ELF (4 Stars)

Director: Jon Favreau
Stars: Will Ferrell, James Caan, Mary Steenburgen, Bob Newhart, Zooey Deschanel, Peter Dinklage
Description: This movie begins in the joyful setting of Santa's workshop, the day after Christmas. As happy and cheerful as usual, the elves waste no time in beginning their preperations for next year's Christmas, when they notice a small baby that had snuck into St. Nick's bag of gifts during his Christmas eve route. since their living in the snowy, desolate North Pole, and can't very well throw him back out into the cold, the elves do the only reasonable thing in this situation: They adopt him.
The years pass in Santa's workshop, and the adopted baby, who's name is Buddy, has turned into a grown man (Will Ferrell: Taladega Nights, Step Brothers) and has learned the lifestyle of the elves.
There is just one thing about Buddy that sticks out like a sore thumb around all of the elves: He's a human, and it has it's downsides. Buddy grows up ten times faster than his fellow elves, he's more than two times taller than them, and he's the slowest worker in Santa's shop.
One day, Buddy's adopted father, Papa Elf (Bob Newhart: The Librarian) decides to tell Buddy the truth about his childhood, and how he was born, put up for adoption, and most importantly, how his father never new of his birth, and sends Buddy out on a journey to find his father, who lives in a magical place, called New York City.
Eventually, Buddy finds his father (James Caan: Misery, The Godfather) . His name is Walter, and he works in the Empire State Building as a writer for children's storybooks. There's only a few problems: He thinks Buddy is a freak, and wants nothing to do with him... And he's on the naughty list.
Fortunately, after countless attempts from Buddy to get together with his father, and some discussions with his wife (Mary Streenburgen: Step Brothers, Noah's Ark), Walter decides to take Buddy in.
Now Buddy must get used to his life in the big city, learn how to act like a normal person, before his father goes crazy!
It's great to see Will Ferrell pull off this part in his only family Christmas comedy, and the film does very well without losing the interest of the older audiences.
(Also, the small scene with Peter Dinklage as Miles Finch really gives the film one of it's highpoints)

SUPERHERO MOVIE (1 1/2 STARS)

DIRECTOR: Craig Mazin
STARS: Drake Bell, Leslie Neilson, Christopher McDonald
DESCRIPTION: It was a summer day. Me and my friend were bored, so we decided to see a movie. Whilst looking for good movies to see playing in the theater, we ran across SUPERHERO MOVIE, the sixth or so movie in this clan of bombers. Well, it being almost seven, and us not wanting to see LEATHERHEADS, the only other movie playing, we decided to take a chance on the SUPERHERO MOVIE, knowing full well we were diving headlong into the cheesiest movie of our lives. Luckily it proved to be a little* better than expected.
The story's basically based around the plot of Spider-man (With a few exceptions thrown in, as he loses his parents the same way Bruce Wayne did in BATMAN BEGINS), a geeky teenager (Drake Bell: Drake and Josh, The Amanda Show) who, while in a science lab on a field trip, gets not only bitten by a radioactive Dragonfly, but also humped to death by every single animal in the place, after accidentally spraying himself with a strong pharemone. From then on, the story gets twisted up, going inside and out of every superhero movie created (Within the last couple of years), as the Peter-Parker-type teenager makes his slow, painful, and embarrassing-to-watch transition into a full-fledged superhero, from an argument with the Human Torch on who gets to perch on a rooftops gargoyle statue, to a university for super-trainees (Mostly all X-Men characters).
Suddenly, the rich, and dying father of his best friend (Christopher McDonald: Flubber, Happy Gilmore) accidentally mutates himself while trying to cure his sickness, into a villain who steals the life from people to use for his own, and the klutzy, untalented Dragonfly must now save the world from this evildoer, even if it means chasing him through a large superhero convention!
It's really the writers of NAKED GUN, and the part of Leslie Neilson (AIRPLANE, Spy Hard) as Drake's uncle that give the film it's little sparks of humor. Though, I'd say, the trick to enjoying this throwaway flick is to not go into it expecting and wanting a good movie, but instead, going into it looking for nothing more than a cheap, immature laugh now and then.

THE SIMPSONS MOVIE (4 1/2 stars)

Director: David Silverman
Voices: Regular Simpsons crew
Guest Voices: Al Brooks, Tom Hanks
Description: It's finally here, the movie that people have been waiting for over a decade, The SIMPSONS MOVIE! And it's the biggest, and most computer animated, adventure that the Simpsons family have ever embarked on!
When Lake Springfield is polluted to the point of black, acidic toxins, the Environmental Protection Agency decides there is only one thing to do: Exterminate Springfield, and they get the job done by encasing the city in a giant, glass dome!
Fortunately, the Simpsons are able to escape their now claustrophobic town via a backyard sinkhole, and in their search for a new home, they decide to move to the snowy mountains of Alaska, and it almost seems like a happily ever after for the Simpsons family, but when the Environmental Protection Agency gets wind that the dome encasing Springfield is cracking, they decide to take their plan to the next level: Blow up Springfield!
Now Marge, Lisa, and Bart are determined to return save the town they love, and Homer must decide whether to bask alone in the comfort of his new mountain home, or follow his family and help rescue his friends and family from the Environmental Agency that looms ever closer to the trapped city...

THE BUCKET LIST (3 1/2 stars)

Director: Rob Reiner
Stars: Jack Nicholson, Morgan Freeman
Description: A story about two men stuck in a hospital room together after getting diagnosed with cancer, one, a family-man car mechanic (Freeman, Bruce Almighty, Nurse Betty), who seems to know the answers of every quizzical subject in existence, and the other, a lonely billionaire (Nicholson, About Schmidt, The Shining), who finds himself trapped in the crappy hospital system that he, himself, helped create.
Together, in their small hospital room, they create THE BUCKET LIST, a collection of experiences and activities they want to do before they "Kick the bucket". So they escape they're depressing ward, and go out on an adventure to achieve their lifelong goals, including a trip to the African safari, a climb up the Egyptian pyramids, and a skydiving session. But now, Nicholson has to get the car mechanic back home to his wife, before she gets angry!
Jack Nicholson and Morgan Freeman are great at their parts, but the movie, itself, fails to hold your attention, and with a plot-line that's so thin, it makes you wonder if the writer has much storytelling ability at all.

Introductions

Okay, people. Here's my new blog, Movie Reviews! I'll just go through a little of the details:

In this blog, I will have a list of movies I have seen and felt like writing down. (The good and the bad). For my entree titles I will have the title of the film and next to it, the number of stars I gave it. In the blog, I will have a list of movie stars shown in the film, the name of the director, and a personal description of the film and how I thought about it. (Perhaps I'll throw in a clip or trailer if I can find one on YouTube)

So that's how this is going to work. I hope this blog will be of use to you.

*Note: All reviews are based on my personal opinion only. Just because I say something about it in here doesn't mean I'm certain you'll feel the same way.