Blended

After a disastrous blind date, single parents Lauren (Barrymore) and Jim (Sandler) agree on only one thing: they never want to see each other again. But when they each sign up separately for a fabulous family vacation with their kids, they are all stuck sharing a suite at a luxurious African safari resort for a week.

Very rarely do Adam Sandler movies land in the middle for me.  I either think that they are absolutely awful or I really enjoy them.  After the first 5-10 minutes I thought for sure that this one was destined to be one of the awful ones.  It seemed so rushed and forced and the children actors were some of the worst I've ever seen.  But as the movie went on the kid actors grew on me and it actually developed into a pretty decent movie.  Still not sure why this had to take place in Africa, but it was a cute date type movie.  Especially for people with kids.  And what is there not to like about Terry Crews and his back up people popping up over and over again and singing.  Never got old.  Actually got funnier each time.

I would actually recommend people checking out Blended.  Didn't think I would at the start but it turned into a pretty enjoyable movie.

Legends Of Oz: Dorothy's Return

Legends of Oz: Dorothy's Return is a continuation of one of the world’s most popular and beloved fairy tales, Legends of Oz finds Dorothy (Lea Michele) waking to post-tornado Kansas, only to be whisked back to Oz to try to save her old friends the Scarecrow (Dan Aykroyd), the Lion (Jim Belushi), the Tin Man (Kelsey Grammer) and Glinda (Bernadette Peters) from a devious new villain, the Jester (Martin Short). Wiser the owl (Oliver Platt), Marshal Mallow (Hugh Dancy), China Princess (Megan Hilty) and Tugg the tugboat (Patrick Stewart) join Dorothy on her latest magical journey through the colorful landscape of Oz to restore order and happiness to Emerald City.


This would have been a brutal watch even on dvd if it were released as a direct to dvd movie like it should have been.  This movie has no business being out in theaters.  They are basically just trying to take advantage of the absence of animated movies in theaters right now.  I won't waste any mor time reviewing this.  We didn't even finish watching it and pulled the plug on it less than halfway through after watching Dorothy recruit a replacement trio for scarecrow, lion and tin man.  It's just garbage.

I wouldn't recommend anyone wasting their time or money on this.  It's beyond lame and an insult to parents that have to waste either of those things.

The Amazing Spider-Man 2

It's great to be Spider-Man (Andrew Garfield). For Peter Parker, there's no feeling quite like swinging between skyscrapers, embracing being the hero, and spending time with Gwen (Emma Stone). But being Spider-Man comes at a price: only Spider-Man can protect his fellow New Yorkers from the formidable villains that threaten the city. With the emergence of Electro (Jamie Foxx), Peter must confront a foe far more powerful than he. And as his old friend, Harry Osborn (Dane DeHaan), returns, Peter comes to realize that all of his enemies have one thing in common: Oscorp.

This movie was a lot of fun.  I may have liked it more than the original with this reboot.  I loved that movie but it dimmed with repeated viewing.  I don't feel like that will happen with this one though.  The chemistry between Andrew Garfield and Emma Stone is still awesome.  Jaimie Foxx was great as Electro.  The slow development of Harry Osborn/Green Goblin was well done.  The teases and builds for the future of the franchise was worked in excellently.  The effects were beyond top notch.  I don't think that they needed as many slow motion spidey sense telegraphs but they were still incredible.  The only knock I'll make against this is that maybe it was a little too campy . . . . especially pre-Electro Jaimie Foxx and the brief screen time of Paul Giamatti as Rhino.  All of that being said - I still feel the same negative feelings towards this reboot of the franchise as I did in the first one.  It's less than 10 years since the first Spider-Man 2.  We've already seen the slow decline of Harry Osborn to Green Goblin.  I think that they needed to wait longer to do all of this.  The complicated thing is that I absolutely like everything that they are doing with this version of the franchise better.  The cast is better.  The build is better.  Everything is better but the previous trilogy is just such a not so distant memory and conflicts everything. 

I would absolutely recommend people checking this movie out.  It's a great entry to the Spider-Man/Marvel universe and is what going to the movies in the summer is all about.

The Quiet Ones

 

A university student (Sam Claflin) and some classmates are recruited to carry out a private experiment -- to create a poltergeist. Their subject: an alluring, but dangerously disturbed young woman (Olivia Cooke).  Their quest: to explore the dark energy that her damaged psyche might manifest. As the experiment unravels along with their sanity, the rogue PHD students are soon confronted with a terrifying reality: they have triggered an unspeakable force with a power beyond all explanation.

I was surprised at how I liked this movie.  I wouldn't say I loved it or go raving about it.  But after being disappointed time after time by PG-13 scary movies I expect them to all suck.  So by not sucking like the others, I ended up liking this one.  It was paced well and short enough that it keeps your attention.  There was good tension and enough jump causing moments instead of lame predictable crap that feels very forced.

I would somewhat recommend people checking this out.  It's not a must see by any means but it is better than most of the recent similar fare that have rolled into theaters.

Muppets Most Wanted

Muppets Most Wanted takes the entire Muppets gang on a global tour, selling out grand theaters in some of Europe's most exciting destinations, including Berlin, Madrid and London. But mayhem follows the Muppets overseas, as they find themselves unwittingly entangled in an international crime caper headed by Constantine, the World's Number One Criminal and a dead ringer for Kermit, and his dastardly sidekick Dominic, aka Number Two, portrayed by Ricky Gervais. The film stars Tina Fey as Nadya, a feisty prison guard, and Ty Burrell as Interpol agent Jean Pierre Napoleon.

Let's be honest here.  The Muppets really can do no wrong as far as I'm concerned.  And this movie was no different.  It literally started right where the last one ended and had a lot of the same tongue in cheek moments.  I also liked that they did a really good job of working in more muppets than in past movies.  The cameos were great.  The main human characters were great - especially Ty Burrell as the Interpol agent.  Him and Sam The Eagle really stole the show in this one.

I would absolutely recommend people checking this out.  It's a Muppets movie, people!!!  Why would you not want to see this!?!  Side note - the Monsters University short that accopanies it was also great. 

A Haunted House 2

A Haunted House 2 is the sequel to the hilarious box-office hit starring Marlon Wayans as Malcolm who, after exorcising the demons of his ex, is starting fresh with his new girlfriend and her two children. After moving into their dream home, Malcolm is once again plagued by bizarre paranormal events. With spine-tingling tension and hilarious punch-lines A Haunted House 2 inspired by the latest supernatural horror movie franchises and shows that this time - it's not just the house that's haunted!

This was pretty much just more of the first.  I only sort of enjoyed it because I find Marlon Wayans funny.  If he wasn't in this it would be absolutely horrible.  His freak outs and the racial jokes between him and the Hispanic neighbors provided some good laughs - especially the chicken scene.  Unfortunately, there was too much downtime in between those parts for the movie to be fully funny.

I wouldn't really recommend anyone rushing to see this.  It's short enough and had some great laughs but not nearly enough to warrant your time and money.  

Divergent

 

Divergent is an action-adventure film set in a world where people are divided into distinct factions based on human virtues. Tris Prior (Shailene Woodley) is warned she is Divergent and will never fit into any one group. When she discovers a conspiracy by a faction leader (Kate Winslet) to destroy all Divergents, Tris must learn to trust in the mysterious Four (Theo James) and together they must find out what makes being Divergent so dangerous before it's too late. 

I read these books and was very psyched for the movie.  I have to say that I thought that they did a really good job of getting it from the pages on to the screen.  They made little tweaks here and there, but they were not too major and the tinkering with the end I actually liked better than the one in the book.  I like Shailene Woodley alot and think she is pretty much the next Jennifer Lawrence.   I wouldn't say that the movie is on a level with Hunger Games in terms of mass appeal because it is more young adultish than that.  The acting was pretty lame at times.  That being said - it is MUCH better than Twilight and other young adult fare.

I would still recommend people checking this out.  The books are very enjoyable so far and even though it had an excessive running time of almost 2 1/2 hours, I didn't really feel it for the most part.

Need For Speed

 

The story chronicles a near-impossible cross-country race against time - one that begins as a mission for revenge, but proves to be one of redemption. In a last attempt to save his struggling garage, blue-collar mechanic Tobey Marshall (Aaron Paul), who with his team skillfully builds and races muscle cars on the side, reluctantly partners with wealthy, arrogant ex-NASCAR driver Dino Brewster (Dominic Cooper). Just as a major sale to car broker Julia Bonet (Imogen Poots) looks like it will save the business, a disastrous, unsanctioned race results in Dino framing Tobey for manslaughter. Two years later and fresh out of prison, Tobey is set on revenge with plans to take down Dino in the high-stakes De Leon race - the Super Bowl of underground racing. To get there in time, Tobey must run a high-octane, action-packed gauntlet, dodging cops coast-to-coast and dealing with fallout from a dangerous bounty Dino put on his car. With his loyal crew and the surprisingly resourceful Julia as allies, Tobey defies odds at every turn and proves that even in the flashy world of exotic supercars, the underdog can still finish first.

This movie was a somewhat decent watch.  It was basically a knock off of Fast & Furious based on the Need For Speed video game.  The problem was that there wasn't enough popcorn action in the races and the movie was waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay too long.  I mean it took like half the movie to establish the need for revenge.  I had it figured out in the first ten minutes and had to wait while it slowly played out before it really got to the actual story.  Aaron Paul is much better than this movie and he pretty much was the main reason that made it tolerable.  

I would lukewarmly recommend people checking this out.  Its not a must see by any meand but it isn't awful either.  It's kind of middle of the road.  Nothing really more to say about it.

Oculus

 

Ten years ago, tragedy struck the Russell family, leaving the lives of teenage siblings Tim and Kaylie forever changed when Tim was convicted of the brutal murder of their parents. Now in his 20s, Tim is newly released from protective custody and only wants to move on with his life; but Kaylie, still haunted by that fateful night, is convinced her parents' deaths were caused by something else altogether: a malevolent supernatural force - unleashed through the Lasser Glass, an antique mirror in their childhood home. Determined to prove Tim's innocence, Kaylie tracks down the mirror, only to learn similar deaths have befallen previous owners over the past century. With the mysterious entity now back in their hands, Tim and Kaylie soon find their hold on reality shattered by terrifying hallucinations, and realize, too late, that their childhood nightmare is beginning again.

This was a somewhat decent scary movie.  They kept you interested in where it was going.  The story telling of back and forth between what happened to the kids earilier on in life and the present day was done pretty well.  Unfortunately, just like what usually happens with these movies the - the ending falls completely flat.  Its as if they just got tired of screenwriting and just stopped writing it.  

I wouldn't really recommend anyone checking this out.  It had a decent start and middle but then ends up being a pretty big waste of time.

Noah

Academy Award-winner Russell Crowe stars as Noah, a man chosen by God for a great task before an apocalyptic flood destroys the world.

I'm not going to remotely pretend that I know anything more than the building of an arc.  So I can't touch on how accurate it was or whatever.  As a stand alone movie based on Noah's building of the arc, I really liked this movie.  It was very powerful in its portrayal of belief and spiritual faith.  The family dynamics shown through their dealings with those things was very well acted/directed.  The effects were phenomenal.   The kids all put in great performances and Russell Crowe was great.

Again - not sure how accurate it all was but I would definitely recommend this movie.  I thought it was a well put together "epic" and absolutely worth the time/money.

The Other Woman

After discovering her boyfriend is married, a woman (Cameron Diaz) tries to get her ruined life back on track. But when she accidentally meets the wife he's been cheating on (Leslie Mann), she realizes they have much in common, and her sworn enemy becomes her greatest friend. When yet another affair is discovered (Kate Upton), all three women team up to plot mutual revenge on their cheating, lying, three-timing SOB.

This movie was a decent watch and what could be considered a "cute" chick flick.  But it was waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay too long.  When I walked out of the theater and saw that over 2 hours had gone by since the movie had started i was stunned. Also it was nowhere near as funny as it could have been.  Sure the revenge on your cheating spouse stuff has been done a million times but it could have been very hilarious with the group of characters that would be getting the revenge in this movie.  And in all honesty it was when they finally got around to it.  Unfortunately, it wasn't until like 3/4 through the movie that this happened due to the over abundance of bonding time between this weird pairing of friends.  Leslie Mann and Cameron Diaz could have been so much funnier if they were up to some of this scheming stuff much earlier until veering mostly into character drama instead of all out comedy.

I would somewhat recommend people checking this out - especially females.  It's not a bad movie but if you saw the trailer you pretty much saw the movie and it definitely could have been a lot funnier if they didn't spend so much time trying to pull heartstrings

Heaven Is For Real

 

Inspired by the #1 New York Times best-selling book of the same name, Heaven is for Real brings to the screen the true story of a small-town father who must find the courage and conviction to share his son's extraordinary, life-changing experience, with the world.

I'll be the first person to admit that I am not a very spiritual person.  I believe in certain things and I always go out of my way to do right by those near and dear to my heart and treat people the way I would like to be treated, etc, etc.  Church and faith and that kind of stuff . . . . . not so much.  I don't knock those that choose that path in life but it's just not for me.  With that being said, I figured that there was no chance in hell that I would enjoy this movie and even care enough to pay attention throughout.  I was dead wrong.  This movie definitely hooked me and I enjoyed it very much.  I don't know if it was the innocence of the kid with all the info he offered on heaven/Jesus or the convincing portrayal of his father by Greg Kinnear, but  I really liked this movie and will probably think about my beliefs or lack thereof after seeing it.  Will it change my way of thinking?  Who knows.  But it was done in a way to get you thinking and I was impressed.

I would definitely recommend people checking this one out.  Like I said - Greg Kinnear was great in the role of the father and the movie was definitely mind opening to all levels of faith believers (or lack of).

Transcendence

 

Dr. Will Caster (Johnny Depp) is the foremost researcher in the field of Artificial Intelligence, working to create a sentient machine that combines the collective intelligence of everything ever known with the full range of human emotions. His highly controversial experiments have made him famous, but they have also made him the prime target of anti-technology extremists who will do whatever it takes to stop him.  However, in their attempt to destroy Will, they inadvertently become the catalyst for him to succeed - to be a participant in his own transcendence. For his wife Evelyn (Rebecca Hall) and best friend Max Waters (Paul Bettany), both fellow researchers, the question is not if they can - but if they should.  Their worst fears are realized as Will's thirst for knowledge evolves into a seemingly omnipresent quest for power, to what end is unknown. The only thing that is becoming terrifyingly clear is there may be no way to stop him.

This movie was majorly disappointing.  Imagine watching the genius that was Inception a few years back but with zero emotional hook and no intense build up to the whole process that kept your eyes totally glued to the screen?  Substitute the internet for dreams plus that aforementioned imagination and you have Transcendence.  This movie wanted so desperately to be Inception like and it couldn't have been further from it.  About half way through the movie I had pretty much pulled the plug on being fully interested in it anymore and was just there in body.  This will probably be the most disappointing movie of the year for me.

I wouldn't recommend anyone bothering to go see this.  It was a veiled attempt at recreating something truly amazing without all of the hard work with direction, writing and acting.

Sabotage

In Sabotage, Arnold Schwarzengger leads an elite DEA task force that takes on the world's deadliest drug cartels. When the team successfully executes a high-stakes raid on a cartel safe house, they think their work is done until, one-by-one, the ten members mysteriously start to be eliminated.  

This was a pretty good adrenaline fueled movie.  Total badass characters, lots of action and some crazy violence.  I like movies like this where I can shut my brain off and just enjoy the ride.  I also like the filming style of this director.  Can't remember his name but he is the same guy that made End Of Watch.  The only knock I'll make on this movie is that I was not a fan of the last 10 or so minutes. It extended a bit to far past the DEA team and into a part of the story that I wasn't as interested in.

I'd recommend this movie for any action movie fans.  Sure a lot of the testosterone acting was way over the top but that is to be expected in a movie like this.

The Single Moms Club

When five struggling single moms put aside their differences to form a support group, they find inspiration and laughter in their new sisterhood, and help each other overcome the obstacles that stand in their way.

This is pretty much just another Tyler Perry melodramatic character drama with some laughs sprinkled in.   This time it's a bunch of single mothers struggling through various life situations and leaning on each other to get through, make life choices, blah blah blah.

I wouldn't really recommend anyone checking this out unless you really are a huge fan of Tyler Perry's previous twenty very similar movies (with or without Madea).