Reviews

Toy Story 3 is quintessential Pixar and this sequel honors the series. Like most Pixar movies, Toy Story 3 has appeal to both kids and adults alike. Fans of the series will appreciate getting to see Andy grow up and head off to college, and with all the usual antics and joking young kids will still love it (though the action could be a little intense for some children).

You probably know what to expect with Toy Story 3 and you won't be disappointed.

Metropia is an animated movie made by digitally altering photographs and stitching them together in After Effects. It's set in a dystopian future where the metro systems of all of western Europe have been united. In many ways the story feels like A Scanner Darkly, but has less depth to it. The characters are a bit hard to get to know and the corporate overlords are simple and tired stereotypes.

Overall, the movie is unimpressive. The animation style is imaginative and the voice acting is good, but the story is boring and leaves a lot to be desired.

The Expendables was exactly what it sold itself to be. A very standard action movie with a number of cameos from the greatest action movie stars of all time. It was loud, over the top, and at times ridiculous - exactly as it should be. I liked this movie, but you'll only like it if you love movies lots of gunfire and explosions. So if you're an action movie fan and it comes around, you should make time for The Expendables.

Flipped is a teenage love story that follows two neighbors as they grow up. While I didn't have any specific complaints with the movie, it was just completely forgettable. I found none of the main characters that interesting, none of the back stories either interesting or developed, and a complete lack of anything to make the movie memorable.

I'd skip this one if I were you, since you'll forget the movie in a day or two anyway.

There have been a few recent romantic comedies that take a unique, almost sci-fi premise to make a low budget romantic comedy. Wristcutters falls into this category and does it pretty well (another one is TiMER, which was also quirky and fun). Set in a purgatory reserved especially for suicides, it's a romantic comedy that takes a fun look at the afterlife.

Available on Netflix watch instantly, this one is worth the time if you're looking for something quirky.

That Meridith liked this movie is a good indicator that hell has frozen over. She hates almost every movie she sees so the fact that she liked this one speaks volumes. She's not alone in her opinion of the movie either.

Dreamworks had seemed to have hit a bit of a dry spell since Shrek in which I just haven't been impressed. How to Train Your Dragon ended that spell for me. It was a wonderful and heartwarming story. The voice acting was very good and the animation, especially of the star dragon, was wonderful. I think they managed to do with Toothless what Pixar did with Wall-E's expressions.

This is obviously a great movie for kids, but almost any adult will enjoy it too. If you're looking for something light-hearted and fun, it's definitely worth checking out.

The Hunger Games is a trilogy of books written by Suzanne Collins and oriented towards young adults. The whole trilogy is very readable and very engaging. The story follows Katniss Everdeen, a teenager living far in the future in a post-global warming world. The former United States has become a group of twelve districts controlled by the authoritarian Capitol. The Capitol, in a show of their control, forces each of districts to offer up two "tributes" each year. The tributes are children who are forced to compete in a battle to the death where the victor's district is awarded with extra food rations for the coming year.

The premise is very interesting and helped along because everything from the situation to the characters are very believable. At times, the lead character is very angsty, but never annoying. The other characters are likewise fascinating and believable and it's easy to find yourself cheering for them.

My only complaint with the books is that at times the story is very predictable. While you might not be able to guess the specifics, the plot arc isn't at all surprising; with the exception of the very end, you can probably guess how the whole series will conclude after the first chapter of the first book. The other slightly odd thing is the level of thought that goes in to the various methods that the Capitol tries to use to kill people. In many ways it feels like the author was also responsible for Saw or The Cube series of movies with her sometimes sadistic and graphic means of murder.

Despite the minor nit-picks, The Hunger Games is a wonderful series and I read the entire three books in little more than a weekend. If you're looking for a fun and thought-provoking read, put this one on your list.

This series of novels written by the late Stieg Larsson were originally written in Swedish and translated into English. They follow two main characters: Mikael Blomkvist, a journalist who investigates various corporate scandals; and Lisbeth Salandar, a troubled young genius. The books are masterfully written and the translation is completely seamless. They are an easy read and you'll have a hard time putting the book down.

The first book is, in my opinion, the best and most captivating and since it doesn't end on a cliffhanger, you could finish reading there if it didn't grab your interest. The second and third books shouldn't really be considered separate books at all as there is no real transition between them any more significant than a chapter transition. The following books are equally good reads, but the story is a little more drawn out and Larsson takes a little while longer to get to the point.

All-in-all, the Millenium trilogy is one of the best series that I have read in years (especially in the crime thriller genre) and I strongly recommend it to anyone looking for their next book.

It's official, Gus Van Sant is one of my favorite directors.

(I lost the rest of this review in the import and don't remember enough about the movie now to fill it in. Apparently I liked it, but I'm sorry that I can't tell you more about why.)

Wall Street is a great look at the underworld of the big shots in the financial world. The acting is excellent. The characters are very real and believable. The story is great and it's masterfully directed. You definitely shouldn't miss this one.