Summer Movie Roundup

Since I now have an income and free time, I've been to see several of the movies out in theaters now.

Knocked Up: B+

• Definitely not as good as The 40 Year Old Virgin or any of the other Frat Pack movies. It is entertaining and Katherine Heigl is super hot, but as Bill Simmons says, it's a chick flick disguised as a movie for guys.

Ocean's 13: B

• Better than Ocean's 12 but not as good as Ocean's 11. It's nice to see the crew back in Vegas and adding Pacino is always a plus, but when your leading lady is Ellen Barkin, you're starting in the hole. You can tell that the actors all like working with each other and the script is good, but there's just something missing when compared to the original.

License to Wed: B-

• I saw this with my Mom and Sister, but it was somewhat of a surprise to me. John Krasinski takes his first stab as a leading man on the big screen and does a pretty good job. He'll always be Jim Halpert in my book-, but he does sneak in some of Jim's famous facial expressions. Mandy Moore is still hot and has been the only pop princess from the late 90s to not go through a crazy period. Robin Williams is ok, but, not surprisingly, he gets annoying after a while and it makes you remember he's the most notorious joke stealer in the history of stand-up comedy. Williams is supposed to play over the top, but there are some elements that just don't make sense (like how the forklift driver can afford to buy a plane ticket for his wife and him with no notice). This would probably make a good date movie, but if that's not in the cards, wait until it's out on DVD (or bittorrent) or even until it hits TV. Finally, the movie had to be written, directed, and/or produced by someone who works on The Office because Kevin, Angela, and Kelly all have parts in the film, plus the couple end up at Sandals Jamaica (no nude Jan Levinson though).
  

Transformers- A-

• Hooray! Michael Bay didn't screw this up! This movie is visually stunning and so is Megan Fox. Anyone who grew up a fan of the cartoon will love the movie- they even brought back the voice of Optimus Prime from the cartoon to voice Optimus in the movie. The only flaws I saw were over the top dialog by the transformers and the movie could have been shortended. Other than that, there were no lulls, the script was funny, and the CG was unbelieveable. I wonder how much GM paid to have their cars used as the Autobots?