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National Lampoon's Van Wilder is everything you'd expect it to be judging alone from the trailers and the cover. Its another bad Animal House teen 'raunchy' comedy rip off. There really isn't much to go by here. Overall, its a largely unfunny, predictable clichéd teen comedy.

Ryan Reynolds gives a good, convincing enough jig however as the title character. Van Wilder has been at Coolidge University for 7 years now {this is mentioned about every other minute in the movie, clearly the film's 'star' joke}. Somehow, his father doesn't realize this but once he finally finds out in an early scene, he decides to stop paying the tuition for his son's education. Wilder is your typical party rat, a person who apparently never sleeps or does his work, yet somehow manages to stay in school all this time. Now, Wilder must decide whether to change his ways or to leave his friends and leave school. The character is pretty unlikeable, but Reynolds almost succeeds in making us like him at several points of the film.

The film is quite predictable. I don't want to spoil the ending for anyone, really, but just in case you haven't guessed it yet, the highly unlikeable protagonist changes his ways and gets the 'hot girl' at the end, of course, this whole setup is ridiculous to begin with, but even by playing along with it, it feels empty and hollow. Each character, scene, and joke is plotted in a conventionally clichéd way. The characters are all two dimensional, black and white types. Ala Animal House, the villain of course is an obnoxious, rich, preppy, stuck up, fraternity president type, spotted right off the bat. We can quickly smell each scene coming, and unless you've either never seen one of these types of films before or are just living under a rock, its quite easy to see where every scene is going.

Among the film's prized jokes are: An erotic dancer farting in the face of several men, along with a number of other flatulence jokes, a man putting his lips on another man's 'pump', mistaking it for a cup, a group of grammar school children getting drunk and proceeding to vomit from the windows of their school-bus, the antagonist having a case of explosive diarrhea, his feces ending up in a garbage can in front of onlookers {a scene strangely familiar to the toilet/diarrhea scene in American Pie}, and of course the clichéd, horny foreign exchange student. Many of these jokes and moments simply do not work at all.

There are very few laughs to go around in this clichéd, annoyingly predictable and familiar college party flick. Despite some heartfelt performances, the film fails on most every level, especially as a comedy. Only recommendable to young, immature teenagers.

3/10

Silver Bullet is a good, straightforward adaptation of Stephen King's novella 'Cycle of the Werewolf'. There are some suspenseful scenes dotted about, and its a nice story about how a disabled person can overcome their disability to ultimately succeed {ala Forrest Gump}.

Marty {Corey Haim} is the protagonist, a handicapped boy who lives in a lazy Maine town and one summer discovers more than he bargained for in the form of a werewolf. Narrated by his older sister {as an adult}, Marty and the rest of the town are shocked by several brutal 'murders'. After several people close to him are killed, Marty becomes sure of what he's suspected all along: Its a werewolf. Naturally, no one believes him and the attacks continue. It is not until his alcoholic uncle {Gary Busey} eventually comes to his aid that Marty is able to prove what he's known all along.

The film is predictable in parts and the film leaves no cliffhanger in store for the ending, but there are some suspenseful scenes along the way and the film captures the general atmosphere of King's story quite well. For a werewolf movie, though its a simpleton story, its quite good. The film is named after the only material that can kill the werewolf, and Marty's nicknamed motorized wheelchair. Its a fun story with level headed direction and performances, which keeps it going despite its sometimes slow pace.

Recommended to werewolf fans, though its not really a pro typical horror film in the end.

7/10

Gremlins is the fun little monster flick that spawned a slew of ripoffs {Ghoulies, Critters}, a sequel, and the PG-13 rating. Its fun, funny, and noisy all at the same time.

The film centers around a postcard-ish little town, with all the usual characters: The nice kid, the pretty girl, the arrogant fool, the grouchy old woman, the stupid police officers, and the friendly neighbors. When Billy's dad, a struggling inventor, wanders off to Chinatown to get his son a gift, he has no idea what he's in for when he finds a box with a furry little creature named Gizmo. There are some rules surrounding Gizmo: Don't expose him to sunlight, don't feed him after midnight, and don't EVER get him wet. Of course, rules were meant to be broken...

The madness that ensues is, sometimes frightening, sometimes hilarious, and sometimes gross. The violence was enough to help spawn the PG-13 rating. The performances are likable despite a clichéd and a bit silly script, and the film has a nice holiday feel to it that makes it fun to watch around Dec. 25. Its also not a bad children's horror movie, with plenty of funny scenes {carroling gremlins, drinking gremlins, Snow White gremlin fans}.

Gremlins is by no means a flawless film, but its just what the doctor ordered. It gives you a nice, fun story, and some likable characters {and creatures}. It helped give a rebirth to the little green monster genre that fired up in the 80's, and continued to show Joe Dante's talent as a director who blended absurd horror and absurder comedy.

8/10