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Clint Eastwood's big screen version of the Tony Award-winning musical tells the story of the four young men from the wrong side of the tracks in New Jersey who came together to form the iconic '60s rock group The Four Seasons. Their trials and triumphs are accompanied by the hit songs that influenced a generation, and are now being embraced by a new generation of fans through the stage musical.
I liked this movie but I didn't love it. And I feel like I could have but there was just something missing from it. I don't know if it was the pacing. I don't know if it was the lack of a real dramatic hook. I don't know if it was the no-name actors. Maybe it was the rave reviews for the play that I never saw effecting my expectations? I can't put my finger on it, but there was something. Normally a movie like this would have me loving it but this one just seemed to drop the ball. And I was a bit thrown off thinking that it was a musical when it really wasn't. It was a drama about a band and all songs that were performed were when they were performing on stage as part of the movie. Maybe that was it? I don't know.
I would somewhat recommend this movie. Again - I did like it. But I should have and wanted to love it but I didn't. Still can't figure out what it was that was missing. This is going to bother me for a while.
From Disney comes Maleficent—the untold story of Disney's most iconic villain from the 1959 classic "Sleeping Beauty." A beautiful, pure-hearted young woman, Maleficent has an idyllic life growing up in a peaceable forest kingdom, until one day when an invading army threatens the harmony of the land. Maleficent rises to be the land's fiercest protector, but she ultimately suffers a ruthless betrayal—an act that begins to turn her pure heart to stone. Bent on revenge, Maleficent faces an epic battle with the invading king's successor and, as a result, places a curse upon his newborn infant Aurora. As the child grows, Maleficent realizes that Aurora holds the key to peace in the kingdom—and perhaps to Maleficent's true happiness as well.
Let me just go on record as saying that the casting of Angelina Jolie as Maleficent is easily on the list of Top 10 casting calls ever. That being said - I didn't really know what to expect from this movie. It didn't really seem like a fluffy kid movie. But it was from Disney so I didn't think it would be too dark of a tale. It ended up being pretty much right down the middle. Angelina Jolie was awesome. Whether her viciousness, her softer side or her sarcastic delivery of one liners she was totally firing on all cylinders. The action scenes were great and the forest effects were good too. The best part of the movie was that it really didn't waste any time. It was very well paced, didn't drag and had a perfect 90 minute running time.
I was very pleasantly surprised with this movie. I didn't really have high expectations but I enjoyed this movie and thought it was a good story in a well paced feature length.
Everyone knows the legend of Hercules and his twelve labors. Our story begins after the labors, and after the legend… Haunted by a sin from his past, Hercules has become a mercenary. Along with five faithful companions, he travels ancient Greece selling his services for gold and using his legendary reputation to intimidate enemies. But when the benevolent ruler of Thrace and his daughter seek Hercules' help to defeat a savage and terrifying warlord, Hercules finds that in order for good to triumph and justice to prevail... he must again become the hero he once was... he must embrace his own myth... he must be Hercules.
This movie was much better than I thought it would be. I knew that I would like it regardless because The Rock is in it. This guy just makes everything better. Even with that being said, I still expected this to be the same run of the mill Conan/Hercules type of movie with overdone special effects and what not. The fact that the movie pretty much made fun of the whole Hercules myth made it so much more entertaining. And the posse he had with him instead of him taking on the world by himself also made the movie better.
I would definitely recommend people checking this movie out. It was very entertaining and a very pleasant surprise since I just expected to watch The Rock in a piece of crap.
Planes: Fire & Rescue is a new comedy-adventure about second chances, featuring a dynamic crew of elite firefighting aircraft devoted to protecting historic Piston Peak National Park from raging wildfire. When world famous air racer Dusty (voice of Dane Cook) learns that his engine is damaged and he may never race again, he must shift gears and is launched into the world of aerial firefighting. Dusty joins forces with veteran fire and rescue helicopter Blade Ranger and his courageous team, including spirited super scooper Dipper (voice of Julie Bowen), heavy-lift helicopter Windlifter, ex-military transport Cabbie and a lively bunch of brave all-terrain vehicles known as The Smokejumpers. Together, the fearless team battles a massive wildfire and Dusty learns what it takes to become a true hero.
This movie is just a retread of the first Planes movie. The only difference is that its about fighting fires instead of racing. And just like the first one - this really is a movie that should have gone straight to DVD but Disney is just taking advantage of pretty much no family/kids movies out there and getting more money out of their parents wallets. This also applies to the marketing of toys that stems off of both Cars movies and Planes movies. I thought the first Cars was pretty good but all three entries in this line of movies is really just about getting the parents' money one way or another. And it is a shame because the voice casting is actually pretty good in this and the soundtrack was great.
I wouldn't really recommend anyone waste their time with this although it is incredibly short. Just wait for it to show up on Netflix, on demand or DVD since that is pretty much the kind of quality it is.
In Deliver Us From Evil, New York police officer Ralph Sarchie (Eric Bana), struggling with his own personal issues, begins investigating a series of disturbing and inexplicable crimes. He joins forces with an unconventional priest (Edgar Ramirez), schooled in the rituals of exorcism, to combat the frightening and demonic possessions that are terrorizing their city. Based upon the book, which details Sarchie's bone-chilling real-life cases.
This was easily one of the better exorcism movies in a long time. And I feel like there have been way too many of them in the last couple of years. This one was different simply because it had a whole separate slowly evolving storyline that led up to the exorcism. And it was creepy as hell the whole time. It also had great casting. Eric Bana was great. Joel McHale was awesome as his partner. All the characters played really well off of each other and the story developed at exactly the right pace and didn't fall into that textbook, wash-rinse-repeat story. The tension was clearly there throughout the movie and there were numerous points where the audience will jump out of their chairs.
I very much recommend people checking this movie out. It was a huge surprise how much I really enjoyed this movie and I don't understand how underadvertised it was.
In this summer family adventure movie, Tuck, Munch and Alex are a trio of inseparable friends whose lives are about to change. Their neighborhood is being destroyed by a highway construction project that is forcing their families to move away. But just two days before they must part ways, the boys begin receiving a strange series of signals on their phones. Convinced something bigger is going on, they team up with another school friend, Emma, and set out to look for the source of their phone signals. What they discover is something beyond their wildest imaginations: a small alien who has become stranded on Earth. In need of their help, the four friends come together to protect the alien and help him find his way home. This journey, full of wonder and adventure, is their story, and their secret.
This movie is exactly what is wrong with Hollywood today. You have movies like Transformers 4 which cost like 200 million dollars to make, are 3 hours long and just crammed with over the top nonsense, crazy special effects and big name actors. They are a dime a dozen. We all flock to see them and they are all out of our minds two minutes after we walk out of the theater. Then there is a movie like Earth To Echo that will phase out of theaters in the blink of an eye without most people even knowing what it was. It had to cost pretty much nothing to make comparably. It has pretty much no known actors whatsoever and is really just four random kids. It's barely 90 minutes long. It's that single camera filming with minimal amounts of effects. Yet - this movie has the whole crowd clapping at the end of it. It has made you completely fall in love with this group of kids and Echo over the course of 90 minutes. You are laughing your ass off at parts and getting choked up at others. You catch yourself completely rooting for these kids and Echo as the movie plays out in E.T. like fashion. I had a hunch that I was going to like this movie but I ended up absolutely loving it. This is one of those special connection type movies and I loved how incredibly simple the movie was.
I absolutely recommend people checking this out. It was a fun, touching and very entertaining watch. This will probably be the shocking movie to show up on my Top 10 of the year when 2014 comes to a close.
The New Founders of America invite you to celebrate your annual right to Purge in The Purge: Anarchy.
There really is no more need of a summary for this one because the original is still more than fresh enough in our memories. I was a huge fan of the first one until the end where I felt like they tripped all over themselves getting wrapped up in philosophical stuff too much. When I heard they were making a sequel I thought that this would pretty much be garbage. However, the fact that they left the style of the first one where it was an attack on the house and flipped it to people stuck out of their house trying to avoid getting "purged" was great and in all honesty I liked this movie more than the first one. They did another great job of "taking us" to this version of the world where the Purge exists. They kept you on your toes by having three different groups trying to survive before meeting up and trying to get through it all together. I thought it would slow down tremendously at that point, but they managed to amp up the crazy even more while showing so many different views on how to feel about the Purge.
I would definitely recommend people checking this out. If you liked the first, I believe that you will definitely like this one too. Again - I liked this one more actually. It's a violent/horror movie but is also really eye opening about how to look at things and what not government/political/humanity wise.
Snowpiercer, based on the French graphic novel "Le Transperceneige," is set in a future where, after a failed experiment to stop global warming, an Ice Age kills off all life on the planet except for the inhabitants of the Snow Piercer, a train that travels around the globe and is powered by a sacred perpetual-motion engine. A class system evolves on the train but a revolution brews.
I liked this movie a lot. It was a great take on the overly tried apocalyptic future. When told the entire movie takes place on a train, you would never imagine that the film would be so creatively cinematography wise but it really was. The story is excellently told with lots of hooks to characters. You really feel like you are along for the ride and at no point does the movie drag or get boring.
I would absolutely recommend people checking this out. It can be pretty violent at times but it is a great watch and story. How did this movie get such a small release?
When Jay (Jason Segel) and Annie (Cameron Diaz) first got together, their romantic connection was intense – but ten years and two kids later, the flame of their love needs a spark. To kick things up a notch, they decide – why not? – to make a video of themselves trying out every position in The Joy of Sex in one marathon three-hour session. It seems like a great idea – until they discover that their most private video is no longer private. With their reputations on the line, they know they're just one click away from being laid bare to the world... but as their race to reclaim their video leads to a night they'll never forget, they'll find that their video will expose even more than they bargained for.
This movie was a decent watch with some great laughs. Unfortunately they were spaced out too much. For a movie that is a sex comedy, they tried to involve way too much relationship and emotional stuff. It should have been more off the wall consistently. The parts where it was were great but then it slowed down tremendously in between. A 90 minute comedy should not have felt this long.
I would somewhat recommend people checking this out. You might enjoy it more if you lower your expectations some. I was hoping for a laugh riot and got some good laughs but not enough.
Zach (Dane DeHaan) is devastated by the unexpected death of his girlfriend, Beth (Aubrey Plaza). But when she miraculously comes back to life, Zach takes full advantage of the opportunity to share and experience all the things he regretted not doing with her before. However, the newly returned Beth isn't quite how he remembered her and, before long, Zach's whole world takes a turn for the worse.
The premise of the movie was great and so was Aubrey Plaza but the rest of the movie felt flat and failed to fully keep my attention or caring as it played out. This could have been really great if it wasn't an artsy/independent movie.
I wouldn't really recommend anyone bothering with this. I was pretty excited from the trailer but ended up pretty disappointed .
The ultimate X-Men ensemble fights a war for the survival of the species across two time periods in X-Men: Days of Future Past. The beloved characters from the original "X-Men" film trilogy join forces with their younger selves from "X-Men: First Class," in an epic battle that must change the past – to save our future.
I thought this movie was awesome. I was very glad that they spent much more time with the cast from First Class than the earlier X-Men movies. I just enjoy McAvoy and Fassbender much more as Professor X and Magneto. The back and forth was great. The working in of other mutants with the future battles against the Sentinels was awesome action/effects. Yes - there are going to be many that question the timeline of the X-Men movies and where the hell everything stands after the end of this movie, but I have zero desire to get into that. There was more than enough of an effort towards continuity that made sense while watching this movie. I don't want to ruin that by thinking "wait a minute . . . . . ."
I would definitely recommend people checking this out. Again - they will drive you nuts if you decide to go down the road of figuring out the entire timeline of the X-Men movies. But if you are able to turn that off or leave it alone and just enjoy the ride that this movie is - you'll love it. It's not as good as First Class, but I would put it on par with X2 which is my second favorite movie in the franchise.
Mr. Peabody, the most accomplished dog in the world, and his mischievous boy Sherman, use their time machine - The Wabac - to go on the most outrageous adventures known to man or dog. But when Sherman takes The Wabac out for a joyride to impress his friend Penny, they accidently rip a hole in the universe, wreaking havoc on the most important events in world history. Before they forever alter the past, present and future, Mr. Peabody must come to their rescue, ultimately facing the most daunting challenge of any era: figuring out how to be a parent. Together, the time traveling trio will make their mark on history.This was a very fun and cute movie. While most of the historical humor and banter will be above the head of most children it made the movie just as enjoyable, if not more than, for the adults. The kids will still love the characters and story and to be honest - it provides them and the parents with lost of historical teaching moments. I would absolutely recommend people checking this one out - especially those of you with kids. This is one of those great movies for the whole family.
Lt. Col. Bill Cage (Cruise) is an officer who has never seen a day of combat when he is unceremoniously dropped into what amounts to a suicide mission. Killed within minutes, Cage now finds himself inexplicably thrown into a time loop—forcing him to live out the same brutal combat over and over, fighting and dying again…and again. But with each battle, Cage becomes able to engage the adversaries with increasing skill, alongside Special Forces warrior Rita Vrataski (Blunt). And, as Cage and Rita take the fight to the aliens, each repeated encounter gets them one step closer to defeating the enemy.
This movie was pretty awesome. The effects were amazing. The aliens were like a crazier and faster version of the things in The Matrix Revolutions. You are invested in the characters. The pacing is great. There are plenty of laughs mixed in due to the whole Groundhog's Day repeating of events. This is what going to the movies in the summer is all about.
I'd absolutely recommend people checking this movie out. It was a lot of fun and one hell of an enjoyable ride.
Seth MacFarlane directs, produces, co-writes and plays the role of the cowardly sheep farmer Albert in A Million Ways to Die in the West. After Albert backs out of a gunfight, his fickle girlfriend leaves him for another man. When a mysterious and beautiful woman rides into town, she helps him find his courage and they begin to fall in love. But when her husband, a notorious outlaw, arrives seeking revenge, the farmer must put his newfound courage to the test.
Wow! This was absolutely awful. Like I walked out on it because it was so awful. This was basically one joke (people died easily in the old west) stretched out for two hours (which is about one hour and 59 minutes too long). Anything that might have been funny was in the ads. The rest was overdone jokes and a bunch of characters that you really don't care about. Ironically, I actually pulled the plug when one of the characters suffering from diarrhea shit in a hat. Literally. That wasn't bad enough though so he did it again and then knocked the hat over. What was shown coming out of the hat completely summarized the movie as a whole.
I would recommend absolutely nobody ever seeing this. It was beyond disappointing and so horribly bad that I walked out of a free movie.
Based on a true story, Million Dollar Arm follows JB Bernstein, a once-successful sports agent who now finds himself edged out by bigger, slicker competitors. He and his partner Aash (Aasif Mandvi) will have to close their business down for good if JB doesn’t come up with something fast. Late one night, while watching cricket being played in India on TV, JB comes up with an idea so radical it just might work. Why not go to there and find the next baseball pitching sensation? Setting off for Mumbai with nothing but a gifted but cantankerous scout (Alan Arkin) in tow, JB stages a televised, nationwide competition called “Million Dollar Arm” where 40,000 hopefuls compete before two 18-year-old finalists, Rinku and Dinesh (Suraj Sharma, Madhur Mittal), emerge as winners. JB brings them back to the United States to train with legendary pitching coach Tom House (Bill Paxton). The goal: get the boys signed to a major league team.
This is absolutely one of those - you saw the movie just by watching the commercial type deals. There is nothing that happens here that you don't see coming. That being said, there is still that feel good underdog sports movie vibe that keeps you interested and rooting for it to play out - even though you know how it will.
I would lukewarmly recommend people checking this out. It's not a must see by any means but if you like feel good, underdog type movies this is an enjoyable watch.
