Matthew Liedke

Free Birds review

Director:
Jimmy Hayward
Cast:
Owen Wilson
Woody Harrelson
Amy Poehler
George Takei
Rated: PG

I didn’t think there was going to be a wide released animated movie this year that was as poor as “Turbo” or “Planes.” I was wrong.

“Free Birds” follows the character Reggie (Wilson), a turkey who tries to warn his fellow flock that they are being used for Thanksgiving meals. Life gets a little easier for Reggie, though, when he is chosen as the Presidential pardoned turkey and gets to live the rest of his life in comfort.

That is until he meets another turkey named Jake (Harrelson) who is on a mission to stop Thanksgiving from happening ever again. To do so, Jake takes Reggie to a time machine (which has an AI system voiced by George Takei) which brings them to the time of the very first Thanksgiving. There, they meet a tribe of tribal turkeys who end up helping them in their quest.

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12 Years a Slave review

Director:
Steve McQueen
Cast:
Chiwetel Ejiofor
Benedict Cumberbatch
Paul Giamatti
Michael Fassbender
Rated: R

Steve McQueen’s “12 Years a Slave” follows Solomon Northup (Ejiofor), a free black man living in the state of New York in the 1840s. Solomon is a professional violinist and lives comfortably with his family. This changes though when he takes a job in Washington D.C. and is captured by slave traders.

From there on out, Solomon suffers hardships as he is sold to different owners and witnesses and experiences multiple horrors.

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The Counselor review

Director:
Ridley Scott
Cast:
Michael Fassbender
Penelope Cruz
Cameron Diaz
Javier Bardem
Brad Pitt
Rated: R

Some aspects of “The Counselor,” like its cinematography, are as glamorous as the lifestyles portrayed in the movie, however, as a whole it is still a mess for the most part.

The story follows a man with no name. Not literally mind you, but Michael Fassbender is referred to as the Counselor through the entire film by everyone in the cast. The counselor is a lawyer who has some friends that can be considered the wrong crowd to be around.

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Carrie review

Director:
Kimberly Peirce
Cast:
Julianne Moore
Chloe Grace Moretz
Gabriella Wilde
Chris Hargensen
Ansel Elgort
Judy Greer
Rated: R

Chloe Grace Moretz seems to always play characters with a kill count. “Kick-Ass,” “Let Me In” and now “Carrie.”

The film is an adaption of the Stephen King novel of the same name, which was also made into a movie in 1976 by Director Brian De Palma. The story resolves around the title character, Carrie White (Moretz), a shy girl who lives with only her mother, a religious fanatic named Margaret (Moore) who more or less has lost her mind.

After an incident where Carrie is tormented by her peers, mainly by the character Chris (Portia Doubleday), she begins to learn that she possess telekinesis, or the power to move objects using the mind.

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Escape Plan review

Sylvester Stallone and Arnold Schwarzenegger are back and this time they team up in an action flick that can’t go the distance.

Ray Breslin, played by Stallone, doesn’t exactly have a typical job in the movie, “Escape Plan.” Breslin tests the security of high security prisons by breaking out of them for a living.

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REVIEW: ‘Captain Phillips’

Oscar season is starting early this year as “Captain Phillips” will more than likely be nominated for an award or two.

“Phillips” is a dramatization that recreates the events of a ship hijacking that took place in Spring 2009. The movie follows the title character, Captain Richard Phillips, who is in command of the United States ship Maersk Alabama. During the time it was sailing near the coast of Africa, the ship was boarded by four armed Somali pirates and was taken over.

During the ordeal, Phillips was eventually taken hostage by the pirates in a lifeboat.

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Gravity review

Director:
Alfonso Cuaron
Cast:
Sandra Bullock
George Clooney
Ed Harris
Rated: PG-13

Like most kids growing up, I thought about the idea of becoming an astronaut, this movie makes me happy I never followed through with that.

“Gravity” takes place in the Earth’s orbit, following the story of a NASA shuttle crew doing repair work. The crew includes an engineer named Ryan (Bullock) and a veteran astronaut named Matt (Clooney).

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Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs 2 review

Director:
Cody Cameron, Kris Pearn
Cast:
Bill Hader
Anna Faris
James Caan
Terry Crews
Chester V
Rated: PG

Sometimes with animated movie sequels you get really great films, that didn’t exactly happen with “Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs 2.”

The sequel to the 2009 film that was inspired by a children’s book, “Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs 2” starts off immediately after the first film ended. Once again the movie follows inventor Flint Lockwood (Hader), who was responsible for the machine that produced food that blanketed an entire island.

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Don Jon review

Director:
Joseph Gordon-Levitt
Cast:
Joseph Gordon-Levitt
Scarlett Johansson
Julianne Moore
Tony Danza
Rated: R

Joseph Gordon-Levitt makes his directing debut in “Don Jon” and pulls it off just about perfectly.

“Don Jon” is the nickname given to the title character. Jon is a young man living in New Jersey who has developed a routine which he follows every week. Jon goes to the night clubs, sleeps with women, attends church and confessional and more often than not ends up watching porn.

That routine becomes shaken up a bit when he meets and starts a relationship with Barbara (Johansson). Jon starts to believe that Barbara could be the right one for him, yet as time goes on he starts questioning the relationship. When he starts taking a college class at the request of Barbara, he meets a woman named Esther (Moore) who ends up helping him a bit with his relationship situation.

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Rush review

Director Ron Howard, whose previous work includes “Apollo 13” and “Frost/Nixon,” returns with “Rush.” The film is a chronicle of a real life rivalry that developed between Formula 1 racers James Hunt, played by Chris Hemsworth and Niki Lauda played by Daniel Bruhl.

The film shows how both drivers got started in the lower ranks of the motorsport and through time worked to become two of the biggest names in the industry. During the 1970s, both men’s private lives are delved into, revealing what else was really driving them. The movie culminates with the 1976 world championship for Formula 1 in which they both compete for the title.

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