War, Inc DVD

A non-literal sequel to Gross Point Blank. Starring John Cusack, Marisa Tomei, Joan Cusack, Hillary Duff, Ben Kingsley and Dan Aykroyd.

Cusack stars as Brand Hauser a contract hit man who works for Tamerlane corporation, a private quasi military industrial complex company, run by Dan Aykroyd. He has been sent to a fictional middle east country representing Iraq to prepare the wedding of a regional popstar and a wealthy prince. The true mission is to assasinate the president of a neighboring country.

While there is some witty references, such as Hauser using a service represpentative from an On-Star clone as a pyschologist, Cusacks normal charm is lost on this film, which he co-wrote and produced. His humor is much better suited to pop-culture not obvious political satire.

Not a flick I would reccomend. Its got a great cast but weak dailogue and weaker set design. The DVD has no extras.

Small Soldiers DVD

This is the first time Mighty Mo has watched Small Soldiers and he liked it quite a bit. Let me remind you he is five. As someone much older than that watching this for the umpteenth time, I still enjoyed it.

Small Soldiers stars Gregory Smith and Kirsten Dunst. In supporting rolls are Denis Leary, David Cross, Jay Mohr, Ann Magnuson, Kevin Dunn and in his last role, Phil Hartman. Of note is also Dick Miller who plays the truck driver. His familiar face was also seen in the Gremlin movies. Joe Dante directed.

When military technology is added to toy lines named the Commando Elite and the Gorgonites, things go terribly out of control in a small neighborhood. Full functional, thinking toys battle each other for victory.

As a side note, I really enjoyed the voices on the toys. The Commando Elite is voiced by Tommy Lee Jones and the cast of the Dirty Dozen. The Gorgonites are voiced by Frank Langella and the cast of Spinal Tap. Other voices are provided by Christina Ricci and Sarah Michelle Gellar.

Unlike most DVD's we rent, this one will stay with us for a few days so we can have another veiwing. The wife had some issues with teen verbage but it was very few words.

Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa

I am a big fan of the first movie, as is Mo. While he really enjoyed the sequel it fell flat for me. All in all a good movie that I reccommend but you are going to see it whether you want to our not, so its good that the movie is not horrible. Face it, there are just some movies that if you have children your going to find in your DVD player at some point.

All the main characters and voice personality's return for the sequel with the inclusion of two outstanding voice talents. Bernie Mac in one of his last two films completed before his death by illness this past summer and the always great Alec Baldwin. Mac plays the father of Alex and the king of the pride and Baldwin the scheming lion always trying to take control. Think Scar from Lion King without the malevolence.

The movie opens with a flash back to Alex as a lion cub and how he made his way to the zoo in NYC. In a quite clever segue, news reports show how Alex, Marty, Gloria and Melman end up lost in the first movie.In a fast and vocal music number the entire cast is reintroduced and transported to the African mainland. I give credit to the director for depicting a pretty horrible plane flight with enough aplumb to elicit laughs and not shrieks.

The remaining of the movie is the main characters processing into the wild. The bulk of the story is again Alex. In the same vein as the first movie, Alex struggles with the difference between being the King of New Yok and King of the Jungle. Marty finds out that he is not as unique as he thinks. Melman becomes a witch doctor. Gloria fends off two suitors and the penquins fix the airplane with the help of a unionized monkey army, the monkeys have thumbs and numbers.

The graphics are outstanding and much better than first movie. The humor is very much child appropriate targetting the right demographic but there is less pandering to parent laughs so it could be hard to sit through more than once. Its so hard to create a movie like say Shrek, that gets parents to laugh and keep children engaged. In all a solid movie that will translate well into residual sales.