My 2008 At The Movies

Have I ever mentioned how much I love going to the movies? This year I reached a milestone that I had been looking forward to since I became a daddy. I can now go to the movies with both my kids...which means I don't need a babysitter, which means I can pretty much go whenever we can. Of course, with a 5 year old and a 3 year old, our movie choices are somewhat limited but luckily for me (and them) I like cartoons and other silly movies, so it really works out well for us all. This year I got to go to more movies than I have in any other year since we had kids. And now...because you care...here's a quick rundown of what I was able to see in the theatres this past year.

Juno Movies about high school are pretty much in my comfort zone so I really enjoyed this comedy-drama. By now, everyone knows what this movie is about so I'll skip the details and just say it's always a delight to watch Jason Bateman practice his craft.

Meet the Spartans I don't know why I can't stop myself from going to see these horrible pop-culture reference-fests. I love the silly humor of Airplane! and other films like it and somewhere deep down I keep thinking one of these modern movie spoofs will pull of some of the same laughs that Airplane! and Top Secret! did so many years ago. Instead, I get $10 bucks sucked out of my wallet to watch lame jokes about Britney Spears and American Idol.


Strange Wilderness I went to see this movie for one reason and one reason only...the trailer ended with a looped clip of a goofy looking shark laughing over and over. Hilarious! This movie is just about the dumbest thing ever committed to film. What anyone who was making this movie was thinking when they were filming it is a mystery. It's bizarre, silly, stupid, vulgar and idiotic to say the least. I loved it! Strange Wilderness has become one of my all-time favorite movies. When I rewatched it on DVD, I laughed uncontrollably for the duration of the movie. Do yourself a favor, put the kids to bed, turn off your brain and watch this movie. It's the best movie about Bigfoot and laughing sharks you'll ever see!


College Road Trip The concept of a G-rated Martin Lawrence comedy co-staring Donny Osmond was enough to get me into the theatre to see this one. Let it also be known that this film contains more taser jokes than any other movie in history. All in all, a good time at the movies!

Horton Hears A Who This was the first movie we took 2 year old Tanner to. He was really good and enjoyed this animated take on the Dr. Seuss classic. It's much more faithful to the source material than the other two recent Seuss films but with the flood of animated films over the last few years, I gotta say it was nothing spectacular. However, it's not a waste of time, either!

Superhero Movie Here I am again at the movies to see another Airplane! style spoof, this time of Superhero movies of the last few years. It borrows mostly from Spider-Man, but there's some X-Men and Harry Potter thrown in too. Superhero Movie actually tries to be funnier than just seeing how many other movies it can poke fun at. Leslie Nielsen is in the house, so you know it can't be that bad!

Baby Mama Even though Baby Mama is very funny at times, I was really disappointed that a movie staring two comedy giants like Amy Poehler and Tina Fey got bogged down with so much cliche' storyline. The idea of a upper class woman having a white trash gal for a surrogate mother is a funny idea. The twists and turns in the story were not funny and it all came crashing down with an ending you could see coming a mile away. Disappointment!

Kung-Fu Panda I was expecting something kind of different here, with all the internet buzz about how awesome it was. In the end, this was just another run of the mill animated film. However, my kids think this is one of the greatest things ever created and never pass up a chance to play Kung-Fu Panda, watch Kung-Fu Panda or read a book based on Kung-Fu Panda.

Get Smart This was my one big movie that I was really excited about seeing this summer. I'm a big fan of the old TV series and it's 1980 movie The Nude Bomb. I even like Steve Carell alot. Get Smart was funny and entertaining, but it was nowhere near the kind of funny Don Adams used to bring on!

Wall-E This little robot is the star of probably the best movie of the year. Wall-E's tale is so imaginative, engrossing and powerful that it was a rare moving experience for me. I can't say that many movies have made a big impact on my life, but Wall-E made me kick up my family's recycling efforts about 200%!

Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull Believe it or not, my first Indiana Jones film! Honestly, I didn't even know Indiana Jones was "a thing" until the third movie came out when I was in high school and everyone went gaa-gaa over it. Since my son, Elias, has the Star Wars gene in him...he also gets the obligatory Indiana Jones thing going on to. I took him to see it, because he was all hyped up about I. Jones. It has some good fight and chase scenes but other than that I didn't find anything special about it. Elias of course loved every second of it!

Star Wars: The Clone Wars I thought this movie would have been a whole lot bigger but it kind of sizzled out at the box office. My brother-in-law and I took the kids to see it...Elias was in full Jedi gear for the showing. I thought it was a really fun movie. It took some liberties with the Star Wars formula, but over all it's a really enjoyable film. Elias got the DVD for Christmas and I've sat down and rewatched most of it because it really is alot of fun.

The House Bunny First of all, I'm a huge fan of the super-silly TV show The Girls Next Door. So when they spent a whole episode plugging this movie, I was in. This was a rare night alone for my wife and I and even though she enjoys her movies with a little more Sandra Bullock, even she couldn't help but laugh out loud a dozen or so times at this lighthearted movie. It's bright, it's colorful, it's predictable, it's about a sorority house...all the things I look for in a movie. I'm looking forward to seeing again on DVD.

College What a creative title! Bob-Howdy, this was one funny movie! It's extremely vulgar and without a shred of originality but I don't think I laughed harder at another movie in a long time!

Space Chimps I was on Daddy Duty here, taking the kids to see this cartoon movie about monkeys in space. It has some good one liners and enough grown-up jokes to keep me awake. There was much giggling from my kids as well.



Beverly Hills Chihuahua Chihuahua wasn't near as stupid as the trailer made it out to be, and I was a little disappointed in that. Instead of the big splashy musical I thought I was getting, we get a fairly standard missing dog story. It was still pretty good and a worthwhile trip to the movies.



Igor Again, I'm here just for the kids. I was going to let this one slip by, but it was at the bargain theatre so I took the kiddies one weekend. Again, they loved it and I thought it was just so-so. It wasn't bad...but it wasn't good either!


Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa Not a real big fan of the first Madagascar (slept through it twice) but my kids think it's the funniest thing since the invention of the rubber chicken. Kudos for throwing my boy Alec Baldwin into the mix but points off for having 32 storylines and none of them going anywhere.

Bolt It's a sad state of affairs when the latest Disney animated film is just kinda run of the mill. It has some awesome action scenes, and the whole thing probably would have been a little more thrilling in 3-D but my kids "don't like the movies with glasses" so this movie was kind of flat all the way around.

The Tale of Despereaux I was strictly here for the kids. The image of a little mouse with a sword was enough to have Elias excited about this movie for months. Apparently, not nearly as good as the book...having not read the book, I was just bored!



We're off to see Marley & Me later this weekend.