Tag: movies

Sex Tape review

Director:
Jake Kasdan
Cast:
Cameron Diaz
Jason Segel
Rob Corddry
Ellie Kemper
Rob Lowe
Rated: R

Annie (Diaz) and Jay (Segel) are a married couple who seem to have lost the spark in their marriage. Now that they have kids, careers and other responsibilities, their sex lives have suffered. To get back to the type of relationship they had in college, Annie comes up with an idea. However, the morning after, the couple finds that the sex tape they made the night before was uploaded to a cloud network that is connected to multiple iPads. Because of this, the couple go on a search and destroy mission to eliminate all copies of the video.

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Begin Again review

Director:
John Carney
Cast:
Mark Ruffalo
Hailee Steinfeld
Keira Knightley
Adam Levine
Rated: R

Mark Ruffalo plays a music producer down on his luck in “Begin Again” while Keira Knightley plays a musician who is going through a bad breakup. One night the two meet by chance and decide to try working together to produce an album. Through the collaboration, the two begin to remember what they enjoy about music and it allows them to find out how to move forward in their personal lives.

I was a bit worried in the first few minutes of “Begin Again,” since it looked like Ruffalo was going to play a stereotypical down on his luck type of guy who drinks too much. While his character certainly falls into some tropes, though, Ruffalo really sells an honesty in the character and his supporting cast helps raise the bar.

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Planes: Fire and Rescue review

Director:
Roberts Gannaway
Cast:
Dane Cook
Ed Harris
Julie Bowen
Curtis Armstrong
Rated: PG

World Champion plane racer Dusty Crophopper (Cook) is living the perfect life.

He’s winning every match up and has everything he could want. Problems come around, though, when a key engine failure results in Dusty not being able to race anymore. Making matters worse, he soon learns that his hometown needs another firefighter to help protect the city. Dusty decides to become a firefighting plane and goes to train at a forest park under the tutelage of legendary helicopter Blade Ranger (Harris).

The movie “Cars” followed a young hot shot who had a lot of talent but had to learn some life lessons and new tricks from an old mentor if he wanted to be great. The first “Planes” followed a young hot shot who had a lot of talent but had to learn some life lessons and new tricks from an old mentor if he wanted to be great.

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Dawn of the Planet of the Apes review

Director:
Matt Reeves
Cast:
Andy Serkis
Jason Clarke
Gary Oldman
Keri Russell
Toby Kebbell
Rated: PG-13

“Dawn of the Planet of the Apes” is the sequel to the 2011 reboot film which followed the birth and childhood of the character Ceasar (Serkis), and how he rose to be a revolutionary leader for his simian species. “Dawn” starts off 10 years after the first film ended. Since Caesar and the apes escaped, a virus produced at a lab has spread across the entire world and has wiped out most of the human race. Meanwhile, the apes, led by Caesar, have established their own thriving community where they live in peace.

Tensions rise, though, as a group of humans from a colony in the remains of San Francisco step upon the Ape civilization to find a power source and an accidental death occurs. Just as the situation reaches a near boiling point, though, Caesar is able to communicate with the humans to calm things down and eventually, the humans get to do their work. Old hatreds start to rise up, though, and peace may not be a long term solution.

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Tammy review

Director:
Ben Falcone
Cast:
Melissa McCarthy
Susan Surandon
Kathy Bates
Mark Duplass
Rated: R

I would say that Melissa McCarthy was typecast in this movie, but I won’t since she co-wrote the thing.

“Tammy” follows the life of the title character, played by McCarthy, who is experiencing one of the worst days one could have. First, she loses her job for being late to work, and that is followed by a discovery that her husband is cheating on her. After those disasters, she decides to leave town to clear her head. She doesn’t make the trip alone, though, as her grandma Pearl (Surandon) decides to tag along.

From there the two go off on a few wild adventures where they meet up with old and new friends and Tammy makes a pit stop to rob a fast food restaurant.

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Transformers: Age of Extinction review

Director:
Michael Bay
Cast:
Mark Wahlberg
Nicola Peltz
Jack Reynor
Kelsey Grammer
Rated: PG-13

Director Michael Bay just can’t seem to keep these movies under two and a half hours, and it once again becomes a problem for the latest “Transformers.”

The fourth installment, called “Age of Extinction,” follows Cade Yeager, played by Mark Wahlberg. Cade is a struggling, down on his luck inventor who is also an overprotective father to his daughter Tessa, played by Nicola Peltz. Meanwhile, the good natured Autobots, led by Optimus Prime, are being hunted by the government for being too dangerous.

Eventually, Cade, Tessa and Tessa’s boyfriend Shane, played by Jack Reynor, come in contact with Prime and are forced into an adventure in which they are chased by an evil Decepticon bounty hunter and the government.

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REVIEW: ‘Think Like a Man Too’

Director:
Tim Story
Cast:
Michael Ealy
Jerry Ferrara
Meagan Good
Regina Hall
Taraji P. Henson
Terrence Jenkins
Romany Malco
Wendi McLendon-Covey
Gabrielle Union
David Walton
Kevin Hart
Rated: PG-13

Think Like a Man Too is a sequel to a 2012 romantic comedy which followed the lives of multiple characters going through a variety of relationships. The original film was held together through the use of Steve Harvey’s relationship advice and worked to a point.

The 2014 film abandons that notion and decides to embrace practically every cliche in the book for a Vegas flick. In this movie, the characters all return for a wedding in Las Vegas and decide to have some partying the night before. From there, chaos ensues.

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REVIEW: ‘Jersey Boys’

Director:
Clint Eastwood
Cast:
Vincent Piazza
John Lloyd Young
Christopher Walken
Erich Bergen
Rated: R

Clint Eastwood returns to the director’s chair for “Jersey Boys,” a film adaption of a stage play that follows the career of the band, the Four Seasons. The film explores the groups run ins with the law at earlier ages, how they got started, the drama that they went through and how they came up with their most famous hits.

Despite being a film about the whole band, though, the main focus is given to the lead vocalist, Frankie Valli, who was played by John Lloyd Young.

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REVIEW: ’22 Jump Street’

Director:
Phil Lord, Christopher Miller
Cast:
Jonah Hill
Channing Tatum
Ice Cube
Peter Stormare
Rated: R

The comedic chemistry of Hill and Tatum is back in “22 Jump Street” and this time they take on the whole idea of a sequel.

The sequel to the 2012 film continues right after the first one ended. Hill and Tatum, playing undercover cops Schmidt and Jenko once again have trouble out in the field and their police chief decides to send them back to the Jump Street Unit.

There, Captain Dickson (Ice Cube) gives the two the same type of case as last time, where they have to find the dealer and the supplier of a new drug, but this time, it’s on a college campus.

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REVIEW: ‘Belle’

Director:
Amma Asante
Cast:
Matthew Goode
Sara Gadon
Gugu Mbatha-Raw
Tom Wilkinson
Rated: PG

The true story of Dido Elizabeth Belle is on display in the film “Belle.” The movie follows how the daughter of a Royal Navy Admiral is raised in 18th Century England.

Played by Gugu Mbatha-Raw, Belle’s story becomes more complex as she begins experiencing romance and also gets caught up in a case that her aristocratic great-uncle is working on.

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