Welcome to the first in a series (sit down, don’t turn around, you didn’t miss anything!) of reviews for CouchMunky! Before we start, I’ll give you a few rules here... I don’t usually review CD’s, concerts, anything on the Speed channel or off the dollar menu at McDonalds. What I will review is anything that catches my interest, sticking to mainly these four topics:

We’ll start with Movies. For you Munkys who don’t get out much, here are the top ten movies for the July 4th weekend. One note, I’m not giving any detailed plot synopsis, you can get that out of your local newspaper, through Entertainment Weekly, or Wikipedia, ok? If you lazy Munkys haven’t yet seen the movies, I don’t want you flinging your poo at my direction because I ruined the movie for you. You want plot details, you can look elsewhere, then come back here. You’re getting a bonus this time ‘round, because there’s some catching up to do

Ready? Let’s go:

1.) Hancock – haven’t seen it. I’ll try to review it next time, ok?

2.) Wall-E – the newest movie from Dixney/Pixar. I fully expected to dislike this movie. Except for the movie trailer, there was virtually no hype for this movie. No toys, no cereal boxes, not even any hint of any celebrities in the movie. This movie seemed destined to go down in history as the worst Pixar movie since Ratatouille.

Here’s the surprise. This is actually a great movie! A couple of big surprises were the voice casting of Fred Willard and Sigourney Weaver (who does the voice of the ship’s computer!). There are some very nice touches in this movie, from Wall-E’s constant amazement at the objects he finds discarded during his cleanup of Earth (a Pong game!), to the lack of dialogue in the movie. This movie is a visual treat for the eyes, the best Pixar movie made (and the most expensive at $180 million!), and the sparse dialogue doesn’t get in the way of the eye candy.

Munky Si!

3.) Wanted – based on the 6 issue comic book by Mark Millar and J.G. Jones, (Actually I just threw that out there to impress you Munkys!) with some changes that I feel improved the storyline of the comic book. For example, in the comic book, you don’t get to see Angelina Jolie’s getting out of a bathtub. She has so many tattoos in this movie, she even looks like a comic book!

Morgan Freeman does his usual outstanding job in this movie, the first of two comic book movies he has coming out this month (followed by “The Dark Knight” on July 18th). Another plus for this movie!

Only downside to this movie is that if you’re watching for it, there is a twist ending, that isn’t totally satisfying. It’s hard to believe that this movie is planned as a trilogy, because it seems so final, as every major character (except for one) winds up dead. Despite its flaws, an enjoyable movie.

Munky Si!

4.) Get Smart – haven’t seen it yet either. Looks good, hope to see it soon!

5.) Kung Fu Panda – not sure I’ll see this one in the theaters. Jack Black is kind of hit and miss with me. I’m still rinsing out my mouth with extra strength Listerine after the bad taste I got from seeing “Nacho Libre”. Looks like I’ll be waiting for the DVD.

6.) The Incredible Hulk – after seeing the first “Hulk” movie, I must say that this movie is “INCREDIBLE” in comparison! This movie is reminiscent of the old television series “The Fugitive”, and without an origin story to get in the way, really gets going from the first minute. This movie scores props in that it does tie in to the first movie, with better special effects, and a better storyline, borrowed somewhat from the 2001 “Mr. Blue” storyline in the comic book. This movie is everything the first movie should have been, including a Bill Bixby cameo early on, and fan favorites Stan Lee and Lou Ferrigno also make an appearance.

Marvel Studios is playing pretty smart here. Hopefully you Munkys stayed past the credits of “Iron Man” for the Samuel L. Jackson cameo (as Nick Fury), who stated he was starting an “Avengers Initiative”, the theme of which is carried forward in this movie (Robert Downey Jr. has a cameo in the last scene of this movie). Marvel Studios game plan is to unite all of the Marvel super heroes as the Avengers (with this movie set to debut on July 31, 2011), featuring Captain America (his movie is set to debut on May 6, 2011), Iron Man (his next movie is set to debut on April 30, 2010), and Thor (his movie is set to debut on June 4, 2010) taking on the Hulk.

Now this is the way to do superhero movies!

Munky Si!

7.) Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull – so how do you escape from a town due to be hit with a nuclear bomb in less than a minute? Once you find out, the movie really slows down, with the introduction of Mutt Williams, played by Shia LeBeouf. Don’t like him, don’t need him, and don’t need to see him again. This is the guy who may be taking over the franchise? Say it ain’t so Steve!

Still, this is a much more enjoyable movie than “Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom” (but then again, so was “Breakin’ 2: Electric Boogaloo”), and I might consider this the second best movie of the franchise, after the initial “Raiders of the Lost Ark”. I haven’t seen “Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade” since May of 1989, and I really liked it then, but I don’t remember much about it now.

One of the highlights of the series, is that when you think about it, the first three movies took place during the 1930’s, back when “cliffhanger serials” were popular, and the new movie, taking place nearly 20 years after the last one, in 1957, is reminiscent of the “aliens” theme in films of the 1950’s, although don’t get me wrong, this isn’t a remake of “E.T” or “Close Encounters of the Third Kind”. There are no aliens in this movie, it’s just used as a plot point.

Munky Si!

8.) Kit Kittredge: An American Girl – you can’t pay me enough to see this movie. Sorry.

9.) Sex and the City – c’mon! If you’re a real Munky, you wouldn’t be seeing this movie either. There ain’t enough sex in this city to make me want to see this!

10.) You Don’t Mess with the Zohan – A better title for this movie would be “You Don’t Bother with the Zohan”. Really. Don’t bother. Adam Sandler, along with Will Ferrell and a live action Mike Myers, have made so many bad movies that it would be difficult to ever see another one. Andy, tell them their 15 minutes are up!

You know when a movie is bad when the funniest highlight of the movie is shown in the trailer. Once you’ve seen that, there is no need to see the movie. This movie had potential, could have been good, even sounded good, but Adam Sandler dropped the ball worse here, than he did in “Semi Tough”.

Munky Doo!

And coming up this weekend:

Hellboy II: The Golden Army – I’ve been a follower of Hellboy since 1993, however, I bypassed the initial movie in the theaters. I did catch it on DVD and liked it, although I wasn’t that impressed with it. It’s interesting to note that in the trailers that the new movie is from “the director of ‘Pan’s Labyrinth’ ”, but fails to mention that Guillermo del Toro also directed the first Hellboy movie. Why that be? It probably won’t be the top movie this weekend (I still think “Hancock” will be), but it may come in second.

Journey to the Center of the Earth – sorry, but even in 3-D, I can’t see this anything more than an adequate DVD movie. Think I’ll wait.

Meet Dave – met him. And Eddie Murphy, you’re no Dave. Unfortunately, Mr. Murphy’s plans are to start again from square two, with another sequel to “Beverly Hills Cop” coming up next year. Just what we need, another Asshole Foley movie. Remember when Eddie Murphy actually made movies that were funny? Hmmm... neither can I. (Insert patented Eddie Murphy “Shrek donkey laugh” here.)

And that’s just a sample of the reviews you’ll find in Munky Si, Monkey Doo. But we need your help. There are way too many movies out there, way too many books to read, too many television shows and too many DVDs for one Munky to review. I won’t always be able to review this much in one week, so that where you come in, to pick up some slack. Reviews aren’t limited to just these topics. If you have something interesting which you would like to review, put it in writing and submit it, including the items on the dollar menu at McDonalds.

And let me know if you agree or disagree with my reviews. Comments are especially welcome, and I’ll try to get you a response to every comment/submission. You can contact me at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it .

Thanks for your time this week! Now you gotta get out of here, I have some real work to do!