Seeing as this movie came out over two months ago, I will keep this short.
Hancock (Will Smith) is a superhero who is in need of a new public image. He drinks all the time and is careless when saving people or helping out the police. He does not care that people hate him. When he saves Ray Embry (Jason Batman) a public relations practitioner, he gets the help he needs.
Will Smith does a good job, as per usual.
Charlize Theron slums it in this movie, but still delivers a lackluster performance.
Jason Batman is pretty funny though he is not given much to work with.
The special effects were just alright, nothing exciting and nothing worth talking about.
What I did notice was that the movie did not really know what type of movie it wanted to be. The first 20 minutes or so were a comedy. Then it became an action movie. Then it became a drama. Now cross genres is nothing new for movies but in those cases there are elements of whatever genres throughout the entire movie. In “Hancock” it was solely comedy, drama or action. It was painfully obvious the switch from one genre to the other and it took you out of the movie.
I did enjoy the movie but the lack of a coherent genre made it harder. It is not Smith’s best work, but it is a far from his worst. Save your money and just wait for it on cable.
7 out of 10
Rated PG-13 for some intense sequences of sci-fi action and violence, and language.
92 min
Last year I said that I did not think “Heroes” would hit the sophomore slump that “Lost did. I was wrong. In a television season cut short by the writer’s strike, “Heroes” lost its way. Something needed to happen to get the show back on track. In that respect the strike was a good thing, because this season looks to be getting it to what made it good in the first season.
The first two episodes of the season felt more like season one episodes, and that is what gives me hope for this season. The new volume (Heroes is broken up like a comic book with volumes that contain chapters) is called Villains. This season is supposed to introduce the viewers to more villains and shifts will happen within the characters we already know. 
Things look to be a little bit darker this season. We have been given a glimpse of two different futures and things are not looking good. In one those with powers are captured and experimented on and in the other the villains have taken over and are killing the heroes left and right. Will one of these futures come true or will events transpire that brings about a completely different future?
This season looks to challenge those on the side of good. The villains are out there and it looks like are a powerful bunch and the heroes will need to band together to defeat them.
“Heroes” continues to be one of the better shows on television. There are questions that need to be answered and things that need to be resolved. The writers and creators have used the strike to get the show back to what it does best, create intriguing storylines and characters that the viewers care about.
“Heroes” airs on Mondays at 9 pm on NBC.
As much as I miss it, there are some advantages to not working at the school paper. One is that the pressure is off. I do not have to fill the entire section by myself, so I do not have to see bad movies or force myself to watch television shows. I can do what I want, about what I want without worrying about whether I could fill two pages.
The thing I want to start with is “How I Met Your Mother” or as fans of the show call it “HIMYM.”
The basic story of the show is Ted Mosby in 2030 (played only in voice by Bob Saget) telling his two children the story of how he met their mother. 
Over the past three seasons we have seen Ted (Josh Radnor) search for “the one” and become the man he was when he met his wife. He has been helped/hindered by perpetual bachelor Barney (Neil Patrick Harris), his long time friends and Marshall (Jason Segal), his fiancée/wife Lilly (Alyson Hannigan) and Ted’s ex-girlfriend Robin (Cobie Smulders).
This past Monday’s season premiere we get the answer to season three’s cliffhanger. Ted had just asked Stella (Sarah Chalke) to marry him and she gave him her answer. Meanwhile, Lilly helps Barney with his new found feelings for Robin.
The star of the show is Barney and Neil Patrick Harris plays him brilliantly. He steals every scene he has. Barney is a cocky and womanizing, but Harris plays his with such charm that he is not a despicable guy. You cannot help but love him.
This is one of the funniest shows on television. The characters are all great. They each have their own staring moments, even if Barney does tend to out act most of them. The idea of a love story in reverse is a new and brilliant take on the sitcom genre. We all know how it is going to end, it is just a matter of who Ted ends up marrying. 
In a time where serialized dramas are all over the place and sitcoms are few and far between (unless you happen to watch a lot of CBS, which has the most sitcoms of any major network) it is nice to see a new take on the genre.
HIMYM is worth watching. It is a smart, edgy, inventive, hilarious sitcom. It continues to get better and better with each and every episode. It could easily become a classic and could continue for years if the viewers are there.
"How I Met Your Mother" airs every Monday on CBS at 8:30
Last fall the writers of Hollywood went on strike. It sucked. There was one good thing that came out of the whole thing, “Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog.”
Joss Whedon, creator of “Buffy the Vampire Slayer,” “Angel” and my personal favorite, “Firefly”, wrote this while he and his writing brethren were fighting for more money.
Dr. Horrible (Neil Patrick Harris) wants to get into the Evil League of Evil. There is one thing standing in his way, Captain Hammer (Nathan Fillion). As he works to rule the world he pines for Penny (Felicia Day), a woman he sees at the Laundromat. 
He has never spoken to her, but wants to. One day, while in the middle of a heist, he inadvertently drives the woman of his dreams into the arms of his arch-nemesis.
Demoralized and pressured from The League, he decides he has to destroy Hammer and take over the world in order to get Penny back.
Oh yea and it is a musical.
Whedon financed “Horrible” without the help of a studio and that allowed him to do whatever he wanted. This was only released online and only for about a week for free. It was available for download on iTunes and can currently be watched on hulu.com.
The day part one was first available the site crashed because of the traffic the release generated. Even sites about Dr. Horrible crashed. It was number one on iTunes for five weeks. It shows just how rabid the Whedon fans are.
“Horrible” is a funny look at a villain trying to make a name for himself. He is an evil genius, but cannot talk to Penny. Neil Patrick Harris has a great voice and has the acting talent to match. The way he portrays Dr. Horrible with just a touch of awkwardness makes the character who he is and is the reason we root for him. That contrasted with the cocky, conceded Captain Hammer gives the viewer all the more reason to want to see the hero defeated. 
As I looked at a lot of what people said about this, one thing I noticed is everyone seems to hate Penny. They say she is under developed and ends up as a weak and useless character. Wheadon is all about the strong female characters (Buffy and River spring to mind). Penny plays a huge part in the development of Dr. Horrible. She is the reason he does what he does. So what if she is not beating people up or if she does not do much in terms of moving the plot directly, but then again, she is not the main character.
“Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog” can be seen at www.hulu.com/dr-horribles-sing-along-blog or downloaded on iTunes.
I will admit that this is my second attempt at this review. I tried about a month ago-at least it feels like a month. It was more like two and a half to three weeks ago. As many of you know I currently an unemployed and am working out the details of my life. There are days when it is all too overwhelming to do anything productive and my first attempt was on one of those days.
That is neither here nor there. I merely mentioned it to point out that as fun as reviewing movies can be, one has to be in the right frame of mind to do it. 
“Tropic Thunder” is the story of the most expensive war movie ever made. When director Damien Cockburn (Steve Coogan) finds that just days into shooting he is a month behind and millions over budget he takes desperate measures. He takes his stars into the heart of the Vietnamese jungle. Tugg Speedman (Ben Stiller), Kirk Lazarus (Robert Downey Jr), Jeff Portney (Jack Black), Alpa Chino (Brandon T. Jackson) and Kevin Sundusky (Jay Brauchel) all look forward to shooting the movie guerrilla-style. 
When Tugg is captured by a group of drug making rebels who live in the very area they are shooting in, it is up to the others to free him before it is too late.
As much as it annoys me, I do love it when a movie stirs up controversy. It proves my point that most people need to lighten up and not become so outraged so easily. In “Tropic Thunder” the bone of contention is the use of the word “retard.” The word is used in a conversation between Tugg and Kirk about actors who play mentally challenged people in a movie and win Oscars. It is not used to offend, but to mock the actors who play those types of characters.
If you are going to see this movie (and I know the majority of you reading this will not) here are the two things to watch for. Robert Downey Jr. and Tom Cruise. 
Downey plays a method actor who, to get the role of the black sergeant, undergoes surgery to dye his skin the appropriate color. He never breaks character and at times is a bit on the raciest side with his mannerisms and choice of words. That said he is one of the funniest parts of this movie. He brings the family of the soldier he is portraying with him to Vietnam and treats them as a father and husband would. They extent that he goes to be this man is a lot of fun to watch.
The other thing to watch for is the cameo from Tom Cruise. He plays the studio executive in charge of the movie. He is crass, foul-mouthed and the very antithesis of Cruise. I called this his career redeeming performance and I stick to it. Cruise needed this more than anything. He showed he has a sense of humor and can laugh at himself.
Other than that the movie was lacking in humor. I liked it, but there could have been more comedy. There were plenty of failed jokes and sometimes they were trying too hard for it to work.
8 out of 10
Rated R for pervasive language including sexual references, violent content and drug material.
107 min
