The movie is a full-on farce and makes no effort whatsoever to be authentic. In fact, I’ve seen Marx Brothers movies that felt more authentic. The characters in the film are all decidedly products of the 21st century. It’s almost as if the cast and crew were digging through a church basement where they found a whole bunch of Christ-era costumes, put them on and played make-believe. I couldn’t help but note the similarities to the recently released Will Ferrell comedy Land of the Lost. Both movies had concepts that could have been cleverly developed, but both chose instead just to let their big stars go hog-wild. Ferrell and Black may be funny guys, but a little of each goes a long way.

Take two attractive, talented stars and put them together in a romantic comedy. Make them hate each other at first, of course, so that when they manage to overcome their differences and fall in love at the end, it makes it all the more effective. It’s a formula that has worked for years—really since 1934’s best picture Oscar winner It Happened One Night—and it works again this year with The Proposal. It also helps that the movie stars Sandra Bullock, an acknowledged master of the genre… one which must be akin to riding a bike for the actress, who fits right back into the genre with ease. She’s believable as both the ice princess and the human being she becomes once the ice begins to melt. The movie is very funny from start to finish, and most of the credit has to go to the two leads.

Thematically, the film strikes solid ground in spite of the fluff. In an opening voiceover behind a montage of Evan at work, Olivia tells us that this is a story about a man who used to be “the King of Somewhere” but lost his crown on “a trip to Nowhere.” On the surface, we associate Somewhere with Success, and we can draw the implication that Dad is on a downward career path. But that’s not the trip that daughter Olivia is talking about. Ultimately, the film asks: If you were handed the keys to the kingdom, what would you do with them? And the answers that director Karey Kirkpatrick and company come up will pleasantly surprise you. No extra charge for the many laughs.

Director Sam Mendes’ previous film, Revolutionary Road, featured a married couple unraveling through a storm of shouting matches. The unmarried couple in his next film, Away We Go, is at the opposite end of the spectrum. They hardly argue. In fact, one has to encourage the other to go ahead and raise his voice once in a while. It is certainly a different kind of movie and it is fortunate enough not to be burdened with the weight of being a Titanic reunion. It is also a much better movie.

Like most Tony Scott films, there’s nearly as much visual action in the opening credits of The Taking of Pelham 1 2 3 as there is physical action in the rest of the movie. Scott’s camera moves quickly and often and the rapid editing is flared by flashes of light. It’s what used to be referred to as the MTV-style and Scott is the master. The result has the audience dizzy by the end of the opening credit sequence; a feeling perhaps shared by the film’s transit worker protagonist when men with guns hijack one of his subway trains.

It was a super-cheesy television show in the’70s that featured special effects so bad that they are almost legendary. Now, Land of the Lost is remade as a big-screen vehicle for Will Ferrell, who is a funny guy… but his onscreen persona is really starting to grow tiresome. The fact that the film is designed specifically as a vehicle for him is its first fault: the first of many. Foul language and a shocking amount of sexual content may wind up being a turn-off for many parents who might think of taking their kids to this movie. Of course, given the movie’s complete lack of entertainment value, that may just be the excuse they are looking for.

It has now been fourteen years since Pixar debuted Toy Story, the first feature-length computer-animated movie. They have released nine films in that time period and I am still waiting for them to slip up. Their newest release is Up, the story of an elderly man who uses hundreds of helium-filled balloons to fly his house to South America. Will this be the film that will end their run of visually breathtaking, endlessly entertaining blockbusters? I am very happy to report that the answer is a resounding no.

The story itself isn’t half bad, and the three interwoven plots work fairly successfully. Where the movie first starts to break down is with its insistence that, rather than having the action sequences advance the story, the story should serve merely as a device upon which to hang action sequences. Now, that would be okay—if the action sequences didn’t all feel like ones we’d seen done better in other movies, if they didn’t get so doggone repetitive, and if Skynet’s machines weren’t so ungodly stupid. It’s odd that Skynet’s AI could successfully meld mechanical hydraulics with cardiac and cerebral tissue, and yet would deploy a fifty-foot cannon-wielding weapon into the field that can’t deal with three guys and a tow truck.

When it came to 2006’s Night at the Museum, this reviewer found himself more in line with the popular opinion than with the critical majority. I thought it was fun. It was the kind of movie people like me often refer to as a rollicking adventure. New York City’s Museum of Natural History sure wasn’t complaining either as their visitation numbers spiked thanks to a renewed interest in their exhibits. Three years later we get the inevitable sequel, Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian. While I’m sure the Washington D.C. museum will receive a similar boost to the one in New York, unfortunately the sequel failed to win me over as its predecessor had.

At first glance, the new computer-animated sci-fi adventure Battle for Terra may sound a bit clichéd. A civilization is on the brink of extinction when technologically superior invaders from a distant planet arrive with the intent of taking over the planet and harvesting its natural resources for their own survival. Independence Day, maybe? War of the Worlds? Fortunately, that is where the twist comes that makes Battle for Terra stand out from the rest and even succeed in being halfway entertaining: the invaders are humans.