movies – Page 120 – Matthew Liedke on Film

How to Train Your Dragon 2 review

Director:
Dean DeBlois
Cast:
Jay Baruchel
Cate Blanchett
Gerard Butler
Craig Ferguson
America Ferrera
Djimon Hounsou
Kit Harington
Rated: PG

Five years later and none of the main characters have developed Scottish accents.

“How to Train Your Dragon 2” returns audiences to the island of Berk, where the viking warrirors there have adapted to life with dragons. There are dragon races, dragon stalls and other features to make everything work perfectly. The village is happy and the main character Hiccup’s (Baruchel) friends are having a good time racing each other. Hiccup on the other hand, though, seems to be less than content at Berk and spends his time searching the world for new places.

The adventure starts when Hiccup, and his now girlfriend Astrid (Ferrera) discover dragon trappers who are working for the villain Drago (Hounsou). Drago is working to build a dragon army and will take out anyone in his way. After the villain’s plot is discovered, Hiccup goes to try and reason with him. His journey is derailed though when he meets a person who has built a dragon sanctuary, a person that he has a connection with.

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Shailene Woodley plays a teen named Hazel,suffering from cancer and also a limited social life. This changes, though when she meets another teen named Gus who has to deal with cancer during a support group meeting.

The two start a friendship that eventually leads to a romance which takes both of them on an emotional journey.

Continue reading “The Fault in Our Stars review”

Edge of Tomorrow review

Tom Cruise is continuing his recent streak of action and science fiction films with “Edge of Tomorrow,” and it might be one of the best films he has done in years.

Cage is the name of Cruise’s character in “Edge of Tomorrow,” an arrogant Major in the U.S. Army whose main task in the military is public relations and the promotion of new exoskeletal armor suits. The suits Cage is promoting are being utilized by humanity in a five-year war against alien invaders who have conquered much of Europe.

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Maleficent review

Director:
Robert Stromberg
Cast:
Angelina Jolie
Elle Fanning
Sharlto Copley
Rated: PG

Angelina Jolie stars as the title character “Maleficent,” which explores the background and supposed true story of one of Disney’s most famous villains.

The film explores a romance that she had with a man who would eventually betray her, how she became a cold hearted being, and her involvement in the spell put on sleeping beauty, AKA Aurora, played in this film by Elle Fanning.

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April – May 2014 Mini Reviews

The Other Woman: 1 out of 5
There are so many flaws with this movie, and listing them is probably the easiest thing to do. The humor is all below average and offers nothing really clever, Leslie Mann’s character is annoying and comes off as unbelievable, Kate Upton’s character is a waste of time and probably could have been written out of the whole picture and Nicki Minaj can’t act. Unlike “The First Wives Club,” this is just a dumb comedy without any charm.

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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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