With A Little More Characterization, Coulson And Garrett’s “Ragtag” Bands Move Toward An Inevitable Conflict!

The Good: Moments of character, Good special effects, Decent acting
The Bad: Nothing exceptional in terms of performances, Fairly dull plot
The Basics: Agents Of S.H.I.E.L.D. moves towards its first season finale with the “Ragtag” team trying to save the world and working to crush H.Y.D.R.A.


Moving toward its first season finale, “The Beginning Of The End,” Agents Of S.H.I.E.L.D. created a somewhat predictable movement episode with “Ragtag.” “Ragtag” actually does more than most penultimate episodes in that it smartly works to reveal the character developments that led to the “shocking betrayal” several episodes back. It is impossible to discuss “Ragtag” without some revelations of spy reversal aspects of earlier episodes from the first season of Agents Of S.H.I.E.L.D.. So, for those looking to go into the first season of the show blind, at this point in the season, you probably should not be reading episode reviews.

Picking up where “Nothing Personal” (reviewed here!) left off, the show is currently splintered into two groups. The main cast of Agents Of S.H.I.E.L.D. has been reunited and is now working without legal authority or much in the way of equipment. The H.Y.D.R.A. team – Garrett, Ward, Deathlok, and Raina – has The Bus and is regrouping in order to make its next big move.

With the S.H.I.E.L.D. Agents regrouping, Coulson and his team are thrilled by Agent Triplett bringing old spy tech his grandparents had kicking around to aid the team. Coulson figures out that the company that has been aiding H.Y.D.R.A. is Cybertek and he plans a mission to infiltrate the company in order to be able to take the fight to H.Y.D.R.A. Meanwhile, the H.Y.D.R.A. team uses Deathlok to make a very public killing of a drug lord in Columbia, as a show of force. En route to Havana, Cuba, the H.Y.D.R.A. Agents consider their next big move now that S.H.I.E.L.D. is out of the way and Garrett begins to suffer from organ failure in relation to his own cybernetic implants.

The S.H.I.E.L.D. Agents discover that Cybertek is surprisingly easy to break into (by applying for jobs at the company), but that the company does not have digital records. In stealing information on the Deathlok program, Coulson learns that Garrett was the original Deathlok. While Ward works to save Garrett’s life and Raina reveals some of the rumors around Skye’s past to Ward, the S.H.I.E.L.D. team learns where H.Y.D.R.A. is stationed and they figure out how they might beat Garrett and Ward. But in trying to find the Bus, Fitz and Simmons are captured and kept aboard the Bus when the H.Y.D.R.A. agents go airborne again. As Garrett has Raina inject him with the synthesized version of the drug that resurrected Coulson, he uses Fitz and Simmons as a loyalty test for Ward. The episode climaxes with the S.H.I.E.L.D. agents entering a H.Y.D.R.A. facility . . . with disastrous results and Quinn approaching high-ranking military officers with an offer to sell Centipede/Deathlok supersoldiers to them!

Peppered throughout the episode are flashbacks to fifteen years prior where the younger version of Ward is broken out of juvenile detention by Garrett. The continued delving into Ward’s past, now with Garrett, is used to try to make sense out of how Ward could have been a double agent. We are treated to scenes of how Garrett conditioned Ward to survive (albeit in some pretty hospitable conditions) and how he worked to make him harder. The enhanced character sequences make sense (use Bill Paxton while you have him, is what I think the producers of Agents Of S.H.I.E.L.D. figure!) but they ultimately fail to ground the episode. Ward was a troubled youth, fine. Through flashbacks, we’ve seen how his older brother manipulated him to become a bully. In “Ragtag,” we see how Garrett used the promising young psychopath to advance his own status within H.Y.D.R.A. and S.H.I.E.L.D. But therein lies the problem with the deeper, more layered, version of Ward: he has spent his formative years working for entirely sinister purposes, trying to kill his bully brother, and then being further raised to be a trained killer. With these new layers, there is no compelling reason why he would not promptly and easily dispose of any of the Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. he encounters.

Instead, the writer of “Ragtag” goes for the safe route: Ward is conflicted now about continuing with H.Y.D.R.A. and going up against Fitz, Simmons, and Coulson’s team. This, sadly, does not make Ward a more interesting character, it just undermines any credibility he ever had as a superspy. Spies have to have some core of loyalty to an organization or country that is immutable; otherwise, they are just rogues or scoundrels who are selling their services to the highest (or most convenient) bidder. A good spy infiltrates – even for years on end – without developing genuine feelings for their target. Ward was with H.Y.D.R.A. for over a decade and for Coulson’s S.H.I.E.L.D. team for less than a year; if he was swayed so easily toward that group of people one has to wonder who he was with before that he did not connect and just how strong his convictions for H.Y.D.R.A. and Garrett were to begin with.

Sadly, “Ragtag” does not give the viewers answers to these questions. Instead, the episode fills in some of the gaps in Ward’s backstory – now that we know his true allegiance, that’s an important development – and it has an obligatory scene with Skye and May that helps set up the inevitable showdown between Skye and Ward that seems to be in the works. Coulson expresses a geeky quality in “Ragtag” that reminds the viewers of his initial characterization (like pre-Agents Of S.H.I.E.L.D., Iron Man franchise Coulson) and he gets the best line of the episode (when he initiates a “file transfer” by throwing a filing cabinet out a fourth story window!), but the episode is not at all a Coulson episode.

Even Fitz gets more of a significant moment in “Ragtag” than Coulson does. Fitz continues to hold out hope that Ward is not evil and the events of “Ragtag” should leave the character emotionally shattered (so it will be interesting to see what kind of role Fitz has in the finale).

Servicing two groups of characters leaves Agents Of S.H.I.E.L.D. as very plot-heavy show that does not afford any of the main cast the chance to give a truly knockout performance. That is not to say that the acting in “Ragtag” is bad (it’s not); all of the performers (even guest actors like Ruth Negga, David Conrad, and B.J. Britt) seem perfectly comfortable with their characters and embody them within their predictable range. No one really steps up to wow the viewers in “Ragtag.”

Ultimately, “Ragtag” is little more than average and the episode moves the characters into place and prepares the viewers for a super-powered Garrett and the potential that the first season finale will have Skye break out a power or ability that fundamentally alters the character . . . and the show. But in “Ragtag,” we’re not there yet.

For other works directed by Roxann Dawson, please visit my reviews of:
“Riddles” - Star Trek: Voyager
“Workforce, Part 2” - Star Trek: Voyager
“The Andorian Incident” - Enterprise
“Vox Sola” - Enterprise
“Dead Stop” - Enterprise
“Dawn” - Enterprise
“Bounty” - Enterprise
“Exile” - Star Trek: Enterprise
“Chosen Realm” - Enterprise
“Doctor’s Orders” - Star Trek: Enterprise
“E2” - Star Trek: Enterprise
“Awakening” - Star Trek: Enterprise
"Eye Spy" - Agents Of S.H.I.E.L.D.

[Knowing that single episodes are an inefficient way to get episodes, it's worth looking into Agents Of S.H.I.E.L.D. - The Complete First Season on DVD or Blu-Ray, which is also a better economical choice than buying individual episodes. Read my review of the debut season here!
Thanks!]

5.5/10

For other television and movie reviews, please check out my Film Review Index Page for an organized listing!

© 2014 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.
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Too Weak To Work: Glade Winter Collection Pure Vanilla Joy Spray!

The Good: Good scent, Easy to use
The Bad: A little expensive, Does not solve any problems/address cause of smells, Scent does not endure/does not successfully cover many bad smells.
The Basics: Glade Winter Collection Pure Vanilla Joy is unfortunately ineffective, making it too tough recommend or bother with.


During the Black Friday sale last year, I visited the store where I was working and tried to do my part as a good worker to throw some business their way. To that end, I spent a few dollars and tried to nab some good deals. Stupidly, one of the things I bought was the Glade Winter Collection Pure Vanilla Joy deodorizing spray. I write “stupidly” more because the Black Friday specials that did not sell out on that Friday were put on clearance by the next Friday (which was insulting and the Glade Sprays were one of the immediate clearance deals) than for the fact that the spray did not work very well. The Pure Vanilla Joy did not work very well and I did feel like a chump for paying full price for it (we don’t get an employee discount there).

A seasonal scent, Glade Winter Collection Pure Vanilla Joy is a spray air freshener that comes in a 9.7 oz. metal spray bottle. Topped with a plastic spray nozzle and lever, the Glade Pure Vanilla Joy air freshener is exceptionally easy to use. Simply press the lever and a mist explodes out of the canister (unless one uses it very close to where one is spraying it, in which case it forms a foam). A one second burst creates a cloud about 1 cubic foot in volume and that is enough to cast the scent around a medium-sized (12’ X 15’ X 9’) room. Unfortunately, in a medium-sized room like that, the scent is not overly powerful and it does not endure at all. Within two minutes, the scent of vanilla dissipates completely. The scent does not endure or cover up odors that are present, either.

The Glade Winter Collection Pure Vanilla Joy canister is expensive. For $5.99, the canister gets at least thirty uses, but the scent only seems to last about two minutes. My biggest gripe with it is that it does not address the causes of odor. In other words, if you have shoes that smell bad and use this Glade scent, within five minutes, they will smell bad again. Unlike something like a disinfectant (like Lysol) that kills bacteria that cause odors, the Glade just masks the scent. I would rather get more enduring value out of a disinfectant than an air freshener.

As for the scent, the Pure Vanilla Joy is exactly what it is supposed to be. The vanilla scent is strong and clear. The aroma is a French vanilla scent that is actually energizing and familiar and wonderful. Unfortunately, one spritz from the canister truly only affects the immediate area it is sprayed in to allow the user to smell the delicious scent. Sadly, the scent is not strong enough to combat most scents and it does not endure long enough to be an effective cover-up.

To be fair to Glade, their air freshener does not claim to be a disinfectant. But between the scent fading so quickly, it’s impossible for me to recommend Glade Winter Collection Pure Vanilla Joy air freshener.

For other air fresheners, check out my reviews of:
Febreze Air Effects Limited Edition Falling Leaves & Spice
ScentSationals Oatmeal Cookie Wickless Wax Cubes
Citrus Magic Fresh Citrus Solid Air Freshener

2.5/10

For other home and garden product reviews, please visit my Home And Garden Product Review Index Page for an organized listing!

© 2014 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.
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Hilarity Ensues Again And Again And Again: 30 Rock The Complete Series!

The Good: Character development, Very funny, Some great lines, Good serialization.
The Bad: As the show goes on, it becomes incredibly predictable and somewhat repetitive, Performances are largely unremarkable
The Basics: 30 Rock is a smart and funny serialized comedy that plays well to those who like great lines and interesting characters . . . though it does get a bit repetitive.


In the pantheon of half hour sitcoms, there are the groundbreaking, the memorable and pretty much everything else. That might seem like an oversimplification, but there is some truth to the idea that outside the groundbreaking and memorable, sitcoms are either terrible or shows one enjoys while watching, but does not give much thought to when they are not. The sitcom is often simple diversion programming; fun to watch, forgettable when it is not on. 30 Rock has some memorable lines, but over the course of seven seasons, the series became a much less distinctive and compelling program. That is not to say 30 Rock is at all unenjoyable, but it is not groundbreaking and there were long stretches of unmemorable episodes (even if they contained memorable or hilarious lines).

As a complete series set, 30 Rock is a collection of all seven seasons of 30 Rock, a Tina Fey vehicle that reignited the career of Alec Baldwin and kept Lorne Michael relevant for a while longer (ironically, as 30 Rock came to an end, all of the best recent talents on Saturday Night Live left the show, leading to another ebb in the sketch comedy series). The Complete Series of 30 Rock consists of:
Season 1
Season 2
Season 3
Season 4
Season 5
Season 6
and Season 7

30 Rock has a fairly uncomplicated plot: Liz Lemon is the head writer and executive producer of The Girlie Show, a sketch comedy show that stars her best friend since college, Jenna Maroney. But when Lemon’s boss is replaced by Jack Donaghy, a fairly conservative businessman, Liz Lemon’s show quickly slips from her control. Donaghy has Liz hire the somewhat deranged celebrity Tracy Jordan and changes the name of the show to TGS With Tracy Jordan. The shift brings in the demographics The Girlie Show was lacking and revitalizes Liz Lemon’s show. Unfortunately for her, Tracy Jordan is notoriously difficult to work with and Jenna refuses to play nice with him, as she is used to being the celebrity on the show.

In addition to being a workaholic, Liz Lemon has no real libido or romantic life. Jack Donaghy takes it upon himself to professionally and personally mentor Lemon. In the process of trying to straighten out Lemon’s love life, Donaghy becomes deeply involved with the lives of the people who work for him, including Tracy, Jenna, and the weird television-loving hillbilly page, Kenneth. Jack finds love in unlikely sources (like a liberal Congresswoman) and struggles to find his place in a changing marketplace where businessmen like him are no longer as relevant or powerful as they once were, while Liz Lemon tries to keep Tracy at work, Jenna productive (and not breaking into showboating songs) and her director, Pete, alive (he has a dark, depressed side, stemming from his stress at home with his wife and children). As the series progresses, conflicts include Tracy running off in fear of his life, Jenna dating a Jenna Maroney impersonator, Jack’s new wife getting abducted by North Korea, and Liz dating a man that Jack does not approve of.

30 Rock is funny, but is a great example of a show that struggled after a period to find its place and rhythm. Tracy Jordan runs off multiple times in the series, Jenna Maroney’s hissy fits get old and the show stops doing smart cutaways (early in the show there are references to such brilliantly satirical things as Tracy Jordan’s novelty pop song “Werewolf Bar Mitzvah” that are not attempted as the series goes on) and replaces them with more predictable and banal banter between Liz and Jack. That said, 30 Rock succeeds in that it only has one real obvious dud of an episode (a reality show based on Tracy Jordan’s wife is made and one episode is simply an episode of the awful reality show!), which is pretty astonishing for a series with over a hundred and thirty episodes. While it is on, 30 Rock is fun and engaging and well worth watching. It’s a bit tougher to invest in the complete series, though, because when it becomes tired, it is more average than extraordinary, but the show’s inertia is likely to make one sit through the episodes that are more stagnant than brilliant.

30 Rock had a good mix of characters and one of the more stable casts on television. For the seven seasons of 30 Rock, the essential characters are:

Liz Lemon – The hard-working Executive Producer and head writer of TGS With Tracy Jordan, she carved out a niche writing sketch comedy for her best friend, Jenna. In addition to having a loser ex-boyfriend (beeper salesman and sex offender Dennis Duffy), Liz is an idealist who believes in fairness and wants to see people treated well. Socially inept, she is unused to actually leading, so Jack takes her under his wing and grooms her to be a more authoritative presence who he can actually use for his own corporate gain. In exchange, Liz becomes a confidant for the powerful businessman and becomes more confident in her personal life,

Tracy Jordan – The high-maintenance star of TGS, he is unreliable, often blowing off rehersals to visit strip clubs. Accompanied by an entourage – mainly Grizz and Dot Com – he embodies an unfortunate number of stereotypes about the rich, young, black comedian. Chronically late and difficult to work with, he seldom follows his lines (which initially makes Liz and Pete wonder if he is illiterate), spends obscene amounts of money on worthless things, and avoids his wife and children whenever possible. As his popularity rises, he puts to rest old feuds in the black community and his wife asserts more control over him, his finances, and his career, which complicates both Jack and Liz lives more,

Jenna Maroney – The showboating, bratty star of The Girlie Show, she deals with the change of focus for her show very poorly. Always ready to burst into a song, she will do anything for attention. Despite Liz’s loyalty to her, she shows very little loyalty or friendship to Liz, though she does what she can to keep on Jack’s good side when she recognizes his wealth and power,

Pete Hornberger – The director of TGS With Tracy Jordan and Liz’s right hand man, he is an awkward middle-aged man who is fairly constantly berated. He has a wife and children, though he and his wife fight a lot and he is afraid of at least one of his kids. He helps Liz out, but mostly just shows up and keeps the writer’s room and Kenneth in line,

Kenneth Parcell – A page at NBC, he is incredibly naïve and physically awkward. Very much a product of his redneck upbringing, he has never really adapted to New York City. As a result, he becomes an object of curiosity to Jack. Kenneth has a very pure love of all things related to television and fights to get ridiculous programming on the air when Jack needs ideas. He often finds himself doing grunt work or odd tasks for Tracy, whom he idolizes for no other reason than his celebrity,

And Jack Donaghy – Occasionally an outcast in the business world, Jack is the new head of East Coast Microwave and Television Programming for General Electric (which owns NBC in the 30 Rock universe). He wants to make the programming as profitable as possible so he might be the natural successor to his hero at GE when the time comes. As a result, he is often at odds with Liz Lemon over on-air content on TGS With Tracy Jordan, though he quickly develops a personal affinity for Liz. He dates supermodels and businesswomen and in the course of the series even marries! He struggles, though, when NBC is sold to a television-focused company, Kabletown, and he has to re-evaluate his priorities and methods.

One of the weaknesses in 30 Rock is the acting, which is ironic considering how good Alec Baldwin (Jack Donaghy) and Tina Fey (Liz Lemon) are in their roles. Tracy Morgan (Tracy Jordan) plays a character remarkably similar to himself – or his public persona from his stand-up comedy routines and intervies – and Jane Krakowski (Jenna Maroney) is essentially reprising her needy character from Ally McBeal (reviewed here!). Other actors are stuck in types – Jack McBrayer performs a lot of physical comedy as Kenneth, Judah Friedlander hits the one-note of sarcasm constantly as Frank Rossitano, and Keith Powell’s “Toofer” is essentially Friedlander’s straightman for almost the entire series. None of the roles particularly stretch the talents of the performers in them.

Still, 30 Rock looks good on DVD and the featurettes included in the set are funny and discuss the genesis and conclusion of the show in enough detail to make them worthwhile. But 30 Rock peaks early and nowhere is that more clear than when one sits down and goes through the entire series. This is a set one is likely to enjoy, put on the shelf for years and forget about, then pick up, dust off, and binge on the entire thing again before forgetting about it again.

For other shows that air(ed) on NBC, please check out my reviews of:
Revolution - Season 1
Parenthood – Season 1
The West Wing
Heroes
Studio 60 On The Sunset Strip
Friends
Frasier
NewsRadio
Homicide: Life On The Streets
Cheers
V - The Television Series
Star Trek

7/10

For other television and film reviews, please visit my Movie Review Index Page for an organized listing!

© 2014 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.
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A Nice Bonus, A Poor Magazine On Its Own: AAA Living!

The Good: Decent photography, The writing is all right
The Bad: Very simplistic, Surprisingly addy
The Basics: As one of the membership benefits to AAA, AAA Living provides travelers with surprisingly little to recommend the service.


When it comes to magazines, it is easy to see how their readership and production would be declining in the age of the internet. Nowhere is this more true for me than AAA Living. AAA Living is a magazine that comes to AAA (the travel/car club) members every two months.

AAA Living is a 64-page magazine that is glossy and presented as a membership benefit to AAA members. Readers of travel magazines, though, are likely to find the magazine a bit underwhelming. First, AAA Living is exceptionally addy. Out of sixty-four pages, AAA Living has twenty-seven pages of advertisements, several of which are for AAA or for AAA-affiliated deals. Part of the problem with AAA Living is that the advertisements are synergized with AAA deals.

Of the thirty-seven pages of substance in AAA Living, the magazine is broken into two features and three sections of columns: Members Corner, Travel Ideas, and “Life Matters.” The features have ambitious travel ideas – the current issue features Nothern Italy and Africa travel. The feature articles have impressive photography, though none of it is particularly audacious. AAA Living features pictures of very safe, easy-to-access places that they feature. The AAA seems to want to present images that would be common on someone’s travel through one of their trips. This comes across in AAA Living as mundane as opposed to anything near incredible.

The columns are used to further the AAA perspective of travel. The Members Corner articles promote AAA benefits for travel. They read very much like advertisements, but of the three sub-columns under the Members Corner banner, the “Car Care” section actually has decent advice about how to travel safely and well, but the other sections – “Savings” and “Benefits” are columns exclusively about how being a AAA member can benefit members. Those articles steer readers toward some of the discounts offered by AAA and its affiliated partners. The Travel Ideas section is exactly what the name suggests: columns that offer AAA members options for where to travel that might be off the beaten path. The Life Matters columns are broader articles on how money management and travel synergize. The articles promote safety, fiscal responsibility, and protecting one’s assets.

AAA Living uses very simplistic language and there is nothing audacious printed in the magazine. The magazine is a mix of advertisements, lifehacks and travel ideas . . . all of which is easily found on the internet. There is nothing printed in AAA Living that is at all extraordinary. The magazine is not terrible, it just is not particularly useful. Other travel magazines might have out-of-touch fantasy trips and exceptional photography, but AAA Living is so ruthlessly pragmatic that it lacks any real punch, vision, or anything at all extraordinary. The life hacks or travel hacks are interesting, but most of them are either common knowledge or information that could be easily found by reading one’s owner’s manual for their vehicle.

In the end, AAA Living is not even an incredible side benefit to being a AAA membership. While the content might enhance the AAA website, it is not worth tracking down on its own.

For other magazine reviews, please check out my reviews of:
Blackest Night Special Edition #1
Ladies Home Journal
Buffy The Vampire Slayer Magazine

3.5/10

For other magazine reviews, please check out my Book And Magazine Review Index Page for an organized listing!

© 2014 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.
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My Wife Might Love Step Brothers, But I'm More Ambivalent To It!

The Good: Funny, truly, absurdly funny.
The Bad: Predictable, Mediocre (or unsurprising) acting
The Basics: Ultimately average-at-best, Step Brothers is more a predictable Will Ferrell movie than a surprising one.


My wife and I, fortunately enough, still have plenty that differentiates us from one another. Among her many loves - which I do not share - are mushrooms, loud music and the movies of Will Ferrell. I have nothing against Will Ferrell, I reviewed The Other Guys (available here!) earlier. But I do have an appreciation for the acting talents of John C. Reilly. So, when I picked up Step Brothers for my wife as her final DVD (we're on Blu-Ray now!), having heard her rave about it for the entire first year of our knowing one another, I figured I was in for a fifty-fifty split. Having seen the movie with her now, I'm still there.

Step Brothers follows in a pretty long tradition of movies where adults act like children and it reunites Ferrell with Reilly along with the director who put them together in Talladega Nights. And while Reilly does a decent job playing the manchild, in this case, Dale, Ferrell's character Brennan is very much what one expects from Ferrell in this type comedy. In fact, the most severe problem with Step Brothers is that it is only what one expects from a Will Ferrell comedy.

Brennan is a middle-aged guy living with his mother, just as Dale lives with his father following the death of his mother. Robert, Dale's father, meets Nancy, Brennan's mother, while on a business trip and the two hit it off immediately. In fact, they marry exceptionally quickly and Nancy and Brennan move in with Robert and Dale. While the newlyweds do their thing, Brennan and Dale square off and Dale exerts his dominance, by threatening Brennan and warning him about such things as touching his drum set. But when Dale takes on Brennan's successful young brother, Brennan changes his mind about Dale.

At that point, the two begin to work together to have fun and make the best of their time together. They create a company, based upon having a great name for an entertainment conglomerate ("Prestige Worldwide") and they plan to turn their lives around. But it is at that point that Robert and Nancy decide to move out and sell the house, forcing Dale and Brennan to get real jobs. Failing to do that, violence breaks out and Robert decides he cannot live this way any longer and the family falls apart, pitting Dale and Brennan at one another's throats again.

This is, in many ways, a formulaic comedy that only seems fresh for moments because the movie takes time to create characters who have such a grasp on absurdist humor that one cannot help but laugh at their antics. For sure, the viewer does not so much care about what happens to Dale or Brennan, but we laugh at them as they do their things, especially in such scenes as the sleepwalking destruction scene. It is so over-the-top crazy that it has the freshness of being funny and wonderful, which is something I seldom see.

But comedic interludes like that which are actually fresh are all that breaks up long stretches of the movie where the comedy is obvious and obviously delivered. Ferrell bugs out his eyes and says something silly in an inappropriately menacing tone, Reilly nods and plays straightman to an over-the-top sexual advance from Brennan's brother's wife and the viewer is unsurprised. These performances and jokes fall within the range of comedic actors of their caliber and, sadly, do not hold up so well over multiple viewings. Instead, once the initial shock of the awkward situations that most of the movie is preoccupied with, the movie sags.

The only real surprise for me is how Adam McCay got Richard Jenkins to do Step Brothers. Jenkins plays Robert and he is largely the straightman of the film. No matter how absurd Reilly's Dale or Ferrell's Brennan are, Jenkins keeps Robert real, rational and adult. But that is why the character of Robert fails to work. He is so much the by-product of reality that it does not seem realistic at all that he would have allowed Dale to develop as such a stunted individual. Jenkins gives a wonderful performance, though, especially when Robert snaps and actually disciplines the adult children. But even the quality of Jenkins' performance cannot forgive the fact that the character makes little sense.

Everyone else in the film is startlingly average, from Ferrell - whose performance is so familiar to anyone who has seen any of the other films Ferrell has done in the last five years - to Mary Steenburgen (who has appeared in plenty of lemons as essentially this same character) to Kathryn Hahn whose performance is one joke repeated over and over again. None of the performers or their performances surprised me or even interested me enough to think that I might like to see them in anything else.

On the two-disc special edition, there are plenty of bonus features for those who love gag-reel type humor. In addition to a commentary track which has Ferrell, Reilly, McCay and others actually making verbal humor over the movie, there are deleted and extended scenes and a gag reel. The extended scenes continue onto the second disc with featurettes such as the full video presentation from Prestige Worldwide (it is panned off of in the actual film) and featurettes on the music and the two main characters. Most of these are funny in the same way the movie is funny, so those who like the movie will tend to like the features and those who do not will not.

For me, I am glad I saw the movie once, but after that, it has been a tough sell and never captivated my interest the same way. While my partner laughs at jokes she remembers from it or quotes lines occasionally, it just didn't resonate with me. In fact, I'd bet it resonates more with the inner child in most adult viewers than any rational being and I have a tough time turning the rational off.

For other comedies, please check out my reviews of:
Hot Tub Time Machine
Year One
Planet 51

5/10

For other movie reviews, please visit my index page!

© 2010 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.
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Milking Rose Byrne For Laughs: Bad Neighbors Fails Entirely!

The Good: One or two laughs, Convincing-enough performances
The Bad: Largely banal and repetitive humor, Dull plot, Obvious character arcs, More misses than hits on the jokes, No stellar performance moments.
The Basics: The Seth Rogen/Zac Efron vehicle Bad Neighbors is a listless comedy not worth wasting time and money to watch.


As Summer Blockbuster Season begins, the popular alternative to special effects-driven action films is raucous comedies. This summer, the search for quality alternative programming seems to have skipped the entire comedy genre . . . at least if the new film Bad Neighbors is any indication.

Bad Neighbors is a Seth Rogen and Zac Efron vehicle that has a ridiculously simple premise that it barely delivers on. The movie never truly gets deeper than the one-line summary for the film and the result is a movie packed with jokes that barely pad the flick up to 96 minutes and leave the viewer feeling largely cheated for the entire running time. Bad Neighbors has a thirty-something couple with a newborn baby living next door to a fraternity house and the two houses go to war over their different lifestyles. Only, the family being terrorized by having the frat house next door, the Radners, is barely more mature than their tormentors next door. The result is an extended prank movie that is hardly original, not at all audacious, and only minimally funny.

Mac and Kelly Radner have poured all their money into a small house in the suburbs where they believe they can happily and safely raise their new daughter, Stella. After attempting to christen their dining room – but failing because they are creeped out by Stella watching them have sex – the Radners see that the house next to theirs is on the market and has some (apparently) serious potential buyers. But when moving day comes, the quiet gay family they think is going to move in is replaced by a small fraternity from the nearby college. Bringing their leaders, Teddy and Pete, a joint, the Radners think they have solved their problems by asking the frat brothers to keep the volume down. That night, though, there is a loud party and rather than keeping the neighborhood quiet, Mac and Kelly actually join Teddy, Pete, and the frat brothers of Delta Psi Beta for a night of revelry.

When the loud scene repeats itself the next night and Teddy does not answer his phone (as he had asked the Radners to call him before they call the police), the young parents try to get the frat party shut down with police intervention. The Delta Psi Betas trash the lawn for the Radner’s house and vow to keep disrupting their lives for being so uncool to them. When Mac smashes a pipe that floods the frat house basement, the fraternity brothers band together and make molds of their penises in order to make dildos, which they then sell and raise so much money they are able to afford a pool in addition to the repairs! When the Radner’s confront the Dean after Stella nearly swallows a condom on their lawn, they find the college officials largely unhelpful, though she details the school’s three-strike rule for the frats. To try to get the frat shut down, Kelly tries to get Pete to put “hoes before bros” by getting the drunk (but smartest of the) frat boy to have sex with Teddy’s girlfriend. Using a hazed-upon pledge to infiltrate the house to try to get the last strike, Mac and Kelly bond as the fraternity comes apart at the seams!

There is so little to Bad Neighbors that it is almost surprising that the film was even made. To flesh out the thin revenge plot that has two groups of shockingly immature people going to war with one another (without much in the way of real world consequences, despite such things as fireworks getting shot into a police car, yet not burning the hell out of the officer inside), Bad Neighbors includes scenes like Kelly realizing she had too much alcohol to nurse and Mac having to milk her in order to relieve the pain in her breasts. Even that scene, though, is truncated in an odd way for an R-rated comedy, making one assume that there will be an unrated director’s cut released on DVD that is even more graphic than the theatrical release was.

The characters in Bad Neighbors are universally foul-mouthed and largely monolithic. Mac is hardly mature and the Radner’s obsession with weed and sex mirrors the frat boys’ binge drinking and casual sex. Neither group is particularly compelling to watch and outside the joy of the cameos (the young men of Workaholics, Andy Samburg, and Lisa Kudrow all have brief appearances in Bad Neighbors) the only real strong moment of comedy is the first appearance of a detached airbag going off and flinging Mac a great distance.

Bad Neighbors is not going to be the shining point of any of the participant’s resumes. Seth Rogen is playing a remarkably familiar stoner/slacker character that he has done to death and Dave Franco’s part of Pete is basically a slightly smarter version of his brother’s type familiar party animal character. Rose Byrne and Zac Efron do not show off any skills that they are likely to be proud of. In fact, Efron’s role in the movie seems to be to show off his new, buff self as opposed to creating a character with even a modicum of pathos, as he did in 17 Again (reviewed here!).

With its lack of original humor or engaging characters and hampered by a predictable plot and juvenile gags, Bad Neighbors completely fails to entertain or create a film worth writing more about.

For other works with Rose Byrne, be sure to check out my takes on:
This Is Where I Leave You
X-Men: First Class
Bridesmaids
Adam
28 Weeks Later
Marie Antoinette
Star Wars: Episode II – Attack Of The Clones

2/10

For other movie reviews, please check out my Film Review Index Page for an organized listing!

© 2014 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.
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So Much Reference! “In A Mirror Darkly, Part II” Is An Enterprise Love Song To Star Trek!

The Good: Interesting character work for Archer, Good acting, Engaging plot progression
The Bad: It’s tough to get emotionally invested in the characters, Ridiculous-looking CG Gorn
The Basics: “In A Mirror Darkly, Part II” concludes the prequel Mirror Universe story by having a Gorn hunt through the U.S.S. Defiant, which leads to the solidification of the Terran Empire in a clunky way.


As Star Trek: Enterprise was winding down, its producers had a choice to make: go out with a referential episode or an original arc. The final three episodes of Star Trek: Enterprise were a distinctly Enterprise story, but immediately before that it did a final arc that was tightly related to the original Star Trek. Following up on the Mirror Universe episode “In A Mirror Darkly” (reviewed here!), “In A Mirror Darkly, Part II” was the final Enterprise episode that extensively referenced original Star Trek episodes.

“In A Mirror Darkly, Part II,” like its predecessor, is set entirely in the Mirror Universe that was introduced in “Mirror, Mirror” (reviewed here!). But, more than just presenting a straightforward story in the Mirror Universe, “In A Mirror Darkly, Part II” weaves a story that is very much a love song to Star Trek. As such, the episode is enriched by viewers having seen “The Tholian Web” and “Arena” (reviewed here!). Because of how insular the Mirror Universe stories are and how the action of “In A Mirror Darkly, Part II” is set on the U.S.S. Defiant from “our” universe, it’s actually possible to watch “In A Mirror Darkly, Part II” on its own (without seeing the first part).

With the Enterprise destroyed and a skeleton crew having made it to the U.S.S. Defiant, Archer has Reed and Tucker get the weapons systems of the futuristic ship brought back on line. Destroying the Tholians with the Defiant’s weapons, Archer takes aboard their captives as slaves and sends the Defiant, at impulse, toward Imperial space. When Kelby is killed, Phlox discovers another alien is aboard the ship. Interrogating the alien slave, Archer learns that Sklaar the Gorn is loose on the ship and is sabotaging the Defiant. Archer plans to lead the assault team on the Gorn to recover the plasma regulators needed to get the Defiant up to warp.

When Reed and Archer lead teams to find the Gorn, the Gorn is killed and the Defiant is able to rendezvous with Fleet Admiral Black’s ship. Rescuing Admiral Black from a rebel attack, Archer is dismayed that the Admiral will not give him a battlefield promotion to Captain and the Defiant. Killing Black, Archer takes command and he demands StarFleet’s unconditional surrender. Admiral Gardner refuses to surrender and Archer heads toward Earth, with the U.S.S. Avenger at his side. Aboard the Avenger, Soval and T’Pol work to protect the Empire by saving the Emperor’s life. Phlox allies with T’Pol and Soval, but Tucker manages to get the power grid up and running, destroying the Avenger and setting Archer on a historic course toward Earth.

One of the fun things about every Mirror Universe episode – in Star Trek and Star Trek: Deep Space Nine - is seeing how the normal universe characters are tweaked in the Mirror Universe. In “In A Mirror Darkly, Part II,” Archer suffers from a multiple personality disorder, seeing himself goading him into being more assertive. Dr. Phlox is sadistic and Soval is openly emotional and knows how to manipulate emotions. T’Pol is largely unchanged in the Mirror Universe as she is a principled, logical standing up for the greater good.

What does not work as well in “In A Mirror Darkly, Part II” is the Gorn plot. The Gorn seems to be a gratuitous addition to the storyline, as if the writers were saying “See how many episodes of Star Trek we can allude to?!” But the conflict aboard the Defiant distracts from the larger conflict in the Mirror Universe and seems somewhat silly. Archer’s fight with the Gorn ends pretty abruptly and it does not lead to much of a consolidation of power aboard the Defiant (in fact, it is after that that Soval and T’Pol are able to sway Phlox to their side).

The computer-generated Gorn looks ridiculous; it is lit without respect to the elements in its environment, which is a pretty clumsy mistake. Oddly, the space battles which were also done with CG effects are pretty impressive.

The acting in “In A Mirror Darkly, Part II” is good. Scott Bakula’s performance, in particular, stands out as he plays opposite himself (though director Martin V. Rush does not quite get the perspectives right in some shots, so one Archer is noticeably larger than the one he is standing behind!). Most of the rest of the main cast is not given as much to do to play with their warped versions of their characters, but what they are given they rise to the challenge of presenting in an interesting-enough fashion.

“In A Mirror Darkly, Part II” is neither the social revolution story of “Mirror, Mirror” or the usual bloodbath that Alternate Universe Star Trek: Deep Space Nine episodes were known for. Theoretically, “In A Mirror Darkly, Part II” is the story of the establishment of the tyrannical Empire which would evolve into the Empire seen in “Mirror, Mirror.”


The two biggest gaffes in “In A Mirror Darkly, Part II:”
2. In “Mirror, Mirror,” humans and Vulcans are allies; the origins of the Mirror Universe Empire is awkwardly presented with a rebellion from the outset and an inherent disparity in the power base of the two most powerful Federation/Empire races,
1. The Tholians, despite being 100 years prior to those seen in “The Tholian Web” (reviewed here!) use a vastly faster web-creation technology.

[Knowing that single episodes are an inefficient way to get episodes, it's worth looking into Star Trek: Enterprise - The Complete Fourth Season on DVD or Blu-Ray, which is also a better economical choice than buying individual episodes. Read my review of the final season here!
Thanks!]

For other works with Gregory Itzin, be sure to check out my reviews of:
Lincoln
The Ides Of March
The Change-Up
“The Shadows Of P’Jem” - Star Trek: Enterprise
Adaptation.
Original Sin
Evolution
"Critical Care" - Star Trek: Voyager
“Who Mourns For Morn?” - Star Trek: Deep Space Nine
“Dax” - Star Trek: Deep Space Nine

6/10

For other Star Trek episode and movie reviews, please visit my Star Trek Review Index Page!

© 2014 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.
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May The Fourth Be With You! The Star Wars Darth Vader Angry Birds Plush Still Disappoints!

The Good: Arguably the best Star Wars Angry Bird, Looks exactly like it is supposed to.
The Bad: Vastly overpriced, Low playability, Far more Vader than bird.
The Basics: The Star Wars Angry Birds plush Darth Vader is arguably the best of the pretty lousy toy line!


Happy Fourth! Each year for the last few since someone made the correlation between the release date of Star Wars: A New Hope decades ago and the popular Star Wars catchphrase “May The Force Be With You,” the fourth of May has become an important Star Wars holiday for geeks, myself included. As a Star Wars fan, I figure I have to review something Star Wars related today and, sadly, the next thing in my docket is the Darth Vader Star Wars Angry Birds plush.

For those unfamiliar with the Darth Vader character from Star Wars Angry Birds (reviewed here !), it doesn’t matter; the birds in Angry Birds do not have actual personalities. Instead, this is a parody of Darth Vader and a combination with one of the medium birds. The plush falls much more toward the image of Darth Vader than anything from the Angry Birds franchise.

Basics

The Star Wars Angry Birds plush Darth Vader is part of a current movement in toys where recognizable characters are changed into something else entirely. This looks strongly like Darth Vader’s helmet from A New Hope, with more obvious red eyes than one might expect for a product featuring Darth Vader. This version of the Angry Bird Darth Vader is a 5” in diameter stuffed character that is essentially a big black helmet that is supposed to pass as Darth Vader. And it does!

The Darth Vader Angry Birds plush does not include any sort of extended costume or body; this is a very pure representation of the Angry Birds Darth Vader helmet with embroidered red eyes and nothing that actually makes it look like an Angry Bird (no beak, for example).

Accessories

There are no accessories with this plush doll.

Playability

The playability of this Darth Vader is severely limited as it is a plush and it does not have a body. Annoyingly, this plush falls over or rolls over constantly, so it is poor for posing as well. One supposes little children may snuggle with it because it is entirely soft, though the vinyl at the back of the helmet is stiff, but that is about it.

Collectibility

The Commonwealth Toys Star Wars Angry Birds plushes seem to be a failure commercially, as I never seem to have any problem finding any of them, especially this silly Darth Vader plush. One suspects as the current fad for inaccurate dolls and Angry Birds fades, these will rightly become worthless. As it stands now, they are vastly overpriced, even in the now-depressed $10 range. I suspect that the peak price has already been reached and that Darth Vader’s value will only go down as time goes on and people wake up to the fact that the Star Wars Angry Birds plush thing is a pretty lousy fad. That said, the Darth Vader plush is the one that looks most like the Star Wars character it represents and that gives it broader appeal.

Overall

The Darth Vader Angry Bird plush is basically a disembodied Darth Vader head that is cute, but not at all an incredible collectible for either Star Wars or Angry Birds fans!

For other Star Wars plush toys, please check out my reviews of:
Han Solo Yellow Angry Birds plush
Luke Skywalker Red Angry Birds plush
Super Deformed Santa Yoda

4.5/10

For other toy reviews, please visit my Toy Review Index Page for an organized listing!

© 2014 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.
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Sting’s Compelling Solo Debut Is More Than The Dream Of The Blue Turtles!

The Good: Lyrics, Vocals, Musical accompaniment still pops
The Bad: VERY short, Dated
The Basics: Sting’s debut solo album, The Dream Of The Blue Turtles is a powerfully political pop album . . . if one is still stuck in the mid-1980s!


Sting lies. I mean, he probably does not lie all of the time, but in a recent documentary I watched, he sure lied. In Poliwood (reviewed here!), Sting tells director Barry Levinson that he layers his political songs with allegory, not naming names or specific situations when he writes a political song. He did claim there was an exception in his body of work, for a song about Pinochet. Perhaps this was a stance he developed, but originally, he sure did name names and write very specific political songs. Going back to his solo debut album, The Dream Of The Blue Turtles, songs like “Russians” where Sting calls out both Reagan and Khrushchev by name.

For a debut album, The Dream Of The Blue Turtles is ambitious in every way save duration. Sting, as he left the band The Police, did not come to his solo career with a wealth of songs ready to go, apparently. The Dream Of The Blue Turtles is short, specific and frequently murky-sounding for pop music. At the same time, Sting is distinctly Sting on The Dream Of The Blue Turtles and that makes the album very listenable for all those who love his works (solo and with the Police). In fact, The Dream Of The Blue Turtles is one of the better debut albums for illustrating how a musical artist’s career would actually progress. In other words, Sting starts out making the music he seemed to want to make on his own (even if it is not terribly different from the music The Police were making).

With only ten songs, clocking out at 41:40, the biggest strike against The Dream Of The Blue Turtles is that it is short. Sting managed to begin his solo career as an artist who seemed to have extensive creative control over his work. Sting wrote the music and lyrics to all ten songs (though he used some of Prokofiev’s music in “Russians”). As well, sting provides all of the lead vocals and he plays guitar and/or bass on each track. Sting also co-produced the album, so it’s hard to say The Dream Of The Blue Turtles was what Sting wanted to create at the time.

Musically, the songs on The Dream Of The Blue Turtles are very much pop songs, but they have a quality to them that is different from other pop music of the time (and certainly now). Songs like “Fortress” and “Moon Over Bourbon Street” are infused with keyboards, bass, and saxophone in such a way that they create a murky sound that obscures some of the vocals. In this way, Sting actually seems like a precursor to trip hop music on some of the songs on The Dream Of The Blue Turtles. When the album is not being upbeat-sounding, obvious pop songs like “If You Love Somebody Set Them Free” or the repetitive ballads like “Children’s Crusade,” the songs are actually deep and rich in sound that makes The Dream Of The Blue Turtles sound surprisingly fresh even now.

Stings vocals on The Dream Of The Blue Turtles are mostly clear. His voice remains in the tenor range on The Dream Of The Blue Turtles and one his social message songs, he enunciates perfectly in order to make his messages clear. He has good lung capacity on “Children’s Crusade” and “If You Love Somebody Set Them Free,” but otherwise, the album has vocals that are unlikely to surprise anyone who has heard Sting perform with The Police or on subsequent albums.

Lyrically, The Dream Of The Blue Turtles is a fairly diverse album. The songs are largely political, though there are some personal/emotional songs as well. “Russians” stands out for its politics and liberal philosophizing. Sting reduces the Cold War to two impossible to defend sides that he nevertheless tries to humanize with lines like “How can I save my little boy from Oppenheimer's deadly toy / There is no monopoly in common sense / On either side of the political fence / We share the same biology / Regardless of ideology / Believe me when I say to you / I hope the Russians love their children too” (“Russians”). Hearing the way Sting tries to illustrate how neither side is as monolithic as they appeared, one has to wish that Sting had written something about terrorists in recent years to try to combat the dehumanizing rhetoric used against their fanatical methods.

Sting isn’t against singing about relationships on The Dream Of The Blue Turtles. “Love Is The Seventh Wave” and “If You Love Somebody Set Them Free” both have Sting singing about how people relate to one another. But the best of the relationship songs on The Dream Of The Blue Turtles might well be “Fortress Around Your Heart.” When Sting sings “Then I went off to fight some battle / That I'd invented inside my head / Away so long for years and years / You probably thought or even wished that I was dead / While the armies are all sleeping / Beneath the tattered flag we'd made / I had to stop in my track for fear / Of walking on the mines I'd laid”(“Fortress Around Your Heart”), he creates a vivid image of emotional distance in the face of love that makes for a compelling song.

On “We Work The Black Seam,” Sting sings about environmental and economic issues that were actually talked about thirty years ago that no longer are spoken or sung about in popular or political discourse. Indeed, while some of the songs are very dated, the themes embodied by the lines “One day in a nuclear age / They may understand our rage / They build machines that they can't control / And bury the waste in a great big hole / Power was to become cheap and clean / Grimy faces were never seen / But deadly for twelve thousand years is carbon fourteen / We work the black seam together” (“We Work The Black Seam”) remain as compelling now as they did when The Dream Of The Blue Turtles was first released.

Ultimately, The Dream Of The Blue Turtles is a strong debut and one that one wishes either there was more of or had more of a universal quality to it. As it stands, it is one of the defining albums of the mid-1980s and because it has so many specific allusions to that period, it sounds like exactly what it is.

For other works featuring Sting or The Police, please visit my reviews of:
If On A Winter’s Night...
Songs From The Labyrinth
Fields Of Gold: The Best Of Sting 1984 - 1994
Sacred Love
Every Breath You Take: The Singles - The Police

7/10

For other music reviews, please check out my Music Review Index Page where the albums are organized from best to worst!

© 2014 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.
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A One-Woman The Hangover: Walk Of Shame Is Entertaining (But Not Much More)!

The Good: Decent performances, Actually funny
The Bad: Very predictable plot arc
The Basics: Stereotypical Texan good girl news anchor Meghan Miles goes on the Walk Of Shame after a night of blackout drinking.


Ever since The Hangover (reviewed here!), the idea of a blockbuster comedy has been an attainable goal for movie studios and while there have been some high-grossing comedies since The Hangover, there have been few that are really memorable or enduring. As part of counterprogramming, Focus is betting on their comedy Walk Of Shame this weekend. Walk Of Shame is not likely to be this year’s The Love Letter (The Love Letter was, to the best of my knowledge, the only major studio film to be released opposite The Phantom Menace and it, predictably, bombed), but as counterprogramming to The Amazing Spider-Man 2, odds are it will not make a box office dent.

That said, Walk Of Shame is a pretty entertaining (if largely familiar) comedy that features Elizabeth Banks and James Marsden. The film is largely a fish-out-of-water comedy with a plot that is actually similar to that of The Hangover, save that it involves one woman and focuses on the day after the drunken revelry which is when the chaos happens (as opposed to trying to figure out what mayhem occurred). For a film I had not heard of until I actually saw it, Walk Of Shame is actually funny and surprisingly memorable. Packed with an extraordinary cast of comedic talent, Walk Of Shame actually offers exactly what it promises; the comedy is decent entertainment for moviegoers who want a legitimate option outside the barrage of superhero films and obvious blockbusters gracing the screens today.

Having been mauled by cats on camera, during a report she was doing for a local television station, KZLA5 news anchor Meghan Miles gives a pretty terrible job interview, but is one of the two anchors who could be getting a prestigious anchor job at the network. On the day that she will find out whether or not she got the job, her fiancé Kyle abandons her (taking most of her possessions) and Wendy Chang gets the network position. Meghan’s friends Rose and Denise take her out to a club where she gets incredibly drunk. Rescued from a fire escape by the good-looking Gordon, the very drunk Meghan abandons her friends and goes back to Gordon’s loft where they both get blackout drunk.

Waking up without her purse (or any possessions, including her cell phone), Meghan checks her voice mail to find a message from her agent, Dan (using Gordon’s phone). Wendy Chang has been disqualified for the CNB job, so the executives are coming to Meghan’s work that night to meet with her and watch the broadcast live. With her car towed and now locked out of Gordon’s building, Meghan spends the day trying to get to work. Threatened by cops who think she is a prostitute, aided by a trio of men living hood-adjacent (one of whom gives her a vial of crack), and knowing only Kyle’s number, Meghan struggles to get uptown.

Incidents in Walk Of Shame include Meghan getting caught in a gangland shootout, getting yelled at by a crack dealer, pepper sprayed by a bus driver and finding herself in a conservative Jewish temple’s garden where she is perceived as a temptress by the student there. Walk Of Shame bears a number of similarities to The Hangover; there is a cat with crazy cg eyes that takes the place of the tiger, there is an impounded car, friends who are trying to track down the hungover protagonist and the police pursue Meghan much like the gangsters in The Hangover. Like most fish-out-of-water comedies, Walk Of Shame suffers most from its feelings of familiarity.

Walk Of Shame actually has some of its funniest moments without Meghan Miles. While the recurring thread of the Carpocalypse seems only to exist to give Kevin Nealon some wacky lines, the police officers played by Bill Burr and Ethan Suplee are legitimately hilarious. Elizabeth Banks performs convincingly as Meghan Miles and while much of the movie simply requires her to run around in a bright yellow dress and react to ridiculous characters, she pulls it off well. The character’s journey from archetypal “good girl” to car thief is presented in a surprisingly realistic fashion.

For light fare, Walk Of Shame is enjoyable, but not terribly substantive. There are far worse forms of entertainment, even this weekend. But will Focus have a blockbuster comedy? Not with Walk Of Shame. This is a movie that is entirely enjoyable to watch, but largely forgettable once it is over.

For other works with James Marsden, be sure to visit my reviews of:X-Men: Days Of Future Past
30 Rock
The Box
Sex Drive
27 Dresses
Superman Returns
X-Men: The Last Stand
X2: X-Men United
Ally McBeal
Zoolander
X-Men

6/10

For other movie reviews, please check out my Film Review Index Page for an organized listing!

© 2014 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.
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