Super apes with a vengeance

Rise of the Planet of the Apes was excellent.  This was only the second movie so far this year that I would love to see over and over again.  Ok...I am a fan back when Charlton Heston starred in the first Planet of the Apes.  The cgi in this film was amazing.  Congrats to the visual arts team.  The expressions on Cesar's face and body language was unbelievable.  The story is pretty much the beginning of the Planet of the Apes saga.  Cesar's mother, a chimpanzee used in an experiment to find out how to enhance the brain functions is mistakenly killed trying to protect her baby, Cesar.  The experiments stop and James Franco (Will) takes the baby chimp home and gets help from Freida Pinto (Caroline) a vet and is joined by his sick father John Lithgow (Charles).  Cesar has the serum in him from his mother.  Cesar becomes older and wiser and that is when things start to become complicated.  This movie keeps you engaged and excited.  It was a great movie and I highly recommend it being seen.

An old friend came for a visit

Winnie the Pooh is an icon for a lot of people all over the world.  It was so nice to visit the hundred acre woods and see Pooh, Eeyore, Piglet, Tigger, Owl, Roo and Christopher Robin.  The movie was a refreshing reminder of our innocent days as a child.  The hand drawing they used in this new addition of Winnie the Pooh was a wonderful welcome.  The story was classic and fun.  It was a nice escape on a very hot day.

A betrayal and a lot of dead bodies

The Mechanic starring Jason Statham and Donald Sutherland is an action packed drama that has a predictable ending.  A "Mechanic" is a "hit man".  He is called when he is needed to clean up someone else's mess.  Trouble starts when his assignment is to exterminate his mentor and friend.  When he finds out who is behind this and then tries to make amends with his mentor's son, his house of cards starts to tumble down around him. These is not much more to tell with this story.  There is a lot of shooting and dead people all over the city and problems start to get solved.  The movie is fast paced and entertaining. If that is what you are looking for and no more, then this would be a nice movie to rent.

Christians on a witch hunt

Season of the Witch starring Nicholas Cage and Ron Perlman is a short film, just 96 minutes.  A crusade of Christian army men are attacking cities who are home to non Christians and who are sanctioned as devil worshipers because they harbor witches.  They come across one city where mothers and children are killed and they start to question their leader and their beliefs.  They decide to quit the crusade and survive on their own.  Some time after, three witches are found and hung and die except for one young witch. She survives and needs to be transported to the monks to be judged.  Cage, Perlman and a small band of Christians, go on a journey to transport this witch to the monks.  Little do they know what truth is behind this young witch and what they will face when they arrive at their destination.  Season of the witch is not a bad movie but it becomes apparent as to what is going on and fizzles out in the end.  Oh well...it is a short movie and it's entertaining.

Pirates times four

This sequel of Pirates of the Caribbean on Stranger Tides starring Johnny Depp and Penelope Cruz is much better than the third pirates movie.  Jack (Depp) is looking for his lost ship (The Pearl) but runs into Angelica (Cruz) and gets involved with her to look for the fountain of youth.  It was fun to see some familiar characters.  One of the best scenes of this movie for me was Captain Jack Sparrow dancing with another Jack Sparrow.  The choreography for that dance was really nice.  Black Beard is back with a vengeance and brings a few surprises along the way.  The story of course leaves room for another sequel.  How many treasures can you look for?

An American Hero

Captain America:  The First Avenger was a strong story about the military putting their lives on the line to protect our country.  A young man, Steve (Chris Evans) is picked on and rejected several times from enlisting in the military.  However, Steve doesn't give up in a fight, he has compassion and a determination that is not swayed, so he is chosen for an experiment in the military and is finally accepted.  The supporting characters Peggy (Hayley Atwell), a brave friend Bucky (Sebastian Stan) and a very loyal cast of characters makes for a cohesive story.  Captain America is not a character that is interesting to me but the movie is worth seeing.

Harry Potter ends

Harry Potter, Hermime and Ron are together one last time.  Harry Potter and the Deathly Hollows Part 2 was a fast paced and emotional movie for all the Harry Potter fans.  The battle of good verses evil and the final fight of Harry and Voldemort bought excitement and anticipation to us all.  There were a lot of questions answered which was nice.  Many fans will miss Harry Potter, but what a wonderful run of very likable characters.

Star cast, weak story

Cowboys vs Aliens starring Daniel Craig, Harrison Ford and Olivia Wilde was a pretty good movie.  The movie is set in 1875 in New Mexico, a stranger (Craig) appeared with no memory and with an alien device on his wrist.  He decides to go to the nearest town and finds the  law enforcement and the towns people know who he is and he becomes public enemy number one.  Harrison Ford plays a concerned father of a troubled spoiled son and a cowboy who is the leader of this town.  Olivia Wilde is a beautiful woman with an agenda of her own and a secret.  When more townspeople are taken by the aliens, enemies and rivals have to work together to fight the aliens.  The actors were great and they did the best they could with such a weak storyline.  The  story was so disjointed and confusing that it made a movie by director Jon Favreau and Steven Spielberg not really worth seeing.

Sucker Punch - Punchless...

The movie Sucker Punch is a fantasy based cgi movie that takes a young girl (baby doll's) life which is tragic and pitiful and is supposed to remove her from her unfortunate circumstances and give her a chance at happiness.  The story gets lost when she goes into this fantasy world kicking butt with her new found friends.  Things start to become complicated when she realizes that this journey is not only about her. The graphics in this movie was terrific, but the story fell short in what it was trying to accomplish.  Too bad the writers or the director didn't work as hard on the direction and the story or give the talented actors  much to work with as they did putting in the time to get the graphics right.

Source Code - a surprising good story

This reviewer went to see Source Code thinking it would be another movie about a heroic unknown citizen saving a train.  Boy...was I wrong.  It was like Inception and Quatum Leap with a twist.  It was a very engaging and thought provoking movie.  Jake Gyllenhaal has impressed me with his talent and he is a joy to watch in this movie.  The story is about a man who has 8 minutes to change a devastating disaster from happening.  Throughout the course of the movie, his motivations change and thereby comes the interesting twist to the movie.  Source Code is highly recommended to see.

Movie Review

"I Am Number Four" is a science fiction/fantasy teenage movie about human looking aliens from another planet whose people have systematically been killed off.  Alien assassins are hunting and killing nine specially powered young people to complete their mission.  Number three was killed along with his keeper and now they are after number four.  The first two are dead and the story never really goes into detail about that.  Number 4 (John) of course wants to be a normal teenager but is reminded to stay off the grid so that he is not found.  Well...how easy is that in terms of the Internet and smart phones?  This movie have some references to different movies such as Superman, Twilight and Transformers.  The teenagers, the girlfriend, the geek sci-fi friend who wants to believe and who has a father that could hold the key to the whole situation.  The way the movie ended means there will be a sequel.  I Am Number Four is not a bad movie.  It's entertaining and if you are looking for a light distraction with no real strain on the brain, then sit and enjoy the show.

Green Hornet

The question that comes to mind after seeing the Green Hornet is why do you need the Green Hornet and what is his actual purpose?  Not only was the so called hero upstaged by his partner Kato, he was also upstaged by the car.  Tom Wilkinson, Edward James Olmos and Cameron Diaz were unfortunately dragged into this poorly written movie trying hard to play straight and serious parts in this pathetic movie.  On a short positive note, there were some scenes that were funny because they were a rip off of the Pink Panther.  There was the same idea in the Pink Panther of a love/hate relationship between Clouseau and Cato that was used in this movie.  The Green Hornet left me with a bad taste in my mouth and a question mark on the top of my head.

True Grit

If you like westerns and you loved John Wayne back in the day, you will love this movie. Jeff Bridges did a wonderful job as the character of Rooster Cogburn hired to help a young girl revenge the death of her father. Other great actors under the fantastic direction of the Coen brothers are Matt Damon and Josh Brolin. A newcomer, Hailee Steinfeld was wonderful. Her freshness and grasp on the role of Mattie was refreshing and she fit right in with some very seasoned actors. The story is about a drunk Marshall (Bridges) and a sheriff (Damon) who helps Mattie and decides to come along reluctantly for the ride. Great acting, great story and the cinematography is great. Looking for a great feel good, humorous western then this is the movie to see.

Movie Review

Here is a movie review on the new movie called, Black Swan starring Natalie Portman.

This movie is a disturbing and psychological story about Nina who will do anything to be the perfect ballerina. She is trying out for the queen in Swan Lake. Her mother has tried to keep her in a proverbial "box" to be the perfect princess ballerina. This persona is what drives the character to do things outside of her box in order for her to play a dual good vs. evil role. The role of a lifetime. There is an intense sexual act in the movie for people who are sensitive to that type of act who may want to think twice before deciding to see this movie. The acting is wonderful and the movie will have you think twice about trying to be a perfectionist in anything you are passionate about.