Out in SLC Theaters Today

Gentlemen Broncos - 2 stars

This is probably the dumbest movie I have ever seen, but I laughed a lot. I remember the first time I saw Napoleon Dynamite, I hated it. I think I laughed once. But over the years, it has grown on me. Now whenever I come across it on HBO, I watch it for a while. So who knows. Maybe Gentlemen Broncos will grow on me. But I doubt it.

One problem is the lead actor: Michael Angarano. I hated him in Sky High, I hated him in Forbidden Kingdom, and I hated him in this. He is a very boring actor. Another problem was too many gross-out gags (vomit and shit).

As ridiculous as Napoleon Dynamite was, it was believable. But in this movie, Benjamin (Angarano) writes a science fiction story so bad that a retarded 5th grader could have written a better story. This movie wants us to believe that everyone from his friends to a famous and successful novelist (played by Jemaine Clement from Flight of the Conchords) think it's brilliant.

I did laugh, so some of the jokes worked. But I just can't respect this movie.

A Christmas Carol - 2 1/2 stars

Why do we need another version of A Christmas Carol? And why is Robert Zemeckis so in love with computer animation? Please go back to making live-action movies again, Zemeckis.

On the one hand, the movie is very faithful to the original novel. The dialogue is taken directly from the novel and isn't dumbed down at all. But then there are scenes where Scrooge rides a rocket into the atmosphere or shrinks to the size of a mouse and is chased thru pipes. Just because you can do things in an animated movie that you can't in a live action movie doesn't mean you should.

It doesn't suck, but it is kind of boring.

The Men Who Stare at Goats - 2 1/2 stars

Another disappointing movie. All the best parts are in the trailer. The movie ultimately doesn't amount to anything. And people need to stop saying that Jeff Bridges is in "Lebowski mode". If you think that his performance in this is anything like his Lebowski performance, you need to go back and re-watch The Big Lebowski. Just because he is playing a hippie ...

The Fourth Kind - 3 stars

This is a tough one. On the one hand, it scared the crap out of me. Putting the actual footage and the recreated footage side by side is an interesting and original idea. But on the other hand, once I learned that it's not based on a true story at all, I felt ripped off. The movie shouldn't say that it's based on a real case and that we're watching actual footage if it's all a lie. Or maybe it should. I don't know. It made for a better experience when I was watching the movie.

Ong Bok 2 - didn't see
Motherhood - didn't see
The Box - didn't see
Coco Before Chanel - didn't see