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This Means War is a movie that was sorely mistreated by its distributor, as they moved it up in the release schedule and thereby ceded any chance of box office success. I am not someone who enjoys popcorn fare for the most part but that is exactly the way I would describe this one. Chris Pine and Tom Hardy are rising stars who provide a lot of laughs together as they (inexplicably) compete for Reese Witherspoon's attention. Anyone with an IQ over 60 can figure out exactly how the romance will be determined inside of the first 15 minutes of the movie. This did not, however, prevent me from largely enjoying the proceedings. This Means War is an above average romantic comedy that probably deserved a better fate. To a larger point, I wish Hollywood would produce more titles such as this where all of the leads are innately likable. Definitely, Maybe was another movie in this style that has a similar style of positivity rather than taking the lazy harpy/shrew/jackass/douche route for one of the potential love interests.

Safe House is not quite as good as I was hoping it would be. I am not saying it is a terrible movie and in fact I largely enjoyed it on the whole. Like Denzel Washington's recent hit, The Book of Eli, I found myself wishing for a bit more, though. Like This Means War, it is easy to predict the "big twist" in the movie. This time, the inevitability is based upon an awareness of a high caliber actor in a presumably nondescript part. I would have liked it better if that had held rather than the painfully obvious heel turn. Movie creators do their work a disservice when such casting gives away the plot. If a viewer is thinking, "Oh, it's the dude from Harry Potter," they know he's going to be involved with the plot somehow. This sort of nonsense drives me crazy. The rest of the movie isn't bad but it also doesn't have those action packed moments that Washington's best recent films, Unstoppable and Inside Man, possessed. This is one of his lesser works. Also, Ryan Reynolds still has The Proposal on his resume and Safe House was a box office hit yet I see his recent work and thinking "Green Lantern, Safe House and The Change-Up? YIKES!" He needs to prove himself worthy of these big budget movies he keeps getting cast in and I say that as a big Ryan Reynolds fan.

Kim Hollis: I saw Rock of Ages over the weekend and while I agree with David that there is a lot that is cringeworthy in the film, I had a lot of fun watching it. I think that when people are able to watch it on video and feel safe in quipping their way through the movie without getting dirty looks from people sitting near them, it's going to find sustained life. I enjoyed a lot of the little details in the film, and Tom Cruise gets big thumbs up from me for going for it as a second round of the Vampire Lestat. I was a big fan of the music at the time it was released, and it was entertaining to see it get the jukebox musical treatment.

I also saw This Means War, and agree that it's a charming enough little film. The three leads are really good together, and even if the last 15 minutes are pretty abrupt, it's a fun ride. Safe House was just kind of "meh." Like David, I had figured out who the "villain" was immediately and getting to that reveal wasn't really good enough to make it worthwhile. Finally, I saw Underworld: Awakening as well and it is pretty dreadful. In fact, I'm having trouble remembering much of anything about it other than that Charles Dance made for a pretty nifty vampire, so that probably doesn't speak well to its quality.

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