“Astro Boy”

(Animation/Adventure/Science-Fiction: 1 hour, 34 minutes); Starring: Nicolas Cage, Charlize Theron, Samuel L. Jackson, Freddie Highmore, Bill Nighy, Donald Sutherland and Eugene Levy; Director: David Bowers; Rated: PG (Violence and some thematic elements)

Movie Review: Bereaved father Dr. Tenma (Cage) cannot accept the loss of his ultra-intelligent son, Tobey (Highmore). Tenma creates an android in the very image of his son, downloading his son’s memories into the machine. Tobey comes to life as Astro Boy, a mechanical kid that doubles as a weapon. The boy robot comes just in time. Ruthless leader Stone (Sutherland) runs the futuristic Metro City like a dictatorship and needs a worthy adversary.

Known in Japan as “Tetsuwan Atomu,” a cartoon that ran from 1963-1966, “Astro Boy” is a unique film. Despite its presence as a kids film, it provides a plot with grown-up themes.

Bowers last co-directed his first film, “Flushed Away,” (2006) with Sam Fell. Bowers, writers and the animators of this slick piece make it dramatic, as it is adventurous and action-oriented.

Usually, big-named stars voices dominate the animated characters. Such a dynamic instance is not here.

Action and adventure are all present, and the plot is cute and endearing. “Astro Boy” is a worthy outing for any family.

Grade: B (Astronomical amusement!)



“Cirque du Freak: The Vampire's Assistant”

(Action/Adventure: 1 hour, 48 minutes); Starring: John C. Reilly, Josh Hutcherson, Chris Massoglia, Ken Watanabe, and Salma Hayek; Director: Paul Weitz; Rated: PG-13 (Thematic elements, violence and strong language)

Movie Review: Darren Shan (Massoglia) is 16. His stress level is about normal for a teen. This changes after Darren agrees to be the assistant of Larten Crepsley, a vampire, to save the life of his best friend, Steve (Hutcherson). Darren must leave his normal life to travel with Cirque Du Freak.

Reilly does his best, but the best this film has to offer is a unique pairing of Massoglia and Hutcherson as best friends. Their pairing is uniquely similar to that of Corey Feldman and Corey Haim, who were big teen stars during the 1980s and starred in a vampire film called “The Lost Boys” (1987) and the more recent television series “The Two Coreys.”

Paul Weitz has directed better movies. His past resume includes “American Pie” (1999), “About a Boy” (2002), and “In Good Company” (2004). “Vampire’s Assistant” is opened ended, as it is a beginning for other films in a planned series. After this, producers should cancel future showings. Freakily done, this piece needs assistance.

Grade: C (Put in a coffin and bury.)



“Capitalism: A Love Story”

(Documentary: 2 hours, 2 minutes); Director: Michael Moore; Rated: R (Strong language)

Movie Review: People commonly note this country was founded as a capitalist, Judeo-Christian country. Both notations have only some validity. The United States was founded as a Protestant work-ethic nation, a place of free religion, as in freedom from having religion forced upon you by government as European countries had forced their citizens to do at that time, and a place where decent, hard work gives you a good life. However, most people know by the time they are age 10, hard work does not always give you the “good life.” Moreover, capitalism was not a concept the U.S. founders envisioned, since modern terminology of capitalism and capitalistic systems did not emerge until the 1850s. Moore debates the merits and downfalls of capitalism.

Twenty years after Moore’s groundbreaking “Roger & Me” (1989) first detailed corporate greed, he returns with “Capitalism,” another motion picture about the ails of government, money and the American way. He bounces around doing interviews in several states, talking to citizens, the wealthy, priests, economists, executives and politicians.

The first mistake Moore makes is he does not define capitalism. Many forms of capitalism exist and have throughout history, in many places on Earth. Capitalism is not just a United States thing. It is global — meaning capital is now relatable to a world economy. The United States already employs methods of both and has for some time.

Second, Moore does not present both sides to his argument. However, this is his film, so he can be one-sided. The media does not have to be unbiased, although good media entities should. The media was more partial in many respects during the founding of this country because politicians wrote many of the newspapers’ words during the late 1700s and early 1800s.

Third, Moore criticizes former President George W. Bush but not President Barack H. Obama. The two have made similar moves involving the economy — i.e., bailouts. Moore also chastises members of Congress, especially the Democratic Party members of Congress, portions of Obama’s cabinet, and plenty of ex-government officials, but not Obama. Clearly, Moore omits Obama’s sins. This omission impedes Moore’s objectives, making his argument less credible. Again, this is Moore’s film. He intentionally makes his films slanted, hence political propaganda, to stir the emotions of viewers. When people hate you, you are effective in many aspects at some endeavor, good or bad.

His attempt this outing is to show how members of government, Democratic and Republican parties, are in the pockets of corporations and other interest groups when it comes to money. Moore shows the links nicely, demonstrating how corporations have infiltrated the U.S. government to make sure their interests are accomplishable, at the expense of everyone else.

The most telling part of this documentary is a person on film noting capitalism is more important than democracy. The person continues noting capitalism works better, too. Democracy means a government of the people. Corporations and other capitalists are rarely worried about people beyond how people will affect their profit margins. Moore does a good job making this a key argument of his film, and he succeeds here. Moore’s attempt is to get audiences to think. A habit many try to avoid.

Every country has some form of capitalistic ventures. For example, take a guess which countries have the most billionaires according to Forbes Magazine.

At the top, the United States reigns, but Germany, Saudi Arabia and Russia make the cut.

Just years ago, Russia was known as the billionaire capitol of the world. This bit of knowledge proves no

matter in which system of government you live, it benefits the wealthy more.

Grade: B (Now Mr. Moore, spread the wealth and send us some of the money you made with this film.)