Breaking Dawn: Part 1

Breaking Dawn: Part 1 (2011)
Starring: Kristen Stewart, Robert Pattinson, and Taylor Lautner
Directed by: Bill Condon
SC=7 V=8 C=3
Grade: A+

I really liked this movie! While I didn't like it as much as the other ones, it was pretty good and kept my interest the entire time. It felt like the movie only lasted half an hour. Bella (Stewart) and Edward (Pattinson) get married at the beginning of the movie. After a tense visit from Jacob (Lautner) and the rest of the werewolves, they leave for their honeymoon on Carlisle's (Peter Facinelli) private island, Isle Esme. While there, they discover that Bella is pregnant and, after a hasty trip home, that they can't remove the baby, even though it will slowly kill her from the inside. Only Rosalie (Nikki Reed) is on her side, with even her best friend Alice (Ashley Greene) and mother-figure Esme (Elizabeth Reaser) siding against her. While Carlisle and Edward try to save Bella from the killer baby, Jacob and Paul (Alex Meraz) prepare for the upcoming war that will happen when Bella dies and the Cullen's break the treaty.

Zookeeper

Zookeeper (2011)
Starring: Kevin James, Rosario Dawson, and Leslie Bibb
Directed by: Frank Coraci
SC=4 V=5 C=2
Grade: B+

This movie, while not strong plot wise (as expected), is hilarious. Kevin James is always good, especially in his movies that are just about him (Paul Blart). In this movie, Griffin Keyes (James) is a zookeeper who is very good at his job. He is still in love with his ex-girlfriend, Stephanie (Bibb), who dumped him in the middle of a proposal three years before. After the animals accidentally reveal to him that they can actually talk and understand what people say, they urge him, in order to get her back, to take another date to his brother's wedding to make her jealous. Griffin decides on Kate (Dawson), another zookeeper who has just finished creating the new eagle habitat. After successfully making Stephanie jealous, he is forced to change everything about himself in order to make her happy. This, of course, doesn't sit well with the animals? Will they be able to convince him to come back? Or will they be stuck with Shane (Donnie Wahlberg, ahh!!), the horrible zookeeper that tortures them all?

Horrible Bosses

Horrible Bosses (2011)
Starring: Jason Bateman, Charlie Day, and Jason Sudeikis
Directed by: Seth Gordon
SC=8 V=5 C=9
Grade: B

While this movie was funny at parts, I felt the same way about this as I did about Bridesmaids: promising concept, funny moments, but overall too dirty to be really funny. Nick Hendricks (Bateman) hates his boss, Mr. Harken (Kevin Spacey), because he calls him out for being 2 minutes late, refuses to promote him, and, really, he is just a jerk. Dale Arbus (Day) hates his boss, Dr. Julia Harris (Jennifer Aniston) because she is always coming onto him, even though he's married, and, really, she's just a jerk. Kurt Buckman (Sudeikis) loves his boss, Jack Pellit (Donald Sutherland) but when he dies, his son, Bobby Pellit (Collin Farrell), takes over and Buckman hates him, for being a drug addict, not being as good as his father, and for, obviously, being a jerk. The three friends come up with the brilliant idea of hiring a hit man to kill their respective bosses. What they get instead is murder consultant Dean "MF" Jones (Jamie Foxx). He informs them that the only way to kill their bosses is to make it look like an accident. As all of them set out to off their bosses, one of their bosses is, not quite surprisingly, is a homicidal maniac that just might take care of their problems on his own.

Bridesmaids

Bridesmaids (2011)
Starring: Kristen Wiig, Maya Rudolph, and Rose Byrne
Directed by: Kristen Wiig and Annie Mumolo
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Grade: B

This was a funny movie but, in my opinion, it was ruined by all of the raunchy "jokes". Annie's (Wiig) life is a mess. So, when she finds out that her lifelong best friend Lillian (Rudolph) is engaged and she's going to be the bridesmaid, she's extremely excited. But, Lillian's new friend Helen (Byrne) is not only rich, powerful, and seemingly all-knowing, she's also vicious. And she will do anything to make sure that Annie is replaced as maid of honor and she is the one doing the replacing. Though sad, loveless, and broke, Annie bluffs her way through expensive and bizarre rituals. Along on the ride with Annie are three crazy other bridesmaids (Melissa McCarthy, Wendi McLendon-Covey, and Ellie Kemper). With one change to get it perfect, she'll show Lillian, Helen, and the rest of the bridesmaids just how far you'll go for someone you love.

Crazy, Stupid, Love.

Crazy, Stupid, Love. (2011)
Starring: Steve Carell, Ryan Gosling, and Julianne Moore
Directed by: Glenn Ficara and John Requa
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Grade: A+

I didn't know about this movie when we started it. But it ended up being hilarious! Steve Carell is always awesome, as is Ryan Gosling. I rarely like Julianne Moore in movies but I actually really liked her in this one. And, of course, as is the case with any movie she's in, the shining light is Emma Stone. Cal Weaver (Carell) is shocked when his wife Emily (Moore) announces that she wants to get divorced because she didn't think they were in love anymore. She also announces that she had an affair with David Lindhagen (Kevin Bacon). Instead of fighting for her, Cal just gives up, moves into another apartment, and starts going to a bar every night, leaving their kids (Jonah Bobo and Joey King) confused. Jacob Palmer (Gosling) has what every guy would consider a great life, a lady's man always "scoring". But, while at the same bar ever night, he starts to notice Cal and thinks he's a sad loser who just needs a little help. After taking Cal shopping, Jacob starts to help him talk to women. Meanwhile, Hannah (Stone) gets rejected by her yuppie boyfriend Richard (Josh Groban), she goes to the bar, meeting up with Jacob and taking advantage of his willingness to do anything for a woman. Overall an adorable movie. Great performances by all of the cast and even a little surprising at parts.

Scre4m

Scre4m (2011)
Starring: Neve Campbell, Courtney Cox, and David Arquette
Directed by: Wes Craven
SC=4 V=10 C=10
Grade: A++

This is my favorite Scream movie, even better than the first one. Sidney Prescott (Campbell), now the author of a self-help book, comes back to Woodsboro on the last stop of her book tour. Little does she know that another Ghostface killer has emerged, killing people with similar names, in a similar order, as the first time around. While in town, Sidney visits Dewey (Arquette) and Gale (Cox), who are now married. She also sees her cousin Jill (Emma Roberts), who has a lot of friends who introduce new characters to kill off. There's her best friends Kirby (Hayden Panettiere) and Olivia (Marielle Jaffe), geeks Charlie Walker (Rory Culkin) and Robbie Mercer (Erik Knudson) (who is this movie's Randy), and ex-boyfriend Trevor Sheldon (Nico Tortorella). As Robbie explains the rules of the reboot, it becomes clear that anything can happen and the rule is there are no rules. Plus, the opening scene with Lucy Hale, Shanae Grimes, Anna Paquin, Kristen Bell, Aimee Teegarden, and Britt Robertson is brilliant and surprising. LOVE this movie!

Scream 3

Scream 3 (2000)
Starring: Neve Campbell, Courtney Cox, and David Arquette
Directed by: Wes Craven
SC=4 V=10 C=7
Grade: A-

Although I love the Scream movies, this one is my least favorite. There are several plot points that seem kind of weak. (Although I do like how they still have Randy give the rules of trilogies. In this installment of the franchise, Sidney Prescott (Campbell) is in seclusion and the killer still wants to find her. To do this he first "asks" Cotton Weary (Liev Schreiber from the first two movies). When he won't tell, the killer starts killing the cast of the newest Stab movie one by one, leaving pictures of Sidney's mother at the crime scenes, until she finally comes out of seclusion to help Dewey (Arquette). As Sidney, Dewey, and Gale (Cox) investigate the killings with some help from the remaining cast of Stab, they learn the killer is definitely not who they expected. They find out they are dealing with a trilogy and in a trilogy...anything can happen.

Scream 2

Scream 2 (1997)
Starring: Neve Campbell, Courtney Cox, and David Arquette
Directed by: Wes Craven
SC=5 V=10 C=6
Grade: A

I liked this movie, but not quite as much as the other one. Part of it might be the absence of Skeet Ulrich. The thing that makes this movie more awesome than it would have been, however, is Timothy Olyphant (oh yeah! :) and Jerry O'Connell (Vern from my favorite movie Stand By Me). In this sequel, it has been two years since the original events in Woodsboro. Sidney (Campbell) and Randy (Jamie Kennedy), two of the original survivors, are trying to move on with their lives at college. Cotton Weary (Liev Schreiber), the man originally convicted of Sidney's mother's murder, is trying to cash in on his wrongful incarceration. Gale Weathers (Cox) has written a best-selling book called "The Woodsboro Murders" which has been turned into a film called "Stab", starring Tori Spelling as Sidney. As the film's release date approaches, the cycle of death starts all over again. Dewey Riley (Arquette) immediately comes to Windsor College to protect Sidney, his "surrogate sister". As with the other Scream movies, Randy tells everyone the rules of horror movies. And, also as with all of the other movies, his predictions come true. And, in this sequel, the number of suspects only goes down as the body count goes up.