Sometimes, we love movies during our childhood, only to revisit them as adult and find them to be loathsome. These experiences hurt, for they make us question not only our childhood experience but our own development into adults. It’s hard to encounter anything that you loved as a youth only to find your experience, knowledge or tastes have changed its value or meaning to you.

However, other times, one is blessed with a certain special thing that retains all of the past goodness and enjoyment you remember, and those particular special things that retain their power are to be savored. For me, one such thing is the film, 3 Ninjas, a movie that I adored as a child and still enjoy now, if for different reasons.

3 Ninjas is a gimmicky children’s film about three brothers who help their FBI-agent father take out a drug kingpin, all the while using the ninja skills taught to them by their Asian grandfather to outwit, outmaneuver, and outfight their opponents. It’s the kind of movie kids live for, with the youngsters in the thick of the action; and it thankfully makes no bones about it.

In fact, 3 Ninjas seems to relish in its own absurdity, with such odd ideas about ninjas and martial arts that I cannot help but love its downright silliness. For example, apparently, if you master martial arts, you are also a skillful basketball player who can dunk like Jordan. Also, in the event of being kidnapped and trapped on a shipping boat, you can outsmart the foolish ninjas guarding you (one of whom is named, “Frank”) and defeat numerous armed henchman who supposedly train constantly and wield swords.

As a child, I bought into this silly “artistic license” as true and felt that I, too, could defeat any opponent who dared battle me. As an adult, I just enjoy watching the absurdity of the whole thing–which surprised because I figure’d the movie would be awful from my “matured” perspective. But I found it ever as funny and entertaining, as I ever have, with the jokes still ringing true and the action being ever as silly and fun as I remembered.

Because of this, I am giving 3 Ninjas a resounding 7 and calling it one of my favorites; at least for now. Perhaps upon further viewings, it will lose its power…or maybe this is all just reflective of how little my tastes have matured in the last 15 years.

Ugh. Once again, I thought this meview was DONE and WRITTEN. In fact, I was certain it was…this just proves again that I am an idiot. Anyway, okay, 13 Going On 30 is a good film. It’s essentially Big, that lovable 80s movie wherein a boy wishes he were big, and the next day wakes up a full grown man, but with a few moderations. For one, the girl doesn’t just wake up as a woman, she is transported 10 years in the future, and she has to figure out who she has become–which is an excellent point of interest in the story. Also, a big difference is that the romance revolves around an old friend, not a brand new person the adult character meets. These differences are enough to make this film unqiue from Big, and that’s fantastic. It’s not better, I’d say it’s equal–it’s like Big for girls, which is cool.

Jennifer Garner is charismatic as always, and the ever-talented and sensational Mark Ruffalo helps make the romance of the movie fun and interesting, even if it is predictable. The movie seems to have a solid message about not losing innocence to get what you want, appreciating the friends you have, not becoming less of a person to get “in” with popular people, etc. It’s a full, funny comedy that works; and in a world where many comedies don’t, I gotta give 13 Going on 30 its props. It’s a good, solid movie. PLUS, there is a dance sequence of Michael Jackson’s Thriller that is fantastic, and I could most definitely watch the movie several more times to catch that scene.

So, yeah, 13 Going on 30 is a good little comedy, and I give it a 4.

You know, I don’t really have much to say about this. 16 Blocks is a movie. It’s watchable and somewhat entertaining, but it wasn’t anything extraordinary. It was just a movie. Mos Def steals the show with some solid acting chops, but everyone throughout the flic is just kinda adequate, the big name talent really seeming like they are just handing in their work like high schooler. That’s not to say anyone was bad. They were just adequate.

The story follows Bruce Willis as a cop named Jack who is protecting a witness to polic corruption and transporting him from the city holding to a county courthouse. However, when the corrupt cops want to take out the witness, Jack steps up and takes on his pursuers, protecting the witness at all costs. The story has a great deal of twists and turns with a few interesting reveals but the action is fairly uninteresting and wholly forgettable. it’s more then tension that drives this movie than entertaining action sequrnces—it’s just the kind of movie this is.

16 Blocks is an adequate thriller. It’s engaging for a single viewing, but I don’t foresee myself giving it another look anytime soon if at all. I give it a 4.

For those uninitiated in the lore of this comic-turned-flic, 300 is the story of Spartan King Leonidas and his 300 soldiers who, despite religous and political pressure to do otherwise, decide to defend Sparta against a coming invasion by the Persian King Xerxes. While they fight abroad, Leonidas’ bride and easily the most interesting part of the movie, Queen Gorgo, stays in the nation state to rally support from the ruling council. The resulting conflicts are fast-paced bloodbaths and brawls aplenty, accompanied by a visual style unlike anything on film before it.

Here’s the thing with 300. It is more of a play than a movie. The story movement, the acting, and the overall concepts feel much more like theatre than film, which isn’t really bad but it didn’t do it for me. Again, THIS ISN’T BAD IN AND OF ITSELF, it’s just not my bag, so my meview is not the glowing rave everyone of you might have expected. Why? Well, I’m not into the way in which theatre moves and is paced. It’s just not my personal taste, and that’s cool to each his own.

On top of this, the movie feels really, really repetitive, and not in a goood way like Roadhouse, where the bar brawls never get tired. In 300, the action just felt like more of the same by the time it ended, and I was ready for it to be over. And I think is a testament to a movie being less than extraordinary. I was not only ready for it to end but welcomed the ending as a releif–that didn’t actually hit me until just now, but it is worth mentioning.

However, this isn’t to say the movie doesn’t have some awesome parts. It does. The queen’s vengeance against a tratorious Spartan is surprising and awesome. Several of the fights are great, especailly one in which Leonidas fights a giant. There’s also a part where a captain “breaks rank”, and it was fantastic!!!!! These sequences as well as the overall visual aesthetic of the film really carry it and raise it high above its inherent storytelling and pace.

I am going to give 300 a 5. I was headed for a 6 after my initial viewing, but after further thought and discussion, I am really kinda “Yeah that was fun, and I’ll take the ride again, but it’s no The Warriors “–a surpirse, I know. If the visual weren’t as beautiful as they are, this would have been an easy 4. The story and all just didn’t do it for me like I wanted it to. It’s epic, it’s grand, and it’s full of theme; but I didn’t connect with it like I had hoped for and expected to. But that’s just me; and hopefully, after repeat viewings, I will like it more (that’s happened for real). You may love it, and that’s awesome! more power to you! The movie received a heavy “R” rating from the MPAA for repeated glimpses of female breasts (none of which aroused me [and that’s saying something]), nightmarish images, and highly stylized, grisly violence.

The 40 Year-Old Virgin is my favorite comedy of all time. I don’t know why exactly. It may be because I have at least one good laugh in every scene, even the heartfelt “lesson” scenes. Honestly, every scene hoping for a laugh gets one, some get several. This movie– this movie is hilarious. The high concept of this film, “A virgin, who is 40 years-old, collects action figures and doesn’t know how to drive, tries to get laid or, rather, tries to avoid getting laid despite the pressure of his less-moral friends.” could have made for another throwaway, dirty comedy, but this movie is better than one would expect. It has a moral code, and it’s one with which I agree–that really, sex should be saved for someone you love, and those who don’t understand that and live life by different standards have tension, unhappiness, confusion, and disaster in their relationships. And the movie doesn’t always go for the rock-bottom, cheap humor on might expect. Rather, it goes for whatever is most funny, and few comedies these days do that. The great part is, 40 Year-Old Virgin is rewarded for this. It is uncannily hilarious from start-through-the-credits, and it will live well beyond the few years following its release. I love this movie. I really do. I related to the main character, caught the theme and engaged it, and laughed heartily and consistently.

Now, I praise this movie with a disclaimer. Most people I know will hate it. They will hate the profanity, lewd content, sexual innuendo, and brief nudity. They will hate the whole concept, and that is fine. My wife doesn’t like it and probably wishes I didn’t as well. People have different taste and ideas of what is funny. To those who think even the concept of this movie is disgusting and think I am a pervert for liking it, well, more power to you. I would never say, “Everyone should love this movie because I do.” That’s arrogant sillynesss. Again, the Meviews are not critical analysis, they are simply a recording of my experiences with particular films. So, if you read this and think, “C.J. Liked it, I will like it.” Be mindful of your own movie-watching standards and take note of the content this movie includes. You might hate it, and I would never want a meview to lead others to watch films they don’t enjoy.

The 40 Year-Old Virgin gets an easy 7 out of 7, my highest rating. I would say it’s in my top 12 movies of all time. I’ve seen it at least a dozen times, and it is consistently hilarious, not funny, HILARIOUS!

NOTE: I own and enjoy the R-Rated version, not the UNRATED version. The Unrated version has much more nudity as well as some more language. The R-Rated version is rated as such for perverse language, drug use, lewd conduct, sexual content, brief nudity, and adult themes.