UP

This Disney/Pixar was a laugh riot in the theaters, and it should be no different in your living room.  Nobody brings a story to life like Pixar and this one is may be its most human story yet.  It’s the story of an old man trying to keep a promise he made to his dead wife, and the hijinks that ensue when he accidentally enlists the help of his friendly neighborhood boy scout.  If you don’t cry, you’ve gotta be some kind of zombie vampire from space.

The Ugly Truth

I don’t know about this one.  I couldn’t bring myself to sit through the obvious schlock-fest that is this movie, but that’s my problem.  From what I can tell, it’s your standard romcom wherein Gerard Butler is attempting to help the supremely overrated Katherine Heigl (I’d like to buy a vowel?) how to fall in love the right way, but the silly girl falls in love with him instead.  I just threw up in my shoe, but hey, to each his own.

Ink

When looking up the description for Ink, I came across this little nugget from IMDB: “Ink has been hailed as the new “it” movie and compared to cult classics Brazil, Donnie Darko, The Matrix, Dark City and Pan’s Labyrinth.”  So there you have it, no further description necessary, it’s cool so you must see it.

BadMotorHamster

G-Force takes the cake this weekend narrowly beating out Harry Potter. The two movies grossed just over the $30 million mark for the weekend. The Ugly Truth wasn’t far behind and Orphan took a distant fourth and was the last of the opening movies to make the top slots. Holdover movies are still doing very well with Ice Age and Transformers taking a very close 5th and 6th. The Hangover continues to out perform the newer movies with Bruno, (500) Days of Summer, and Public Enemies, all of which opened a month after Hangover, unable to overtake it at the box office. To be fair though (500) Days of Summer is still a limited release and is playing in only 85 theaters, being squeezed out by the big names and the big films much like In the Loop which opened in a reported 8 theaters, but still managed a decent showing, making the highest average per theater of any movie in box office lists, at over $25,000.

TW	LW	Title (click to view)	Studio	Weekend Gross	% Change	Total Gross	Week #
1	N	G-Force	BV	$32,152,000	-	$32,185,000	1
2	1	Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince	WB	$30,000,000	-61.5%	$221,834,000	2
3	N	The Ugly Truth	Sony	$27,000,000	-	$27,000,000	1
4	N	Orphan	WB	$12,770,000	-	$12,770,000	1
5	2	Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs	Fox	$8,200,000	-53.3%	$171,291,000	4
6	3	Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen	P/DW	$8,000,000	-41.6%	$379,090,000	5
7	6	The Hangover	WB	$6,465,000	-20.9%	$247,077,000	8
8	5	The Proposal	BV	$6,423,000	-22.5%	$140,086,000	6
9	7	Public Enemies	Uni.	$4,170,000	-46.2%	$88,096,000	4
10	4	Bruno	Uni.	$2,719,000	-67.3%	$56,516,000	3
11	12	(500) Days of Summer	FoxS	$1,630,000	+95.3%	$3,004,000	2
12	8	Up	BV	$1,609,000	-49.3%	$283,612,000	9

Source: BoxOfficeMojo.com

In The Loop

This movie has been largely underrepresented and that is probably the reason why you either haven’t heard of it or don’t really know what it’s about. In the Loop stars Peter Capaldi, James Gandolfini and Tim Hollander, and tells about the interactions of Britain and the U.S. over the thought of going to war. As with most good satires the “Iraq War” is not mentioned as the conflict in question, nor is the answer really given. What makes this movie shine is not necessarily the catalyst but rather the interactions of government officials on both sides as each try to be tongue in cheek about what is really going on. This movie drips with brilliant British humor and satire, with actors who seem to have been given free reign to play their parts. Many scenes feel like they weren’t completely planned, yet they come off great. Critics and moviegoers alike have hailed this movie as being among the freshest films we’ll see this summer, and I could not agree more.

G-Force

Kids’ movies are my guilty pleasure and I will admit to seeing just about every one that has come out in the past few years, especially anything with Disney or Pixar behind it. G-Force is going to be one of the better movies out this weekend, because not only is it a movie for kids but it was created by a kid. The idea for this movie actually came from the director’s young son, so it’s a pretty good bet your kids are going to love it as well. The movie is well-written and probably has one of the better plots for a kids movie than most expect, and like most kids’ movies these days, it has a few witty remarks geared to make the parents laugh as well. Nicholas Cage, Tracy Morgan, Penelope Cruz and Sam Rockwell all pull off amazing voice performances in this one. For a fun night out with the kids see G-Force. For an adult night out see In the Loop.

Orphan

The newest horror movie to hit the market. Most critics are finding this movie to be a bit formulaic. Orphan has a decent cast and a decent scare or two, and there are even a few laughs to look forward to. There are a few convenient plot holes (who would honestly let this couple adopt?) and as can be expected it harkens back to the usual fare of evil children movies. Don’t expect a lot of blood and gore horror in this movie, instead it follows more along the psychological thriller type with a bit more scares than we might be used to in that genre.

The Ugly Truth

Speaking of forumalaic…here comes the newest romantic comedy. This one features two people who don’t seem to get along and who seem to have nothing in common. What’s the obvious solution? Work together in order to get the girl to attract a decent guy, and who better to ask for advice than a womanizer who seems to have very little respect for women. And then comes the ending we’re all expecting and by the end neither character changes enough for either to be very redeemable and so they perhaps deserve each other. While it may not be the worst romantic comedy ever put out, the characters do need to have a bit more of the likability factor and I don’t necessarily buy the plot.