Celluloid Heroes

Kat (Debra Messing) is fairly miserable. She's been invited to a wedding and her ex will be there. Worse yet, she doesn't have a date, so she does what any woman would do. She hires an escort. Yes, an escort.

Nick (Dermot Mulroney) will be her date. She pays him six thousand dollars and gives him a first-class plane ticket to London to show up and be wonderful, which she figures will make her ex insanely jealous, winning him back (or at least making him feel miserable, which is at least as good).

Read All of "The Wedding Date (2005) Review" »
Posted by Chad Everett on August 27, 2006 in Romance

It's always tough to be the new kid at a new school, but it's especially hard when you find out that the school bully replaced your drink with a bunch of worms (and even worse when you don't notice that he did before you start drinking).

What are you to do, other than throw one at him? With that, the war is on, and before Billy knows what hits him, he's made a bet with that bully Joe that he can eat not only one worm, but ten of them. And to make matters worse, the loser has to walk down the hall with a handful of worms in his pants.

Read All of "How to Eat Fried Worms (2006) Review" »
Posted by Chad Everett on August 27, 2006 in Family

Brandon Lang (Matthew McConaughey) wins a college bowl game for his team on the last play of the game, but unfortunately his leg doesn't quite make it, getting twisted at an odd angle while his body goes the other way.

Six years later, he is working a 900 line in Las Vegas when he's asked to work on the gambling line, and suddenly he's noticed by a high-rolling New York personality (Al Pacino) with his own cable show and whisked off to the big time.

Read All of "Two for the Money (2005) Review" »
Posted by Chad Everett on August 26, 2006 in Drama

A bunch of college kids are on a road trip and they decide to camp when a large truck pulls up and saturates their campground with its headlights. They don't like that. The tough guy (Chad Michael Murray, who was better in Freaky Friday) throws a beer bottle and breaks a headlight. The truck leaves. Everyone goes to sleep until the next morning. Well, afternoon. They are college kids.

Then they realize that the fan belt on one of the cars is broken, so they need to go into town to get a replacement. That's when things start to get a little more interesting.

Read All of "House of Wax (2005) Review" »
Posted by Chad Everett on August 19, 2006 in Horror

This rehash of the "switch body" theme is anything but boring.

Anna (Lindsay Lohan) is a bit of a slacker who just wants her mom to leave her alone - especially since her mom is getting married, and this boyfriend isn't Anna's dad.

Other than that one flaw, he's not a bad guy. Anna's mom Tess (Jamie Lee Curtis) probably just needs to loosen up a little - but that doesn't mean she's ready to do so, unless she's forced into it.

Read All of "Freaky Friday (2003) Review" »
Posted by Chad Everett on August 19, 2006 in Family

The story begins in a classy residential building in New York, where Chris Thorne (Chevy Chase) is trying to meet a girl (Demi Moore). As men have a habit of doing, he quickly volunteers to help out - in this case, by driving her the next day on a trip to Atlantic City.

They take a detour on this trip by looking at a mapping device that looks like a GPS of some sort (unlikely what we see today, being that the movie is from 1991) and end up in the remote mining town of Valkenvania, run by the Reev (Dan Aykroyd).

Read All of "Nothing But Trouble (1991) Review" »
Posted by Chad Everett on August 19, 2006 in Comedy

Daniel 'Rudy' Ruettiger (Sean Astin) is small and undersized, he has a learning disability (dyslexia) and he is one of fourteen (yes, fourteen!) children from a blue-collar family, yet he's wanted to attend Notre Dame and play on the football team since he's been a young boy.

Let's just say the odds aren't with him. His brothers, his parents, his teachers, his coaches, no one has supported him, yet he has always believed that he will attend Notre Dame and play college football.

Read All of "Rudy (1993) Review" »
Posted by Chad Everett on August 18, 2006 in Drama

A young boy (Hal Scardino) receives two notable presents on his birthday - both fairly antique.

One is a beat-up cupboard and one is a small Indian figure. Being a boy, he puts the Indian figure in the cupboard. Also being a boy, he wants to lock the door, so his mom helps him look through her stash of skeleton keys to find one that may fit. Against all odds, he finds one that fits, and so he locks the Indian in the cupboard overnight.

While he sleeps, he hears something and wakes to find the key being pushed out of the lock. Investigating, he opens the door and finds that the Indian has come to life!

Read All of "The Indian in the Cupboard (1995) Review" »
Posted by Chad Everett on August 17, 2006 in Family

Right from the beginning, you can tell that this is different from the 1971 classic, Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory. In fact, it's actually more reminiscent of the 1989 version of Batman because of director Tim Burton's influence. That's not entirely a bad thing. Batman was a classic in its own right.

But this telling quickly diverges from the 1971 version while at times remaining faithful to that wonderful tale. If you've seen that one (and most of us have), you'll recognize it just about everywhere. And while I'm a fan of Johnny Depp, let's face it - he's no Gene Wilder.

Burton's taste for the bizarre comes through in stellar fashion, and for the most part it works, but rather than Wilder's childlike sense of wonder in the original, we get a bizarre psychosis here, and it where the original worked wonders, it just doesn't work here at all.

Read All of "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (2005) Review" »
Posted by Chad Everett on August 13, 2006 in Family

Jennifer Aniston and Vince Vaughn star in this romantic comedy about a couple who doesn't quite get along. One night, as they prepare for a dinner with family, they end it all (well, she ends it all).

The only problem? They have a nice condo in Chicago, and they aren't quite ready to let go of it, so they decide to stay together long enough to get the thing sold. Then they'll move along.

Read All of "The Break Up (2006) Review" »
Posted by Chad Everett on August 11, 2006 in Romance

Everyone loves a good zombie movie. Unfortunately this isn't one of them. It was okay, but I've seen many better.

In the future, it seems, the zombies are so prevalent that those who aren't zombies are taking up residence in cities protected by natural defenses (rivers) and armed guards. They send the less fortunate (those who aren't rich) out to raid cities for alcohol, cigars and leftover canned goods - but they don't let them live inside their walled gardens, except to fight in arenas for entertainment.

Read All of "Land of the Dead (2005) Review" »
Posted by Chad Everett on August 8, 2006 in Horror

This followup to the 1992 movie isn't that bad. Tony Todd returns as the excellent Candyman, and we learn more about his history.

Sure, we already knew that if you look in a mirror and call his name five times, you'll soon be visited by him, and he'll be only too happy to split you from groin to gullet - not a pleasant experience.

Read All of "Candyman 2: Farewell to the Flesh (1995) Review" »
Posted by Chad Everett on August 7, 2006 in Horror

Kat (Debra Messing) is fairly miserable. She's been invited to a wedding and her ex will be there. Worse yet, she doesn't have a date, so she does what any woman would do. She hires an escort. Yes, an escort.

Nick (Dermot Mulroney) will be her date. She pays him six thousand dollars and gives him a first-class plane ticket to London to show up and be wonderful, which she figures will make her ex insanely jealous, winning him back (or at least making him feel miserable, which is at least as good).

Read All of "The Wedding Date (2005) Review" »
Posted by Chad Everett on August 27, 2006 in Romance

It's always tough to be the new kid at a new school, but it's especially hard when you find out that the school bully replaced your drink with a bunch of worms (and even worse when you don't notice that he did before you start drinking).

What are you to do, other than throw one at him? With that, the war is on, and before Billy knows what hits him, he's made a bet with that bully Joe that he can eat not only one worm, but ten of them. And to make matters worse, the loser has to walk down the hall with a handful of worms in his pants.

Read All of "How to Eat Fried Worms (2006) Review" »
Posted by Chad Everett on August 27, 2006 in Family

Brandon Lang (Matthew McConaughey) wins a college bowl game for his team on the last play of the game, but unfortunately his leg doesn't quite make it, getting twisted at an odd angle while his body goes the other way.

Six years later, he is working a 900 line in Las Vegas when he's asked to work on the gambling line, and suddenly he's noticed by a high-rolling New York personality (Al Pacino) with his own cable show and whisked off to the big time.

Read All of "Two for the Money (2005) Review" »
Posted by Chad Everett on August 26, 2006 in Drama

A bunch of college kids are on a road trip and they decide to camp when a large truck pulls up and saturates their campground with its headlights. They don't like that. The tough guy (Chad Michael Murray, who was better in Freaky Friday) throws a beer bottle and breaks a headlight. The truck leaves. Everyone goes to sleep until the next morning. Well, afternoon. They are college kids.

Then they realize that the fan belt on one of the cars is broken, so they need to go into town to get a replacement. That's when things start to get a little more interesting.

Read All of "House of Wax (2005) Review" »
Posted by Chad Everett on August 19, 2006 in Horror

This rehash of the "switch body" theme is anything but boring.

Anna (Lindsay Lohan) is a bit of a slacker who just wants her mom to leave her alone - especially since her mom is getting married, and this boyfriend isn't Anna's dad.

Other than that one flaw, he's not a bad guy. Anna's mom Tess (Jamie Lee Curtis) probably just needs to loosen up a little - but that doesn't mean she's ready to do so, unless she's forced into it.

Read All of "Freaky Friday (2003) Review" »
Posted by Chad Everett on August 19, 2006 in Family

The story begins in a classy residential building in New York, where Chris Thorne (Chevy Chase) is trying to meet a girl (Demi Moore). As men have a habit of doing, he quickly volunteers to help out - in this case, by driving her the next day on a trip to Atlantic City.

They take a detour on this trip by looking at a mapping device that looks like a GPS of some sort (unlikely what we see today, being that the movie is from 1991) and end up in the remote mining town of Valkenvania, run by the Reev (Dan Aykroyd).

Read All of "Nothing But Trouble (1991) Review" »
Posted by Chad Everett on August 19, 2006 in Comedy

Daniel 'Rudy' Ruettiger (Sean Astin) is small and undersized, he has a learning disability (dyslexia) and he is one of fourteen (yes, fourteen!) children from a blue-collar family, yet he's wanted to attend Notre Dame and play on the football team since he's been a young boy.

Let's just say the odds aren't with him. His brothers, his parents, his teachers, his coaches, no one has supported him, yet he has always believed that he will attend Notre Dame and play college football.

Read All of "Rudy (1993) Review" »
Posted by Chad Everett on August 18, 2006 in Drama

A young boy (Hal Scardino) receives two notable presents on his birthday - both fairly antique.

One is a beat-up cupboard and one is a small Indian figure. Being a boy, he puts the Indian figure in the cupboard. Also being a boy, he wants to lock the door, so his mom helps him look through her stash of skeleton keys to find one that may fit. Against all odds, he finds one that fits, and so he locks the Indian in the cupboard overnight.

While he sleeps, he hears something and wakes to find the key being pushed out of the lock. Investigating, he opens the door and finds that the Indian has come to life!

Read All of "The Indian in the Cupboard (1995) Review" »
Posted by Chad Everett on August 17, 2006 in Family

Right from the beginning, you can tell that this is different from the 1971 classic, Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory. In fact, it's actually more reminiscent of the 1989 version of Batman because of director Tim Burton's influence. That's not entirely a bad thing. Batman was a classic in its own right.

But this telling quickly diverges from the 1971 version while at times remaining faithful to that wonderful tale. If you've seen that one (and most of us have), you'll recognize it just about everywhere. And while I'm a fan of Johnny Depp, let's face it - he's no Gene Wilder.

Burton's taste for the bizarre comes through in stellar fashion, and for the most part it works, but rather than Wilder's childlike sense of wonder in the original, we get a bizarre psychosis here, and it where the original worked wonders, it just doesn't work here at all.

Read All of "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (2005) Review" »
Posted by Chad Everett on August 13, 2006 in Family

Jennifer Aniston and Vince Vaughn star in this romantic comedy about a couple who doesn't quite get along. One night, as they prepare for a dinner with family, they end it all (well, she ends it all).

The only problem? They have a nice condo in Chicago, and they aren't quite ready to let go of it, so they decide to stay together long enough to get the thing sold. Then they'll move along.

Read All of "The Break Up (2006) Review" »
Posted by Chad Everett on August 11, 2006 in Romance

Everyone loves a good zombie movie. Unfortunately this isn't one of them. It was okay, but I've seen many better.

In the future, it seems, the zombies are so prevalent that those who aren't zombies are taking up residence in cities protected by natural defenses (rivers) and armed guards. They send the less fortunate (those who aren't rich) out to raid cities for alcohol, cigars and leftover canned goods - but they don't let them live inside their walled gardens, except to fight in arenas for entertainment.

Read All of "Land of the Dead (2005) Review" »
Posted by Chad Everett on August 8, 2006 in Horror

This followup to the 1992 movie isn't that bad. Tony Todd returns as the excellent Candyman, and we learn more about his history.

Sure, we already knew that if you look in a mirror and call his name five times, you'll soon be visited by him, and he'll be only too happy to split you from groin to gullet - not a pleasant experience.

Read All of "Candyman 2: Farewell to the Flesh (1995) Review" »
Posted by Chad Everett on August 7, 2006 in Horror