Nerd in the 'Noke

Her (2013), R, 126 minutes - From the very first look at the trailer, Her looked like a very unique film with a strange premise: what happens when a man falls in love with the artificial intelligence of his computer's operating system? At an unspecified time in the future, Theodore Twombly (Jaoquin Pheonix) is a writer who works for a beautifulhandwrittenletters.com.  He sits in a cube all day long authoring letters for people that are too busy to take the time out of their day to write a letter themselves.  Theodore is also a lonely man who is recently separated from his wife.  His friends Amy (Amy Adams) and Charles (Matt Letscher) keep trying to get him to go out and be social, but he isn't ready.  After seeing an infomercial on the way home one day, he purchases a new operating system for his computer.  The new OS is supposed to feature the latest in artificial intelligence.  It learns from your interactions with it and develops its own personality...

The Incredible Burt Wonderstone (2013), PG-13, 100 minutes - As much as I enjoy comedies, over the last couple of years I've found myself not all that impressed with the majority of the films I've seen in that genre.  The Incredible Burt Wonderstone, while not groundbreaking, was an entertaining and enjoyable parody of a Vegas stage act personality. Title character Burt Wonderstone (Steve Carell) is a self made magician who discovered magic when he was given a Rance Holloway Magic Kit as a kid.  He and his childhood friend Anton Marvelton (Steve Buscemi) have headlined a Vegas show for years, the only problem being that they've never changed their act and the Vegas crowds are growing tired of the same old show.  Right about this same time, Steve Gray (Jim Carrey), a new breed of magician (think Chris Angel or David Blaine) is gaining popularity on the streets of Vegas with his crazy stunts.  In an attempt to modernize their act, Anton puts together a trick/stunt...

Cowboys & Aliens (2011), PG-13, 118 minutes - #5 on my Most Anticipated Films of 2011 list, Cowboys & Aliens is a Sci-Fi/Western mash-up directed by Jon Favreau that boasts a pretty hefty cast led by Daniel Craig and Harrison Ford. The movie takes place in Arizona back in 1873, when Jake Lonergan (Craig) comes to out in the desert with no recollection of what came before. He works his way into town where he has a scuffle with Percy Dolarhyde (Paul Dano), the arrogant, free-loading son of local tough guy prospector Woodrow Dolarhyde (Ford). Both are tossed in prison and are set to get shipped out of town courtesy of the U.S. Marshalls. Just as the carriage is about to take them out of town, the elder Dolarhyde arrives looking for his son. Then all hell breaks loose: alien ships buzz the main drag of the western town, shooting lasers, blowing things up, and abducting people. It's at this time that a bracelet-like object on Lonergan's wrist comes to life. He re...

Tron: Legacy (2010), PG, 127 minutes - For the few people who don't know, Tron: Legacy is the sequel to Disney's cult classic about a programmer who gets stuck inside the computer system he is working on. I say 'cult classic' and not 'classic' because I re-watched the original Tron a couple months back and it doesn't really hold up at all. It looks cool considering the time at which it was made (1982), but that's about it. Anyway, this isn't about the original, it's about the sequel, which I feel is a better overall movie. It takes Tron's basic concept and builds upon it, taking place 20 years after the original. Garrett Hedlund plays Sam Flynn, the son of Kevin Flynn (Jeff Bridges, retaining his role from Tron). After investigating a page that came from his father's old office, he is transported into The Grid, the same computer program world that his father has been trapped in for 20 years. He learns that his father not only dis...