Captain America is a swift and engaging summer blockbuster. The patriotic superhero gets a serious upgrade in this old-fashioned matinee style flick. Well-cast, acted, and directed, Captain America should please both die-hard fanboys and newcomers. Chris Evans dials the smarm way back and makes for an engaging Steve Rogers and Captain America. The CGI trickery is well used to create a Steve Rogers who is a small and very thin, but brave young man growing up on the mean streets of Brooklyn. The movie was directed by Joe Johnston, who made the underrated gem The Rocketeer back in 1991. That movie …

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Larry Crowne is a pleasant summer surprise, and one of the most underrated movies of the year so far. Here’s a movie that feels authentic, starring two very popular actors, and lacking the smarmy sarcasm of hipster indies and the explosions of big budget summer blockbusters. In short, it would have probably been better received if it was released during a different part of the year. In a summer movie season full of 3-D, wizards, and homoerotic giant robot action, it’s a tough fit. Larry Crowne is exceedingly well-acted and written and even better, it speaks to the times we currently …

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Horrible Bosses had a great opening weekend at the box office for an R-rated comedy and its easy to see why. It’s a raunchy, crude, but very funny ride. The premise seems to also appeal to a large number of the viewing public who are fed up with their job, their boss, or both. Horrible Bosses has a good cast and an easy to follow plot. The cast is uniformly good but the two standouts are Charlie Day and Colin Farrell. Farrell in particular brings a nasty zeal to his crude role as a paranoid cokehead boss. Almost impossible to recognize …

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After Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen made a ton of money but was poorly received, Michael Bay and the crew promised to make this Transformers less jokey and more serious and darker in tone. He’s mostly succeeded. Transformers: Dark of the Moon is not as idiotic in places and the action scenes and effects are amazing. Sure, the movie is punishingly overlong at 157 minutes, but its mostly a fun ride.

The plot of Transformers has to do with a spacecraft hidden on the Moon with secrets that the Autobots must discover before the Decepticons. The moon prologue is very cool, …

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Pitbull has been on every other hit pop single these days and now he has his own disc in stores. Planet Pit is an infectious, party CD with a lot of catchy songs and future singles. It’s packed with current and future hits. “Mr Worldwide” isn’t the most impressive rapper, but he surrounds himself with a bevy of excellent producers and guest stars. The producers include RedOne (Lady Gaga), Max Martin and Dr Luke, Afrojack, and David Guetta. This is a perfect party CD. “Give Me Everything” is a terrific party starter with NeYo along with the single “Hey Baby”, they …

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Green Lantern is an intergalactic mess. A lame dud from start to finish. The opening 15 minutes or so have such incoherent and labored narration that they will turn off even fanboys, and put everyone else in the audience in a comatose state. The almost 200 million dollar flick is nowhere near as good as The Dark Knight or X Men: First Class and it makes Thor look like a charming underplayed masterpiece. The acting isn’t very good (Reynolds smirks in a sort of Top Gun-lite performance) and the effects are overblown and noisy. The pacing is also particularly bad. The …

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The newest porn parody from Vivid and Axel Braun wrapped its filming over the weekend, Star Wars XXX.  Braun said he’s had fun shooting the movie but wanted to pay an homage to one of the most beloved sci fi franchise in the world.  I caught up with the cast and crew recently and went behind the scenes for the most expensive adult film ever produced.  As I got there, they were filming on the third floor of the building.  Lot of green screens and a bunch of imperial officers pointing at it.  Next were Stormtroopers with busty armors and showing …

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Just Go With It (what a terrible title) is the latest from the Adam Sandler hit factory, assembled by committee and lacking a heart or pulse. Just Go With It wastes a decent cast (including Jennifer Aniston) and an OK premise as it drowns in too-few laughs and mean-spirited gags at the expense of the movie’s heavy or non-White characters. There’s a meanness to the movie and the fact that Sandler’s character is such an annoying sexist that the comedy elements are hard to enjoy, such as they are.

Just Go With It is about a doctor named Danny (played by …

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Surf’s really up in the latest documentary from current surf documentary icon Dana Brown. The Brown family has had a long history making some of the best surfing docs ever made. Dana’s father directed The Endless Summer, the famous surfing doc that helped propel surfing in the national spotlight. Dana continues this tradition with the visually stunning, propulsive doc Highwater. A thrilling and intriguing look at the current state of the sport. It appears business is good (really good) for surfing and the doc captures thrilling footage at the mecca of surfing, the North Shore of Oahu, where the top ranked …

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X-Men: First Class lives up to its title and is first rate in every way. A massive improvement over X3 and the Wolverine solo movie, First Class is a big step back in the right direction. Helmed by smart British director Matthew Vaughn, First Class earns all passing grades. Vaughn directed Layer Cake (a low-budget British crime flick) but really impressed me with Stardust, the underrated fantasy classic. Stardust is the best film of its kind in eons and X-Men: First Class is the best comic book movie since The Dark Knight. The movie may be entitled “first class”, but its …

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