Matthew Liedke

The Lone Ranger review

Director:
Gore Verbinski
Cast:
Johnny Depp
Armie Hammer
William Fichtner
Tom Wilkinson
Ruth Wilson
Helena Bonham Carter
Rated: PG-13

I could have earned the title of the Lone Watch Checker seeing this movie.

‘The Lone Ranger,” based on the character from the TV show that started in 1946, follows the character John Reid (Hammer). Reid is a prosecutor traveling to the wild west and eventually meets up with his older brother who is a Texas Ranger. Reid’s brother, Dan, is after a criminal named Butch (Fichtner). John joins a posse with Dan and go to get the criminal, however they are ambushed and all killed.

However, John ends up coming back from the dead and becomes a spirit walker. He meets with an Indian named Tonto (Depp), and the two of them have a common enemy in Butch. They decide to team up and bring the villain to justice. To do so, John puts on a mask and becomes the Lone Ranger.

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Despicable Me 2 review

Director:
Pierre Coffin & Chris Renaud
Cast:
Steve Carell
Kristen Wiig
Benjamin Bratt
Russell Brand
Rated: PG

The two “Despicable Me” movies are similar, except that the sequel doesn’t have as much NBC product placement as the first did.

“Despicable Me 2” picks up not long after the end of the first film. The former super villain, Gru (Carell), is now trying to go into more legitimate business, mostly because of his adopted daughters, Margo, Agnes and Edith.

Gru is taken back into the world of villainy though by a secret agency that stands against evil doers. The Anti-Villain League recruits Gru to go undercover and take down a new dangerous threat. Gru eventually agrees and teams up with one of the league’s agents named Lucy (Wiig).

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The Heat review

Director:
Paul Feig
Cast:
Sandra Bullock
Melissa McCarthy
Marlon Wayans
Michael Rapaport
Rated: R

The first female buddy cop movie! It would be really ground breaking if it wasn’t like every other buddy cop film out there.

“The Heat” stars Sandra Bullock and Melissa McCarthy. Bullock plays an FBI agent named Ashburn, who does everything completely by the books. Her latest case brings her to the streets of Boston where she meets Mullins (McCarthy), a cop who is the complete opposite of Ashburn, being a total loose cannon.

The case that the two have to work on involves having to stop some type of crime lord from doing some type of shipment. However, for these two, working together seems nearly impossible.

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White House Down review

Let’s get the most obvious thing out right away. This film cannot be reviewed without mentioning “Olympus Has Fallen,” which also had a story where the White House gets taken over by terrorists. I will come out right now and say that “Olympus Has Fallen” is the better movie, it balances having fun and being entertaining while still being somewhat believable. That being said, “White House Down” isn’t bad.

The film follows a low- ranking security agent named Cale, played by Channing Tatum, who is trying to get into the Secret Service to protect the President. The president in the film, James Sawyer, played by Jamie Foxx, is trying to get legislation passed through that could bring peace to the Middle East.

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World War Z review

Director:
Marc Forster
Cast:
Brad Pitt
Mireille Enos
Daniella Kertesz
Rated: PG-13

Let me take you back to 2008. ATMR was just getting started and one story I posted on the site was about the book “World War Z” being adapted into a movie.

Nearly five years of development hell later and the movie has finally arrived in theaters.

“World War Z” follows the character Gerry (Pitt), a retired United Nations Investigator, who now takes up the role as stay at home dad. Everything seems peaceful enough, however, a drive through the city with the family becomes a horrifying experience as a fast spreading zombie virus starts moving through. Gerry contacts his friends at the U.N. and manages to escape the city with his family.

The reason that the U.N. allows his family to stay aboard a fleet of battleships which makes up humanity’s most functional command center, though, is because they need his skills that he used in his old job to put an end to the virus. For the sake of his family’s survival, Gerry agrees to go on a mission to discover how to fight back against the virus and the investigation takes him over multiple countries around the world.

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Monsters University review

Director:
Don Scanlon
Cast:
Billyn Crystal
John Goodman
Steve Buscemi
Helen Mirren
Rated: G

Welcome back Pixar.

“Monsters University” serves as a prequel to the 2001 movie “Monsers, Inc.” The film introduces us to the duo of Mike Wazowski (Crystal) and James P. Sullivan (Goodman) when they first meet as they begin their college careers at Monsters University. Unlike the first film though, where the two are best of friends, in this film they start out as rivals.

Mike wants to be a scarer just like Sullivan does, and the two go about it different ways. Mike studies everything there is about scaring through books while Sullivan just tries to ride on his natural abilities.

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This is the End review

Director:
Evan Goldberg & Seth Rogen
Cast:
James Franco
Jonah Hill
Seth Rogen
Jay Baruchel
Danny McBride
Craig Robinson
Rated: R

“This is the End” is a simple enough story. It’s a movie following the biblical rapture, what’s different is it just so happens to be through the perspective of comedic actors.

The film begins with Jay Baruchel visiting Seth Rogen. The two are spending some time together in Los Angeles and Seth decides they should go to a house warming party at James Franco’s new place. Although Jay is hesitant, they go anyways.

During the party, chaos begins to ensue as earthquakes begin and sinkholes start appearing. Many celebrities who were at Franco’s party end up dying in the calamity and the survivors take refuge in Franco’s house. They include Franco himself, Seth, Jay, Danny McBride, Craig Robinson and Jonah Hill. What follows is a lot of insanity in the house as the six try to survive the seeming apocalypse.

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Man of Steel review

Director:
Zack Snyder
Cast:
Henry Cavill
Amy Adams
Michael Shannon
Russell Crowe
Kevin Costner
Laurence Fishburne
Rated: PG-13

Yes! Superman does more than throw an island into space! Hooray!

“Man of Steel” is another venture into a superhero universe for Director Zack Snyder who directed 2009’s “Watchmen.” The film is, at its heart, a superhero origin movie. However, Snyder manages to elevate it to a higher level than some of the other origin stories that have been done over the past few years. Instead of learning about the character through a standard a, b and c plot-line, Snyder instead uses multiple flashbacks to not only show the development of who Superman becomes but how he had to deal with his powers too.

The movie reaches the point where Clark Kent/Kal-El (Cavill) discovers who he really is, meeting a conscience hologram of his father Jor-El (Crowe) who explains why the alien is on Earth in the first place and what he should do for the planet and humanity. Jor-El’s enemy, Zod (Shannon) finds his way to Earth too, and seeks to wipe out humanity and restore the Krypton race. To stop Zod, Superman has to work together with Daily Planet reporter Lois Lane (Adams) who is one of the first to discover his origins.

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The Purge review

Director:
James DeMonaco
Cast:
Ethan Hawke
Lena Headey
Max Burkholder
Adelaide Kane
Edwin Hodge
Rhys Wakefield
Rated: R

“The Purge,” aka the hardcore version of “Home Alone.”

“The Purge” takes place in the year 2022. The United States has become a utopia, the economy is booming, crime is at an all time low, unemployment is at 1 percent and dogs and cats get along. This is all because for one 12 hour period every year, the government suspends all emergency services and allows all crime. This lets people to purge all of their hatred and get it out of their system.

The film follows the Sandins, a wealthy family of four with the dad named James (Hawke) who sells home protection services. On the night of the purge, the Sandins lock down their entire home while chaos is going on outside. Everything seems to be running smoothly until a man (Wakefield) running down the street comes along yelling for help. It turns out that he is a target for a group purgers who is trying to escape. The son in the Sandins named Charlie (Burkholder) feels bad for the guy and decides to let him in to the house.

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The Internship review

In case you didn’t know that Google was a sponsor for this movie, it will remind you about a thousand times.

“The Internship” follows two salesmen, Billy and Nick, played by Vince Vaughn and Owen Wilson, who sell watches at their company, owned by their boss played by John Goodman. Things take a turn for the worse though as the company gets shut down and Billy and Nick are left without a job and have to find employment elsewhere.

Billy eventually gets the bright idea to join an internship at Google for an opportunity at getting a job. The duo become interns and find they have to work with a team of young misfits through the summer to win the job against other intern teams. The only problem is the protagonists don’t have any computer experience. However, they do have people skills.

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