Your Highness

RATING:** (2 stars)

When Prince Fabious's bride-to-be is kidnapped, he embarks on a quest to save her... joined by his lazy brother Prince Thadeous.

Danny McBride stars in what could have been a funny spoof on the fantasy genre, similar to what Blazing Saddles was for westerns. Instead the film quickly turns to little more than poor attempts at sexual humor... and stays there for the entirety of the film.

This is one of those films where I can't find anything particularly nice to say about the film, but I recognize that there is a minority of people who enjoy this kind of humor. For everyone else, I recommend this movie if you want fantasy/comedy or this movie for fantasy/action... and just about anything else currently showing if you want something recent.

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Source Code

RATING:*** (3 stars)

An action thriller centered on a soldier who wakes up in the body of an unknown man and discovers he's part of a mission to find the bomber of a Chicago commuter train.

The increase in the number of films dealing with alternate realities and and other fun science-fiction concepts could be analyzed, but for the purpose of our review here I'll just say that it has given us some great films and some not so great films. Source Code is a really solid film that moves quickly and keeps the plot twists to a minimum, preferring instead to focus on a straightforward story and a moral question.

Jake Gyllenhaal stars as Capt. Colter Stevens, a soldier who is being sent into the last eight minutes of a dead man's life in order to learn who was the bomber on a commuter train and hopefully prevent a second attack. The supporting cast does a fantastic job, and to be quite frank the entire film is rather well done--the pacing is strong (only 93 minutes long), no *real* surprises to be had, and the only big question isn't asked until just before the credits roll.

If there is anything negative to be said about Source Code, it is that there isn't anything absolutely amazing about it. It is a great movie and thoroughly enjoyable, but it also doesn't do anything to stand out from the plethora of great movies. If you don't see it in theaters, add this to your list of movies to rent as soon as it comes out.

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Sucker Punch

RATING:* (1 stars)

A young girl is institutionalized by her wicked stepfather. Retreating to an alternative reality as a coping strategy, she envisions a plan which will help her escape from the facility.

That synopsis is the most succinct and understandable way of describing Sucker Punch. From beginning to end, the whole narrative is extremely choppy and difficult to follow. If you want a better mental image, imagine taking Inception mixing it with Shutter Island, and toss in the play-within-a-play scene from Shakespeare's Hamlet--it's that convoluted. One would also thing that considering how sparse most of the dialogue is that it would have more weight to it, but alas most of the lines that are supposed to contain wisdom for our characters (Baby Doll, Sweet Pea, Rocket, Amber, Blondie) are nothing more than recycled clichés that we have heard before.

I wish there was more positive things to say about this film aside from the visual effects, which are rather well done. For those who are fans of the genre, it is really not unlike many traditional Japanese anime except for live-action, which makes some of the over-the-top action scenes jump off the screen that much more. Alas, that is the only redeeming thing in this whole film, so if you're dead-set to see it... wait until it hits DVD--which will likely be very soon.

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The Lincoln Lawyer

RATING:*** (3 stars)

A defense lawyer takes on a high-profile client only to learn that this new client is responsible for an innocent man being convicted of murder.

The exciting thing about The Lincoln Lawyer is that while that little blurb might seem to give away the movie, the devil is really in the details. Matthew McConaughey plays Mickey, an attorney who quite literally conducts business from the back of his Lincoln town car when he is not actually in the courtroom. The film is a very straight-forward drama/thriller, although exciting both in casting (lots of familiar faces like William H. Macy) and in that not all of the twists and turns are predictable.

I also have to give credit to both the director and to McConaughey for the focus throughout the film on the main characters eyes--or more appropriately, the emotion therein. Innumerable shots showing a full range of human emotion, and many of those shots are nothing more than close-ups on eyeballs, sometimes with signs of being tired, others with sweat, others with joy. Well done.

All-in-all, The Lincoln Lawyer is a good movie, but not necessarily one that you'll be itching to see in theaters. A solid rental that you won't want to miss, however.

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Rango

RATING:***** (5 stars)

Rango is a simple, pet chameleon who stumbles into a lawless Wild West-style town in the desert in need of a new sheriff.

There are a few things you can count on with Rango: beautiful animation, laughs aplenty, and a story (and soundtrack) chock full of satirical homages to spagetti Westerns of Hollywood-gone-by. From beginning to end, those above the age of 21 will be all smiles--particularly if you have seen ANY Western-style movie. Ever.

I put the age disclaimer there for a few different reasons. Firstly, there is a good amount of language in the film, the kind that you maybe didn't always hear in the older Westerns because it was implied instead. Rango does carry a PG rating because most kids won't notice it, but an attentive parent will--so just keep that in mind. I also put the age disclaimer there because the younger generation may very well laugh but likely will not catch many of the tongue-in-cheek references (like making a joke about a black sheriff to somebody who has not seen Blazing Saddles).

Honestly, I have nothing critical to say about the film. I thought it was fantastic and most certainly worth watching in theaters. If you can't scrounge up the $8 to see it there, make sure you watch it with friends for a memorable crowd experience.

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