David Vaughn

It's a case of nature versus nurture when super villain Megamind (voiced by Will Ferrell) finally defeats his arch nemesis Metro Man (Brad Pitt) and gains control of Metro City. With the hero out of the way, the villain grows bored of tormenting the humans and creates a new hero, Tighten (Johah Hill), in order to put a little fun back in his life. But when the hero turns out to be evil, will Megamind do the right thing and save the city and people he's grown fond of?

While not as good as How to Train Your Dragon or Toy Story 3, this is a lot of fun to watch, and you could tell the voice actors were having a blast in the recording studio. Sadly, the video presentation is not up to par with other animated titles and exhibits some banding and rampant aliasing that degrades the otherwise visually stunning disc. The audio suffers no such faults, and the Dolby TrueHD 7.1 soundtrack is definitely demo-worthy.

Director/producer Tony Scott is no stranger to action movies. His resume includes hits like Top Gun, Deja Vu, and Man on Fire, the last two starring Denzel Washington. The two team up again here in one of the better action movies to come out of Hollywood in 2010.

Based very loosely on a 2001 story of a runaway train in Ohio, writer Mark Bomback jazzes it up for the sake of entertainment and action. As in real life, the adventure begins when an idiotic engineer jumps from the slowly moving train in order to reposition a switch before the train can damage it. Successful in this task, he then tries to reboard the moving train as it gains speed, but to no avail.

From this point on, the facts go out the window as the fictional train loaded with toxic chemicals hurtles toward Scranton, PA, where an elevated curve in the track will cause the train to derail, creating an environmental catastrophe and costing many lives. Despite its best attempts, the rail company can't slow the train down, and two unlikely heroes emerge to hopefully save the day. Along the way, we witness a few narrow escapes, corporate incompetence, and one hell of a thrill ride.

Expectant father Peter Highman (Robert Downey Jr.) is flying home from Atlanta in order to bear witness to the birth of his first child. When he encounters Ethan Tremblay (Zach Galifianakis), a socially retarded wannabe actor at the airport, things get off on the wrong foot when they inadvertently exchange bags and Peter gets stopped in security for carrying drug paraphernalia. Sadly, that's the highlight of his trip because he's soon kicked off the plane, put on the no-fly list, and is forced to take a cross-country car trip with the man responsible for his troubles.

My expectations were pretty low going into this, and for good reason. The trailers made it look like a complete rip-off of Planes, Trains, and Automobiles, and unfortunately it isn't as funny as the classic John Candy/Steve Martin movie. The first act sets up the scenario pretty well, but then it quickly falls apart when the two protagonists hit the road.

Looking to find a calmer environment for his pregnant wife, constable Shane Cooper (Ryan Kwanten) transfers to the small town of Red Hill to work at the police department. On his first day, a convicted murderer escapes from prison and heads back to Red Hill to hunt down the men who put him there.

After a terrific buildup in the first act, this film quickly falls apart once the villain finally makes an appearance. I felt like I was watching Friday the 13th or Halloween instead of what was dubbed as a modern western from Australia. Most of the characters are unbelievably stupid, especially when the escaped prisoner is hunting them down, and the entire premise falls apart with the less than shocking twist at the end.