Women being Women

Bridesmaids was one of the funniest and satisfying "chick" flicks I have seen since "The First Wife's Club" with Goldie Hawn and Bette Midler from the 1990's.  The story centered around Lillian Donavan played by (Maya Rudolph) the bride who is getting married and her best friend Annie Walker played by Kristen Wiig when Lillian is asked to be her maid of honor.  Lillian is single, jealous of her friend, down on her luck because she lost her bakery and savings and she's in a meaningless relationship and one step away from living back home with her mother.  Enters Helen Harris III played by Rose Bryne, a rich friend of Lillian's to stir up trouble and Megan Price, Lillian's future sister-in-law who is the star of the movie played by Melissa McCarthy. With a great supporting cast and some wonderful writing, Bridesmaids is a movie not to be missed.  Bring out the tissues people, you will need them, not from tears of sadness but from tears from all the laughing.

Snow White with a Dark Side

Snow White and the Huntsman starring Twilight's Kristen Stewart as Snow White and Charlize Theron as Ravenna the Evil Queen in the dark version of the Brothers Grimm Snow White and the seven dwarfs. Though the story lacked some substance and clarity in parts and became a bit whiny with Kristin Stewart staring off into space at times with her big beautiful vacant eyes, there were some excellent acting done in the movie that should be credited. Of course you can't miss the eye candy of Chris Hemsworth. Charlize Theron did an excellent job as the evil Queen Ravenna and the special effects around her costume were brilliant. Sam Spruell who plays her evil brother and enforcer Finn is a coward and person to look out for and was a direct connection to his sister in more ways then one. The dwarves or little people headed by Bob Hoskins just like in the dark tale, liked their drink,  told tales and sang but got down to business when it came down to protecting their princess. The cinematography and CGI was fantastic and the story does pick up in parts here and there. It's worth seeing.

Star-Crossed Teenagers

Beautiful Creatures is a love story between two teenagers Ethan Wate (Aldren Ehrenreich) and Lena Duchannes (Alice Englert) in Gatlin,SC.  Lena is a 15-year old witch who is destined to turn dark side on her 16th birthday and her family hopes to find a way for her not to.  Ethan falls in love with her and slowly finds out her secret and realizes that he has been dreaming about Lena for a long time.  There are some nice cinematography  throughout the movie, however the story is a bit slow at times and can put one to sleep.  The southern accent was so exaggerated at times that it was nerve wracking and I lived in South Carolina for a time.  This movie has been compared to the Twilight Saga and although I have read the books and have seen all the movies and agree that the writing in that series wasn't that great, it did give you more to keep you going with then this movie.  But that is this reviewers opinion.  The supporting casts, Jeremy Irons, Viola Davis and Emma Thompson who are tremendous actors couldn't do anything to put fire to this story and you can see how they committed themselves to this movie.  This movie is worth seeing the costumes and some of the graphics but little else.

Oblivion: Earth's Non-Existence

 

In 2077, Earth has been through a war and has been vacated by its inhabitants   Two people have been left on Earth, Jack Harper (Tom Cruise) and Victoria Olsen (Andrea Riseborough).  Jack scouts the Earth repairing downed drones from alien beings who were scavenging what was left on Earth. Victoria keeps an eye on Jack and reports back to their leader Sally (Melissa Leo) of the colony based on one of the moons of Saturn where Victoria and Jack will be able to go in 2 weeks time.  However, this all changes when a capsule lands on Earth and Jack discovers one survivor named Julia Rusakova (Olga Kurylenko).  She is a face that Jack she's often in his dreams and wonders why.  The cinematography is great, the flying sequences reminds me of a cross between Star Wars and Top Gun.  The story has a bit of a twist to it to keep you interested. It's also nice to see Morgan Freeman and hear his dynamic voice from time to time.