21 Jump Street is an awesome movie! It was hilarious and definitely the best comedy of the year! I'm not really a fan of current comedies because they usually are not that funny, just stupid. But, it was way better than I expected. It helped that it had plenty of action. I don't care for Jonah Hill (of Superbad fame) or Channing Tatum (of The Vow andMagic Mike) individually, but together in this movie, they rocked. If you are not familiar with it, it is based on the old TV series. Johnny Depp starred in the show for a few seasons and he became famous after that. He makes a cameo appearance near the end of this movie. This movie is about two guys who were on opposite sides of the "popularity pool" in high school. One was a jock (Tatum, obviously) and Hill was the nerd (or "not-so-slim Shady"). Both of them never went to Prom for different reasons, but five years later they reconnect at their local police academy. They become friends and partners. Unfortunately for them, after they graduate from the academy, they are assigned to park patrol duty instead of their dream; "bada$$ motherf***ing cops". After arresting a man and forgetting to read him his Miranda rights, they end up being demoted to operation "21 Jump Street", where they must pose as undercover cops in high school. Their task is to find a drug dealer and the supplier of a new synthetic drug that is killing teens when they overdose on it. The greatest scenes are; 1) a freeway chase involving a biker gang, a student driver car, and a chicken truck, 2) doped up Tatum and Hill hallucinating some pretty funny stuff. The rest you will have to see for yourself. I recommend seeing it. It's rated "R" for mostly language, so don't take your grandma. There are also teens drinking alcohol and using drugs. I give it 9.5/10 stars. Below is a trailer:
Disney's John Carter is definitely the best movie of 2012 so far! It was an amazingly epic science-fiction, action movie. I wish that I had seen it in 3D and I didn't want it to end. It was better than Avatar, Harry Potter, Transformers, Rise of The Planet of The Apes, etc. (should I continue?). It wasn't perfect, but pretty close. Okay, I might be exaggerating a little, but you get the idea. I loved it. The fantastic story: goes like this: "Telegrammed" to Mars, a Civil War veteran Captain John Carter (played by Taylor Kitsch of Battleship, Savages, and the T.V. series Friday Night Lights) discovers a lush planet (Mars, or "Barsoom" in the Martian language) inhabited by 12-foot tall barbarians ("Tharks"). Finding himself as a prisoner of these creatures, he escapes, only to encounter princess Deja Thoris (played by the beautiful Lynn Collins) who is in desperate need of a savior. In addition, Willem Dafoe plays as Tars Tarkas; a Thark (1 of the species on Mars) who befriends John Carter to help him fight a war for Deja Thoris. If that doesn't get you excited to go see it, maybe this next piece of information will. It was directed and partly written by Andrew Stanton; the Oscar-winner who created such great movies as Toy Story 1, 2, & 3, WALL-E, Finding Nemo, Monsters, Inc., and A Bug's Life. John Carter is his first live-action movie and hopefully, not his last. The ending made way for a sequel, which I wanted to see right away. If he doesn't work on a sequel, I am going to go "great white ape" crazy. Inspired by this movie, I started reading the second book in the "Mars" series written by Edgar Rice Burroughs. It's called The Gods Of Mars and it's pretty good. By the way, John Carter is the novel A Princess Of Mars, if you are interested in reading it. Believe it or not, E.R.B.wrote this series and the Tarzan of the Apes series 100 years ago. Some people say that the movies Star Wars and Avatar owe their success to E.R.B. I have to agree, but also think that people would have thought of this stuff eventually as technology advanced. I urge you to see John Carter before you die. I give it 9.8/10 stars. Below is a theatrical trailer for your enjoyment:
Act Of Valor is a good movie, but
not great. It stars real-life active-duty United States Navy SEALs as they embark on a covert mission to
rescue a kidnapped C.I.A. agent. It started off slow because they introduced each member of the
team. To me, it looked like there were 2 teams and the men looked similar, mostly due to their haircuts. Eventually, the movie picked up the pace and got
into the story (or mission). There were definitely scenes of adrenaline-pumped action and even some humor. Though these guys were SEALs and not trained actors, they didn't do too bad. Some people think that
this movie was propaganda for recruitment. It may have been, but I think it was way
more interesting. It didn't do too bad at the box office either; the $13 million
budget raked in $65 million. I recommend seeing this movie. Fair warning: it's rated "R" for some blood and violence, of course. I give it 7/10 stars. Below is a trailer.
