Fist Fight

Ice Cube and Charlie Day star as high school teachers prepared to solve their differences the hard way. On the last day of the year, mild-mannered high school English teacher Andy Campbell (Day) is trying his best to keep it together amidst senior pranks, a dysfunctional administration and budget cuts that put jobs on the line. But things go from bad to worse when he accidentally crosses his much tougher and deeply feared colleague, Ron Strickland (Ice Cube), who challenges Campbell to an old-fashioned throwdown after school. News of the fight spreads like wildfire and ends up becoming the very thing this school, and Campbell, needed.

I had high hopes for this movie just because I'm a huge fan of Charlie Day.  I think that those expectations might have worked against this movie.  It ended up being absolutely hysterical towards the end but it took what felt like way too long to get there and there were not enough laughs along the way too.  Charlie Day playing the straight guy was weird and it really only started becoming funny once he was more unhinged. 

The movie was a decent watch with decent laughs that got much bigger towards the end.  I wouldn't really recommend it though because of way too much dull and down time building up to the laughs though.

The Shack

Based on the New York Times best-selling novel, The Shack takes us on a father’s uplifting spiritual journey. After suffering a family tragedy, Mack Phillips (Sam Worthington) spirals into a deep depression causing him to question his innermost beliefs. Facing a crisis of faith, he receives a mysterious letter urging him to an abandoned shack deep in the Oregon wilderness. Despite his doubts, Mack journeys to the shack and encounters an enigmatic trio of strangers led by a woman named Papa (Octavia Spencer). Through this meeting, Mack finds important truths that will transform his understanding of his tragedy and change his life forever.

To say that I am not really a spiritual or religious person is a massive understatement.  Movies like this tend to make me roll my eyes and pretty much lose my attention very easily.  This was all prior to the last year and a half.  After all of that my faith is even more shattered and I find it very difficult to believe in things spiritually.  All of that being said - this movie was like a roundhouse kick to the side of the head.  This movie connected with me more than I could have possibly imagined.  The Mack character was saying things and asking questions about God and faith that I have been.  There were so many points throughout this movie that were gut shots and really made me think about things.  

I would actually recommend people checking this out.  It was so much better than I thought I would and really tries to help people see things in a different light.

Before I Fall

What if you had only one day to change absolutely everything? Samantha Kingston has everything: the perfect friends, the perfect guy, and a seemingly perfect future. Then, everything changes. After one fateful night, Sam wakes up with no future at all. Trapped reliving the same day over and over, she begins to question just how perfect her life really was. As she begins to untangle the mystery of a life suddenly derailed, she must also unwind the secrets of the people closest to her, and discover the power of a single day to make a difference, not just in her own life, but in the lives of those around her--before she runs out of time for good.

This movie was based on a young adult novel and you could totally tell.  That being said - it was pretty well told of the girl reliving the same day before she dies over and over again in order to see the wrongs that she needs to right to be at peace.  The characters were done just good enough to make you not lose interest.  

I wouldn't really recommend anyone rushing to see this but I will admit it was a better watch than I had expected going in.

Logan

In the near future, a weary Logan cares for an ailing Professor X in a hide out on the Mexican border. But Logan’s attempts to hide from the world and his legacy are up-ended when a young mutant arrives, being pursued by dark forces.

This was a great, great movie.  It was an excellent ode to Hugh Jackman playing Wolverine for 17 years.  However - it was absolutely NOT an X-Men movie.  I can totally understand people going into this with those kinds of expectations being massively disappointed with this movie.  There were virtually no sci-fi special effects.  The action was very straight forward and they loved having the R rating and not having to hold back.  There was no futuristic cinematography.  Everything was very barren backgrounds and what not.  This movie was basically a legit movie about getting older and coming to terms with it but starring Wolverine.  There really is no other way to describe it.  In terms of acting and actual screenwriting - this is the best  of the X-Men movies. 

If you are able to see it for that, you will be able to really appreciate this movie.  If you are looking for a heavy special effects popcorn movie that X-Men has become known for - you will be heavily disappointed.

Get Out

Now that Chris (Daniel Kaluuya) and his girlfriend, Rose (Allison Williams), have reached the meet-the-parents milestone of dating, she invites him for a weekend getaway upstate with Missy (Catherine Keener) and Dean (Bradley Whitford).  At first, Chris reads the family’s overly accommodating behavior as nervous attempts to deal with their daughter’s interracial relationship, but as the weekend progresses, a series of increasingly disturbing discoveries lead him to a truth that he could have never imagined.

I never would have imagined going in how awesome this movie was going to be on so many levels.  It was creepy as hell because of the constant level of tension throughout.  Something as simple as drinks on the patio had you sitting on the edge of your seat.  It was an incredible social commentary about racism in today's society.  It was also absolutely hilarious at times due to the lead's best friend whenever he would pop up.  And the laughs were so amazingly timed to relieve the built up tension.  I really can't say much more without giving too much away and this movie is too good to be spoiled.  I am willing to guarantee that this movie ends on my Top 10 list at the end of the year.

I absolutely recommend that everyone check this out.  This movie is very worthy of Must See status and is an amazing surprise for a random February release.

The Great Wall

Starring global superstar Matt Damon and directed by one of the most breathtaking visual stylists of our time, Zhang Yimou (Hero, House of Flying Daggers), Legendary’s The Great Wall tells the story of an elite force making a valiant stand for humanity on the world’s most iconic structure. The first English-language production for Yimou is the largest film ever shot entirely in China. 

I watched this entire movie with a confused dog look on my face.  A . . . . . How the hell is Matt Damon in this movie.  Could not get past this at any point during the movie.  It was worst casting than Tom Cruise back as The Last Samurai.  He looked so massively out of place and on top of that - why would he choose this movie that is really just . . . . . . B . . . . . This is a alien invasion type of movie.  Kind of like Starship Troopers based near or on The Great Wall of China.  That's it.  No joke.  It is advertised as this epic movie that is visually amazing (which at times it was) but it's them fighting against this big lizard alien army.  I really only watched it as long as I did because I was laughing so hard at how this was a big budget movie with a huge actor.  

I would not recommend anyone checking this out.  It's one of the sillier movies made in a long time all things considered and will most likely end up being a punchline to Matt Damon's career.

Rock Dog

For the Tibetan Mastiffs living on Snow Mountain, a dog’s life has a simple riff: Guard a peaceful village of wool-making sheep from the thuggish wolf Linnux (Lewis Black) and his rabid pack. To avoid distractions, Mastiff leader Khampa (J.K. Simmons) forbids all music from the mountain. But when Khampa’s son Bodi (Luke Wilson) discovers a radio dropped by a passing airplane, it takes just a few guitar licks for his fate to be sealed: Bodi wants to be a rock ‘n’ roll star. Yet that means defying his father’s wishes, heading to the city, and locating the legendary – and reclusive – musician Angus Scattergood (Eddie Izzard), who needs to write a new song and fast.  If Bodi can put a band together, help Angus with his song, and defeat the wolves’ plot to take Snow Mountain, his life will be in tune. Bodi will become what he’s always dreamed of being: More than a dog … more than a Rock God… he’ll be a ROCK DOG!

Wow!  This is easily one of the most boring animated movies I've seen in a long time.  And I'm pretty much a huge fan of them.  This movie had no hook.  No characters that stick with you.  And you can't even say that it was no good for adults because it's technically a kids movie anyway because the story is kind of too over the head of kids too.  It wanted to be a Pixar or Dreamworks animation type of movie with parents liking it as much as the kids but pretty much massively missed on both fronts.

I wouldn't recommend anyone bothering with this movie.  I honestly only watched it because it showed up online and I was bored out of my mind watching it. 

XXX: Return Of Xander Cage

The third explosive chapter of the blockbuster franchise that redefined the spy thriller finds extreme athlete turned government operative Xander Cage (Vin Diesel) coming out of self-imposed exile and on a collision course with deadly alpha warrior Xiang and his team in a race to recover a sinister and seemingly unstoppable weapon known as Pandora’s Box. Recruiting an all-new group of thrill-seeking cohorts, Xander finds himself enmeshed in a deadly conspiracy that points to collusion at the highest levels of world governments. Packed with the series’ signature deadpan wit and bad-ass attitude.

This movie was beyond corny.  I was literally groaning at the dialogue pretty much every two minutes.  The stunts were ridiculous but that's the main sell of the movie.  It's one thing for a movie like this to not take itself seriously.  I'm usually all for that but this one was basically openly mocking itself and it's level of corniness.  I couldn't even make it through the whole movie because of how bad it was.

I wouldn't recommend anyone wasting their time or money with this.  It was really that bad and this is coming from a huge Vin Diesel fan

Resident Evil: The Final Chapter

Picking up immediately after the events in Resident Evil: Retribution, Alice (Milla Jovovich) is the only survivor of what was meant to be humanity’s final stand against the undead. Now, she must return to where the nightmare began – The Hive in Raccoon City, where the Umbrella Corporation is gathering its forces for a final strike against the only remaining survivors of the apocalypse.

Please tell me that this is actually the final chapter and that the movie title isn't just teasing us.  How in the blue hell that this franchise has six installments is beyond me.  It's not even like you can enjoy this stuff simply if you are into zombies because they have managed to ruin that with nonsense special effects and the worst acting ever.  This one was no different than any of the previous ones - just  more of the same crap where I half pay attention and half think of other things that I could be doing. 

No, I would definitely not recommend anyone wasting their time with this.  Hopefully this is really the end but people not seeing it could maybe ensure this process?

Fifty Shades Darker

Jamie Dornan and Dakota Johnson return as Christian Grey and Anastasia Steele inFifty Shades Darker and Fifty Shades Freed, the second and third chapters based on the worldwide bestselling “Fifty Shades” phenomenon. Expanding upon the events set in motion in Fifty Shades of Grey.

This movie was god awful.  Like painfully bad.  I didn't think that it could be worse than the original but I was wrong.  The acting was worse.  The story was nonexistabnt.  And the couple had zero chemistry.

I wouldn't recommend anyone watching this and hate that there is still another one on the way.  

A Dog's Purpose

Based on the beloved bestselling novel by W. Bruce Cameron, A Dog’s Purpose, from director Lasse Hallström (The Cider House Rules, Dear John, The 100-Foot Journey), shares the soulful and surprising story of one devoted dog (voiced by Josh Gad) who finds the meaning of his own existence through the lives of the humans he teaches to laugh and love. The family film told from the dog’s perspective also stars Dennis Quaid, Peggy Lipton, Britt Robertson, K.J. Apa, Juilet Rylance, Luke Kirby, John Ortiz and Pooch Hall.

This was a very cute movie with the Josh Gad commentary as the dog.  The difficult part was the dog passing from life to life.  To say that watching those parts were difficult is the understatement of the year.  But the movie did do a really good job of going back and forth between the joys and sadness of life with pets.  I've always been a cat person not a dog person but this movie made it very difficult to not love dogs.

I would recommend people checking this out.  It was a good watch as long as you can deal with the dog passing on multiple times.  Be warned taking kids to this that you will surely end up having talks about death.

Gold

Gold is the epic tale of one man’s pursuit of the American dream, to discover gold. Starring Oscar winner Matthew McConaughey (Interstellar, Dallas Buyers Club, The Wolf of Wall Street) as Kenny Wells, a modern day prospector desperate for a lucky break, he teams up with a similarly eager geologist and sets off on an amazing journey to find gold in the uncharted jungle of Indonesia. Getting the gold was hard, but keeping it would be even harder, sparking an adventure through the most powerful boardrooms of Wall Street. The film is inspired by a true story.

This movie basically relied entirely on the performance of Matthew McConaughey.  There was pretty much everything else around him just mailed in.  The performance was good but nowhere near good enough to carry the entire movie.  Especially since it could have been so much shorter.  I figured something had to be up when it was bumped from a high profile Christmas Day release date to the end of January wasteland and that was basically the studio admitting that the effort was pretty much a waste.  

I wouldn't recommend anyone bothering with this.  It's an overdone 2 hour movie that felt much longer and is definitely not worth your time and money. 

Rings

A new chapter in the beloved "Ring" horror franchise. A young woman becomes worried about her boyfriend when he explores a dark subculture surrounding a mysterious videotape said to kill the watcher seven days after he has viewed it. She sacrifices herself to save her boyfriend and in doing so makes a horrifying discovery: there is a “movie within the movie” that no one has ever seen before…

This was poop.  Total poop.  Wait 12 years and deliver a mailed in and forced sequel.  Good idea.  I was so not scared at any point.  I was so not hooked or entertained that I literally said I'm going to sleep - wake me up if I start snoring and took like a 30 minute nap in the middle of the movie.  I was not too big on the first two Ring movies but this one was much, much worse.

I would absolutely not recommend anyone wasting their time with this.  It's a blatant money grab by the studio and a total waste of time and money.