Pan

Offering a new take on the origin of the classic characters created by J.M. Barrie, the film follows the story of an orphan who is spirited away to the magical Neverland. There, he finds both fun and dangers, and ultimately discovers his destiny-to become the hero who will be forever known as Peter Pan.

Kind of torn on this one.  Visually the movie was great.  The scene designs really became like a character in the movie and really was the best part.  It had a great look.  I also liked the different take on the familiar story with it being a prequel featuring known characters before they became the way we know them as.  All of that being said, the movie didnt really have much of a story and was just kind of a throwback adventure movie.  There isnt really anything wrong with that but I think that I expected something more.

I would somewhat recommend people checking this out.  It was a lot like Hook with Robin Williams from years ago.  Just keep your expectations in check.

Mission Impossible: Rogue Nation

Ethan and team take on their most impossible mission yet, eradicating the Syndicate – an International rogue organization as highly skilled as they are, committed to destroying the IMF.

See how simple that synopsis was?  It's just another Mission Impossible movie.  What more do you need to know?  Quick and tight paced story.  Awesome action.  Crazy stunts.  And lots of bantering laughs throughout amongst the agent/friends.  

If you like the other Mission Impossible movies, this one absolutely does not disappoint.  At times I find Tom Cruise to be annoying but I think he is really at his best in these movies.

The Scorch Trials

In the sequel to the 2014 adaptation, Thomas (O'Brien) and his fellow Gladers face their greatest challenge yet: searching for clues about the mysterious and powerful organization known as WCKD. Their journey takes them to the Scorch, a desolate landscape filled with unimaginable obstacles. Teaming up with resistance fighters, the Gladers take on WCKD’s vastly superior forces and uncover its shocking plans for them all.

This was a great sequel to The Maze Runner.  They kept the action and the pacing just as good.  The story was easy enough to follow even though they tried to make it overly complicated.  They developed side characters that the audience loves and best of all - they told the story better than the book that was heavily convoluted at times.

I would definitely recommend people check this movie out.  If you liked the first one, you will definitely enjoy this one.

Ted 2

Seth MacFarlane returns as writer, director and co-star of Ted 2, Universal and Media Rights Capital's follow-up to the highest-grossing original R-rated comedy of all time. Joined once again by star Mark Wahlberg, MacFarlane produces the live action/CG-animated comedy alongside Bluegrass Films' Scott Stuber, as well as John Jacobs and Jason Clark.

I was not as big of a fan of the original as most were.  To be fair, I didn't see it when it first came out.  A couple of weeks went by with me hearing how great it was and I think it kind of ruined the movie for me.  That all being said, I found this one to be much funnier than the first one.  I was straight out belly laughing numerous times during this movie.  Without the story telling, they were really able to let the one liners fly and just ride the chemistry between the actors/voices.  

I would definitely recommend people checking this out.  It was raunchy as hell at times and lots of drugs jokes but I thought the movie was hysterical.

Fantastic Four

Fantastic Four, a contemporary re-imagining of Marvel's original and longest-running superhero team, centers on four young outsiders who teleport to an alternate and dangerous universe, which alters their physical form in shocking ways. Their lives irrevocably upended, the team must learn to harness their daunting new abilities and work together to save Earth from a former friend turned enemy.

This movie is all about expectations.  If you expect it to be on par with the greatness we have been given by comic movies - it is garbage.  If you expect garbage - it is a somewhat decent watch.  I went into this expecting a somewhat decent watch and I was disappointed at some parts and thought that others were better than the predecessor efforts.  The cast was definitely better.  The Thing looked much better.  It wasn't as campy.  However, this was the first time that I have not enjoyed watching Miles Teller.  The campiness might have actually ended up being needed for certain scenes because us taking it seriously just makes it stupid.  And worst of all - this didn't feel like a complete movie.  It took way too long for them to "become" the Fantastic Four, they skipped forward a year - which would have been vital to the actual development of the superheroes.  They brought in Doom for what felt like the middle of the movie but it was actually the final battle.  The movie only actually felt like the Fantastic Four at the very end . . . . . which again should have probably been the middle.

I wouldn't really recommend people wasting their time with this.  Even going in with the lowest of expectations and being surprised with it being decent is still not really worth the two hours of your life.  I really hope that Fox just stops and lets go of the rights to go back to Marvel.  Maybe they can finally give us a legit film version of Fantastic Four.

Minions

The story of Minions begins at the dawn of time. Starting as single-celled yellow organisms, "Minions" evolve through the ages, perpetually serving the most despicable of masters. Continuously unsuccessful at keeping these masters--from T. rex to Napoleon--the Minions find themselves without someone to serve and fall into a deep depression. But one Minion named Kevin has a plan, and he--alongside teenage rebel Stuart and lovable little Bob--ventures out into the world to find a new evil boss for his brethren to follow. The trio embarks upon a thrilling journey that ultimately leads them to their next potential master, Scarlet Overkill (Sandra Bullock), the world's first-ever female super-villain. They travel from frigid Antarctica to 1960s New York City, ending in mod London, where they must face their biggest challenge to date: saving all of Minionkind... from annihilation.

For the record - I'm a huge fan of the Minions so there really was no way that I could find this movie as anything but great.  They kept it super short and sure you pretty much see most of the movie just by watching the various trailers and marketing for the movie, but who cares.  They are cute, a completely original and non-Disney created entity (a real rarity when you think about it) and are funny as hell.  They don't even speak English yet are totally understood and entertaining.  And the very end of the movie was probably the best part of the whole thing.  

I couldn't possibly recommend this movie more.  This is very entertaining and funny for kids and adults and they are not remotely close to being tired or played out.  And I for one hopes that they never are.

Ant-Man

 Armed with the astonishing ability to shrink in scale but increase in strength, master thief Scott Lang must embrace his inner hero and help his mentor, Dr. Hank Pym, protect the secret behind his spectacular Ant-Man suit from a new generation of towering threats. Against seemingly insurmountable obstacles, Pym and Lang must plan and pull off a heist that will save the world. 

I doubted that they could pull off Thor and they did.  I never thought that The Avengers would meet the hyped level of expectations and they actually blew them out of the water.  I thought for sure that Guardians Of The Galaxy would be the first non-great flop for Marvel.  Nope.  Biggest movie of last year.  So I have decided that they can do no wrong.  Even if it is a movie about a man that can shrink down to the size of an ant and lead ant armies on missions?  Yes - Marvel can even make that awesome.  This movie was another great entry into Marvel's ever expanding universe.  The cast was great - especially Paul Rudd who is going to be solid gold playing off of some of the other superheroes moving forward.  This movie had great story material, built up the characters and developed chemistry well, there was plenty of entertaining action and there were plenty of laughs throughout.  

I would absolutely recommend people checking this out.  It's entertaining across the board and fits perfectly into their continued story telling on such a massive scale.

The Transporter Refueled

Frank Martin (played by newcomer Ed Skrein), a former special-ops mercenary, is now living a less perilous life - or so he thinks - transporting classified packages for questionable people. When Frank’s father (Ray Stevenson) pays him a visit in the south of France, their father-son bonding weekend takes a turn for the worse when Frank is engaged by a cunning femme-fatale, Anna (Loan Chabanol), and her three seductive sidekicks to orchestrate the bank heist of the century. Frank must use his covert expertise and knowledge of fast cars, fast driving and fast women to outrun a sinister Russian kingpin, and worse than that, he is thrust into a dangerous game of chess with a team of gorgeous women out for revenge.

This movie was garbage.  How do you reboot and replace Jason Statham with this guy?  And water down the action?  The car driving was like slow motion and lame as hell.  Honestly - this was like a made for TV movie.  And I'm not talking like a good cable channel or even broadcast TV.  This was like an action movie made by the Lifetime channel.

I wouldn't recommend anyone wasting five minutes on this.  I wasted thirty before pulling the plug and I want them back very much!

Cooties

From the twisted minds of Leigh Whannell (co-creator of "Saw" and "Insidious") and Ian Brennan (co-creator of "Glee"), Cooties is a horror comedy with unexpected laughs and unapologetic thrills. When a cafeteria food virus turns elementary school children into killer zombies, a group of misfit teachers must band together to escape the playground carnage. The film stars Elijah Wood, Rainn Wilson and Alison Pill as teachers who fight to survive the mayhem while hilariously bickering in an uncomfortable love triangle on the worst Monday of their lives.

I find it hard to believe that this was an actual movie that was made.  Like with actual actors.  It was decent for what it was supposed to be - a silly horror comedy capitalizing on the zombie craze but why was money put in to this?  This was a throwback to the corny type of horror movies and didn't take itself seriously at all.  That's actually the reason it was somewhat enjoyable.  

I wouldn't really recommend anyone rushing to see this.  Its not a good movie by any means but there are a lot of laughs at how ridiculous and over the top it is at times.

No Escape

An intense international thriller, No Escape centers on an American businessman (Wilson) as he and his family settle into their new home in Southeast Asia. Suddenly finding themselves in the middle of a violent political uprising, they must frantically look for a safe escape as rebels mercilessly attack the city. 

What seemed like it would be a pretty formula movie was actually pretty intense for a while.  It really took you there and had you scared for the safety of this family surviving.  The level of adrenaline fell off as the movie wore on but it remained a pretty decent watch throughout.  

I would sort of recommend people checking this movie out.  It's not a must see by any means but it was a better watch than I expected.  

Shaun The Sheep Movie

When Shaun decides to take the day off and have some fun, he gets a little more action than he bargained for. A mix up with the Farmer, a caravan, and a very steep hill lead them all to the Big City and it's up to Shaun and the flock to return everyone safely to the green grass of home.

I've always been a huge fan of claymation.  This movie was great claymation.  As if that wasn't entertaining enough, the way that they were able to tell an almost 90 minute story without actually saying a single word was very impressive.  I'm not going to say that this is like the usual Pixar or Dreamworks animated fare with the adults liking it as much as the kids, but it was still a very enjoyable film.

I would recommend people checking this out.  It is a fun watch for the family and it will be a while before something else comes out for that demographic.

American Ultra

American Ultra is a fast-paced action comedy about Mike (Eisenberg), a seemingly hapless and unmotivated stoner whose small-town life with his live-in girlfriend, Phoebe (Stewart), is suddenly turned upside down. Unbeknownst to him, Mike is actually a highly trained, lethal sleeper agent. In the blink of an eye, as his secret past comes back to haunt him, Mike is thrust into the middle of a deadly government operation and is forced to summon his inner action-hero in order to survive.

This movie was garbage.  Total garbage.  It's like a stoner had some sort of a spy fantasy while high, was given money to make a movie and made this.  Why were some of the legit actors in this movie?  To make matters worse - Kristen Stewart was in this.  She is by far the worst actress in all of Hollywood.  I couldn't even finish the movie.  It was that painful.

I wouldn't recommend anyone wasting their time with this.  It's a giant turd.  I was watching it free online and couldn't even be bothered to finish it.

The Man From U.N.C.L.E.

Set against the backdrop of the early 1960s, at the height of the Cold War, The Man from U.N.C.L.E. centers on CIA agent Solo and KGB agent Kuryakin. Forced to put aside longstanding hostilities, the two team up on a joint mission to stop a mysterious international criminal organization, which is bent on destabilizing the fragile balance of power through the proliferation of nuclear weapons and technology. The duo's only lead is the daughter of a vanished German scientist, who is the key to infiltrating the criminal organization, and they must race against time to find him and prevent a worldwide catastrophe. 

You could tell that the movie was based on an old tv show because that is exactly how it played out.  The writing, acting and action were TV level not movie level.  The character development was especially TV like.  It's not that the movie was awful.  It was watchable and the banter between the two leads was entertaining.  I'm just not sure that it was necessary to be made.

I wouldn't really recommend anyone bothering with this.  It's not necessarily a bad watch.  It's just kind of there.

Trainwreck

Schumer also wrote the script which is inspired from some of her real-life experiences as she plays a commitment-averse woman trying to get past her self-sabotaging ways.

This movie has been heavily advertised as Amy Schumer's big breakout and an absolutely hysterical movie.  Both of those things are mostly true.  Schumer's has definitely been this year's biggest breakout star and this movie is only going to help.  And the movie is very funny.  I wouldn't say it's funny from start to finish but there are a lot of laughs from Amy Schumer's dialogue based mostly on her stand up and the quirky as hell side characters.  What has not received enough credit or hype is how all around great the movie is.  As much as you laugh, Schumer is allowed to actually act and the scenes where she is not going for laughs feel very real and genuine.  She knocks the concept of someone using humor as a self defense mechanism out of the park and deserves as much credit for that as she does for the actual humor.

I would definitely recommend people checking this out.  It is pretty raunchy dialogue wise at times but was still a very enjoyable watch and a surprisingly touching movie.

Terminator: Genisys

When John Connor (Jason Clarke), leader of the human resistance, sends Sgt. Kyle Reese (Jai Courtney) back to 1984 to protect Sarah Connor (Emilia Clarke) and safeguard the future, an unexpected turn of events creates a fractured timeline. Now, Sgt. Reese finds himself in a new and unfamiliar version of the past, where he is faced with unlikely allies, including the Guardian (Arnold Schwarzenegger), dangerous new enemies, and an unexpected new mission: To reset the future…

This movie started out awesome.  It was in the future post Judgement Day, the robot stuff was cool, it was when the first terminator and Reese travelled back in time and they actually recreated the same scenes from the first one.  But then it fell off the rails.  Sarah Conner was there waiting for Reese.  Huh?  And an older version of the original terminator was there waiting for the other one.  Huh?  Wait, that terminator was there because one was sent back in time during Sarah's childhood to protect her (shown via flashback) and has been with her all along and she calls him Pops.  WHAT THE F . . . .!?!?!?!  Then they spent a ton of time talking about how time travel effected all of this.  Any time that you have to explain your story so much via dialogue you have failed.  This is supposed to be a Terminator movie not a lame ass version of Interstellar.  The acting from everyone was so atrocious that it made Arnold Oscar worthy but the running joke was that he was too old.  Again . . . . WHAT!?!  And I'm not even going to touch on their big twist and how simply the nonsensical thing could be prevented.

I would not recommend anyone bothering with this.  Unless you want to angrily rant about it like me.  It's a waste of time and a huge disappointment.