Film

Nope, not over there. From the beginning scene of a high-tech animated version of director Morgan Spurlock battling Osama Bin Laden to the ending credits of smiling head-shots set to Elvis Costello's "What's So Funny About Peace Love and Understanding?", this movie pummels humanity down our gullet. The message is poignant, the trip around the Middle East is entertaining, but Spurlock himself is distracting and irritating as the somewhat perplexed interviewer - teaching us nothing really new.
 
Believing the world will be a better place for his yet-to-be-born child, Spurlock sets out to find Bin Laden, or at least shed some light on his whereabouts. He leaves behind his pregnant wife, resulting in some unnecessary interludes of cuteness. Soon he's in the Middle East doing the-man-on-the-street shtick, coming off as a somewhat bewildered news journalist. For the most part, he seems at a loss for words and charisma. His monologue in the rubble of a recently blown-up classroom teeters on sheer ignorance - although entering this dangerous territory may qualify him as the bravest dweeb around. Even with his dopey monologues and annoying laugh, he manages to get a positive message across - that we're all in this together, aren't we?

Talk to the Hand. Nobody wants him
He just stares at the world
Planning his vengeance
that he will soon unfurl
– Iron Man, Black Sabbath
Like the Tin Man, Tony Stark needs a heart - both figuratively and literally. The genius son of a billionaire, who made his money creating weapons of mass destruction, Tony (Robert Downey, Jr., ) possesses a beating heart that pumps real blood - yet he lusts only for women, booze and more money. Only when he loses the function of his anatomical heart, requiring a battery-operated model, does he begin to feel love and loss. This double "change of heart," together with a James Bond-meets-Batman characterization of its superhero, makes Ironman the most stylish, entertaining and imagination-fueling film of the year so far.

Careful, they will suck your eyes out.Baby Mama is like a mini "Saturday Night Live" reunion, including a droll turn by Steve Martin at his best. The comedic lineup also stars former SNL head writer, turned mega star Tina Fey and current cast member Amy Poehler, playing off one another here as a 37-year-old wannabe mom and her foil, the trashy surrogate mother. The stand-in motherhood topic is always a hot one, as evidenced by its recent place on the cover of Newsweek magazine.
 
In the movie, Fey plays Kate, a single, successful businesswoman experiencing a sudden storm of maternal instincts. Since she is unable to conceive naturally, she resorts to using an agency for finding a surrogate mother to have her baby. As a well-meaning, type-A personality, she obsesses about everything to do with motherhood/babyhood, causing her to install over-the-top safety measures and devices in her home, while imposing strict dietary rules, creating some amusing consequences. Poehler plays the karaoke-crooning surrogate mother, Angie, who wolfs down Twinkies while constantly feuding with her dirtball boyfriend, Carl (excellently rendered by Dax Shepard). And although Angie takes a while to crank up the humor, by the time she arrives at the hospital, even her attendees can't keep straight faces.

it’s not you wolverine, it’s me. The most deceptive thing about this cliché-ridden film is the fact that it's masquerading as a legit thriller, with the filmmakers expecting us to fall for even the most played-out film conventions. Deception? How about tricking people into paying to watch this bomb…that's deception.
 
From the get-go Wyatt (Hugh Jackman) and Jonathan (Ewan McGregor) relationship feels staged. The "chance" late-night get-to-know-you antics and smoking pot are laced with excessive laughter and scream "phony." People don’t laugh that much with people they have just met, even if they're smoking killer weed. It's just not in our DNA, sorry.

Steven seagal smashes stereotypcasting in the new apatow comedy hit. The Judd Apatow comedy train has hit a few recent bumps. After last year's excellent Superbad and Knocked Up, we've gotten mediocre fare like Walk Hard and the just-north-of-horseshit Drillbit Taylor.
 
Jason Segel, a hilarious bit player in Knocked Up, gets the limelight in Forgetting Sarah Marshall, a comedy that, while not as consistent as some of Apatow's classic efforts, certainly belongs in the same class. Thanks to a stellar comedic effort from Segel and a cast of Apatow regulars including Jonah Hill, Paul Rudd and Bill Hader, the laughs are consistent, often original and laced with nasty doses of reality.

die hard 8? Nah, Just pacino hanging out.Going under the assumption that 88 Minutes might be bad, I felt Pacino - no stranger to really bad movies - would use his scene-chewing ability to make his screen time worth watching. It might have redeeming quality, some value, I thought. Sadly, this was not the case. Why anyone would consider making this flick is beyond my comprehension. Why Al chose to do this movie will haunt me to my grave. He might as well have starred in a Murder She Wrote anniversary special.
The premise: a college professor named Jack Gramm (Pacino) moonlights as an FBI forensic specialist. Gramm's questionable testimony has helped to convict a murderer that receives the death sentence. The move comes back to haunt Gramm on the day of the serial killer's execution via cryptic cell-phone death threats that give him, you guessed it, 88 minutes to live.

Quick, act like a cat. My first reaction leaving the theatre after this movie, besides ramming my head into the wall, was to consult my thesaurus for new ways to say horrible, terrible and awful (words I've been using a lot lately to describe movies). Wretched and abominable seem to work.
 
The only thing faithfully reproduced in this remake is the prom night setting. The predecessor-flick was pretty bad to begin with, but the remake makes it look like Citizen Kane. In the original, four students were stalked and victimized by a knife-wielding ski-mask wearing psycho because they were responsible for the accidental death of a child. This time around a non-masked stalker escapes from a mental institution to wreak havoc on all in his path because he has an unhealthy infatuation with Donna (Brittany Snow), an ex-student of his before he was put away.

Filmmaker Josh Tickell is aiming for "a shift in human consciousness," with his film, Fields of Fuel. Focused on biodiesel and biofuels as alternatives to reliance on big oil and soy production, the film asks us to choose more self-reliant, peaceful, and healthier lives.

Stuffing their cornholes.You might think twice about devouring another McDonald's Quarter Pounder after watching Ian Cheney and Curt Ellis' eye-opening documentary, King Corn. The film won Best Documentary at the 2007 Bend Film festival and will screen again on April 22 at the Tower Theatre as part of the Indie Reels series. Co-producer Curt Ellis will be on hand for discussion.
 
Best friends Ian and Curt moved from Boston to Greene, Iowa after college to find out where their food really comes from. The film follows them as they plant an acre of corn in the heartland and attempt to navigate modern agribusiness. Remarkably, both Ian and Curt's great-grandfathers were from Greene, and the two also trace their family histories throughout the story. They assimilate into the community and learn how to drive tractors and drink Budweiser. On the way, we-along with the filmmakers-learn everything from what a grain elevator is, to the fact that corn is present in about 60% of the American diet.

It wouldn’t be horror flick without the obligatory hot chicks.Yep, The Ruins gets ruined, taking a huge turn for the worse-for the characters, not the audience. I actually let it bypass my "despise-o-meter" entirely.
It starts off in a formulaic manner: the four main vacationing characters (med student, geek-girl, slut, surfer-dude) are all white, yuppified and overtly nauseating, making you wish they could be killed within seconds. But oddly enough, the director (first-timer Carter Smith) doesn't waste a bunch of time forcing these people down your throat and had the foresight to add some nudity almost immediately.