movies: news • premieres • awards • star birthdays • new to DVD • coming soon
posters: just in • hottest • extravaganzas • stand-ups | capsules: previous • next]
Most Recent Movie Reviews:
review archive: 2005 • 2006 • 2007 • 2008
(click a poster to purchase a poster)
Movie Review of Wanted (2008) [R] 110 minutes
WIP™ Scale: $14.00
Many people have been unfamiliar with the Wanted comic book series by Mark Millar and J.G. Jones and the Russian director of Night Watch (Nochnoi Dozor) but no more. In the first summer 2008 blockbuster that exceeds expectations, Wanted, starring the multiple talents of Morgan Freeman, Angelina Jolie, Terrence Stamp, and more impressively James McAvoy who's absolutely new to this genre, literally blows everything else away.
Tracing its roots back to The Matrix when it comes to special effects and stunts that become the movie rather than merely enhance the movie, Wanted is 2008's Die Hard 4, Bourne Ultimatum, Hitman, and The DaVinci Code all rolled into one powerful, fun, supercharged video game-esque, Fight Club for the 2000s that will simply blow you away. …continued…or read the spoiler points…
…first summer 2008 blockbuster that exceeds expectations
Movie Review of Get Smart (2008) [PG-13] 110 minutes
WIP™ Scale: $10.00
Whether due to too much build up of anticipation from the previews and popular AT&T "Silence your cell phone" promos, over-excitement of the thought of dramedy superstar Steve Carell uttering "missed it by that much" in nearly perfect Don Adams cadence, or just a failure to translate well into the 2000s, it's difficult to report that the new Get Smart film also featuring the acting talents of Anne Hathaway (Agent 99), Dwayne "formerly The Rock" Johnson (Agent 23), Alan Arkin (The Chief), and Terence Stamp (Siegfried the really bad dude), despite some amusing parts and great tributes to the original show and stars, didn't turn out very well. First, there's something just off about everything from the first frame to the last. Certainly, there's a prime case of everyone overdoing it a bit—which is to be expected. Second, it's just not that funny and nearly all of the funniest parts are in the preview (including but not limited to the part where Agent 23 uses a stapler to staple a memo to Agent Larabee's head). Third, the story is about an intriguing and interesting as that used for Mission: Impossible I. There is a twist, but if you cannot see it coming a mile away, you fell asleep at the umpteenth self-deprecating line for Maxwell Smart. If you loved the original TV show, you'll enjoy the many tributes to it, but you'll probably be wondering if you'd still love the show if you watched it new today. It's always difficult to predict what will translate well into a future update; and, despite perfect casting for the leading roles, this one just didn't translate well.…continued…or read the spoiler points…
Movie Review of The Happening (2008) [R] 91 minutes
WIP™ Scale: $14.25
What to do if your very first commercial film wins the Academy Award® for best picture and you churn out 4 more films that not only fail to top your first film, but they receive decidedly negative criticism ultimately earning you the label of a has been before you've ever sort of really been? Well, you could take a really long vacation, you could retire altogether, you could quickly change your name and try again, or you could do what M. Night Shyamalan has done and that is stay absolutely true to your own artistic and aesthetic vision capitalizing on your fame to keep on going forward. He may never again see the acclaim he garnered during The Sixth Sense glory period, but that need not stop him from making outstanding films unlike anything people have seen before. Of course, given that he debuted in the genre of suspense / thriller films with a twist and The Sixth Sense has just about the best twist ever conceived, not just in film, but EVER, simply filling his own shoes has been a very worthy task indeed. Arguably, only The Village has even gotten close to the same level of twistyness. Alternatively, this may also be because Mr. Shyamalan's films have gotten more artful and mysterious when it comes to comprehending what they are really about. The best example of this was his Lady in the Waterwhich was labeled "twistless" by many when, in fact it had a brilliant twist that quite simply wasn't accessible to people without a more global and systems approach to their thinking. Thus is also the case with The Happening. …continued…or read the spoiler points…
Movie Review of Son of Rambow (2008) [PG-13] 96 minutes
WIP™ Scale: $13.75
Deliriously engaging from the raucous opening sequence juxtaposition of the lives of two English school boys: Lee Carter's a maverick, virtually unsupervised renegade, and Will Proudfoot's the son of Brethren parents and now single mom after his father's untimely brain aneurysm, Son of Rambo represents the collision of the imaginations of two opposites attracting and discovering in each other a best friend and eventual blood brother. The gifted young actors, Will Poulter and Bill Milner, star as Lee and Will respectively; and, not since Jamie Bell starred as young Billy Elliot, have English lads so captivated and commanded the big screen. Both are perfectly cast with Poulter as a middle school bully turned budding filmmaker, Lee Carter, and Milner as the scrawny cartoonist turned Lee Carter's personal stunt man. The duo are introduced when Lee, routinely tossed out of class by teachers whose patience he wears razor thin, and Will whose mother's religious rules prohibit him from viewing on the television the instructional documentaries his history teacher utilizes frequently thereby subjecting him to a solitary life in the hallway, tussle over Will's sketch book ending in a smashed gold fish bowl and a date with the Headmistress. Lee capitalizes on the opportunity, in exchange for his taking the full blame, to extract penance from Will including a protracted commitment to serve as the stunt man for his film which he intends to submit to the Screen Test Contest sponsored by the BBC. Two shades shy of Charlie Bucket when it comes to weight class, don't let Will's size fool you though for within his tiny package lives the soul of the son of Rambow. …continued…or read the spoiler points…
Movie Review of The Incredible Hulk (2008) [PG-13] 114 minutes
WIP™ Scale: $12.50
With sufficient homage to satisfy almost any ardent fan-boy of The Incredible Hulk, the new film, sprung from out of nowhere and begging the question "Why another one?" when Ang Lee attempted, most felt badly, the last translation of the bulky green behemoth from comic book page to CGI animated superhero, Director Louis Leterrier and Executive Producer and Incredible Hulk originator Stan Lee (with requisite cameo) unleash this new interpretation with Edward Norton both as co-writer and as Bruce Banner plus a killer cameo at the end that speaks to a larger 'Avenger Team' of films being built from the House of Marvel. Contrasting with so many superhero films of late, the creation of the gamma-ray-induced Hulk inside Dr. Bruce Banner and his subsequent quest to learn to control his rage and tame the beast inside him are set up in the opening credits leaving the rest of the film's running time for even greater conflict. On the one hand, Banner, now working in a soda pop factory in Rio strives both to achieve mental control of his heart rate and to find a cure for his affliction, on the other hand, General Gen. Thaddeus 'Thunderbolt' Ross (William Hurt), wants to locate and capture him to turn the biotechnology that created him into a super soldier weapon. In the middle, as always, is Bruce's love interest Dr. Betty Ross (Liv Tyler) and daughter of General Ross who, despite finding a new boyfriend after Bruce disappeared, still pines away for her tragic hero she believes is lost and gone forever. …continued…or read the spoiler points…
Other Recent Reviews:
The Love Guru (2008) [PG-13] 88 minutes WIP™ Scale: $7.50
Kung Fu Panda (2008) [PG] 92 minutes WIP™ Scale: $14.00
The Wackness (2008) [R] 108 minutes WIP™ Scale: $12.50
You Don't Mess with the Zohan (2008) [PG-13] 113 minutes WIP™ Scale: $10.25
The Strangers (2008) [R] 90 minutes WIP™ Scale: $11.00
Sex and the City (2008) [R] 148 minutes WIP™ Scale: $11.25
Indiana Jones 4 (2008) [PG-13] 124 minutes WIP™ Scale: $13.50
The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian (2008) [PG] 147 minutes WIP™ Scale: $12.75
Frontier(s) (2008) [NC-17] 108 minutes WIP™ Scale: $4.25
What Happens in Vegas (2008) [PG-13] 99 minutes WIP™ Scale: $12.75
Speed Racer (2008) [PG] 129 minutes WIP™ Scale: $13.25
Made of Honor (2008) [PG-13] 101 minutes WIP™ Scale: $10.75
Iron Man (2008) [PG-13] 126 minutes WIP™ Scale: $14.00
Film Premiere and Award Photo Sets
archive: 2008 • 2007 | Videos from the Latest Premieres
Listed in Order of Publication in the mEd database not necessarily chronologically...
Wanted Premiere • Wall-E Premiere • The Love Guru Premiere • Kung Fu Panda Premiere • The Incredible Hulk (2008) Premiere • The Happening Premiere • Hancock Premiere • Get Smart Premiere • Camp Rock Premiere • You Don't Mess with the Zohan Premiere • Sex and the City Premiere • Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull Premiere • What Happens in Vegas Premiere • Made of Honor Premiere • Harold & Kumar Escape from Guantanamo Bay Premiere • Forgetting Sarah Marshall Premiere • The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian Premiere • (continued)
Brand New Posters Just In:
New Poster Archive: 2007 • 2008 | TV Posters: 2005 • 2006 • 2007 • 2008
New as of 25-June-08
[note: not all images are available just yet, but they will fill in automatically when they are]
Brand New Stand-Ups Just In:
New Stand-Ups Archive: 2008
New as of 25-June-08
Recent Movie Star Birthdays:
birthdays: last month / this month / next month / by month / alphabetically
[click star names to see tribute pages]
| 29-Jun | 28-Jun | 27-Jun | ||||||||
| Gary Busey | Steve Burton | Tobey Maguire | ||||||||
(click to purchase) | (click to purchase) | (click to purchase) | ||||||||
| Also: Christopher Egan Richard Lewis | Also: Kathy Bates John Cusack Alice Krige Mary Stuart Masterson | Also: Christian Kane | ||||||||
| 26-Jun | 24-Jun | 23-Jun | ||||||||
| Chris O'Donnell | Peter Weller | Frances McDormand | ||||||||
| (click to purchase) |
| ||||||||
| Also: Sean Hayes | Also: Steve Sandvoss | |||||||||
| 22-Jun | ||||||||||
| Meryl Streep | Related DVDs | Related DVDs | ||||||||
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| Also: Bruce Campbell Kris Kristofferson Lindsay Wagner |  |  |
Movies Now on DVD and Download:
DVD releases: Archive / This Week / Next Week
(click poster to purchase)
10,000 B.C. (2008) [PG-13]-- W.I.P. Scale™ Rating: $13.75
Review-lite: With brilliant effects and a timeless heroic adventure story, writer / director Roland Emmerich's 10,000 B.C. starring Steven Strait, Camilla Belle, Cliff Curtis, with narration by Omar Sharif rampages onto the screen with the same zeal as the CGI mammoths that populate this ancient world. Overall, 10,000 B.C. really delivers on all technical levels, but it is really the raw story, not new, but timeless and barely nostalgic that elevates the film into the category of great epic story that will both astonish and endear itself in the same way that Lawrence of Arabia did for generations past. (click for full details and complete review) • (click to purchase 10,000 B.C.)
(click poster to purchase)
The Spiderwick Chronicles (2008) [PG]-- W.I.P. Scale™ Rating: $12.75
Review-lite: Director Mark Waters adapts The Spiderwick Chronicles into a timely adventure for pre-teens starring the extremely talented, Freddie Highmore as twins Seth and Jared Grace, the latter of which finds Arthur Spiderwick's Field Guide to magical creatures and unwittingly unleashes the darker creatures mentioned in the book on his home and family. With some rollicking scenes and a bright new take on old mythology, The Spiderwick Chronicles possessed some repetitive elements and a finale set, perhaps, in too small confines. It focuses a bit much on the bad creatures and not enough on the good resulting in a very good but not grand new film for pre-teens and fans of fantasy adventure. (click for full details and complete review) • (click to purchase The Spiderwick Chronicles)
Also This Week:
Charlie Bartlett • Definitely, Maybe • In Bruges • Persepolis
Previously or Recently Announced Available for Pre-Order:
21 • August • The Bank Job • College Road Trip • Doomsday • Drillbit Taylor • Hannah Montana And Miley Cyrus: Best Of Both Worlds Concert • Harold and Kumar Escape from Guantanamo Bay • Meet Bill • Meet the Browns • Miss Pettigrew Lives For A Day • Never Back Down • Nim's Island • Prom Night • Sex and Death 101 • Step Up 2 The Streets • Vantage Point • War, Inc.
Movies Coming Soon:
Dynamic Calendar Jan 2007 - Jun 2009 with links to official sites, trailers, reviews & more
Plain Calendars: 2006 • 2007 • 2008-09
Friday, 27 June 2008
Wall-E • Wanted
in limited release only: Elsa & Fred • Finding Amanda • The Last Mistress • Trumbo
Thursday, 2 July 2008
Kit Kittredge • Hancock
in limited release only: The Wackness
Top 10 Hottest-Selling Movie Posters:
(source: our friends at
| #1 | #2 | #3 | #4 |
| The Dark Knight | Indiana Jones 4 | Sex and the City | Hancock |
| #5 | #6 | #7 | #8 |
| Wall-E | Iron Man | Twilight | Mummy 3 |
| #9 | #10 | ||
| Chronicles of Narnia 2 | Quantum of Solace |
Movie Poster Extravaganzas:
archive
Here we honor the George Lucas / Steven Spielberg collaboration, the Indiana Jones Quadrilogy with this movie poster extravaganza.
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