Becky and I went to see “Stay Alive” this Weekend at the AMC theater in Highlands Ranch. The Fandango website at Stay Alive describes the movie as follows:

After the mysterious brutal death of an old friend, a group of teenagers find themselves in possession of Stay Alive, a next generation horror survival videogame based on the spine-chilling true story of a 17th century noblewoman known as “The Blood Countess.” The gamers don’t know anything about the game other than they’re not supposed to have it…and they’re dying to play it. Not able to resist temptation, the group begins to play the grisly game and soon a chilling connection is made – they are each being murdered one-by-one in the same method as the character they played in the game. As the line between the game world and the real world disappears, the group must find a way to defeat the vicious and merciless Blood Countess, all the while trying to stay alive.

The Review
Stay Alive is rated PG-13 and is similar to the movie’s “Scream” and “The Ring” in that it has a spooky storyline and a number of frightening situations that the characters find themselves. It’s not a super gruesome film, which we both appreciated, but parts of it are hard to follow and made little sense. I jumped a couple of times.

The story was kind of cool, except that you never find out how the original video game came into being in the first place to start wiping out its players. There are a few hints toward the end, but it might have helped had they made an attempt to show how it all started.

The ending was lame in that they knocked off the movie The Ring with a continuation of new people playing the game. However, there wasn’t any room for the story to continue based on a series of events that took place throughout the film.

There are very few horror films that are really good and this is no exception. It was better than some of them that we’ve both seen, but certainly not worth the price of admission.

Our advice is to wait for the Rental.

John – ** Rental
Becky – ** Rental
_________________________________________________________________________
Auto Broker – John Boyd “The Cool Car Guy”
John is an automotive consultant with Centennial Leasing & Sales 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 decided to watch the new ABC and Hallmark Entertainment presentation of The Ten Commandments over the past two nights with our kids.

It’s extremely rare for me to take the time to rate a made for television movie, but since there was so much fanfare surrounding how great this remake was going to be, and how it would be better than Cecil B Demille’s original motion picture, with superstars Charton Heston, Yul Brynner, Edward G. Robinson, Vincent Price and John Carradine, I had to give my two cents.

The ABC website at The Ten Commandments describes the movie as follows:

“This is the story of Moses — one of the most revered figures in our world’s religions — the man who rose in power to defend a people, to free them and to live in history like no other…”

The Review
As a Christian, I couldn’t believe how pathetic this new make believe rendition of the supernatural story of Moses was. If I were a Orthodox Jew I would be ticked off and offended. This film was so filled with errors of what happened according to the Bible that it was absurd.

The first night’s showing, of this two part “epic” special, was better than the second night, but not by much. I called a Pastor friend of mine and asked if he was watching it. He said that when he saw the Nile River turn to what looked like “KoolAid” he turned it off.

The special effects didn’t bother me as much as the liberties that were taken with God’s Word. They actually had Moses tell a famous joke as part of his lesson plan to Joshua to help define the character of God to the viewing audience. Get real! How incredibly stupid can you get? I just sat there stunned in disbelief. It was as though someone had tuned into a late night televangelist, “trying to learn about them Christian folk”, and heard him tell a joke and decided to add it to the script of the television special as a teaching of Moses. I was amazed.

The whole message of the Hebrews being miraculously delivered from the Egyptians according to God’s design and going into the Promised Land was pretty much lost in this latest film. After all the miracles that God performed for the Hebrews, Moses ended up with a message that “God helps those who helps themselves”. Which by the way, you won’t find anywhere in the Bible. A good website to visit for some additional information on God’s plan for Moses and his people is GraceThruFaith.com.

Now back to the review of this movie: It was so bad at times that our eight year old son kept saying, “Dad, that didn’t happen and that didn’t happen, did it?” It was embarrasing how many liberties they took with this remake. Several times I wanted to shut it off, but our kids wanted to watch it and I figured I would let them since they were at least learning something about the story. Maybe we should lend our eight year old as a historical consultant for these filmmakers who keep trying to reach the Christian demographic. Ever since the success of powerful movies like “The Passion of the Christ” and “Narnia”, Hollywood has been jumping on the Bible bandwagon.

As hokey as the special effects are in the original “Ten Commandments” with Charlton Heston, the famous Director at least made God out to be the powerful and wise God of the Hebrews. Even in 1956, they had enough sense to read the parts of the Bible where God was involved in delivering, protecting and judging His people and tried to give a more accurate Biblical account of the story.

In the original film Moses is portrayed as a man of God with power and authority. In this new version you would swear that Moses needed to see a pyschiatrist as God came in and out of his head. In this movie, Moses went around lost in the desert hoping to hear from the disappearing God that delivered His people from the Egyptians only to leave them to their own devises. This is hardly the reality.

According to the Bible, God never left or forsook Moses or the children of Israel, nor does He ever forsake His people. The fact is that He guided their every step in the wilderness and into the Promised Land even when they complained and rebelled against Him. In Exodus 33:11 we are told the kind of relationship that God had with Moses “And Jehovah spoke with Moses face to face, as a man speaks with his friend. “That is hardly a relationship, like this movie presented, where Moses walked around like a drunk on the street wondering if he would ever hear God’s voice again. You may also want to read Numbers 12 and see how God protected Moses from anyone who spoke against him. When you spoke against Moses you might as well have been speaking against God Himself.

In conclusion, we’ll be introducing our kids to the “original” Ten Commandments on Saturday Night as we celebrate The Passover together. Our advice is to skip ABC’s rewriting of God’s word, read the story for yourself, you can find it in the book of Exodus and don’t be easily influenced by Hollywood’s versions.

Of course, you’ll also want to add to your reading of the Old Testament the Gospels to discover how Jesus became the Passover “Lamb of God” who took away the sins of the world. You’ll learn how He was crucified, died and rose again from the dead on the third day according to the Old Testament scriptures and is seated at the right hand of Almighty God. What a great way to celebrate The Passover and the Resurrection.

As far as The Hallmark Entertainment / ABC Ten Commandments remake goes…

John – * Don’t Bother
Becky – * Don’t Bother
_________________________________________________________________________
Auto Broker – John Boyd “The Cool Car Guy”
John is an automotive consultant with Centennial Leasing & Sales 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 “Lucky Number Slevin” on Friday night at the Regal Cinema theater by Park Meadows Mall. The Fandango website at Lucky Number Slevin describes the movie as follows:

A case of mistaken identity puts a man named Slevin (Josh Hartnett) in the middle of a war between two rival New York crime lords: The Rabbi (Ben Kingsley) and the Boss (Morgan Freeman). While under the watchful eyes of Detective Brikowski (Stanley Tucci) and well-known assassin Goodkat (Bruce Willis), Slevin must quickly devise a plan to save his skin before his luck runs out.

The Review
A friend of mine John and his wife happened to be at the same showing on Friday night. After the movie, I asked them what they thought about the film. John’s comment pretty much summed up this movie when he said, “It wasn’t worth the $9 I paid to see it.” Becky and I totally agreed with him.

I liked it more than Becky did, but not by much. The way the story all tied together was pretty cool, but beyond that it was just another overly violent trip into the crazy world of Hollywood make believe. For as many great actors as they had in the film, all of which did a fine job in their roles, you would think it would have been a better movie. Unfortunately, it didn’t live up to the previews.

Our advice on this one is to wait for the Rental and save your money for a better movie at the box office. Becky doesn’t think you should waste your money on either.

John – ** Rental
Becky – * Don’t Bother
_________________________________________________________________________
Auto Broker – John Boyd “The Cool Car Guy”
John is an automotive consultant with Centennial Leasing & Sales 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 “Ice Age: The Meltdown” on Saturday night in a packed AMC theater in Highlands Ranch. The Yahoo movie website at Ice Age Meltdown describes the movie as follows:

“The Ice Age is coming to an end, and the animals are delighting in the melting paradise that is their new world. Manny, Sid, and Diego quickly learn that the warming climate has one major drawback: a huge glacial dam is about to break, threatening the entire valley. The only chance of survival lies at the other end of the valley. So the three heroes, along with a mammoth named Ellie and her two “brothers…”

The Review
We all liked this film as much as the first one. It has a great storyline and a bunch of fun new characters. The kids loved it and found it to be a blast. We liked it too with loads of animated fun. There was a great deal of adult humor and a few instances where the dialogue got a little too adult, but it went over the kid’s heads.

As screwed up as Hollywood is, they are putting out some great movies to bring the kids for a day or night out on the town. That crazy character Scrat, a strange little creature trying to get an acorn, is a riot.

This is a film you will definitely want to take the kids to for a really good time.

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

The Kids Review
Corban – **** Don’t Miss It
Bianca – **** Don’t Miss It
Conroy – **** Don’t Miss It
_________________________________________________________________________
Auto Broker – John Boyd “The Cool Car Guy”
John is an automotive consultant with Centennial Leasing & Sales 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 “Basic Instinct 2” on Friday night with about 8 other people who were in the entire theater. The Fandango website at Basic Instinct 2 describes the movie as follows:

“Sharon Stone reprises her role as Catherine Tramell, this time finding herself on the wrong side of the law while living in London. A criminal psychologist is assigned to evaluate her, and he is quickly drawn into her mysterious and sexy spell.”

The Review
If you liked the original Basic Instinct then you will probably like this film, but it’s over the top sexually explicit and pornagraphic. The story was actually pretty wild and interesting. The story definitely kept our interest, but the language, violence and perversion of the film was a total distraction to the point that it wrecked the thriller.

It was too much like a raunchy cheap sex murder novel with so much shock factor that you would like it on one level and hate it on another. We both liked parts of it and disliked other aspects of it, in particular how graphic and overly sexual it was. It’s really nothing short of disturbing. We would have to say that if you’re thinking of seeing this film that you should probably wait for the rental.

John – ** Rental
Becky – ** Rental
_________________________________________________________________________
Auto Broker – John Boyd “The Cool Car Guy”
John is an automotive consultant with Centennial Leasing & Sales 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 “Inside Man” on Friday night. The Yahoo Movie website at Inside Man describes the movie as follows:

“Four people dressed in painters’ outfits march into the busy lobby of Manhattan Trust, a cornerstone Wall Street Branch of a worldwide financial institution. Within seconds, the costumed robbers place the bank under a surgically planned siege, and the 50 patrons and staff become unwitting pawns in an airtight heist. NYPD hostage negotiators Detectives Keith Frazier and Bill Mitchell are dispatched…”

The Review
Directed by controversial film maker Spike Lee, Inside Man is not your typical bank robber movie. I think it’s the first bank robber movie we’ve seen where the robbers were not interested in the money in the vault. The story is pretty cool and the acting and directing were first class. Denzel Washington, Jodie Foster and the main character played by Clive Owen all gave great performances.

Becky and I both found it to be a very fun film with plenty of action and suspense. It didn’t slow down and definitely kept our interest from start to finish. Probably the coolest film of the year so far. It was nice to see Jodie Foster coming back in another powerful movie since her Flightplan flick last year.

We both would say that if you’re going to the box office in the next week or two that this is a film you don’t want to miss!

John – **** Don’t Miss It
Becky – **** Don’t Miss It
_________________________________________________________________________
Auto Broker – John Boyd “The Cool Car Guy”
John is an automotive consultant with Centennial Leasing & Sales 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 “V for Vendetta” on Friday night. The Fandango website at V for Vendetta describes the movie as follows:

“Set against the futuristic landscape of totalitarian Britain, V For Vendetta tells the story of a mild-mannered young woman named Evey (Natalie Portman) who is rescued from a life-and-death situation by a masked vigilante known only as “V.” Incomparably charismatic and ferociously skilled in the art of combat and deception, V urges his fellow citizens to rise up against tyranny and oppression. As Evey uncovers the truth about V’s mysterious background, she also discovers the truth about herself – and emerges as his unlikely ally in the culmination of his plot to bring freedom and justice back to a society fraught with cruelty and corruption.”

The Review
V for Vendetta was V for Very Stupid. Becky fell asleep since it was too long and painful for her to watch and stay awake. Since I like Science Fiction films more than Becky does I agonized through it and actually didn’t mind it that much. Natalie Portman was very good in the film and the acting and direction of the film was good. The story was just ridiculous.

Christians and people with any type of moral fiber were made out to be raving lunatics and the axis of evil in a world gone mad. The setting is in Britian and the United States has been destroyed like Sodom and Gomorrah with the belief that God has given the U.S. what it deserves for its overly violent society. This may not be too far from the truth, in the minds of many people today, based on the level of wickedness that has taken hold of our nation. However, in this movie, a modern Hitler who is portrayed as an insane Christian dictator, has taken over and his victims are homosexuals and people with any form of liberal thought.

“V” comes forth as the liberator and hero of the film to eradicate this evil and bring back liberty and freedom from the cruel and wicked regime. Too bad he wasn’t available for eliminating Sadaam Hussein :), which was a real life Muslim dictator I might add. The film once again made Christians look like the axis of evil in the world, which is ridiculous since some of the most persecuted people in history have been Christians and even today they are being murdered, tortured and imprisoned around the globe. It would have done the writers well to visit a few sites like Persecution.org, Persecution.com and PersecutionBlog.com to get their facts straight before writing such a whacky story.

The movie was entertaining from a super hero and comic book story standpoint, but we would recommend saving your money, skipping the movie all together or waiting for the rental.

John – * Don’t Bother
Becky – * Don’t Bother
_________________________________________________________________________
Auto Broker – John Boyd “The Cool Car Guy”
John is an automotive consultant with Centennial Leasing & Sales 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.

Becky and I went to see “Failure to Launch” on Friday night. The Fandango website at Failure to Launch describes the movie as follows:

“Tripp (Matthew McConaughey) has never been able to leave the nest. He’s always had some reason or other, but now, his desperate parents have had enough. They hire the gorgeous and talented girl of his dreams (Sarah Jessica Parker) to get him to move out of the house.”

The Review
Failure to Launch is an absolutely ridiculous movie. Once you get past the fact that a guy as good looking as Matthew McConaughey isn’t going to be living at home with his parents at the age of 35, it’s very entertaining. The plot is very shallow and predictable – man lives at home with parents, parents want him out of their home, beautiful girl tries to motivate him to get out of parent’s home, man and woman fall in love. In spite of these shortcomings and some really stupid circumstances that arise in the movie, it’s really very funny.

The story does a great job of showing what the typical adult male is interested in, but rarely gets to participate in on a regular basis, such as surfing, mountain biking, rock climbing, sailing, paintball and of course video games. All of these situations make it very funny because you get to see a 35 year old man acting like a big kid and a woman of his dreams, Sarah Jessica Parker trying to get him to grow up.

The professional critics didn’t like the film, but we think they took it too serious. If you take it in the spirit of the film, kind of a like a Dodgeball or Something About Mary movie, it’s 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 Centennial Leasing & Sales 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 16 Blocks last night. The Fandango website at 16Blocks describes the movie as follows:

“A veteran New York policeman must escort a witness 16 blocks from a police station to a courthouse, and the pair must navigate through obstacles placed in their path by those who want to keep them from reaching the destination.”

The Review
16 Blocks was hyped as an exciting action, thriller with blockbuster star Bruce Willis as the leading man. It’s about a washed out cop who must make a life or death decision between his friends on the force and killing a criminal who can testify against them.

The movie was a drag. Becky actually fell asleep several times and I had to wake her up. It was extremely boring and seemed like a remake of several movies that we’ve all seen before. They might as well have had Bruce say at one point the film, “Go ahead, make my day” or “Do you feel lucky punk? Well, do ya?”. It reminded me of the old Clint Eastwood film “The Gauntlet” where you had the bad cops out to keep a key witness from talking, complete with a shootout on a bus.

There was some chemistry between the Rap Star Mos Def and Bruce Willis, but the guy’s voice was so strange that it became aggravating after a while. I’m surprised that the Director didn’t have him break out in a rap song to add some cheap theatrics.

In the end, Becky thought it was a complete waste of time and I would suggest waiting for the rental rack.

John – ** Rental
Becky – * Don’t Bother
_________________________________________________________________________
Auto Broker – John Boyd “The Cool Car Guy”
John is an automotive consultant with Centennial Leasing & Sales 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 Freedomland this past Weekend. The Fandango website at Freedomland describes the movie as follows:

“A mother blames the disappearance of her young son on a black man from the projects after she reports a car-jacking. Two detectives investigating the case discover the girl’s mother may be covering something up and may be involved in the disappearance. While the investigation continues, the case takes on a life of its own in the media, bringing up some tough racial issues.”

The Review
This was a strange movie about a woman who is car-jacked and loses her son in the process when he is left in the car. It all happens late at night as she is driving through the projects and she claims that a black man did the crime, so suddenly it turns into a huge racial crisis. To make things more crazy, her brother is a white cop across the river (kind of like Copland) and he’s ready to beat up some people in the projects to find his nephew.

There are many twists and turns and you start to wonder what really happened to this woman, what’s going to happen to her son and who’s going to lose it as the mayhem continues to rise. You start to lose interest pretty quick. The woman is completely nuts, the cop is lost in space, the chaos in the projects and police station takes you away from the real story and you forget all about the missing kid. By the middle of the film we were looking forward to a less than happy ending.

The acting by Samuel Jackson and Julianne Moore is great, but the script and the Directing is lame. All the confusion leads to a less than exciting thriller.

Becky didn’t like it at all. She thought it was a complete waste of time and money. I liked it more than she did, but I would still suggest you save your money and wait for the rental.

John – ** Rental
Becky – * Don’t Bother
_________________________________________________________________________
Auto Broker – John Boyd “The Cool Car Guy”
John is an automotive consultant with Centennial Leasing & Sales 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