16 Blocks

Directed by: Richard Donner
Starring: Bruce Willis, Mos Def, David Morse
Running Time: 1h 45min

Surprisingly a lot of fun. Willis plays his umpteenth cop role, but going to the well actually works one more time, as his tired old cop plays a good foil to Mos Def's annoyingly precocious star witness. A decent Movie Network watch, or cheap rental. i'm glad i didn't pay to see it in theatres. A full review to come.

Santa's Slay

Directed by: David Steiman
Starring: Bill Goldberg, Douglas Smith, Emilie de Ravin, Dave Thomas, Saul Rubinek, Rebecca Gayheart, Chris Kattan, Fran Drescher
Running Time: 1h 18min

Starts off with instant body count and hilarity, and keeps you entertained right to the end. Filled with expected bad lines and horrible puns, this B movie is at the top of the B movie list. Goldberg does for Christmas horror films what he did for wrestling, whatever that may be.

My Super Ex-Girlfriend

Directed by: Ivan Reitman
Starring: Uma Thurman, Luke Wilson, Anna Faris, Rainn Wilson, Eddie Izzard, Wanda Sykes
Running Time: 1h 35min

The premise is great. The pairing is good. The supporting cast is all there. Yet this film fails to fly. Even with a notable comedic director, the movie hits all the wrong notes, just feeling like a creepy stalker film with absolutely no interest in the characters.

Thurman and Wilson's characters are possessed with characteristics that audiences can't or don't want to relate to. They are needy, self-involved, whiny pushovers. We don't feel sorry for anyone, except ourselves, for having to watch this train wreck.

It's so disappointing to see an inspired idea, with inspired casting, be conducted without an ounce of inspiration. The super hero scenes aren't all that super, and the romantic scenes aren't all that romantic. Situations are so contrived and so telegraphed, that when something unexpected happens, it's welcomed. Unfortunately, those "unexpected" moments are completely out of tune with the film (sharks?) that they seem preposterous, even in a super hero film.

Luke Wilson's line delivery continues to be (unintentionally?) funny, and Thurman has done comic book before with the same mixed results (remember Poison Ivy?). Faris and Wilson are more interesting to watch than the leads; i would rather watch what they were doing after their scenes, than to wince through the painful experience of Thurman and Wilson's relationship.

Don't waste your time or money on this one, like i did. Consider yourself warned. You'd think we'd all want to avoid our ex-girlfriends.

Date Movie

Directed by: Aaron Seltzer
Starring: Alyson Hannigan, Adam Campbell, Sophie Monk, Eddie Griffin, Fred Willard, Jennifer Coolidge, Carmen Electra
Running Time: 1h 23min

It's good to see this genre branching out of the Scary Movie mold, and reaching for something ripe for parody, the romantic comedies. However, the creative team uses the same approach to spoofing, and basically makes a sad attempt at "doing" the romance films, as opposed to creating their own story that makes light of the ridiculousness of rom coms.

Hannigan shows off her ability to carry a film (she is genuinely funny, like she was when she stole the show in American Pie) and Eddie Griffin continues to give good supporting laughs. The cameos are funny, though not really too inspired. It just seems that these films just go through the motions, unlike the Granddaddy of them all, Airplane! Considering that genre films seem worse than ever these days, you'd think that spoof films would have gold mines to reap from. Except, spoof movies are so abundant, you almost could spoof the spoofs.

There are some big laugh out loud moments, like the opening "Milkshake" sequence. But with the humour front loaded, it makes the rest of the film sag down. They try to keep up the pace, by moving the scenes along quickly, but it makes it less memorable and believable when the characters are just thrown into one new situation after another. Still, for a free viewing, it has enough laughs to keep you interested. Just don't pay for those laughs, or you'll be crying.