Author: Matthew Liedke

Journalist and film critic in Minnesota. Graduate of Rainy River College and Minnesota State University in Moorhead. Outside of movies I also enjoy sports, craft beers and the occasional video game.

REVIEW: If Not A Pet Owner, A Person Can Skip The ‘Secret Life Of Pets’

Illumination Studios, responsible for the “Despicable Me” franchise, is back with animals this time.

“The Secret Life of Pets” takes place in New York City and follows a group of animals living in an apartment complex with various owners. More specifically, the film is about Max (Louis C.K.), a dog who lives a comfortable life with his owner.

Conflict starts up, though, when his owner brings home a new dog named Duke (Eric Stonestreet). The two don’t exactly hit it off and their tension between each other ends up getting them lost and in trouble with the pound.

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REVIEW: Third ‘Purge’ Uses The Same Formula As The Second Film, But Doesn’t Deliver Same Results

If you enjoyed “The Purge: Anarchy” from 2014, you may not need to see “The Purge: Election Year,” since they are so similar.

Returning from the 2014 feature is former police sergeant Leo, played by Frank Grillo. After the events of the second film where he was involved with helping a group of individuals survive the Purge, Leo is now the lead security official for U.S. Sen. Charlie Roan (Elizabeth Mitchell).

Roan is a presidential candidate and is running on a platform of ending the Purge and moving the country in a different direction, making her a target for those in favor of the newest American holiday. For this reason, Roan and Leo are forced to go on the run on Purge night after an assassination attempt and they have few people to trust. However, they do get some help from others trying to survive the night.

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REVIEW: Sitting Through The Latest ‘Tarzan’ Adventure Is A Chore

There are certain flaws that can be overlooked or minimized in a summer action picture as long as it can be entertaining. “The Legend of Tarzan” isn’t one of those movies. On top of all of the other problems with this thing, it’s downright boring.

The film follows Tarzan’s life after his time growing up in the jungle. Now going by John Clayton, Tarzan (Alexander Skarsgard) is a well dressed, affluent individual living in London with his wife Jane (Margot Robbie). He’s asked to return to Africa, though, by an American named George Williams (Samuel L. Jackson) who’s investigating a case of slavery.

Subsequently, this trip also makes Tarzan the target of a man named Leon Rom (Christoph Waltz), who needs to capture the legendary man of the jungle to be used as leverage in a nefarious plot.

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REVIEW: ‘The Shallows’ Is A Thrilling Story Of Survival

It might not make you afraid to go in the water, but it will entertain the hell out of you at the theater.

“The Shallows,” directed by Jaume Collet-Serra who previously helmed Liam Neeson thrillers “Unknown” and “Non-Stop” tells the story of Nancy. Played by Blake Lively, Nancy is a young woman who has taken time out of her pursuit of a medical degree to ride the waves at a secluded beach. The location the film takes place at is special to her, since her mother surfed at the same beach years ago.

After a full day of surfing, though, Nancy soon finds herself in a feeding ground of a great white shark and her only salvation away from the shore is a small rock formation. This means she is left to discover some way of getting to safety while being secluded.

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REVIEW: ‘Independence Day’ Sequel Doesn’t Capture First Film’s Magic

Talk about jumping the shark.

“Resurgence,” the follow-up to the 1996 mega-blockbuster, takes place 20 years after the events of the first film. By reverse-engineering alien technology, the human race has created new defensive machinery and the nations of the world have united to defend against another attack.

The story picks up around the time of the 20 year anniversary of the first war and audiences are immediately introduced to a new cast of fighter pilots who help Earth’s defenses. At the same time, though, characters from the previous film are featured, like David Levinson (Jeff Goldblum), the tech genius who helped upload a virus on the mother ship and now serves as the expert on all things aliens.

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REVIEW: While Not As Good As Original, ‘Finding Dory’ Is Still Fun For The Family

Per usual, Pixar knows how to pull an audiences heartstrings. In “Finding Dory,” though, that’s not fully enough.

The latest film from the animation studio picks up a year after the first film left off. Marlin (Albert Brooks), Nemo (Hayden Rolence) and Dory (Ellen DeGeneres) all live along the familiar coral reef and despite Dory’s occasional issues with her memory, life seems to be happy.

Adventure starts to set in with the returning protagonists, though, when Dory suddenly remembers her parents and decides she has to find them. Joined by Marlin and Nemo, Dory travels to a rescue and release park for fish where she believes she can find her family.

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REVIEW: The Wait For A Good Video Game Movie Will Continue, ‘Warcraft’ Isn’t It

The “Warcraft” game series has been a phenomenon for nearly two decades, and for good reason. The series began as a strategy game and later became an online role-playing type in “World of Warcraft.” Since its inception, one of the driving factors of the game series was its deep, extensive lore.

While this lore makes for a good story, though, Director Duncan Jones’ attempt to turn it around for a feature length picture doesn’t quite hit the mark.

“Warcraft” starts by following a warrior race of creatures known as the orcs. The orcs, led by a warlock named Gul’dan (Daniel Wu) are in the midst of a plan to leave their dying home world by way of a portal and conquer the land of Azeroth, inhabited by humans, dwarves and elves.

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REVIEW: ‘Central Intelligence’ Starts Strong But Loses Energy As It Goes On

It’s another team up movie for Kevin Hart and this time around he’s joined by one of the biggest action stars in Hollywood.

In “Central Intelligence,” Hart plays a man who was once the most popular and active kid in high school, but is now stuck at a rather dead-end job as an accountant. His situation makes him less than eager to attend his upcoming 20 year high school reunion, but one day at work, he gets a message from Bob Stone (Dwayne Johnson).

Bob, who was also a senior when Calvin was in school, was bullied for much of his time there. However, that has turned around as Bob has become a jacked up super agent for the CIA. Calvin, unfortunately, finds this out the hard way as he’s dragged into an international operation by Bob to help him accomplish his mission.

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REVIEW: ‘Now You See Me 2’ Is A Trick, There’s No Magic To Be Had At The Theater For This Movie

Daniel Radcliffe of the “Harry Potter” films is in a movie about magicians. Wink, wink.

The follow-up to 2013’s film “Now You See Me” once again follows the Four Horsemen, a group of magicians who now follow orders from a mysterious organization called The Eye. Not much is known about The Eye, other than that it gives out missions to the Horsemen, now with a new member, that mainly include helping the disadvantaged.

While things seem to be working with the Horsemen despite some friction in the group, the four characters are thrown into chaotic situation when they’re forced into a heist by a powerful rich tech mogul named Walter (Radcliffe). Meanwhile, the Horsemen’s partner, FBI agent Dylan (Mark Ruffalo) has to cut ties with the agency to help the main characters.

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