Dueling Movie Review Edition

The Biggest story in the world right now is the "bomb" that was Disney's John Carter. I put the word in quotations because while I admit it wasn't the biggest success in Disney history, to use the word bomb is not accurate either. It won't make it's cost, that's for sure. And I think that's why the B word is being used as frequently as it is. However, a movie that opens at # 2 and has made over Forty five million dollars is barely a bomb. I just look at how movies like "A Thousand Words" or "Wander Lust" combined probably won't hit $45 million dollars and they have more Star Power then John Carter does. "This Means War" has been out for 4 months and only made 46.9 million dollars. Does that make it a bomb too? Again, I know they are using the word bomb because it won't make what it costs. But clearly, there is evidence out there to say that it is not a bomb. Because if we are SOLELY going on box office earned, there is a movie out there that has been out in theaters for sixteen weeks now and hasn't made what John Carter did in 3 weeks. So that must make it a true bomb right? It's a shame, cause you know... it won a few Oscars including Best Picture! "The Artist" has only made 40.2 million as of March 11th.

John Carter was either going to be a hit or a miss. For any movie that spends as much to make as they did for this movie, you are taking your chances. Unfortunately, it failed to find it's target audience and it gets the horrible label it got.

I have gone to the movie theaters twice in the last few weeks recently. So now I will begin my dueling Reviews! Starting with Dr. Seuss' The Lorax. Now granted I am not the target audience for the movie. But It was a really cute movie. The voices include Taylor Swift as the love interest and Zac Efron as the boy in love with her. Danny DeVito is perfect as The Lorax. Obviously when you have a short ten page story that you are making into a feature length script, you will need to develop other stories to make it fit. The love story was cute. The two villians in the script were voiced by Rob Riggle and Ed Helms. But of course, as usual the person who stole the show was Betty White as Zac Efron's grandmother. I do reccommend the movie to anyone. My only concern was how incredibly politcal the movie was for a kids movie. But again, I think it had to be with the source material.

Then this week I went and saw 21 Jump Street with Jonah Hill and Channing Tatum. I didn't watch the original show when I was growing up. But if you are in the mood for a fun action comedy, I highly recommend this movie. It was a great bit of role reversal with Jonah Hill playing the cool kid and Channing Tatum has a bit of an outcast. The movie was very tongue in cheek. It never took itself too seriously. There was a line where one of the characters basically admitted that Hollywood has run out of ideas and we are just watching old stuff rehashed as new stuff. My girlfriend Lori and I were the only ones laughing at that line, because it's true. The younger kids in the audience probably didn't even know the movie was based off of a TV show in the 80's. It was incredibly funny from start to finish. Only one bit to me didn't work as well as they intended it to (Wow? That's the thing that actually blows up?) As soon as I saw the trailer I was looking forward to the movie, and it lived up to the hype! See this movie!

Next up is going to be my review of another eagerly anticipated movie "The Hunger Games".