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The other day, while waiting for my car to be serviced, I had the chance to re-watch Cloverfield, this time on a much-smaller screen of a laptop. If you couldn’t stomach the big-screen version with all the shaking, you should catch up on this flick on the small screen.

Cloverfield is a monster destroying New York City. What makes this movie compelling is the cast of normal twenty-somethings who are suddenly thrust into a situation they don’t know and that they can’t get out of. At Rob’s going away party, Hud starts documenting his last day in New York City before he jumps in a plane and head to Japan. Rob’s brother Jason, and Jason’s girlfriend as well as Malena, a girl that Hud has a crush on, try to survive when something attacks New York and start destroying building after building.

Supposed to be a video footage of the group surviving the beast, the footage does look indeed authentically amateur with all the shaking, sometimes off focus and oftentimes without proper lighting. In dark alleys and even darker subway tunnels, pitch black screen and monsters hissing will send chills down your spine.

The movie starts slow as it focuses on the party and introduces all the relevant character relationships. However once the monster shows up, the movie doesn’t let its pacing down as the main characters scramble to get away, go find their loved ones, and just try to survive against both the monster and the military’s attacks.

Not everyone will find the ending satisfying, and at some points in time, the main characters choose a course of action that a normal sane New Yorker will never choose. They do betray the scripted nature of the movie: however, suspend your logic and you will find one of the best monster movies this side of the ocean.

Rating: 70%

Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog is not a typical musical, nor a movie. Joss Whedon, creator of Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Firefly taps his own pocket to write, produce and direct this 42 minute musical. Neil Patrick Harris stars as Dr. Horrible, a shy but still mad scientist who tries really hard to get into the League of Evil, who works on his evil laugh with a vocal coach, and who secretly longs for a girl he meets at the laundromat. He vlogs about his plans and feelings, and ends up discovering it is watched by both his nemesis Captain Hammer (played by Nathan Fillion) and the police.

Joss Whedon showed his musical talent in a special musical episode of Buffy the Vampire Slayer in its 6th season, and the music through this series is pretty outstanding. Just like a traditional musical, every major character suddenly bursts into songs to express their feelings. Dr. Horrible finally musters up the courage to talk to the girl of his dreams, only to watch Captain Hammer save her and start dating her.

Neil Patrick Harris is perfect as Dr. Horrible, and Nathan Fillion plays Captain Hammer to its campy fun. He is almost parodying himself in other heroic roles, and it is great fun to watch him sing about how much of a self-absorbed cocky superhero he is. The movie is available on iTunes (at just $3.99) and will soon be released on DVD. This internet mini-series should not be missed by all Joss Whedon fans as it is hilarious light summer fare.

Rating: 75%

Latest movie from Pixar is set in the world where humans have abandoned Earth and left in a posh spaceship as refugees while robots remain behind to clean up the mess. Post-consumerism world run by a big conglomerate Buy ‘N Large has turned Earth into a wasteland, and it’s up to WALL-E robots to compact the trash. 700 years pass, and the last functioning WALL-E robot on Earth has struck a friendship with a cockroach, has developed a somewhat of a personality and is obsessed with Hello Dolly.

Unlike previous Pixar efforts, the movie’s grandiose visuals at the beginning, and then the antics of WALL-E who can’t technically speak dominate the beginning. For close to 40 minutes, there is no discernable human dialog in the movie, and you won’t miss it as you’re too busy marveling at the visual creations of Pixar.

And when humans enter the picture after WALL-E grabs a leaving rocket, humanity has devolved into a fat and lazy consumers where they use hoverchairs to avoid walking, and all their needs are attended to by robots. WALL-E and EVE overcome their prime directives, and will end up saving the world (as usual). This movie also marks the first time a human has appeared in a Pixar movie as Fred Willard plays the president of Buy ‘N Large.

The movie is another winning effort by Pixar. If the simplistic and charming story doesn’t win you over, the lush visuals will keep both children and adults glued to their seats.

Rating: 97%

Futurama as a TV series has been canceled for awhile, but thanks to Fox Home Entertainment, you can get your (pretty) regular dose of the crew with direct-to-DVD movies. First one Bender’s Big Score ended with a tear in the space, and the new movie The Beast With a Billion Backs picks up right afterwards. After discovering this tear could lead to another universe, Dr. Farnsworth mounts an expedition with his incredibly expandable crew. Fry, after discovering that his girlfriend has 4 other live-in boyfriends, dumps her and is full of sorrow. Unable to take it, Fry sets out to the other universe.

On the other side of the tear is a being with tentacles called Yivo. Yivo makes Fry his emissary as the tentacles invade our universe. Soon everyone in the universe has a tentacle to their neck as a way of, umm, being together with Yivo.

The movie is, as you’d expect, full of pop references and in-jokes. Even the opening sequence has a tribute to Steamboat Willie with Futurama characters of course. Futurama’s humor is not as random as on Family Guy, another canceled but revived animation. The theme of this movie – love, sex and relationship – is refreshingly adult even for the series and it shows how well the series is maturing. This movie is strongly recommended to Futurama fans, although newcomers to the series should first finish the TV series before embarking on the movies.

Rating: 70%

Spoof films show no sign of slowing down, and Meet the Spartans clearly shows the genre needs a reboot. Actually Jason Friedberg and Aaron Seltzer, the writer-directors of this movie can be blamed for pushing out mediocre and outright crappy spoof films in the past few years. When done properly, spoof movies offer guilty pleasures such as Airplane! that cleverly satirized the disaster movies.

Meet the Spartans is a take on the ultra-violent (and stylish) movie 300. As the heroic king Leonidas must battle the invading Persians, he is joined by his most elite 13 (instead of 300) Spartans and the Persians bring along Ghost Rider, Rocky, Transformers and even Paris Hilton. Clearly no material was left behind, as an early battle is straight out of You Got Served (and the other dancing-gang movies).

Jokes fall flat almost all the time, and you’ll be glad the movie is only 80 minutes long, as more runtime would be cinematic torture. Still the movie finds time for 2 musical numbers set to I Will Survive, playing on the whole homoerotic vibe of 300 and the Spartans in the original source material.

It looks like their next target is the disaster genre: here’s to hoping that they find better materials and better writers.

Rating: 10%

Madonna may be past her glory days, but she still remains relevant in the music scene. Her latest album since 2005’s Confessions on a Dance Floor tries to be more urban than disco with pretty good success. Produced by Timbaland, Justin Timberlake and the Neptunes, Hard Candy feels definitely modern. Pharrell Williams’ sudden stylistic changes take some getting used to, but Madonna handles them well. This incredibly upbeat album features no ballad whatsoever, and it is plenty of artists other than Madonna. There are 5 tracks with Justin Timberlake, and Kanye West even joins the party in "Beat Goes On".

As a Madonna album, it isn’t as groundbreaking as her early works. However there must be something said about her ability to continuously surround herself with good producers who have a knack for creating relevant sounds. You will definitely recognize Timbaland-Timberlake touch on a few tracks, but they are welcomed. Especially the first single "4 Minutes" has proven that, although Madonna is virtually non-existent in it, it is a joyful fairly clubby "urban" track. Complete track list and videos after the jump:

Rating: 70%

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Preview of the biggest summer movies concludes with our coverage of Journey to the Center of the Earth, The Dark Knight, Mamma Mia!, The X-Files: I Want to Believe and The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor.

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Preview of the biggest summer movies continues with our coverage of The Love Guru, WALL-E, Wanted, Hancock and Hellboy II: The Golden Army.

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