The Mortal Instruments: City of Bones

I went into this movie cautiously. Generally speaking, I'm not a fan of young adult movies based on their best selling novels. But The Hunger Games surprised me, and so did The Mortal Instruments: City of Bones. It did not follow the book very well though, so don't go in expecting that, but it had it's own charm.

The Mortal Instruments: City of Bones is about a young girl named Clary Fray (Lily Collins) who lives a pretty normal teenage life. Her mother is a widow painter in New York City, doing her best to raise her daughter by herself. But Clary is not a normal teenager. On the weekend of her birthday she goes to a club, Pandemonium, and witnesses a murder. A murder that no one else could see. Not even her best friend, Simon (Robert Sheehan), who was standing right next to her.

At this same time, she has started drawing a weird symbol and she doesn't know why or what it means, but the night after the murder, she draws a million of these and hangs them up all over her room. The next morning, she gets in a bit of a fight with her mother, Jocelyn (Lena Headey) and goes out to the coffee shop with Simon so she can tell him about the weird symbol. But while she is at the coffee shop, she sees someone she doesn't want to see. The murderer from the club the night before. And Simon still can't see him. So she follows him outside to ask him why she can see him. 

She doesn't get many answers though, because she gets a phone call from her mother. Jocelyn warns her not to come home. She tells her that Valentine has found her and to go to her friend Luke's instead. Clary can tell that she is being attacked. So she ignores her mother's warning, and races home, leaving the mystery murderer and poor Simon behind with no explanation.

But she is too late. Jocelyn is gone when she gets there. The place has been turned inside out while her attackers looked for something. And one attacker remains. Clary turns one corner to come face to face with an angry rottweiler. Except... it has weird eyes and it's head splits in half right before her eyes. Okay, maybe not a rottweiler. So she tries to blow the creature up while hiding in the fridge, but it regenerates. Luckily, before it can kill her, the murderer from the previous night comes and saves her life. 

Clary discovers that his name is Jace Wayland (Jamie Campbell Bower). He is a shadow hunter, or killer of demons. Most mundanes (normal people) can't see them, but Clary can. So she must not be Mundane. They go downstairs to talk to the downstairs neighbor, Dorothea (CCH Pounder), and see if she knows what happens. She is a witch and doesn't really want them to but has them come inside. She shows Clary a set of Tarot cards that Clary recognizes as something that her mother painted and she attempts to read Clary's mind, but discovers instead that it has a block on it.

They hear a noise upstairs, and rush up there, hoping to find an answer about where Jocelyn was taken to. Instead of attacking an enemy though, Clary ends up smashing the fire extinguisher into Simon, who came looking for her. He is immediately suspicious of Jace, and maybe a wee bit jealous. But the three of them head over to Luke's to see if they can find some answers. They creep downstairs and find Luke (Aidan Turner) chained to a chair being questioned by two shadow hunters. They are asking him questions about the location of some cup. But Luke claims that he has never cared about Clary or her mother and only was close to them in an attempt to get the cup for himself. Clary is heartbroken to hear this and kind of goes distant, knocking down a glass vase and revealing their location to the shadow hunters. She runs out of the room while Jace fights the two shadow hunters, and back outside where Simon is waiting for them. A cop car has just pulled up, but Clary can tell that these cops are not real cops. Luckily Jace was right behind her, and kills the cops (much to Simon's dismay). He decides they need to go to the Institute. Which is the safe haven for Shadow Hunters in the Brooklyn area.

Once they get to the Institute, Clary collapses, and Jace notices for the first time that she was bitten by the demon during his attack on her apartment. When she awakes the next morning, she notices a tattoo on her arm like the ones that the shadow hunters have. Simon, in excited nerd mode, tells her that it is a healing rune and rambles on about other runes. Jace reveals that he took a chance by marking her, because if she didn't have shadow hunter blood, it would have killed her. Now she gets to meet the other two members of Jace's little team. Isabelle (Jemima West) and Alec (Kevin Zegers) Lightwood. And she gets called down to meet with Hodge (Jared Harris), their mentor.

Hodge tells Clary a little bit about Shadow Hunter history and her mother. He explains to her what the Mortal Cup is and why Valentine wants it. And who Valentine is, for that  matter. Then Jace comes in and tells them that The Silent Brothers are ready to see Clary. I might be mixing the book in a bit here, and I apologize for that.

Clary and Jace go alone to meet with the Silent Brothers, who are going to attempt to open up Clary's mind to see if it can lead them to the Mortal Cup. She sees a few things from her past, but nothing that leads her to the Cup. Instead she ends up collapsing on the floor and writing a name, Bane. Jace immediately know's this is referring to Magnus Bane (Godfrey Gao) and they arrange to go there to see him that night with Isabelle, Alec, and Simon.

Magnus isn't thrilled about seeing them at his party - which has a bunch of Downworlders (other supernatural beings that sometimes get in trouble with the Shadow Hunters). But he allows them to stay because he thinks that Alec is very pretty and he of course recognizes Clary. She follows him up to his room so they can talk in private and he tells her that Jocelyn had been taking Clary to see him for years so that she could have her memory tampered with. The spell he used caused her to forget anything that she saw from the Downworld even as she was seeing it. It was the closest thing he could do to making her Mundane. At this point, Isabelle rushes into the room with the terrible news of Simon being kidnapped by the vampires. Uh oh.

So, off they rush to rescue Simon from the vampire lair. First they stop by a cathedral to get some weapons. Clary learns that all religions aid the Shadow Hunters and keep a stockpile of weapons for them to use when they need to. Then they invade Hotel Dumort. It's pretty quiet and creepy at first. They get all the way to the top and find Simon. He tells them it's a trap to get Clary and find the Cup. So they try to make it out before they are discovered. Which they are obviously too late because that would be boring.

So ensues an epic mini battle with a couple hundred vampires. And just when they are about to be overwhelmed, werewolves jump in through the windows and save them. How convenient. They run outside and get into the sun, where the vampires cannot go without burning. Once they get back to the Institute, Alec corners Clary. He tells her to get out and leave Jace alone. Clary gets mad and tells him it's not her fault that he is in love with Jace, and maybe he should just man up and tell him. Which, of course, doesn't go over well.

She visits Simon in the hospital, where his vision has magically returned to 20/20, and cuddles up to him for a bit like they talk like they used to do before everything got so crazy. So, like two days ago. He falls asleep though, so she goes off with Jace, who has a birthday surprise for her. He takes her up to the greenhouse. It has a multitude of magical plant and is very beautiful and peaceful. They sit down on a windy staircase, and he gives her a gift. A witchstone (rock that lights up with gripped) of her very own. Jace believes that every Shadow Hunter should have one. Then it's midnight, and there is a flower that blooms at midnight and gets all glow-y, like it's from Pandora. And this is when they kiss, which we have all been waiting for. They get out of the greenhouse because the sprinklers come on and go back to Clary's room. They kiss again, just in time for Simon to see them as he comes out of the room. Jace gets mad and storms off, because he can see the feelings that Simon has for Clary even though she cannot. Simon confesses his love for her and leaves The Institute, leaving Clary feeling very alone.

So she goes to the library to practice drawing some of the runes from the Grey Book. But while she is doing this, she somehow puts the tea that she was drinking inside of the paper. And suddenly she knows where the Mortal Cup is hidden. 

The next day, Jace, Clary, Isabelle, and Alec go after the Cup, which Clary figured out is hidden inside the Tarot cards that her mother painted for Dorothea. Alec and Isabelle go upstairs to scout for demons while Jace and Clary go into Dorothea's apartment to get the Cup. She makes Jace remove all of his weapons before coming inside, which should have struck him as odd because she didn't make him do that when he was there before. He goes in and plays a few notes on the piano, notes that Bach proved drive demons crazy. And it worked, right after Clary removes the cup from the card, Dorothea reveals that she has been possessed by a demon and steals the Cup. She manages to overwhelm all of them and get outside, where she finds Simon, who was coming to see Clary. He sees Clary in her window, and the Cup in her pocket and hits her in the head with a shovel and tackles her back inside. Jace comes to his senses and kills her. Clary takes the cup and stows it safely back in the card. But Alec is dying. He get a bad wound in his back while attacking Dorothea and the runes aren't helping. They need Hodge's help.

They get him back to the Institute and Clary goes to Hodge to tell him what happened and show him the card. But things don't go quite according to plan. I'm hesitant to say anymore because I don't want to give anything away. There is still a lot that happens in the movie, but I think you should see it yourself to find out!

I'm going to include the rest because I want to to talk about it, but I'm warning you that if you read farther, I will ruin the end of the movie for you. Okay?

When Clary gives the Cup to Hodge, she is surprised to find him open the portal that is in the library and see Valentine (Jonathan Rhys Meyers) come out. Hodge hands the Mortal Cup over to Valentine, explaining to Clary that he had to do it because of the curse that The Clave put on him for being a part of the Circle in the past. Valentine had promised to free him from that curse if he got him The Mortal Cup. See, the Cup had the power of making new Shadow Hunters, and Valentine was interested in a cleansing of the race. 

Then Clary gets the shocking news. Valentine is talking to her as he does some weird stuff.. like jabbing spears and swords into the marble floor and slicing open his own hand so his blood is in the Cup. He tells her that she is his daughter. She of course doesn't want to believe this, but it's hard to deny his facts. Valentine is trying to get Clary to drink from the Mortal Cup. He shows her Jocelyn in the portal, but it doesn't give away her location. Clary makes and impulsive decision to jump into the portal to get to her mother, even though this is extremely risky and could leave her stuck in limbo.

Meanwhile, up in the infirmary, Magnus Bane has arrived to save Alec. He sends Simon and Isabelle off to find some medical supplies for him and Jace goes to see what is keeping Clary. When Simon and Isabelle are in the basement, they find not only the medical stuff, but Jocelyn Fray is there as well - floating in the air. Isabelle runs the stuff back up to Magnus but orders Simon to stay down with Jocelyn.

When Clary jumped through the portal, she did not end up next to her mother's side. Instead she ended up at Luke's, the last place she wanted to be. There is a funny part here with a creepy demon child being ripped to shreds by a werewolf. A werewolf that turns out to be none other than Luke! I know you are all surprised. ;)



Luke explains to Clary that he didn't mean what he had said. He was only saying that to try and protect her and her mother. Obviously it didn't work but he tried. At this point, Clary gets a call from Simon saying that he has found her mother in the basement of The Institute. So Luke calls up his werewolf pack and off they go to save the day.

At the Institute, things are not going good. Valentine had arranged the swords and spears into a pentagram and is calling up a demon army. Hodge has opened up the hatch on the roof so they can come in. Isabelle found out from Bane when she returned with his stuff that they were being invaded and goes off to fight. She finds Simon in the cell that Jocelyn had been in, but Jocelyn had been moved. They are heading back upstairs when they join up with the pack of wolfs and Clary. And the demons have found them. They start killing off the werewolves fast and corner the group back in the room that Jocelyn had been in. Luke is holding the door shut, but he can't keep it shut much longer. But Clary suddenly realizes she just needs to draw this rune on her palm and she can stop them. So using Isabelle's Stele she draws the rune and orders Luke to let go of the door. She holds out her palm and the demons all freeze in place.

The wolves all stay behind to finish off the demons while the children run upstairs to find out where the demons are coming from and stop Valentine.

Jace has been in the library while everything was taking place down below. Valentine was so happy to see him. And Jace is battling with some emotions because Valentine has just called him Jonathan and told him that his is his father. Very Star Wars, I know. He convinces Jace that he just doesn't remember him because he has had blocks on his memory too.

So when Clary comes back and holds a knife to Valentine's throat, because he is kneeling next to her mother, Jace stops her. He tells her that he needs to hear him out. That's when Valentine tells them both together that they are siblings. Enter disgusted sounds here.

But then Valentine tries to force Clary to get the Cup back out of the card for him and Jace gets mad. Because even if Valentine is his father, he cares more about Clary. So he rips one of the swords from the pentagram and fights Valentine. While they are fighting, Clary takes the card and hides.

Simon and Isabelle are up fighting the demons and trying to close the hatch. Hodge has started feeling guilty about what he has done and goes up to help them. They eventually succeed.

Clary returns to the library, and threatens to drop the cup through the portal if Valentine doesn't stop. He comes over to her and she surrenders the cup to him and pushes him into the portal instead, hoping he will get caught in limbo, no doubt. He comes back and tries to grab her though so she stabs the portal with a stele, causing it to freeze and shatter. After everything has calmed down, it is revealed that she has the true cup safely tucked away in her jacket and tricked Valentine with a replica.

She goes back to her apartment and gets a visit from Jace a while later. He tells her that he doesn't truly believe what Valentine said. That he knows in his heart that being with her is right. And they zoom off on a motorcycle together.

The Mortal Instruments: City of Bones was your typical book to movie situation. It keeps the characters and general story the same, but changes stuff either because it's easier on the budget, or because it will attract more viewers. I enjoyed it. The acting was actually pretty good, which can be surprising for a teen movie. The only one that I was extremely disappointed in was Godfrey Gao, who play Magnus Bane. He was TERRIBLE!! Seriously, worse than Kristen Stewart. Though that in itself is almost a talent, I suppose. They got the look spot on, at least for me. But he had zero emotion or personality. And Magnus is supposed to have kind of a big personality. He is one of my favorite characters from the books: the weird outsider that shouldn't be involved but is, because of love. 

Putting that aside though, the actors did a good job portraying the characters they way they are written in the book. Jace has just the right amount of cockiness. Simon is adorable. And Clary is beautiful. I do wish that Isabelle would have been a bit more fun like she is in the book though.

The brother/sister thing. I know that some people are really bothered by this part of the story, but you have to remember that they had no idea. Plus, they did only kiss. A lot of brothers and sisters have kissed when they were really little, so it's not as bad as it could be. At least it's not full on Game of Thrones, where there are kids that are the products of incest. Just a bit of kissing.

I liked the little things that they added to the movie for humor. Like at one point, one of Valentine's big cronies says something about not like basements. The bit with the creepy child being torn apart by a werewolf. The werewolf jokes. Simon's character is almost completely comic relief, in the book as well as the movie.

All in all, I think if you look past the end (which was totally butchered), it was done very well. But for those of you who read the books, you know that they are going to have to change something in the movies to come to compensate for Valentine not getting the Mortal Cup. Because that's kind of a big deal.

I did like it. But I didn't love it. Maybe Gao can really improve his acting and the next one will be better. (Plus it will have Sigourny Weaver)

I give it a 8 out of 10.

Red 2

Red 2 was just as good as the first one, if not a little bit better. Other than my boyfriend drooling over Helen Mirren the entire movie, it was very enjoyable.

I'll admit it, When Red came out, I was not impressed with it. I was so tired of the movies about government agents who get framed for something bad and then come back to kick ass. (The A-Team, The Losers, The Expendables, etc.) But after watching it again, I realized that my love for Morgan Freeman wouldn't let me hate this movie. Plus, Marvin (John Malkovich) is hilarious.

Anyway, back to the movie at hand. Red 2 had the same humor that the first movie did. Frank (Bruce Willis) and Sarah (Mary-Louise Parker) are pretty much in hiding. Frank wants to settle down and keep her safe from the dangers of his past. But of course, that can't happen. While shopping one day at the local bulk grocery store, they run into Marvin. He warns them that danger is coming, and then blows up in the parking lot.



Sarah and Frank go to the funeral. Frank doesn't believe that Marvin is dead though, and tries to wake him up at the viewing. Sarah eventually gets him to sit down and during his eulogy, Frank actually cries. When they leave the church, they are intercepted by government agents. Frank is needed for questioning for his apparent ties to an old mission, Nightshade. Frank has no idea what they are talking about, and ends up getting away after another agent, Jack Horton (Neal McDonough) starts shooting up the place in an attempt to get Frank for himself. He is helped in this escape from none other than his dead friend, Marvin. Who also brought Sarah.

Now they know how serious their situation is, and they start trying to figure out what Nightshade was and why they are tied to it. They find out that somehow, their old friend Bailey (Anthony Hopkins) is connected too but he died years ago, or so they thought.

It doesn't take long for word to get around about how dangerous Frank and Marvin are. Victoria (Helen Mirren) gets a call from MI6 to kill them, and an old nemesis of Frank's, Han Cho Bai (Byung-hun Lee) also gets called for the hit. He is the best hit man in the world, and has an old festering hate for Frank for getting him locked up years ago. And they run into Frank's ex, Katja (Catherine Zeta-Jones), who is after the same thing for Russia. She greets Frank with a kiss. Sarah hates her.



With Victoria's help, after she decides not to kill them, they find Bailey in a mental institution. They break him out after finding out that Nightshade is referring to a nuclear weapon that he built years ago from red mercury, in Russia. Then they go on a mission to find it. Which is complicated by Bailey's loss of memory.

The movie is filled with a lot of laughs, quotes, and pretty good action scenes. This group of characters has a really good on-screen chemistry. Sarah gets a taste of what it is like to be more than just a victim of circumstance like she was in the first movie. She is much more involved in this one, and even gets a gun.

Anthony Hopkins is fantastic, of course. When is he not? Bailey is a mad scientist. A genius locked up with nothing but his own thoughts for years on end. Hopkins plays this character perfectly.

And of course, Helen Mirren. Victoria is awesome. There is no other word for her. She really steals the movie with her nonchalance as she dumps acid over bodies in the bathtub while on the phone. Then is a total bad-ass in the car with Han, shooting guns out of both windows as he drives.



There are several twists in this movie. Some of them you can see coming from miles away, but there are a couple that really take you by surprise.

I definitely recommend this movie to anyone that loves the action/comedy genre. It won't disappoint. I give it an 8 out of 10.

Thank you for your continued support!

Comments are always appreciated.

September Movies =)

This is a short list. What a disappointing month for new releases. Hopefully it will give me time to catch up on some of my reviews though.

Riddick
>It's Sci-Fi. Of course I want to see it. I don't care for Vin Diesel, but it still might be good.
The Family
>I think this looks hilarious. I thoroughly enjoy Robert Di Nero though, especially in comedy.
Prisoners
>Looks intense! This has a good cast and the story seems interesting. Hoping it's not another Taken.
Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs 2
>The first one in this series is one of my favorite kid shows of all time. Love the humor. I'm actually pretty excited for it.
Rush
>I really only want to see this because I am in love with Chris Hemsworth. Whadda hunk. Could be inspirational though, and I usually enjoy those.
Don Jon
>Don't think we will see this in our theatre. But I am interested in seeing it. I'm a fan of Joseph Gordon-Levitt. I don't like Scarlett Johansson though. Hope she doens't ruin it.


And.. that's it. Short list. Still some good ones coming in the remainder of the year though. =)

Despicable Me 2

This movie is ridiculously cute!
I love all these characters so much.

I took my nephew to see Despicable Me 2, directed by Pierre Coffin and Chris Renaud, and I am so glad that I did!

It's a great family movie that is fun for everyone. It's almost impossible to not love the little minions. Even the evil ones that are introduced in this movie are kinda cute. Not near as funny though.



It's been awhile since I watched this, so I will probably get the sequence of events wrong. Oops.

The movie starts with a secret laboratory being stolen from Antarctica by a mysterious magnetic flying machine. Dun dun dun.

Then we shift focus onto Gru (Steve Carell) and the girls. It's Agnes' birthday party, and a bunch of her friends are over awaiting the fairy princess. When the fairy princess can't make it - Gru ends up dressing up himself, so that Agnes (Elsie Fisher) isn't disappointed. One of the mothers at the party is trying to set Gru up with her friend, and he is far from interested.

Later, Gru is abducted by Lucy (Kristen Wiig) and taken to a secret underwater lair where an agency that works to stop super villains works. They want his help catching the thief of the laboratory from Antarctica, thinking that his previous work as a villain might give him some insight. They have tracked him down to the mall, but aren't sure which shop owner it might be. So Gru will get to go undercover as a cupcake shop owner and catch the bad guy. One catch, his partner is Lucy. And he isn't so sure that he likes Lucy.



That night, Gru helps Agnes practice her Mother's Day poem that she will be reciting in her upcoming play. Agnes remembers the lines perfectly, but has no emotion. When Gru asks her about this, she admits that she wishes she had a mother, and then she might be able to put more feeling into the poem.

On the next day, Gru and Lucy start to scope out the mall. They narrow it down to just a couple suspects, including Eduardo (Benjamin Bratt), who owns a Mexican restaurant and a wig shop owner. They search the wig shop and pick up traces of the potion they are looking for.



The girls are also at the mall, wandering around, when Margo (Miranda Cosgrove) sees a very good looking boy. His name is Antonio (Moises Arias) And he comes up to her, and asks if she wants to go get a cookie. She of course agrees, and leaves Edith (Dana Gaier) and Agnes by themselves. So, they tattle to Gru.

Antonio ends up being the son of none other than Eduardo, the main suspect. Gru gets Margo, but not before they are invited to a Cinco de Mayo party at Eduardo's home. Which the girls really really want to go to. Finding out that Antonio is Eduardo's son makes Gru convinced that Eduardo is the one he is looking for.

Gru and Lucy sneak into the mall at night and search Eduardo's restaurant, and Gru realizes that he knows him from his past. He used to be a villain named El Macho, and supposedly died after launching a shark, tied to a rocket into an erupting volcano, while he was connected. They break into his secret vault, thinking they will for sure find the stuff he stole from the lab, and instead find the secret salsa recipe. So they of course stop searching for a bit to snack on chips and salsa.



The next day, Silas Ramsbottom comes to the mall and arrests the wig shop owner, closing the case. Gru tells him that he is wrong, but Silas hears none of it. Lucy will be going to Australia. Gru is heartbroken. As much as he didn't like her to begin with, he had grown quite fond of Lucy over their little partnership. Unfortunately for Silas, they got the wrong guy. Eduardo really is the thief, and Gru finds this out at the Cinco de Mayo party. And he is being helped with his evil plans by none other than Dr. Nefario (Russell Brand), who had left Gru at the beginning of the movie for another career opportunity. They show Gru what they have been doing to his minions (who have been going missing throughout the movie) and ask him to join them. Gru refuses, of course. He has turned away from the villain way of life.

He goes back out to the party, finds that Antonio has left Margo to dance with another girl. Freezes Antonio and gets the girls home. He knows that he has to go after El Macho. And has a pleasant surprise when Dr. Nefario realized the error of his ways and comes back to help him, with the antidote.

I don't want to give away the end of the movie, but you know it ends happily ever after, it's for kids.

Despicable Me 2 is a cute movie. I don't think it is quite at the same level as the first movie, which is a 10 out of 10 to me, but it has a cute love story and Gru and the girls are still just as fun.

I loved how much this movie was like an action movie. From the way it started, to the very end, it had a plot that follows most adult action films.

I really liked the new character, Lucy. She was spunky and fun. And had a bit of a crush on Gru from the very beginning. She is a good match for him and his girls. And of course, I love Agnes. When she reads the Mother's Day poem at the end, I tear up a little. Just adorable.



And of course the minions. Whoever came up with these lovable little characters is a genius.

What I didn't like is that Edith really could have been left out of this movie completely, and it wouldn't have made much of a difference. They needed to make her character more important, I think.

Overall, I think it's definitely worth a watch. I plan on purchasing it when it comes out on DVD. And I give it an 8 out of 10.

Thanks for reading.
Please comment with your thoughts!

Grown Ups 2

As I said in my July list post, I went to see this movie because my boyfriend really loves the first one (which I have not seen). To my surprise, I enjoyed Grown Ups 2. Some parts of it were over the top, but in general, it worked.



Grown Ups 2, directed by Dennis Dugan, is not Adam Sandler's best comedy, but it has it's moments. After spending time with his old friends a few years ago, Lenny (Adam Sandler) decides to move back home so his kids can grow up where he did. The movie starts with Lenny waking up to a giant deer right in his face. The deer then runs around, causing chaos in the whole house until he sees the toy monkey that Becky (Alexys Nycole Sanchez), Lenny's daughter, is clutching. It's a great start to the last day of school.

They then add in the completely unnecessary bus driver character, Nick (Nick Swardson). I hate pretty much every character he plays except Jeff in Grandma's Boy. Nick is just supposed to be funny in the movie, I know. But he is so stupid! He is high when he comes to get the kids, so Lenny ends up driving the bus. After he drops off the kids he takes it to K-Mart and the Becky's dance recital.

I can't remember if this is before or after the dance recital, but the four guys, Lenny, Eric Lamonsoff (Kevin James), Kurt McKenzie (Chris Rock), and Marcus Higgins (David Spade), all head over to their old swimming hole so that Eric can finally jump off the 30 foot cliff. They have a bad run in with a group of frat boys led by Taylor Lautner. I enjoyed the frat boys because I think they were a great hyperbolic example of college kids today. It was nice to see the old crowd as the cool guys, for a change.



Anyway, Lenny ends up throwing a big ol' 80's themed party at the end of the movie and everyone in the entire town shows up in costume. He gets some surprising news from his wife, Roxanne (Salma Hayek), and gets in a fight with the frat boys again but everything ends up being good in the end.

The movie has some really dumb stuff in it, I'm not going to lie. But overall, it was just funny. The things that I didn't really like about it were: Nick Swardson, Marcus' son Braden (Alexander Ludwig), and the deer at the beginning. All of those things seemed a bit over the top for me and really didn't add much to the movie. Although the deer does come back at the end and plays a more significant role.

The things that I did like: Salma Hayek (she is seriously hot), the 80's themed party, and seeing Taylor Lautner act like an idiot. There were other things that were good about it, but that is what really stands out to me.

These four guys have great on screen chemistry. I think that's one of the things that Adam Sandler always has going for him in his movies. They don't have to try that hard to play a part because it's not that different from how they might act with each other off camera. That doesn't seem like much, but it really brings a lot extra to the movie, in my opinion. And it's not just the four main characters either, most of the other actors in the movie play their characters with ease as well.



I give it a 7 out of 10.

August Movies

Summer movies are almost over! =(

Luckily, there are a couple this month that look really good. And autumn has some that I cannot wait to see. =)

2 Guns
>It's not a secret that I love Mark Wahlberg. And Denzel Washington. And who doesn't love a good cop movie? Should have good action and humor. Throw some almost naked women in there, and you have a man movie. Which I enjoy more than "chick flicks."
Elysium
>It's sci-fi. Of course I want to see it. Destroyed Earth is a common theme right now, and I like it.
Percy Jackson: Sea of Monsters
>I really enjoyed these books. I do need to watch the first movie first though. Plus, Sean Bean.
We're the Millers
>This looks pretty funny. Nothing really stands out as amazing about it, but it'll be worth the watch.
Kick-Ass 2
>I liked the first one. This one is going to be a bit different since they switched directors. But I like that Jim Carrey is going to be in it.
Paranoia
>This looks amazing. I don't care too much for Liam Hemsworth (I prefer his brother), but this movie gives him the opportunity to make it on my list of actors I like. Right along Harrison Ford, who also stars in this.
The Butler
>I enjoy a good historical film. This is an interesting story and one that is not often told. Also, star studded. Probably won't come to my town.
The Mortal Instruments: City of Bones
Buying this book today to read it before the movie. Hugely popular young adult books always get made into movies. I enjoy most of them (except Harry Potter) so I'll be watching this.
The World's End
>Simon Pegg and Nick Frost are a fantastic comedic team and I am really looking forward to this new movie of theirs. I'm hoping I enjoy it more than Hot Fuzz.
Getaway
>I honestly think I will be disappointed by this. It's like a mix between Cellular and Fast and Furious or something. If nothing else though, should have some good action.

I think August has a good mix of movies. And I am excited to watch and review these for my readers. =)

The Lone Ranger

The Lone Ranger, directed by Gore Verbinski, was a bit of a let down for me. Which I predicted it might be.

Before I get into the movie, I want to say that my theater experience might have influenced my overall enjoyment of the movie. We had extremely uncomfortable seats, I was being poked by something plastic the whole time, and my boyfriends squeaked really bad. My friend's seemed okay, and she had a great view since the seat in front of her was missing. Seriously, what happened in that particular screen? The rest of the theater is usually pretty nice.

Also, I'm from Wyoming, as you might know. And the people sitting next to us - were stereotypical Wyomingites (one of them was even wearing a cowboy hat). Trust me, that is not a good thing. They were loud and dumb and all four of them must be madly in love with Johnny Depp because everything his character said and did was hilarious. And no, they weren't teenagers just trying to be obnoxious. They were adults.

Now, the movie. Well, the movie is set up as old Tonto telling the story to a young boy at a carnival who was dressed up as The Lone Ranger. The first bit of action comes early on, as John Reid (Armie Hammer) is sitting on the train, who has just finished his schooling as a lawyer. The train is also carrying the outlaw, Butch Cavendish (William Fichtner). The train is ambushed by his gang, freeing Cavendish. During the ambush, Reid switches places with Cavendish, ending up in handcuffs next to Tonto (Johnny Depp). The train runs off the rail, Tonto is arrested, and Reid meets up with his long lost lover, Rebecca (who is now married to his brother).

He also meets up with his brother, Texas Ranger Dan Reid (James Badge Dale), who immediately wants to go after Cavendish. John Reid wants to come along - so he gets his own badge. They get betrayed by a member of their group and are ambushed by Cavendish. Everyone dies. John Reid dies too - but not until after he watches Cavendish pull out and eat his brother's heart. Tonto, who magically escaped from his jail cell, finds the massacre and buries all the bodies. Well, except John Reid's. He has been chosen by the spirit horse to be brought back to life.

That's how The Lone Ranger is born. His mask is from the bullet holes in his brother's vest. His partner is a native who hates him. His mission: to avenge his brother's death.

We find that Cavendish is after a huge amount of raw silver that he discovered twenty years ago. Well, the silver that Tonto showed him when he was a boy. After John finds out about Tonto's past, he leaves him and tries to get justice by himself. You can probably guess this doesn't work. But I don't want to give anything else away.



The story has sooo much potential. It had a lot of dark elements that change it from just being a western and turn it into something more supernatural. But they didn't take advantage of that. There were really weird and unnecessary details like cannibalistic rabbits. Then other things weren't really explained that needed to be, like why John Reid and Rebecca didn't stay together. I think what happened is Gore Verbinski put too much focus on the character of Tonto because he was played by Johnny Depp. And in my opinion, Johnny Depp didn't play him that well. Armie Hammer was great. And the chemistry between the two characters was good. Especially with the horse added in. My favorite character was Butch Cavendish though. They really should have went more into his story instead of having Tonto take up 75% of the screen time. Also, I hated Helena Bonham Carter in the movie. There are so many actresses out there that could have played the role of Red Harrington a million times better. Why does she have to be in every movie with Johnny Depp? I've only ever really like her in like three things.

Some things I did like: The western part. I like the old Cowboys and Indians thing. Reminds me of my dad, plus it's just good ol' fashioned action. I liked the son or Rebecca and Dan. He had spunk and heart. I liked the general story of greed, betrayal, and revenge. I went into this movie expecting so much more than what I got out of it. And I am disappointed. I know I am not the only one.



I give it a six out of ten.

This is The End

This is the End, directed by Evan Goldberg and Seth Rogen, was a different sort of comedy where the actors play themselves in a apocalyptic situation. It was everything I thought it would be.

The main characters in the movie are Seth Rogen and Jay Baruchel. Jay had come to California to visit his good friend, Seth. After a couple hours of hanging out and getting high, Seth suggests they go to James Franco's house for his house warming party. Jay doesn't want to go because he doesn't really like the new crowd that Seth hangs out with, but he finally gives in.

So anyway, they go to the party, and Jay is having pretty much zero fun, because he hates everyone there. He comes up with the excuse of going to the convenience store so that he can escape the party. Seth goes with him. While they are out, there is an "earthquake", and Jay witnesses people being sucked up into the sky with blue rays that have come down from the heavens. Jay immediately thinks it's the apocalypse, and the ones that have been taken by the blue rays are people who have devoted themselves to God. They hurry back to Franco's house where no one has noticed anything happened. Obviously, nobody at James Franco's party has what it takes to get chosen for heaven. But there is another earthquake soon after that, and everyone runs outside, where most of them die. I won't give away any specifics here, because that would ruin it but there is a lot of death.

A few people run back into the house. The ones that make it are, Jay, Seth, James Franco, Jonah Hill (much to Jay's dismay as he hates Jonah), and Craig Robinson. They decide it will be best to wait it out in the house, so they board everything up and ration out the food. Then they go to bed.

The next morning, they find out they have another house guest. Danny McBride had passed out in the bathroom before anything had happened the night before. So he gets up and cooks up a majority of the food in a nice breakfast, not knowing that's all the food they have to survive this out. They all get up and try to tell him what happened the night before, and he doesn't believe them. He's kind of an ass. Then some random guy sticks his head through a hole in the boards and it gets chopped off, and Danny starts to believe them.

The situation intensifies when they run out of water. And people start talking bad about each other and teaming up. Danny gets kicked out of the house by popular vote - then makes the decision to leave on his own after everyone feels bad.

Things start to get out of control and they have to leave the house and go out into the real world. It's chaotic and everything is burning. No people are left alive. The group loses a few people along the way, but the movie really does have a happy ending (kinda).

It's hard to review the acting in this movie, because they are playing themselves. I really don't think most of this is true to character, but some parts I definitely think are.  I can't even compare this to anything else I have ever seen because nothing like this has ever been done, to my knowledge. Even though it was a comedy, there were a few parts where I jumped. And a few parts where I squeezed my boyfriend's hand so hard, I think it was about to fall off. But overall, it was just funny, in a very twisted way.

I think you can really tell in this movie that these boys enjoy working together. Sure, they play limited roles. But they are good at what they do, so why change? I imagine this would have been a super fun movie to be a part of even as just an extra. They had some fun cameo appearances by Micheal Cera, Emma Watson, Channing Tatum, Paul Rudd, and Jason Segel (my biggest celebrity crush ever).



If you enjoy dark comedy, then this is for you. It's pretty vulgar, kinda raunchy, and more gore than I expected. But I LOVED it! So, I hope you all get a chance to see it in theaters or rent it for home viewing.




Thanks for reading!

July Movies =)

Pretty short list for July. Couple blockbusters though.

Despicable Me 2
>It's impossible not to love the minions, I'm pretty sure. The first one was amazing, and I am sure this one won't disappoint.
The Lone Ranger
>Well, this one may be disappointing. But I still wouldn't miss it for the world. Lots of good action and comedy. Johnny Depp is okay - but highly overrated.
Pacific Rim
>Giant robots and aliens? What doesn't sound good about that?
Grown Ups 2
>Mostly just for my boyfriend. He's a huge fan of the first one and I'm a huge fan of him. So, I will see it with him.
Red 2
>As much as I tried not to like the first one, I kinda did. And this one looks to be about at the same level.
R.I.P.D.
>Kinda a cool idea for a movie. Everyone loves Kevin Bacon.Jeff Bridges is pretty talented. And some people really like Ryan Reynolds.
Turbo
>This snail is seriously adorable. Ryan Reynolds is competing against himself this weekend for the box office numbers. Kinda funny.
The Wolverine
>Well, I really enjoy the X-Men movies. Wolverine isn't necessarily my favorite, but I still will be seeing this.

Like I said, not a huge list. Hopefully most of these come to our small theater.

Epic

I took my nephew to see this movie this weekend. It was cute, but not my favorite.

Epic, directed by Chris Wedge, was a cute kid's movie but the plot was lacking and the characters were kind of boring.



The movie is about a teenage girl, Mary Katherine (Amanda Seyfried), who goes to live with her dad after something happens to her mom? I don't know - they don't really explain that, that I remember. She doesn't want to be there because she thinks her dad is a weirdo. He lives up in the forest and believes in a magical kingdom of fairies that live in the woods.

So, she decides to leave after only giving him about an hour of a chance. But she let's the three legged, one eyed, pug out on accident on her way out. So she has to chase him down through the woods. While out there, she stumbles across the fairy queen, who is dying, and she shrinks her and gives her a pod that is holding her magical power to grow and heal things in the forest.

Oh, before she leaves the house, you get some POV from the fairies where the queen goes and picks out a pod to give her power to. They are attacked by The Rot - or the insects that want to destroy the forest and she is hit with an arrow and killed.

So, Mary Katherine (MK) gets this pod and goes along with the leader of the queen's guard (who was also her lover) to take it to see Nim Galuu (Steven Tyler). They are helped along their journey by a snail and a slug, Grub and Mub, and a young man named Nod (Josh Hutcherson). Nod thinks MK is really pretty.. so does Mub or Grub - whichever one is the slug. So there is some playful banter between them about who gets the girl (You'll never guess who she chooses).



Anyway, after they take the pod to Nim, it gets stolen by the Rot King, who's name I can't remember. He wants it to bloom away from the moonlight so instead of being a new Queen of the Forest, it becomes a Prince of the Darkness. It's a kid's movie.. so I don't think I'm giving anything away when I tell you that doesn't happen. It ends up blooming where it's supposed to, a new queen is chosen, and MK grows big again (after getting a kiss from Nod). She then returns to her fathers house and helps him with his research, all the while maintaining an unrealistic relationship with a man that is two inches tall and lives in a faster moving dimension than she does. But she does get to talk to him on the phone. Weird movie.

The plot was just "bleh". The characters had nothing really lovable about them except the three legged dog. Who was adorable. The snail and slug added a bit of entertainment, but if it hadn't been for those two characters, I think I would have fallen asleep.

I like the other cartoons that Blue Sky and Twentieth Century have done (Rio and Ice Age) but this movie just didn't deliver for me.

I give it a 5 out of 10.

Thanks for reading!
Comments are always appreciated. =)

Now You See Me

I LOVED this movie.

Now You See Me, directed by Louis Leterrier, has some similarities to Ocean's Eleven or The Italian Job. The actual magic tricks aren't a big part of the movie. Most of it is the interrogating and figuring out the tricks. My summary is going to be short because I can't give any of the twists away.

The movie starts out with introducing the audience to the magicians: Daniel Atlas (Jesse Eisenberg), Merritt McKinney (Woody Harrelson), Jack Wilder (Dave Franco), and Henley Reeves (Isla Fisher). All of them are being watched by a mysterious man in a hoodie and they all receive a tarot card that tells them a time and place to meet up.



They all show up at the location thinking they would be the only one and surprised to find the others there. We find out that Henley used to be Daniel's assistant and he still treats her like that. He's actually a huge jerk, which is what I imagine most magicians to be like. Anyway, they can't get into the apartment that they showed up at until Jack gets there and picks the lock. Once inside, they find this elaborate setup that sets them up as a team.

The next scene takes place a year later in Las Vegas, where they are performing their first show. They have decided to call themselves The Four Horsemen. In this show, they randomly pick someone from the audience and rob his bank in Paris. Then give the money to the people in the audience. Obviously, they are arrested the next day for this. The FBI agent put on the case is Dylan Rhodes (Mark Ruffalo). He is partnered up with a woman from Interpol named Alma Dray (Melanie Laurent) and they don't necessarily get along that great at first.



The interrogations don't go that well. They can't hold them without saying that they actually believe they somehow magically robbed the bank in Paris. So they have to let them walk. Of course, they manage to get tickets to the next show in New Orleans - which is sold out after people have heard these magicians give out money to the audience. I don't want to say much about what happens in this show because I don't want to give anything away.

But before the New Orleans show, they meet up with Thaddeus Bradley (Morgan Freeman), who was filming the Las Vegas show and plans on debunking them. It's from talking to him that they figure out how they pulled off their little trick in Vegas. He also goes to New Orleans to watch what they do there. Thaddeus has made a career out of showing how magicians do their tricks.

You see Alma really wants to believe in magic. She does a lot of research on what the Four Horseman are and some history of magic tricks. She's trying to figure out what is driving these guys to do what they are doing. Dylan and Alma think that The Four Horsemen are working with someone else. A fifth Horseman, if you will. But they can't figure out who it is.

There is another show in New York after New Orleans. And there are several things that I didn't see coming that happen along the way there. The end of the movie really threw me for a loop. My boyfriend said it didn't surprise him though. But that's all I can say on that.

Now You See Me was very well done. It had a lot of big names and they delivered. I've had a crush on Mark Ruffalo since Just Like Heaven and I still have a crush on him after this movie. Morgan Freeman will always be one of my favorites too. And I have a lady crush on Isla Fisher. And Dave Franco? He's adorable. This is only the second movie I have seen him in but I think he is just as talented as his brother.

My favorite character in this movie was Alma. She had a bit of a romantic personality, I think. The contrast between her and Dylan was perfect. He was hard and logical and she was big hearted and almost whimsical about some stuff. Loved their character chemistry.

I strongly recommend this movie to everyone. I think that it's something that most people will enjoy.

I give it a 10 out of 10.



Thanks for reading! =)

Fast and Furious 6

I have to be honest right away in this review, I was a little lost during the movie since I haven't seen the third, fourth, or fifth movie in this franchise. That being said - I liked it. For the most part, anyway.

The sixth installment to the Fast and the Furious franchise is directed by Justin Lin shows how far this series has come since the first movie, which was released in 2001. The special effects are better, the cars are better, the action is even more unrealistic, and the acting has gotten even worse (if that's even possible).

WARNING: Contains some spoilers.

The Fast and the Furious 6 starts out with the team in retirement/hiding. They are international criminals but Hobbs (Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson) needs their help catching a new baddie in Europe. He has pictures of Letty (Michelle Rodriguez) to convince them to go, because they all thought she was dead. Of course, they want something in return. The deal is: full pardons for everyone. Hobbs agrees because he doesn't know if they will help otherwise. Which is dumb, of course they would. Letty is family.



Anyway, they go after this guy - Shaw (Luke Evans) - but their first attempt isn't very successful. During the car chase through London, pretty much every car gets destroyed. Dom (Vin Diesel) goes after one car because he recognizes the driving style as Letty. He corners her, gets out of his vehicle, and she shoots him in the shoulder. Nice way to say "Hi honey, I missed you."

They find out who is making his cars - and Roman (Tyrese Gibson), Han (Sung Kang), Gisele (Gal Gadot), and Agent Riley (Gina Carano) get into a bit of a fight there with some of Shaw's crew, including Letty. They manage to kill one guy and get the car maker's cell phone. Other than that, this scene is kind of a waste of time. It's just about fifteen minutes of fist fighting in the train station. Where Roman, Han, and Riley all get their butts kicked.

Luckily, the cell phone helps them out quite a bit. It has a bunch of codes in it that connects Shaw to the drug dealer that Letty had been doing undercover work with when she "died" before. This guy is in prison now but they have to talk to him. So Brian (Paul Walker) gets on a plane and goes to the prison to talk to this guy. Under the guise of a prisoner, of course. Since he is an international criminal and all. Luckily that all goes well for Brian and he doesn't get stuck in prison; he even manages to take on three guys with shanks and win. And he finds out that Shaw doesn't let anyone close unless he wants them there. This gives away the rest of the movie, if you ask me.

Meanwhile in Europe, Dom is at a street race. And you'll never guess who else is there? That's right! Letty. How convenient. They race and get away for a nice quiet spot to talk alone. Where Dom finds out that she doesn't remember him at all. Things almost get steamy as they show each other scars on their hips and stuff. But then she speeds away and Shaw shows up. Tells Dom he can either leave now, of he will mess with his family. Of course, Dom doesn't leave.

This leads to the car chase with the tank - with the most ridiculous part of the movie. Well, it's at least tied for the most ridiculous part of the movie.




This picture above is Dom getting ready to run into the barrier at God only knows what speed, so that he can launch himself into the air, catch Letty (who is also flying through the air) and land safely on the car on the other side of the freeway. It's hilarious. They also flip the tank and catch Shaw. Yay! Movie should have ended. But it didn't.

Instead, Shaw tells them that he has captured Brian's wife, Mia (Jordana Brewster) and demands to have the chip he was after and be released. If they don't do as he demands, Shaw will kill Mia. So they release him. At this point, you also figure out who Shaw's spy is. Well, what I mean by that is it's revealed. If you haven't figured it out already, then you must have fallen asleep earlier in the movie. He threatens to kill Mia if they follow him. So Tej (Ludacris) quickly scrambles the phone grid and they are off. They follow Shaw and his gang to the longest runway ever. And proceed to have a high speed car/plane chase for about twenty minutes. This is about all I can say without giving everything away. I know I included a lot of spoilers. Sorry for that.

I wasn't lying when I said I enjoyed the movie. I did. Everyone loves car chases. I even cried at one point due to some dramatic element that I won't reveal. However, The Fast and the Furious 6 has some of the most unbelievable scenes I have ever seen in a movie. These guys should really be in the next Avenger's movie. Because there is no way that they don't have something superhuman going on.

My other problem with this movie is the acting. Those of you who know me know my distaste for Paul Walker. I guess what I don't understand is this: Vin Diesel and Paul Walker have played these two characters in five movies spaced out over twelve years. You think after that many years of playing the same character, you would get into a little more. But no, they are both so MONOTONE! Seriously, they have zero emotion. And now in the next movie they are added Jason Statham. Please no. The only way that could be worse is if they add Kristin Stewart. Maybe they are robots. That's why they can fly through the air at 100 miles an hour, collide with another body midair, land on a metal car, and walk away like it's no big deal.

Even with the predictable plot and terrible acting, I enjoyed the movie. I recommend going to see it in theaters if you can. Because theaters make action movies good. This movie won't watch the same on your couch at home, trust me.

I give it a 6 out of 10.

As always, thanks for reading and comments are appreciated.

I will leave you with this meme about the runway during the final chase.

June Movies!

A couple good ones this month. Some that I've really been looking forward to. =)

The Internship
Vince Vaughn. That's all the explanation I should even have to give for this one. But I will add that Owen Wilson and Vince Vaughn together are fantastic. Gonna be great. Been looking forward to this one for months.
The Purge
Well, in order to be a good critic, I should give every genre a chance. This is my attempt at horror. EEK! I'm seriously scared after watching the trailer. Haha. However, it has Lena Headey and after only really seeing her play a bitch of a queen in Game of Thrones on HBO, I would love to see her play a housewife. =)
Much Ado About Nothing
I'm 100% sure this won't come to Gillette, but I like seeing adaptations of Shakespeare movies. Plus, Joss Whedon directs.
Man of Steel
Um.. It's Superman.
This is the End
This movie is going to be super cheesy, no doubt about it. But it's going to be awesome! These are the greatest names in modern comedy - playing themselves. Amazing.
Monsters University
In my opinion, Monsters Inc. is the best thing to come from Pixar so far. This has been a long time coming, and I think it will be worth it. They do awesome with most of their sequels. Just look at Toy Story 3.
World War Z
I love Zombie movies. And Brad Pitt has never looked better. Should be entertaining.
The Heat
Cop comedies are almost always good for a laugh. Especially when they have Sandra Bullock.
White House Down
Everyone knows I'm in love with Channing Tatum. I mean, how many girls aren't? Plus, Roland Emmerich is the King of disaster movies.

Kind of a short list this month - but it is what it is. Can't force Hollywood to make good movies. ;)

Star Trek Into Darkness

This is such a good franchise. I mean, seriously, these movies have made Star Trek cool. That has to mean something.

I really am going to keep this review brief, mostly because it's been a couple weeks since I saw the movie and I can't remember the details or order of events all that well. Plus, there are a couple main plot points that I really don't want to give away.

Star Trek Into Darkness, directed by J.J. Abrams, starts out with the Enterprise scouting out a planet with a fairly uncivilized population. They have discovered that the volcano on the island is about to erupt and will wipe out the entire race unless they stop it. So.. Spock (Zachary Quinto) is in the volcano. Trying to freeze it. Obviously it works. It'd be pretty lame if Spock died in the first ten minutes of the movie. However, they mess up. Kirk (Chirs Pine) lets the indigenous population see the ship - which is against the rules. Oops.




Kirk loses his title as Captain of the Enterprise because of his little "oops" after Spock files a report against him. But Pike (Bruce Greenwood) fights for him and at least gets him to stay on the Enterprise as Pike's First Officer. Because of this, he gets to go to the meeting that Starfleet has just called. How convenient, right? Or maybe not. The meeting is attacked by one of Starfleet's own. John Harrison. Actually - Khan (Benedict Cumberbatch). Anyway, some people are injured and killed. So Kirk approaches the Admiral, asking to go after this guy, after they track him to the Klingon planet.

Kirk and Spock are at odds because Kirk feels betrayed by Spock, but they kiss and make up pretty soon and Spock gets to come back aboard the Enterprise with Kirk to chase down Khan. Uhura is also fighting wtih Spock because he's "insensitive" and didn't care about her feelings for him when he was in the volcano. But they follow him to the Klingon planet, where Kirk disobeys his orders and captures Khan (after he saves their lives) when he was ordered to kill him. Once Khan is on the ship, he gets Kirk to talk to him where he tells him that he was set up by Admiral Marcus (Peter Weller),  who is trying to start a war with the Klingons.

So, basically, Star Trek Into Darkness has two villains. You have Khan, who is a genetically engineered super human. And you have Marcus, who is the head guy of Starfleet. These are two guys who you really don't want on your bad side. Pretty powerful.

There isn't a whole lot more I can say about the plot without giving the good stuff away, and I probably already gave away some, so I'm going to leave it there.

I need to say that I am not a fan or the original series. For no reason other than I have never watched it. But I think that J. J. Abrams has done a wonderful job at creating lovable characters for people just like me and even some people who watched the series before. The actors are not the most talented in Hollywood, but they do bring these characters to life. And they have great one-liners and onscreen chemistry that you cannot overlook.

In some of the other reviews I have read, people have complained about the plot of the movie. I don't really understand what their problem is, I guess. Of course it's predictable and not very original. It's an action movie, what do you expect?

Maybe I'm easy to please. I know that my brother thinks so. He hates most movies, and I gush over them. Haha. From reading my reviews so far, you might have guessed this. This is my eighth review, I think, and I've only given one bad review.

Also, I saw this movie in 3D. Totally worth it. As long as you aren't in my hometown. Our 3D sucks. But I went out of town to see it, so it was awesome. Best one I've seen in 3D since Avatar, for sure.

Definitely looking forward to the next one!




I give it nine out of ten stars.




P.S.: This movie has gotten me really excited for Ender's Game, coming out in November. I love Sci-Fi movies. =)

Thanks for reading!

The Great Gatsby

Coming Soon!

And by "soon" I mean in a couple months when it comes out on DVD. Sorry folks!

Iron Man 3

I love Iron Man.

This review is for Iron Man 3, directed by Shane Black. Amazing movie. Very well done. Don't see it in 3D... it's a waste of money.

There is a new threat to the country. The Mandarin. And it's a threat that Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr.) has a weird connection to from years ago. Back when he was still in the weapons business. Back when he was still sleeping around. Before Iron Man. Before Pepper Potts (Gwyneth Paltrow).

Tony is struggling with severe anxiety after the alien invasion in New York (from The Avengers). He can't sleep. He's been building more and more suits. And the Mandarin is bombing places and making threats against the country and the president. Then Happy (Jon Favreau) gets severely injured in one of the bombings because he was following a suspicious character, and when he told Tony about him, he just shrugged it off. Now Tony has a personal reason to go after the Mandarin. Revenge. He tells the Mandarin(actually the whole world, since he told the media) where he lives. Tells him to be a man and come see him.

Well, that wasn't very smart.

The Mandarin heard his invitation to his home. And they come with helicopters, guns, and bombs. Pepper knew that Tony and her needed to get out. And was trying to convince him to leave when they attack the home. They also had a visitor. One of Tony's one night stands, Maya. The one that connects him to the bombs and the Mandarin. She doesn't really have time to explain why she is there though, as the side of the house is blown off shortly after she arrives.

One of Tony's fancy new suits saves Pepper from the blast by attaching to her while she is flying through the air. It's pretty neat. She then gets Maya and herself outside while Tony runs about the house trying to avoid getting killed. After Pepper is clear of the house, he calls the suit back to him and starts to kick some butt. But, the suit is a new prototype, and the flight isn't working properly yet. So, Tony gets drug into the ocean with his house. Then the flight starts working and he flies out of the ocean, passes out in the suit and crash lands in Tennessee. Where he was previously planning on going to investigate a bombing from years ago.

Jarvis (the suit - voiced by Paul Bettany) dies here. And Tony is alone - without his armor. So, he breaks into a house, where he meets a cute little kid named Harley (Ty Simpkins). The kid helps him and takes him to the site of the bombing. Here he figures out that the bomber didn't die, like previously thought. Somehow he survived a bombing that vaporized everyone else. So, the bomb is the person (which we already know because we see the bombing that Happy is at). Which he soon finds out first hand, as two of these human bombs are also in town and attack him. He really has a special knack for being in the wrong place.

He manages to escape. Find out where the Mandarin is. Goes there and finds out the Mandarin is really just an actor. ( I really liked that part) Gets captured. Escapes. Has Rhodes (Don Cheadle) join him and they go to bring down the Mandarin. Which is led by Aldrich Killian (Guy Pearce). Aldrich Killian is not a fan of Tony because years ago, he told him he would meet him on the roof. He lied. Tony just left him up there while he hooked up with Maya. There is a big fight at the end that I really enjoyed.

I'm not going to give away any of that though. =)
And I absolutely won't tell you the very end. Or the after the credit stuff. I'm trying to work on shortening my plot summaries.

This installment was directed by Shane Black instead of Jon Favreau, and I think that you could tell. There weren't huge differences, but Shane Black has a little different style. The only other Shane Black movie I have ever seen is Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang, which is my favorite crime comedy. Obviously, since I also mentioned it in my review of Pain and Gain.

Now, I am a huge fan of almost all super hero movies. I mean, who isn't?
But Iron Man really does something special for me (although my favorite superhero is Batman). I'm extremely attracted to Tony Stark. Not Robert Downey Jr., necessarily. But Tony Stark as a character. I love how cocky he is. And I love that he is such an asshole. And I love that he saves lives. =)

I also am very attracted to Pepper Potts. She's gorgeous, first of all. And such a sweetie. And a bit of a badass in this movie. (Basically what I am saying is I would be thrilled to be a part of Tony's and Pepper's nocturnal activites.. don't judge me. The light in his chest would bug me in this situation though.)

And Guy Pearce. Haha. Even though he is a "bad guy" in this movie, he's still yummy.
So this movie had a lot of eye candy for me. Both male and female.

I think that Iron Man 3 was very well done.

The humor in all the Iron Man movies is great. They have memorable characters who have lovely back and forth banter. I wish that Don Cheadle had been cast as Rhodes in the original though. He has much better chemistry with Robert Downey Jr. than Terrance Howard does.

This installment went a little deeper into Tony's character than the other ones have. We saw how much he was struggling with anxiety. Saw how scared he was of losing Pepper. Saw how terrible he was with kids. And saw how much he cared about his little dummy robot.

I hope all of you watch it. Can't wait for the next installment.

I gave it a 9 out of 10.

Thanks for reading.

Pain and Gain

I'll be honest. I think this movie only will appeal to a small group of people. I thought it had some similar elements to Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang from 2005. But that's just my opinion.

Pain and Gain directed by Michael Bay was an interesting film. Let's just say that. I loved it. Not at first.. but it grew on me. The humor is a little dark. But I like that. The characters were different. Not your usually crime movie, that's for sure.

Basically the movie is about Daniel Lugo (Mark Wahlberg). He is a pretty average guy. Did some time in prison but works as a personal trainer now. Lugo isn't happy with his life though. He likes the way he looks, and he's a hard worker. But he thinks he deserves more. So he comes up with a plan to get what he wants.

He has a client, Victor Kershaw (Tony Shalhoub), that is filthy rich and is a huge asshole. Lugo doesn't think that he deserves to have all that money so he pairs up with Paul (Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson) and Adrian (Anthony Mackie) and kidnaps him. The plan is to break him and get him to sign over all of his money to Lugo, who will split it with the guys. Then they let him go and life is good. The problem is.. Kershaw figures out who Lugo is because he recognizes his "stinky" cologne.

The next flaw in their plan: Paul is a real softy. He is a big ol' guy who might have a bit of a temper, but he has a big heart. He bonds with Kershaw and, because he is an idiot, thinks Kershaw is his friend. Which allows him to let his guard down around him.

They do eventually get the money out of him. Then they decide they are going to have to kill him because he knows who they are. But none of them really want to actually do it. So, they decide to make it look like an accident. Using Paul, because of his close relationship with Kershaw, they get him drunk. Then they rig him up in a car, and cause it to crash. Kershaw doesn't die though.. because Adrian put his seat belt on. So, they torch the car. Kershaw still doesn't die. So they run him over, and leave him for dead. But he isn't dead. This is one lucky guy. Well, as far as survival goes. He's clearly drawn the short straw on everything else.

When the cops investigate Kershaw's incident. They don't believe his story. They think he was on drugs or something. So he hires a private investigator, Ed DuBois (Ed Harris). Ed sees his side of the story as crazy too.. but he looks into it. Joins the gym where Lugo works and has him as his personal trainer.

Well, by this time, the boys are running out of money.So they line up another job. This one really doesn't go as planned. And that's all I'm going to say. Even though I can't really spoil it for you since it's a true story and all the information is online. But, I encourage you to watch it.


The acting in this movie was surprisingly good. Usually I'm not a huge fan of Dwayne Johnson, but he really did a good job in this movie. His character was a different role for him, but not like Tooth Fairy different. He plays and emotional, cocaine addicted, really dumb, Christian. Which is just kinda fun to watch =)

This was also the first movie I have seen with Rebel Wilson. I'm impressed. She's pretty funny.

Now I'll admit, I don't know how accurately it follows the actual events. The story is interesting though. It's about three guys, who are not very smart, trying to pull off a kidnapping. Obviously, they mess up.

I'm sorry, I've been working on this review for ten days.. and it sucks. Haha. Go watch the movie and make your own opinion.

I give the movie an 8 out of 10.

Comments are appreciated. =)

Oblivion

Oblivion directed by Joseph Kosinski is a sci-fi movie set a few years after aliens invaded Earth, causing us to use our nuclear weapons and destroy our planet. Luckily, we won the war (or did we?) but we have had to move to Saturn's moon, Titan. The main character in the movie is Jack Harper (Tom Cruise) and he is a drone repairman. He only has two weeks left of this job, then he gets to go to Titan with his partner Victoria (Andrea Riseborough). Well, as long as he doesn't mess anything up.

Everyday, Jack gets to go down to Earth on a fancy flying machine and make sure everything is running properly on the surface. He repairs any drones that the remaining aliens, or Scavs, have taken down during the night and kills any Scavs that he finds. Victoria stays up in the tower and watches everything he does on a screen, alerting him of coming danger. She's also in contact with Mission Control this whole time - Sally.

The problem is, Jack sometimes has dreams about a girl, dreams that he thinks are memories. Five years ago, he had his memory wiped so he doesn't remember anything before the invasion - but he remembers this girl. And boy is he in for a surprise. One of his days down on the surface, he finds that the Scavs have set up a signaling device that is sending a signal off planet. He destroys the device, but later that evening, a ship comes crashing down to the surface. He of course goes to investigate, and finds that the crashed ship hold not Scavs, but humans! And one of those humans is the girl from his dreams! Dun dun dun.

Victoria had alerted Control about the ship and drones were on their way to destroy any survivors. These survivors were in freeze-sleep or whatever you call it, and had been for sixty years. So, they are sleeping in coffin looking things that have been keeping them alive. The drones come and start blowing up the other survivors. Jack manages to save the girl of his dreams though by standing up to the drone, risking getting blown to smithereens. Then he brings her up to the tower to Victoria and she saves her life. But you can tell Victoria is uneasy about it. I should note, Victoria and Jack are lovers as well as partners at this point. She encourages Jack to turn the girl into Control, but instead the next morning, he takes the girl, Julia, down to earth so she can get her flight record and they can see what happened to them. But, things don't go according to plan.

While at the crash site, Julia and Jack are taken by Scavs. Well, that's what they appear to be, but after Jack gets there, he learns that they are actually human too. And nothing is really making sense to him. The leader of this group, Beech (Morgan Freeman) tells him that Titan doesn't exist and that the Tet (the supposed space station) is the alien object that destroyed the Earth. He wants Jack to program the drone they have captured to go to the Tet, carrying enough fuel packs to make a sizable bomb. But Jack isn't convinced. He encourages him to go into the radiation zone so he can figure some stuff. Instead Jack takes Julia back up to the tower but Victoria won't let them inside because she is jealous of Julia mostly. She tells Sally that her and Jack are no longer an effective team. So a drone comes to kill them. It does kill Victoria but Julia manages to shoot the drone down with the ship and save Jack.

Then they go to the radiation zone. And Jack sees himself. A clone of him doing exactly what he does. That's what it takes to convince him something is wrong. Julia then collapses because she was shot by a drone. So, Jack fights his clone, steals his airplane thing, and goes back to his tower. Stealing that med pack, after an awkward confrontation with another Victoria, he goes back, saves Julia, and returns to Beech. He's agreed to program the drone to deliver the bomb.

The problem is, Mission is onto them. The second Victoria reported that Jack went missing, so they send drones that come and attempt to destroy the colony of humans. The drone is destroyed. They need another way to deliver the bomb.

I'm not going to give away the ending on this one, because I think it's lovely. And I want everyone to experience it first hand.

The acting in this movie was great. I LOVE Tom Cruise. I don't think he's particularly attractive or anything, but he does a pretty good job. In Sci-Fi movies especially (I adore Minority Report). And his love interest in this movie is talented too. I loved her in Quantum of Solace, opposite Daniel Craig, and she didn't disappoint here either. And of course, Morgan Freeman. Who doesn't love this man? He's truly fabulous in this movie, as in every other movie he's in.

I liked the story in this movie. It was more a love story than anything else. Which should come as no surprise, because most movies are. Let's face it, love is really what life is all about (not just in movies). To tell yourself different is just lying to yourself. And cloning always intrigues me. It's a confusing and fascinating simultaneously. I don't think it's something that should ever be done, in the real world. But it's good movie material. Can be funny or just add enough extra to a Sci-Fi movie to set it apart from the rest. I also liked that even though the world was apparently destroyed and couldn't support healthy life because of the radiation, Jack still couldn't really bear the thought of leaving. Do I believe in life elsewhere? Absolutely. Would I ever leave my home planet? No way. I think there is something special about Jack for not giving up on his home. Something I think a lot of people I know need to work on. Just because it's not doing so great doesn't mean you just get to cast it aside and move on to what you assume are bigger and better things. There is a reason we are here and not somewhere else, after all. You can read into that as much as you would like. =)

I'm done with that tangent now. My conclusion is: this movie is lovely. Watch it.

I give it an 8 out of 10.

As always, thank you for reading. Please, watch Oblivion and share your comments below.

May Movies!

Yay! Summer movies! Best time of the year ;)

May has some HUGE movies coming out. So.. I'm guessing out of my nine movies, seven of them will come. But, I've been wrong before.

Iron Man 3
>Um.. it's Iron Man? I think that's all the explanation this needs as to why it made the list. But, to go into it a little more: This is going to be the best Iron Man so far. Pepper is in danger. Tony is pissed. Revenge is sweet. Also, he has a fancy new suit (surprise, surprise).
The Iceman
>Oh my goodness, does this movie ever look good. Usually, I'm a pretty good judge of what's going to be good (except Battleship). This has an awesome cast with Ray Liotta, James Franco (yum), Chris Evans, Winona Ryder, and.. David Schwimmer? I'm excited for this one.
The Great Gatsby
>One of the greatest books of all time. With an all star (and talented to boot) cast. Leo DiCaprio is great, Toby McGuire looks like he is growing up, and who doesn't have a crush on Isla Fisher? Carey Mulligan is new to me, so we'll see.
Star Trek Into Darkness
>I probably won't be able to sleep for like the whole week before this movie. Gah! I LOVED the 2009 movie, and this new one looks even better. That's all.
Fast and Furious 6
>Well, these movies are seriously lacking in plot, but you don't see them for the plot. It's pretty much a whole movie of car chases, which all men like. And women too, turns out. Plus, there is pretty men and women in this movie, I guess. Paul Walker does nothing for me, personally.
The Hangover Part III
>I honestly don't know how I feel about this movie. But I have to finish the series out.
Epic
>There is probably always going to be a animated movie in my list. I like them. I take my nephew to see them with me, and that makes them better. This looks cute. =)
Now You See Me
>I've been waiting months to see this movie! I have really really high hopes for it though, so it may be a let down. However, it has an amazing cast and an interesting plot. So I'm confident Morgan, Jesse, Mark, Isla, and Woody won't let me down.
The Kings of Summer
>The underdog movie for this month. Every other movie on my list is pretty big, and this one isn't really on the radar. I think it looks funny though. So, I'm hoping it comes to our small theater.

That's my list. Going to be a great month. Can't wait to blog about these films!

Thanks for reading. =)

42

It's been a week since I saw this movie - sorry for the delay on the review.
Also, kind of sleep deprived, so it might be all over the place with lots of spelling and grammar errors. My apologies.
42 directed by Brian Helgeland is the story of how Jackie Robinson got into baseball. I loved this movie. Loved it. I liked that things weren't blown out of proportion for more suspense or drama. Well, at least I don't think they were. I'm not an expert on Jackie Robinson. I expected to cry in this movie, and I did. Only once though. =)

Most people know this story already, so I am going to keep my review short.

Starts out with Branch Rickey (Harrison Ford) talking to a couple other members of his management team, and he tells them he's going to bring a negro player onto the Brooklyn Dodgers. Remember, this was in the late 1940's, so this was a risk. However, his team agrees to help him research and find someone to recruit. They find Jackie Robinson (Chadwick Boseman).

Jackie Robinson was known for fighting segregation. He didn't just lie down and take it. He stood up for himself. This made him a good candidate for the first negro major league baseball player. But, he had to understand that if he was to take this opportunity, he couldn't fight the people who tried to bring him down. The public wouldn't see it how it actually happened. They would see it with Jackie throwing the first punch or whatever. He needed to be stronger than that. Jackie assured Mr. Rickey he could do that.

Jackie and his wife, Rachel, showed up in Florida for spring training. But they couldn't stay in the hotel with the team so they were set up in a house nearby. It didn't take long for people to show up and threaten him. The movie goes on to show the hurdles Jackie had to overcome with the public hating him, his team not accepting him, and other teams trying to bring him down. All the while, his wife supported him. She made it to as many games as she could, even after they had a child.

There is one moment in the movie where Pee Wee Reese from Kentucky, throws his arm around Jackie's shoulders where everyone, including his racist family, can see. He then says to Jackie "Who knows, maybe tomorrow we will all wear 42, then no one could tell the difference." That's when I cried. Haha.

Of course, as we all know, Jackie does overcome all those obstacles and plays for the Dodgers.

The acting in this movie was incredible. Chadwick Boseman played Jackie perfectly. He portrayed the inner struggle that Jackie had going on very well. Played him as the strong person that he was. And Harrison Ford was amazing.

I also liked that the racism wasn't underplayed. They definitely weren't afraid of the word "nigger", which is good because it makes the movie more believable. A lot of people back then really did think colored people were a lesser race.

I've read other reviews for this movie saying that the drama was too played down. But, I disagree. It showed the drama that was going on, with the death threats to Jackie and his family, the judgement that Mr. Rickey had to deal with. I think people are just too addicted to action. They wanted more suspense and fight scenes. And those just weren't necessary to make this movie great for those of us who know good movies. ;)

Sorry this review isn't as in depth as my other ones. I really want everyone to just go see it. I don't want to spoil any of the details of the movies. So.. go see it. I give it a ten out of ten.

G.I. Joe: Retaliation

Hmm, I don't know where to start on this one.

G. I. Joe: Retaliation, directed by Jon. M. Chu, did not quite reach it's full potential, in my opinion. I also didn't like the first installment in this series so I wasn't too surprised to find myself not wowed by this one. I wanted to go see it because it looked like it could have some decent action scenes and I have never minded a little Channing Tatum on the big screen(yum). However, it fell short of amazing.

My plot review for this movie will be a little shorter than my previous entry... hopefully =)

G.I. Joe Retaliation starts out with the G. I. Joe force breaking into an enemy camp, as is typical for any army based movie. Start it with some action. Okay, so that part is pretty uneventful. Tried to throw some comedy in there between Duke (Channing Tatum) and Roadblock (Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson) as well as a small laugh by the enemy flag being replaced by the G. I. Joe flag.

After the opening credits, during which you find out the two Cobra officials unaccounted for are Storm Shadow and Zartan, it goes to the White House, where the president and his council decides to blame the G. I. Joe squad for the death of the Pakistani president. So, the president makes the order to bomb their camp. The attack is completed unexpected and all except for Flint (D.J. Cotrona), Lady Jaye (Adrianne Palicki) and Roadblock (Block). No more Duke. So, within the first fifteen minutes, I've already lost one of my two reasons to watch the movie. And action alone isn't enough to make a good movie.

Anyway, this group of G.I. Joes gets away from the camp and immediately knows that something is wrong with the president. (Oops.. forgot to say, the president has already been revealed as a fake. While he keeps the real one locked up, he digitally alters his appearance and runs the country with the interests of Cobra in the front of his mind.) So, they quickly find a way to get back to the United States (a convenient airport less than a day's walk from their destroyed camp).

Meanwhile, Snake Eyes has been captured, and they take him to the prison in Germany where the Cobra Commander and one other Cobra head honcho who's name escapes me, are also being held captive. The most secure prison in the world as it is miles under the surface of the earth. However, when they get Snake Eyes into the same room as the Cobra Commander, it is revealed that he isn't Snake Eyes at all! But rather his arch nemesis, Storm Shadow. Dun dun dun. So, they put him in prison instead.

While this is happening, you see a motor bike approaching the prison, and once he is close to the gate, he releases a swarm of mechanical fireflies. At the same time, Storm Shadow convinces the guards that he is dead, and when the go to see what's up, he kills them all. The fireflies are actually little bombs that blow up the whole surface section of the prison, and Firefly (the man on the motorcycle) goes down and helps Storm Shadow free the Cobra Commander. The leave the other guy there to die because apparently he did bad. Alrighty, during their escape, Storm Shadow is severely burned on his back so they send him to the mountains to heal. And Snake Eyes sees all of this as he is also outside of the prison. Popular place for being top secret.

During this time Lady Jaye decides to pretend to be a reporter at an event that the president is at so she can get further evidence that his is not himself. She collects a hair and the find out he is none other than... Zartan! Oh my, didn't see that one coming. Then there is a creepy scene where Flint watches her undress but nothing ever comes of that.

Snake Eyes makes a plan with both his mentor and fellow student Jinx to capture Storm Shadow and get him on their side so they can figure out what Cobra's plan is. Some kinda neat ninja-running-on-sides-of-cliffs scene, and they are successful. So, the three of them (Snake Eyes, Storm Shadow, and Jinx) meet up with Jaye, Block, and Flint and make a plan to take down Cobra. They go get some help from the first Joe, General Colton (Bruce Willis). So, now we have a team of super badasses who basically cannot fail.

First let me tell you what Cobra is planning. They have pretty much built a super weapon that is in space, and they are planning on bombing all of the countries with nukes and take over the world. But first, they call a nuclear council meeting, and convince everyone else to launch their nukes at each other, then guilts them into self destructing the missiles before the can do damage. Now no one has any weapons. Except Cobra.

Luckily, the Joes get there after only one country has been destroyed. Cobra Commander flees the scene and Firefly takes off with the briefcase that has the power to launch the missiles. Luckily, they do at least get to kill Zartan and save the president. Then Block goes after Firefly. Blows him up with his own firefly bomb, and saves the day by overriding the system in the nick of time. All the Joes are recognized with medals and everyone is happy. End of story.



I'll admit, the main reason I didn't like this movie is because of the similarities it had with A-Team, Red, and The Losers. Apparently the hot plot line right now is to paint the heroes in a bad light at the beginning of the movie so that they can't be trusted anywhere they go. G.I. Joe isn't supposed to be a serious movie. And I think they were too careful with it. It was boring. Movies about elite soldiers should never be boring.

Plus, when you have an attractive set of characters, such as Jaye, Flint, and (for some) Block, you have to incorporate some sex into it. Watching Jaye undress in the reflection on the TV screen just doesn't cut it from me. Come on people, you already have the PG-13 rating. Cut out the unnecessary scene where Block meets up with old friends for a place to stay and throw in some steamy sex scene. Just my opinion.

Maybe what I'm trying to say is the movie is lacking emotion. Movies that stick with you are movies that make you feel for the characters. I just didn't have that with this movie. Even with Block and his kids, there was just something missing. So, I think they need to work harder on the next one (I'm sure it's coming since Cobra Commander escaped) and make you fall in love with the characters. Other action movies do it.


Overall, I would give it a five out of ten. And I apologize for not making that any shorter. I did try.

Once again, thank you for reading. Comments always appreciated. =)