It's No Smurfberries

The other day I was pretty smurfed off when I went to not one but two grocery stores and didn't find a single bit of smurf merchandising for the new movie. I mean Smurfs are blue - that's like the big thing about them. How easy is it to just put out a blue version of whatever product you make and slap a Smurf sticker on the package and stick it out there!? Well, apparently there IS a Smurf cereal out there...I just haven't found it yet. Now I have to spend the whole weekend going to the other grocery stores in the area looking for it. Great!

The strange (yet cool) thing about this cereal is that's it' almost like Post Cereal is saying, "Hey! We realize the filmmakers smurfed up the design of the Smurfs."


"So flip the box over and here's the way the Smurfs are supposed to look!"



Well played, Post. Although If I were a cereal executive (and I so should be) I would have just put Smurfberry Crunch back out on the market. It too would be available in two versions: the kind that doesn't make your poop turn purple and the retro box which does do the trick.

My Week In Movies - June of the Penguins

Mr. Popper's Penguins (2011) Let's face it, Jim Carrey is at his best when he's just being Jim Carrey. We like him goofy, silly and just off the wall bonkers - it's why he's a star. It's understandable that he wants to do more than than in movies, but throw us a bone every once in a while and just let loose and go crazy like ya did in your first handful of movies! Mr. Popper's Penguins is a perfect vehicle for Carrey to let loose and be a goofball and there are moments in the film where we see the ol' Ace Ventura Jim shine through. But too much of this movie is wasted on the sappy relationship between Mr. P and his kids and the played out storyline about his career that we never really get the full Jim Carrey experience that this family film should carry. Even the penguins aren't given that much to do, they have some funny scenes and Carrey is funny reacting to them but overall this picture should have been alot funnier than it was. If you're not looking for a Jim Carrey experience and just a nice family friendly flick to take the kids to - this should do you just fine. If you're looking for Jim Carrey in his element - you'd be better off rewatching Ace Ventura or The Mask.


I Am Number Four (2011) Imagine a cross between Star Trek and Dawson's Creek...except without any of the good parts. In this teen oriented sci fi caper, a young fella is on the run from alien bounty hunters while also trying to navigate the complex world of high school. He meets a girl, falls in love, stands up to the school bully, and also discovers that he can shoot light out of his palms. The aliens out to get him are some mean looking bargain basement Star Trek leftovers who wish to take over the Earth but must first destroy nine kids sent to the planet from space. (The kid in the story is the fourth of the nine, get it?!) I hate in movies when aliens are portrayed as basically humans with weird tattoos and bad teeth. In a world with Mike Tyson and the British - you need a little more effort than that nowadays to sell me an alien. That's why ALF continues to be the most realistic depiction of alien life. Well, ALF and that brain thing from the old Ninja Turtles cartoon. I Am Number Four does conclude with a pretty decent action sequence and sets the stage for a series of films, I guess they are hoping I Am Number Five is next? It's kind of lame to force a franchise on an audience. We all knew we were in for 18 Harry Potter movies, but unless you're a broom riding wizard you need box office receipts before you can start filming a number two...or five?!

C.C. and Company (1970) Oh Ann-Margret! You've steered me wrong this time! The still gorgeous Ann-Margret and goofy looking football legend Joe Namath star in this early 70's biker picture. After a cute opening scene where Namath makes a sandwich while shopping in a grocery store, we settle in for a fairly bland adventure. Apparently in the 1970's audiences couldn't get enough of motorbikes because this ain't the first film I've seen where a good percentage of screen time is dedicated to capturing the glory of little mopeds scurrying around a dirt track. There are at least two extended scenes of just people riding around on bikes. This film also features the hilarious comic misadventures of rape and teenage prostitution. I couldn't tell if this was supposed to be a comedy, drama or action flick. The movie's carousel calliope soundtrack didn't help matters either.

Scooby Doo: Camp Scare (2010) They've been making these direct-to-DVD Scooby Doo animated movies at the rate of one a year for the last 15 years. I've seen a couple of them and I rather enjoyed this one. Scoobs and the gang join Fred as he goes back to the summer camp of his youth to be a counselor. Of course there are some mysterious hi jinks afoot. This Mystery Inc. outing plays nice to older viewers with some sophisticated jokes and a funny subplot about Daphine's jealousy over a sexy, curvy counselor at the neighboring camp. I only wish these films were animated more in the style of the older cartoons, but they do retain alot of the fun of the original series.

Space Jam (1996) There are two types of people in this world: The people who think this Bugs Bunny/Michael Jordan basketball movie is a piece of crap and there are those who think it's a fantastic movie. I am from the camp of those who find it awesome! My kids enjoyed it too!

Summer Movie Preview III

My kids are super excited about this one...


And speaking of animals...

Summer Movie Preview II

This looks fun...


...and this looks really good...

Summer Movie Preview I

Loved One, hated Two, sat-out Three, Number Four has mermaids...I'm in!



Great cast!

Smurf Movie

I've been really excited about the new Smurfs movie coming out next summer. From what I've been reading, the movie was supposed to take the Smurfs and give them a big budget, Lord of the Rings style trilogy. From the looks of this first trailer for the film, which comes out next summer, it looks more like we'll be getting another movie in the Garfield/Alivn & The Chipmunks/Marmaduke category instead. Bummer!

I've still got my hopes up for Yogi Bear!

My Week In Movies - Muchos Caballeros

The Three Caballeros (1944) If you know me you know that I love a good plotless movie. Walt Disney's 7th animated feature film does not contain the classic storytelling that her perfected years earlier with Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs and Pinocchio. The Three Caballeros is a 71 minute feature film which starts off with Donald Duck recieving a large present. Inside the box Donald finds many smaller presents. First he finds a film projector and some movies. He then watches the movies which are a couple of animated shorts. Then Donald's friends pop out of the box and take him on a tour of various Latin American countries. Sounds bizarre, doesn't it!? It's actually a very fun and upbeat film with tons of meandering musical numbers and live action footage of our neighbors to the south. At the time this film was produced, the U.S. government had sent Walt Disney and his staff of artists to South America on a Goodwill Tour. This film (along with another feature Saludos Amigos and a handful of shorts) were the product of their lengthy tour. Nowadays, this film stands out as a strange counterpart to some of Disney's more well-known films but it's very enjoyable and starting to receive a bit of a cult following some 60 years after it was released. They even recently added a ride based on this movie at EPCOT in Orlando.


The Hangover (2009) Everyone you've heard from is right...this is one funny movie! The story of three guys who wake up from a night of partying and have no idea what happened the night before is incredibly entertaining and quick moving due to a simple premise and a great cast. The show is really stolen by comedian Zach Galifianakis (he's the one with the baby in tow on the poster). This new Bradley Cooper guy is pretty good and Ed Helms from The Office is a real stand-out too. The cast also includes Heather Graham, Jeffrey Tambor, Rachel Harris, Rob Riggle, Brian Callen and as you've seen in the trailers: Mike Tyson. Tyson's first appearance would have been one of the funniest moments in the movie had the trailers not given away his presence. There's also a fella in this picture named Ken Jeong, you might have seen him in Role Models or Knocked Up, he's fantastic in this movie and I think we'll be getting more familiar with that name in the next year or so.

Daddy Day Camp (2007) What road did I travel down that resulted in my seeing this Eddie Murphy-less sequel? I was feeling pretty lousy after two days of being sick and coughing and not having any energy. I wanted to watch something with the kids where I could just totally shut my brain off. This movie did the trick. It's actually not as bad as you'd imagine, but it's probably just as not good as you'd imagine. But, you've got to hand it too a film that can pull off gags about pooping, peeing, gas, and vomiting - all in the same film!

9 Out of 10 Ain't Bad

Of the nine feature films Pixar Animation has produced The Incredibles is the only one that I haven't really cared for. It looks like their next project Up is going to be another entry into the list of their films I love. Here's the trailer for next summer's Up...it looks really cool:

Two Iron Mans Are Better Than One

As you may know, we are big fans of Movie Tie-Ins. Well, at least I am and the rest of the family has to go along for the ride. Yesterday we had to go out and run a few errands (including picking up our Disney World tickets) so I gave the kids a choice: McDonald's for Speed Racer toys or Burger King for Iron Man toys. It turns out Iron Man crushed Speed Racer in enthusiasm so we included a stop at our local BK for lunch. Expecting to get psyched for the Iron Man movie with some crappy little toys we were also met with an image of Indiana Jones as we pulled into the parking lot. It turns out BK didn't only whore itself out to Iron Man, but they are also in bed with good ol' Indy too. I'm a sucker for any menu item that is somehow tied into a movie, so while the kids ate their chicken tenders and apple sauce Joey and I were chowing down on Indiana Jones' Adventure Whopper...or something to that effect. Yes, it's just a Whopper with the addition of Pepper Jack Cheese, Bacon and some dark red tangy sauce but it comes wrapped in an Indiana Jones wrapper too! How can you resist! And I'm not really even into the whole Indiana Jones thang!


As you can see from the picture, the boys got Iron Man glasses that I guess are somehow supposed to make them look like Iron Man. Elias and Tanner really wanted action figures but they also aren't ones to pass up wearing superhero costume items. Most of the toys available in the Burger King Kid's Meal are figures but there is also a 3-D puzzle that looks kind of neat. It appears that Burger King is going to have Indiana Jones toys sometime in the next week or so.


Over at Mickey D's they are plugging the new Speed Racer movie with their Happy Meal. They of course have several different cars as prizes but they've also decided to make Speed Racer one of their boy/girl prizes. I assume boys are awarded one of the cars and girls receive "fashion items" like Speed Racer purses and vanity mirrors. An odd decision on Ronald's part, I guess they felt the movie just didn't have enough "Girl Power" to keep the little girls happy. Lame!

Here They Come... Here Comes Speed Racer Toys

The summer movie season is just around the corner and that means the summer movie merchandising is here. Product tie-ins and other movie goodies can get me excited about a movie that I have no intention of seeing! However, I am looking forward to the new Speed Racer movie and we all know how much of a fan I am of free prizes in cereal boxes. So, free Speed Racer prizes inside specially marked boxes of General Mills cereal? Sign me up! I haven't watched an episode of Speed Racer since I was probably 8 years old, but I do have fuzzy warm memories of the cartoon. When I was in the first and second grade Speed Racer was on WDCA Channel 20 every afternoon at 3 & 3:30. We got off the bus somewhere between 3 and 3:30. So everyday I would race home from the bus stop, grab the afterschool snack and then head on down to my friend Ryan Tripp's house to watch the second Speed Racer before a solid hour of Scooby-Doo at 4 & 4:30. That was television my friends! (And...Yes, my friend Ryan's mom was later involved in a certain White House scandal that made her famous!)

So, anywho...this new Speed Racer movie looks pretty cool. It's bright and colorful and looks like it will be alot of fun plus it stays true to the original series which is always a plus in my book. I had already seen Speed Racer fruit snacks at the grocery store and today I saw the toys starting to pop up on the shelves at Wal-Mart. The free cars inside the cereal happened to be inside two brands of cereal that we eat in our house, so we picked up a couple of boxes. Unfortunately we didn't score the Mach 5 (Speed Racer's white car) but we did get these two other cars: #33 and #12 Hydra Cell. That means absolutely nothing to me either, but after the movie I'm sure we'll know who they are. The cars have the ol' pull back and go action which allows them to speed off on their own after driving them backwards on the floor a few inches. For cheap little cereal premiums they work pretty good. They are fast and provided an evenings worth of entertainment for my kids (and I).

Speed Racer hits theatres May 9. You can look for additional tie-promotions with Target, Lego, Puma and yes...the coveted McDonald's Happy Meal.

back of the cereal boxes

Get Your Simpsons On

To celebrate the release of THE SIMPSONS MOVIE, which comes out later this month, 7-Eleven stores have all kinds of neat stuff waiting for ya. The Slurpee machines have been "replaced" with machines dispensing Bart's beverage of choice: Squishee. There's even Squishee cups and plastic souvenir Simpsons cups and Crazy Straws for your fountain soda. In their pastry cabinet you'll find Homer's favorite pink frosted donuts with sprinkles on top just like the one featured in the movie poster. They even have all kinds of little toys, shirts and other little odd n' ends you can buy with all the residents of Springfield featured. At some stores you can but boxes of Crusty-O's cereal, Buzz Cola, and Radioactive Man Comic Books. If all that isn't cool enough, a small handful of 7-11's have been completely transformed into Kwike Marts (including the one in Bladensburg, MD.)

Here's a Flickr set of one of the converted stores.

Mr. Potato Head is a Transformer

I'm not expecting much from the upcoming big screen version of The Transformers, but the closer we get to the release date (7/4) the better it's starting to look. Of course the merchandising plays a big part in getting me excited for a movie and the toy isle shelves are once again filled with Transformer toys as if it were 1983 all over again! The coolest of the new toys is this hilarious new tater named Optimash Prime. Ol' Mr. Potato is trying to stay relevant by disguising himself as one of the Transformers. He's also been recently seen dressed as Spider-Spud and Darth Tater. I guess Optimash is not going to be in the new movie...but he should be!

By the way, the yet-t0-be-released Transformers movie won the MTV Movie Award for Best Movie You Haven't Seen Yet. What?!?

Charming Local Sight of the Week: Trailer Park neighbors having a Tupperware Party in their front yard.