Joystiq has your stash of criminally complete GTA IV news!

What's Old Is Not New Again

Filed under: Comedy, New Releases, New in Theaters, George Clooney, Remakes and Sequels, Hold the 'Fone, Mr. Moviefone, Summer Movies

Johnny Depp in Pirates of the CaribbeanWell friends, if you ever needed more evidence that Hollywood has completely run out of ideas, look no further than this week's new movies. Yep ... there's an Ocean's three-quel, a Hostel sequel and another freakin' penguin movie.

Just in case you've missed all the hype that these stars and the studio have been spewing forth ... George Clooney, Brad Pitt, the other 11 and a new one hit the screen this weekend in Ocean's Thirteen.

In this installment, Danny Ocean and his group of con men head back to Vegas try to pull off their most ambitious and riskiest heist yet. This time it's to take down a casino owner, played by Al Pacino, who snookered their mentor and friend played by Elliot Gould.

The Reel Deal: If you enjoy the caper movies and it just makes you feel good to keep padding these guys wallets...then party down with Oceans 13. It's a harmless enough movie ... not great, not horrible, but me? ... I like these guys individually but together they just seem like one big Smuggy McSmartypants, and this movie feels like Ocean's 113. For what it's worth, I took Hippie Assistant Matt (HAM) to see the movie, and he loved it. But I'm pretty sure he was baked, so there you go. He's in; I'm out.

Hey, did you know surfing was invented by penguins? That's the theme in the summer's next big animated movie Surf's Up. You see, a surfing penguin named Cody (Shia LaBeouf) heads south for the championships. And of course along the way he gets some life lessons from an ex-surfing penguin legend voiced by Jeff Bridges and the island lifeguard penguin featuring the voice of the lovely Zooey Deschanel.

The Reel Deal: Apparently, like the rest of America's children, I suffer from the ADD because the snail's pace and the muted colors literally put me to sleep. Again, it's a harmless enough movie ... not great, not terrible ... but I seriously could not stay awake. So simply based on the movie's narcotic-like effect ... I'm in. Not really ... I'm out ... but it was a good nap.

Hey, if blood-letting and horrible, terrible, gruesome torture is your idea of a good time at the movies, then by all means check out Hostel: Part II.

In the sequel to the sleeper horror hit, three American girls studying in Rome are drawn into a world of torture. The coeds cross paths with a model who invites them to join her on vacation. The three go along, but they soon become pawns of the sick and privileged who travel to Europe to pay ($) for their grisly pursuits.

The Reel Deal: Well, director Eli Roth would have you believe that there's some redeeming value to these movies ... but since there were no screenings for critics, he's making the statement that they must have absolutely no value at all ... I'm inclined to agree with him. And who are the people who can't wait to see this movie? My feeling is that they are the same people who were killing frogs and pulling the wings off butterflies as children.

P.S. If you would like to attempt to defend the value of these movies, let's have it. I'll be happy to listen to your views ... frog killer.

Watch this week's Reel Deal

Related Headlines

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

NEWS
Awards (849)
Box Office (579)
Casting (3764)
Celebrities and Controversy (1855)
Columns (240)
Contests (211)
Deals (3052)
Distribution (1039)
DIY/Filmmaking (1848)
Executive shifts (99)
Exhibition (645)
Fandom (4533)
Home Entertainment (1211)
Images (690)
Lists (362)
Moviefone Feedback (5)
Movie Marketing (2318)
New Releases (1804)
Newsstand (4416)
NSFW (87)
Obits (304)
Oscar Watch (501)
Politics (820)
Polls (29)
Posters (171)
RumorMonger (2211)
Scripts (1542)
Site Announcements (277)
Stars in Rewind (71)
Tech Stuff (413)
Trailers and Clips (626)
BOLDFACE NAMES
James Bond (207)
George Clooney (151)
Daniel Craig (83)
Tom Cruise (235)
Johnny Depp (148)
Peter Jackson (128)
Angelina Jolie (162)
Nicole Kidman (48)
George Lucas (193)
Michael Moore (69)
Brad Pitt (155)
Harry Potter (164)
Steven Spielberg (295)
Quentin Tarantino (144)
FEATURES
12 Days of Cinematicalmas (59)
400 Screens, 400 Blows (110)
After Image (39)
Best/Worst (36)
Bondcast (7)
Box Office Predictions (83)
Celebrities Gone Wild! (23)
Cinematical Indie (3980)
Cinematical Indie Chat (4)
Cinematical Seven (239)
Cinematical's SmartGossip! (49)
Coming Distractions (13)
Critical Thought (347)
DVD Reviews (207)
Eat My Shorts! (16)
Fan Rant (58)
Festival Reports (884)
Film Blog Group Hug (56)
Film Clips (32)
Friday Night Double Feature (31)
From Page to Screen (7)
From the Editor's Desk (68)
Geek Report (81)
Guilty Pleasures (27)
Hold the 'Fone (429)
Indie Seen (7)
Insert Caption (119)
Interviews (331)
Killer B's on DVD (78)
Monday Morning Poll (52)
New in Theaters (314)
New on DVD (279)
Podcasts (105)
Retro Cinema (80)
Review Roundup (45)
Scene Stealers (13)
Seven Days of 007 (25)
Summer Movies (44)
The Geek Beat (34)
The (Mostly) Indie Film Calendar (39)
The Rocchi Review: Online Film Community Podcast (30)
The Write Stuff (26)
Theatrical Reviews (1605)
Trailer Trash (449)
Unscripted (37)
Vintage Image of the Day (140)
GENRES
Action (4893)
Animation (986)
Classics (980)
Comedy (4464)
Comic/Superhero/Geek (2422)
Documentary (1310)
Drama (5670)
Family Films (1131)
Foreign Language (1483)
Games and Game Movies (291)
Gay & Lesbian (225)
Horror (2175)
Independent (3091)
Music & Musicals (880)
Noir (193)
Mystery & Suspense (804)
Religious (99)
Remakes and Sequels (3606)
Romance (1180)
Sci-Fi & Fantasy (3031)
Shorts (266)
Sports (268)
Thrillers (1791)
War (259)
Western (68)
FESTIVALS
Oxford Film Festival (2)
AFI Dallas (45)
Austin (23)
Berlin (89)
Cannes (329)
Chicago (18)
CineVegas (13)
ComicCon (90)
Fantastic Fest (63)
Gen Art (8)
Los Angeles Film Festival (9)
New York (52)
Other Festivals (297)
Philadelphia Film Festival (13)
San Francisco International Film Festival (28)
Seattle (66)
ShoWest (3)
Slamdance (20)
Sundance (603)
SXSW (275)
Telluride (61)
Toronto International Film Festival (343)
Tribeca (258)
Venice Film Festival (11)
WonderCon (1)
Friday Night Double Feature (1)
DISTRIBUTORS
Roadside Attractions (7)
20th Century Fox (592)
Artisan (1)
Disney (555)
Dreamworks (284)
Fine Line (4)
Focus Features (147)
Fox Atomic (16)
Fox Searchlight (169)
HBO Films (33)
IFC (122)
Lionsgate Films (370)
Magnolia (106)
Miramax (71)
MGM (184)
New Line (382)
Newmarket (17)
New Yorker (5)
Picturehouse (15)
Paramount (600)
Paramount Vantage (44)
Paramount Vantage (11)
Paramount Classics (48)
Samuel Goldwyn Films (10)
Sony (513)
Sony Classics (147)
ThinkFilm (115)
United Artists (39)
Universal (665)
Warner Brothers (941)
Warner Independent Pictures (94)
The Weinstein Co. (451)
Wellspring (6)

RESOURCES

RSS NEWSFEEDS

  • RSS News Feed
Powered by Blogsmith

Sponsored Links

Most Commented On (60 days)

Recent Comments

Weblogs, Inc. Network

Other Weblogs Inc. Network blogs you might be interested in: