Home Screening Room - Catch A Man On A Ledge Before He's Gone

It’s the Tuesday after Memorial Day and there is a good quantity of new titles out this week…but the question is…is there quality out this week too?

This Week's Big Releases
Coriolanus- Rated R (Ralph Fiennes, Gerard Butler)
Did the festival run at the end of 2011, looks to be another winner for Ralph Fiennes in the film that he also directs.

Gone  - Rated PG-13 (Amanda Seyfried, Jennifer Carpenter)
A woman’s sister is missing and now she must track down the killer.

Goon- Rated R (Seann William Scott, Jay Baruchel)
Hockey rocks, and here’s another hockey movie for everyone. Yes, I want to see it.

Man on a Ledge - Rated PG-13 (Sam Worthington, Elizabeth Banks)
What is the man doing on the ledge? Yes, there is more to the story…and with the negotiator being Elizabeth Banks who is coming off a bad incident, things can only get interesting.

We Need  to Talk About Kevin  - Rated R (Tilda Swinton, John C. Reilly)
A tragic event leads to a mother rehashing everything in his life to find what she hasn’t seen. Tilda Swinton is remarkable in this film that will take your heart and stomp on it 100 times over.

Also New This Week
Memorial Day – Rated R (Jonathan Bennett, James Cromwell) Soldiers, wars, and the way troops deal with things

Rookie Blue: The Complete Second Season

Take Me Home – Rated PG-13 (Sam Jaeger, Amber Jaeger, Lin Shaye)

True Blood: The Complete Fourth Season

UFC 144

WWE: Extreme Rules 2011

And Finally
96 Minutes – Rated R (Brittany Snow, Evan Ross, Christian Serratos)

A carjacking and the way the lives of 4 young people are altered forever. The trailer looks fairly intense and Evan Ross has been talked about in this film. Watch the trailer below.

DVD/Blu-ray Tidbit of the Week

Taking a week off with the Memorial Day holiday…but more to come throughout the next couple days so stay tuned!

Pick of the Week
Out of what I have seen, Man on a Ledgeis pretty solid…but there are other want to see titles this week, like Goon and Gone.

Pop Popcorn, Do the Dew, and Bust out the Blu and remember to Save Me A Seat!

Review - Men in Black 3

MIB 3 is A-OK, but just OK

Here come the Men in Black….galaxy defenders…..

Ok, so the Will Smith song, still is front and center in my head as I sit down for this go around with Agent J (Will Smith) and Agent K (Tommy Lee Jones). We know they are defending against aliens that are not here to help us. We know that they are the best in the business. But are they ready to go up against Boris the Animal (Jemaine Clement)?

Boris the Animal, or just Boris as he prefers, was put in prison years earlier courtesy of Agent K. Now, Boris has found a way out of the special prison that housed him and made the journey back to New York to settle the score with K and launch a massive invasion of Earth.

It will take a journey back to 1969 and an attempt to kill Boris then, to prevent the invasion of the current day. So K will journey back to try to take care of business once and for all. But after the results seem ominous, J will go back even earlier to try and change the fate of K – who did I mention…is now played by Josh Brolin? Can he be successful? Or is Earth about to end?

Something about previous Men in Black films, especially the first film some 15 years ago. There was a bit of a snap to what went on. A nice mix of comedy and action along with one of the most bankable summer stars there has been. Now, with MIB 3, that snap seems to be MIA. Maybe it’s just my love of the alphabet soup of letters in the movie, but although MIB 3 was not DOA, it certainly underwhelmed what I had hoped for.

The bright spot here was the performance of Brolin as the “young” agent K. He truly had Tommy Lee Jones down to every intonation and inflection. Smith shows a bit of his rust, having not done a film in over 3 years, but he still is a larger than life personality.

I felt the back and forth with the time travel and what might happen was just messy in execution. I found myself too concerned with trying to follow the story and didn’t let myself go to enjoy the creatures that returned.

Something just felt amiss throughout MIB 3 as the attempt to recapture that feeling felt a bit musty and out of sync. Still, although I felt underwhelmed, it’s not an awful popcorn film. Fans will still enjoy most of it, even if Will Smith doesn’t make the soundtrack this time around. I settled on an…A, B, C+ plus for MIB 3…P out.

C+

Men in Black III

Columbia Pictures

Director: Barry Sonnenfeld

Cast: Will Smith, Tommy Lee Jones, Josh Brolin, Jemaine Clement, Emma Thompson, Alice Eve

Rating: PG-13 for sci-fi action violence, and brief suggestive content.

Runtime: 1 hour 43 minutes

Real Milwaukee - 5/18/12

Ok, so I'm late in posting this...Facebook fans saw it last week...but here is the video from my appearance on Real Milwaukee on May 18. We talked Battleship, Dark Shadows and The Avengers...and was that me under the Iron Man mask? Plus, I deliver a message for aliens everywhere who are thinking they want to sink our Battleship.

Check it out after the jump.

Home Screening Room - This Means War, so call out the Red Tails

Home Screening Room – This Means War – Call out the Red Tails

A new week, new movies, and a great little tidbit before I get out on the tentative release date of one of 2012’s highest grossing films, you’ll have to check things out after the jump for that.

This Week's Big Releases

Red Tails - Rated PG-13 (Terrence Howard, Cuba Gooding, Jr.)

Can’t wait for this release as the film, when I saw it in theaters looked like it would have a lot of extras on the Blu-ray release. Plus any war film always looks good in Blu-ray.

The Secret World of Arrietty - Rated G (Bridgit Mendler, David Henrie)

The folks behind Ponyo and Spirited Away give us a new tale based on The Borrowers with Bridgit Mendler delivering the featured voice.

This Means War - Rated PG-13 (Tom Hardy, Chris Pine, Reese Witherspoon)

They are both CIA agents and they both are after the same woman. Who will win this “war”?.

The Woman in Black - Rated PG-13(Daniel Radcliffe, Ciaran Hinds)

A ghost story with the former Harry Potter lead in the lead role. 

Also New This Week

The Amazing Race – The Complete Fifth and Sixth Seasons – Truly my favorite reality show, gives you some world travels along with fun and characters.

Beyond – Rated PG-13 (Jon Voight, Teri Polo) A little story about how far you would go to find a missing child. Plus it’s got Jon Voight! Jon Voght, Jerry!

Black Cobra – Rated R (Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa)

Carol Channing: Larger Than Life – Rated PG (Carol Channing, Loni Anderson)

Ghost Hunters International: Season 2 Part 2

Perfect Sense – Rated R (Ewan McGregor, Eva Green) Sundance 2011 hit comes to dvd in the story of a romantic connection despite a tough situation.

The River: The Complete First Season

Rizzoli and Isles: The Complete Second Season

Teen Wolf: The Complete Season One

United – Rated PG-13 (David Tennant Dougray Scott)

And Finally 

Metal Tornado – Rated PG 

(Lou Diamond Phillips, Nicole Deboer, Greg Evigan)

How could I resist sharing this trailer with everyone? Well I couldn’t so here you go…this has Lou Diamond Phillips AND Greg Evigan (remember BJ and the Bear???) Plus on top of that stuff… you have a METAL TORNADO!!!! Check out the trailer below.

DVD/Blu-ray Tidbit of the Week

I promised you a tidbit on one of the biggest grossing films of the year – well there are rumors abound that have a street date set for The Avengers – but I’ll wait to get more info before I pass that on…instead – know that The Hunger Games looks to be set on August 18. And the extra content will be worth it. Plus it will be in your home in no time flat with an Aug. 18 release.

Pick of the Week

You can’t really go wrong with The Secret Life of Arriety. And of course, I’m a fan of The Amazing Race. 

Pop Popcorn, Do the Dew, and Bust out the Blu and remember to Save Me A Seat!

Home Screening Room – The Grey and Chronicle battle with The Devil Inside

A new week and a new batch of releases – I’m freshly back in the saddle from a quick trip and ready to get to it…so here are this week’s new releases.

This Week's Big Releases

Albert Nobbs - Rated R (Glenn Close, Mia Wasikowska)
See the film that Glenn Close road to award nominations this year as she passes herself off as a man to work.

Chronicle - Rated PG-13 (Dane DeHaan, Alex Russell)
Super powers, teens and action dot this film originally not screened for me.

The Devil Inside - Rated R (Fernanda Andrade, Simon Quartermaini)
Her mother allegedly murdered three people during an excorism. Now a woman searches to find out what really happened.

The Grey - Rated R (Liam Neeson, Dermot Mulroney)
A plane crash, wolves and the wild. I’m in.

One For The Money - Rated PG-13 (Katherine Heigl, Jason O’Mara)
A woman bail bondswoman takes on the perfect case. Hunt down and in her old flame.

Rampart - Rated R (Woody Harrelson, Ben Foster)
Harrelson delivers one of the best performances of 2011 as a cop who just loses his focus. He is almost better than the movie, but if you like Training Day and the like…check this little seen movie out.

Also New This Week

10 Items or Less: The Complete Third Season

Victorious: The Complete Second Season – if you have girls and have visited McDonald’s lately – you know what Victorious is and what it’s all about.

And Finally
Afghan Luke – Rated R (Nick Stahl)

A journalist in the midst of war returns to look for proof about soldiers mutilating corpses after hsis editors refuse to run his story. Take a look at the trailer below.

 
DVD/Blu-ray Tidbit of the Week

Two party movies from the spring set dates – one I kinda liked, one I really didn’t – you figure our which is which…

American Reunion looks to land on Blu-ray / DVD on July 10 including extras like deleted scenes, a gag reel, 3 featurettes and lots of commentary – plus the Blu-ray will be loaded with extras.

Project X looks to come home on June 19 on Blu-ray / DVD / UltraViolet.

Pick of the Week
It’s a tough week as many of the titles never screened in theaters AND I didn’t get a peek at the release prior to today…but if I must pick one, what interests me the most is The Grey.

Pop Popcorn, Do the Dew, and Bust out the Blu and remember to Save Me A Seat!

Home Screening Room - The Vow, Beautiful Wave and a Fantasy Island

This week's Home Screening Room takes us to the Underworld with a Vow to return to Fantasy Island.

The Vow (Rachel McAdams)

This Week’s Big Releases

Underworld: Awakening  – Rated R  (Kate Beckinsale, Michael Ealy, Stephen Rea)
You’ve see the Underworld movies. You know Kate Beckinsale is hot. Since they didn’t show this one to me…that’s all we are going on.

The Vow – Rated PG-13 (Rachel McAdams, Channing Tatum)
A tragic accident leaves a new bride struggling to remember her husband and the person she used to be. Two beautiful actors in a story of hope that makes everyone yearn for the best.

After the Jump...trailers for Tim And Eric's Billion Dollar Movie, Beautiful Wave AND....a reel with many of the guest stars in Fantasy Island Season 2 (psst...it's worth the watch) - PLUS my pick (or not quite pick) of the week and a tidbit on the release date for another one of Channing Tatum's films on DVD and Blu.



Also new this week…

The Big C: The Complete Second Season

Chuck: The Complete Fifth and Final Season

Cinnamon – Rated PG (Cynthia Gibb, Greg Evigan)

It’s a dog movie…that’s all my daughter needs to know.

Fantasy Island: The Complete Second Season – THE PLANE THE PLANE! You absolutely MUST check out the guests on Season 2 in the video below...it's PRICELESS!

The Genesis Code – Rated PG (Logan Bartholomew, Kelsey Sanders) Directed by C. Thomas Howell.

Mother’s Day – Rated R (Rebecca De Mornay, Jamie King)

Playback– Rated R (Johnny Pacar, Christian Slater)

Tim and Eric’s Billion Dollar Movie – Rated R (Tim Heidecker, Eric Wareheim) Check out the trailer below

UFC 143: Diaz vs Condit

Wrestlemania XXVII – Rock vs Cena – need anything else? Undertaker, HHH, and more!

And Finally

Beautiful Wave – Rated PG-13 (Aimee Teegarden, Patricia Richardson)

A father dies and a girl learns more about herself than she ever imagined after being sent to California. Want a look at what to expect…check out the trailer below.



DVD / BluRay Tidbit Of The Week

Look for 21 Jump Street to come home on June 26. The Blu-ray will be loaded with extras as you can imagine!

Pick of the Week

The Vow is in the vein of sappy romantic dramas that are well liked. But how can I pass up the rigors of Fantasy Island or constantly replaying Rock and Cena. No real good pick of the week this week…sorry.

Thanks!

Pop Popcorn, Do the Dew, and Bust out the Blu and remember to Save Me A Seat!

Review - The Avengers

Summer Assemble!

Assembling May 4, 2012

It’s been years in the making, and now, it is here. We’ve been teased with an Avengers film for years as Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson) found his way into the end of Iron Man, Captain America and more throughout the years. Now it’s time for the Avengers to assemble as Loki (Tom Hiddleston) is here to create chaos here on Earth.

As the director of S.H.I.E.L.D., Fury has brought together the best super heroes in the world. There is the cocky but confident Tony Stark a.k.a. Iron Man (Robert Downey Jr.) that takes the leadership role within the group. The confident and always American Steve Rogers aka Captain America (Chris Evans). They have to dig deep to find Bruce Banner aka The Hulk (Mark Ruffalo) as Natasha Romanoff aka Black Widow (Scarlett Johansson) finds out. (sheesh…I’m saying AKA a lot) Don’t forget Thor (Chris Hemsworth) and Clint “Hawkeye” Barton (Jeremy Renner) even though at least one of these spends most of this movie on the wrong side of the group.

The movie follows a quick look at the back story of our hereoes as they come together to fight Loki. Once they are together, it will take some additional cajoling from the likable Fury to give them the last push they need to get the job done. Now can the Avengers save us from Loki, or are we destined for failure?

This is a movie of two parts. I came into the film expecting that the back story of the characters was a little implied. Fury showing up in so many of the other individual films led me to believe that he would have done his “assembling” off screen coming between the other films and this effort. Instead, director Joss Whedon spends small periods of time with each character, showing that the “assemble” part is not as easy as you think.

This period of expository really tended to drag. I couldn’t wait for the action to start as these characters really needed to kick some butt.

Despite my reservations with the first half of the film…the second half kicked major butt (in more ways than one). Once the Avengers are assembled and they begin the assault to take back the Earth the movie is non-stop action and fun. The sequences are some of the best in the movies and the dialogue is witty and clever. Those two things alone make for an intensely fun experience at the movies.

Downey Jr.’s Tony Stark is still my fave in the film with his smart-alecky wit and all around element of cool. Ruffalo rocks as he takes over the David Banner role. I just loved the characters and quite frankly I can’t wait to see them assemble again. Now that the background is out there, I can only imagine where the next film goes.

The Avengers is one half brilliant and one half so-so. Thank goodness the brilliant part is the way we end the film and what you remember on your way home. Summer assemble; The Avengers are here to kick things off with a bang.

B+ / B

The Avengers

Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures

Director: Joss Whedon

Cast: Robert Downey Jr., Chris Evans, Mark Ruffalo, Chris Hemsworth, Scarlett Johansson, Jeremy Renner, Tom Hiddleston, Samuel L. Jackson

Rating: PG-13 for intense sequences of sci-fi violence and action throughout, and a mild drug reference.

Runtime: 2 hours 22 minutes

Home Screening Room goes Haywire!

This Week’s Big Releases

Go Gina Carano - NOW on Blu-ray.

Haywire  – Rated R  (Gina Carano, Ewan McGregor, Channing Tatum)

Director Steven Soderbergh gives us probably the most realistic feeling action film to come down the pike in quite some time. Carano is the aggressive Mallory Kane and will have you believing ever bone break and the like. Worth checking out on DVD for action fans.

Queen, Dolly and Musical Goodness On Blu-ray now.

Joyful Noise – Rated PG-13 (Queen Latifah, Dolly Parton, Keke Palmer)

Joyful Noise hits its market right in the heart it was good to see Dolly and Queen singing again on film. It’s fun in a sing along way and unfortunately a couple bad words pushes it to the PG-13 rating as other than that…it’s fun for the whole family.

New Year’s Eve – Rated PG-13 (Halle Berry, Ashton Kutcher, Katherine Heigl)

Ok, it’s hard to choose a couple of actors for this cast list, because it seems everyone in Hollywood had a part here. The problem with New Year’s Eve (even though it’s not nearly as funny as it should be) is that we try desperately throughout the film to get everyone enough screen time. That attempt to get screen time leads to a film that’s too long and very disjointed. But…for the right person – this is worth a rental.

W.E.  – Rated R (Abbie Cornish, Andrea Riseborough)

Probably best known as the film that won Madonna a Golden Globe this year…but you knew that already, right?

Also new this week…
The Amazing Race (Seasons 2, 3, and 4) – Perhaps my favorite reality show of all time, anyone want to run the race with me?

Covert Affairs: Season Two

Kojak:Season Four

Moesha:The Complete First Season – Really? We had to wait this long for Moesha….who is releasing these DVD’s?

SurvivorSeasons 3, 5, 6, 9

Three Rivers: The Complete First Season

And Finally

And They’re Off – Rated PG-13 (Sean Astin, Cheri Oteri, Kevin Nealon)

These great stars and SO MANY MORE! Come on…you know you want to see the trailer….here you go!

DVD / BluRay Tidbit Of The Week

June 5 looks to be the date for John Carter with a BEVY of extras coming home on the Blu-ray combo pack.

Pick of the Week

Haywire! But I’m a Steven Soderbergh junkie…and an action junkie…oh yeah and now a Gina Carano junkie.

Thanks!

Pop Popcorn, Do the Dew, and Bust out the Blu and remember to Save Me A Seat!

15 Years Online -- Thank YOU!

15 Years!

Circa 2000.

Wow May 2012 will mark 15 years of putting reviews and commentaries online for yours truly. The beginning of the Common Guy’s Film Reviews featured yours truly writing in a world that didn’t have a million websites. (maybe just half a million).

 See the website circa 2000 (yes I used to program my own HTML code) and the little icon that drove traffic to my site -- PLUS details on a great contest and more -- after the jump.

When my site was listed by Yahoo! – Yes the dominant search engine of the time and the little (NEW) icon was next to it…I received more hits in a week than I did in many moons. But of course…at that point…if you searched in Yahoo! Under film reviews I was on top of the list.

I started on a whim. After many years of telling folks my opinion on movies working at Blockbuster Video and the independent Double Feature Video along with a gas station that rented movies (Benco), I felt it was time to take those opinions to the masses…hello WWW.

In the beginning there was no commonguy.com – just http://www.ticon.net/~bugzy. (The site no longer exists…so no need to click there).

The site in 2000 as show on the WayBack Machine.

My reviews were picked up by http://www.rottentomatoes.com and I was off and running. Never to imagine where I am today. Over the next month I will share pieces of that journey...for those of you who have been around my site for a while, you may remember them...others...will be in for some surprises.

To celebrate during the entire month (May 2012 in case you are reading this in 2015 or something), I will be reminiscing about a number of things that have happened along the way. But that’s not all.

To celebrate 15 years – I’ll give away a $15 ITunes gift card and 15 other assorted goodies that I’ve picked up through the years…I’ve got old movie shirts (don’t worry…they were never worn), a couple of unopened DVDs and maybe I’ll round up some more goodies from some of my studio friends throughout the month.

My commitment to you during May.

-       a new post daily (sometimes it will be a review – sometimes it will be a normal column…sometimes some pieces on years gone by.

-       Constantly updated Facebook and Twitter pages – have you “liked” http://facebook.com/CommonGuyFilmReviewsyet? Why not…do it now.

-       Follow me on Twitter for a number of quick and new comments throughout the month. Have you followed me on Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/commonguymoviesyet? Always fun and quick quips there.

-       Plus I’m announcing that I am beginning work on the first outlines of a book about life as a film critic (that doesn’t have a big name). I’ll have stories of my experiences throughout the years that many have heard, but now they’ll all be in one place.

Follow all month! Tell your friends. There are great giveaways coming! I’d love to double the Facebook and Twitter “likes and Followers” before the month is out, and with your help – that will be possible.

Thanks all – see you tomorrow!