Release Date: December 20, 2006

Rocky Balboa? Seriously? The world of boxing needed a warrior with great heart and determination, and this is all they could come up with? Or maybe someone in Hollywood needed a story for a film and they just couldn’t conjure up anything original. Either way, the Italian Stallion is back for one more round in Rocky Balboa, the sixth film in a series that started with glory and has since been knocked around a bit.

There is a strong likelihood that critics, and some fans, won’t give Balboa a fighting chance this Christmas, seeing as there will be plenty of other films out there to see. Plus, if you’ve seen the trailer to this flick, then you can pretty much guess how it goes down. Rocky mopes around Philadelphia, mourning the death of Adrian while the current heavyweight champion of the world, Mason Dixon, is loathed by fans due to a lack of competition. Leave it to ESPN to stir the pot a bit by showing a virtual fight between has-been Balboa and current champ Dixon in which Rocky wins. Throw in some sports agents keen on making that almighty dollar and all of the sudden a bout is born, and Rocky must once again find a way to get back up after being hit so hard for so long.

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Release Date: December 1, 2006

Dane Cook and Kal Penn now have something in common – neither of them are Ryan Reynolds. This is evidence by two very recent comedies that starred the afore mentioned Reynolds wannabes. Dane Cook tried his darndest to channel Reynolds’ charm in this summer’s Employee of the Month, and failed miserably. And now Penn has returned as Van Wilder’s sidekick Taj in an attempt to cash in on a mildly successful franchise and fill the shoes of the big man. Something tells me his fate will be much of the same.

For those who loved the first Van Wilder, this one may be for you. In fact, it follows much of the same storyline. In this version, though, we see Taj as he leaves Coolidge College and travels to Camford University in England. There he meets a similar situation to Van’s in the first film. He runs into a selective fraternity, known as the Fox and Hounds, who turn out to be a group of uptight bullies the likes that we haven’t seen since, well, the first flick. He also meets a love interest (Lauren Cohan), who is expectedly attached to the leader of said fraternity (Daniel Percival). After a cruel joke by the Fox and Hounds guys, Taj ends up at a house on campus known as “The Barn,” where rejects and losers exist in solitude. There he meets his new friends and finds his ultimate challenge – giving them some hope and showing them that they belong.

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