TheSpot News: Another mutant for X-Men

Alex Gonzalez joins X-Men First Class as Riptide
by Jose

Let's throw another mutant onto the pile, shall we?
Basically I'm at a loss now. Are we just throwing him in for the hell of it? I mean, they could build toward a Marauders storyline, but again I'm not sure here. Seems they are just seeing how many mutants they can add without screwing up the movie. Only time will tell.

Weekend Box Office Numbers 9/17-9/19

By: Robert Acosta

After the last couple weeks of seeing the box office being dominated by sub-par movies, glad to see the box office headed by decent movies.

Lets take a look at this past weekends box office numbers:

1. The Town- $23.8 Million
2. Easy A- $18.2 Million
3. Devil- $12.6 Million
4. Resident Evil: Afterlife- $10.1 Million 
5. Alpha and Omega- $9 Million
6. Takers- $3 Million
7. The American- $2.7 Million
8. Inception- $2 Million
9. The Other Guys- $2 Million
10. Machete- $1.7 Million

I was very excited for both The Town and Devil, still haven't had the chance to see either but will be checking them out this week. Glad that they respectively found their way in the top 3 this week. Resident Evil fell to the 4 spot, which doesn't surprise me much. Inception and The Other Guys still hanging around, with Inception nearing the $300 million dollar mark but unlikely that it will make it there. 

Next weekend comes a very slow week, so expect this top ten to look fairly similar next week. Movies like Legend of the Guardians: Owls of Ga'hoole and Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps will find their way into the top 10 but I don't see either being number 1 next week.

Alpha and Omega 3D Review

By: Robert Acosta

Cast:
Justin Long as Humprey
Hayden Panetierre as Kate
Dennis Hopper as Tony
Danny Glover as Winston

NOTE: This is an animated movie so the cast provided above pertains to their voices for the characters.

Plot: Two wolves, Humprey and Kate, stray away from their packs and have to find their way home before things between the two different packs get out of hand.

Review: This was one of those movies that I randomly chose to watch and bad timing really made this movie the only choice for me at the time. Nonetheless, can't complain.

Of the movies released this nearly past weekend, Alpha and Omega was pretty over looked. With The Town, Devil and Easy A all out, it's clear that this is the lesser of the four movies. With that said, it's not all bad. For all the families out there, it's a decent movie to go take your kids too. It has its cute moments and those small funny parts backed up with an alright story.

The story revolves around two wolves from two completely different packs. The male Alpha wolf, Humprey voiced by Justin Long, has a crush on one of the female Omega wolves, Kate voiced by Hayden Panetierre. They aren't allowed to mate because of the difference in pack but Humprey is determined to break those rules.

As for the 3D, it normally works in animated movies but there weren't too many effects. So on that end, the movie really fails as many 3D movies tend to do.

The story between Humprey and Kate is a out-dated one. Two people(or wolves) are not allowed to mingle and date but they find a way to work things out and everyone approves. So nothing here is new. If you're into that cliche story, then this movie is for you.

The ending of the movie struck me only because it draws huge similarities to The Lion King. A stampede of caribou come along as the two packs are arguing amongst themselves so the wolves must find safety. As it's going on, you get an overhead shot of a couple of stragglers being chased by the caribou. It's almost a mirror image of one very popular scene in The Lion King. In remembering that scene, there is another reference to Lion King..sort of. The "Midnight Howl" that takes place during the movie gathers all the wolves to howl with each other, mails pairing up with females. The howl ends up being more of a vocal harmony between all the wolves and that once again brought me to the Lion King and the songs in that movie.

Overall, Alpha and Omega is a light hearted kids movie. Not saying that's a bad thing but you're better off going to see The Town, Devil or Easy A this week.

Rating: 2 out of 5

The Last Kiss Review

By: Robert Acosta

Cast:
Zach Braff as Michael
Rachel Bilson as Kim
Jacinda Barrett as Jenna
Blythe Danner as Anna

Plot: As a group of longtime friends grow up together they meet a time in their life where decisions about the rest of their lives are being made.

Review: Call this nerdy but I know that back on the 15th was the 4 year anniversary of the theatrical release of this movie. I wanted to coincide this review with the previous review of (500) days of summer as they are strikingly similar. Also managed to post it on close to the anniversary as well.

I'm in no way embarassed by the fact that I only managed to find out about The Last Kiss by watching Jackass: Number Two. I was flipping through the trailers featured on the DVD, came across The Last Kiss and knew I had to buy that DVD immeadiately.

The Last Kiss is one of those growing up tales, watching a group of longtime friends handle manhood or just general adulthood. Can I relate? No, I haven't hit that 30 year old, settling down with a family point yet. Nonetheless, it felt like a real experience, much like 500 Days of Summer.

I haven't seen too much of Zach Braff, few episodes of Scrubs only but he really put in a great performance. People have argued that The Last Kiss was his best performance, next to Garden State and his work on Scrubs. Without having to see the rest, I agree! His relationshop with everyone from his longtime friends, his girlfriend, Jenna who is played by Jacinda Barrett and the girl he was having an affair with, Kim played by sexy Rachel Bilson all seemed fairly natural.

Throw in the always beautiful Rachel Bilson into the mix, how could this movie not be entertaining? Loved every minute she's in. More than just the visual part but she's actually a pretty decent actress.

The big draw to the movie for me was the story, a very solid story. May not be original in anyway but it still works. It's the basic man has trouble with settling down with one woman concept so he has this last adventure with a younger girl, feels bad about what he does so he attempts to patch things up with his girlfriend. The way it all plays out keeps you really intrigued the whole time. On top of that story is an underlying story that is almost exactly like Braffs and his girlfriends, story. Only difference is the people involved, which in this case is Jennas parents.

If you liked 500 Days of Summer, you're gonna like The Last Kiss. The stories and topics are similar and they both feature great actors and actresses alike. Also, one day you may be put in these relationship, growing up type problems and it's always good to have an idea of what to do during these problems.

Rating: 4 out of 5

(500) Days of Summer Review

By: Robert Acosta

Cast:

Joseph Gordon-Levitt as Tom Hansen

Zooey Deschanel as Summer Finn

Geoffrey Arend as McKenzie

Chloe Moretz as Rachel Hansen

Plot: When his girlfriend breaks up with him, Tom(Joseph Gordon-Levitt), reflects on the days with his ex-girlfriend and tries to figure out where it all went wrong.

Review: When I saw the trailer for this movie early 2009, I had this misinformed idea that the movie was going to be a typical love story and that all this massive hype surrounding it was just that, nothing more. I was horribly wrong. 

It was called one of the best movies of 2009 and rightfully so. I made the mistake of missing it in the theater but refused to make that mistake when I saw it on HBO. 

Joseph Gordon-Levitt is definitely on the great young actors list with great movies like (500) Days of Summer and Inception. He delivers what most male lead roles in romance movies don't and that is reality. His reactions to everything just seems natural, as if that would actually happen in 9 out of 10 relationship situations. Not to mention that I've had the same reaction to similar situations and most romance movies don't deliver that emotion. 

Zooey Deschanel is charming, as usual. Always beautiful and always gripping the heart of the males. Ironically, she also injects a dose of reality into the role that is usually filled with hapless women that play the victim. Her free spirit mentality comes off as genuine and oddly enough creates great chemistry between Gordon-Levitt and herself. 

The story is pretty straight forward. Boy meets girl, Boy likes girl, Boy and girl go out, Girl doesn't want serious relationship, Boy does, all hell breaks loose from there. Viewing the relationship in its high moments is great and watching the relationship break down is saddening. 

There is on effect that the movie pulls off really nicely. Certain movies like to start at the end then go to the beginning and then work their way back to the end. Most of those movies end up being decent, it's a nice spin on things. In (500) Days of Summer they skip around and it really helps explain the story perfectly. The movie may start at day 1 but it jumps around. It'll go from day 33 to day 288 and then back to day 40. Meanwhile, among those 3 distant days, it explains the situation amazingly.

You can't go wrong with (500) Days of Summer. The story is simple, which makes it great. It features tremendously talented actors and actresses and everything is seemingly down really well. It really was one of the best movies of 2009.

Rating: 5 out of 5

Coming Soon! Devil

Devil

By Jose

I have to say this first. An interesting and most likely frightening horror movie with M Night Shyamalan's name attached. Going to suck big time. Well no. No it won't. Here is why: M Night is not directing. That is right. Someone else is taking the seat. So there is hope. Devil is based on a idea from M Night that is under the umbrella of The Night Chronicles. A bunch of movies made from his ideas. Well I have to say regardless of his ideas or not or how much influence he has on the movies made (I hope very limited) Devil looks like it will be a "fun" horror that will scare and unnerve everyone. Just the idea of being stuck in an elevator is frightening but what if one of the people stuck with you isn't who or what they seem. I m looking forward to get spooked and a bit scared Devil. I just hope there is no "twist" ending.

Devil
9/17/10
Chris Messina, Logan Marshall-Green, Jenny O'Hara, Jacob Vargas, Matt Craven, Bojana Novakovic, Bokeem Woodbine, Geoffrey Arend, Caroline Dhavernas

DVD Releases September 14th

I hope people bought MacGruber last week on DVD! But if not, it's ok they're are some goodies to pick up this week on DVD. Lets take a look:
Bold means DVD is also available in Blu-Ray

• Prince of Persia: The Sands Of Time
• Letters to Juliet
• Just Wright
• Paper Man
• Lord of the Rings: Fellowship of the Ring(New in Blu-Ray)
• Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers(New in Blu-Ray)
• Lord of the Rings: Return of the King(New in Blu-Ray)
• Glee(Season 1)
• Grey's Anatomy(Season 6)
• It's Always Sunny In Philadelphia(Season 5)
• The Twilight Zone(Season 1)

Lots of good choices to pick from. Prince of Persia was a decent effort at trying to recreate the story and action from the games but didn't work quite as well. 

For fans of the Lord of the Rings trilogy, each movie is now available in Blu-Ray. Excited?

Finally, the fall season for TV shows is under way so it's no surprise that they're have been a huge amount of shows coming out with DVDs. So, this week is Glees award winning first season with a massive 7 disc set and the hit show It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia and their fifth season.

Weekend Box Office Numbers 9/10- 9/12

Another weekend goes by and only one movie has a strong showing. This is exactly what September movies are about.

Lets take a look at the Box office numbers from this weekend

1. Resident Evil 3D    $27.7 Million
2. Takers   $6.1 Million
3. The American   $5.9 Million
4. Machete   $4.2 Million
5. Going The Distance   $3.8 Million
6. The Other Guys   $3.6 Million
7. The Last Exorcism   $3.5 Million
8. The Expendables   $3.3 Million
9. Inception   $3 Million
10. Eat Pray Love   $2.9 Million

It was no surprise to me that Resident Evil took the top spot with nearly $28 Million this weekend. Add in the inflated price of movie tickets and the always high prices of 3D movies and that number isn't nearly as impressive as most may see it.  

I've been saying this for weeks now but it's still great to see Inception and The Other Guys in the top 10. Hell, they're not even that far off from the 2nd and 3rd spot. Keep in mind that Inception has been out for 9 weeks and is still in the top 10. 

Next week we have three wide releases that I think are ready to change the way the top 10 looks. Looks like either Devil or The Town is going to take over the top spot next week with Easy A hovering around the 4 or 5 spot. I'm excited for devil and all of a sudden want to see The Town. Easy A is just a good throw in and should be fun, just because of Emma Stone.

Diary of a Wimpy Kid Review

By: Robert Acosta

Cast:
Zachary Gordon as Greg Heffley
Robert Capron as Rowley Jefferson
Devon Bostick as Rodrick Heffley
Laine MacNeil as Patty Ferrell

Plot: A middle school bound boy, Greg, tries to become popular and ultimately, get on the class favorites list in the yearbook.

Review: I'll be honest, I wasn't too excited for this movie but it was a movie that I slightly wanted to check out in the beginning of this year. I waited for it on DVD just in case it didn't do so well and I have to say, that was a great decision on my part. This movie is far from what middle school could actually be like.

After watching multiple trailers of the movie, I expected a couple of small comedic moments, a crazy middle school and a moral at the end of the story. They delivered on the small comedic moments but there was something about the characters that just didn't sit right with me and the moral at the end of the story didn't come across as clear because of the characters.

The main character, Greg, is entering middle school so we can assume he's about 10 or 11 years old. He has got to be the cockiest asshole in middle school history. That's where the trouble starts for me. The movie is called "Diary of a Wimpy Kid" and not once does the main character acknowledge that he is a wimpy kid. He just has this completely misinformed idea that he deserves to be popular and have all these friends, meanwhile treating his best friend like crap. More than anything, Greg comes off as an annoying little prick.

On the other hand Greg's best friend, Rowley, made the movie a tiny bit enjoyable. Hopefully somebody who runs the Nickelodeon or Disney channels were watching the movie because he would easily be on a show for either channel and be funny. He the had the look of a wimpy kid more than the main character and played it much better.

I can't say there was much of a moral to the story. I don't think the main character Greg learned absolutely anything from this and he only looked slightly changed, but barely.

I like to see the good in movies so I usually don't trash movies like this but damn I barely enjoyed that movie. It annoyed me, angered me at times, the moral disappeared. Small comedic parts and Robert Capron as Rowley Jefferson weren't enough to make this even passable to me.

Rating: 1 out of 5

The Spot News: First Shots of Emma Frost

First shot of Emma Frost in X-Men First Class

By Jose

Matthew Vaughn went through a number of worthy candidates for Emma Frost for his FIRST CLASS X-movie but finally decided on Mad Men's January Jones, who certainly looks the part.
Here’s the first shots of Jones on set "in costume" as Emma Frost. She's in all white with a giant fur hat, and I know that this was Frost's look, and maybe this reads better on camera, but I have to say she kind of looks like a Austin Powers extra here. Although it does fit with the supposed time line of the movie taking place in the 60’s and 70’s.