They made, chris025 and I felt obligated to see it. Nuff said.

Plot: OK, this is gonna be a hard one. I think there was a plot that involved Aliens and Predators. There was also humans. The humans got a lot of screen time, so I'm guessing they played an important part of the plot. I think the writers said something like this, "I don't want to work today, just put lots of fights and explosions and let the FX people do all the work. I'm gonna go smoke some crack now."

Yeah, I've read better plots on cereal boxes.

What I thought: There were a few good scenes. Not worth paying for, but OK to watch if you're already looking. I'm glad the movie was less than 1.5 hours. At least those idiot brothers who made this movie knew that they didn't have much to say.

Should you see it? Only if you want to test your inner peace and patience.

chris025 gave olga_ukraine and I a gift certificate for AMC theaters for Christmas. Today we used just about all of it taking the family to see The Golden Compass.

Plot: The church magisterium is trying to control everyone by censoring what they think and learn. I think they don't want to let things get dusty or something like that. Anyway, there's a little girl who is hard-headed, so she decides to go against the magisterium. She makes friends with interesting characters (a talking polar bear for one) and takes part in an epic battle and rescues a bunch of people. Note: she didn't do any fighting, because she's a little girl. You can only go so far in science fiction movies. A talking polar bear is one thing, a fighting little girl just crosses the line.

What I thought: I went in kinda curious about the whole religion twist. In case you didn't know, this movie is based on a book that was written by an atheist in answer to the Narnia tales. The gist of the books (three I think) is that the church is repressing people from free will and independent thought. I was curious about how the movie handled it.

It kinda skirted the issue. The movie didn't say the magisterium represented religion. They didn't say anything about religion, but if you know what the books are about, it's pretty obvious that the bad guys are the church. It was the pretty standard attack on the church, nothing new there.

Aside from religion, what did I think: It was a hell of a lot better than that stupid Narnia movie. This was actually a pretty good movie, even for adults. I really liked the battle at the end of the movie. It was all climatic and stuff. Which is pretty much what it's supposed to be.

Should you see it? Yes and ignore all the religious debate. If you're interested in the debate go study philosophy and religion.

ps - One of the deamons is a monkey. That's the right way to go!

Last night chris025 and I had a guys night out so I suggested Hitman and he suggested DuClaws. At least the beer was good.

Plot: There's a hitman that's going around killing people. There's a cop that chasing him. OK, I'd say more, but writing this brings up the memories of the movie and that is just pissing me off right now.

What I thought: Even a monkey with a flame-thrower couldn't save this move.

The main actor sucked worse than a two dollar whore, which is pretty bad (or so I've been told). The action scenes were rip offs of Bourne Ultimatum and Matrix, but full of boring lameness. The plot was kinda boring and overall the movie was horrible. I bet if I wasn't so disappointed in the plot and inaction I would have seen some lighting or makeup problems. When the movie was over I turned to chris025 and apologized for suggesting we see this movie. I hope he's still my friend.

Let's leave on a positive note. The previews that they played were awesome! Rambo, I am Legend, and a new one: Alien vs Predator Requiem. Sweet Lord in Heaven, thank you for this glorious bounty which we are about to receive.

Should you see it? No, stay at home and wait in giddy anticipation for I Am Legend. That movie better live up to it's previews or I'm gonna seriously be pissed.

A little while ago a bunch of people went to see American Gangster. I was one of those people. And now I finally get around to writing the review. BTW - I've noticed that a lot of time usually passes between watching a movie and writing the review. I'm ok with that for now.

Plot: Denny Washington is a bad ass gangster. He's also American. Put them together and what do you get? OK, that's kinda obvious. The movie was about Washington becoming a leading gangster in Harlem back in the day. It goes through his rise to power, and the cop that's chasing him.

This is one of those based-on-true-events movies. Which doesn't really mean that much, when you really think about it. It annoys me when movie people use based-on-true-events to help sell the movie.

What I thought: It was almost three hours worth of movie. It didn't seem like it was long at all. That's good. All in all, I think it was a pretty good movie. I'm not saying classic, but worth seeing. It had explosions, but no monkeys - which is key for ascending to the classic status.

Should you see it? Yes, but maybe wait for DVD.

OK, I 'm a little late in writing this review. A few months late. But I wanted to write it, because so far I've reviewed every movie that I've seen in the theater since I started this review thing. I like my 100% and I'd like to keep it.

Plot: Hard to remember...something about the Simpsons creating a natural hazard out of their town so the EPA puts a bubble around the entire town. Some other stuff happened and there was an explosion. Also full frontal male nudity, but I don't think that should be a selling point.

What I thought: I wasn't expecting much when I went in. The TV show jumped the shark a while ago (just like the phrase jumping the shark). I'm usually not impressed when TV shows go to movies (think Family Guy). I was surprised to really enjoy The Simpsons movie.

What the kids thought: We saw the movie while vacationing at Disney World/Universal Studios/Sea World. On the ride back we asked the kids what their favorite part of the trip was. They both agreed it was this movie.

Should you see it? Yep, but rent it, because I don't think you'll be able to find a theater still playing it.

Last night the family and I went to check out the third Pirates movie. We went to the zoo first, then hit the 8:30 showing in Georgetown. That probably wasn't the best idea, because everyone was tired and now they're grumpy today. Such is life.

Plot: The world of the pirates is coming to an end. The law is catching up with them. There are lots of subplots and everyone is trying to plot against each other. That's pretty much what the movie is about - everyone trying to plot against each other for their own good.

What I thought: Too many main characters. The movie was too long and slow in some parts. The first movie was great, because it was a new flash of brilliance. The flash died out and it wasn't replaced with substance. The movie was OK, but not really great.

Should you see it? It was OK. Worth renting. Maybe worth seeing in the theater if there isn't anything better going on.

Last Fri a group of us went to see Spiderman 3. The reviews looked really cool. I like both of the previous ones. So there we were.

Plot: Spiderman is getting full of himself. The black goo landed and made a black spiderman suit. The Sandman was created. And the new hobgoblin was born. Even with all of that stuff it wasn't overkill. But they through another element in. This element had no place in this movie. The element was relationship problems between Spiderman and MJ. Boring and annoying at the same time.

What I thought: I didn't pay for an action movie so I could sit through an hour of people crying. Unless it was crying acid and blood, but it wasn't. The movie was also too long. A great 1.5 hour movie that last over two hours. Some movies can pull that off, but this one didn't.

Should you see it? If you're a fan, I guess. Otherwise it's a rental.

Heroes in a halfshell. That's what this movie is all about. I was a big fan of the turtles back in the day, so naturally when I saw they were making a new movie I wanted to see it. Then I found out it opened the same weekend that my girl had the kids. Score! We're there.

Plot: 3000 years ago a family was trying to take over the world. It ended badly. Thirteen monsters were unleashed on the Earth and the family was turned into stone statues. Except the leader of the family. He was cursed with immortality.

Fast forward to present day. The guy is trying to open another portal to send the monsters back and set things right. He hires out the Foot Clan (the Turtle's enemies).

Ninja stuff ensues and the movie ends.

What I thought: It was really good. I even liked it more than 300. A lot of the plot revolves around the inner conflict in the Turtle family, especially between Leo and Ralph. The action scenes were cool and the animation was great.

Should you see it? Yep.

From day one chris025 and I have wanted to see this movie. Even before it was made, we were anticipating. While God was busy with the Heavens and Earth stuff, we were waiting in patience. So last Sat morning we went to see it.

Plot: THIS IS SPARTA!!!!!!!!! I don't know, something about Persians invading, enslaving all the Spartans, who don't want to be enslaved. Yeah, there was enough of a plot to be workable. But that's not what this movie is about. This movie is about watching people get butchered to heavy metal music. In one scene the Spartans built a wall using the bodies of their defeated foes. It wasn't a small wall.

What I thought: It was ok, but not all that great. Maybe we anticipated too much. I didn't like the way the battles were arranged. The Spartans beat up the peons, then the next group was a little stronger, then a little stronger still, and keep going for two hours.

The movie also lacked a good antagonist. It had one, but he didn't really fight, so he wasn't a good antagonist. I'm starting to think that a good antagonist is more important than a good protagonist.

Should you see it? Don't pay full price. See a matinee or wait for DVD (but you'll loose a bit unless you have a great theater system).

Usually the first paragraph in my review is why I saw the movie. Umm, let's see. Skeleton on fire, riding a kick-ass motorcycle. Sounds like more than enough right there. I was happy to hear that olga_ukraine wanted to see it, so we went opening weekend.

Plot: Kid makes deal with the Devil. Devil screws over kid without breaking deal. Kid grows up and becomes a Ghost Rider. Devil's son gathers some friends and tries to take over world. Devil not too happy with family life, so he sends Ghost Rider to take care of business. Business taken care of.

In the midst of all of this Devil stuff there is a totally sweet motorcycle jump that spans an entire football field and a few army helicopters. That was just freakin awesome!

What I thought: It was a good movie. It was eye candy and your typical comic book movie, which equals fun for me. The special effects were great (for the most part) and the plot didn't get in the way of the fun.

But it wasn't all fun and games. Ghost Rider ends up fighting the bad guys one at a time. The fights were kinda weak. They needed that guy who did all the Matrix fight scenes to help out. If Mr. Reeves can do it, anyone can. It would also have been nice to have a fight between Ghost Rider and a couple of bad guys at the same time.

Another annoyance: One the Ghost Rider's main weapons is looking into the eyes of the enemy. Wow, that just doesn't relate to interesting movie play. Actually, I thought it was pretty lame. Having the fights end with a thumb wrestling match would have been better than just looking into each other's eyes. I'm getting more annoyed at that now as I write this. Seriously, what were they thinking. They should have scrapped that part and put in a kung-fu Ghost Rider monkey.

That reminds me. There was a kung-fu monkey in the movie. Because of this, I claim that Ghost Rider is the Best Movie In Creation!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Should you see it? I just claimed it was the best movie in creation. That means you should probably go check it out.

PSA: OK guys, here's the low down when dealing with the Devil. Don't do it. You're gonna get screwed. You might think you're getting a good deal. You might even think you're pulling one over on the Devil. Guess what? The next scene (chapter if you're a book character) is gonna come around and you're gonna get the shaft. The best you can hope for is to break even by the end of the story, and even that's not guaranteed.

Further thoughts on the Devil: The Devil is wasting his time trying to make deals with humans. Instead of trying to make these elaborate deals and then backstabbing the people, the Devil should just focus all of his energies on taking over the world. I think the age old saying "If you want something done you have to do it yourself," applies to both the material and the spiritual worlds.