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!

The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey

The prequel to The Lord of the Ring trilogy....

So the book The Fellowship of the Ring is 398 pages long. The book The Two Towers is 327 pages and the book Return of the King is 412 pages long. Each of these books were adapted into an award winning film of some length --178 minutes, 179 minutes, and 201 minutes respectively.

Having presented this information, please explain, why the book The Hobbit, that is only 310 pages long was adapted into 169 minute picture that only covered the first third of the book?

That's right ***spoiler alert*** there are going to be two more. The Hobbit: The Quest for More Money and The Hobbit: Enough Already!

Although the special effects are spectacular the movie itself presents the audience with about 30 minutes of information divided up by 139 minutes worth of battles and landscapes.

For those that are devout fans of the epic stories it is a must see, but for those that are barely enthusiasts. Ehhh.

** 3/4 Rentable

Rated PG-13 (for intense violence and frightening images)

Hitchcock

Alfred Hitchcock searches for his next project. Upon deciding on a horror film, the studio's quickly turn their back on him, leaving him to produce the picture all on his own. The stress of the project not only threatens his career but also his marriage. Determined to prove everyone wrong and see his movie through it's a wonder he didn't go Psycho.

So much fun! Anyone that has seen a Hitchcock film will appreciate this picture. It was creative, crafty, and offered up great homage to the greatest movie of Hitchcock's illustrious career.

Helen Mirren is absolutely amazing as Mrs. Hitchcock, Alma Reville and somewhat overshadows Anthony Hopkins who still gives a spectacular performance.

**** Oscar Worthy

Rated PG-13 (for language, sexual content, and violent images)

Silver Linings Playbook

A man that has been imprisoned for beating up his wife's lover is released from a mental institute into the custody of his parents.  His  delusional efforts to win back his estranged wife lead him to meet Tiffany, a woman with emotional troubles of her own.

An unexpected delight. Very sundancesque in that this is a total character piece. Slow at times and very methodical the story gently unfolds the crazy in everyone on screen.

Fun dialogue and odd ball characters help create this uncomfortable world that everyone hears about but is rarely witnessed.

*** Must See

Rated R (for language and brief nudity)

Rise of the Guardians

Legends unite to protect the children of the world from Pitch, an evil nightmare that hopes to rule the world by keeping children from dreaming and believing.

This was a very creative and clever twist on traditional legendary characters. Santa Claus is a Russian mafioso type, while the Easter Bunny is a rugged Aussie.

They dispose of very time honored myths as well, i.e. the elves are pretty much useless and it is the yetis that do all of the actual toy making and the tooth fairy has an army of little pixies that do her collecting.

It also introduces old characters that children today may have never heard of.  The villain is done very well and is extremely creepy.

Again a very refreshing take on our classic holiday hero's, nevertheless, as inventive as this film is it goes on for about 45 minutes too long. The story dwindles towards the end and most of the audience could be seen checking their watches.

** 1/2 Rentable

Rated PG (thematic elements)

Lincoln

President Abraham Lincoln has just been re-elected to a second term. As the death toll of the Civil War continues to climb, he faces yet another seemingly impossible challenge, to pass the 13th Amendment to the Constitution.

I must admit I was somewhat surprised by this movie. I went in expecting a Braveheart type epic film depicting the life and presidency of the 16th President of the United States and was capriciously presented with something more along the lines of Mr. Smith goes to Washington.

This movie was adapted from the book, Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln and covers the last four months of his life.  Having never read the book myself, I assume it is a decent adaptation, however along those lines, the movie may have been more appropriately titled "The 13th Amendment" as it covers more of what was going on in congress than the history and life of 'Honest Abe'.

Nevertheless, the movie was brilliantly cast, superbly acted, and surprisingly comical, showing, how then, as it is now,  it's almost impossible to get congress to agree to anything and the fact that we somehow manage to create new laws is a miracle in and of itself. Also its interesting how perhaps with all the current worries of the media and the need to be "politically correct" congress has taken a step backwards -- the scenes, during sessions in which the congressmen insult each other and call each other names, are particularly funny and delightfully satisfying.

Certain to be nominated for several academy awards, although unexpected and perhaps mistitled, very well done.

**** Oscar Worthy

Rated PG-13 (for violence and language)

Wreck-It Ralph

Burnt out and under-appreciated, a classic 80's arcade game villain decides to leave his game and prove his worth in a new role; hero.  In the unpredictable and sometimes dangerous worlds of his neighboring arcade games he encounters a "glitch" that helps him to see his true worth.

This is definitely an enjoyable movie.  The first third is very engaging and clever, as the inside world of video games and the corresponding rules are set up.  There's lots of fun cameos and nods to classic video games, from the 80's to today.  The varying video game worlds are beautifully realized.  The use of well planned 8-bit animation and top notch 3D animation are cleverly mixed throughout the entire movie, subtly reminding you that you are in a video game.  This ended up being needed because of the lack of time we get to spend in different video game worlds.  Most of the film is spent in a Candy-land type racing game.  Although that world is beautifully designed and well thought out, I found myself wanting Ralph to explore more of the different video game worlds.  Overall it's entertaining, clever and heartwarming enough to keep you rooting for the characters throughout.  Although, Mandy is right, there is a surprising amount of crude humor for a Disney animated feature.

Worth a trip to the theater, *** out of 4.