Quick Review: How To Train Your Dragon

This computer-animated movie has been out quite a while, and I'm not sure if it's even still in a lot of theaters, but it was a surprise success. While other films dropped from the box-office charts quickly, "How To Train Your Dragon" hung in there and, spurred by great word-of-mouth, has earned over $200 million in North America. It's one of those misfit-who-makes-good tales. On an island called Berk, the Vikings who live there are in an endless war against the dragons that fly in and steal their food. Hiccup (voice of Jay Baruchel), young son of the chief Viking (Gerard Butler), is the misfit, getting in the way and such during one of the dragons' raids. Incredibly, he manages to shoot down a rare, and feared, dragon called a Night Fury. No one believes him, so he goes off in search of the dragon and finds it, wounded but alive, unable to fly away because a piece of its tail is missing. Instead of killing the dragon, Hiccup studies it, comes up with a way to "fix" the tail, and bonds with it. The knowledge about dragons he gains helps him at dragon training, until the time comes when he actually has to kill one. It's a story with some depth and some silly humor as well. I didn't see it in 3-D but I didn't find it necessary to my enjoyment. My grade: B.

Quick Review: The Bounty Hunter

Gerard Butler and Jennifer Aniston star in "The Bounty Hunter." She's Nicole, a newspaper reporter who skips a court appearance (for assaulting a police officer -- and when the movie gets around to explaining exactly how this "assault" occurred, eyes will roll) to follow up a lead on a big story, so there's a warrant out on her. He's Milo, an ex-cop turned bounty hunter who needs a quick influx of funds. They were married and divorced, so he tracks her down with glee, but others are after her, and still more are after him. The way the whole thing plays out is mostly predictable. Butler has the same type of role here as he did in "The Ugly Truth" -- obnoxious guy who has to turn into (or back into, in this case) Prince Charming. And in both cases, there's more obnoxious than charming, and it's not even a particularly witty obnoxiousness here. The one person who is charmed by Milo, and actually wants him and Nicole together again? Her mother, played by Christine Baranski. Maybe Baranski and Butler could costar in a romantic comedy. Older woman, younger man. Hmmmmm. My grade: C-minus.

Quick Review: Law Abiding Citizen

I wasn't expecting what I got from "Law Abiding Citizen." The main reason I wanted to see it was because they filmed it here in Philadelphia. I didn't realize it was going to be so much fun despite the cheesy dialogue, some over-the-top acting, and so many plot implausibilities. A man (Gerard Butler) whose wife and daughter are murdered takes the law into his own hands, against both the murderers and the system, including the prosecutor (Jamie Foxx) who cut a deal with one of the murderers. It started a bit slowly, but once the revenge started happening, it got to be a real hoot. I think my favorite moment was when a judge, who had earlier admonished Foxx's character over his cell phone's ringing in the courtroom, answers a cell phone call in her chambers...I won't spoil what happens. I place this movie in the same category as two other 2009 movies, "Obsessed" and "Orphan." Totally stupid fun popcorn movie. Don't think, just enjoy. My grade: B.

By the way, Gerard Butler has a brief moment of rear nudity in the film. Jamie Foxx is not nude in the film, but a full-frontal shot of Foxx hit the Internet in August, and he recently confirmed on the Tonight Show that it's not a fake. You can find that one on your own, but here's a nice, less x-rated photo.

Quick Review: The Ugly Truth

In the last few days I saw two movies that couldn't be less alike. My review of "(500) Days Of Summer" is forthcoming. For now, let's talk about "The Ugly Truth," which stars Katherine Heigl as a TV morning show producer who is such a control freak that her love life is virtually nonexistent. Her bosses hire an obnoxious, sexist late-night cable show host (Gerard Butler) to be part of the show in an effort to boost ratings. Needless to say, they clash at first but then each starts to see the other in a different light. You can connect the dots to see where things will lead. Heigl and Butler try their best and they do look pretty (although Mr. "300" doesn't show nearly enough skin, especially for an R-rated movie), but for me this was a non-starter.

I read an interesting commentary on Entertainment Weekly's site, in which one of their movie critics has an observation for why so many "chick flicks" like this, seemingly so inferior, still do well at the box office: apparently, it's because women flock to these movies expecting them to be cheesy but not caring. I guess that's why Hollywood keeps churning them out. My grade: D.