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The Other Guys is the second buddy cop comedy to come out in 2010, and despite the coolness of Bruce Willis in Cop Out, The Other Guys can claim victory. In this odd couple pairing, Terry Holtz is a detective taken off the streets of NY because while working security at a Yankee game he accidently shot Derek Jeter… His new partner Allen Gamble is a laced up former accountant for the force, who spurns all of Holtz’s attempts to get back on the street. As odd a pairing as Mark Wahlberg and Will Ferrell may seem on first glance, let me tell you they work together wonderfully as tough cop, wimp cop in this film.

Ever since The Big Hit I’ve loved Mark Wahlberg, and I would love for him to get more screen time. However, he does seem to play the same characters over and over again. The only thing that makes hardened cop Terry Holtz any different than the hardened cops he’s played before is the comedy in the film. Holtz is repressed not because of the pressure put on him by mob bosses and political figures but because of the absurdity of his partner, and the cases he’s willing to pursue – because of this he becomes prone to illogical outbursts and tantrums in the middle of the office.

This is also the first movie in a long while that Eva Mendes hasn’t driven my nuts. She was again cast as the “hot chick” but playing opposite Will Ferrell her exotic beauty becomes an interesting, odd foil to his quirkiness. Her character is funny and memorable as the last in a string of super-hot girlfriends that Alan Gamble became entwined with.

However, in my opinion what The Other Guys does best is a running gag. It’s a joke that evolves several times in the film, and with each step it becomes funnier – like comedy should! Without trying to spoil the joke, it involves Allen’s gun and Capt. Gene.

The only thing that really bothered me about The Other Guys was the needless politics tacked on to the end credits. Republican, democrat, or anarchist – I don’t care – I just don’t like to see my movies with needless political statements tacked onto the films. I dislike message movies, and I desperately dislike simply throwing a message in at the end. That’s what short films are for. Do it funny and quirky, like the latest Pixar short Night & Day about equality. That works. Financial and legal news animated to credits – not so much.

However, I think that The Other Guys is a movie worth seeing. The cast contains some of the best character actors working today, the jokes are well placed and run the gambit of style and the film will make you laugh and take your mind off things for awhile – until the end credits hit.

Director: Adam McKay
Writers: Adam McKay & Chris Henchy
P.K. Highsmith: Samuel L. Jackson
Christopher Danson: Dwayne Johnson
Capt. Gene: Michael Keaton
Terry Hoitz: Mark Wahlberg
Allen Gamble: Will Ferrell
David Ershon: Steve Coogan
Shelia Gamble: Eva Mendes

Allen Gamble: I was so drunk, I thought a tube of toothpaste was astronaut food.

As an adult I feel a bit silly saying that Toy Story 3 made me cry, but as a fan of the films since I was a child it’s completely understandable why Pixar would be able to tap into my emotions and use a product and characters I had grown up with in a poignant way.

This adventure for Andy’s toys revolves around the fact that Andy is no longer a child, he’s going off to college in a week and though Buzz, Woody and most of his childhood toys are still around they don’t know what their fate will be. When Andy’s Mom accidently donates the toys instead of storing them in the attic they assume Andy wanted to throw them out and refuse to follow Woody home in time to see Andy leave. Buzz, Sally & the rest end up trapped at the Sunny Side Day care Center under the eye of Lotso – a toy bear who rules the day care with an iron fist.

What I appreciate about the Toy Story series as an adult is that each film is a metaphor for a stage of life. The first film was about accepting a new member of your family, the second about a midlife crisis, and the third installment is about aging – they’re a beautiful message about family and love. I could write pages about the layer of meaning and metaphor in the films, and I do believe Pixar is able to pack so much meaning, fun and emotion into every film simply because of the way they make their films – doing draft after draft of visual and story before the final animation process ever begins.

While Toy Story 3 didn’t make me emotional the same way the story of Ellie & Carl did in Up there were two definite moments in the film that got me. The first was near the beginning when Woody and the toys discuss their missing friends; Woody claims they’ve gone on to new homes at garage sales, but any viewer who’s paid attention knows they are actually characters whose voice actor has died. The second emotional moment, that did make me tear up, occurs in the last scene of the film. I won’t discuss it here as it would be a spoiler but it has to do with Andy not being a kid any more.

I still can’t believe that I’ve literally grown up with Toy Story. It seems like just a few years ago I was a kid going with my brothers to see the first movie, but here I am now, a young director trying to make movies that impact others they way movies like Toy Story have impacted me.

Director: Lee Unkrich
Writers: Michael Arndt, John Lasseter, Andrew Stanton & Lee Unkrich
Woody: Tom Hanks
Buzz Lightyear: Tim Allen
Jessie: Joan Cusack
Lotso: Ned Beatty
Mr. Potato Head: Don Rickles
Ken: Michael Keaton
Rex: Wallace Shawn
Hamm: John Ratzenberger
Mrs. Potato Head: Estelle Harris
Andy: John Morris
Barbie: Jodi Benson
Bonnie: Emily Hahn
Andy’s Mom: Laurie Metcalf

Sergeant: We've done our duty. Andy's grown up.
Soldier: Let's face it. When the trash bags come out, we army guys are the first to go.
Buzz Lightyear: Trash bags?
Woody: Who said anything about trash bags?
Sergeant: It has been an honor serving with you. Good luck, folks.

Much Ado About Nothing is on my list of guilty pleasure movies; I’m not quite too sure why it’s a guilty please but it just feels like one of those movies I shouldn’t love as much as I do. The film is yet another of Kenneth Branagh’s Shakespeare adaptations and while I haven’t seen all of his Shakespeare adaptations, I think this one might stand as one of my favorite adaptations right up there with Baz’s Romeo & Juliet.

Like most of Shakespeare’s comedies Much Ado About Nothing is pretty silly, and pretty complex. Beatrice & Benedick have a love hate relationship leaving heavily towards the hate but neither can stop trading witty barbs. When Don Pedro brings Benedick and the rest of his men to rest at Leonato’s house merriment ensues that includes the banter between Beatrice & Benedick and Benedick’s friend Claudio meets Leonato’s daughter Hero and falls madly in love. Claudio & Hero become engaged & Don Pedro decides to see if he can trick Beatrice & Benedick into falling in love. All would be good and merry except for Don John (Don Pedro’s brother) who meddles and tries to ruin everything his brother and men are doing.

I have said before that there is usually one thing with every Shakespeare adaptation that drives me mad; this entire film used to drive me mad. I didn’t understand the casting of all things. Now I realize that the casting is part of what makes this movie work so well as a comedy. It’s unexpected in some cases and absolutely perfect in others.

What I liked from the start wast young Kate Beckinsale as Hero opposite House’s Robert Sean Leonard as Claudio & Kenneth Branagh as Benedick opposite Emma Thompson as Beatrice. The chemistry between these couples is fabulous. The roles that used to throw me for a loop were Michael Keaton as the a local and annoying member of the law enforcement, Denzel Washtington as the jovial Don Pedro and Keanu Reeves as Don John.

The character of Dogberry (Michael Keaton) used to annoy me because I just thought he was horrible - I thought he was more Monty Python than Shakespeare. The more I have watched this film the more that has changed and Dogberry has simply become a wonderfully funny character and Michael Keaton is fabulous at it.

I never had anything against Denzel Washington as Don Pedro, but it threw me that he was a black character in an otherwise ethnically undiverse cast. Washington was great, but I had to get over my ideas that Shakespeare is a bunch of white Englishmen. He was really cast because he was perfect for the role.

This brings us to what used to be my biggest problem with the movie and what is now one of my greatest joys with this version of the play – Keanu Reeves as Don John. So much used to grate on me about his portrayal of the character. Let’s start with the obvious – he’s white. Don John is Don Pedro’s brother. Pedro is black, John is white…there is no logic outside of adoption that makes that make sense. Then we have the highly evolved acting skills of Keanu (please sense the sarcasm). I like Keanu, but I think he needs a very strong director’s hand to deliver a good performance and try as he might Keanu is one of the people that cannot deliver Shakespeare’s language in the slightest. In Much Ado About Nothing he gives one of the worst Shakespearian performances that I have ever seen. I did not understand why on earth he was cast as the villain of the piece.

Then one day the light bulb came on for me. I watched the movie again and realized that because of Keanu’s lack of Shakespeare skills the movie became funnier, his character became funnier. Don John is now one of my favorite characters in the film and I think Keanu’s casting was a feat of underhanded brilliance.

I don’t think enough people have seen this version of the Shakespeare classic and I highly encourage you to do so. I love it and I really want others to experience it.

Director: Kenneth Branagh
Writer: Wiliam Shakespeare & Kenneth Branagh
Beatrice: Emma Thompson
Benedick: Kenneth Branagh
Hero: Kate Beckinsdale
Claudio: Robert Sean Leonard
Don Pedro: Denzel Washington
Don John: Keanu Reeves
Leonato: Richard Briers
Dogberry: Michael Keaton

Beatrice: Sigh no more, ladies, sigh no more. Men were deceivers ever. One foot in sea and one on shore, to one thing constant never. Then sigh not so but let them go and be you blithe and bonny, converting all your sounds of woe into hey nonny nonny.