The Great Gatsby

The Great Gatsby follows Fitzgerald-like, would-be writer Nick Carraway as he leaves the Midwest and comes to New York City in the spring of 1922, an era of loosening morals, glittering jazz and bootleg kings. Chasing his own American Dream, Nick lands next door to a mysterious, party-giving millionaire, Jay Gatsby, and across the bay from his cousin, Daisy, and her philandering, blue-blooded husband, Tom Buchanan. It is thus that Nick is drawn into the captivating world of the super rich, their illusions, loves and deceits. As Nick bears witness, within and without the world he inhabits, he pens a tale of impossible love, incorruptible dreams and high-octane tragedy, and holds a mirror to our own modern times and struggles.

This had all the usual Baz Luhrman quirks. Visually it was amazing. I've always been a big fan of how he films/edits his movies and this one was no different. I'm not that big of a fan of the book nor did I remember too much of it so I can't really review it from that standpoint. I really liked the telling of the story and DiCaprio was awesome as Gatsby. He alternated so well between being totally confident at all times and then completely insecure around Daisy. Although the pacing slowed down way too much about 3/4 of the way through with all the main characters kind of hashing things out in a hotel room, it picked up again after that and wrapped up greatly.

I would recommend people checking this out. It's a little long and I don't remember the book enough to compare, but I enjoyed the movie a lot.

Pain & Gain

Based on a true story, Pain & Gain follows a group of bodybuilders who engaged in a campaign of kidnapping, extortion and murder in Florida.

This movie is a tough one to review. The movie was really dumb since it was about a couple of complete bumbling idiots. It was pretty much like an out of control car wreck that just kept spinning over and over. However, because the acting of Mark Wahlberg, The Rock and Anthony Mackie as the three bumbling idiots was so well done - it made the movie very funny at times and entertaining throughout. Every part of my brain wanted to think that the movie was horrible, but the three actors kept making me laugh and wanting to see where it goes. I didn't think that The Rock could be more entertaining but pleying a dumb ass with a cocaine problem made him even more entertaining. The only thing that I wish could have been changed about this was the running time. It was a little over two hours long and this could have easily been 90 minutes long.

I don't know that I would recommend this movie to people. It's not a good movie. Its pretty silly and overall stupid, but at times I felt that it was so bad that it was good. And the three actors did a great job of being roided meatheads.

Epic

Epic is an action-adventure comedy that reveals a hidden world unlike any other. From the creators of "Ice Age" and "Rio," Epic tells the story of an ongoing battle deep in the forest between the forces of good and the forces of evil. When a teen age girl finds herself magically transported into this secret universe, she must band together with a rag-tag team of fun and whimsical characters in order to save their world…and ours.

This was a decent movie. The animation was good. The comedy provided by the slugs was good. And the premise was good (although pretty much ripped off from a much better movie from a few years back called Arthur & The Invisibles). But that's really it. It was a good movie but not really much else to say about it.

I would somewhat recommend people checking this out. For parents with younger kids, there really isn't much else out there. Don't get too excited that this will be one of those equally as great for the parents animated movies. It's watchable but ultimately just kind of there.

Amour

In the film, Georges (Trintignant) and Anne (Riva) are in their eighties. They are cultivated, retired music teachers. Their daughter (Huppert), who is also a musician, lives abroad with her family. One day, Anne has an attack. The couple's bond of love is severely tested.

This movie was amazing. I don't know that I've ever watched a movie that seemed more real. This movie touched me in such a way that I literally told my wife that I called dibs on passing away first. It was equal parts touching and upsetting throughout. I am honestly having a hard time even reviewing this simply because of how much this movie hit an emotional chord in my heart/head. EVERY happily married couple should watch this together and they will probably leave it loving each other even more than they already did.

I thought it was absurd that this foreign movie that nobody had heard of was nominated for Best Picture. After watching it, it would probably get my vote. I couldn't possibly recommend more that everyone see this movie. It hit me in the most unexpected of ways.

Scary Movie 5

The latest installment of the Scary Movie franchise includes send ups of "Paranormal Activity," "Mama," "Sinister," "The Evil Dead," "Inception," "Black Swan" and pop culture featuring Ashley Tisdale, Charlie Sheen, Lindsay Lohan, Snoop Dogg, Katt Williams, Molly Shannon, Terry Crews, Simon Rex, Jerry O'Connell, Sarah Hyland, Katrina Bowden, Tyler Posey, Shad Moss aka Bow Wow, Kate Walsh, Heather Locklear, Mac Miller and Mike Tyson.


This movie was awful. I didn't laugh once. Hell, I didn't even smile. They really have to stop making these movies. Even the movies that they are parodying are totally unworthy or remotely memorable enough for anyone to care and for any of the jokes to stick.

I wouldn't recommend anyone wasting their time with this total garbage. Why do they keep making this crap!?!

Olympus Has Fallen

When the White House (Secret Service Code: "Olympus") is captured by a terrorist mastermind and the President is kidnapped, disgraced former Presidential guard Mike Banning finds himself trapped within the building. As our national security team scrambles to respond, they are forced to rely on Banning's inside knowledge to help retake the White House, save the President, and avert an even bigger disaster.

This movie was a straight up throwback to 80's/90's popcorn action movies. Like the good Jerry Bruckheimer films that would come out every summer. Lots of action. Good guys getting the bad guys. Good and basic shut your brain off and enjoy the show entertainment. And it was great to finally see Gerard Butler back in the kind of performance that his career was made on from 300. Enough of the romantic comedies, fella!

I would definitely recommend people checking this movie out. It's an awesomely entertaining roller coaster ride of a movie.

The Big Wedding

With an all-star cast led by Robert De Niro, Katherine Heigl, Diane Keaton, Amanda Seyfried, Topher Grace, with Susan Sarandon and Robin Williams, "The Big Wedding" is an uproarious romantic comedy about a charmingly modern family trying to survive a weekend wedding celebration that has the potential to become a full blown family fiasco. To the amusement of their adult children and friends, long divorced couple Don and Ellie Griffin (De Niro and Keaton) are once again forced to play the happy couple for the sake of their adopted son's wedding after his ultra conservative biological mother unexpectedly decides to fly halfway across the world to attend. With all of the wedding guests looking on, the Griffins are hilariously forced to confront their past, present and future - and hopefully avoid killing each other in the process.

This movie is just as formula as the ads made it seem. All the actors played the same characters that they seem to in all of their movies. Barely laughed throughout. Honestly, I don't think I laughed at all. The movie is pretty much just kind of there.

I wouldn't recommend anyone wasting their time with this. The movie isn't awful but not really worth the time at all. Watch the ad and you could have easily wrote the same review.

Obilvion

Jack Harper (Cruise) is one of the last few drone repairmen stationed on Earth. Part of a massive operation to extract vital resources after decades of war with a terrifying threat known as the Scavs, Jack's mission is nearly complete.Living in and patrolling the breathtaking skies from thousands of feet above, his soaring existence is brought crashing down when he rescues a beautiful stranger from a downed spacecraft. Her arrival triggers a chain of events that forces him to question everything he knows and puts the fate of humanity in his hands.


Let me state for the record that this movie was visually awesome. The sci-fi future presented in this was very well designed. Unfortunately, that was pretty much it. The story was way to artsy at first and then became way too convuluted. Tom Cruise was very much miscast. And it was way too long. The futuristic world was set up easy enough that nowhere near that much time was needed to expand/develop it.

I wouldn't really recommend people checking this out. It wasn't horrible but it wasn't too good either even though the visual effects and the futuristic cinematography were great.

The Place Beyond The Pines

Luke (Academy Award nominee Ryan Gosling) is in constant motion, a high-wire motorcycle stunt performer who travels from town to town with the carnival. Passing through Schenectady in upstate New York, he tries to reconnect with a former lover, Romina (Eva Mendes), only to learn that she has in his absence given birth to their son Jason. Luke resolves to forsake life on the road and to provide for his newfound family, taking a job as car mechanic with Robin (Ben Mendelsohn).
Robin soon discovers Luke’s special talents, and proposes to partner with him in a string of spectacular bank robberies.
But it is only a matter of time before Luke will run up against the law – which comes in the form of Avery Cross (Bradley Cooper). Avery is an ambitious rookie cop navigating a local police department ruled by the menacingly corrupt detective Deluca (Ray Liotta). When Avery, just beginning to balance his profession and his family life with wife Jennifer (Rose Byrne) and their infant son AJ, confronts Luke, the full consequences will reverberate into the next generation. It is then that the two sons, Jason (Dane DeHaan) and AJ (Emory Cohen), must face their fateful, shared legacy.

This was a very well done movie. Great acting. Great storytelling. Very well developed characters and drama. Now that I've given all the positives, there were two things that hurt this movie for me. One was that it was waaaaaay too long. I realize that the multilayered story needed to play out but I was shocked when it was almost 10pm when the 7:15pm showing I went to ended. The other thing was that you had Ryan Gosling and Bradley Cooper putting great performances in yet without giving away too much they were only on screen together for like 30 seconds. I wish there could have been more on screen time for these two great characters.

I would definitely recommend people checking this out. It's excellent storytelling on many levels/layers. Just be warned that it is a pretty long movie.

Aftershock

Chile has it all: gorgeous landscapes, smokin'- hot women, cool dudes, great wine, and the wildest parties. For a hapless American tourist, nicknamed Gringo (Eli Roth) by his two Chilean pals Ariel (Ariel Levy) and Pollo (Nicolás Martínez), the trip has been heaven on earth — except that he just can't hook up with the ladies. Gringo's luck seems to change when the group meets a trio of babes — Russian model Irina (Natasha Yarovenko), non-stop party girl Kylie (Lorenza Izzo) and her serious sister Monica (Andrea Osvárt) — who agree to accompany them on a trip to the coastal town of Valparaíso. The new friends are having the best of times whooping it up in a dance club, until a violent earthquake brings the entire city down around them. With this one-time paradise now a landscape of death and destruction that's seething with terror and panic, our unlucky heroes must run for their lives from looters, escaped convicts, and the inevitable aftershocks.

This was kind of like Eli Roth's other movies with total brutality once the chaos started post earthquake. The group of friends suffered massively as they were taken out one by one via amputations, burning alive, rape, etc. This movie was decent for what it was supposed to be after a truly brutal 35 minutes of "character development" before the earthquake. Are we really supposed to care about any of them?

I would only recommend die hard Eli Roth fans taking the time to check this out. It's pretty much a lame yet watchable B movie.