John Milton (Nicholas Cage) driving a classic muscle car takes out another car load of guys in his quest to find Satanic Cult leader Jonah King (Billy Burke). Jonah (nice name) has killed John’s daughter, and is going to sacrifice his baby granddaughter in order to create hell on earth and live forever. Milton meets up with a beautiful waitress named Piper (Amber Heard) driving a hot muscle car, and helps fix it and gets a ride with her. When she gets to her house, her boyfriend is fucking another woman, so she gets in a fight with him, and Milton saves her, and takes her in her car (actually her boyfriends that she paid for) toward Florida where she said she wanted to go, and his business is on the way. Milton is being chased by the Accountant (WIlliam Fichtner), who seems to have supernatural powers, and kills people wantonly on his way to get MIlton, including Piper’s ex.

REVIEW CONTAINS SPOILERS…

They stop at a truck stop of someone who knows Milton. Piper takes a guy to her room, but has him do her nails, while Milton fucks a waitress, and is attacked by Jonah’s men coming for him, but kills them while he continues to fuck the waitress (which has been done in Shoot Em Up), but is shot, though it doesn’t seem to affect him. On there way out they are ambushed by 2 cops under the sway of the accountant, and Piper kills them.

The Accountant catches up with them, and Milton pulls a special gun out that he has only 3 rounds for, which can stop the accountant, but he only wings him, but they manage to get away.

They chase after Jonah and his men, and manage to track him to a Church, where they are ambushed and Piper is taken and Milton is shot in the eye by Jonah and left for dead, but he is not dead, and takes out the remaining cult members and goes after Piper, saving her from the moving vehicle, but not the baby, and the car is shot up.

Milton has Piper call his friend Webster (David Morse) who is confused, as he actually helped carry Milton’s coffin. Webster takes him to his place, and gives Milton a car to go after Jonah, but Jonah has called the cops.

Milton and Piper are ambushed on the freeway by cops with machine guns, but they escape since the Accountant comes crashing through in a hydrogen truck.

They get to Jonah’s encampment and Piper is grabbed by the Accountant who will let Milton do his thing, as if he dies or kills Jonah it is good for him, as Satan hates when babies are sacrificed in his name.

Milton goes in, in his car, killing the cultists, and the Accountant lets Piper go with the God Killer Gun to help Milton. She fires once though and misses Jonah and is thrown back, but Milton gets the gun and kills Jonah.

The Accountant brings Jonah his granddaughter, and he gives her to Piper to raise, who will love her, and protect her, which is why he picked her, and he dies, and she goes with Webster.

Then we see Milton is of course not dead, or actually already dead, so he can’t die again, and the Accountant calls in a 50′s car and they ride to hell with Milton swearing he will escape again. A Meatloaf cover plays as they ride into hell (would have been better if it was the original song).

••••

Ridiculous, and over the top, and Amber Heard didn’t get naked, but still fun.

In modern times some US government agents are called into to the arctic to deal with a huge crashed something that is discovered. They go in and find a red white and blur circular shield and call their superiors. Back in 1942, the head of the Nazi science wing Hydra, Johann Schmidt, the Red Skull (the great Hugo Weaving) smash though a castle in Norway, and steal the cosmic cube, which is said to be something of Odin’s of great power. In New York city, the 98 pound weakling Steve Rogers (Chris Evans) keeps getting rejected for World War II Military service, not matter how many times he lies about where he is from. His best friend Sergeant James “Bucky” Barnes (Sebastian Stan) takes his out before he is to go to duty with two girls. They got to the Modern Marvels of Tomorrow exhibit and see Howard Stark (Dominic Cooper) giving a demonstration of a flying car. Steve skips out on the date, to try and enlist again, and a scientist hears his plight, and decides he might be perfect for a secret project. This is Dr Abraham Erskine (Stanley Tucci) from Bavaria who works fro the US Government Strategic Scientific Reserve. He has Steve enlisted, and has him brought to a camp under the command of Colonel Chester Phillips (Tommy Lee Jones) and SSR Officer Peggy Carter (Hayley Atwell). Phillips doesn’t like Steve right off, as he is the worst soldier, but he proves the most spirit, even jumping on a dummy grenade he thinks is live to save everyone else. He is perfect.

REVIEW CONTAINS SPOILERS…

I Europe Schmidt and scientist Arnim Zola (Toby Jones) manage to harness the power of the cube to power amazing weaponry. When Nazi officials come to take his power, he kills them, and declares he is going to take over the world on his own, and is going after Erskine. Erskine first treated Schmidt with an early version of his super soldier serum, though not willingly, and it had the side effect, of warping his face, making him the red skull.

Erskine tells Rogers of what has happened, and how the serum makes everything in a person stronger, their evil and ambition, which is why the small and good man Rogers if perfect, as he will always appreciate his strength and power.

Carter takes Rogers to a secret shop in Brooklyn as Stark must tap into the Brooklyn power grid to perform the experiment. Senator Brandt (Michael Brandon) and US State Department official Fred Clemson (Richard Armitage) arrive to watch.

The procedure is painful, but Rogers keeps them doing it, and it is a total success, but Clemson turns out to be Hydra spy Heinz Kruger, and he kills Erskine (the only one who knows the secret to the Super Soldier Serum) and takes the last vial. Rogers gives chase across the city, and manages to stop Kruger as he goes in a high tech submarine to escape, but he kills himself before being taken,

Phillips declares the experiment a failure, and is going to have Rogers stuck in a lab, but the senator instead enlists Rogers as an army Captain to go and sell War bonds, as well as make propaganda films.

Rogers takes on the identity of Captain America with his outfit and shield (very close to his original costume even with helmet wings) and is a huge success across the country, until he comes to Europe to entertain troops, and is a total bomb. He sees Carter, who tells him it was Bucky’s unit who was taken by Hydra he was entertaining, and he learns Bucky is either dead or taken.

Rogers decides to go rescue him himself. Carter helps him, getting Stark to fly them in, and he jumps out and goes in alone.

Rogers saves the captured soldiers being used to construct the Red Skulls high tech weapons, freeing the Howling Comandos Timothy “Dum Dum” Dugan (Neal McDonough from Band of Brothers), Gabe Jones (Derek Luke), Jim Morita (Kenneth Choi), james Montgomery Falsworth (JJ Field) and Jacques Dernier (Bruno Rici), and they and the others steal equipment and escape, while Rogers goes to find Bucky.

He finds Bucky who was being tortured and runs into Zola and the Red Skull, but they escape, and blow up the base, but not before Rogers sees a plan with the location of the other Hydra bases.

Colonel Phillips is just declaring Rogers dead when he arrives with over 400 POW’s that he managed to save by himself. Rogers is recruited to destroy Hydra and he gets the men he saved to become the Howling Commandos, his personal team, and they go about destroying Hydra.

Bucky falls from a train seemingly to his death (lets hope they let Johnston do the Winter Soldier movie he pitched to Marvel) but they manage to capture Zola, and get him to give info on the Red Skull.

They go for frontal assault and Steve is taken to the Red Skull, but the howling commandos arrive, along with Phillips and Carter and their division.

The Red Skull manages to take off in his plane, but Phillips drives the Red Skulls car after him, and Steve gets a kiss from Carter and jumps on the plain as it takes off.

Rogers take out the soldiers who were to destroy individual US cities in small craft, and goes to fight the Red Skull, who is seemingly destroyed by the Cube when it comes out of the plane.

The plane is locked to destroy the New York though, so Steve has no choice, but to crash it, though he promises to meet Carter in a week for a dance.

We see the War End and Rodgers declared dead.

Rodgers then wakes up in a room with an old baseball game on the radio, and he mistake the shield agent for Carter (Amanda Righetti seems to be playing Sharon Carter, Peggy’s Niece and Roger’s current love interest in the comics), but knows it is wrong, and escapes, but ends up in Modern Times Square, where he he is stopped by Colonel Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson) and told he has slept for 70 years, and we see him sad he missed his date.

Then after the credits we see the Trailer for the Avengers (though not in 3D) with Rodgers being recruited by Fury to join the Avengers initiative to save the work from Loki (Todd Hiddleston) and the cosmic cube along with Thor (Chris Hemsworth), Ntasha Romanoff (Scarlett Johansson) and Hawkeye (Jeremy Renner).

••••

Woohoo, and Joss Whedon is directing and writing that, so I can’t wait. I really loved this film and the effects. I would love to see further World War II adventures as well as modern adventures and a Winter Soldier story would be awesome! Way to go Marvel!

The film starts right where the last one ended, looking at Dobby the house elve’s grave. Harry Potter (Daniel Radcliffe), and his best friends Ron Weasley (Rupert Grint) and Hermione Granger (Emma Watson) go to talk to the Goblin Griphook (excellently played by Warwick Davis, though he was played by Verne Troyer in the first film) about the Sword of Gryffindor, which Bellatrix Lestrange (Helena Bonham Carter) thought should be in her vault at Gringot’s, along with something more important, which they figure must be one of Voldemort’s (Ralph Fiennes) Horcrux’s (each containing a part of his soul and each must be destroyed before he can be killed once and for all). Griphook agrees to help them get into the vault. They then go to talk to the wandmaker Olivander (John Hurt) who says Bellatrix lestrange’s wand is still dangerous, but that Draco Malfoy’s (Tom Felton) is now Harry’s as he disarmed him. And they talk to him about the Elder Wand, which was Dumbledore’s (Michael Gambon) but Voldemort now has, and is the most powerful wand and one of the 3 Deathly Hallows (along with Harry’s Invisibility Cloak and the Resurrection Stone). Hermione uses a hair of Bellatrix’s to change into looking like her (and Carter does as an awesome job as her) and they head to Gringots to get into Bellatrix’s vault.

REVIEW CONTAINS SPOILERS...

They have to spell a goblin, but they get into the vaults, but a waterfall kills their spells and they again look themselves, and are kicked out of the car, and are saved by Hermione, and must walk to the vault. They have to go by a tortured dragon. In the vault, harry sees the Horcrux, but the rest of the things are multiplying and they are almost trapped. Griphook takes the sword for the Horcrux and tries to leave them, but they ride the Dragon out of the vaults and drop into a lake.

In the water Harry has a vision of Voldemort killing all the goblins, and knowing they are now hunting Horcrux. He also sees Hogwarts and Rowena Ravenclaw, one of the founders, so he knows a Horcrux is there, and he learns the snake Nagini is one too. They head to Hogsmeade to get into hogwarts.

An alarm goes off, and they are pulled into a house by Aberforth Dumbledore (Ciarán Hinds) who has the rest of Sirius Black’s (Gary Oldman) mirror which Harry has a fragment of, and used it to send Dobby to save them in the last film. Aberforth confronts Harry about how he should not trust his brother, but Harry won’t relent, so he sends the painting of his sister to Hogwarts and Neville arrives all battered and bruised and takes them into Hogwarts via a new passage, telling them how brutal it is. Students are supposed to practice the cruciatix curse on first years!

Harry meets his old friends and tells them he is looking for something. Luna Lovegood (Evanna Lynch) realizes it must be the missing diadem or crown of Rowena Ravenclaw, but no living person has ever seen it.

Severus Snape (Alan Rickman) now headmaster hears Harry is in Hogsmead, and calls the whole school to the now dark great hall, and confronts them, and Harry comes out along with the rest of Order of the Pheonix who are still alive. They force Snape out and Professor McGonagall (Maggie Smith) takes over, locking up the Slitherins and preparing the castles defences along with the teachers and the order, putting a big shield around it, and sending statues to defend it.

Ron and Hermione go to get the basilisk tooth to destroy horcrux’s, since they don’t have the sword, and take the horcrux from Harry and Head for the Chamber of Secrets.

Harry runs toward the Ravenclaw common room, but is stopped by Luna who knows who to talk to, the ghost the Grey Lady, the daughter of Rowena Ravenclaw, Helena (Kelly Macdonald). Helena does not want to tell Harry, but lets him know that it is in the room of requirements.

Hermione uses a tooth to destroy the horcrux and water comes up around them looking like voldemort and when it subsides, she and Ron start kissing! Woohoo! Then they go after Harry using the Marauders map.

Draco has entered the castle and grabs Goyle (Josh Herman) and Blaise (Louis Cordice) [since Crab is in jail in real life] and enter the room or requirments after Harry.

Harry finds the diadem, but then gets confronted by Draco, and asks him why he didn’t identify him? Ron and Hermione arrive and chase them off, but Goyle sets the place ablaze! Harry, Hermione and Ron use brooms to escape, but Goyle is already killed, so they save Draco and Blaise, just escaping the room, and then destroying the Diadem.

The school is under serious attack from all sides. Neville destroys the back bridge, but things are a mess.

Harry sees that Voldemort has gone to the rowing house (why they changed this from the shrieking shack I will never know) where he calls in Snape. Harry, Hermione and Ron hear Voldemort confront Snape about the Eldar wand which is not fully under Voldemort’s control because Snape killed Dumbledore, so he has Nagini kill Snape and takes off. Harry runs in, and Snape is crying silver memories, which Harry collects.

Voldemort calls off his forces for a moment, and calls for Harry to meet him alone in the forrest. The trio go into the castle and see all the dead. Fred Weasley (James Phelps), Lavender Brown (Jessie Cave), Remus Lupin (David Thewlis) and Nymphadora Tonks (Natalie Tena) are all dead.

Harry goes alone to Dumbledore’s office and uses the pensive (and moves it for some unknown reason), and we see Snape’s memories.

We see a young Lily Potter (Ellie Darcey-Alden) being yelled at by her sister Petunia (Ariella Paradise), but she is stopped by a young Severus (Benedict Clarke) who is also magic, and says she is special, and loves her. He hates it when she is put into Gryffyndor and he is put into Slitherin, and she starts seeing James Potter (Adreian Rawlins). We see Lily (Geraldine Somerville) putting her love onto baby Harry (Tobby Papworth) and then being killed, and how it crushed Severus, as he had warned Dumbledore and betrayed Voldemort for his love for Lilly. And we see a conversation with Dumbledore where we learn Dumbledore would dire from the curse on his hand in a year, and that Snape has to tell Harry that he is in fact a Horcrux, which is why he can hear Voldemort, an that he must die by Voldemort’s hand, which hurts Snape as Harry has Lilly’s eyes. And we see that Snape loved Lilly so much that he also has a doe patronus, which is what led Harry to the Gryffyndor sword in the last film.

Harry tells Ron and Hermione and goes into the forrest. He pulls out Snitch Dumbeldore left him and tells it he is ready to die, and it reveals the Resurrection Stone, and when he touches it his parents Lily and James appear, as does Sirius and Lupin, and he talks to them about death, and them always being with him in his heart (though he does mostly ignore James). Harry drops the stone, so it can never be found and walks into Voldemorts camp.

Very quickly Voldemort spells and kills Harry, and Harry awakens in a white everlasting version of King’s Cross stations. Harry sees a bloody version of the baby Voldemort dyeing under a bench, and Dumbledore arrives to talk to Harry. Dumbledore explains that Voldemort had to kill his own Horcrux and that Harry can either take a train to what is beyond or go back to help kill Nagini and Voldemort. Dumbledore tells him not to grieve for the dead, but to grieve for those who do not know love.

Harry returns and Narscissa Malfoy (Helem McCrory) asks Harry if Draco is alive. Harry nods yes, and she declares him dead, and they have their Prisoner Rubeus Hagrid (Robbie Coltrane) carry Harry’s body.

They arrive at the castle and show Harry’s dead body, and say they must declare allegiance to him. Draco goes over to them and his parents, and then Neville comes out and gives a speech about not giving up, and pulls the Sword of Griffindor from the Sorting Hat. Harry jumps up and runs, with Voldemort after him, and most of the death eaters run.

Harry and Voldemort battle as he tries to kill Nagini, as do Ron and Hermione, but finally it is Neville with the sword that kills the snake, leaving Voldemort human. Harry then is able to battle with him, and is stronger and overpowers voldemort, destroying him with his own killing curse and taking the Edler wand.

Harry then tells Ron and Hermione that Voldemort was wrong, that Snape was not in command of the Edler wand, in fact it was Draco who took it from him, and when Harry disarmed Draco, he got control of the Edler want, so it responded to him, and that is how Voldemort’s own curse killed him. Even Ron is tempted by the power of the wand, so Harry destroys it.

We cut to 19 years later and Harry and Ginny Potter (Bonnie Wright) take Albus Severus Potter (Arthur Bowen) to the Hogwart’s express for his first year. along with little Lily (Daphen de Beistegui) and James (Will Dunn) and they meet up with Ron and Hermione Weasley and they children Rose (Helena Barlow) and Hugo (Ryan Turner).

Albus is worried he might be picked into Slitherin, but Harry tells him he is named for 2 of headmasters of Hogwarts, and one was Slitterrin and the bravest man he knows, but if he really wants Gryffindor, the hat will take that into account.

•••

Really a great film, and an amazing ending to the series. The effects are fantastic here, even the aging of Harry looks great. This really is the best of the this series, and I am sure they will do special 3D editions with new effects to match this before too long!

Now for some about what seems wrong. Well Dumbledore had the 3 Deathly Hallows, and so had dominion over death, couldn’t he have just used that against Voldemort? Or at least to save himself to help Harry? And if he knew Harry was a Horcrux, why did Harry have to get the memory of Tom Riddle from Slughorn to find out about Horcrux’s, as he knew all along and was raising him to kill him? I mean WTF! Seems like a whole to me that she had not worked out till the end. Still a great movie though!

in 1989 the CEO of ENCOM, Kevin Flynn (Jeff Bridges) tells a story about a fantastic new world, and then disappears that night, never to be seen again. ENCOM, though owned mostly by Flynn’s son, is run by it’s board of directors in complete opposition to Flynn’s ideas of free software, and they spend each year releasing a new upgrade to their system software (as developed by Edward Dillinger Jr [Cillian Murphy] a nod to ENCOM executive Ed Dillinger who was played by David Warner in the first film) which is really only advertising and doesn’t add anything. The only executive who fights it is Alan Bradley (Bruce Boxleitner) who stills believes in his old friend. Sam Flynn (Garrett Hedlund) an adrenaline junky pulls his yearly prank on ENCOM and steals the new OS and releases if for free, before being arrested after base jumping from the top of the building. That night Alan goes to see Sam to tell him that he got a page from Kevin’s old arcade, though the number has been disconnected for 2o years. Sam goes to the old arcade (which strangely features a Tron game instead of the Space Paranoids that is should have, and which they had at the recreation in San Diego for Comic Con) where he finds Kevin’s secret office, and using the same laser as the first film gets digitized into a world created by his father, the computerized world of the Grid.

Sam is taken, stripped and given an identity disc, and forced to fight in the game grid. Sam proves himself to be most able, defeating everyone who goes against him, until he goes up to the raining champion Rinzler who realizes that Sam is not a program but a User. Rinzler takes Sam to see the head of the Grid, Clu (a young looking Jeff Bridges) who is a program that Kevin created to help create a perfect world, and he took over from Kevin and forced him to go into hiding. Clu decides to take on Sam himself in the grid in a light bike competition.

REVIEW CONTAINS SPOILERS…

Sam is doing OK on the game grid, but is outclasses by Clu, but is saved by the warrior Quorra (Olivia Wilde). She takes him in a vehicle designed to go off the grid and into the wilds and takes him to see his now ages father Kevin.

Kevin in full the Dude mode, tells his son how he was creating a virtual utopia along with Alan’s program Tron (also Bruce Boxleiter) and a new version of Clu created from himself to create perfection. The thing is, in the virtual work new life forms showed, called ISOs or isomorphic algorithms that had not been written, but when Clu took over, he saw them as defects and hunted and killed them all except Quorra. Kevin’s identity disc will allow anyone to use the laser and travel to the real world, so he has hidden to stop Clu from getting it, and wants to continue to hide.

Sam does not and takes Kevin’s lightcycle and heads into the Grid to meat up with Zuse who Quorra told him about. Sam goes to see Castor (Michael Sheen strangely playing David Bowie here) at the End of Line club, and finds that Castor is Zuse, but he betrays Sam to Clu. Sam is saved by his father and Quorra, but she is hurt and Castor gets Kevin’s identity disc, which he gives to Clu.

The 3 escape to a solar sale to try and get to the portal to the real world, and Kevin manages to save and reboot Quorra. On the way they find that Clu is repurposing old programs into an army to spread perfection in the real world. Quorra is taken by Clu, and Sam goes to get her and the disc, which he does, but he goes up against Rinzler again, who is a repurposed Tron.

They manage to escape in a ship, but are chased by Rinzler and Clu. Rinzler manages to break his new programing as he can’t harm a user, and we see him crash and change from red to blu (sequel anyone). They get to the transfer point, but are confronted by Clu, and Kevin gives himself up to stop him, killing them both and wiping out the whole Grid as Sam and Quorra manage to get into the tranfer point and go to the real world.

Sam takes over Encom, making Alan the CEO and heads out with Quorra to show her the real world.

••••

Honestly WTF! The story and dialogue are laughably bad, I mean Kevin saying, your ruining my Zen man? What is this, the Big Lebowski? And even with the effects, the disc and bike battles are much cooler than the flying battle at the end.

And the story just sucks! It would be much cooler if Clu was working with Encom to take over the world with it’s OS, stealing everything and making them all powerful, not planning on making the real world perfect in his eyes? I mean really! And even Wilde is wasted here. She is one of the better characters, but still so 2 dimensional it falls flat.

This movie had so much potential and all of it was wasted.

Sure I will see it again for the effects, but really they could have done so much more, hell they could have made a real sequel to the first film instead of this crap fest!

•••

Watching it a second time I did enjoy it more, though the special features are a bit on the light side. The Blu-ray does look absolutely incredible though. And they have green lit a third film, which will hopefully be better, though with the same writer and director I am not expecting anything amazing out of it.

The film starts with the original teaser, with a bus of US tourists in Egypt going to see the pyramids, and it turns out one has been stolen and replaced with a blow up version. We then return to america and follow the self proclaimed super-vilain Gru (Steve Carell) who we see making children cry. His assistant Dr. Nefario (Russell Brand) calls to tell Gru of the theft, and that all other villains are now seen as nothing. Gru then plans his biggest heist, to steal the moon, by first stealing a shrinking ray. He heads to the bank of Evil, but is turned down for a loan by Mr. Perkins (Will Arnett) whose son it turns out is Vector (Jason Segal) who stole the pyramid, and who Gru freezes his head, making an enemy. Gru goes and steals the shrink ray anyway, with the help of his little yellow minions, but as they escape it is stolen from them by Vector, and Gru can’t get into Vector’s base. Gru sees three orphan girls Margo Miranda Cosgrove). Edith (Dana Gaier) and Agnes (Elsie Fisher) get in while selling cookies, so he hatches a plan to adopt them to get into Vector’s base.

REVIEW CONTAINS SPOILERS...

Gru goes and charms the nasty Miss Hattie (Kristen Wiig) at the orphanage and adopts the 3 girls, but doesn’t know what to do with them at all, and they cause him trouble, but he does start to bond with them, even having fun with them at an amusement park.

Meanwhile Gru has Doctor Nefario build cookie robots to help with the heist, and with the girls unknowing help manages to steal back the shrink ray. Mr Perkins still refuses the loan, and Gru despairs, but his minions pitch in so they can build their own rocket with their own money.

Dr. Nefariio calls Miss Hattie and has her take the kids back, as they are a distraction to Gru, and he doesn’t want to let them go, but does.

The plan is taking place on the same day as the girls big dance recital, but Gru goes and steals the moon, but rushes back to the recital, but he is too late, and he finds a note that Vector has stolen the girls and wants the moon.

Gru gives Vector the moon, but Vector reneges and leaves with the girls and the moon, but the shrinkray turns out to not work forever, and the moon starts to grow as Gru follows. Gru manages to save the girls with the help of his minions.

Gru’s mother (Julie Andrews) is finally proud of Gru, as he has proved himself a better parent than her, and is now happy with his children.

•••

PRETTY LAME I MUST SAY! Just too kiddy with stupid jokes, and not enough good character. It sounds good on paper, but was not done like it should have been!

Woody (Tom Hanks) and Jessie (Joan Cusack) are in a western scene going after One Eyed Bart and Betty [Mr and Mrs Potato Head (Don rickles and Estelle Harris)] and trying to save a train filled with kids, which is saved by Buzz Lightyear (Tim Allen). Then the Evil Dr. Pork Chop [Hamm (Cliff Claven himself, John Ratzenberger)] shows up in a space ship and drops a monkey bomb on them! We find out that this was an imagined adventure that the toys kid Andy (John Morris) had as a kid, but he is now 17 and getting ready to leave for college. Andy plans on taking Woody, and putting the rest of the toys into the attic, but their is a mix up and the rest of the toys end up being put out as trash by his mother. The toys get away from the garbage truck, but they don’t believe Woody, and decide to get into the donation box for Sunnyside daycare, Woody goes along to try to get them to go home. They arrive and meet a big pink bear with a limp, Lotso (Ned Beatty) who along with Ken (Michael Keaton) and a baby doll named Big Baby great them warmly, with Barbie (Jodi Benson) quickly falling for Ken, but things are not as they seem. Woody leaves alone, but is found by a little girl named Bonnie (Emily Hahn) and taken home with her toys. Buzz and the others are all happy until they see they are left in the Caterpillar Room, which turns out to be the toddlers room, where the toys are beaten and almost destroyed, and they realize they have been imprisoned, and must get home to Andy!

REVIEW CONTAINS SPOILERS…

Woody learns from Chuckles the Clown (Bud Luckey) that Lotso was lost and replaced, and now he hates children, and runs the daycare like a prison. Losing his child made him evil and cruel.

The toys at the daycare realize that Andy is missing them through Mrs Potato Heads missing eye that sees Andy visibly upset that his toys got thrown out, and they realize they must get home.

Buzz gets out of the Caterpillar room, but is captured by Ken and Lotso has him reset to Factory mode, so he is back to being a space ranger, and takes the other toys prisoner!

Woody hides in Bonnie’s bag and gets in to try and save his friends. Woody meets Chatter Telephone (Teddy Newton) an old toy who ells woody about the security Monkey that watches the cameras and the trucks that patrol outside, all at Lotso’s beck and call.

They toys start an elaborate escape plan, where Barbie helps by getting Buzz’s instructions (which sets him into Spanish mode where he starts to romance Jessie. They manage to get to the Dumpster, but Lotso surprises them.

Ken ends up saving them, because he loves Barbie. Lotso is thrown in the dumpster by Big Baby, but one of the green Aliens gets it’s foot trapped, and Woody tries to help them, but is grabbed by Lotso, and the other toys try to help and they all end up in the dumpster.

They are taken to the dump, though Buzz finally gets his memory back, but they are on a conveyor belt. They manage to get past a shredder, but Lotso betrays them and they are about to die in an incinerator. They finally give up and all hold hands, but the Aliens who are obsessed with claws save them with a crane. The toys want revenger, but Woody stops them, and Lotso gets grabbed by a garbage truck drive and attached to the front, getting hit by bugs.

The toys ride back to Andy’s house and go into the attic box, with Woody going into the college box. Andy writes a not and puts it on the attic box to Andy, suggesting he give the toys to Bonnie.

Andy takes the toys to Bonnie and gives them to her, even Woody who was in there, and who he did not want to give up, but he sees the joy in the child’s eyes, and plays one more time with the toys, which is what they wanted anyway, and they get a new home.

We see the toys at the Daycare in better care with Jen and Barbie running the show.

••••

Such a lovely film, and so much feeling. It is really sad, and really moving. Really the best of the best!!

It is the year 2154, and a Space Marine Corporal named Jake Sully (Sam Worthington) who suffered a spinal injury and can’t use his legs is on his way to the planet Pandora, being put under for 6 years to make the trip. He is going to replace his brother had trained for years for the mission, but was killed, and Sam could replace him because of his genetics, even without any training. The Planet Pandora is a jungle planet run by the Company, where humans want to strip mine for the mineral unobtanium (the stupidest name I have ever heard), and the planet is run by Parker Selfridge (Giovanni Ribisi), and security is headed by ex-space marine Colonel Miles Quaritch (Stephen Lang). The planet Pandora is already inhabited. Along with a rich flora and fauna, there is a native race named the Na’vi, which are huge, 9 feet tall with blue skin, carbon fiber bones, and a propensity to use huge arrows and knives. They worship nature and their god lives in the trees and is named Eywa. The Company wants to move the tribe away from their huge sacred tree so they can get the large deposit of unobtanium underneath it. The Company employs a team of scientists led by Dr. Grace Augustine (Sigourney Weaver) who run the Avatar Program, where a human/Na’vi is grown, and their minds are projected into the creature so they can go and talk to the natives, and affect a diplomatic solution. Jake’s brother was going to be part of it, so Jake now is, but he is co-opted by the Colonel to spy for them and get information to help use if the Na’vi do not agree to deal. Grace knows of this, but tolerates it, because she knows that it is the company that sponsors her science. Jake very quickly takes to his Na’vi body, loving the ability to use his legs again (his sick legs effect looks amazing). On one of their first outings into the jungle, they are flown out by Trudy Chacon (Michelle Rodriguez) and go along with Jake’s brother’s friend Norm Spellman (Joel David Moore) another Avatar driver and Grace in her Avatar form. Jake has a run in with a huge local creature, but he stands his ground, and is OK, until a more viscous predator, a Thanator attacks, forcing him to run and jump down a waterfall, and become separated. The other’s try to find him, but they according to the Colonels orders there are no night ops, so Jake is left alone in a hostile jungle to fend for himself. Jake does not do to well, and is surrounded by a pack of dog like things, and is going to be killed by a Na’vi female named Neytiri (Zoe Saldaña who played Uhura in the new Star Trek film), but when the seeds of the Na’vi’s sacred tree land on her arrow, she instead saves him. And she is going to leave him, but again the pure creatures land all over him, and so she takes them back to her clan, the Omaticaya. Jake meets the aggressive Tsu’Tey (Laz Alonso) who is betrothed to Neytiri and will become the Cheiftan of the tribe, the Chieftan, Neytiri’s father, Eytucan (Wes Studi) and the spirital leader, Neytiri’s mother Mo’at (C.C.H. Pounder). Mo’at sees something in Jake, and since he is a warrior, unlike the scientists, they decide to bring him into the tribe, and teach him all of their ways, and Neytiri is forced to be his teacher.

REVIEW CONTAINS SPOILERS…

As Jake’s Avatar goes to sleep each night, he awakens back in his chamber, and when Grace sees him giving tactical info to the Colonel, she decides to move the science team to a remote location in the floating mountains, where conventional radar and tech do not work right, making flying hard.

Jake is a slow learner, but has a good teacher, and he begins to learn the way of the tribe, learning to ride their versions of horses, which they control by connecting some feelers that come out of what looks like their hair. This is also how they control the flying creatures that each warrior must master to become a warrior and be accepted into the tribe.

Jake knows he is supposed to be working on getting the Na’vi to move or figuring out their weaknesses, but he begins to like his life in his Avatar more than in his paralyzed body. He finally falls in love with Neytiri.

Jake becomes a warrior and picks his own flying ride, showing he is a true warrior, and he and Neytiri fly together, almost being killed by a nastier predator, the Toruk.

Jake is called to talk to the Colonel, who informs him that he has done all he needs to, given him all the info he needs, and he will be sent back the next day, and get his legs back, but Jake wants to go back to the tribe, as he will become a member of the tribe the next day. Jake goes back and becomes one with the tribe, and Neytiri tells him he can chose a woman, and he choses her and they mate, which for the Na’vi is for life.

The next morning, while Jake is still back as a human, the bulldozers arrive, and Neytiri can’t awaken Jake, but when she does, he smashes the camera of a bulldozer, but is seen, and the Colonel knows he is a traitor. He confronts them and uses Jake’s own video which has him saying that the Na’vi will never leave, and the mission is useless.

Jake and the scientists are taken back to base, but they Grace manages to convince Selfriedge to let them try one more time as the Colonel is going to destroy the Omaticaya’s home tree. They go in and try to convince the people to leave, and he reveals his mission, and Neytiri accuses him of betraying them and her, and he and Grace are tied up.

The Military arrives and quickly destroy the home tree, and kill Eytucan, and the tribe must leave for it’s holiest place, the Tree of Souls, in the center of the floating mountains, though the Colonel plans on following and destroying their holiest place, and them along with it. He also awakens Jake and Grace. The tribe take Grace, but leave Jake’s body behind.

The team is imprisoned, but Trudy helps them escape, but Grace is badly wounded by shots from the Colonel as they leave. They move their Avatar projection machines deeper into the woods, and Jake realizes their is only one way for him to get back into the tribe.

He has learned that at times a Na’vi warrior had bonded with huge air predator, and was able to unite the tribes, so he uses his air creature and manages to take over the Toruk, and heads to the tribe, convincing Tsu-Tey to help him unite the other tribes against the humans. He also re-united with his love Neytiri, and her mother attempts to move grace permanently into her Na’vi body, but the wounds are too great, and she is only transfered to be with their god, the network of plants on the planet that they worship, and which is conscious on it’s own. They bring in the horse tribes and other airborne tribes to fight.

The colonel has loaded the shuttle with explosives and plans on dropping them onto the Tree of Souls as a daisy cutter, and brings in a huge force in the air and on the ground with Amplified Mobility Platform suits on the ground.

The Na’vi fight back, with huge casualties. Trudy is killed, as is Norm’s avatar, and Tsu’Tey trying to destroy the shuttle, though Jake manages to do it. And the creatures of the planet come to help, as Jake asked the intelligence to help get the humans, and make them leave.

He then goes against the Colonel, and the two end up fighting on the ground after his command platform is destroyed, him in an AMP and Jake in his Avatar, but they are near the chamber with Jake’s real body, and the Colonel manages to break the glass, and Jake can’t get to an air supply. Neytiri kills the colonel and finds Jake’s real body, saving him.

The humans are driven from the planet, and Jake goes and is transferred into his Na’vi body permanently, and the film ends as he opens his eyes.

••••

Not only a feast for the eyes, but a really enjoyable film all the way around. I would see it in 3D a third time. Hell it makes me want a 3D TV! I like it that much! What a great and enjoyable film. Cameron has really done it again.

The creation of a scientist as small ragdoll like creature named 9 (Elijah Wood) awakens in a laboratory in a post apocalyptic world, finding a strange device, which it zips into it’s own body, and goes out exploring. Shortly 9 runs into another like itself, this one designated number 2 (Martin Landau) who is exploring. He tells 9 of others like himself, but is then captured by a mechanical beast made with the bones of a cat, which also takes the small device that 9 had found, and heads to a factory seen in the distance. 9 ends up finding an enclave of others like himself, first finding the kind 5 (John C. Reilly) who was best friends with 2, as well as the vision having 6 (Cripsin Glover) who constantly draws the device that 9 found, and the brutish 8 (Fred Tatasciore) who protects their leader 1 (Christopher Plummer), who tries to keep them from the outside world, knowing something that he does not tell the others. Against the wishes of 1, 9 convinces 5 to go with him, and heads toward the factory to try and save 2.

REVIEW CONTAINS SPOILERS….

The two new friends make it to the factory, and with the help of 7 (Jennifer Connelly) who shows up and cuts the cat beasts head off, they manage to save 2.

9 sees a socket that looks like the device he has retrieved from the cat, and puts it into it, missing the yells from his friends, and it activates, the Machine, which quickly steals 2′s soul away, killing him, and forces 9, 5 and 7 to flee for their very lives.

7 take them to see the other 2 exiles, the researching 3 and 4, and try to find out about the machine, but find nothing. They go back to see 6 since he draws the device, and talks about going to the source.

1 berates 9, and says that he will jut cause more trouble. The hideout is attacked by a new flying creature. They all manage to destroy it, but the base is destroyed, and looking for a new place to shelter a new snake like machine attacks, taking 7 and 8.

( goes to the factory and is able to save 7, but 8′s soul is taken by the machine. 9 and 7 run out as 5 sends a burning oil barrel into the building which explodes, destroying the factory.

They celebrate, but then the Machine comes after them, very much still alive, and 5 is taken by the Machine. 6 tells 9 that the device has the souls in the machine, and that he must return to the source, before his soul too is taken.

9 goes back to where he awoke, the source, where he finds out about the scientist that created them with the Talisman, taking parts of his soul. He had worked for a totalitarian regime, and created the Machine for them, but it’s use was perverted and he created the talisman, and the 9 to be the saviors of the planet, being 9 facets of his own humanity, the last humanity on Earth.

9 goes to get the device from the Machine planning to sacrifice himself, but 1 does it instead, so 9 can get the device, which shuts down the machine.

9, 7 , 3 and 4 set up a memorial for their fallen friends, with the Talisman in the center, we see each of their souls come out, and then rise to the sky, and it creates the first rain since mankind fell, seemingly restarting life on Earth.

•••

Weird ending, and if the souls were meant to restart the Earth, which didn’t it need all 9 of them to work? Just doesn’t make sense. And the ending is too short, but the visuals are fantastic.

This film as usual with Pixar films starts with a short film, this is called Partly Cloudy and is directed by Peter Sohn. And as usual the whole story is told without dialogue, which always works so well. This is the story of clouds in the sky who make baby’s, puppies, kittens, and other creatures for storks to deliver to expectant parents, but their is one different cloud named Gus who is a gray cloud, and all his creations are dangerous, from crocodiles, bighorn sheep and a porcupine, which his poor delivery stork Peck must deliver, getting well thrashed along the way. Peck finally flies away to another nearby white cloud. This makes Gus sad, and he cries and thunderstorms, but then peck returns, and finds that the other cloud made him shoulder pads and a football helmet for protection. Gus is elated and gives Peck an electric eel which shocks him right through the protective gear, but he flies off happily to deliver it, if a bit harried.

UP starts almost like another short film by them, with the love story of a young boy named Carl Fredrickson (Ed Asner), and the woman he will marry, Ellie (Elizabeth Docter). Carl’s hero is the famed explorer Charles Muntz (Christopher Plummer) who pilots an airship, and who discovered a strange bird in a hidden South American locale named Paradise Falls, but his discovery was claimed to be faked, so Muntz headed off to get a live bird, and was not heard from again. Carl was a huge fan, dressing like him, and as an 8 year old he met the young tom boy Ellie who also loved Muntz, and they eventually married, always promising to go on an adventure, but life got in the way, and they never had enough money, especially working at a zoo with Carl selling balloons to children. They had a lovely life together, but Ellie never got to finish her adventure, where she wanted to move her clubhouse, and abandoned house, that they later bought and fixed up to Paradise Falls, and she died giving him the boom. Carl is then all alone in his house, and the city grows around him, with a big consruction going on around him. Their is one nice worker named Tom (John Ratzenberger who is in all Pixar films), but when Ellie’s mail box is crushed, Carl gets angry and hits a worker, and the developer is able to get the city to say he must give up his house and go to a retirement home. Carl is crushed, but he has an idea, and when the men come to take him away, he goes back in, and using all of his balloons, lifts his house into the air, planning on taking it to Paradise Falls. The one problem is that he has picked up an unsupecting passenger, a Wilderness Explorer named Russell (Jordan Nagai) who wanted to help the old man to get his last badge so he could become a full Wilderness Scout. Carl had sent the boy on a snipe hunt, and the boy had returned at the wrong time. Carl does not want to let him in, but they are up in the sky, and they must. Carl decides he must try and let the boy off, but that doesn’t work so well, an they end up going through a huge storm.

REVIEW CONTAINS SPOILERS…

The unlikely duo must tie everything down so it does not fall out, and Russell manages to steer the house with his GPS navigator, and has gotten him to the other cliff on the other of the falls. By this time the house has lost many balloons, so the duo are able to tie themselves to the house and pull it along behind them while they try to get to the falls, then Carl will send Russell home via bus (what a fair that will be).

Russell talks to Carl, and starts telling him about his father who has left, and he doesn’t see much, but he promised to come if he got all his merit badges, so Russell is working hard to do it. On the way Russell and his chocolate end up finding a huge bird, which he names Kevin (not realizing it is a female), and the bird starts following them, much to crusty Carl’s chagrin.

Later they run into a dog named Dug (Bob Peterson) who can talk with the help of a special collar. Dug is send out to find a special bird. He is the laughing stock of the pack, and they have sent him out to get him out of the way, but it turns out he is trying to find Kevin.

Dug ends up being owned by Muntz, who has been trying to find the bird all these years to prove himself, and when Carl and Russell go and meet him on his airship, they are initially happy, but Carl realizes that Muntz wants to kill and stuff Kevin, and immediately wants to get away from Muntz and his pack of talking dogs led by Alpha (also Bob Peterson) whose color is broken and he talks comically high pitched.

Carl and Russell leave quickly with Dug and Kevin, but Kevin is hurt by Alpha during the escape, and Muntz is able to track them with Dug’s collar.

Carl and Russell plan on getting Kevin to her chicks.

Muntz sets Carl’s houe on fire, and must chose his house or Kevin, and Muntz is able to take Kevin with his dogs. Carl is able to get his house to where Ellie wanted it, but Russell is now angry with him.

Carl finds Ellie’s adventure scrapbook, and instead of being empty it has their whole life together in it, and it encourages him to have an adventure of his own. Carl is invigorated and goes to find Russell, but he has gone off to find Muntz. Carl starts dumping stuff from his house to lighten it, so he can after Muntz along with Dug.

Russell manages to get in the airship, but is captured by Alpha and the dogs. He is tired up and left to fall out of the ship, but is saved by Carl and his house, though he is kept tired up., Carl and Dug go in to save Kevin.

Carl and Muntz end up dueling with a sword and cane, while DUg takes control of the dogs from Alpha. Russell frees himself, but is is hanging from a rope connected to the house, and being attacked by dogs in biplanes. Russell is saved when Carl yells squirrel, distracting the dogs, but he is now battling Muntz on top of the airship.

Muntz shoots some of the balloons and the house lands on the edge of the airship.

Carl tricks Muntz into the house, while getting Russell out of it, and Muntz falls to his death, and his house drifts away.

Carl takes Muntz’s airship and returns Kevin to her Chicks, and then brings Russell back to the city. When Russell’s father doesn’t show up at his ceremony, Carl presents Russell with his last badge, giving him the grape soda badge Ellie gave him when they first met.

Afterwards Carl acts like a father to Russell living in his new airship. And we see the house has landed exactly where Ellie wanted it at the falls.

••••

Such a fun and lovely film (though I was surprised to see Muntz getting killed, I though he would be saved). Ed Asner is perfect as Carl, and Nagai does a great job as Russell. This is one of this years must see films.

Brendan Frasier plays absent minded professor Trevor Anderson working in Volcanology, but about to lose his lab to his ass of a boss Alan Kitzens (Seth Meyers). His brother and he were interested in a theory on volcanic tubes, but his brother had gone missing 10 years before, and most of his sensors were down, and no one else thought the research useful. Trevor has forgotten that he is taking his nephew for the next 2 weeks while his mother goes and sets up their new house in Canada, so the nephew Sean (John Hutcherson) shows up with Trevor unprepared. Trevor shows Sean his brother Max’s copy of Jules Vernes, Journey to the Center of the Earth, he realizes there is code in it, that corresponds with reading he has been getting at the lab, so they go to the lab. Sean notices that another sensor is online in Europe, and the two use Trevor’s quarter collection to buy tickets and head there, and try and find out what happened to Max. They look for old Colleague of Max’s, but instead find his daughter Hannah (Anita Briem) who tells them Max and her father were Vernians, obsessed with the writings of Jules Verne, but agrees to take them out to the mountain and the new Sensor. They treck out, and find the sensor, but an electrical storm forces them into a cave, and causes a cave in, so they must go into the mountain to try and find another way out. FIrst they find an old mine, and ride the mine cars, which leads them to a room which has it’s walls covered in Diamonds, but the floor is unstable and breaks, and they fall a huge distance, to a land at the center of the earth.

REVIEW CONTAINS SPOILERS…

The Trio heads into the large caves they find, filled with strange creatures, like glowing birds, and eventually find the house of the character from Journey to the Center of the Earth, and not only that the notes of Max, and Hannah finds his body, which they bury on the beach of an ocean. They realize that the cave is getting hotter and hotter, and will eventually get too hot, and boil everything in it. So they decide to use Max’s plan and sail over to the other side, and try to find a geyser that could get them to the surface.

They quickly make a boat, and set sail across the sea, and some carnivorous fish attack them, but then sea serpents attack them, and they move on as a storm arrives. The storm hits and Hannah hurts her hands, so Trevor goes to help her, and Sean ends up getting carried away by the sale.

Sean makes it alone to shore, but finds his glowing bird, and follows it towards the geyser using his father’s compass.

Trevor and Hannah make it to shore, and head to the geyser as well, knowing that Sean knows the plan. And when they reach it, after almost getting eaten by huge carnivorous flytraps, Trevor goes back to find Sean.

Sean meanwhile has had a run in with a t-rex, and Trevor saves him, and then manages to trick the creature onto more of the thin rock, and makes it fall.

Trevor and Sean make it to the river, and Hannah shows up in a jaw of t-rex, and they head to the geyser, but find lava already in the tube, but they find some water condensation, and Trevor uses the last flares to blow magnesium and get water in the tunnel, and re-start the geyser. They get shot out of the volcano, and end up Italy, destroying a farmers crops, but Sean has taken the diamonds from the beggining, and they are now rich.

Trevor returns to the college with Hanah, and starts his own lab with the money, and when Sean’s mom shows up, Trevor makes plans for him to visit at Christmas.

••••

The 3D is amazing, and this is just a fun movie all the way around. Not amazing, but pretty fun overall.