Monkey Joke Penguin

'X-Men' is worth getting excited over

“Green Lantern”

Director: Martin Reynolds.

Starring: Ryan Reynolds, Blake Lively.

The plot: When he's granted a mystical green ring that bestows him with otherworldly powers, test pilot Hal Jordan becomes the first human to earn membership into an intergalactic squadron tasked with keeping peace within the universe. His mission: to combat an enemy called Parallax, which threatens to destroy the universe's balance of power. 

Genre: Action, crime.

Rating: PG-13.

“Mr. Popper’s Penguins”

Director: Mark Waters.

Starring: Jim Carrey, Carla Gugino.

The plot: After businessman Mr. Popper receives a penguin as a gift, he soon finds himself the caretaker of five more of the seabirds, and he subsequently changes his life and home to accommodate his new charges. 

Genre: Comedy.

Rating: Unknown.

‘THE HANGOVER PART II’

★★★ (out of four)

I went into “The Hangover Part II” with the understanding that I would be witnessing a cynical act of studio-sanctioned pandering, and that’s exactly what I got. Yet, since I was going in with lowered expectations, I was able to let my guard down and appreciate this crass cash-grab on its own limited terms. And, lo and behold, I had a good time. I suppose the importance of creativity is diminished when one is faced with the prospect of a drug-dealing capuchin monkey riding a motorcycle. Or a heterosexual man being seduced by a Thai lady-boy, or any number of the other lewd gags the film lays out with record speed.

‘PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN: ON STRANGER TIDES’

★★★ (out of four)

You see, against all odds and despite what you may have heard from basically everybody you’ve ever met, “Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides” is not a bad film. It is not aggressively stupid, as some have charged, nor is it woefully boring. Its horridness will not inspire you to burn effigies, and it is not among the worst films you will see this year. In fact, in many respects, it is indistinguishable from the rest of the movies in the series.

But that’s the problem. Uninspired, inert and listless on every conceivable level, “On Stranger Tides” is perfectly content to simply exist alongside its predecessors without setting itself apart in any meaningful way. The result is a summer spectacle without the spectacle. With nothing even remotely new or interesting to offer audiences, the film just sits there, waiting for you to be impressed simply by virtue of the fact that you are watching a “Pirates of the Caribbean” movie.

betelnutblogger: Monkey Penguin Joke

It's kind of a book report blog. You know, taking what I've been reading and trying to place current events in some kind of larger context. Except when other stuff amuses me. So, it's eclectic, following my reading, the news, my stream-of-consciousness, or web serendipity. A blog, in other words. And hey: What the hell ever happened to Robert "Fightin' Bob" LaFollette, Maury Maverick and Fio LaGuardia. How 'bout "The joy boys of radio/ we chase electrons to and fro"? Or the Great Frongoozi? At least they made a movie about him, or else I'd be wondering:whatever happened to Petey Greene?

Taking penguins to the movies, ethnic humor in Russia

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