Holiday in Handcuffs 2007 4 out of 10 (Holiday Movies:# 1)

Holiday in the Handcuffs  2007    4 out of 10

Melissa Joan Hart kidnaps Mario Lopez for the holidays in this not so believable Christmas movie.  In a movie like this you have to at some point buy into the silly unbelievable story in order to enjoy it.....I never did.   In Harry Potter you have to believe in a world where magic is possible  (I'm all in) . In Star Wars that there are thousands of worlds with different creatures  (I can follow you there)   But in this Christmas movie I never bought into Mario Lopez  being a reluctant holiday companion.   He  never tries hard enough to escape and the love story just doesn't seem to have any legs.   The premise should have lent itself to funnier situations , but the movie just falls flat.   It just becomes a standard Holiday love story.  In a month of standard holiday movies this film just gets lost in the shuffle. 

Indiana Jones at the Discovery Science Center: Part 1

When I heard Indiana Jones was coming to the Discovery center I was excited.   I'd heard about the exhibit when it was in Canada and was hoping that it would make its way to the Los Angeles/Orange County area eventually.    

The Holy Grail!!!!!

The Sankara Stones!!!!

The Ark!!!!

I was so there.  

Up first Raiders of the Lost Ark

Indy's outfit

The exhibit included an audio tour and video displays along with the movie props.  There was also an interactive adventure for the kids

Here is some Indy Concept art

"Throw me the Idol,  I'll throw you the whip"

The ark

Props from the Marion's bar

The Headpiece

Temple of Doom

Anything Goes Concept art

Club Obi Wan outfits

Mola Ram's Headdress

"It's only a model"

 The Stones

Fortune and Glory

 Coming up in part 2    The Last Crusade and Crystal Skull

The Hobbit: An Unexpected Exhibit at the Grove

A random trip to The Grove in LA turned into a quick little fun Hobbit diversion.    An  Unexpected  Hobbit Exhibit that was outside in the middle section of The Grove.   There were Hobbit posters everwhere you looked.  Giant Hobbit Posters--Little Hobbit Posters.....Hobbit posters in 3-D.    It was a pleasant little surprise.

The exhibit itself was a free little promotional exhibit that featured a few props and some cool 3-D Hobbit posters and trailers for the movie

Elvish Jewelry

Gandalf's Staff

The Precious

Bilbo's Contract from the film

Here are some pictures of the 3-D posters -------in 2D

Captain Nemo and the Underwater City 1969 4 out of 10

Captain Nemo and the Underwater City   1969   4 out of 10

Survivors of a sinking ship are rescued by the infamous Captain Nemo and taken to his fabulous color filled golden underwater city where they will not be allowed to leave.   I can say one thing for the film...they knew that they were shooting it in color...the set design and costumes were wild.  Some people dressed like Willa Wonka meets the Wizard of Oz .   Scuba suits that look like they were made for the band KISS  or Evil Knievel.   The movie itself was nothing to get excited about.   Replacing the giant squid from 20,000 Leagues under the Sea this time around we get a giant Ray.   50 minutes go by in the movie before anything even remotely interesting happens and not much else of excitement happens after that again until the end...   It felt more like a tour of Nemo's world than a well structured movie.   Not one of the better Verne inspired films

Experience movies get your tickets at Fandango

http://gan.doubleclick.net/gan_click?lid=41000613802463789&pubid=21000000000600621\r\n\r\n

Journey 2:Mysterious Island 2012 8 out of 10

Journey 2: The Mysterious Island   2012  8 out of 10   is a action adventure family film that focusing on a  17 year old boy (Josh Hutcherson) and his   search  for his missing grandfather with the help of his step dad ( Dwayne the Rock Johnson).  He decodes a secret message that takes the 2 on a wild adventure to The Mysterious Island from Jules Verne's book, while bonding in the process.  They actually find the mythical place and his grandfather and  few extra surprises along the way with the help of an island hopping helicopter pilot  (the comic relief) and his daughter (the love interest).  

The Rock is great as the step dad....he is the Arnold of this decade of action movies and shines even in these more kid friendly roles.   Michael Cane is also well cast as the adventure seeking grandfather.   The visuals in the film are fun and vibrant....even when they borderline on silly.   Despite some serious plot issues  with the film it was a fun and enjoyable ride...Kinda of a kids introduction into better adventure  films like Indiana Jones or Pirates.

Hotel for Dogs (Family Movie Review # 4) 2009 8 out of 10

Hotel for Dogs  2009   8 out of 10

This was another example of a family movie that personally wasn't on my list of films to see.  The trailer didn't interest me at all--but I DVR'd it for the kids and was pleasantly surprised.  

The storyline was completely unbelievable --but movies like this generally are. The stories  are not grounded in the real world and yet this movie they are grounded by the heart of the movie.  The story revolves around a brother and sister that have bounced around from  one bad foster home to another after losing their parents.  They stick together and have continued to secretly look after their family dog at all costs.   This leads them to the unlikely yet touching storyline of  taking care of dogs in an abandoned hotel and creatively turning that hotel into a Hotel of Dogs.  The story is touching and includes the excellent acting of Don Cheadle (even good in a silly kids movie) as their social worker that is trying his best to keep them together and find the right home for them.   His kindness is parallelled  by the kids efforts to take care of  (way too many) stray dogs.    A quality family dog movie where the animals don't talk and there are no fart jokes.

Cats and Dogs double Feature (Family Movie Review #3)

Cats and Dogs 2001   7 out of 10

Cats and Dogs: The Revenge of Kitty Galore   2010   7 out 10

I just recently caught both Cats and Dogs and Cats and Dogs: The Revenge of Kitty Galore on the HUB channel with the family.  Both are quality family movies.

Cats and Dogs is basically a Men in Black  or Spy Kids with talking animals.

Like Men in Black there is a secret world that Cats and Dogs live in that we as simple humans are completely unaware of.   Jeff Goldblum's character is working on a cure for dog allergies and the Cats are not too happy about that so the movie centers on the Cats trying to steal this cure and the Dogs (the good guys--I'm a dog person so I totally agree with that) are trying to protect it.The  movie had a  lot of action and humor as the Dogs and Cats do battle especially in the showdown with the Russian spy cat and the too main dogs.   The spy concept of the movie is great and the movie was a fun for the whole family.

The sequel  Cats and Dogs: The Revenge of Kitty Galore 2010  was a quality spy adventure that had a lot of fun parodying the Spy genre.    I'm surprised it took this many years before a sequel was made.   The title alone is a great  nod to the famous Bond Girl.  A funny twist on the villain was instead of a bald main holding  a fluffy white cat---we get  a bald cat with holding a white mouse.  The story line was good introducing the aspect of the Cats and Dogs having to work together to stop this villainous Feline.

The action sequences were fast paced and thrilling.

Together the films make a great double feature for a family movie night.

Cats and Dogs Trailer

Cats and Dogs: The Revenge of Kitty Galore Trailer