Matthew Liedke

REVIEW: ‘Chef’

Director:
Jon Favreau
Cast:
Jon Favreau
John Leguizamo
Emjay Anthony
Sofia Vergara
Rated: R

After a string of high budget blockbusters, Director Jon Favreau has returned to the smaller screen in the indie comedy “Chef.”

Not only does Favreau direct the picture, he writes and stars as the main character, too. Favreau plays Carl Casper, A chef who has had a relatively good career working at an upscale restaurant in Los Angeles. While his career has gone somewhat smoothly, the same cannot be said for his family life.

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X-Men: Days of Future Past review

Director:
Bryan Singer
Cast:
Hugh Jackman
James McAvoy
Michael Fassbender
Jennifer Lawrence
Peter Dinklage
Rated: PG-13

So many X-Men characters, so little time, but plenty of time travel.

The seventh film in the “X-Men” franchise and the first to return some of the characters from the original trilogy, “Days of Future Past” starts off in a “Terminator” like atmosphere. The film takes place in the not so distant future with much of the mutant race either dead or in hiding and the human race not doing too well either.

The reason for the devastation is summed up in an opening expository dialogue by Patrick Stewart playing Charles Xavier. It’s explained that some time after the events of “The Wolverine,” robots, titled Sentinals, were unleashed to hunt down mutants with the ability to adapt to any power they are faced with.

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REVIEW: ‘Godzilla’

Director:
Gareth Edwards
Cast: PG-13
Aaron Taylor-Johnson
Ken Watanabe
Bryan Cranston
David Strathairn
Rated: PG-13

Yes this movie needed more Godzilla. Scenes with fins sticking out of the water don’t count.

The second American take on “Godzilla” starts with the character Joe Brody (Cranston), a worker at a nuclear power plant in Japan. On what seems like just another average day, the power plant is devastated by an unknown force, and in the destruction Brody’s wife, who also works at the factory, is killed. This sets off Brody into a truth finding search for answers which ends up leading to a strained relationship with his son Ford (Taylor-Johnson).

Fast forward 15 years into the future and Brody’s quest for the truth leads him, along with Ford, to uncover a powerful creature which pose a massive threat to humanity. Things get more interesting as the military gets involved to stop the creature that has awoken and meanwhile, the King of the Monsters starts to make his presence known.

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Transcendence review

A good science fiction idea can only go so far without a good story.

Will Caster is the main character of “Transcendence,” played by Johnny Depp.

Caster is a brilliant computer technician who has designed his own artificial intelligence programming. His life and much of the technology industry is shattered, though, when a terrorist attack occurs by a group who fears artificial intelligence.

Disaster strikes when Caster learns the attack has left him terminally ill and he only has a few weeks to live. In response, Caster’s wife, Evelyn, played by Rebecca Hall, and friend and colleague, Max, portrayed by Paul Bettany, use the artificial intelligence technology to place Caster’s consciousness into a computer program.

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Draft Day review

Director:
Ivan Reitman
Cast:
Kevin Costner
Jennifer Garner
Chadwick Boseman
Josh Pence
Denis Leary
Griffin Newman
Rated: PG-13

Why do good concepts in movies always have to be dragged down by useless subplots.

“Draft Day” takes place on the most important time for the National Football League offseason. Players from college are evaluated, ESPN and NFL Network have round the clock coverage of mock drafts and quarterback mechanics are analyzed. The film itself follows Sonny Weaver (Costner), a general manager for the Cleveland Browns, and any football fan knows that’s not the best job to have.

The movie picks up the morning of the first round of the draft with Sonny questioning what he will do. The team needs to be rebuilt but it will take some trading and dealing on Sonny’s part to get it done. On top of that, the main character is also dealing with a turbulent relationship with co-worker Ali (Garner) and is mourning the death of his father who was previously the coach of the Browns.

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Rio 2 review

Director:
Carlos Saldanha
Cast:
Jesse Eisenberg
Jamie Foxx
Jemaine Clement
Andy Garcia
Anne Hathaway
Rated: G

Does an animated movie about birds need this many sub plots?

“Rio 2” carries on the story of Blu, voiced by Jesse Eisenberg. Blu, who formally lived in Minnesota during the first movie, now lives with his wife Jewel (Hathaway) and their children in a forest sanctuary near Rio, being kept safe as they are the only birds of their kind.

That is until more of their species is discovered by an expedition conducted by the film’s lead human protagonists. Blu’s family and friends eagerly travel to the Amazon where the rest of the species lives and he reluctantly tags along. When they arrive they find out that their species is led by Jewel’s long lost father Eduardo (Garcia).

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Captain America: Winter Soldier review

Marvel has made its best super hero film to date, by not playing out like a super hero movie.

“Winter Soldier” is the sequel to the premier film, “Captain America: The First Avenger,” in 2011. The film takes place after the events of “The Avengers,” with the Captain, aka Steve Rogers, adjusting to his life in the 21st Century. He lives his life as an agent for SHIELD and works together with Natasha Romanoff, played by Scarlett Johansson.

Rogers follows orders from SHIELD Director Nick Fury, played by Samuel L. Jackson, and carries out those orders on missions. However, Rogers begins to have issues with how SHIELD is operating.

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Need for Speed review

Director:
Scott Waugh
Cast:
Aaron Paul
Dominic Cooper
Imogen Poots
Scott Mescudi
Harrison Gilbertson
Rated: PG-13

Video game fans will have to wait for another adaption if they want to see something good.
“Need for Speed” follows the story of a mechanic named Tobey (Paul), who is facing some financial hardships when it comes to his repair shop. That doesn’t stop him and his friends from enjoying some leisurely street racing from time to time, though.

One night after a race Tobey gets a visit from his old rival and professional driver Dino Brewster (Cooper). Dino makes a deal with Tobey and the shop crew to fix up a car in exchange for a large sum of money. After the job is finished, though, Dino challenges Tobey and his younger friend Peter (Harrison Gilbertson) to a street race. The race turns out to be deadly as Peter loses his life in an accident and Tobey is sent to prison. Upon his release him and his crew decide to enter an underground race competition that Dino will also partake in to get revenge.

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Mr. Peabody and Sherman review

Director:
Rob Minkoff
Cast:
Ty Burrell
Max Charles
Ariel Winter
Allison Janney
Rated: PG

This movie was like an ocean of puns, and it was great.

“Mr. Peabody and Sherman” is a film based on animated shorts that were featured in the “Rocky and Bullwinkle” show. The movie, which expands on the original concept, follows the title character Mr. Peabody (Burrell), a genius dog who can do practically anything including building a time machine called the WABAC. Mr. Peabody also is the adopted father of a boy named Sherman (Charles) and teaches him about various historic moments.

Conflicts start up, though, when a mishap occurs at Sherman’s school when he gets into a fight with a girl named Penny (Winter). This brings in a social worker named Ms. Grunion (Janney) who doesn’t think Peabody makes for a good father.

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300: Rise of an Empire review

If there’s one thing I didn’t expect to be in a “300” movie, it was bored.

The film “300: Rise of an Empire,” takes place before, during and after the events of the original “300.” Instead of focusing on the Spartans again, this film focuses on Themistokles, played by Sullivan Stapleton.

Themistokles is an Athenian leading a small group of ships to combat the Persian navy, commanded by Artemisia, played by Eva Green. For the most part, like the original movie, everything plays out in a sort of “David vs. Goliath” manner.

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