The Secret Life of Walter Mitty

A chronic daydreamer is faced with the horrid reality that he is about to lose his job. In an effort to save his department he sets out on a global journey that changes his life in simple yet extraordinary ways.


This is totally forgettable. In fact I can barely remember watching it –now having said that, I also think that Forest Gump was forgettable and it won best picture. This was cute. It is predictable and quirky but it works and despite its lack of staying power was a delightful afternoon at the cinema.

**1/2 Rentable

Rated PG (for violence)

The Book Thief

A young girl growing up in Nazi Germany is left in the care of her new foster family. Trying to cope with the political climate and her own distain for Hitler she finds solace in stealing books and sharing the stories with others.


I didn’t read this book, and cannot give an accurate opinion on the adaptation; however as a movie in and of itself, I thought it was absolutely fabulous. I knew nothing of the storyline going in and thought that they did a wonderful job of creating a world that was both frightening and yet still family friendly without being hokey.

**** Oscar Worthy (it didn’t win anything)

Rated PG-13 (for wartime violence)

American Hustle

A con man and his seductive mistress get caught by the FBI in one of their latest scams. In order to keep from going to prison they are forced to help the investigators in an attempt to bring down the Jersey powers-that-be along with the mafia.


I was pleasantly surprised by how much I enjoyed this movie. The characters are so much fun you are instantly drawn into their world. The art direction and costume design completely immerse you into the time period and despite the predictable plot it is a fun and charmingly quaint true story.

*** Must See

Rated R (for language)

The Wolf of Wall Street

Scorsese. Need I say more?


This flick is about a young man who becomes caught up in the lure of Wall Street in the 80’s. We all remember this, right? “Greed is good.” How about gluttony is great!

The plot is really self-explanatory so I won’t waste your time on a synopsis. Having said that – this movie, as stated before is a Scorsese film, it’s three (3) hours long, mind you most of his films are an hour too long – this one is three hours too long. Yes, one hundred and eighty minutes of sex, drugs, money, and no consequences what so ever. Lots of nudity, lots of sex, lots of drug use, and a record breaking use of the “F” bomb at 506 times. It is well acted and the overall feel is totally reminiscent of GoodFellas, the problem is that it isn’t as engaging. The mob and mafia movies in general have some sort of allure and mystic. Wall Street doesn’t – and with the current state of the economy and the repeal of the Glass-Steagall Act it is a tad difficult to care about the “under belly” of Wall Street.

If you like Scorsese this is for you.

*1/2 Barely Rentable

Rated R (let your imagination run wild -- should have been NC-17)

Ticking Time Bomb



So I admit it, I am way behind....yesterday I received a scathing phone call chastising me for not having stayed current on my reviews thereby causing the person to see Noah... now I could retort and say that one didn't need a bad review to stay away from said film, nevertheless, I do feel bad as I have completely neglected my duty to keep you informed of the latest junk. So my apologies
Here we go....

Catching Up

Captain Phillips **** One of the more engaging and intense films I've seen in the past few years. Amazing performance by Tom Hanks.

Thor: The Dark World **1/2 The pacing seemed a little off and I didn't care for the climax of the movie.  However, the dynamic and comedy between Thor and his evil brother, Loki is quite fun and entertaining.  Lots of fun action and special FX as well.  Fun after credits scene that teases Marvel's upcoming attempt at taking super heroes into space with Guardians of the Galaxy.

Gravity *** Very intense, impressively executed and solid acting by Bullock and Clooney.  Amazing special FX that you probably won't notice or necessarily think about.  For example, apparently a French reporter asked the director "What was it like filming in space?".  Spoiler alert, not a second was filmed in space.

Frozen ***1/2  Well done Disney Animation.  I had reservations coming into this.  The previews looked too much like Tangled, with snow.  I was pleasantly surprised. Great catchy music (made for Broadway), beautiful animation and a fun story with heart that has a nice, unexpected ending.

Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues **1/2 I didn't love the first Anchorman after seeing it for the first time.  I didn't know the Will Ferrell movie formula, I was expecting more. After several more viewings, with Will Ferrell fans, I began to appreciate it for what it is; silly, quotable, fun.  It became one of those movie that gets funnier every time you watch it.  Knowing that for part 2 helped me enjoy it much more.  I laughed quite a bit and wasn't really phased by the outrageously wacky climax, which is quite wacky.  It can get a tad raunchy in parts, but overall it's funny, mindless and quotable for teenagers.

The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug **1/2 I got free tickets to a midnight showing of this movie.  Mistake.  I was totally engaged and into it...until a little after the halfway point when I started to doze off.  Sleep and I battled for the rest of the movie, and come to think of it, the elves and dragon battled for the last 45 minutes as well.  Entertaining, great effects, too long and like it's predecessor it just feels less important than The Lord of the Rings trilogy.

Walking With Dinosaurs *1/2 I have a tendency to get myself really excited for some movies, and I'm usually really let down by those ones.  The Star Wars prequels, the Jurassic Park sequels, Indiana Jones 4 to name a few. That said, I've never been more upset than I was while and after seeing Walking With Dinosaurs, and that's saying something considering I knew this movie had screwed up before I even saw it, thanks to the latest trailer.

Jurassic Park is my favorite movie of all time, it made me want to become an animator. I am to this day a dinosaur, special FX and animation nerd, so when you combine them...I'm all in.  I have always wanted to see a documentary style film about dinosaurs that uses the amazing special FX of today to realize the dinosaurs on screen.  No talking dinosaurs, just the most realistic depiction of dinosaurs in a dramatically engaging story, with the occasional narrator...maybe one of the Attenborough brothers, Richard and David?  The BBC and The Discovery Channel did this to a degree with the TV show Walking With Dinosaurs, back in 1999. It was basically a nature program, as if they went back in time and filmed real dinosaurs.  It was a huge hit and even spawned a very impressive live arena show with life-size animatronic dinosaurs.  I was hoping for something along the lines of the TV show, but with better, updated effects and a better story.  To some degree I got that, but it was all completely ruined by adding voice overs for each of the dinosaurs.  The animals mouths don't move while they talk, it's as if they communicate telepathically, but only some of the dinosaurs do.  It's as if they completed the film and a studio executive came in later and said "We need to put annoying, juvenile voice overs on all the characters or else kids won't understand what's happening". It's a shame.  The animation is absolutely beautiful and and the movie had a lot of potential for almost silent storytelling, a la the island sequences of The Black Stallion or the first 30 minutes of WALLE.  Disney's computer animated Dinosaur in 2000 was originally planned to have non-speaking dinosaurs, but alas, the studio got cold feet and made the dinosaurs speak.  An opportunity missed and a dinosaur nerd disappointed...again.

2013 -- take 2?

OK so 2013 wasn't exactly my best year for posting reviews. I don't even know what happened, I know I saw lot's of movies. Tons in fact. Nevertheless despite my best efforts I just never found the time to post the reviews, and now I am so far behind I don't know that I could ever catch up.  It is beyond pitiful on my part and I am sorry. So let's just call it a bust and start a new... MOVIE REVIEWS: Take 2(014)!

Summer Movie Madness

I am shamed. I haven't posted a review for waaaay too long.  So let's quickly get caught up on the most wonderful time of the year; summer blockbuster season:

(ratings out of ****)

Jurassic Park 3D: ****. Okay, it's from back in April, but I had to throw it on here.  It was so, so cool to see my favorite movie of all-time in IMAX 3D.  I was 12 years old again and loved every minute of it.  Amazingly enough the special effects have barely aged and still look amazing.

The Croods: **. Looks beautiful, great character and set design, awesome animation, but not much to get excited about here.  Needed a little more charm.  Wait for Red Box.

Iron Man 3: ***.  Better than part 2, not as good as the original.  Very entertaining with fun performances.

Fast & Furious 6: *1/2. Dumb, over the top, totally unrealistic action sequences and slightly entertaining.  I laughed out loud during three separate scenes that are not intended to be comedic.

Star Trek Into Darkness: ****.  Best movie of the summer.  Everything about it is top notch.  My wife even shed a tear...a tear! In a Star Trek movie!  Well done, Mr. Abrams.  You give us hope for Star Wars Episode 7...don't mess it up.

Man of Steel: **1/2. The trailers had me, the movie kind of lost me.  Fun action and amazing visual effects, but I feel they swung and missed on this one.  The last 45 minutes are all fighting and city destroying.  I can't imagine what the death toll and costs in damage would be if it really happened.

World War Z: ***. Very intense and entertaining.  Also very dark, maybe could have used an extra laugh or two to lighten things up...although that may not have fit the movie.  Thoroughly enjoyed it and a solid performance by Brad Pitt.

Monsters University:  ****.  Very funny with plenty of heart and visually stunning.  What we expect from Pixar.

The Lone Ranger: **.  Not sure it quite deserves the pounding it's taken from critics.  Fine performances from Armie Hammer as the Lone Ranger and Johnny Depp as Tonto (although it's a little Jack Sparrow-ish and isn't the hit it out of the ball park performance that Sparrow was).  It's entertaining but overall struggles to find an identity, is somewhat jumbled up as far as the edit and is 35 minutes too long.  I did enjoy the use of the William Tell overture when it finally showed up.

Despicable Me 2: **1/2:  The minions are hilarious and I kind of enjoy the Looney Tunes style comedy, to a certain degree.  Apart from that it's nothing too spectacular.

Pacific Rim: ***1/2.  Mix 20 cups of a well done Godzilla with 20 cups of Transformers and a cup or two of Top Gun and you have the hugely (pun intended) entertaining Pacific Rim. I'm a King Kong, Godzilla, giant monster fan, so this was right up my alley.  The special effects are some of the best ever to be seen on screen (although most the FX come at night and in the rain or water, which makes sense since that is cheaper and "easier" but I wanted to see a little more day-light/no-rain shots of the giant monsters and robots).  This movie will make you feel like a kid again.  My jaw literally was hanging open at one point as the giant beasts and robots fought each other.  There's enough heart with the human characters for what this movie is.  After seeing it I can't tell you any of the characters names besides the main giant robot, Gypsie Danger, but I was definitely entertained.  PS, I highly recommend IMAX for this movie, it's meant to be seen as big as possible.

Turbo: ***.  Funny and entertaining with plenty of heart.  Think a lesser Ratatouille with snails instead of rats and racing instead of cooking.

What's left of the summer? Elysium? The Wolverine?  See you at the movies.

Pitiful

I am so behind in reviews:

LIFE OF PI - ****

Entertaining, great special effects, cool cinematography, fun story, very well done.

LES MISERABLES - ****

Musically not as good as the play, but the story is much more detailed like the book.

ANNA KARENINA - **1/2


Amazing cinematography and spectacular costumes and set design. The story is weak. 

HYDE PARK ON HUDSON - ****

Fabulous, I loved it. The performances are spectacular and the story is simple and cute. Must See

DJANGO UNCHAINED - ****

One of Tarantino's best. Extremely well written and not obnoxiously violent until Dicaprio shows up.

THIS IS 40 - **

This is stupid.

THE IMPOSSIBLE - ****

Absolutely astounding. Great performances and a story that you will be thinking about for weeks after you see it.

ZERO DARK THIRTY - ***


Overrated. Great performances but the end is a huge let down, drawing out what should have been four minutes of real time into thirty minutes of tired drama.

A GOOD DAY TO DIE HARD - *

Talk about a waste of time. This is quite possibly the worst movie I have seen all year, and that includes some of the rubbish I saw at Sundance. So ridiculously dumb.

OZ THE GREAT AND POWERFUL - **

This was creative and clever, albeit predictable, but James Franco... not a good pick. He is stiffly awkward and uncomfortable to watch.

SIDE EFFECTS - **1/2

This was a tad creepy and easy to predict.

Pitiful, I know.... I still have 34 Sundance reviews to post.

Movie Marathon 2013!

Happy New Year!

Once again it is that time of year. A time when an event comes upon us that only the most fit can endure. The annual movie marathon. Yes folks, here we go again!

This year promises to be most entertaining as here is the schedule of movies:


Les Miserables
Anna Karenina
Hyde Park on Hudson
Django
This is 40
The Impossible
Zero Dark Thirty

Reviews will be posted shortly!