Will Ferrell (Semi-Pro) and John C. Reilly (Walk Hard) are comedy gold together. If you’ve seen Talladega Nights:The Ballad of Ricky Bobby, then you know what I’m talking about. If you haven’t, then you should probably quit reading them, go see it, then continue reading this review for their newest movie Step-Brothers. This movie was much funnier than I expected, and I really enjoyed it.

Brennan (Ferrell) and Dale (Reilly) are two 40 year old men still living with their parents. When their parents meet at a conference the two fall in love and decide to get married, making their sons step-brothers. Although they have similar lifestyle and are forced to share a room, the boys hate each other. When they begin working together against Brennan’s younger, more successful brother they finally realize they have much in common and quickly become best friends. As their friendship progresses, their parents marriage grows apart leading to the ultimate decision of divorce. But what will happen to Brennan and Dale? Well, they must go out into the big world on their own and see if they can finally grow up and become men.

Whether these two are best friends or enemies they are hilarious to watch. Some people may think Ferrell is just up to his old schtick, which I can see what they mean, but I love it. He was in his element with this movie, and it was much better than some of his other roles as of late. It’s hard to not watch Reilly in a movie and not think afterwards that he has another great performance in his pocket – even if the movie surrounding him is terrible, luckily that’s not the case in this instance.

Not only are Ferrell and Reilly reteamed for Step-Brothers, but so are Ferrell and director/writer Adam McKay (Anchorman). They’re reteamed before (on FunnyorDie.com – you may have heard of the Pearl skits, if not go watch them now!) but not on the big screen. McKay has a great way of shooting comedic scenes and shows them with wonderful timing.

Step-Brothers is a great way to pass the night. It’s a little more graphic for a comedy and is rated R for a reason, but that didn’t bother me. I’d give the movie a B+ and can’t wait to buy it on DVD.

I had been excited to see The Other Boleyn Girl ever since I heard that the movie was being made. I loved the Philippa Gregory novel the movie was based on and I am also very interested in the Boleyns’ history so I knew I had to see this movie! Sadly, it did not live up to my high expectations.

Most people are already aware of the name Anne Boleyn and her place in history. In case you aren’t here’s the story – she was the second wife of King Henry the VIII of England and his first wife to be beheaded. This movie not only focuses on Anne (Natalie Portman, Garden State), but also focuses on her lesser well-known sister Mary (Scarlett Johansson, Lost in Translation). King Henry (Eric Bana, Hulk) is in desperate need of a male heir and will do anything to achieve it. The Boleyn family realizes this and begins plotting to put Anne in his bed. Unfortunately, Anne’s stubbornness ruins her chance and instead the King grows interested in Mary. So the sisters’ rivalry begins. Mary is already married, but her husband is quickly put to the side so the King will be the only man in Mary’s bed. The future looks wonderful for the Boleyn family, especially upon finding out that Mary is pregnant! Too bad she has to stay in her bed for six months or until the birth of her child, as was the custom back then. Meanwhile the family continues to plot, and Anne is back in the game. She was only supposed to keep his mind on Mary, but Anne was jealous and ambitious – history well knows how far that got her. Eventually she persuades the King to leave Mary (and their son!), divorce his wife, and even make his own religion that will support the divorce. With a plot like this how could you go wrong?

Well…if you’re looking for historical accuracy don’t look here. If you wanted a movie that stayed true to the book it’s based on don’t watch this one. Looking for a steamy romance? Try again. This movie failed in all of these aspects. The writer of this movie (Peter Morgan, The Queen) took historical fiction as fact and changed it even more! I just wanted to scream out what was wrong. The most obvious being how King Henry looked – nothing like Bana that’s for sure! Couldn’t they have tried just a little harder? Although the costumes were nice to look at, they couldn’t even get Anne’s signature “B” necklace right! Another thing that really bothered me was that in the book, as well as in everything I’ve seen and read, the Boleyn family was known for being overly ambitious people with no sympathy for anyone – not even each other. Yet in this movie they make Anne and Mary’s mother, Elizabeth (Kristin Scott Thomas, The Horse Whisperer) feel bad about how the men in the family are treating her daughters, as pawns and not family. It just wasn’t necessary. It felt forced, and it’s not like she could change anything she was only a woman herself in a world where men ruled. Then of course we have the blasé romance. There was no chemistry between the actors during the romantic scenes and it made them almost painful to watch, especially Johansson and Bana’s scenes.

Even with all these annoyances there were still two things I did enjoy in this movie. The first being Natalie Portman’s performance. I had my doubts that she could convincingly play Anne but I thought she was spot on. She surprised me with the different emotions she showed. By the end of the movie I actually felt bad for Anne and was hoping she’d be saved though I knew it wasn’t going to happen. The second thing I enjoyed was Jim Sturgess (Across the Universe) as George Boleyn, Anne and Mary’s brother. He was the highlight in every scene he was in. He also showed many emotions convincingly going from being a loveable goof to completely vulnerable. He’s a very central character in the book and I was disappointed that he had so few scenes in the movie.

I would give The Other Boleyn Girl a D+ and say recommend reading the book instead. The only way I’d actually recommend this movie is if you had never read the book and had no previous knowledge of the Boleyns’ history. I saw this movie with my mom and she fits into both of those categories. She liked the movie. But I stand by my opinion – there are much better movies out there to spend your money on.

Ever since Ellen Page became well known from her role in Juno, anything that she has made beforehand has become popular. I fell into this trap when I rented The Tracey Fragments. I’d read about the movie before hand and though it sounded interesting, and I have been impressed with Page before so I gave it a chance…I could not have been more wrong.

I really should have just taken the name of the movie literally – it really is fragmented. The whole movie is done in a specific style. It’s rare when you only see one screen, instead of several. The best way to describe it would be to say you have a picture in picture screen, but more than one picture at the same time. Sometimes they show the same thing sometimes all the screens are different. I get it, it’s supposed to be artsy, and cutting edge – it actually is just annoying to watch. I’ll give the editors credit for their hard work. I read that it took only 14 days to shoot the movie, but 9 months to edit! It’s pretty easy to see why it took them that long.

From what I got from the plot of this movie, if you’re still interested in reading what it’s about, is that Tracey is a 15-year-old runaway. She’s the outcast in school, and spends more time in her daydreams that actual reality. One cold day she is watching her little brother who thinks he is a dog and they are playing fetch. Her dream boy distracts her, and the next thing she knows her brother is gone. Most of the plot is driven by her trying to find him, but the story goes back and forth. There seem to be some subplots, but they were even more confusing to follow. To Page’s credit though, she does well with what she had to work with. I believe her panic when she is racing around to find he brother. The other standout performance (the only other one) is Slim Twig’s Billy Zero. Billy is Tracey’s dream boyfriend, but in real life a complete jerk. Twig does well showing both versions. The other performances are lacking, especially those of Tracey’s parents (Erin McMurtry and Ari Cohen). Her parents seemed kind of oblivious most of the time, and the actors weren’t much better. Did they just wake up out of their trance and think “hey, I’m in a movie today,” because that’s what it felt like to me.

I hope nobody tries to copy The Tracey Fragments and use the multiple screens aspect. I think the movie would have been interesting without adding all of that, but it just ruined the movie for me and I’ll have to give it a D. Only barely passing due to the two performances that made this movie worthwhile to keep watching and not just turn off.

If hearing ABBA songs makes you happy, then you’re going to love Mamma Mia! Who knew that 70’s pop icons ABBA would still be talked about so much today? Apparently screenwriter/musical book writer Catherine Johnson did. Mamma Mia was already a Broadway smash hit, and now it’s on the big screen and making a huge splash there too.

This is definitely a great “girly” movie – a must for moms and daughters to see together. I will say though that there was a husband in the audience laughing just as much as the girls, if not more, so don’t get frightened away boys! Amanda Seyfried (Mean Girls) stars as Sophie, a girl on the brink of getting married who feels incomplete, as she doesn’t know whom her father is. While cleaning she finds her mom’s (Meryl Streep, The Devil Wears Prada) old diary from the year she was born and finds out her mom slept with three different men that summer. Any one of these men could be her long lost father! What’s a girl to do? Sophie impulsively writes to all three men as her mother, and invites them to the wedding. The three men show up, unbeknownst to the mom, and then the story really gets good! Of course this is all set to ABBA music, it is a musical after all. The songs fit perfectly in with the story, even songs you think might not.

The three men of the movie – Colin Firth (Bridget Jones’s Diary), Pierce Brosnan (The World is Not Enough), and Stellan Skarsgard (Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest) are wonderful. The each are different in their own way from each other, but also different from when they first met Sophie’s mom. Yet they keep some of their younger traits, which seem to grow more and more apparent as the movie progresses. Some of my favorite parts of the movie were seeing the flashback pictures of each of the men, too funny!

Of course though, the women are the ones who really steal the show. Streep shines as Sophie’s mother. She is lovable as the hippie dippy mother, who has had quite a hard time of it but still is coming out on top. Her best friends, and back up singers, played by Christine Baranski (“Cybil”) and Julie Walters (Calendar Girls) practically steal every scene they’re in; I especially enjoyed Walters’ performance. The trio is a joy to watch on screen, and is totally believable as life long friends.

I also really liked the idea of the “Greek chorus.” All the employees of the hotel, and even some fellow neighbors, would join in on the songs and act as a voice of reason. Which is what the chorus used to do in old Greek tragedies. I thought it was clever how they brought it back. Plus they were in Greece, so it was easy to make the connection even if you don’t know much about the history of the chorus.

I would recommend seeing this movie, especially during a large screening. I saw it with almost a full theater, and it made it that much more enjoyable to hear other people laughing, clapping, and singing along with the movie. It was almost like seeing a live musical, only there were no problems with the microphones and I could understand all the lyrics. I’d give Mamma Mia a B+ (hey…even though I liked it, doesn’t mean I didn’t think it was a bit cheesy at times but that’s what musicals are like). Also be sure to watch the end credits – it’s hilarious and you’ll get a couple more songs!