TAKERS

Takers stars Idris Elba, Paul Walker, Matt Dillon, Hayden Christensen, Tip "T.I." Harris, Chris Brown, Michael Ealy, Jay Hernandez, and a very brief and pointless role for Zoe Saldana. Directed by John Luessenhop. Rated PG-13 with a running time of 1 hr. and 47 mins.

A notorious group of criminals (Idris Elba, Paul Walker, Chris Brown, Hayden Christensen and Michael Ealy) continue to baffle police by pulling off perfectly executed bank robberies. They are in and out like clockwork, leaving no evidence behind and laying low in between heists. But when they attempt to pull off one last job which is recommended by their old friend Ghost (T.I.) fresh out of jail. With more money at stake than ever before, the crew may find their plans interrupted by a hardened detective (Matt Dillon) who is hell bent on solving the case.

I was very afraid that this movie would be acted very badly and have poor direction. But for the most part that is not the case. Let me start with the good acting and the not so good acting. Idris Elba has great charisma as the leader of the pack and he is not as bad as you think because you see that the group of robbers don't hurt anyone in the process to get money. They only have guns for intimidation and to get what they want which is money. Paul Walker and Hayden Christensen are not horrible actors but they aren't good actors either. They aren't really given much to do and you just don't see them as acting. Its kind of odd. Its as if they are just there sticking out like a sore thumb. As for Chris Brown he isn't terrible because the director is smart to not have him act much. His big scene is a chase scene through LA that just requires him to run. That scene was one of the more entertaining scenes in the movie. As for T.I. I think he was given the right role as the one member of the robbers that is kind of mysterious in his motives and lets just say he is not as good as the other members of the pack. To me you can believe that T.I. would be bad guy in a movie. I can't see T.I. being an action hero and I think he knows that. So T.I. works into the film decently. While he is not a good actor yet he looks comfortable onscreen and thats the first step. Matt Dillon is fine but doesn't really stand out as the cop hot on their trail.

I believe that Takers is an above average heist thriller because of 2 reasons. 1: Idris Elba can really act and he just has a certain swagger about him that is charming and engaging so it makes you get involved in the story and you care for his character more. 2: I love the fact that the movie had me rooting for the robbers near the end because going in to the film your like Oh i hope there robbers get caught. But you see that they aren't really bad ruthless people except T.I. who is the films baddie. Also with the exception of Chris Brown's character for reasons I won't disclose because it gives away plot points of the film. But all in all for what it is Takers is a movie that entertains for a majority of the film and its goes beyond the stereotypes of typical cops and robbers. Takers is a fair movie.

B-

PIRANHA 3D

Piranha 3D stars Elisabeth Shue, Jerry O'Connell, Ving Rhames, Christopher Lloyd and Steven R. McQueen. Directed by Alexandre Aja. Rated R with a running time of 1 hr. and 29 mins.

Every year the population of sleepy Lake Victoria explodes from 5,000 to 50,000 for Spring Break, a riot of sun and drunken fun. But this year there's something more to worry about than hangovers and complaints from local old timers. A new type of terror is about to be cut loose on Lake Victoria. After a sudden underwater tremor sets free scores of the prehistoric man-eating fish, an unlikely group of strangers must band together to stop themselves from becoming fish food for the area's new razor toothed residents.

Piranha 3D is fun at times but for the most part is just another lame horror movie with an even lamer 3D twist. One thing that really pissed me off about this movie is that when people were getting attacked in the water by these fish you couldn't really see what was going on. It all just looked blurry and very fast cuts into the water then out of the water. Of course it looked even worse in 3D. The main concept of the film is fun though. Watching shitty actors like Jerry O'Connell becoming fish food was funny. The cast was nothing special although I thought Ving Rhames was perfectly casted but he should have been in it more. Once again 3D adds nothing special to the movie so if you can save your money and if you really want to see it then just see it in 2D. The ending of the movie felt tacked on just in case they wanted to make a sequel and Guess What!?!? It was just announced today that Dimension studios is working on a sequel! Well I say to make it better have better clear cut visuals, more blood, no Jerry O'Connell because he just comes off as super annoying, and bring back VING RHAMES!

Overall Piranha 3D was entertaining but I think that the 3D waters down the movie and makes it look bad at times. Also I thought the ending was pretty anti-climactic. Disappointing.

C-

SCOTT PILGRIM VS. THE WORLD

Scott Pilgrim Vs. the World stars Michael Cera, Mary Elizabeth Winstead, Kieran Culkin, Jason Schwartzman, Anna Kendrick and Ellen Wong. Directed by Edgar Wright. Rated PG-13 with a running time of 1 hr. and 53 mins.

Scott Pilgrim has never had a problem getting a girlfriend. It's getting rid of them that proves difficult. From the girl who kicked his heart's ass and now is back in town to the teenage distraction he's trying to shake when Ramona rollerblades into his world, love hasn't been easy. He soon discovers, however, his new crush has the most unusual baggage of all: a nefarious league of exes controls her love life and will do whatever it takes to eliminate him as a suitor. As Scott gets closer to Ramona, he must face an increasingly vicious rogues' gallery from her past from infamous skateboarders to vegan rock stars and fearsomely identical twins. And if he hopes to win his true love, he must vanquish them all before it really is game over.

Scott Pilgrim has a silly but intriguing premise. He must defeat his new love interest's 7 ex-boyfriends if he wishes to date her. After having seeing the movie I now realize Im simply just not interested in this story. Im not saying this is a bad movie but I just didn't care about it. I often found myself bored during the movie except when there was the cool stylized fighting going on. Those fight scenes were very cool, colorful and just fun to watch. But for the rest of the movie I just didn't care for Scott Pilgrim. To me he wasn't a very interesting character and I just saw Michael Cera doing the same role in all of his other movies but this one not being very funny. The rest of the supporting cast was fine but no one really stood out except for Chris Evans who plays one of the evil exes. He was very over the top and it was very funny. This role just adds to the excitement for him playing Captain America next summer.

As for Edgar Wright I do think he is talented and I hope his next film will be something I will be more interested in because he shows great potential to me. Again Im not saying this is a bad movie but it was something I was just not interested in and didn't really get. It does have great visuals though and some cool fight scenes. Its just not enough for me to recommend this film. I found Scott Pilgrim Vs. the World a mediocre movie.

C

THE EXPENDABLES

The Expendables stars Sylvester Stallone, Jason Statham, Jet Li, Randy Couture, Dolph Lundgren, Eric Roberts, "Stone Cold" Steve Austin, Mickey Rourke, Terry Crews and brief but memorable appearances by Bruce Willis and yessss Arnold Schwarzenegger. Directed by Sly Stallone himself. Rated R with a running time of 1 hr. and 43 mins.

Barney Ross (Sylvester Stallone) is a man with nothing to lose. Fearless and void of emotion, he is the leader, the sage and the strategist of this tight-knit band of men who live on the fringe. His only attachment is to his pickup truck, his seaplane and his team of loyal modern-day warriors. The team behind him is made up of Lee Christmas (Jason Statham), former SAS and a savant with anything that has a blade; Yin Yang (Jet Li) a master at close-quarter combat; Hale Caesar (Terry Crews), who has known Barney for ten years and is a long-barrel weapons specialist; Toll Road (Randy Couture), a skilled demolitions expert and considered the intellect of the group; and Gunnar Jensen (Dolph Lundgren), a combat veteran and an expert in precision sniping who struggles with his own demons. When the mysterious Church offers Barney a job no one else would take, Barney and his team embark on what appears to be a routine mission: overthrow General Gaza (David Zayas), the murderous dictator of the small island country of Vilena and end the years of death and destruction inflicted on its people. On a reconnaissance mission to Vilena, Barney and Christmas meet their contact Sandra (Giselle Itie), a local freedom-fighter with a dark secret. They also come to learn who their true enemy is: rogue ex-CIA operative James Monroe (Eric Roberts) and his henchman Paine (Steve Austin). When things go terribly wrong, Barney and Christmas are forced to leave Sandra behind, essentially giving her a death sentence. Haunted by this failure, Barney convinces the team to return to Vilena to rescue the hostage and finish the job he started. And to perhaps save a soul: his own.

WOW. The Expendables is one of the greatest action movies I have ever seen. Its only fitting that it comes from Sylvester Stallone who is one of action's greatest stars. Here he gathers up a few of the biggest action stars from the past and present. They are basically a team of mercenaries who go from job to job taking down the bad guys. One of the best parts of this movie is that everyone is given a chance to shine and kick some ass. Of course there are some amazing shooting sequences but there are also some great hand to hand fight scenes, especially the one between Steve Austin and Stallone. The great thing about this movie is that you are entertained non-stop and really in to the action. This movie is very bloody and thats what a great action movie is supposed to be like. I hate it when there is lots of killing in PG-13 action movies but you do not see an ounce of blood. That is just not realistic and in a way it ruins the movie. So don't worry The Expendables has plenty of blood.

Stallone has created a great action movie with a great cast. Oh and there is also that little scene with Bruce Willis and The governator Arnold Schwarzenegger. Its not a long scene but it is very funny and just seems to add to the movie in a fun and awesome way. Who knows there could be an Expendables 2 with Schwarzenegger having a bigger part. Now thats how Stallone could top this movie. But that would still be very hard because The Expendables is just so damn good! Great action, great fighting. Just great fun. One of the funniest scenes and bloodiest is when Terry Crewe's character comes barreling down a hall way blowing heads and body parts off men with his giant gun/bazooka looking thing. Believe me its awesome. Mickey Rourke is also good as the man who gets the Expendables their jobs and he also owns the bar where the guys like to hang out. I believe its impossible to come away from this movie and not to enjoy it. ITS THAT GOOD!

A

THE OTHER GUYS

The Other Guys stars Will Ferrell, Mark Wahlberg, Michael Keaton, Steve Coogan, Eva Mendes and brief appearances by Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson and Samuel L. Jackson. Directed by Adam McKay. Rated PG-13 with a running time of 1 hr. and 47 mins.

Detective Allen Gamble (Will Ferrell), is a forensic accountant who's more interested in paperwork than hitting the streets, and Detective Terry Hoitz (Mark Wahlberg), has been stuck with Allen as his partner ever since an embarrassing public incident with his quick trigger finger. When an opportunity arises for the Other Guys to step up, things don't quite go as planned.

The Other Guys is a hit and miss for me. This film lets Will Ferrell shine and he still proves that he is a great comic actor and one of my favorites. Some people criticize Ferrell for playing the same role over and over again. Well you know what I hope he keeps playing the same type of role over and over again because he is so damn good at it I can never get enough!! No one really wants to see him in a drama and I think he knows that. So I hope he keeps on making these sports comedies, action comedies etc. and Im still hoping for a sequel to Anchorman because to me that is his best character and it was a great comedy.

Now the rest of the movie was pretty much a miss for me. I love me some funny-buddy-cop-comedy movies but The Other Guys is just not a very good one. I think the whole financial plot line was very boring and it was kind of hard to follow. As for Mark Wahlberg I think he was funny at times but not nearly as hilarious as Ferrell. Im not saying that Wahlberg isn't funny its just that hopefully whenever he does another comedy he will be written more funny stuff to do. Although his mishap in the film involving Derek Jeter was pretty funny. I also did enjoy Michael Keaton as the captain its just to bad that he wasn't in the movie for. I thought that his character having a 2nd job at Bed Bath and Beyond was hilarious. Dwayne Johnson and Sam Jackson were wasted in roles that were very minor to the story. Eva Mendes was great to look at but she isn't in the movie very much either.

Will Ferrell is the reason why this movie is funny. The director Adam McKay seemed to have spent a lot of money on the big explosions but he didn't really give much of the rest of the cast a lot of laughs. You have to have lots of laughs in a comedy especially with the weak financial story that never really worked for me. The Other Guys wasn't a bad movie but it isn't a very good one either. Ferrell is the reason you should go see this movie.

B-

DINNER FOR SCHMUCKS

Dinner for Schmucks stars Steve Carell, Paul Rudd, Zach Galifianakis, Bruce Greenwood and Jemaine Clement. Directed by Jay Roach. Rated PG-13 with a running time of 1 hr. and 50 mins.

Dinner for Schmucks tells the story of Tim (Rudd), a guy on the verge of having it all. The only thing standing between him and total career success is finding the perfect guest to bring to his boss' annual Dinner for Extraordinary People, an event where the winner of the evening brings the most eccentric character as his guest. Enter Barry (Carell), a guy with a passion for dressing mice up in tiny outfits to recreate great works of art. What ensues is a forming of a crazy friendship and one hell of a dinner.

Dinner for Schmucks made me realize something; Steve Carell is a great comedic actor. I always knew he was funny since seeing him in Anchorman and The 40 Year Old Virgin and of course as the hilarious boss on the Office. But since seeing this movie it just made me see Carell in a new even funnier way. He really makes this movie work and it is a more than average comedy. Its kind of heart warming how Carell's character thinks that the people invited to the dinner are normal and he thinks they are very talented people and you know what they are! It basically says that the people inviting the said schmucks are the real schmucks. I really liked that aspect of the film and thats what Rudd's character learns in the movie. Rudd and Carell make a good comedy team even though Rudd is mostly the straight man in the film. Zach Galifanakis has true comic timing and he is becoming a giant comedy star and he deserves it. His character Thurman is absolutely hilarious as a IRS agent who believes he can control others brains. He just brings extra laughs to the movie. The dinner is the finale of the movie and thats where we meet the other schmucks and of course it is very funny.

Dinner for Schmucks can be a little predictable at times but its constantly throwing jokes at your face and for me most of the time it worked. You also learn a little about Barry's past and which is sweet and kind of sad. While not the funniest movie I have ever seen, Dinner for Schmucks is a mermorable one.

B+