Reviews by Matt

There are unwritten rules of movie going. These are just common courtesy things like never answer a phone call during the movie, never take up both arm rests, never sit right next to someone in a theater that is not packed, if you think you are going to have to get up at any point you should sit on the ends so you do not disturb anyone and of course, never ever talk after the opening credits begin.

That rule though has some caveats, some addendums if you will. If you are going to a movie where the majority of the audience has not lost all their baby teeth, then you should expect some, if not a ton, of talking.

This past weekend was one of those times. I went to see “Horton Hears a Who” and as I expected, there a lot of children.

Normally I would have had to kill someone who made as much noise as just one of those kids, but when you go to a G-rated movie, it comes with the territory.

In fact, my friend and I had one little girl run down to our end of the aisle and sit next to us a few times during the movie.

Normally an invitation for instant death, but with a kid that cute, you cannot get mad or even mildly annoyed.

Amidst all the children talking and running around there was a movie going on.

“Horton Hears a Who” is the latest adaptation of a classic Dr. Seuss book. Horton (voiced by Jim Carrey) is an elephant who one day hears a noise come from a speck of dust. The speck lands on a clover and Horton discovers that there is an entire city of Whos on the speck. The Mayor of Whoville (voiced by Steve Carell) is the first to have contact with Horton. He has noticed that strange occurrences have been going on and finds out that they need to achieve stability if their society wants to survive. He asks Horton to help get them some place safe.

Meanwhile Kangroo (voiced by Carol Burnett) thinks Horton is making up the entire thing and worries that if he continues he will influence the children badly. She does whatever she can to stop Horton and get the clover.

Of the previous Seuss adaptations, this sticks closest to the original material. It is also the best. With the small exception of a story line within Who-ville, events happen almost exactly as they do in the book.

It was really funny. There was a perfect blend of kid humor and humor for adults. That is what makes a successful kids movie; appealing to the adults as well. There are moments in the movie that will go right over a kid’s head, but the adults will get it.

The Mayor has 96 daughters and one son. When Horton hears that, he says, “Busy guy.” It is these subtle things that make the movie funny.

From an animation standpoint it had a very “Seussian” quality to it. The classic drawings from the book are alive on screen in bright, brilliant color. While the book lacks the color of the movie, something tells me Seuss would approve of what was done to color his work.

The characters on screen matched those from the book exactly. Trust me, I checked. Every one of the major characters looked just as Theodore Geisel first envisioned it all those years ago.

Seuss is a genius. Look at how he takes larger messages and hides them in a children's book. Racial tolerance in "The Sneetches," deforestation and pollution in "The Lorax" and in this movie it is another one of tolerance. Horton says "Even if you can't see them or hear them at all, a person's a person no matter how small." That is the true beauty of a Dr. Seuss book; teaching kids the heavy issues in the form of a book. The movie kept that message of tolerance of everyone no matter race, religion, gender, or even size and did it without being preachy.

Every now and then a kids movie will pique my interest and I will brave into a no holds bard world that is a movie theater full of kids. It may be annoying, and you may want to tell them all to keep it down but, when you venture into the “G” world that is “Horton Hears a Who”, you have to take what you can get.

8 out of 10
Rated G
1 hr 50min

You may not know this, but in the office, we have a lot of CDs. We get sent CDs and press kits all the time. I sort through the entertainment mail a couple times a week and leave the CDs stacked in a corner. I am the movie guy so I could care less about music. I leave that to others to do.

On the suggestion of one of my esteemed coworkers I took the time to actually review one of the many CDs in the office. When he handed “Curses” by Future of the Left to me this person, we will call him by the alias of “Sean, the associate arts editor” said it was bad, but I was up to the challenge. I had reviewed bad movies before and those were more fun to write than a barrel of monkeys.

He was not lying. This was complete and total crap.

I do not know about you, but when I listen to music, I like to understand what is being said and have the music not over power the vocals. The first song on the album was just that, screaming vocals and overpowering music.

I would like to draw your attention to the back of the CD. It gives a little history about the band. Then is says something that I find very interesting, “It finds Future of the Left trying to stretch and bend the boundaries of what rock should be.”

Are you kidding me?

There, I just threw the CD into the living room out of pure disbelief and a need to see if I can actually hit the recliner from my room, I cannot by the way.

“Stretch the boundaries of what rock should be.” If you believe this then I have a bridge to sell you in Brooklyn.
It is not rock, it is crap packaged as music. There is nothing new or innovative here, it is just the same tired screaming that you can find in any number of bands.

I feel like my grandfather when I say this, but it is just noise. There is nothing redeeming about it. Even the lyrics are superficial. Check out this bit from a song titled “Plague of Ounces.” “Come alone/ Yes/ Why put the body where the body don't want to go?/ Under my nails? / Yes /Why put the body where the body don't want to go?”

WHAT????

This may just be the ramblings of a pissed off editor, and maybe I am not as versed in music as I am in film, but “Curses” is a fitting title for the album because that was all I was saying for the entire time I had to listen to it.

Wow. What a weekend. Nothing like a ton of snow to make you change your plans.

As you all know this past weekend was typical of Buffalo winters.

Snow, snow and more snow.

As is my obligation, in order to fill these pages, I had to see a movie. The plan was to see “10,000 B.C.” It has been a very long time since I have ripped a movie apart and believe me that is more fun then praising a movie. Then we got hit with feet upon feet of snow and plans had to change.

Why venture out into the cold and see a bad movie? That left one option in terms of new movies.

“The Bank Job” is about a robbery that took place in the 1970s. The details of just how it happened are sketchy because the
British government has kept the file classified for many years. There were no arrests made and none of the money that was stolen was ever recovered. The government covered it up because one of the safety deposit boxes contained pictures of one of the members of the royal family in a compromising position.

Terry (Jason Statham) owns a car dealership and owes money to some shady people. Martine (Saffron Burrows), and old friend, shows up one day with a proposition for him: rob a bank before the security system is changed. Terry agrees and assembles a group of his friends to help.

Once they get in and get the loot, things turn ugly. They find themselves perused by MI-5 (British secret service), the porn king of London and the cops who stumbled upon the walkie-talkie transmission.

Here is the thing; Jason Statham is a good actor. He just picks bad roles some of the time. Looking at movies like “Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels,” “The Italian Job” and even “The Transporter,” Statham does a great job. This is one of those gems in an otherwise mess of a movie resume.

His past few roles in “War,” “In the Name of the King” and “Crank” (which I liked by the way) have been very similar in terms of his character. This movie shows another and much better side of a very underrated actor. Terry is a guy who takes the lead in a situation where he has no more experience than anyone else.

The bank robbery was the easy part; it is the events that transpire afterward where he has to keep the others under control. He has no idea what he is doing and is making up everything as he goes along.

In many of the recent heist movies, the thieves always have a plan and it is flawless and they succeed based on their planning, here these guys get lucky. It was a nice change of pace to see bumbling thieves get by on pure luck.

Other then the amateur aspect, it is a usual heist movie. There really is nothing that makes it fresh or new.

There was a spot where it slowed and I checked the time to figure out when the movie was over. I really just wanted to find out how it was going to end. Other then this minor annoyance, I thought it was a good movie.

“The Bank Job” is not going to break any new ground in the heist genre. It is not going to make hundreds of millions of dollars at the box office. It is middle of the pack at best in terms other heist movies, but it sure beat my original plan.

8 out of 10
Rated R for
1 hr and 50 min

There is a reason why when I list my favorite actors I include people like Edward Norton, Christian Bale and Clive Owen. It is because they pick roles that stretch their talent and do something unique the majority of the time.

One name that will never be on that list is Will Ferrell and his new,-and I use that term loosely, movie “Semi-Pro” is just another in a long list of reason why.

Ferrell plays Jackie Moon, an owner/coach/player of the ABA’s Flint Tropics. In the 1970s, the ABA was going to merge with the NBA. Moon suggests that the top four teams get absorbed into the NBA.

The problem is that his team is in the bottom of the league. Now if he wants to reach his dream of coaching in the NBA he must bring his team up from the bottom.

Oh, and Woody Harrelson, André Benjamin, and some other people star in it as well. Granted with the overacting Ferrell, the other actors get lost in the fray.

Ferrell has been playing the same character in the majority of his movies. This is just another example of how untalented he really is. He has to yell and flail about in order to be “funny.”

One perfect example is when the announcement is made that the two leagues are merging. Ferrell stands up and yells like the moron he is then says the line we all have heard in the trailer, “I’m so happy I can’t even feel my arms,” all while waving his arms about. Now, this might be funny if this was the first time one of his characters has done something like this, but Ricky Bobby, Ron Burgundy and that guy from “Blades of Glory” have all done the same crap.

Putting aside the yelling of Ferrell, this movie is still not that funny. There are only so many ways to gimmick up the movie to make it “funnier.” I would have loved to be in the meeting where some “genius” said, “Lets have Will Ferrell wrestle a bear” and smacked them in the face.

There was even a sympathy scene for Tim Meadows, who was in obvious need of work. There is just a random poker scene where some of the characters are talking and joking and Meadows is randomly there. The scene serves no purpose other than to give Meadows a paycheck.

Normally I give Ferrell some credit. He has had his moments. I just watched “Wedding Crashers” over the weekend and he had a pretty funny part in that. This tired, over done acting is getting old and I need some proof that he is not a one trick pony. Sadly there are legions of Ferrell fans out there that will defend his “comedic genius” to the death. I just do not see it anymore.

Quite frankly, it exhausts me to even think about this movie any longer.

5 out of 10
Rated R for language and some sexual content
80 min

The things I do for this paper.

Each week I write at least two movie reviews and put them in the paper so that the pages in my section are not blank.

I have been to good movies, bad movies, and some really really bad movies (I’m talking to you “The Invisible”).

I have seen action, drama, comedy, moving performances, slap stick routines, truth, fiction and even ‘based on true events” movies.

Never have I gone to see a romantic comedy.

I did it was for a couple reasons, one was because the previous week I had taken part in the first “Editor Showdown” and had
just watched two sappy romantic comedies.

I also thought the movie in question looked good and different then all the other romantic comedies I had seen and I actually liked just about everyone in the cast.

I saw “Definitely, Maybe” because it was about damn time I reviewed a romantic comedy.



Will Hayes (Ryan Reynolds) is an advertising executive in New York City. His life is not what he wanted it to be, he is going through a divorce, but the one good thing in his life is his daughter, Maya (Abigail Breslin). One night she asks Will to tell her the story of how he met her mother. Will is reluctant at first, but gives in. He changes the name and Maya has to figure out which one his mother is.

The three candidates are Emily (Elizabeth Banks), the girlfriend Will leaves for a chance to work for the Bill Clinton campaign in New York City, April (Isla Fisher), a woman he meets while working at the campaign and Summer (Rachel Weisz), Emily’s former college roommate who Will is told to deliver a package to.

I am not a big fan of romantic comedies. I have gone on the record and in The Record (get it?) proclaiming my distaste for the genre. This movie might have turned that around.

I actually really liked the movie.

Believe me, I am still coming to terms with that.

It was a good story and something not seen in the genre.

The idea of telling a love story this way made it that much better.

It is not a question of when he is going to end up with the girl, it is a question of which of them is Maya’s mother.

That is what I liked. It is, as Maya says, “a love story mystery.”

One of the strengths is Breslin. She may have a small part since the majority of the movie is devoted to the story, but she makes the most of her screen time.

Breslin made her debut in last year’s independent hit “Little Miss Sunshine,” a role that earned her an Oscar nomination.

She may not get a nomination for this, but she is still pretty damn good. She brings a smart attitude to Maya. She is a girl who may be young, but she knows how to deal with her dad.

They play off one another very well and the chemistry between them shows when they are on screen.

I was taken completely by surprise by this movie. It was one of the better films I have seen in a while. Even I was surprised by my reaction to it. I was hoping that this would prove my dislike of romantic comedies was warranted, but sadly I may be mistaken, and that does not happen often

8 our of 10
Rated PG-13 for sexual content, including some frank dialogue, language and smoking.
112 min

Tuesday, Feb. 19 marked the official death of HD DVD. The end of HD also meant the end of the format war that has waged between HD and Blu-ray Disc for two years.

Toshiba announced that they would no longer make the high definition players. They hope to have completely stopped shipments of the players by the end of March.

The format war broke down to one huge difference in the formats, the storage capacity. There was a 10-gigabyte difference in storage capacity. Blu-ray can hold up to 25GB compared to 15GB for HD.

One of the leading causes for the stoppage of production was all but two of the major studios backing Blu-ray. At the end only Universal and Paramount were HD-exclusive.

“We carefully assessed the long-term impact of continuing the so-called 'next-generation format war' and concluded that a swift decision will best help the market develop," said Atsutoshi Nishida, President and CEO of Toshiba Corporation in a press release announcing the company’s decision.

"While we are disappointed for the company and more importantly, for the consumer, the real mass market opportunity for high definition content remains untapped and Toshiba is both able and determined to use our talent, technology and intellectual property to make digital convergence a reality," Nishida said.

The company will continue to manufacture standard DVD players and will maintain collaborative relationships with the companies that joined them in their HD venture including Universal Studios, Paramount Pictures and DreamWorks Animation.

The end of the high definition war means that consumers will no longer have to choose between formats. Despite the cost of HD players being about $150-$250 lower, Blu-ray has been outselling HD for months.

With HD officially dead, Sony and their Blu-ray players face competition from digital media, and with the writers’ strike over and the demand for payment for the digital media met, this could prove to be a tough task.

Internet downloads from Amazon.com and iTunes are becoming more popular and it is these sites, as well as many others that are going to make for heavy competition for the newly crowned leader in the high definition format.

DVDs ran the movie market for 10 years when it beat out VHS tapes. The same is not expected for Blu-ray discs. It will come down to how Sony deals with this new competition that will determine if Blu-ray will be the format of the future. Until then, consumers can rest easy knowing they will no longer have choose between formats when buying high definition DVD’s and DVD players.

We have all had those days where the world seems to be conspiring against you. Nothing goes your way and events unfold that are working against you. I had one of those days, recently; this past weekend as a matter of fact.

It all started when a friend and I were going to see a movie. His car was in the shop so we had to walk there to pick it up. It should be said that the garage was more than half the distance to the movie theater to begin with. When we finally got there it was 12:40 p.m. and the movie started at 12:30 p.m. So far we were only missing previews and with this invention called the Internet, you can see any trailer you want at your convince.

Things looked good. We could make it in time to catch the last trailer and be there for the opening credits. That was until a few long traffic lights slowed us down.

We got to the theater, I went to get the tickets, and he went to get the snacks. I was hoping this would give us the advantage.

Sadly, my friend ordered a drink and the woman behind the counter spilled some on the cup and took the time to wipe it off. It was at this point that I realized, there was no way we were going to get there before the movie started.

When we finally got into the theater we had missed the first few minutes of the movie.


If there was ever a movie that you can miss the first few minutes of it is “Vantage Point.”

Why, you ask.

The answer is simple, because the movie covers one event from eight points of view.

President Ashton (William Hurt) is in Spain at a global summit and is being protected by Secret Service Agents Thomas Barnes (Dennis Quaid) and Kent Taylor (Matthew Fox). Ashton is about to speak when two shots ring out and the president falls.

The movie follows a variety of different people and how they see the event.

Awesome concept. Poor execution. That is really all there is to say about this movie.

The idea of showing one event from varying points of view is different. It is just not done in a way that worked. It became tedious to see the exact same thing over and over even if it was a different version of the same story.

The last “vantage point” was that of the terrorists and that was by far the most interesting. Though it is there that I saw one of the biggest plot holes/weaknesses. Details here would spoil the movie, so you will just have to trust me.

I could not be more disappointed in “Vantage Point.” Maybe they should have focused less on the gimmick and more on making the story better.

5 out of 10
Rated PG-13 for sequences of intense violence and action, some disturbing images and brief strong language.
90 min

This past Sunday the Academy for Motion Picture Arts and Sciences handed out their highest honor; The Oscar.

The Academy Awards celebration is known for going on for hours and ending after midnight. This year had to be the shortest awards ceremony in history; a mere three hours and 18 minuets. Going on the excessive length of the ceremony, The following is a run down of what happened and when it happened.

8:30; The Oscars started with an opening montage of a truck carrying the statues passing classic scenes and characters from the past 80 years.

8:32; Jon Stewart came out and gave his opening monologue. Most of it focused on the end of the writers strike. He said the Oscars were the make-up sex for the industry. He noted the many of the movies were about psychopathic killers-“Does this town need a hug?”

8:41; Stewart ended his monologue and introduced the first presenter.

8:42; Jennifer Gardner came out to present the first award-Best Costume Design went to “Elizabeth: The Golden Age.”

8:52; Steve Carell and Anne Hathaway came out. They did a bit where Carell seemed to think they were presenting for Best Documentary only to be told they were presenting Best Animated Feature That goes to “Ratatouille.” If “Surf’s Up” had won, I would have run to Hollywood and punched every member of the Academy in the face.

8:55; The world held its breath as “Norbit” was announced as one of the nominees for best make up. There was a collective sigh of relief when Katherine Heigl gave the award to “La Vie En Rose”

8:59; First of five best song performances, Amy Adams sang “Happy Working Song” from “Enchanted”

9:07; The actor formally known as The Rock presented Best Visual Effects. The Oscar went to “The Golden Compass.” Say what you will about the story and dialogue in “Transformers,” but the visual effects in that movie were simply amazing and deserved the win.

9:10; Cate Blanchett presented the art direction Oscar to “Sweeney Todd.”

9:15; Last year’s best supporting actress, Jennifer Hudson, presented the Best Supporting Actor award to Javier Bardem form “No Country for Old Men” Bardem ends his acceptance speech in Spanish. What he said was not covered in my high school Spanish classes, so I could not tell you. He did mention his mother though.

9:23; Stewart showed what would have happened if the strike was still going on with the tributes to binoculars and periscopes in movies and tribute to bad dreams in movies.

9:24; The second of five best song performance was “Raise It Up” from “August Rush” featuring the amazing 11-year-old Jamia Simone Nash.

9:28; Suicide attempt rumors be dammed, Owen Wilson showed up to present the Oscar for Best Live Action Short to “The Mozart of Pickpockets.”

9:31; I did my best to contain my self when they pulled out the old “animated presenter” with the bee from “Bee Movie.” This is a lame gimmick that has to be stopped. Especially when it the movie was not that good. The Oscar for Best Animated Short went to “Peter and the Wolf”

9:35; 2007’s best Supporting Actor winner, Alan Arkin, presented the Best Supporting Actress award to Tilda Swinton who compares her agent to the Oscar, “right down to the bottom” This win was truly a surprise. There were some great choices and there were some better choices in this category, but I am still happy she won.

9:44; A slightly “Preggers” Jessica Alba came out to recap the Academy Scientific and Technical Awards. Even Alba’s looks could not make me care about this little segment.

9:46: Josh Brolin and James MacAvoy presented the Best Adapted Screenplay to “No Country for Old Men”

9:49; We got a look as to how the Oscars are picked. Unfortunately, you have to be invited to join the Academy, so looks like my chances are slim.

9:52; Kristen Chenoweth brought down the house with her performance of the third of five song nominations, “That’s How You Know” form “Enchanted”

10:01 We are lead to believe that Judi Dench and Halle Berry are coming to present and are greeted with Seth Rogan and Jonah Hill who argue over who is more “Halle Berry-like.” They presented best sound editing to “The Bourne Ultimatum” Now I get to say the Oscar-winning “The Bourne Ultimatum”

10:05 Hill and Rogan continue to argue and present best sound mixing to the now multi-Oscar winning movie “The Bourne Ultimatum”

10:09; Last year’s Best Actor, Forrest Whitaker, gave the Best Actress Oscar to Marion Cotillard.

10:18; Stewart plays Wii Tennis with Jamia Simone Nash of August Rush. Colin Ferrell comes out, almost slips and introduces the fourth song nominated, “Falling Slowly” from “Once”

10:22; A video tribute to the past 79 best picture winners.

10:28; Renee Zelwigger gives the editing Oscar to the now three-time Oscar winning film (when you win three Oscars you go from movie to film) “The Bourne Ultimatum.” That was the first and only sweep of the night.

10:31; Nichole Kidman gave an honorary Oscar to Art Director Robert Boyle.

10:42; Penelope Cruz presents Best Foreign Language film to “The Counterfeiters”

10:45; The final song, “So Close,” also from “Enchanted”

10:48; The odds were not in favor of “Enchanted” because Best Song goes to the song from “Once” Only Glen Hansard got to speak, Markéta Irglová got cut off.

10:57 The award for classiest move of the night goes to Jon Stewart who let Markéta Irglová come out and say what she wanted to say.

10:58 Carmon Daiz presented the Best Cinematography Oscar to “There Will Be Blood”

11:01 Hillary Swank introduces the video tribute for all those who died this past year. As was expected Heath Ledger was last and got the loudest applause.

11:08; Amy Adams presented original score to “Atonement”

11:11 Tom Hanks gave the best documentary awards Short subject goes to “Freeheld” Feature went to “Taxi to the Dark Side”

11:22; My first yawn of the night and I started to wonder if I was going to make it to the end.

11:23; Harrison Ford came out to the Indiana Jones theme and presented the Best Original Screenplay to “Juno” At least “Juno” won one Oscar, this was the only one I gave it a chance of winning. Diablo Cody comes up to accept looking like a Flintstones character.

11:30; In the shock of the night (by the way that was dripping with sarcasm) Daniel Day-Lewis won the Best Actor. When he got on stage he got down on one knee and was knighted by presenter, and last year’s Best Actress winner for “The Queen” Helen Mirren

11:42; Scorsese presented Best Director to the Coen Brothers for “No County for Old Men”

11:43; We got some Channel 7 behind the scenes audio piped in where someone says something about “Oscar bullshit” and someone else does not know what “No County for Old Men” was about.

11:44; Denzel Washington presented the pen-ultimate award, Best Picture to “No County for Old Men”

11:48; Three hours and 18 minutes later, it is over.