Celluloid Heroes

That cuddly green ogre Shrek (Mike Myers) has returned for the third go-round, and this time the stakes are a bit higher. King Harold (John Cleese) has croaked (he's a frog, get it, he croaked?) and with one of his last breaths (he had several) he has left the reins of Far Far Away in the hands of Shrek and Fiona (Cameron Diaz).

Naturally, Shrek is thinking mostly of himself, and he isn't really interested. He just wants to go back to the swamp. So before the king dies, he asks if there is another option. Luckily, there is one. His name is Arthur. That's all that Shrek needs to hear. There is someone else who can handle running things and get dressed up, and he and Fiona can get out of there. So he and Donkey (Eddie Murphy) and Puss (Antonio Banderas) board a ship and head out to find Arthur.

Read All of "Shrek the Third (2007) Review" »
Posted by Chad Everett on May 18, 2007 in Adventure

Hapless Larry Daley (Ben Stiller) is in danger of losing his son, Nick (Jake Cherry). He's not really concerned about his ex-wife, but Nick? That worries him. Especially when Nick mentions that he's ready to hang up his hockey skates and start practicing to be a stockbroker, like his new dad, Don (Paul Rudd).

Spurred on by the thought of losing his son's hockey career to the over-achieving Don - or at least to his utility belt of cell phones, Larry decides that he needs to get on with his life and do something. So begging for a job at the unemployment office, he begs for just about anything. What he gets is something that no one would have expected.

You see, Larry gets a job as a night watchman and the Museum of Natural History. And as they say, history has a way of coming to life. It's never been more true than it is at this place after they lock the doors for the night.

Read All of "Night at the Museum (2006) Review" »
Posted by Chad Everett on May 13, 2007 in Adventure

Clark Griswold (Chevy Chase) is ready to treat the family to a completely new sort of vacation - in Las Vegas! Of course, if you know Clark, you know that he doesn't always think things through, and though his plan this time around seems to be to spend time with his family (as always), he is sidetracked (as always) by the allure of making easy money at the gambling tables.

Naturally he is joined by his lovely wife Ellen (Beverly D'Angelo), and they also bring along kids Audrey (Marisol Nichols) and Rusty (Ethan Embry). As with the prior films in the "series", in this go-round where the kids are played by different actors than their predecessors.

Read All of "Vegas Vacation (1997) Review" »
Posted by Chad Everett on May 11, 2007 in Comedy

When Memphis (Hugh Jackman) drops the egg of his baby penguin during the long, cold, Antarctic winter, he is afraid that he may have literally dropped the ball. But luckily - for him - the baby does hatch, albeit a bit later than the other penguins, and Norma Jean (Nicole Kidman) won't be upset when she returns from the feeding grounds.

But when young Mumble (Elijah Wood) can't seem to find his heart song, Memphis blames himself. In this Disney-fied tale (which is actually by Fox), the penguins grow up, and sing their heart song in order to find their mate. Without such a song, Mumble is not only doomed to live out his life on his own, he is just about a disgrace. To make matters worse, he does this thing... with his feet.

Read All of "Happy Feet (2006) Review" »
Posted by Chad Everett on April 5, 2007 in Family

Claire (Emma Roberts) and Hailey (Joanna 'JoJo' Levesque) are two girls coasting through summer vacation with their normal problems - namely that they are younger than all the "cool" kids - until they find out that they are about to be split up forever, and then their problems get much, much worse.

Until a freak storm throws the beach club into complete disarray. That at first seems like a disaster because the end-of-summer party might get canceled. But then something extraordinary happens. They find Aquamarine (Sara Paxton) in the bottom of the pool, along with a bunch of other ocean debris. How did this happen, you may ask? Easy. Aqua is a mermaid. That's when things get interesting.

Read All of "Aquamarine (2006) Review" »
Posted by Chad Everett on February 15, 2007 in Romance

When Marty McFly (Michael J. Fox) receives the hundred-year-old telegram from Doc Brown (Christopher Lloyd) at the end of Back to the Future Part 2, telling him that he's alive and well in the Old West, it also has another tidbit of information - that he's hidden the time machine in an old cave outside of town. But Marty needs some help getting it running.

So he returns to town just in time to see himself leave to go back to the future for the first time, and he surprises the original Doc (the 1955 Doc), and tells him all about what's happening. Or at least, enough so that he doesn't know anything about his future, because Marty doesn't know that Doc has read the note that he gave him, telling him about the terrorists in the original Back to the Future.

With Doc on board, he gets some help getting the DeLorean back up and running, and using the Mr. Fusion to generate the power, Marty heads back to 1885 to see if he can rescue Doc and head back to 1985 - which will hopefully be the same as they left it!

Read All of "Back to the Future Part 3 (1990) Review" »
Posted by Chad Everett on January 28, 2007 in Adventure

The chickens of Tweedy Chicken Farm are generally content, with the possible exception of Ginger (Julia Sawalha). She seems to be the only one who realizes that things may be fine if you are laying eggs, but as soon as the eggs stop, things aren't so good for chickens.

Let's face it, chickens may not be the brightest, but Ginger is a different sort, so she's constantly planning how to escape from the farm. She just has one problem, and that's that to get one or two chickens out is easy. To get the whole lot out is a different matter entirely.

One day, as the chickens are going about their normal business, they get a visitor from outside - quite unusual indeed, but even more so because he arrives by flying, and most chickens can't fly. Ginger is downright ecstatic.

Read All of "Chicken Run (2000) Review" »
Posted by Chad Everett on January 26, 2007 in Family

This movie starts what is perhaps the classic time-travel trilogy. While it is definitely not the most serious of films, that may be what is most charming about it. The fact that Marty McFly (Michael J. Fox), a high-school kid from California, can jump in a car in order to save himself from Libyan terrorists may seem dated now, but in 1985 when the movie came out? This was classic cinema. Okay, that might be a bit over-the-top, even then. But what makes the movie is that it's fun to watch.

Marty is friends with Doc Brown (Christopher Lloyd), and Marty receives an invitation to meet Doc at the mall one night to help film a science experiment. When he gets there, he finds that Doc has turned a DeLorean into a time machine, and a somewhat surprised Marty watches as Doc sends Einstein (Doc's dog) through time in the car. It all goes awry when the Libyans show up to demand their uranium back. I mean this is good stuff!

Read All of "Back to the Future (1985) Review" »
Posted by Chad Everett on January 15, 2007 in Adventure

This sequel to the 2003 release takes us back to the Baker clan, but this time things have changed a bit. Tom Baker (Steve Martin) is presumably still at a small college, while wife Kate Baker (Bonnie Hunt) has still only written the one book (according to comments in the movie) - yet they are still in the massive house in the city that they purchased, so you have to wonder how they make ends meet.

Nonetheless, life moves on, and the third eldest Baker, Lorraine (Hillary Duff) is graduating high school. This is a time of change for Tom, and change isn't always good.

Read All of "Cheaper by the Dozen 2 (2005) Review" »
Posted by Chad Everett on December 30, 2006 in Family

Young Jamie (Jake Lloyd) wants two things for Christmas. He'd like his dad, Howard (Arnold Schwarzenegger) to spend more time with him, and he'd also like to get a Turbo Man doll.

Howard would like to spend more time with Jamie, but his job keeps him so busy that he just can't seem to find the time to do it. Luckily, his wife Liz (Rita Wilson) is on the ball. She asked him to get Turbo Man weeks ago. Now they're sold out everywhere, so there's no chance he'd be able to find one. Unfortunately, it seems that Howard forgot to actually pick up a Turbo Man doll when his wife asked him to, so it's going to be a long day.

Read All of "Jingle All the Way (1996) Review" »
Posted by Chad Everett on December 27, 2006 in Family

Long before The Santa Clause 2 (eight years, in fact), there was The Santa Clause. This movie introduced us to Scott Calvin (Tim Allen), who is basically a regular guy trying to come to grips with the fact that his ex-wife and her new husband have custody of his son, and he doesn't get to see him very often.

Add to that the fact that his job is rather demanding, and even when he does get to see his son, such as on Christmas Eve, he's usually running late, and his son doesn't always want to see him, so things just aren't going very well. All that is about to change.

Read All of "The Santa Clause (1994) Review" »
Posted by Chad Everett on December 23, 2006 in Family

With a similar premise as that of Meet the Santas, it seems that Santa is in need of a bride. Since this one came out three years before that one, I'll have to say that they had the idea first. But who really knows?

In any case, it seems that Scott Calvin (Tim Allen) has settled into his role of Santa very well. But recently he's been losing a little weight and it seems that the magic that made him into Santa so convincingly the first time around is leaving him. What is odd is that it took so long to happen. Perhaps there is a statute of limitations on how long Santa can operate without a wife, or maybe it's only once someone realizes that he is supposed to have a wife. I don't know. But it's happening.

Read All of "The Santa Clause 2 (2002) Review" »
Posted by Chad Everett on December 17, 2006 in Family

That cuddly green ogre Shrek (Mike Myers) has returned for the third go-round, and this time the stakes are a bit higher. King Harold (John Cleese) has croaked (he's a frog, get it, he croaked?) and with one of his last breaths (he had several) he has left the reins of Far Far Away in the hands of Shrek and Fiona (Cameron Diaz).

Naturally, Shrek is thinking mostly of himself, and he isn't really interested. He just wants to go back to the swamp. So before the king dies, he asks if there is another option. Luckily, there is one. His name is Arthur. That's all that Shrek needs to hear. There is someone else who can handle running things and get dressed up, and he and Fiona can get out of there. So he and Donkey (Eddie Murphy) and Puss (Antonio Banderas) board a ship and head out to find Arthur.

Read All of "Shrek the Third (2007) Review" »
Posted by Chad Everett on May 18, 2007 in Adventure

Hapless Larry Daley (Ben Stiller) is in danger of losing his son, Nick (Jake Cherry). He's not really concerned about his ex-wife, but Nick? That worries him. Especially when Nick mentions that he's ready to hang up his hockey skates and start practicing to be a stockbroker, like his new dad, Don (Paul Rudd).

Spurred on by the thought of losing his son's hockey career to the over-achieving Don - or at least to his utility belt of cell phones, Larry decides that he needs to get on with his life and do something. So begging for a job at the unemployment office, he begs for just about anything. What he gets is something that no one would have expected.

You see, Larry gets a job as a night watchman and the Museum of Natural History. And as they say, history has a way of coming to life. It's never been more true than it is at this place after they lock the doors for the night.

Read All of "Night at the Museum (2006) Review" »
Posted by Chad Everett on May 13, 2007 in Adventure

Clark Griswold (Chevy Chase) is ready to treat the family to a completely new sort of vacation - in Las Vegas! Of course, if you know Clark, you know that he doesn't always think things through, and though his plan this time around seems to be to spend time with his family (as always), he is sidetracked (as always) by the allure of making easy money at the gambling tables.

Naturally he is joined by his lovely wife Ellen (Beverly D'Angelo), and they also bring along kids Audrey (Marisol Nichols) and Rusty (Ethan Embry). As with the prior films in the "series", in this go-round where the kids are played by different actors than their predecessors.

Read All of "Vegas Vacation (1997) Review" »
Posted by Chad Everett on May 11, 2007 in Comedy

When Memphis (Hugh Jackman) drops the egg of his baby penguin during the long, cold, Antarctic winter, he is afraid that he may have literally dropped the ball. But luckily - for him - the baby does hatch, albeit a bit later than the other penguins, and Norma Jean (Nicole Kidman) won't be upset when she returns from the feeding grounds.

But when young Mumble (Elijah Wood) can't seem to find his heart song, Memphis blames himself. In this Disney-fied tale (which is actually by Fox), the penguins grow up, and sing their heart song in order to find their mate. Without such a song, Mumble is not only doomed to live out his life on his own, he is just about a disgrace. To make matters worse, he does this thing... with his feet.

Read All of "Happy Feet (2006) Review" »
Posted by Chad Everett on April 5, 2007 in Family

Claire (Emma Roberts) and Hailey (Joanna 'JoJo' Levesque) are two girls coasting through summer vacation with their normal problems - namely that they are younger than all the "cool" kids - until they find out that they are about to be split up forever, and then their problems get much, much worse.

Until a freak storm throws the beach club into complete disarray. That at first seems like a disaster because the end-of-summer party might get canceled. But then something extraordinary happens. They find Aquamarine (Sara Paxton) in the bottom of the pool, along with a bunch of other ocean debris. How did this happen, you may ask? Easy. Aqua is a mermaid. That's when things get interesting.

Read All of "Aquamarine (2006) Review" »
Posted by Chad Everett on February 15, 2007 in Romance

When Marty McFly (Michael J. Fox) receives the hundred-year-old telegram from Doc Brown (Christopher Lloyd) at the end of Back to the Future Part 2, telling him that he's alive and well in the Old West, it also has another tidbit of information - that he's hidden the time machine in an old cave outside of town. But Marty needs some help getting it running.

So he returns to town just in time to see himself leave to go back to the future for the first time, and he surprises the original Doc (the 1955 Doc), and tells him all about what's happening. Or at least, enough so that he doesn't know anything about his future, because Marty doesn't know that Doc has read the note that he gave him, telling him about the terrorists in the original Back to the Future.

With Doc on board, he gets some help getting the DeLorean back up and running, and using the Mr. Fusion to generate the power, Marty heads back to 1885 to see if he can rescue Doc and head back to 1985 - which will hopefully be the same as they left it!

Read All of "Back to the Future Part 3 (1990) Review" »
Posted by Chad Everett on January 28, 2007 in Adventure

The chickens of Tweedy Chicken Farm are generally content, with the possible exception of Ginger (Julia Sawalha). She seems to be the only one who realizes that things may be fine if you are laying eggs, but as soon as the eggs stop, things aren't so good for chickens.

Let's face it, chickens may not be the brightest, but Ginger is a different sort, so she's constantly planning how to escape from the farm. She just has one problem, and that's that to get one or two chickens out is easy. To get the whole lot out is a different matter entirely.

One day, as the chickens are going about their normal business, they get a visitor from outside - quite unusual indeed, but even more so because he arrives by flying, and most chickens can't fly. Ginger is downright ecstatic.

Read All of "Chicken Run (2000) Review" »
Posted by Chad Everett on January 26, 2007 in Family

This movie starts what is perhaps the classic time-travel trilogy. While it is definitely not the most serious of films, that may be what is most charming about it. The fact that Marty McFly (Michael J. Fox), a high-school kid from California, can jump in a car in order to save himself from Libyan terrorists may seem dated now, but in 1985 when the movie came out? This was classic cinema. Okay, that might be a bit over-the-top, even then. But what makes the movie is that it's fun to watch.

Marty is friends with Doc Brown (Christopher Lloyd), and Marty receives an invitation to meet Doc at the mall one night to help film a science experiment. When he gets there, he finds that Doc has turned a DeLorean into a time machine, and a somewhat surprised Marty watches as Doc sends Einstein (Doc's dog) through time in the car. It all goes awry when the Libyans show up to demand their uranium back. I mean this is good stuff!

Read All of "Back to the Future (1985) Review" »
Posted by Chad Everett on January 15, 2007 in Adventure

This sequel to the 2003 release takes us back to the Baker clan, but this time things have changed a bit. Tom Baker (Steve Martin) is presumably still at a small college, while wife Kate Baker (Bonnie Hunt) has still only written the one book (according to comments in the movie) - yet they are still in the massive house in the city that they purchased, so you have to wonder how they make ends meet.

Nonetheless, life moves on, and the third eldest Baker, Lorraine (Hillary Duff) is graduating high school. This is a time of change for Tom, and change isn't always good.

Read All of "Cheaper by the Dozen 2 (2005) Review" »
Posted by Chad Everett on December 30, 2006 in Family

Young Jamie (Jake Lloyd) wants two things for Christmas. He'd like his dad, Howard (Arnold Schwarzenegger) to spend more time with him, and he'd also like to get a Turbo Man doll.

Howard would like to spend more time with Jamie, but his job keeps him so busy that he just can't seem to find the time to do it. Luckily, his wife Liz (Rita Wilson) is on the ball. She asked him to get Turbo Man weeks ago. Now they're sold out everywhere, so there's no chance he'd be able to find one. Unfortunately, it seems that Howard forgot to actually pick up a Turbo Man doll when his wife asked him to, so it's going to be a long day.

Read All of "Jingle All the Way (1996) Review" »
Posted by Chad Everett on December 27, 2006 in Family

Long before The Santa Clause 2 (eight years, in fact), there was The Santa Clause. This movie introduced us to Scott Calvin (Tim Allen), who is basically a regular guy trying to come to grips with the fact that his ex-wife and her new husband have custody of his son, and he doesn't get to see him very often.

Add to that the fact that his job is rather demanding, and even when he does get to see his son, such as on Christmas Eve, he's usually running late, and his son doesn't always want to see him, so things just aren't going very well. All that is about to change.

Read All of "The Santa Clause (1994) Review" »
Posted by Chad Everett on December 23, 2006 in Family

With a similar premise as that of Meet the Santas, it seems that Santa is in need of a bride. Since this one came out three years before that one, I'll have to say that they had the idea first. But who really knows?

In any case, it seems that Scott Calvin (Tim Allen) has settled into his role of Santa very well. But recently he's been losing a little weight and it seems that the magic that made him into Santa so convincingly the first time around is leaving him. What is odd is that it took so long to happen. Perhaps there is a statute of limitations on how long Santa can operate without a wife, or maybe it's only once someone realizes that he is supposed to have a wife. I don't know. But it's happening.

Read All of "The Santa Clause 2 (2002) Review" »
Posted by Chad Everett on December 17, 2006 in Family