"No one gets an unwrapped present on my watch!"

Arthur Christmas has been getting such great reviews that I decided to check it out. However, instead of making the same mistake that I made with The Muppets, this one I decided to see on a Monday afternoon. I was one of five people in the entire theater and that is the way I like it. I did not see it in 3D and I have to say, I really enjoyed it a lot.

We learn that the current Santa Claus is actually 20th in the line descended from Saint Nicholas, who reigned from 295-369 A.D., and he is serving his 70th Christmas as Santa Claus. His youngest son, Arthur, runs the letter office while his oldest son, Steve, runs mission command and is expected to take over Santa duties when his father retires. After what they believe to be another successful Christmas, one of the elves finds a misplaced present and realizes that a child has been missed. Along with the help of his Grandsanta, Arthur makes it his mission to ensure that the little girl gets her present before the sun rises on Christmas morning.

"You're trying to control things that are not meant to be controlled."

I finally got around to seeing Rise of the Planet of the Apes and I have to say, I was pretty disappointed. I was not originally planning to see this movie, but it had gotten good reviews, so I figured I would give it a shot. I have to say, I was expecting it to be much better than it was.

The acting was fine, but the characters were incredibly one-dimensional. The writing was just pretty awful. As my one friend put it, "It's like they wrote it for Apes." I just felt that, in general, it was incredibly cheesy. I also did not find the special effects to be all that spectacular. The motion capture technology is impressive, but no more so than anything we have seen before.

"Before making any decision in your life, no matter how small, call your wife first...

...Think of yourself as a brain-damaged mule, lost in the desert, helpless, dumb and in constant need of direction. Never take the initiative, never strike out on your own and never deviate from the plan. Why? 'Cause you're a brain-damaged mule and you are lost in the damn desert!"
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The two big films out this weekend are Rise of the Planet of the Apes and The Change-Up.

In a "Freaky Friday" style movie for the boys, The Change-Up stars Jason Bateman and Ryan Reynolds, two friends who magically switch bodies after a night of drinking. Bateman plays the family man with three kids and Reynolds plays the responsibility-free ladies man. They soon discover that the other's life is not as easy as they once thought.

Trailer #3
The Change-Up at MOVIECLIPS.com