Tag: Family

The Way Way Back review

Directors:
Nat Faxon
Jim Rash
Cast:
Steve Carell
Toni Collette
Sam Rockwell
Liam James
AnnaSophia Robb
Rated: PG-13

Ah, the good ole’ coming of age genre.

“The Way Way Back” follows 14-year-old Duncan (James), a socially awkward teen who is on a summer vacation trip with his mother Pam (Toni Collette) and Pam’s boyfriend Trent (Carell). Duncan doesn’t exactly get along with Trent very well and keeps to himself for much of the start to his summer at a beach house.

The mundane nature of Duncan’s summer comes to a screeching hult, though, when he meets Owen (Rockwell), a man who works at the local water park. Owen is a carefree, fun loving person working with a staff who invites Duncan to get a job at the Water Park as well. Duncan starts working there and it becomes an escape from his less than stellar life at the beach house.

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Percy Jackson: Sea of Monsters review

Director:
Thor Fruedenthal
Cast:
Logan Lerman
Alexandra Daddario
Brandon T. Jackson
Leven Rambin
Jake Abel
Rated: PG

Finally, the sequel that nobody was asking for.

The second “Percy Jackson” installment picks up some time after the events of “The Lightning Thief.” Percy Jackson (Lerman), son of Poseidon, is training in a special camp for demigods, which is sort of like a lame version of Xavier’s School for the Gifted from X-Men. Trouble starts coming up when enemy demigod Luke (Abel) gets involved with a plot to destroy the barrier around the camp and reawaken the ancient evil.

To stop the ancient evil, and save the camp, Percy has to go on a quest to find the Golden Fleece. He is once again joined by love interest Annabeth (Daddario) and comic relief character Grover (Jackson) to go on the mission. A new addition to the team is Tyson (Smith), Percy’s half brother who happens to be a cyclops and offers a bit more comic relief.

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Turbo review

Director:
David Soren
Cast:
Ryan Reynolds
Paul Giamatti
Michael Pena
Samuel Jackson
Ken Jeong
Michelle Rodriguez
Maya Rudolph
Rated: PG

What a random concept to base a film around.

“Turbo” follows the title character played by Ryan Reynolds. Turbo is a garden snail living an uneventful life with his brother, Chet (Giamatti) near a number of tomato plants. Turbo has dreams of being fast and racing in the Indy 500, however, obviously, he has little chance to do so. That is until an accident that has Turbo falling into a car engine and getting blasted with the NOS that is seen in “Fast and Furious” franchise movies.

After this happens, Turbo inherits super speed that leaves a trail of blue light behind him. Through a series of events, Turbo and Chet come into contact with a group of other snails led by Whiplash (Jackson) as well as a taco vendor named Tito (Pena) who wants to race the super snail in the actual Indy 500.

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Grown Ups 2 review

Director:
Dennis Dugan
Cast:
Adam Sandler
Kevin James
Chris Rock
David Spade
Salma Hayek
Maya Rudolph
Rated: PG-13

You can tell a comedy is bad when it produces more sighs than laughs.

“Grown Ups 2” picks up some time after the first movie, and follows Hollywood man Lenny (Sandler) now living with his family in his home town. The movie follows Lenny and his friends Eric (James), Kurt (Rock) and Marcus (Spade) through a day where they plan on having an 80s theme party that night.

That short paragraph is, in truth, the only story going on in “Grown Ups 2.” The movie is more or less connected by a string of subplots that go nowhere and random hijinks between the four leads and their families.

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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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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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Epic review

Director:
Chris Wedge
Cast:
Colin Farrell
Josh Hutcherson
Amanda Seyfried
Beyonce Knowles
Rated: PG

“Epic” is another animated film from the studios that have brought you the “Ice Age” sequels and “Rio,” and like those movies, this one is stunningly mediocre.

The film follows a teenage girl named M.K. (Seyfried), who is planning to live with her father played by Jason Sudeikis. The only problem is that her father is an obsessed scientist who believes that there is a race of tiny people who live in the forest.

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Oz the Great and Powerful review

Director:
Sam Raimi
Cast:
James Franco
Michelle Williams
Zach Braff
Joey King
Mila Kunis
Rated:
PG

This movie can be used as a lesson on how to correctly make a prequel.

“Oz the Great and Powerful,” tells the story of the title character, Oz, who we know from the beloved 1939 film “The Wizard of Oz.” In this film, we find Oz, played by James Franco to be a rather selfish, prankster of a magician and yet seems to have a heart of gold somewhere inside. Through a series of events of being chased out of a traveling carnival and ending up in a hot air balloon, Oz finds himself sucked into a twister and ends up in the land of Oz.

As he begins to explore his surroundings, Oz meets Theodora (Mila Kunis), who tells him where he is and that she is a witch. Oz is trusting of her and is led to the Emerald City and is told that he is a wizard of prophecy that will eliminate the threat of the wicked witches. Oz decides to take on the task so that he can be rule the land. However through his journey, he begins to become a better man as he makes new friends.

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Rise of the Guardians review

Director:
Peter Ramsey
Cast:
Chris Pine
Alec Baldwin
Jude Law
Isla Fisher
Hugh Jackman
Rated: PG

I wonder what group of characters they’ll team up next.

“Rise of the Guardians” mainly follows the story of Jack Frost (Pine), who 300 years ago was chosen by the Man in the Moon to be the one who brings cold, ice and everything in between to the world. Fast forwarding to the present, Frost has no memory of his life before becoming a force of nature and feels like he is largely ignored by most of the world. This causes him to not exactly be much of a team player.

Frost is forced to work with others though when he is called upon to be a member of “the Guardians,” a crew consisting of the Sandman, the Tooth Fairy, Santa Clause and the Easter Bunny. The group is brought together because the Boogeyman, named Pitch Black (Law), is threatening them and the children of the world. Because of this, the five have to go after Pitch, however Frost still feels a bit out of place which causes some mishaps.

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Wreck-It Ralph review

Director:
Rich Moore
Cast:
John C. Reilly
Sarah Silverman
Jack McBrayer
Jane Lynch
Rated: PG

This movie is worth getting some quarters together for.

“Wreck-It Ralph” follows the story of the title character (Reilly), a video game villain in an arcade game where his job is to destroy a tall building and it is up to the game’s hero, Fix it Felix (McBrayer) to repair the building and knock Ralph off the top of the building. The game, and all the inhabitants in it are now 30-years-old and Ralph is fed up with the life of the villain. Because of this, he decides to leave his game and go to another one, Hero’s Duty to get a medal which will change his life and make him a hero.

The plan goes badly in Hero’s Duty though and Ralph ends up in the racing game Sugar Rush. There he meets Vanellope (Silverman), who, after a rough first meeting, the two end up working together to achieve their goals of being better recognized by other characters in their respective games. Meanwhile though, Ralph made a huge mistake in Hero’s Duty and the main character of that game Sergeant Calhoun (Lynch) has to work with Fix it Felix to get Ralph back to his game as well as stop a threat to the whole video game world.

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