Some movies have a lot of star power, but very little publicity.  This means one of two things: 1) it’s an indie flick; or more likely 2) it is a dud. That is the choice we are left with in viewing this offering from John Travolta and Denzel Washington.  Santino talked me into going seeing this one afternoon.  The theater was barely half-filled and it was opening weekend with no competition.

The movie is your basic, formulaic hostage movie.  The actors did what they could with a bad script and a predictable storyline.  I knew how it was going to end by just watching the trailer.  It is a shame that the story in the middle wasn’t strong enough to kill the predictable angle.  Even the big “twist” wasn’t all that important to the story.

My advice:  Skip it – catch it for free on TNT if you absolutely have to see it…

Sometimes I wonder why studios can’t be happy with a successful movie that ends with just the first movie.  Then I get a clue and remember that this is show business, which means squeeze every last penny you can from anything remotely successful and repackage the rest.  When Night at the Museum came out, I enjoyed it, but felt it was a one-shot deal.  Definitely a decent family movie, but that was about it.  Then I heard they were making a sequel…

So, in the midst of Star Trek mania and Terminator frenzy, the latest entry tries to make some waves before Up is released.  I found myself with some time to kill in the afternoon and chose to go check it out at Regal.  it was an average mid-afternoon – nothing too spectacular.

Museum 2 finds us a couple of years removed from the first movie.  Larry (Ben Stiller) has moved on to become a successful inventor of “made for TV” products and no longer working for the museum.  He is saddened to discover that the exhibits are being dismantled and sent to the Smithsonian…..but not all of them.  He follows the exhibits to Washington, where the tablet begins its work hijinks ensue.  Amy Adams is the love interest and does a great take on the speaking style of the 20s.  Hank Azaria leads a cast of supporting characters that have fun.  Of course, the ending is predictable, but you knew that before buying a ticket.

My advice:  dollar theater or DVD – not necessarily a big-screen feature, but better than some other choices, particularly for the family…

I’m a fan of Seth Rogan, and that’s pretty much why I wanted to see this movie.  Also, it came out right when Paul Blart: Mall Cop did,and with 2 mall cop movies out at the same time, this one definitely looked better.

In all honesty, I didn’t think it would be that good, but it looked okay enough to spend a few bucks at the cheap theater.  The trailer was not a good representation of the movie; I was expecting a whole “dork guy going after hot chick” plot, and instead was pleasantly surprised with a bit more deeper story than that.  The acting was good, a well-rounded cast of characters that played off each other rather well with their unique quirks.  There was a lot more action than I originally thought, usually the stuff you see in the trailer is the bulk of it, but there was quite a bit of good fight scenes and stunt work.  I’d have to say the best part was definitely the ending, not as cliche as you would expect from this movie’s premise.

My advice: This is a higher-brow dumb comedy.  Give it a chance, a rental at least.  I’ll check the DVD out because I’m sure there’s some great outtakes and deleted scenes to be had.