Changeling Reviewed

Changeling is the true story of Christine Collins (Angelina Jolie) and her son Walter. Walter's father left before Walter was born and Christine was left to raise him on her own. She works for the telephone company and Walter is everything to her. On March 10, 1928, Christine promised to take Walter to the movies, but a co-worker called in sick and she was forced to cover the shift, leaving Walter, 9 years old, home by himself for the day. When she returns home, Walter is nowhere to be found. She frantically searches the neighborhood and cannot find him. She calls the LAPD who tell her there's nothing they can do for 24 hours as it's common for children to return in that period of time. The next day, the police do come out to take a report.

Two weeks later, Walter is still missing and Christine's case is gaining local news coverage. Pastor Gustav Briegleb (John Malkovich) prays weekly for her as part of his Sunday sermon. Briegleb also hosts a popular radio talk show in which his mission is to expose the LAPD for their violent tactics, gross injustices, and cover-ups.

In August of 1928, Walter has been missing for five months when Captain JJ Jones (Jeffrey Donovan) of the LAPD delivers the good news to Christine that her son has been found. They escort her to the train station where Walter is traveling from DeKalb, Illinois. Anxious to get a good word for themselves in the papers, the press is present in great numbers. When the boy gets off the train, she immediately knows it's not her son. The boy is actually a child who was abandoned by his father at a diner in Illinois over a two dollar lunch tab. When Christine voices her concern, Captain Jones is quick to remind her it's been five months, the boy has been through a great ordeal, she is overcome with emotion, the LAPD is sure this is her son and she reluctantly agrees to take the boy home on a "trial basis".

That night, she is convinced more than ever that the boy is not her son. He has no manners, he is three inches shorter, and this boy is circumcised. The next day, when she brings these facts to Captain Jones, he is upset at her and demands to know "Why are you doing this? Running away from your responsibilities as a mother. Why should we continue looking for someone we've already found?" Captain Jones sends a doctor to the Collins' residence and his sole purpose is to validate the claims of the LAPD making Christine out to be a bad mother for denying it. The story of the Doctor's confirmation makes the LA Times front page the next day. The story prompts Pastor Briegleb to contact Christine. He tells her that the LAPD does not tolerate embarrassment and that she is in a position to do just that and they will do anything they can, starting with discrediting her, to avoid the public humiliation. He tells her that he's seen it before, and though her case of mistreatment is not the first, with his help, it could be the last. She agrees to accept his assistance and begins to set up her case against the LAPD.

Her dentist examines the boy who's teeth could not possibly be Walter's. Her teacher swears she has never seen the boy before in her life. With their statements, Christine goes before the press with this information. Captain Jones sends officers to bring her in when the story hits the air. Instead of apologizing and agreeing to continue to look for her missing son, Captain Jones has Christine committed to a Psychopathic Institute for delusions and paranoia.

In the Psych Ward, Christine learns that many of the other "patients" are what is known as Code 12. They were all put in there for daring to defy or embarrass the LAPD. Christine is told that if she signs a statement that she was wrong about the boy and that the LAPD was right to commit her for psychiatric treatment, she would be free to go, but she refuses.

Meanwhile, while following up on a lead from the Canadian Mounted Police, Detective Lester Ybarra (Michael Kelly) takes a 15 year old boy Sanford Clark (Eddie Alderson) into custody to be deported back to Canada. The boy reveals that he was held captive by Gordon Northcott (Jason Butler Harner) and forced to aide in kidnapping and murdering nearly 20 young boys. Clark is able to identify most of the boys from pictures produced by Detective Ybarra and Walter's picture is among them.

With this new information, Pastor Briegleb gets a warrant to have Christine and the other Code 12 patients released. Northcott is tracked down in Canada and arrested to stand trial. And Christine, with Pastor Briegleb's help, retains one of LA's finest attorneys to bring the LAPD to justice.

Nearly seven years later, Christine is still making phone calls daily to see if any agencies have picked up a boy matching Walter's description when she receives a call that one of the 20 boys identified as having been captured by Northcott had been found. He tells the story of how he and two other boys escaped with Walter's help. They all split up with Northcott came after them. Although this wasn't Walter, Christine is able to smile because she now has hope that her boy is still out there.

This movie was brilliant, exhilarating, and left you breathless even though there were no action scenes, no epic battles, no ear-shattering explosions. It was just the story of a mother's desperate search for her missing son. Her son goes missing only 10 minutes into the two and a half hour long movie, but in that short period of time, we can already see how much Walter means to Christine Collins. The remaining two hours plus leave you drop-jawed in disbelief the entire time. It doesn't just tug at them, it grabs your emotional strings and never lets them go. It is unthinkable that these events actually took place and Clint Eastwood does an amazing job of bringing the story to the screen.

Angelina Jolie gave a flawless performance as a grief-stricken and determined strong single mother. John Malkovich was perfect as the Pastor with a Vengeance. Jeffrey Donovan was magnificent as the Captain you loathed and despised, smiling and looking so professional and proper as he spewed some of the most unthinkable words one could utter. And the kids in the movie were unbelievable. Each of them were required to give emotionally demanding performances and delivered in a huge way. Everything came together in this movie to make it one of the best movies I have seen in a long time and you had better believe this movie is making my DVD collection. But what movie will be on my mind next? We shall see . . .

Changeling Preview

Changeling is based on the true story of a grief -stricken mother Christine Collins (Angelina Jolie) whose son went missing on March 10, 1928. After a five month long investigation under the direction of LAPD Captain JJ Jones (Jeffrey Donnovan), her son was miraculously found in Illinois and returned to her in Los Angeles. There's only one problem - it's not her son. Pastor Gustav Briegleb (John Malkovich) picks up on her story and offers his assistance. He has a vendetta against the LAPD because of their shortcomings and their attempts to cover them up. He knows that Mrs. Collins has the power to embarrass them and they don't like that. In fact, to cover up their mistakes, the LAPD sends Mrs. Collins to a mental institution and she won't be released unless she signs a confession that they did no wrong and are not responsible for anything. Captain Jones is informed that the way he is handling the whole case is making them look bad and is asked if the kid they gave her isn't her son, then where is he? Collins is convinced that her son is still out there. Pastor Gustav will keep this story on the front page so no more kids and parents are put through this. And the LAPD will do whatever they can to bury the story.

Clint Eastwood adds Changeling to his growing list of Directorial achievements including Unforgiven, Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil, Million Dollar Baby, and Flags of our Fathers. Changeling is based on a true story and looks to be a very emotional story. But it looks like a slow-moving, drawn-out story that will be interesting at best. I'm sure I will be mortified at the actions of the LAPD, but I'm thinking it would be more interesting in a one hour Dateline Special rather than a two and a half hour long movie. I just don't see how it will keep audiences for that long without putting them to sleep. But who knows? Maybe I'm wrong. I am a fan of Eastwood, Jolie and Malkovich, so it's entirely possible. We shall see . . .

Transformers 2 Reviewed

Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen is Michael Bay's sequel to Transformers. In the movie, we pick up two years later. Sam (Shia LaBeouf) and Mikaela (Megan Fox) are still together with Bumblebee still watching out for Sam. Optimus Prime (Peter Cullin) and Major Lennox (Josh Duhamel) have started a military organization called NEST to hunt down and eliminate the remaining Decepticons. In the beginning of the movie, we discover a couple disturbing bits of information: 1) Optimus Prime and Megatron were not the first of their alien kind to visit Earth and 2) there are two small shards of the Cube remaining on Earth - one is being kept under military guard and the second was found by Sam in the jacket he was wearing during the last major Autobot / Decepticon face-off.

The Primes set out to planets across the galaxy to take the energy of their sun, under one condition: the planet could not be inhabited by intelligent life. The Fallen broke that rule when he found Earth and decided to try to take the power of the sun. It is because of this decision to break the rules that this Prime was dubbed The Fallen.

When Sam finds the piece of the Cube in his jacket, he is zapped by its power and his brain is filled with alien codes and images. We later find out that the images are a map to find the machine built by The Fallen to steal the sun. The Decepticons have re-organized and gathered in greater numbers to find Sam, get the chips of the Cube, find the map to the machine, revive Megatron, start a new Decepticon army under the direction of The Fallen and take over the Earth.

But Sam doesn't want to have any part of this. He is 18 now and heading off to college. He even tells Bumblebee to stay at home so he can try to have a normal life. His first night away, he attends a party which is soon cut short by Bumblebee who takes Sam to Optimus Prime. Optimus tells Sam the bad news that Decepticons have stolen the Military protected fragment of the Cube and that the government is now questioning whether or not the Autobots are just as much to blame for the chaos and destruction going on. Sam still doesn't want to get involved and tells Optimus that it's not his war. Optimus ominously predicts that it soon will be.

The Decepticons use the Cube fragment to bring Megatron back to life and he meets with The Fallen. Since The Fallen is a Prime, he can only be defeated by another Prime. Since Optimus is the only one left, the plan is to get to Optimus and destroy him so that The Fallen and the Decepticons can take over the Earth. The Decepticons go after Sam to kill two birds with one stone: getting Sam will bring out Optimus, and Sam has the map to the machine in his brain. The plan works. They captured Sam, Mikaela and Leo (Ramon Rodriguez), Sam's college roommate. They are about to dig into Sam's brain when Optimus comes to his rescue. During their escape, Optimus gets into a battle with three Decepticons. He manages to kill Grinder and dismember Starscream, but then Megatron kills Optimus Prime. During the battle, Sam overhears that not only is there a machine on earth, but there is another power source like the Cube that can animate their race.

With Optimus out of the picture, The Fallen and the army of Decepticons make their presence known on Earth and demand Sam Witwicky. It seems all hope is lost: Optimus is dead, Autobots are severely outnumbered, they have lost the backing of the government and Sam is a wanted man. Sam thinks his only option is to turn himself in when it hits him. The map in his brain can be used to find the power source before the Decepticons find him and they can use it to revive Optimus to defeat Megatron and The Fallen.

A journey across the globe begins with the Decepticons in hot pursuit. Sam, Mikaela, Leo and Bumblebee enlist the help of a couple rogue Decepticons and ex-Sector 7 Agent Simmons (John Turturro) to decipher the alien codes. Once they figure out where the power source is, they call Major Lennox for reinforcements and to bring the body of Optimus. The race is on and the Decepticons, the military and the Autobots all converge on the power source's location at the same time and the battle begins.

This movie was non-stop action from beginning to end. The plot was pretty simple: Autobots wage the battle to destroy the evil forces of the Decepticons. The quality of the CGI Transformers was done just as brilliantly in the sequel as it was in the first movie. Shia is great again as the leading man: brave, sarcastic, witty, loyal. Megan Fox is gorgeous, but don't let her looks deceive you. She plays a strong leading woman who can take on the Decepticons just as bravely as any military officer did.

I did have a couple issues with the movie. First of all, Bumblebee is back to talking to Sam via the radio in audio clips to get his point across, but in the first movie, his vocal processor was fixed and he could talk just fine when he told Optimus that he wanted to stay with Sam. Second, the Twins (a pair of well-intentioned but juvenile Autobots) were a bit annoying with their antics. But, when you take into consideration that they learned how to speak based on our World Wide Web as mentioned in the first movie, you can see that each one would have a different personality. They weren't as annoying as JarJar Binks of Star Wars who nearly ruined the entire movie, but they were still annoying. And finally, The Fallen tells Megatron that only a Prime can kill a Prime which is why they need to get rid of Optimus. So then how is it that Megatron is the one who kills him?

Other than that, I thought it was thoroughly enjoyable. And they weren't too subtle about the option for a third Transformers installment. This movie will definitely find a home in my DVD collection and I'm already making room for the third one as I'm sure they have to be working on it right now. So what's the next movie that will be on my mind? We shall see . . .

Transformers 2 Preview

Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen is the much anticipated sequel to the blockbuster smash Transformers by Michael Bay. Bay is back with all the of the Autobots and Decepticons fighting for the survival of the human race. The preview shows Sam Witwicky (Shia LaBeouf) and Mikaela (Megan Fox) still together. The Autobot Bumblebee is still there protecting them and from the previews, it looks like they need it. It looks like Sam and Mikaela are trying to lead a "normal" life, though how normal can it really be when you have a car who is also your alien Autobot protector? Optimus Prime (Peter Cullen*) is seen telling Sam that he needs his help, but Sam doesn't want to be involved in the next galactic battle between the alien robots. Sam pleads his case that it's not his war, but Optimus warns him that it soon will be. The rest of the movie is intense action sequences of epic proportions between Sam, Mikaela, the Autobots and the Decepticons.

It's a little hard to get from the preview exactly what the plot of the story is, except the ongoing battle between the Autobots and the Decepticons. The first movie had a couple slow spots in it, but that's to be expected in the first of any movie of this kind. Spider-man, Superman, Iron Man. Movies like that take time to introduce you to who the characters are. I thought they did an amazing job taking the 80's cartoon and bringing it to a live-action movie. I was concerned because I am still skeptical about CGI. It nearly ruined the first two episodes of Star Wars for me. I missed the old days of actually building the ships from plastic models, having characters in costume, and leaving the special effects for the computers. But now everything is generated on a computer and really, to create Optimus Prime and the rest of the alien robots, you can only do it through CGI and it was done brilliantly. I am excited for the second installment of Transformers. All the same characters are back which is usually a good sign of a sequel. And Michael Bay is back to direct it. So I'm excited, even though typically sequels aren't as good as the first ones. But will it live up to the success of the first one? Will the trailer deliver on the hype it builds up for itself? I think so. I hope so. But . . . we shall see . . .

* on a side note, I just think it's great that Peter Cullen is doing the voice of Optimus Prime. For those of you who don't know, he was the original voice of Optimus for the cartoon series in the 80's. But that's not all he did and I was a bit surprised to see some of his credits, so I thought I'd list them for you to see if you'd get as big a kick out of it as I did: he did voices for the Smurfs TV Series; he was the voice of KARR, KITT's evil twin on Knight Rider; in the 1984 movie Gremlins, he was the voice of the Magwai and the Gremlins; he did voices on The Jetsons, the Go Bots, Voltron, and G.I. Joe; and he was the voice of Eeyore in Winnie the Pooh.

Quarantine Reviewed

Quarantine advertises itself as the true story of a Los Angeles reporter Angela Videl (Jennifer Carpenter) and her cameraman Scott (Steve Harris) doing a story on the life of Los Angeles Firefighters. She is being shown the ropes by two firefighters Jake (Jay Hernandez) and Fletcher (Johnathon Schaech). They are called out late that night to an apartment complex where residents have reported screaming from the home of Ms. Espinoza (Jeannie Epper).

The firemen arrive to find the LAPD already on the scene. Two police officers, Jake, Fletcher, Angela and Scott enter with the residents and head upstairs. Upon entering Ms. Espinoza's apartment, they find her standing in the middle of the living room. She's not looking too good and ends up attacking one of the police officers biting off a good chunk of his neck. They try to rush the down officer to receive medical attention from the other officers or paramedics waiting outside, but soon find they are locked in the building. They look for another way out and Fletcher falls from the second floor after having also been attacked by Ms. Espinoza. So it's back upstairs to see what is wrong with this woman. Back inside her apartment, another tenant has been "eaten" and is thrown into the hallway.

They decide to gather all the remaining tenants downstairs figuring they'll have a better chance of survival if they can see where everyone is. Meanwhile, the best qualified doctor in the building tends to the wounds of the police officer and Fletcher. He is a vet named Lawrence (Greg Germann).

Outside, the Center for Disease Control has declared the complex a Biological Nuclear Chemical Threat and will be sending in representatives to see if the problem can be contained. Lawrence has concluded that the victims must be suffering from some advanced strain of rabies.

In the middle of all of this, Angela, the professional journalist that she is, decides to interview a 5 year-old girl and get her feelings on the situation. She interviews other tenants for their account, but the interviews are cut short as Fletcher staggers in looking like a zombie. And then it starts to snowball quickly. Zombie-like tenants quickly start to outnumber those still not infected and there is no way out. The front door and back door chained. Windows sealed shut. And armed marksmen outside ready to take out anyone who tries to escape.

Finally, the landlord remembers there may yet be one way out and tells Angela how to get there. While frantically searching for what may be their last hope to get out, she and Scott discover a room with cult paraphernalia and what appears to be laboratory experiments inside. They find an old tape recorder and decide to put their desperate escape attempt on hold to listen to a bit of it and shockingly discover this may all have been a planned attack. And I don't really need to tell you how the movie ends because the trailer did a pretty good job of spoiling that one.

This was a very disappointing movie. Not once was I scared throughout the duration. It was a poor attempt to cash in on The Blair Witch Project phenomenon. Carpenter is annoying from the beginning and doesn't get any more watchable as the events unfold. The whole movie is shot from one camera being held by Scott to give the illusion that you are actually seeing what's happening as it happens, exactly like The Blair Witch. It follows the same storyline: introduction of the characters, getting to the scene, crazy stuff starts to happen and chaos ensues, dark night-vision camera work, and finally they get picked off one by one. Quarantine, too, claims it is based on real events. I was so not thrilled by this thriller that I didn't even bother to check the facts. We all realized after The Blair Witch that it wasn't real, but the craze had already begun and people still loved it.

There were several scenes in which they failed to live up to their attempted movie-making style. First, there is a scene where Angela and Jake are taking a sick tenant down the stairs. Scott lags to marvel at a rat he just stomped to death. There is a brief cut and Scott is now at the bottom of the stairs filming Angela and Jake coming down behind him. Did they really stop carrying this sick woman downstairs to get a better camera shot? Second, when the CDC opens the front door, there are three men in protective suits and breathing apparatus standing there preparing to enter. Unless all three of them are breathing in unison, there is only one distinct breath being heard. Only two of the CDC representatives actually enter to investigate the infected men. When Scott aims his camera into the examining room, once again, they are either both breathing at the exact same time, or only one of them can be heard. Angela, in the middle of this horrifying situation, decides to interview a 5 year-old girl. The girl was horrible. She acted like she was being coached and was not believable at all. Finally, when they are making their last escape attempt, they decide to stop in a weird room and investigate the cult materials laying around and listen to a random tape recorder in the room?

This was not scary, it was not believable as a first-account movie, and it will certainly not be making it's way to my DVD collection. Like I said, I'm already leery about modern day horror movies and think that a good, scary horror movie is almost impossible to find. I think the more successful ones are the comedy horrors of Hot Fuzz or Sean of the Dead or Zombieland. This one was boring, not scary, and a failed attempt at what made The Blair Witch so successful. So, what's the next movie that will be on my mind, and will that one make it to my DVD collection? We shall see . . .

Quarantine Preview

Quarantine is the supposed true story of an LA reporter Angela Videl (Jennifer Carpenter) who rides along for a night with the Los Angeles Fire Department. They go on a call to an apartment complex and soon find themselves quarantined inside by the government. They are given no answers and things start getting out of hand when some of the tenants start exhibiting zombie-like behaviors. Bodies are falling, people are dying, everyone is screaming in terror. The end of the preview shows Angela being dragged into the dark. The movie appears to be all shot from the point of view of Angela's Cameraman and seems to have a similar first-person effect that was created in The Blair Witch Project. I loved the Blair Witch project because I saw it with some friends at one in the morning before all the secrets were revealed that it was all staged. It looks like this is trying to re-create the elements that made Blair Witch successful - shot from first-person point of view, lots of shots in the dark, supposed true story.

Since Halloween is right around the corner, I decided to go with a horror film, but I am really skeptical about this movie. It seems like it's tough to make a good "horror" movie nowadays. Even with modern technology and advances in movie make-up and special effects, the plot usually leaves something to be desired, the scary moments are usually forced and not worth the buildup leading to the scare, and the acting is usually on par with the cheesy performances of Freddy and Jason movies of the 80's. Jennifer looks like she will be an annoying lead actress from the preview and I think this will be another failed attempt at a modern horror movie. I doubt I will be scared or entertained and I seriously doubt this movie will make it into my DVD collection. But, I could be wrong. We shall see . . .

Bedtime Stories Reviewed

Bedtime Stories is a film by Disney starring Adam Sandler as Skeeter Bronson, handyman for the Sunny Vista Nottingham, a lavish Los Angeles Hotel. Skeeter's father Marty Bronson started the Sunny Vista and hoped that Skeeter would one day take it over. Financial problems nearly ruined the Bronson Hotel and Marty (Jonathan Pryce) was forced to sell to Barry Nottingham (Richard Griffiths), but only after Barry promised to let Skeeter run the hotel one day. Skeeter is further devastated when Barry, years later, announces the Sunny Vista Nottingham will be closed down and a new Sunny Vista Mega Nottingham is going to be constructed and run by . . . Kendall Duncan (Guy Pierce of Changeling). At the same time, his sister Wendy (Courtney Cox) is losing her job as Principal because her school is closing down. She has to go to Arizona to pursue a job opportunity and asks Skeeter to watch her two children Bobbi and Patrick at nights while a teacher at the school, Jill (Keri Russell) watches them during the day.

Skeeter refuses to read his niece and nephew the Politically Correct stories his sister has provided, instead, taking after his father, he makes up a story for the kids. He tells them about a poor peasant Sir Fix-a-lot who should be running the castle, but instead the job is given to Sir Buttkiss. Sir Fix-a-lot is heartbroken at the news, goes to live in a shoe and ends up diving in a moat where he is eaten by alligators. The kids don't like that ending so they change it. The king gives Sir Fix-a-lot a chance to prove himself worthy of running the castle. The villagers all celebrate and it begins to rain gumballs. Skeeter thinks it odd, but it's only a Bedtime Story . . . right? Well, first thing in the morning, Skeeter is called in to fix Barry Nottingham's television. While he is there, Nottingham divulges the secret theme for the new hotel as proposed by Kendall Duncan. Skeeter informs him that the idea has already been done and Nottingham is furious. He recalls that made a promise to Skeeter's dad many years ago and decides to let them have a competition: whoever can think of the better theme for the new hotel will be allowed to run it. Skeeter rejoices and on his drive home . . . it rains gumballs.

The trouble starts when Skeeter tries to manipulate the stories for his personal gain. In the second story, Jeremiah Skeeter, a cowboy in the old west receives a Ferrari for free. Skeeter would love to end the story there, but again the children have their own version. Skeeter rides off to save a maiden in distress. When she asks what she can do to repay him, Skeeter suggests a reward of one hundred million dollars. The kids don't think this is right but do think he deserves a kiss. Right before it happens, an angry dwarf kicks him in the leg and the kids announce that's the end of the story. That night, Skeeter goes off to claim his free Ferrari, only to find his wallet being stolen by Rob Schneider. Part of the story come true and Skeeter soon figures out that it's the kids who control what happens. So Skeeter decides he has to get the kids to say he wins the competition during their bedtime stories so it will happen in real life.

As an added twist, the site of the new hotel is actually the school where his sister is Principal, Jill is a teacher and his niece and nephew attend. Skeeter doesn't realize this but the scheming Duncan uses this information to turn them all against him.

In the final story, a space adventure, Skeeto wins after a head-to-head battle, but before the words "The End" are uttered, the kids think it would be funny to have someone throw a fireball at Skeeto, incinerating him immediately.

So, does Skeeter actually win the competition? Does he find his fair maiden and finally get his kiss? Does he take over the new hotel? And what about his sister and their school? Well, watch the movie to see how their Bedtime Stories come to life. It's actually a cute and decent movie worth watching.

I was concerned about which Adam Sandler character would show up in this movie and it seems to be a nice mix of Big Daddy, Happy Gilmore, and 50 First Dates. He is goofy and awkward, but in a charming way. The kids in the story Bobbi (Laura Ann Kessling) and Patrick (Jonathan Morgan Heit) are magnificent and adorable. Of course, Sandler's friends from the Happy Madison Era of films make their cameos, which I love. But the stand out character was Skeeter's best friend and server at the hotel Mickey (Russell Brand from Forgetting Sarah Marshall). His effortless British humor brings much needed and well-timed laughs. The story is cute and imaginative and Sandler pulls off the role well. The way the Bedtime Stories come to life creating either moments of opportunity or moments of awkward misunderstandings are cleverly realized. A movie that might make my DVD shelf, but definitely worth renting with the family.

So what movie will be on my mind next? We shall see . . .

Bedtime Stories Preview

Bedtime Stories stars Adam Sandler as Skeeter Bronson, maintenance man for an upscale hotel who was actually supposed to be the manager. Skeeter's dad was the founder of the hotel and when financial hard times forced him to sell, the buyer promised to make Skeeter manager once he was old enough. Unfortunately, that promise wasn't kept; instead, Skeeter was kept on the sidelines. Skeeter is asked to watch his niece and nephew for a few days while his sister Wendy (Courtney Cox) takes a trip to Arizona to follow up on a new job offer. After putting the children to bed, they ask him to tell them a bedtime story. He tells them about a Roman Gladiator named Skeeticus. After performing a spectacular stunt, the children suggest that it starts raining gumballs. Skeeter thought it was an odd twist to the story, until it actually happened to him the next day. He quickly catches on that the stories he tells at night, come true the next day. He decides to take advantage of this knowledge by using them for his own gains: women, car, money and job will all be his once these bedtime stories come true. But here's the catch, the kids are the ones who control the story and Skeeter has a hard time controlling them to tell the stories he wants told.

It's tough to tell from the preview which Adam Sandler character will be showing up. He seems to have two very different characters: the goofy, almost slightly mentally challenged Sandler of Mr. Deeds, Waterboy, Billy Madison and Little Nicky; or the awkward but sweetly romantic Sandler of The Wedding Singer, Big Daddy, 50 First Dates, Anger Management and Click. The first character produces some sophomoric, slapstick comedy which is nice to watch when you really don't want to have to think too much and are just looking for a little chuckle. The latter gets you emotionally involved, has a decent plot, and takes you on a sweet journey where you are pulling for Sandler's character the whole way. One thing that is guaranteed in this movie is something I love about all of Sandler's movies: he uses his same core group of friends in all of his movies. I hope that this movie is more along the lines of 50 First Dates and not so much Billy Madison, but again, it's tough to tell exactly from the preview. It should be fun to see how wild and crazy the kid's imaginations get with the bedtime stories and how they play out in real life. If Sander doesn't get too goofy, I think this could be a fun and decent movie. We shall see . . .

Fred Claus Reviewed

Fred Claus is the story of Nicholas Claus' (Paul Giamatti) older brother Fred (Vince Vaughn). It tells how the two brothers grew up and even though Fred was the older brother, he constantly lived in the shadow of Nick. We all know what Nick grew up to be, but what about his older brother? Well, he grew to be a well-intentioned, misguided Repo-man looking for his one big break. And that break is going to be a new casino, and all he needs is $50,000 to get it started. He schemes a plan to make some quick cash which gets the local Santa union riled up, lands him in jail and also in hot water with his girlfriend (Rachel Weisz). Out of desperation, he calls his brother Nick to bail him out and also hits him up for the 50 large. Nick agrees, but it seems he's in a bit of a bind himself and tells Fred he can have the money if he comes to the North Pole to help out during the Christmas Crunch time. There are more good kids asking for more toys than ever before and Nick is afraid they might not make it on time. To make matters worse, an efficiency expert Clyde Northcutt (Kevin Spacey) will be evaluating Santa's Toy Shop, and he's got a grudge against Nick. Clyde has already put the Tooth Fairy and the Easter Bunny on notice and would love nothing more than to shut them down and streamline their Toy Shop down to the South Pole.
Vaughn's character was completely predictable; however, just like his girlfriend Wanda (Weisz), we just can't help but love him. His quick, sarcastic wit keeps us chuckling. He's basically a nice guy, just needs something to prompt him to dig down deep to be the great man he's destined to be. Giamatti is great as Santa Claus and I applaud the original take on the story: he takes his generosity and jolly demeanor and becomes a holiday figure as his career. The story is original, seeing Santa through the eyes of his jaded older brother, however it is a Vaughn movie, so the sequence is the same as every other Vaughn movie: good guy, witty sarcasm, has one big scheme that will make everything alright, that falls through, a life lesson must be learned, and a happy ending is sure to follow. Spacey was great as the vengeful Efficiency Expert, but then again, Spacey is great in everything. Unfortunately, when there was about 30 minutes left in the movie, you could already tell exactly what was going to happen: you knew what Fred's moral conscience would force him to do, you knew why Clyde was so angry with Santa and what Santa would do to turn it around, and you knew what would happen with Christmas and with every relationship hanging in the balance.
As far as Christmas movies go, I give them credit for originality in story. The set was amazing. Santa's Toy Shop was something out of a modern Norm Rockwell variety. Probably one of the most original scenes, a scene I haven't seen in a Christmas movie before was Christmas morning at the North Pole where the elves all gather to watch the kids opening their Christmas presents. It did tend to get a bit goofy at times - certain sound effects were completely unnecessary and as silly as the "biff", "bang", "booms" of the old Batman TV series; and there was a brother's support group with Frank Stalone, Stephen Baldwin and Roger Clinton that was good for a slight chuckle, but really wasn't necessary. So I was delightfully surprised, but not blown away by this movie. Then again, it's not really intended to be one of those movies. I don't see this being a new Christmas Classic and I don't see it joining my DVD collection, but I did enjoy it more than I thought I would.
So kudos to Vaughn and Giamatti. And what is the next movie that will either blow me away or leave me wanting a refund? We shall see . . .

Fred Claus Preview

Fred Claus is the story of Santa Claus as seen through the eyes of his older brother Fred. Vince Vaughn and Paul Giamatti. Chaos and disaster put this Christmas at risk when St. Nick's older brother Fred pays him a visit to the North Pole. From the preview, this looks like another quirky Vaughn film - sharp, witty one-liners pave the way for a good guy a little down on his luck to the road of redemption. Vaughn is always the every-man's man who speaks what's on his mind, mildly offending the recipient of his comments while making the audience chuckle. In the end, he's the guy we're rooting for and while his one big scheme that will make everything alright doesn't quite turn out the way he plans, he learns a valuable lesson along the way and a happily ever after is sure to follow. Rachel Weisz from the Mummy Movies, Kevin Spacey from American Beauty and Kathy Bates from Misery round out this cast which actually gives me more hope that this will be a film worth watching. Plus, I'm a sucker for Christmas movies. That being said, Vaughn doesn't stray from his usual characters and film formula and it's tough to make a good, quality Christmas film that hasn't been redone a dozen times. However, to my recollection, I don't know of another film featuring Fred, St. Nick's older brother. So I'm skeptical, but anxious to see what this film has to offer. I think it's going to be silly, a couple touches of heart, but not a new Christmas classic. Instead it's going to be worth renting, but not one I'd clear our room in my DVD collection for. We shall see . . .