Charlie St. Cloud (Zac Efron) has a promising future. He’s a skilled sailor and ready to attend Stanford. He has a younger brother, Sam (Charlie Tahan), who looks up to him and a mother (Kim Basinger) who works hard to support her family. All that changes after a tragic accident leaves his brother dead and Charlie overcome with grief.

On his way to an after-graduation party, Charlie and Sam are in a car accident. In the ambulance on the way to the hospital, Charlie flat lines, but the paramedic working on him, Florio (Ray Liotta) doesn’t give up, and Charlie is given a second chance and survives.

Fast forward five years, and Charlie is a caretaker who lives in a cemetery and takes care of the grounds. This involves cleaning duck poop off the headstones, chasing away the ducks from the grounds, and taking care of the plots. He never made it to Stanford, he hasn’t sailed in five years, and he’s pretty much regarded as the town crazy. Oh and every night, he plays catch with his dead brother Sam.

When a classmate from high school, Tess (Amanda Crew) is missing at sea, Charlie realizes why he was given a second chance and joins the search to find his missing classmate. I can’t really reveal any more about this storyline, as it would give too much away.

Charlie cried a lot in this movie. A lot. However, it was truly part of the story, unlike a certain vampire series where the lead male character cries a lot. Anyway, Efron has come a long way from the “High School Musical” series, and he showed it in this movie.

This is a straight-up drama. Don’t go see it expecting to laugh. Do expect to cry (possibly). Slightly reminiscent of “The Sixth Sense” (minus the thriller factor), “Charlie St. Cloud” is a good story with fine acting and overall a decent film.

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“Ramona and Beezus” is based on the book series by Beverly Cleary.  I know I read these books when I was in elementary school, but I don’t really remember them much.  I do remember that Ramona was a rambunctious little girl with a very active imagination.

Ramona Quimby (Joey King) is a creative little girl, who has an older sister Beatrice (Selena Gomez).  (When Ramona was small, she couldn’t say Beatrice’s name, so she called her Beezus, which stuck as her nickname.)  Ramona and Beezus also have a baby sister, Roberta (can you tell by the character’s names that these books were written in the 50s and 60s??).  Ramona, Beezus, and Roberta live in Washington with their parents Robert (John Corbett) and Dorothy (Bridget Moynahan).  Also part of the family is Aunt Bea (Ginnifer Goodwin), whose high-school boyfriend Hobart (Josh Duhamel) is back in town and wants to get back together with Bea.

Everything is peachy keen in the Quimby house, until Mr. Quimby loses his job and the family faces the possibility of losing their home, forcing them to move to another town.  Ramona comes up with some fantastic yet harebrained ideas to try to save their house, including selling delicious lemonade, offering delicious car washes (that of course, ends in disaster), and auditioning for a commercial.

Even though she means well, Ramona is always in trouble in school.  Mrs. Meacham (Sandra Oh) is her exasperated teacher who has to deal with Ramona and her far-fetched ideas.  I’ve got to give Ramona credit, she tries really hard!

What I liked: when Ramona would imagine fantastic things in her mind, we the viewers saw them on the movie screen.  I thought that was a nice visual touch.  The story flowed well, and I have no complaints about the dialogue or the acting.

What I didn’t like:  overall, the movie was kind of hokey, but that’s to be expected.  In this day and age, it was kind of unusual but nice to see a nuclear family doing family things with their neighbors!!  Anyway, there’s nothing wrong with a happy ending, is there??

Warning:  there was one sad part.  Parents may have to explain the concept of “pet heaven” to their children after watching this movie.  I thought that part of the movie was handled well though.  The girls dealt with it and accepted it.

I thought for the lead role, Joey King’s performance was more than decent.  A few scenes were just so-so but overall she gave a pretty strong performance.  I think she has potential.  I enjoyed the interaction between the sisters.  I think both actresses performed those scenes well.

“Ramona and Beezus” isn’t the greatest flick ever, but it certainly isn’t the worst.  Don’t go to the theatre expecting much and you will enjoy it for what it is.

Sex and the City in the Middle East – excuse me, that’s “The New Middle East”.

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Carrie and the girls are back for another adventure. It’s been two years since we’ve left Carrie Bradshaw (Sarah Jessica Parker), Samantha Jones (Kim Cattrall), Charlotte York (Kristin Davis) and Miranda Hobbs (Cynthia Nixon). If you’ll recall, the first “Sex and the City” movie ended with Carrie and John (aka Big) (Chris Noth) marrying, Samantha moving back to New York from Los Angeles, Charlotte giving birth to her and Harry’s (Evan Handler) daughter Rose, and Miranda reuniting with her estranged husband (cause he cheated!! but he felt real bad about it) Steve (David Eigenberg).

Since then, apparently everything’s been going swimmingly!! Now the girls and their families are gathering for the wedding of Carrie’s best gay friend Stanford Blatch (Willie Garson) to Charlotte’s best gay friend Anthony Maratino (Mario Cantone). Fans of the series will recall that Stanford and Anthony were once mortal enemies, but now they are in love (I guess hate sometimes DOES give way to love??) and about to be married in an over-the-top ceremony, complete with Liza Minelli as the wedding officiator.

A few days later, on Carrie and Big’s two-year anniversary, Carrie realizes that their marriage has lost its sparkle when Big’s anniversary gift to her leaves her feeling disappointed. Meanwhile, Miranda is unhappy at her job and yearns to spend more time with her family, and Charlotte can’t handle her unruly two-year old who cries constantly.  Now everything’s not so peaches and cream, is it? Of course not, otherwise there wouldn’t be a movie!!!

When Samantha is offered an all-expenses paid trip to Abu Dhabi, naturally the girls come along to take a break from their troubles. They fly first class (they even have their own cubicles!! Just as if they worked in an office!!) and stay in, well, basically, a palace. Between their own fancy cars, personal butlers, and surrounded by all that decadence, what more can these girls ask for?? But of course, a bit of the real world seeps in as Carrie reads a particularly scathing review of her book. That’s when everything goes askew.

And oh yeah, did I mention that Aidan (John Corbett) returns? The other love of Carrie’s life shows up in the desert (imagine that – it MUST mean something, right??) to further complicate Carrie’s life. I know many of my girlfriends think Carrie should have ended up with Aidan (I disagree, I think Big was her “lobster”) and will be very happy to see Aidan back in Carrie’s life.

What I liked:

Hello!! Who wouldn’t want an all-expenses paid trip to Abu Dhabi?? Since that will never happen to me, it was fun to see what it would be like in the movie (even though the movie was actually filmed in Morocco due to its racy nature, which is a big no no in the Muslim country). I also thought this movie was lighter than the first one, as it lacked the drama of being left at the alter and the infidelity. Of course, Samantha stole the show with her excessive efforts to trick her body into being younger as well as her sheer outrageousness.

What I didn’t like:

During the wedding reception at the beginning of the movie, Liza Minelli performed that awful song “Single Ladies”. I seriously wished I would go temporarily deaf. No offense to Ms. Minelli, but that has got to be one of the worse songs ever. I was praying for my torture to be over. I also felt that Big’s unconventional “idea” about his and Carrie’s marriage was just wrong. It made me a little angry, and I’m not married (not even close). And, for a movie titled “Sex and the City 2” there really wasn’t much sex going on. (I’m just saying!!). Oh and the clothes. Sometimes they were nice. Other times….what were the costume designers thinking?

Fun, light-hearted fare that fans of the series will enjoy. No, this won’t change the world but hey, it’s good for some laughs.

I have to get out this last tweet!

As a die-hard “Harry Potter” fan, when I first saw a preview for “Percy Jackson & the Olympians:  The Lightning Thief” I rolled my eyes and thought “oh how nice, they are copying “Harry Potter””.  However, the more previews I saw for “Lightning Thief” the more I actually wanted to see it.  I always loved reading Greek myths in school, so when I realized that this story is about the son of Poseidon and the daughter of Athena, I was there!!

Percy Jackson (Logan Lerman) is your average high-school student.  While on a school field trip to the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and in the ancient Greek section, he is caught off guard by an attacking fury who demands that he return Zeus’s lightning bolt.  Percy is confused, as he has no idea what a fury is, why it’s attacking him, and why it thinks he has Zeus’ lightning bolt.  Somehow, Percy’s best friend Grover (Brandon T. Jackson) and his teacher Mr. Brunner (Pierce Brosnan) know what’s going on and they come to Percy’s rescue.   This part was confusing; it wasn’t explained how Grover and Mr. Brunner anticipated the attack. Maybe the books elaborated more on it, but the film lacked the proper exposition to my liking.  It is later revealed that Zeus’s lightning bolt has been stolen, and if it’s not returned by the summer solstice, then there will be a war in Mount Olympus.

It is soon revealed that Percy’s mother, Sally (Catherine Keener) had a relationship with Poseidon, hence, Percy was born.  Sally’s husband, Gabe (Joe Pantoliano) doesn’t get along with Percy, and he’s not very nice to Sally either, but that is explained.  Since it’s not safe for Percy to be in the real world, Grover and Sally take him to a special camp for children of mortals and gods, Camp Half-Blood.  While there, Percy meets Annabeth (Alexandria Daddario), a daughter of Athena, and Luke (Jake Abel), a son of Hermes.  At Camp Half-Blood, I found it rather disbelieving that the second Percy picks up a sword, he is able to wield it like a pro.  He didn’t even visit the weapons master to learn his sword fighting skill!!  This was explained as his “warrior instinct”.  Hmmm, I don’t buy it!!  But I’ll play along.

The characters seamlessly accepted their new roles as demigods with too much ease.  Also, everything we just a little TOO convenient for me.  I didn’t feel as if the characters were in any real peril.  There was always someone/something that “just happened” to be nearby to give them aid.  And mortals (such as Sally) had entirely too much knowledge about things that mortals don’t usually know about, such as the location of Camp Half-Blood, and how to get to Mount Olympus (what, you don’t know that?)  The climactic finale managed to drag a little bit.  Otherwise, the acting was solid, the special effects were fantastic, and the references to Greek gods and goddesses were plentiful.  I liked the mixing of ancient Greek mythology with present-day pop-culture, which oddly didn’t seem forced.  Everything blended nicely.

It must have left a decent mark with me, because I will be taking a field trip to my friendly neighborhood library to borrow the first “Percy Jackson” novel.  Maybe it will fill in some of the background details for me.  Overall, if you enjoy the “Harry Potter” and “Chronicles of Narnia” movies, you will enjoy “Percy Jackson”.

“When in Rome” is a romantic comedy that is more comedy than romance (thank God). Kristin Bell stars as Beth, a single, career-driven woman whose sister Joan (Alexis Dziena) is about to be married in Rome after a whirlwind romance. While at Joan’s wedding, Beth meets Nick (Josh Duhamel), a charming reporter who flirts with her.

Beth thinks there is chemistry, but then she sees Nick with another woman. Upset and hurt, Beth drunkenly stumbles into the Fontana de Amore, where legend states that if you throw in a coin, you will find love. She decides to take some coins in the hope that she will get some love of her own.

When Beth returns home to NYC, she suddenly finds herself the object of affection of several men. Antonio (Will Arnett) is an artist, Lance (Jon Heder, yes, Napoleon Dynamite himself) is a street magician, Gale (Dax Shepard) is a model, and Al (Danny DeVito) is a sausage magnate. These guys can’t get enough of Beth!! She is inundated with flowers and baskets of meat products. Even with all this attention, Beth can’t stop thinking about Nick. When she learns that the owners of the coins she took from the fountain will magically fall in love with her, she wonders if what she and Nick have is real or an illusion.

The characters in this movie, especially the colorful supporting cast, were fantastic. The story wasn’t as cliched as I thought it would be and there were more than just a few humorous situations. Overall it was a fun, funny movie that I really enjoyed. So is it true love or a magic spell?? You will have to watch the movie to find out!!  But you will not be disappointed. “When in Rome” is one of the funniest movies I’ve seen in a while.

It seems like The Rock has given up action movies in favor of kid-friendly comedies. In Dwayne Johnson’s latest kiddie flick, “Tooth Fairy”, The Rock plays Derek Thompson, a cocky, arrogant hockey player better known as “The Tooth Fairy” because of his penchant for knocking opposing player’s teeth out. When a hotshot new player Mick “the Stick” Donnelly (Ryan Sheckler), comes on the team and steals Derek’s thunder, Derek does not take it well. He takes out his frustrations on his girlfriend Carly’s daughter Tess (the adorable Destiny Whitlock) by nearly telling her that the Tooth Fairy doesn’t exist. His punishment for not believing is being summoned to Tooth Fairy Land, where he is ordered to serve two weeks as a tooth fairy.

As a tooth fairy, Derek is given some pretty awesome gadgets to complete his tooth-gathering job, including Invisible Spray, Amnesia Powder, Shrinking Paste, and Cat Away, most of which he uses during off-duty hours to his own advantage. In one scene, he repeatedly uses Amnesia Powder on Carly (Ashley Judd) until he sufficiently answers her question about their relationship. While serving his sentence, Derek grows closer to Carly’s son Randy (Chase Ellison) but he ends up shattering his dream of becoming a rock star. Derek can be a really rotten guy!!!

Chock-full of corny puns and sight gags, the only part of the movie I appreciated were the scenes with Julie Andrews. The always-regal Andrews is sufficiently exasperated at Derek’s antics but she handles him with grace. Oh, how do you solve a problem like Derek Thompson?   Right!  I went into this movie not expecting much and that’s what I got. hell, a dollar under my seat would have been nice. It’s a decent flick for the kids, not so much for the adults I am afraid.   There’s a cameo from a certain “guy”, but I don’t want to ruin it for you as it may be the only thing that keeps you awake – that and the screaming children surrounding you!

Zac is back.

“Me and Orson Welles” stars Zac Efron as Richard Samuels, a high-school student who is bored with school and longs to be doing something more exciting than studying. A chance encounter with Orson Welles (Christian McKay) changes his outlook on things. Welles is casting for his latest project, an updated version of “Caesar” and Richard is given the role as Lucius. Richard is thrust into the “glamorous” world of show business, and he learns the ropes from Sonja Jones (Claire Danes), who works at the theatre where “Caesar” will be performed. Sonja will do anything to get ahead and this leads to disappointment for Richard, who after a night of passion with Sonja, thinks he is in love with her.

In this movie, Orson Welles is portrayed as a shady, womanizing, slightly crazy genius. Sometimes he was like-able, most times he was not. Efron did a good job in his role (as always). Supporting cast included Ben Chaplin, who had a few solid scenes as George Coulouris and who played Mark Antony in “Caesar” and Kelly Reilly as superficial “shine the light on my face this way, not that way” Muriel Brassler, who played Portia in “Caesar”.

I wasn’t sure who exactly the target audience for this movie was. We have Zac Efron, teen heartthrob, in a movie about a producer/actor from the 30′s. I’m not sure if this movie was geared towards the teenage girls, or the older crowd.  I noticed that a lot of the older folks in the audience thought the movie was hilarious (maybe because they were around in the 30′s??).

The Princess and the Frog is the latest in a (very) long line of Disney Animated Classics.  This is the first hand-drawn Disney film since 2004, and it was well worth the wait.  Loosely based on the fairy tale “The Frog Prince”, “The Princess and the Frog” is set in the French Quarter of New Orleans in the 1920s during a jumpin’ Mardi Gras.

The story centers around Tiana (Anika Noni Rose), a hard-working waitress whose dream is to own a restaurant. When word gets out that Prince Naveen of Maldonia (Bruno Campos) is coming to town for the Mardi Gras celebration, several girls want to meet him.  Charlotte La Bouff (Jennifer Cody), Tiana’s best friend who is rich and spoiled, but surprisingly not obnoxious like certain other rich, spoiled celebutantes we know and love to loathe, certainly wants to grab the Prince’s attention.  But a sinister figure is also anxious to make the Prince’s acquaintance, Dr. Facilier (Keith David), an evil voodoo magician who is deeply in debt to “the other side”.

If you’ve seen the previews, you know that Prince Naveen is transformed into a frog, and as the fairy tale goes, can only be made human again if kissed by a Princess.  Since Tiana is not a Princess, when she attempts to break the spell, it results in her transformation as well.  What happens next bears a slight resemblance to “The Wizard of Oz”, as Naveen and Tiana share a magical journey into the bayou to find Mama Odie (Jenifer Lewis), a good voodoo priestess who can help turn them human again.  Along the way they meet Louis (Michael-Leon Wooley), an alligator with an appetite for jazz and Ray (Jim Cummings), a Cajun firefly who pines for his lost love Evangeline.

I felt that this movie had a slightly different tone to it than other classic Disney Princess films.  The same elements that make a great Disney film were there, but I think setting it in the roaring twenties and in New Orleans (versus across the pond – or swamp) really brought out some nuances that danced into a delightfully animated bayou foxtrot.

Some voodoo scenes may be a bit intense for the little ones.  Overall, this was a fantastic movie!  Great music, wonderful animation, and a heart-warming story.  Also featuring John Goodman as Charlotte’s father ‘Big Daddy’ La Bouff, The Princess and the Frog will make you laugh and it may make you cry but you can bet there will be a happily ever after.

When I got to the theater at 9:00 for the 9:30 screening of Michael Jackson’s “This Is It”, I was amazed to see that there was already a line of devoted fans waiting to see the midnight viewing of the concert movie.  I guess I shouldn’t really have been surprised, because it doesn’t matter who you are, or where you are from, you have somehow been influenced by Michael Jackson.

“This Is It” is a compilation of rehearsal footage recorded in 2009 for the concert tour that never happened, due to the untimely death of the King of Pop, Michael Jackson.  Throughout the almost two hour movie, we get to see what it takes to create a world tour. From the backup dancer auditions, to dance rehearsals, set design to special effects, we get a behind the scenes look at everything. Although this was all rehearsal footage, and therefore not polished to perfection, there was some finished material. For example, the video that was created for the intro to the song “Smooth Criminal” was amazing.

All the hits are covered, including “Wanna Be Startin Something”, “Beat It”, “Man in the Mirror”, and “Thriller”. This is the closest thing to seeing the King of Pop live, and it was fantastic.

And boys and girls, remember, even though this isn’t a “real movie”, it’s still a movie – which means keep your damned cake-hole shut!!  Yes, I am talking to the two people in the back of the theater that were beside me talking non-stop throughout the movie.  I really could have done without your distractions.

Bottom line:  a must for Michael Jackson fans (and let’s face it, who isn’t??).