THE LOSERS

The Losers stars Jeffrey Dean Morgan (Clay), Idris Elba (Roque), Chris Evans (Jensen), Columbus Short (Pooch), Oscar Jaenada (Cougar), Zoe Saldana (Aisha), and Jason Patric (Max). Directed by Sylvain White. Rated PG-13 with a running time of 1 Hr and 38 Mins. Based on the Verigo DC comic book.

The Losers centers upon the members of an elite U.S. Special Forces unit sent into the Bolivian jungle on a search and destroy mission. The team Clay, Jensen, Roque, Pooch and Cougar find themselves the target of a lethal betrayal instigated from inside by a powerful enemy known only as Max. Presumed dead, the group makes plans to even the score when they're joined by the mysterious Aisha, a beautiful operative with her own agenda. Working together, they must remain deep undercover while tracking the heavily guarded Max, a ruthless man bent on embroiling the world in a new high-tech global war.

The Losers was a fair action flick with ups and downs. I thought that the performances were fine. The ones who stood out to me were Jeffrey Dean Morgan and Chris Evans. Morgan can definitely be a leading man and I believe he proves it here. Evans was likeable as the tech nerd/ comic relief in the film. I think he will make a good Captain America, can't wait to see that. Back to the Losers, somethings I did not like was the super shaky camera during the fight scenes. To me it was difficult to see who was fighting who and what was going on. Though it was difficult at times it did not ruin the film. This film isnt great but its not fully forgettable. With a few good performances and some entertaining action sequences it does entertain. I also wasnt a fan of the ending, it was not fulfilling for me. The Losers is cheap entertainment and for that I recommend it.

B-

KICK-ASS

Kick-Ass stars Aaron Johnson, Nicolas Cage, Chloe Moretz, Christopher Mintz-Plasse, Mark Strong and Clark Duke. It is directed by Matthew Vaughn. Rated R. Running Time of 1 Hr. and 57 Mins. It is based on the Marvel comic book with the same name.

Kick-Ass is about an average comic book nerd Dave Lizewski (Aaron Johnson). He fantasizes about being a superhero and eventually gets the guts to try and become one. Just one problem though. He does not have any superpowers. He is just a teen who wants to help people and sometimes thats all you need to be a real hero. Dave creates Kick-Ass and strolls New York City looking for crime. He eventually teams up with Hit-Girl and Big Daddy (Chloe Moretz and Nic Cage). Togther they try to take down crime boss Frank D'Amico (Mark Strong). Christopher Mintz-Plasse plays Red Mist but he defnitely is not a hero. He is Frank's son and he tries to help his dad by double crossing Kick-Ass and the other heroes.

This movie is very funny, filled with action and all around good performances from the cast. Especially Moretz's Hit-Girl who cusses like a sailor and kills henchmen like its nothing. Which is all funny and entertaining. Johnson did a pretty good job as Dave/Kick-Ass and he was pretty believable as a superhero with no powers. Dave's high school friends provide some funny parts (they are played by Clark Duke and Evan Peters). Lyndsy Fonseca plays Dave's love interest and she did a nice job. This is definitely a break out role by Moretz because she steals all of the scenes she was in. Cage was fine as Hit-Girls dad Big Daddy. Although Big Daddy came off as creepy in some scenes he did do a good job and killing bad guys. Two problems I had with the movie. It felt like it began to sag and get a little boring in the middle but it began to pick up within 20 minutes and it led to a great finale. I also didn't really like Red Mist because he wasn't funny or menacing like he should have been. I feel the film could have been a little better without him. I also give props to Mark Strong. He plays a bad guy very well, and hes very believable. Overall this movie is very entertaining and filled with action and laughs. It is relatable because everyone at some point in their lives dreams about being a superhero. So Go see Kick-Ass!

A-

DEATH AT A FUNERAL

Death at a Funeral stars Chris Rock, Martin Lawrence, Tracy Morgan, Danny Glover, Regina Hall, Zoe Saldana, James Marsden, Luke Wilson, Peter Dinklage and Colombus Short. It is directed by Neil LaBute. Rated R. With a running time of 1 Hr. and 30 Mins. I hear that this is almost a shot for shot remake of the 2007 british Death at a Funeral. I have not seen that one though.

Death at a Funeral is about a man named Aaron (Rock) who has his fathers funeral at his house. His entire family comes and as you can imagine anything that can go wrong will go wrong. The family consists of the grieving mom (played by Loretta Devine), the crazy uncle (played by Danny Glover) and the more successful brother Ryan (played by Martin Lawernce).

The film has its funny moments but i feel that it should have used its talents of leading man Chris Rock a lot more than they did use him. He just plays the straight man in the film. One of the long running gags in the film is that James Marsden's character accidentally takes an acid pill (which he thought was valume) and silly high jinks ensue. Its funny at first but they rely on that joke so much in the film that it just becomes tired. Some good parts of the film were Tracy Morgan and Danny Glover. Whenever on screen I thought those two stole the movie. Peter Dinklage also tries to blackmail the family with the fathers long kept secret. Those scenes were pretty funny too. For a comedy though I felt that I did not laugh enough. I also thought Luke Wilson's role was unfunny and completely uneccessary to the story. I am going to give the film a mild recommendation because of Morgan, Glover and Dinklage. I say go see it if your super bored one day and you feel like having a few good laughs. Thats about it though.

C+

Grading Scale

This is the Grading Scale for my Reviews.

C+ and Up are Recommendations. C's and Lower are Not.

A+= Absolutely Outstanding

A= Nearly Perfect

A-= Very Good

B+= Memorable

B= Good

B-= Fair

C+= Flawed but Worthy

C= Mediocre

C-= Disappointing

D+= Poor Effort

D= Dreadful

D-= Really Bad

F= ALL TIME WORST!

DATE NIGHT

Date Night stars Steve Carell, Tina Fey, and smaller roles but still important ones filled by Mark Wahlberg, James Franco, Mila Kunis and Ray Liotta. Oh and Common, yes Common I Know. Date Night is directed by Shawn Levy. Running Time of 1 hr. 28 Mins. Rated PG-13.

The film is about a married couple Phil and Claire Foster (played by Carell and Fey) who feel that they are stuck in a boring rut. One night Phil decides to go to a trendy expensive restaurant to spice up their date night. They can't get a table so they take another couples reservations who did not show up. In a case of mistaken identity their night takes off into a disaster.

Carell and Fey have decent chemistry as the leads but they don't have a lot of funny material to work with. My favorite part was when the Fosters find the people whose reservation they took. That couple is played by Franco and Kunis and they do a nice and funny job. I just feel that there were many wasted opportunities to get laughs especially since Carell and Fey are funny people. I say don't see this movie but stay home and watch The Office which stars Carell, and 30 Rock which stars Tina Fey. These two shows are definitely better than Date Night. Funnier too. Carell and Fey have chemistry but they need a better story than this movie. It just wasn't that funny. You can definitely skip this movie.

C-

CLASH OF THE TITANS.

Here we go my first review!

Clash of the Titans stars Sam Worthington as Perseus, Liam Neeson as Zeus and Ralph Fiennes as Hades. Directed by Louis Leterrier. with a running time of 1hr. and 58 Mins. This is a remake of the 1981 Clash of the Titans.

It is about Perseus who is a half man half god (son of Zeus but with a mortal mom). The humans are angry with the gods and vice versa. The humans declare war with the gods and Perseus emereges as the leader of the revolution. He wants revenge on Hades who killed his adoptive family. What ensues is some cool action sequences and a few ok performances from Worthington, Neeson and Fiennes.

I saw this film in 3D. Let me say that the 3D was nothing special and it probably should just be seen in 2D. It was converted into 3D in post production because of the Avatar frenzy. There are some cool action sequences (my favorite being the ones with Medussa). But after the film was over i realized it is forgettable and only slightly entertaining. I am going to recommend this film only if you have nothing to do on the weekend and you want to see some decent special effects. Overall I give Clash of the Titans a mild recommendation.

C+