No Ebert, No Roeper, Just Chuck.

If you know me well enough, you probably know that I have no qualms putting off a blockbuster film until its DVD release. I mean, it took me about 10 months before I found out what The Dark Knight was all about. Through a whole year, I could probably count on one-half of my hand the movies I go to a theater for. Going to a movie theater is like a 3 hour Vegas casino trip with previews added. There might be a chance that you spend all that money and have it be worth the return despite the loss, and then there are those times you just spend the money. And with all the sequels, grossly overrated flicks and underachieving pictures that have been released over the past several years, the experience is usually the latter. When a movie receives constant praise and hype, my immediate instinct is to prepare not to like it. Apparently, I still haven't recovered from Titanic. Most of the time, ten bucks isn't worth that risk of disappointment, especially when Netflix is you MVP alternative. The theater experience is also overrated because you can save up enough money and recreate the experience in your own living room nowadays. All that, and I don't have to buy the 5 dollar hot dog that's about a week old. However, I promised myself not to be such a cynic and see a couple of flicks on the big screen this summer. So if I had to take the "gamble", here are the my movies that I would ante up on this season.

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The Hangover
Probably the movie that has received the most praise amongst my peer group. I have heard non-stop how this film was so well put together and that there is something to laugh at throughout the whole picture. With what I said previously about the hype machine, I will proceed with some caution before viewing this movie. However, with comedies, I tend to lighten up on my previous anxieties. Nothing more thrilling and funny than trying to find out what happened the night before after an inebriated night in Sin City. I'm already hooked in on that premise alone. The addition of Mike Tyson is just pure laughter personified and I'm glad he's in our lives once again. Let's see if Galifianakis is the comic genius they say he is.

(traileraddict.com)

Brüno
No one is a bigger fan of Sacha Baron Cohen than I am. I must have been in character as Borat for two years after my first viewing of the movie. A purchase of the Da Ali G Show DVD followed, and my fandom commenced. The most underrated aspect of his characters is how he reveals human insecurities and hypocrisy through the abnormal actions of his alter-egos. After the crazy-hilarious Borat movie, I heard that Cohen was going to release the movie for his flamboyant Austrian reporter persona. I was psyched, and it isn't even my second favorite character that Cohen portrays. Ali G takes the cake by far, however Borat had the better movie. My only fear is that it is one of those movies that displays all of its funny parts in the commercials, only exposing the flatness of the rest of the film. Like in my Borat experience, I'm hoping to to be deprived of oxygen due to constant laughter. In other words, I'm hoping that IT'S VERY NICE! Sorry about that, folks.

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Public Enemies
Nothing like a 1930's gangster flick to keep the testosterone boiling. Not only that, it looks like one of those movies where we're rooting for the bad guy. Films like The Godfather and Scarface come immediately to mind. Interesting to see that Johnny Depp has a face underneath all the scraggly facial hair and make up that seems to be part of every role he does. I watched Platoon for the 3,186th time the other night, and couldn't believe that it was Depp as Private Lerner. Thinkin' he should have had a bandanna or blades for his hands. Anyway, in this flick, he plays the infamous bank robber John Dillinger, who is trying to pry the FBI off his heels. The movie also features Batman...ehem..Christian Bale again fighting crime as FBI agent Melvin Purvis. I'm afraid someone is type-casted right in front of our eyes. Overall, I'm expecting a simple guy movie. Lot of guns, blood, some action, and maybe a little insight to satisfy the History Channel side of me. Don't call me boring!

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Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen
If I wanted to be lazy, I would just tell you to look at the image above. Needless to say, that picture would get any male ages 13-75 to watch anything from opera to any sappy movie on the Lifetime Channel. I actually was impressed with the 1st one, even though I was never a big fan of the Transformer concept when I was a kid. Must have been those cheesy commercials for those toys back when I was growing up. Or maybe it was me not getting how an 18-wheeler can be a protagonist in any story line. Being a sequel however, my expectations for quality drop by at least 25%. But hey, anything with my girl Megan Fox in it is worth a peek. Other than Fox being ridiculously hot, I do not have any crazy expectations for this movie. I hope to laugh at some moments of unintentional comedy like I did in the first one, as well as be wowed by some of the special effects. I'm not banking on this thing to win an Oscar, but I still hope it will be worth an hour and a half of my time.

Before I Peace: The Dunk Stops Here

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A couple of days ago, Jordan Crawford, a sophomore at Xavier, dunked on his highness LeBron James in a pickup game at his own basketball academy. After the alleged incident, Nike confiscated all videos that captured the now-infamous dunk. As ridiculous as that is, the confiscation was allegedly ordered by King James himself. Guess he is staunchly running the regime known as his image with an iron fist. And I say.......LIGHTEN UP, LEBRON! The only way to not have this be a big deal is to let it slide and laugh it off. That's what the State Farm LeBron would do, or puppet LeBron. Instead, you have made an atom bomb off a measly firecracker. Ever since that lack of sportsmanship displayed after the defeat in the Orlando series, many in the media and in the public have been quick to downgrade his character as snobby or surly. This alleged hostile takeover of some potential YouTube clips doesn't really help the matter. This must have Skip Bayless wetting his pants in joy right now. All you have to do is play the kid and school him in a 1-on-1 game. You know you can. Or make a funny commercial about it. You have to remember LeBron, it is the media that crowned you as The King, and don't be so naive as to think that they won't dethrone you.