A Very Harold & Kumar 3D Christmas

Movie: A Very Harold & Kumar 3D Christmas

Genre: comedy           

Synopsis: This is set several years after the 2^nd movie of the series.  Harold (John Cho) has dumped Kumar (Kal Penn) as a friend.  He works on Wall Street, is very successful, lives in a beautiful house, is married and trying to have a child.  His stress levels go through the ceiling with the arrival of his father-in-law along with about 15 other in-laws for Christmas.  Kumar, still a stoner, drops by Harold’s house.  Their adventure begins when the Christmas tree Harold’s father-in-law brought burns down.  The movie follows the re-united friends as they try to find a replacement tree on Christmas eve.

My two cents: This is my favorite of the three movies.  If you can get past the wildly inappropriate subject matter of most of the jokes, it is really funny.  There are a lot of inside jokes – such as a crack about Kumar working in the White House (Kal Penn really did work for White House for a year).  NPH (Neil Patrick Harris) is back – with an interesting explanation about how he survived his death in the second Harold and Kumar movie.  I thought the real scene stealer in this movie is the Waffle-Bot.  If you liked the first two in the series, you are sure to like this installment.

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Puss in Boots in IMAX 3D

Movie: Puss in Boots in IMAX 3D

Genre: animated fantasy

Synopsis: Puss in Boots (Antonio Banderas) teams up with Kitty Softpaws (Salma Hayek) and his childhood friend, Humpty Dumpty (Zack Galifianakis) to go on a quest to find the Golden Goose.  Competing with them to find the goose – and doing their best to sabotage their quest -  is Jack and Jill (Billy Bob Thornton and Amy Sedaris).  Will Humpty ever forgive Puss in Boots for abandoning him years earlier?  Will his home town – and mother – ever forgive Puss in Boots for what they think he did? 

My two cents: I was surprised at how much I enjoyed this movie.  It had a lot of really funny throughout with pretty darn clever dialogue.  Other than the three main characters, the big scene stealers were Jack and Jill – a married couple raising pigs, but thinking about starting a family – which was a bit uncomfortable to hear.  While the 3D effects were not enough for the extra cost, I would definitely recommend seeing this movie.

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In Time

Movie: In Time

Genre: sci-fi / thriller

Synopsis: The movie is set some time in the future.  Humans have been genetically engineered so that they stop aging at the age of 25.  The catch is that when they turn 25, a digital countdown timer appears on their forearms.  The timer is set to exactly one year – which is when they die, unless they earn/buy/steal more time.  Time is the currency.  People are paid by having time added to their meter, they buy things buy having time subtracted from their meter.  They can even give – i.e. transfer - portions of their time to others.  Some people start each day with only a day or two on their meter – which means they need to get some time by the end of the day or they die.  Others have managed to accumulate eons of time.  Having too much time in the wrong time zone can get you killed.

Will Salas (Justine Timberlake) lives with his mother (Olivia Wilde).  They are extremely poor and very rarely have more than 24 hours of time.  When Will is given a century of time by a man tired of living, the trouble starts.  A Timekeeper (Cillian Muphy) assumes Will killed to get the century, and goes on the hunt to track him down.  Will teams up with the daughter (Amanda Seyfried) of a multi-millionaire (Vincent Kartheiser).  They become a sort of Bonnie and Clyde meets Robin Hood as they go around stealing time from banks and giving it away.

My two cents: This was a fascinating movie.  The idea of starting each day with only a day left was hard to stop thinking about. Because of the premise, everybody in the movie was supposed to look like they were 25 years old.  A man, his daughter and grandmother would all look to be the same age.  It must have made casting interesting.  I think it is about time that Justin Timberlake gets some serious Oscar attention. Definitely worth seeing.

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