought their kids.

Think about it. Let’s take our kids to see Will Smith play a drunk and cuss at people for a couple hours, while he is depressed out of his mind about why he has super powers and doesn’t fit in with the rest of the world. Even his PR person, who’s life he saved, told him what a mess he was. He has super powers, but apparently not super brains because everything he does to save the day is completely stupid with zero people skills.

There is a twist in the movie that makes it interesting, but overall this movie was pretty lame. Maybe I’m being too hard on the film, but compared to The Incredible Hulk and Iron Man this movie sucked. Will Smith should forget about being a Super Hero, if this is his idea of a modern day Man of Steel. He should leave the super hero movies to Marvel and DC Comics. I recommend you wait for the rental for Hancock, but be forewarned about the language for your kids. I for one am looking forward to seeing the new Batman movie, The Dark Knight.

John – ** Rental
Becky – ** Rental
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Auto Consultant – John Boyd: The Cool Car Guy

John is an auto 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 WANTED last week at the AMC theaters in Highlands Ranch, Colorado. The Yahoo movie website at WANTED

• Interstate 60 divx

describes the movie as follows:

“25-year-old Wes was the most disaffected, cube-dwelling drone the planet had ever known. His boss chewed him out hourly, his girlfriend ignored him routinely and his life plodded on interminably. Everyone was certain this disengaged slacker would amount to nothing. There was little else for Wes to do but wile away the days and die in his slow, clock-punching rut. Until he met a woman named Fox. After his estranged father is murdered, the deadly sexy Fox recruits Wes into the Fraternity, a secret society that trains Wes to avenge his dad’s death by unlocking his dormant powers….”

The Review
WANTED is one of the big blockbuster rentals of the Summer. The Previews for this movie looked like it was going to be a great flick, tons of fun and action with great actors. However, Angelina Jolie’s character has more powers than Wonder Woman and her Training Day type rookie assassin has amazing super powers as well, after being beaten up and tortured by his teammates. Apparently, that’s the remedy for creating assassins with super human ability in WANTED, just put them in a room and beat them up. After you beat them up, place them in a special hot tub and broken bones and all other ailments will disappear within a few hours, so they are ready for another pounding.

WANTED is one movie that I was expecting to give a Don’t Miss It, but I’m having a hard time recommending it as a Rental because it is so ridiculous. The assassins actually get their assignments from a loom. That’s right, a loom, you know that tool used to make linens and things. Like the DaVinci Code is for The Bible the loom in WANTED is what gives the killers their marching orders of death.

All I can figure with WANTED is that the makers of the film really liked The Matrix and decided to make something similar with as much violence. Unfortunately, nobody told them that The Matrix was in a fantasy world and not the real world where people could have super human abilities. You can’t do the things in The Matrix in the real world, which is why it was somewhat believable and a crazy story. WANTED however is not The Matrix, but is complete nonsense.

If you are in the mood for an extremely graphic violence film that has good actors, but makes absolutely no sense than this may be the movie for you. Otherwise, wait for the rental rack or better yet, don’t waste your time.

John – * Don’t Bother
Becky – ** Rental

Shanghai Kiss video

The Year of Getting to Know Us

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Auto Consultant – John Boyd: The Cool Car Guy

John is an auto 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

I went to see the new animated film Wall-E with a bus load of kids on Friday and Becky took our three kids to the Kerasotes theater in Castle Rock, Colorado on Saturday. The MSN movie website at Wall-E describes the movie as follows:

“Disney and Pixar join forces for this computer-animated tale about a wide-eyed robot who travels to the deepest reaches of outer space in search of a newfound friend. The year is 2700, and planet Earth has long been uninhabitable. For hundreds of years, WALL-E (Waste Allocation Load Lifter Earth-Class) has been taking out the trash, and collecting precious knick-knacks in order to stave off the boredom of his dreary routine. Little does WALL-E realize that he has recently stumbled onto a secret that ..”

The Review

Wall-E was a different movie from what Pixar and Disney have done in the past, since it takes place on Earth in the future and outspace. Pixar always puts a short movie at the beginning of their films and once again they did that with Wall-E and it was hilarious.

The movie itself is a love story about two little robots from different parts of the Universe. Becky thought it was way too slow since for the first 45 minutes it’s just the little Wall-E character and he doesn’t talk to anyone for the first part of the movie. I didn’t really notice that part of the movie and neither did the kids.

I thought that Pixar and Disney did a great job on this latest new kids films. It’s a great all around family film and pretty funny at times. The kids really enjoyed this and your family should too.

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

The Kids Review

Corban – **** Don’t Miss It
Conroy – **** Don’t Miss It
Bianca – *** Worth The Trip _________________________________________________________________________

Auto Consultant – John Boyd: The Cool Car Guy

John is an auto 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 Get Smart at the AMC theaters in Highlands Ranch, Colorado on Saturday. The MSN movie website at Get Smart describes the movie as follows:

“In the all-new action comedy “Get Smart,” Maxwell Smart (Steve Carell) is on a mission to thwart the latest plot for world domination by the evil crime syndicate known as KAOS. When the headquarters of U.S. spy agency Control is attacked and the identities of its agents compromised, the Chief (Alan Arkin) has no choice but to promote his ever-eager analyst Maxwell Smart, who has always dreamt of working in the field alongside stalwart superstar Agent 23 (Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson)…”

The Review The 007 World Is Not Enough trailer
Get Smart was a television series that I watched as a kid and thought was great. They did a really good job bringing this film back to the box office. It’s quite a bit different than the original television series with a bit of romance between Max and Agent 99, but it’s very fresh and up to date for a more modern audience.

Steve Carrell does an awesome job as Maxwell Smart and all the supporting actors were a riot. Anne Hathaway was great as Agent 99 and the chemistry between the two characters was very funny. Dwayne Johnson was really funny, especially with his cell phone crushing and stapler in the forehead moves.

The Man Between release If you are a really big Get Smart fan you may not like this movie because it is quite a bit different than the original series, but I really liked what they did with it and so did our kids. Conroy came out of the film and said it was definitely a Don’t Miss It. The whole family enjoyed it and it was overall a pretty clean cut movie.

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

The Kids Review

Corban – **** Don’t Miss It
Conroy – *** Worth The Trip
Bianca – *** Worth The Trip _________________________________________________________________________

Auto Consultant – John Boyd: The Cool Car Guy

John is an auto 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

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Becky and I took our kids to see The Incredible Hulk movie at the AMC theaters in Highlands Ranch, Colorado. The MSN movie website at The Incredible Hulk describes the movie as follows:

“Mild-mannered scientist Bruce Banner has been traveling the globe in search of the antidote that will allow him to break free from his primal alter ego, but both the warmongers who long to exploit him for their own gain and a horrific creature known as The Abomination are determined to stop him from achieving his noble goal in Transporter 2 director Louis Leterrier’s take on the classic Marvel Comics superhero tale. For years, Bruce (Edward Norton) has been living in the shadows, pursued by the military…”

The Review
The Incredible Hulk was a great flick for Incredible Hulk fans and done way better than previous attempts to do this Marvel comic book super hero. Hulk smashed and Hulk rocked as he took on the insane military father of the woman he loves and the diabolical monster known as Abomination. The story was great, the special effects were fantastic and the characters were done extremely well. Even the acting was good, which was surprising.

The Incredible Hulk is not necessarily a great film for people who are not fans of this comic book character. Becky fell asleep and Bianca hated it. Conroy thought it was Worth The Trip and Corban thought The Incredible Hulk character was awesome. Besides the violence, there are a few scenes that were definitely PG-13, so you will want to exercise caution depending on the ages of your kids.

I liked it enough that I could see it again, but I’m a big fan of The Incredible Hulk since I grew up reading the comic books.

John – **** Don’t Miss It The Man Between full
Becky – * Don’t Bother

The Kids Review

Corban – **** Don’t Miss It
Conroy – *** Worth The Trip
Bianca – * Don’t Bother _________________________________________________________________________

Auto Consultant – John Boyd: The Cool Car Guy

John is an auto 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