At the Forest Ridge Mall, head of security Ronnie Barnhardt patrols his jurisdiction with an iron fist, combating skateboarders, shoplifters and the occasional unruly customer while dreaming of the day when he can swap his flashlight for a badge and a gun. His delusions of grandeur are put to the test when the mall is struck by a flasher. Driven to protect and serve the mall and its patrons, Ronnie seizes the opportunity to showcase his underappreciated law enforcement talents on a grand scale, hoping his solution of this crime will earn a coveted spot at the police academy and the heart of his elusive dream girl Brandi, the hot make-up counter clerk who won’t give him the time of day. But his single-minded pursuit of glory launches a turf war with the equally competitive Detective Harrison of the Conway Police, and Ronnie is confronted with the challenge of not only catching the flasher, but getting him before the real cops do.

While the Foot Fist Way failed to make director Jody Hill a household name, the weird-o action comedy did capture Hollywood’s attention, and one of the undying movie trends in Los Angeles is the desire to push the boundaries of mainstream comedy. Call it the Apatow effect. From what we understand, OaR might even offend perverts with its uncouth behaviors. Rogen’s playing an unlikable character for the “first” time (that’s what Internet boys are saying, to which I say: Did you not see Knocked Up?), and his clashes with Liotta are reportedly as un-politically correct as his tryst with Anna Faris (playing a put-upon cosmetics-counter girl) is gag-inducing. Plus, full frontal male nudity. JoBlo has some scoop.

Rated R for pervasive language, graphic nudity, drug use, sexual content and violence.

Director: Jody Hill
Stars: Seth Rogen, Anna Faris, Ray Liotta
Studio: Warner Bros. Pictures
Release Date: 10 April 2009 (USA)
Genre: Action | Comedy

As Hannah Montana’s popularity begins to take over her life, Miley Stewart, on the urging from her father takes a trip to her hometown of Crowley Corners, Tennessee to get some perspective on what matters in life the most.

If one takes into consideration this story’s thematic elements and combines them with Miley’s real-life trials and tribs, one might assert that the young star is boxing up her alter ego and preparing for the next chapter in her career. Affirming this notion is the fact that novelist Nicholas Sparks (he of Notebook fame) is customizing his first-ever screenplay to suit Ms. Cyrus, and the project is tentatively set to arrive around the time of her 18th birthday. Aiding the transition here is adult-fare specialist, director Peter Chelsom (Shall We Dance).

Director: Peter Chelsom
Stars: Miley Cyrus, Emily Osment, Billy Ray Cyrus
Studio: Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures
Release Date: 10 April 2009 (USA)
Genre: Comedy | Family | Music

It was a summer night in 1957 in the quiet California desert town of Mojave. Local astronomer Ted Lewis (Eric McCormack) is making a special anniversary dinner for his wife Lana (Jody Thompson). A local diner waitress, Tammy (Jenni Baird) is in her trailer painting a horse scene while Dick (Andrew Dunbar) and Penny (Sarah Smyth) are necking at lovers lane. All are watching the light show from the annual August Perseid meteor showers when suddenly there is a blinding light and crash into the butte just outside of town. Ted attempts to investigate but Lana prevails in keeping him home at least until she falls asleep and he can sneak out to the crash site. In the meantime we see a gruesome alien creature (The Ghota) leaving the spaceship to slip away into the night. Soon after, a tall alien in a silvery metallic suit (Urp) appears from the ship. When Ted arrives at the butte he does not discover a smoking red-hot meteorite but rather a flying saucer imbedded in the hillside with its ramp down. He cautiously enters the saucer and is snatched up by the mysterious silver alien.

Townspeople soon start disappearing everywhere and the only remnant at the scene is a puddle of gurgling mud. Ted Lewis, having been body snatched by Urp, is now on the trail of the murderous Ghota. Urp, is actually a galactic Federal Marshal from another planet who was transporting the Ghota when his saucer crashed landed and the Ghota escaped. He needs to find and recapture the creature before it begins to divide or it will multiply exponentially until all life is consumed on planet Earth. After unsuccessfully trying to convince Lana to help him find the Ghota, Urp meets Tammy on the highway when she offers him a lift. Urp tries his best to convince Tammy of his plight and to help him track down the Ghota. But when they stop at an old derelicts cabin and find only a mud puddle of human remains, Tammy can take no more of the crazy talk and circumstances and leaves him in a huff.

The teens, Dick & Penny, are on their own track encountering first the Ghota and then the saucer, trying to convince anyone to believe them. Finally they tell their story in the diner to Tammy who now realizes that Urp was telling her the truth. She tries to convey this to the temporary police chief (Dan Lauria) who still refuses to believe there is any real threat, much less from outer space. That is until later when his senior deputy (Robert Patrick) is also dissolved by the Ghota.

The Ghota is now rampaging through the town dissolving people, cops (and even children) at will. Tammy encounters the Ghota herself while she is closing the diner and makes a narrow escape. Then comes the big scene in the local movie theater where Dick, Penny and Cody (Aaron Brooks) are watching the original 1950s version of The Blob. The Ghota appears at the rear of the theater and begins picking off its prey. All the patrons flee the theater except the teens who are trapped and now stalked by the Ghota. All seems hopeless until Tammy arrives and tries to help, only to become trapped herself with the teens when the Ghotas divided twin suddenly materializes.

Alien Trespass … read more »

Mattress salesman Brian Weathersby (Dano) finds his plan to adopt a Chinese baby augmented by the arrival of a young woman, Happy (Deschanel), who comes into his workplaces, falls asleep on one of the beds, and starts to affect his life upon waking up.

“Wait, why haven’t I heard about this movie?” If you are asking yourself this question, which I was about six weeks before its release, perhaps you’ll want to read this review from Gigantic’s premiere at the Toronto Film Festival last year. Still, despite the number of so-so reviews, most people indicate the story picks up speed in its second act, and the chemistry between Dano (who also produces here) and Deschanel is undeniable — though perhaps Zooey might want to pick up on the fact that she’s becoming known as “the It Girl who can save a bad film”? Not to be a jerk, but I think it’s a bit shady to release this film right before the better-received (500) Days of Summer.

Rated R for language, some sexual content and violence.

Director: Matt Aselton
Stars: Paul Dano, Zooey Deschanel, John Goodman
Studio: First Independent Pictures
Release Date: 26 June 2009 (UK)
Genre: Comedy, Romance

Arriving with what prove to be outsized expectations for raucous humor on the basis of “Superbad,” Greg Mottola’s “Adventureland” unspools as a rather ordinary account of youthful summer misadventures that goes down easily thanks to a sparkly cast, more than 40 pop tunes that anchor the action in the late ’80s and characters who get high both on and off their jobs at a tacky amusement park. Thanks especially to the presence of leading lady Kristen Stewart in a role she filmed prior to “Twlight,” the pic should spin good returns for Miramax on its March 27 release.

Based on the experiences he had working at a Long Island amusement, Mottola cooks up a passable amount of mischief to occupy the late- teen/early-20s misfits who work as ride and game operators at Pittsburgh’s Adventureland in the summer of ‘87. Writer-director’s evident stand-in is James Brennan (Jesse Eisenberg of “The Squid and the Whale”), who’s forced to take any summer job he can get when his European trip is dashed and his autumn date with grad school at Columbia is jeopardized by his alcoholic father’s fall from grace at work.

For a Reagan-era pothead, James is a terribly serious, woefully earnest guy who offers up his SAT scores when applying for low-end summer positions. He also somehow has emerged from college still a virgin, but his saving grace as far as his Adventureland cohorts are concerned is that he’s always has some weed. This makes the days go by easier, and also fuels the night, which the gawky James surprises himself by chastely spending with the alluring but massively screwed up Em (Kristen Stewart), who works at the park only as a way or getting away from her father and unbearable new stepmother.

What James doesn’t know is that Em is having a clandestine affair with older local musician and handyman Mike Connell (Ryan Reynolds), to whom James sometimes confesses his amorous feelings for Em. Adding further to the equation is a flirty cupcake Lisa P. (Margarita Levieva), a known virgin-for-life who nonetheless encourages James’ attentions.

Adventureland … read more »