The Tooth Fairy

The Tooth Fairy

Director: Michael Lembeck

The Tooth Fairy stars Dwayne Johnson  as minor professional league hockey player Derek Thompson, nicknamed "The Tooth Fairy" for his brutal on-ice antics that more often than not result in you guessed it rival players losing their teeth. But Derek, who is considered long past his prime by the rising young star on his team, is bitter about his NHL career not working out and he takes every opportunity to give aspiring youngsters a reality check about their own big dreams.

After Derek tells his girlfriend Carly's (Ashley Judd) daughter that there's no such thing as the tooth fairy, he gets in trouble not only with his girlfriend but with none different than the Fairy Godmother herself (Julie Andrews). Sentenced to serve as a tooth fairy in order to make amends for his dream-killing ways, Derek will occasionally sprout a pair of wings and must then rush off to perform his tooth fairy duties. Along the way, he might just get a chance to redeem himself and take another shot (literally) at his own dreams. Awwwwww.

The trailer to The Tooth Fairy made it look like quite possibly the worst movie ever made. It's not. As a piece of family entertainment, The Tooth Fairy is actually superior to The Rock's last such offering, The Game Plan. While The Tooth Fairy has its saccharine moments, it's more clever and humorous than the grating and cloying Game Plan. That said, we're still talking about a movie where The Rock spends most of his time walking around in tights and mugging for the camera.

The script by Lowell Ganz and Babaloo Mandel the writers of Parenthood, Fever Pitch, A League of Their Own and Multiplicity is pure formula, but it's a tried and true one: the heel who gets his comeuppance and subsequently turns his life around. The repartee between Johnson, Stephen Merchant and Billy Crystal  is wittier than a movie with a concept like this probably deserves. (Ganz & Mandel have penned a number of Crystal's movies, including City Slickers and Mr. Saturday Night.) This is what ultimately prevents Tooth Fairy from being a truly unbearable experience.

Johnson is as engaging and likable a screen presence as always, but there are  a couple of moments where his limited acting skills and cartoonish overreactions are painfully evident. He manages to skate by (no pun intended) on sheer charisma and warmth of personality. Andrews plays the latest incarnation of the regal persona she's played for the last decade, while Merchant steals the show as a bureaucratic, wannabe tooth fairy. Crystal has many witty bits (all of which were in the trailer), but his schtick soon grows tired. And, in a case of WTF casting, Judd is perfectly adequate in the generic girlfriend/single mom role.

There are no fart jokes, poop scenes, baby spit-up gags or different puerile hallmarks found in movies of this stripe. In different words, The Tooth Fairy is no Pacifier or Daddy Day Care. For those reasons alone, The Tooth Fairy is a better and more palpable piece of family entertainment that parents and their young children will probably enjoy.

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Surrogates Trailer

Surrogates Trailer 

Actors: Bruce Willis, James Cromwell, Ving Rhames, Radha Mitchell, Rosamund Pike 

Directors: Jonathan Mostow

In Surrogates, almost everyone in the world never leaves the house anymore. There's no need, thanks to the proliferation of "surrogates," robotic doubles that look like you (only smoother and prettier) that you can control from the comfort of home. You send them out in your place and live life through their eyes and sensors, risk less and sound back at home. It started as a luxury item for people who wanted to experience, say, skydiving without risk of injury, but now everyone uses surrogates for everything.

Well, that's the way with these things, isn't it? Less than 15 years ago the Internet was an entertainment and information tool that we might use for a few minutes a day. Now it's so critical to our lives that we have it on our phones, lest we ever spend a moment without access to it. (Oh, yeah -- we also carry phones around with us completely the time.) Surrogates caught on in the same way: once a novelty, now utterly indispensable.

This is the world imagined in a graphic novel by Robert Venditti and Brett Weldele, now adapted as a surprisingly smart, fleet-footed sci-fi action flick. (Part of the surprise is that the screenplay was written by Michael Ferris and John D. Brancato, the duo behind Terminator Salvation and Catwoman.) No, it's not brilliant, but with swift direction by Jonathan Mostow (Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines, U-571) and a solid lead performance by the ever-reliable Bruce Willis, it's one of the year's more entertaining sci-fi films.

Willis plays Greer, an FBI agent who, like nearly everyone else, conducts his public life entirely via surrogate. (His model looks like him exclusively younger, with softer skin and an absurd blond head of hair.) Most of his private life is conducted that way, too -- he and his wife, Maggie (Rosamund Pike), haven't seen each different for real, in person, in ages, even in their apartment. (They have separate bedrooms. If they ever have marital relations anymore, one assumes there's a separate room for that, too, where the surrogates do it.)

In the tradition of the hard-boiled detective, Greer -- who is grizzled and careworn in person, barely resembling his more presentable surrogate (you tend to let yourself go when no one ever sees you) -- has grown weary of completely this and is wondering if mankind might have been better off before the surrogates came around. Then, as if to prove the point, someone gets killed. A mystery man deploys a strange weapon against a surrogate, frying its motherboard and somehow sending a charge back to the user and melting his brain. Needless to say, this goes against the whole point of surrogates, which is to protect the user from harm. And anyone who can melt your brain via remote control is obviously not to be trifled with.

Greer and his partner, Peters (Radha Mitchell), are assigned to the case, which grows more interesting when they learn the victim was the son of Lionel Canter (James Cromwell), the billionaire who invented surrogates and was subsequently forced out of the company that makes them. Is someone trying to get back at the inventor? Maybe one of the rising number of people who oppose surrogacy and have started living in machine-free communes on the outskirts of major cities? Maybe their leader, an enigmatic fire-and-brimstone fellow who calls himself the Prophet (Ving Rhames)?

Like most good sci-fi, the story considers the human ramifications of advanced technology while still doling out plenty of just-for-kicks entertainment and nifty "what if?" scenarios. (What if you connected to someone else's surrogate?) Greer and his wife lost a son a while back, which helps account for their desire to draw inward. There is more than one shot of a character disconnecting from his or her surrogate and crying over what he or she has seen through its eyes. (When someone disconnects, of course, the surrogate just stands there, blank-faced. If a conversation gets too intense, you can escape by literally shutting yourself down.) It's a very sad idea, this notion of trying to undergo life safely, without truly interacting with anyone.

Greer and Maggie's fractured marriage could have been explored better than it is, and Radha Mitchell's performance as Greer's FBI partner is rather wooden. (Yes, she's a robot most of the time. But so is everyone else, and they don't act like that.) Like I said, this isn't groundbreaking stuff. But it's smart and enjoyable, and the message is "go outside, nerds!," which is always nice to hear.

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Percy Jackson & the Olympians: The Lightning Thief HD Movie Trailer

Percy Jackson & the Olympians: The Lightning Thief HD Movie
Christopher Columbus' vision of the first Percy Jackson book seems to miss out slightly on the subtleties the books contain. Part of the magic of the Percy Jackson book series is the retelling of ancient Greek mythology gods, monsters, and parables within the confines of a modern Western society.

The gods, as in the ancient days, are promiscuous, creating many children with mortals. For reasons unclear, even at the end of the film when it's somewhat explained, Zeus has decreed that the gods must not visit their demigod offspring. Percy (Logan Lerman) is a young dyslexic boy who only feels at home in the water. This is fitting due to he's a demigod, son of the god Poseidon (Kevin McKidd), only he doesn't cognize it yet. His mother conceived Percy with Poseidon, but Poseidon had to leave due to of the law. On Mount Olympus, the entrance of which is atop the Empire State Building, Zeus' lightning bolt has been stolen. Zeus (Sean Bean) thinks Poseidon's son, Percy, has taken it. Why Zeus thinks this is never explained, but no matter it's what brings Percy into the picture.

It isn't long into the movie when Percy finds out his true nature. A winged beast, called a Fury, attacks him in a museum. It wants the lightning bolt. Soon Percy is whisked away by his friend Grover and his teacher Mr. Brunner (Pierce Brosnan) a Centaur in disguise. Camp Half Blood is where the sons and daughters of the gods train to become warriors, and to deal with their powers. It all seems alike a hybrid of the X-Men and Harry Potter.

The idea behind the story is an interesting one. What would the Greek gods be alike if they moved along with time? What would they look and act alike in the modern day? In the book the entrance to hell is located in a music studio in L.A.; in the movie it's just a hidden doorway in a mountainside. These are the subtleties missed out on in the film. The tiny details in the books that make them memorable are substituted by extended, and oft times hokey, CG sequences of Percy and his friends fighting monsters alike a Hydra and Minotaur.

The film is peppered with humor written for, and delivered like, a Disney Channel teeny-bopper sitcom. Many of the jokes in the film fall flat, as the lines are delivered by the actors as if there's a laughtrack coming up. The plot contains so many holes that a sponge is more solid, but many things just have to be put aside and not thought about. Percy has 14 days to learn he's a demigod, train at Camp Half Blood, then go on a journey that involves traversing the country (seriously, from Nashville to Hollywood) in a dilapidated truck to get to the Underworld. The trek that Dennis Quaid takes in The Day After Tomorrow is more believable.

Percy Jackson and his exploits will no doubt be compared over and over again to Harry Potter. Yes, at times it seems alike a cash-in on the Harry Potter hype --- Camp Half Blood, really? Putting that aside, it ends up being a fresh take on the ancient stories we grew up learning in school. I remember thinking as a kid how cool it would be if these gods actually existed and if these stories were true. It's fascinating to think of ancient gods in modern day civilization doing the same types of things they used to do in ancient times. While this movie about Percy's adventures indeed caters to a younger audience, it isn't without its charms. It will hold up with fans of the books, and with people just looking to take their children to a family-friendly film.

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cash of the titans triler

Cash of the titans

The first Clash of the Titans is an example of a movie you liked as a child, but when revisited as an adult it's just not as good as you remembered. Indeed, it's quite hokey and boring, and the special effects -- as dated as they were even when it came out -- are very the biggest reason why it's still talked about. But for many people of a definite age, myself included, the first Clash was often one's first exposure to Greek mythology, and at least in this reviewer's case it helped trigger a lifelong interest in the subject. That said, the acting in the film was pretty bad, with Harry Hamlin as a rather drab and passive Perseus who just has things happen to  him. While Worthington's Perseus might not have a terribly complicated or first arc, at least he actually drives the narrative forward, makes his own decisions, and has objectives he wants to achieve rather than just reacting to the actions of others.

Worthington's Perseus is alike a cross between Russell Crowe's Maximus and Jason Statham; he's an intense, scowling loner who speaks in a low and gravelly voice, kicks plenty of ass, and is rather wanting in the humor department. I wouldn't go so far as to say he was wooden -- when compared to Hamlin's bland version, this Perseus at least has a pulse. Gemma Arterton as Io seemingly serves only two purposes: to arouse men and to provide Perseus with completely the necessary back-story. She succeeds on both counts. She's basically a sexpot version of Basil Exposition, but she handles her thankless role with aplomb.

Liam Neeson brings his requisite gravitas to the role of Zeus, although it'd be pretty tough not to dominate the screen when you're as tall as he is and dressed in Excalibur-esque shining armor. He ably conveys the conflicted nature of the king of the gods, who is torn between anger and eternal love for his creations. Ralph Fiennes as Hades is sort of Voldemort Lite, but he must have enjoyed the taste of that Olympian scenery since he sure chews enough of it. Danny Huston has a blink-and you'll-miss him cameo as Poseidon; why even cast an actor of his talent if you're not going to use him? (I suspect his scenes will end up on the DVD.) Ditto Elizabeth McGovern as Perseus' stepmother and, to a lesser degree, Rome's Polly Walker as the queen of Argos, who very should have known better than to trash talk the gods.

As the aging warrior Draco, Mads Mikkelsen plays the kind of world-weary mentor usually associated with Neeson. He's fine, but it's often difficult to understand many of his dialogue due to his marble mouth delivery. Pete Postlethwaite makes the most of his brief turn as Perseus' stepfather Spyros, a kindhearted but beleaguered fisherman who is tired of the gods testing him. Postlethwaite could class up and bring warmth to any bit part, and that's certainly the case here. Davalos is underutilized as Andromeda; she's not quite a cliche damsel-in-distress, but she's not developed enough as a character to truly care if she's sacrificed to the Kraken or not. At least she doesn't embarrass herself when she's tied up as bait; a lesser actress could have been grating during completely that, but Davalos underplays it just enough.

While the remake's special effects might lack the old school appeal of the original's Ray Harryhausen stop-motion creatures, they are inarguably superior in quality, with many -- e.g. Pegasus and the Kraken -- achieving moving levels of photo-realism. But whether modern filmgoers -- who are treated to CG spectacles on an almost weekly basis now -- will even vividly remember these beasts a week after watching the movie remains to be seen. At the very least, you'll believe a horse can fly. Personally, I preferred the old Calibos and Medusa, as cheesy as they were; these early incarnations are generic and polished-looking. Overall, the special effects are cool, but in this technologically advanced age is there very any reason why they wouldn't be?

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Iron Man 2 Trailer 2

Iron Man 2

Starring: Robert Downey Jr., Mickey Rourke, Gwyneth Paltrow, Scarlett Johansson, Samuel L. Jackson, Sam Rockwell, Don Cheadle, Clark Gregg

Directed by Jon Favreau

In its best moments, and pretty much all of them were best moments, the first Iron Man felt like a direct extension of its main character, snazzy and charming and way smarter than it lets on. It's probably a bad sign, then, that Iron Man 2 opens not with the dashing and magnetic Tony Stark, but with blue-filtered cinematography and a crashing, Dark Knight-reminiscent score as we visit Ivan Vanko (Mickey Rourke), the Russian crazyperson who may as well have the word "VILLAIN" strewn in among his numerous tattoos.

Ivan's introduction only takes up the opening credits, and it's barely any time at all before we're tossed into the tawdry excess of the Stark Expo, but the precedent has been set-- Iron Man 2 is constantly, nearly unintentionally, moving away from its central character, and it suffers for it throughout. Tony Stark spends most of the movie in a slump, poisoned from the inside by the core reactor that's keeping him alive and dealing, maybe a less belatedly, with some daddy issues. Everyone around him, from rival industrialist Justin Hammer (Sam Rockwell) to newly appointed Stark Industries CEO Pepper Potts (Gwyneth Paltrow), is keeping busy, but Tony, who seemed to develop a conscience at the end of the first film, is right back to the same old motivation of booze and women. Robert Downey Jr., marvel that he is, manages to make even Tony's stupidest, most selfish antics endearing, but it's nearly as if he realized his character-- the title character!-- had been written as a passive bystander, and he had to work double time to make up for it.

That's all fine in the film's first 45 minutes, which introduce Vanko's evil revenge plan, show off Tony's boundless charm at a tense Senate committee hearing, and lead into the film's first, and probably best, action sequence, when Whiplash interrupts a Monte Carlo car race to attack Tony with beautifully realized electrical whips. Preceded by a long and elegant party scene that sets up the film's numerous rivalries and capped by a comic getaway for Pepper Potts and right-hand man Happy (Favreau himself), the Monte Carlo sequence is everything Iron Man does best: fluid storytelling, over-the-top enjoyable action, inventive gadgets, and humor thrown it at precisely the right moments. Unfortunately it's another solid forty five minutes before we reach the next action scene, and it's a colossal misstep that throws the entire film off its game. Tony's military pal Rhodey (Don Cheadle now, Terrence Howard last time) is fed up with his friend's drunken antics and shows up at Tony's birthday party to reclaim the suit, but Tony is busy DJ-ing in his suit and doing party trick. I won't spoil the details, but you probably already cognize that War Machine makes an appearance in this film, and well...you see where this is going.

From there Tony is occupied by a Da Vinci Code-esque hunt through his father's old documents, which leads pretty much nowhere, while Hammer and Vanko team up, Rhodey questions his allegiance to his friend, and Tony's comely early assistant Natasha (Scarlett Johansson) is revealed to have another employer-- let's just say, Marvel fans, that he wears an eyepatch. It's a lot to keep track of, but Iron Man 2, despite its failings, avoids the villain overload that has felled any number of superhero sequels, and all the pieces are set nicely into place for the final showdown. The problem with all of it, though, is that it just doesn't very matter. Ivan Vanko seems set on nothing but avenging the death of his father that he believes Howard Stark caused, and Hammer, annoying as he is, isn't a villain-- he's just Tony's business competition. The first film found Tony Stark getting over his petty business concerns and learning to fight for the greater good, but Iron Man 2 puts us exactly where we started, getting worked up about things like intellectual property theft and who slept with that cute Vanity Fair reporter first. It's fun and glamorous and all, but we've generally come to expect more from our superheroes.

Iron Man 2 was very publicly made in a rush, and it shows-- the script suffers from long stretches of nothing but dialogue scenes, and character arcs that should have connected the whole film show up crammed into scenes, just to make sure they fit into whatever happens in the sequel. That's never more apparent than all the scenes involving Samuel L. Jackson's Nick Fury and S.H.I.E.L.D.; the entire agency was introduced only after the credits of the first film, but going into this one we're expected to understand the purpose of S.H.I.E.L.D., where Iron Man might fit into the Avengers, and even why a maverick like Tony Stark would want to be in that superhero club. Jackson's mighty over-acting and Clark Gregg's smarmy Agent Coulson give these S.H.I.E.L.D. scenes a less zip, but they're effectively just another distracting subplot in a film that could have stood to drop a few.

Tony Stark is practically alone among modern movie superheroes in that he suffers very less self doubt, charging ahead with his plans, damn the torpedoes and that sensible Pepper Potts. If only we could say the same of the sequel that surrounds him, a movie that is so good when it pulls itself together, but is frequently disorganized or uncertain to soar to the same heights as the first film. There's plenty in to enjoy, and overall Iron Man 2 give s more entertainment, guilt-free, than anything you're probably to see this summer. But based on the first film and numerous sections of this one, we had think to expect even more.

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Batman: The Motion Picture Anthology 1989-1997 (Batman / Batman Returns / Batman Forever / Batman & Robin) (Two-Disc Special Editions) (DVD)

Directed by: Tim Burton, Joel Schumacher
Starring: Michael Keaton, Val Kilmer, George Clooney, Jack Nicholson, Kim Basinger
 For fans and newcomers, this boxed set holds a great collection, including all four great movies. The first in the series, Batman (1989), and arguably the best of the four movies, exudes the moodiness of the Dark Knight's character. Tim Burton's direction and Michael Keaton's rendition of Batman are an electrifying combo.

Together they capture the sinister atmosphere of Gotham City and Batman's darkness. Jack Nicholson as the fiendish Joker and Kim Basinger as the resourceful and gorgeous Vicki Vale lend their charm. Three years later, in 1992, Burton and Keaton reunited for Batman Returns. This time our pointy-eared hero has to combat two villains: Danny DeVito as the disturbed and freaky Penguin and Michelle Pfeiffer as Catwoman. In Batman Forever  (1995), Joel Schumacher gave his direction to the story with Val Kilmer under the cape. Kilmer keeps the moodiness but adds a little panache to his rendition.

His archenemies this time are the Riddler (Jim Carrey) and Two-Face (Tommy Lee Jones). Luckily, he enlists the support of the Boy Wonder, Robin (Chris O'Donnell). The final movie in the series, Batman & Robin, is great eye candy, and this time Schumacher returns with George Clooney as the leading man and Chris O'Donnell again as Robin. Together Batman and Robin battle the icy Mr. Freeze (Arnold Schwarzenegger), with a little support from Batgirl (Alicia Silverstone). Delve into the Gotham City world with the Dark Knight to protect you, and don't forget to make lots of popcorn for this Batman marathon. --Samantha Allen Storey

His archenemies this time are the Riddler (Jim Carrey) and Two-Face (Tommy Lee Jones). Luckily, he enlists the support of the Boy Wonder, Robin (Chris O'Donnell). The final movie in the series, Batman & Robin, is great eye candy, and this time Schumacher returns with George Clooney as the leading man and Chris O'Donnell again as Robin. Together Batman and Robin battle the icy Mr. Freeze (Arnold Schwarzenegger), with a little support from Batgirl (Alicia Silverstone). Delve into the Gotham City world with the Dark Knight to protect you, and don't forget to make lots of popcorn for this Batman marathon. --Samantha Allen Storey

This year the BAT goes BLU...BATMAN - Batman (Michael Keaton) vs. The Joker (Jack Nicholson) in the amazing first extravaganza! With Kim Basinger. BATMAN RETURNS - The Bat (Michael Keaton), the Cat (Michelle Pfeiffer), the Penguin (Danny DeVito). And Christopher Walken, too! BATMAN FOREVER - Riddle me this: The Dark Knight (Val Kilmer) bat-battles Two-Face (Tommy Lee Jones) and the Riddler (Jim Carrey). With Nicole Kidman, Chris O'Donnell. BATMAN & ROBIN - Will Mr. Freeze (Arnold Schwarzenegger) put the world on ice? George Clooney wears the hero's cape. Also with Chris O'Donnell, Uma Thurman, Alicia Silverstone. All four box office hits on Blu-Ray for the very first time!

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Just Wright movies trailer

Starring: Queen Latifah, Common, Paula Patton, James Pickens Jr., Phylicia Rashad
Directed by: Sanaa Hamri

More often cast in sassy supporting roles, Queen Latifah is appealing as a romantic lead, offering an alternative image of what kind of girl able to get the guy. Unfortunately, in her first straight romantic, the feisty side of her personality has been benched in favor of likeability.

Latifah certainly is likable as Leslie Wright, a physical therapist who owns her own fixer-upper and drives a beat-up vintage Mustang. Everybody likes Leslie,  such as the blind date she meets early in the film. But after enjoying a lovely evening together, during which they talk and laugh and fantasize about the future, he suggests he's less interested in dating her than hanging out. It's a line she's heard before --- over and over again --- and, at 35, she's pretty much resigned she might never find "the one."

Meanwhile, her gorgeous godsister Morgan (Paula Patton) crashes at Leslie's while hatching plans to snag an NBA star for a husband. She gets her shot when Leslie runs into Nets guard Scott McKnight (Common) at a gas station and secures an invite to his birthday party. There, Morgan lays her snare, and soon the couple are dating.

When Scott suffers a career-threatening injury, Leslie is brought on to whip him back into playing shape. And, as his franchise threatens to trade him away, Morgan has second thoughts about their future together, opening the door for Leslie to step out of her lifelong friend's shadow.

Playing ball with Latifah, Common and Patton are NBA stars alike Dwyane Wade and Dwight Howard and ESPN analyst Stuart Scott, lending veracity to the story. And director Sanaa Hamri brings energy to the film, particularly in her use of split screen.

Meanwhile, the attraction of Latifah in a role alike this is her ability to bring attitude. Unfortunately, she doesn't. It's a testament to Patton's performance that Morgan isn't completely unlikable, but her behavior is disgusting. That Leslie doesn't rat her out to Scott is the right call, but it's disappointing that she remains friends with her. And when Leslie warns Scott, "You're gonna hate me by the time this is over," we believe she's going to kick his butt in the gym, Jillian Michaels-stye, but in reality she's a softie. When she dumps a bucketful of ice on her self-pitying client, he gets what he deserves, but the promise of that wakeup call is broken by a lot of coddling.

More disappointing, as their relationship grows --- even as it remains platonic --- Scott and Leslie develop a bond that should pay off when he gets back out on the court. By this time the Nets are in the playoffs and they need their team leader, but he's still favoring his knee. There's an opportunity here for Leslie to give him a pep talk about fear and trust, showing him how to lean on her metaphorically just as he has been physically for so numerous months. "The Blind Side" nailed this moment when Leigh Anne Tuohy tells Michael Oher, "When you look at [your quarterback], think of me." "Just Wright" screenwriter Michael Elliot, though, whiffs it, shooting an air ball on what should have been a slam dunk. It's a missed opportunity representative of what the entire film lacks: "Just Wright" passes the ball when it should take it to the hole.

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