Okay, so I saw this trailer a billion times before the films release and I honestly thought it looked like total garbage. Thankfully this wasn't the case. I was actually pretty impressed at how the writing team was able to cram a crapload of story into a two hour film without (in my humble opinion) completely butchering or dumbing down the story. The characters were kind of cheesy but since I haven't read the book, am unsure as to whether it was how the actors portrayed each role or if the characters were genuinely created to act like that. As far as tween films are concerned, this is another decent one you won't mind sitting through.
I judge all tween movies on a scale from the first Twilight to Harry Potter. That's a crazy huge scale, I know, but it works. So this film is in the Vampire Academy arena for me. They have left it open for a sequel much like VA but whether we actually see one is another story. Again, not a stinker, but could probably have been better.
Room:
This was a film I was dying to see! Again, based on the best selling novel by the same name, this one was one that the box offices didn't give a shit about until it got the Oscar nod. My local theater had it running for two days, literally. And they were week days at that! Then it was gone. Thankfully my theater is one that likes to make money, and will always re-show films that have been nominated for Oscars around awards season. I was able to catch it and boy oh boy was it good! My money is on Room sweeping each of it's categories with strong competition only from The Revenant and The Martian. I'm disgusted that Jacob Tremblay didn't get nominated for his role though, he was absolutely incredible and only 9 years old! In addition to the trailer I'm going to include video from his acceptance speech at the Critics Choice awards. He is as delightful as he is talented and I expect great things from him in the future. Go see Room!!
As you guys already know, I don't do scary movies. I don't know why I agreed to see this one but I did and here we are.
I thought this one was pretty good. It did scare me. It did have some good "make you jump" moments and thankfully, it wasn't gore-y. There's a time and a place for gore and this was not a film that needed it.
I know they're planning a sequel and I can't imagine what that will entail. I will probably see it though, just to see what they do with the story. But that'll be at noon with about 10 of my closest friends and I'll make sure my roommates are home that night and I leave the light on in the hallway......Is that over the top? Don't care, I don't like scary movies!
I might be a little obsessed with this film you guys. Every time it's on I watch. Everyone was incredible. Steve Carell actually plays a bad guy and you want to reach into the screen and punch his dumb lights out. His performance is that good. The film is about a two families coming together for a summer trip to the beach. Steve and Toni Colette are dating and decide to take their kids away on a summer vacation in an attempt to further their relationship and try to merge their two households. The kids have different personalities and social circles and spend each day trying to avoid one another as much as possible meanwhile Steve acts like a real dick and leaves Toni feeling confused and worried about their future together.
Sam Rockwell steals the entire movie though, let's just be honest here. His comedic timing and delivery are incredible and his character is exactly what's needed to keep the film light.
Sam plays the manager of a local water park who befriends and ultimately hires Toni's son for the summer. The son sees the water park and it's employees as an escape from the drama going on back at the beach house and spends as much time with all of them as he can until the season's over.
It's not a comedy but more of a coming of age story of sorts. While it is dramatic, it's not depressing, it's just about a group of folks who need to figure things out and get their shit together once and for all. And who can't relate to that?
As funny as this movie was, I would be remiss in my duties if I didn't tell you how stupid it was as well. This is the true definition of a kids movie. There's no way anything like this would ever happen in real life but you still watch because it's well made, full of amazing actors and provides a great distraction from your daily life. If you want to lose yourself in a film for a few hours and not have to think about a thing, this is one you'll want to see. Your kids will love it because it's cute and silly and full of action and bright colors and you'll suffer through multiples showings of it because it has enough hidden adult content thrown in to keep you entertained.
Basically, this is one of those films that you know big actors do so their kids will be able to watch something Mommy and Daddy made, you know what I mean?
Let's sling shot ourselves into the future shall we?! In Elysium, the rich have gotten sick and tired of the sick and tired's whining and ran away to their own "perfect world" in space. Thanks for nothing, Jodie Foster.....
The title of the film is also the name of this rich and vibrant world for the wealthy. Earth is a desolate wasteland where everyone works for peanuts and is treated like garbage because there simply isn't enough room or resources for us to take proper care of ourselves anymore.
Matt Damon plays a factory worker with a record. He made some bad decisions out of desperation while growing up and is now working at a crappy job making crappy pay, just trying to get by like everyone else stuck on Earth.
Jodie Foster plays the head of ''world" security on Elysium and spends her days speaking French and drinking fancy drinks while wearing fancy clothes and jewelry. She positively loathes the people back home and is devoted to keeping all of the filthy, poor people of Earth away from her tranquil and luxurious Elysium.
Matt Damon gets into an accident at work and is exposed to a lethal amount of radiation and told he will die in three days. Elysium has extremely badass MRI-looking machines that can clear anyone's body of literally every and all diseases-these suckers cure cancer! Where was that in your med-bay Star Trek?!
So Matt decides he's just got to get himself up to Elysium and talks to an old contact from his trouble-making days about how he just might be able to sneak up to that world.
This movie was full of action and super awesome futuristic visuals. I won't give everything away because once I give you the entire plot summery, I feel that it will be pretty easy for you to figure out how it ends and that's just not right. See how smart I assume all of you are? ;)
You'll just have to see it for yourself. This one feels a little lengthy but I think you'll enjoy it regardless. Be warned though, it does get graphic so you may want to watch it before letting the kids check it out.
The Wolverine:
I felt weird watching this one because I'm a huge fan of the franchise yet knew nothing about this story line. I don't want to say I was confused but I definitely watched the first half wondering where on Earth this story fit into the X-Men/Marvel universe. But that's just my own ignorance, nothing to do with the film itself. Which was pretty good!
I know the first Wolverine movie got a lot of crap from critics but I enjoyed that one too. The problem I did have with this film was that the bad guys seemed over the top, in a bad way. They were really exaggerated and not in a way that seemed to make any sense. The acting was a little over dramatic and some of the special effects were down right goofy which is a shame because the story was good.
Sadly, Hugh is done with this franchise and we won't get to see any more of his Wolverine role. I'm sure they'll make more films with another actor and hopefully the delivery of those will be a little more thought out because this character is so important to the X-Men universe, it would be a shame to waste anymore opportunities to show off what Wolverine is all about.
Percy Jackson: Sea of Monsters:
I must confess, I haven't read this book series. I did see the first film, but I can't give you and honest comparison of the book vs. film. With that said, I felt Percy Jackson: Sea of Monsters, was very enjoyable. It's lighthearted while taking on some slightly more mature subject matter. It's got love, action, comedy and features some pretty fantastic actors and how can you really go wrong with that? I don't know if they'll make any more of these since all of the actors are getting older-fast, but this one is one worth seeing, especially if you enjoyed the first film.
I had a really hard time with this one. Just sitting through it was torture to be honest. I know it's full of incredible actors and don't get me wrong, they completely delivered. It's the story and the characters themselves. I mean, the entire film is just pure misery. The story is about what happens when a hugely dysfunctional family who barely speak to one another are forced to come together over tragic circumstances. The entire film consists of these characters being nasty and cruel to one another; re-opening old wounds and uncovering even more, tragic and terrible truths about each other. And what's worse is, you really don't feel bad for any of them.
For two full hours, you're left feeling uncomfortable and cringey watching these people go at it at every given opportunity and to add insult to injury, the story doesn't even end on a happy note. You leave the theater feeling drained and wildly depressed. Again, the performances were wonderful but that actually makes things worse because it's all so real and you can't believe that people would actually treat each other like this.
I wish I could recommend it but I really don't feel right in doing so. If you do see it, make sure you call your therapist immediately after, that's all I can say.
The trailer makes the film seem like a comedy, I promise you, it isn't.
This one was just fun. A good time with some of your favorite actors. Mark and Denzel start off on opposing sides and end up coming together to defeat their common enemy. This is an action packed dram-edy full of twists and turns and a few good one-liners. I hope they make a sequel because this is one "buddy cop" movie that could really turn into another Lethal Weapon-type franchise. If you've got the time, check it out, I think you'll agree it's worth it.
I heard a lot of people complaining about the length of this film. They're silly. That's all I have to say. The length was fine, typical even, for a DiCaprio film. You're in it the whole time. The only instance in which you worry it might be too long is at the end when you hope against all hope that it really is the end and poor Leo can get some well deserved rest! Man! His character goes through some shit!
If you see a million films a year like me, you probably watched the first official trailer for this about 20 times, each time feeling like, "Wow that looks intense but what the shit is it about?" Then you see the second and third trailer and you think "Okay, now I get it." And while that's great and all, the trailers give literally everything away. The whole story. It's not even possible for me to spoil the movie with my review because the trailers have done that for you.
Leo is traveling with a group of guys collecting pelts on behalf of a fur company. During this time frame, tensions are high between Native Americans and white settlers and it's pretty much all out war every time the two groups meet. Leo's character actually lived with the Pawnee Indians (and yes I got excited thinking about Pawnee from Parks & Rec, sue me.) and had a baby with one of their tribe. Shit goes down and Leo and his son end up alone and joining up with the white men to make some money and hopefully stay out of trouble.
Well, sadly, trouble finds our dear Leo wherever he goes. He gets into a fight with a bear and while the bear ultimately loses, he finds himself on the edge of death. To make matters worse, Tom Hardy, tired of taking care of Leo's injured ass decides to betray him He kills his son and leaves Leo for dead in a shallow grave in the forest in the middle of winter.
Surprise, surprise, our boy LD survives and now Tommy is totally fucked.
I'm summarizing here. But that's the gist of the film. The acting was great and the film itself was beautiful. The fact that it was released in the height of the winter season was genius on the studios part because audiences, at least on the East Coast, are totally feeling for Leo's character. Dude looks like he'll never be warm again.
13 Hours
I don't like movies like this because everyone asks you how you liked it and you feel like a total piece of shit for giving it a good review. It's like criticizing the Diary of Anne Frank. Sure it was written by a teenager, but she and her family were killed by Nazi's and you're an asshole if you couldn't get through the book without dozing off.
This really happened and people really died and communication was really shitty and things could have gone so much better and everyone could have lived.
But dammit, this film was incredible. I almost feel like Michael Bay was hoping this would be his American Sniper, it was shot with the same kind of care and concern and heart. It's also the only Michael Bay film I've ever seen in which you're not bombarded with stupid tight camera shots that make it impossible for you to figure out what's going on. Sure, explosions are cool Mike, but it would be great if I could decipher just what the fuck it was you were blowing up. You spent how much on visual effects? Well that was money down the drain because I couldn't tell a Mazda from a tank with that extreme close up you're so damn fond of!
But again, we didn't find any of that this time around. Again, I feel like a jerk talking about how great this movie was because of the subject matter but it really was awesome. I think the writers did a pretty good job keeping politics out of it too. They simply addressed the true events that unfolded. There wasn't any finger pointing, everyone involved was doing what they believed was right and unfortunately things just didn't work out that way. Much like American Sniper, you leave this film feeling so sorry for our men and women overseas because they live everyday not knowing if their surrounded by friend or foe and that not knowing makes everything a million times harder.
Ride Along 2
Just as funny as the first film, Ice Cube and Kevin Hart are great together. A good amount of action and a whole lot of crazy situations leave you feeling good and hoping for a Ride Along 3.
I feel like I don't need to say much more. If you like Kevin's films then this one is for you. If you don't, skip it. But if you're looking to sit back and relax and have a good chuckle while you're killing some time, give this one a shot, you'll be glad you did.
Concussion
I sat in the theater and decided my future children will never play football. Ever. This movie was really hard to watch simply because it's a true story and no one wanted to do anything about the problem. You almost feel the need to stand up and scream at the screen, you get that frustrated that folks would hide and lie and cover up the truth while people around them are dying. I know it happens all the time. I know bad stuff goes on around the world and most people know nothing about it while those who do sit idly by and let it happen. But you get in the theater and you watch this story unfold and you're scared. You're scared because it took over a decade for the truth to come out and for those involved to finally admit that there's a problem. You're scared because it is a problem not easily solved but one that could effect a lot of people we all know and care about. Will Smith's performance was top notch. He's been hit or miss in the past few years but this performance was the one we've come to love him for. I'll be shocked if he isn't nominated for an Oscar.
Point Break
Yes, a new one. No, it wasn't horrible. Full of attractive, athletic men, even the ladies will want to see this. Focused on extreme sports and crazy stunts, this one was pretty enjoyable. It's not the classic PB with Keanu and Swazye but you can't hate on the studio for trying. They actually tell the story pretty well and even change the storyline a bit to make the bad guys seem not so bad. Was the script great? Not really. Was the acting awards-worthy? Nope. But you won't regret seeing it on a rainy day. There was one cute nod to the original film most die hard fans will get right away and while I did roll my eyes and chuckle when it happened, I left thinking it was pretty neat that it was put in there. You'll know it when you see it.
Sisters
I was loosing my shit over this film you guys. I couldn't wait to see it and it seems the rest of the world agreed with me. Releasing the film during the holiday season was a genius move on the studios part too, my theater was packed! Great job by Tina and Amy. I love seeing them together and we get them for an entire 2 hour film! Tina plays a single mom who simply can't get her shit together and Amy plays her younger sister who has all of her ducks in a row but plays it a little too safe for her big sister's liking. They end up spending time together in their childhood home and decide to throw one final party before the house is sold and they say goodbye to their teenage selves forever. Not surprisingly, nearly half of the cast of SNL are in this but for me, John Cena totally stole the show. He plays a straight man so well and I'm happy to see he's getting parts in a ton of films. I hope we see some more stuff with Tina and Amy, they are just too much fun together!
Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Roadchip
Adorable and lighthearted just like the other two. I know people tend to roll their eyes when they hear another "cheesy chipmunk movie" is being released but as far as kids movies go, these really aren't half bad. When I attend these films, I look for a few things; Cute characters, a decent story, lighthearted humor and the reactions of the kids in the audience. Children aren't stupid, they get funny. And as corny as these movies are, they'll still make you laugh.
The Hateful 8
Fantastic story telling from Tarentino once again. I don't know that this one needed to be three hours long but thankfully you're in it the entire time. Brutal, violent and often times funny. Another typical Tarentino film. Full of incredible actors and a whole lot of bloodshed. Yes, the N word is used often. Not as much as D'Jango and considering the time period it's based in, the use of it does make sense. This isn't for the faint of heart and if you haven't seen anything from Quinten before, you need to brace yourself for the subject matter. Sadly, I don't know which of his films you should start with as they all contain the same amount of gratuitous violence and strong adult content/language. But honestly, if you haven't seen anything he's made thus far, chances are, these films aren't for you.
Couldn't find the Official Trailer for this one guys, sorry.
The Big Short
This film is about the 2008 housing market crash and subsequent bailout. It's blunt and painfully honest and will break your heart because it's not a work a fiction but something that actually happened that affected millions of people.
The acting was phenomenal and the storytelling was brilliant. Funny and raw, the writing breaks down what seems like an overwhelming and complicated subject matter into something everyone can understand; which doesn't exactly make you feel better because again, it's about how the big banks totally fucked us and got away with it. Sadly, this one wasn't advertised heavily so a lot of audiences will not see this or even know it exists. Hopefully Netflix will get their hands on it and folks will catch it eventually because it's a big deal. Again, it sheds light on what happened but it will also leave you feeling like you need to pay better attention to what you do with your money and who you trust to manage it. Everyone needs to see it.
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