Tag: movies

Rio 2 review

Director:
Carlos Saldanha
Cast:
Jesse Eisenberg
Jamie Foxx
Jemaine Clement
Andy Garcia
Anne Hathaway
Rated: G

Does an animated movie about birds need this many sub plots?

“Rio 2” carries on the story of Blu, voiced by Jesse Eisenberg. Blu, who formally lived in Minnesota during the first movie, now lives with his wife Jewel (Hathaway) and their children in a forest sanctuary near Rio, being kept safe as they are the only birds of their kind.

That is until more of their species is discovered by an expedition conducted by the film’s lead human protagonists. Blu’s family and friends eagerly travel to the Amazon where the rest of the species lives and he reluctantly tags along. When they arrive they find out that their species is led by Jewel’s long lost father Eduardo (Garcia).

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Captain America: Winter Soldier review

Marvel has made its best super hero film to date, by not playing out like a super hero movie.

“Winter Soldier” is the sequel to the premier film, “Captain America: The First Avenger,” in 2011. The film takes place after the events of “The Avengers,” with the Captain, aka Steve Rogers, adjusting to his life in the 21st Century. He lives his life as an agent for SHIELD and works together with Natasha Romanoff, played by Scarlett Johansson.

Rogers follows orders from SHIELD Director Nick Fury, played by Samuel L. Jackson, and carries out those orders on missions. However, Rogers begins to have issues with how SHIELD is operating.

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Need for Speed review

Director:
Scott Waugh
Cast:
Aaron Paul
Dominic Cooper
Imogen Poots
Scott Mescudi
Harrison Gilbertson
Rated: PG-13

Video game fans will have to wait for another adaption if they want to see something good.
“Need for Speed” follows the story of a mechanic named Tobey (Paul), who is facing some financial hardships when it comes to his repair shop. That doesn’t stop him and his friends from enjoying some leisurely street racing from time to time, though.

One night after a race Tobey gets a visit from his old rival and professional driver Dino Brewster (Cooper). Dino makes a deal with Tobey and the shop crew to fix up a car in exchange for a large sum of money. After the job is finished, though, Dino challenges Tobey and his younger friend Peter (Harrison Gilbertson) to a street race. The race turns out to be deadly as Peter loses his life in an accident and Tobey is sent to prison. Upon his release him and his crew decide to enter an underground race competition that Dino will also partake in to get revenge.

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Mr. Peabody and Sherman review

Director:
Rob Minkoff
Cast:
Ty Burrell
Max Charles
Ariel Winter
Allison Janney
Rated: PG

This movie was like an ocean of puns, and it was great.

“Mr. Peabody and Sherman” is a film based on animated shorts that were featured in the “Rocky and Bullwinkle” show. The movie, which expands on the original concept, follows the title character Mr. Peabody (Burrell), a genius dog who can do practically anything including building a time machine called the WABAC. Mr. Peabody also is the adopted father of a boy named Sherman (Charles) and teaches him about various historic moments.

Conflicts start up, though, when a mishap occurs at Sherman’s school when he gets into a fight with a girl named Penny (Winter). This brings in a social worker named Ms. Grunion (Janney) who doesn’t think Peabody makes for a good father.

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300: Rise of an Empire review

If there’s one thing I didn’t expect to be in a “300” movie, it was bored.

The film “300: Rise of an Empire,” takes place before, during and after the events of the original “300.” Instead of focusing on the Spartans again, this film focuses on Themistokles, played by Sullivan Stapleton.

Themistokles is an Athenian leading a small group of ships to combat the Persian navy, commanded by Artemisia, played by Eva Green. For the most part, like the original movie, everything plays out in a sort of “David vs. Goliath” manner.

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Non-Stop review

Director:
Jaume Collet-Serra
Cast:
Liam Neeson
Julianne Moore
Michelle Dockery
Rated: PG-13
Trailer

If Liam Neeson keeps making movies like this he will have a bigger action library than anyone in “The Expendables.”

“Non-Stop” follows the story of Bill Marks (Neeson), a United States Air Marshall who has a drinking problem. As he boards a flight that will go over the Atlantic Ocean, everything seems like “another day at the office,” that is until he starts receiving mysterious text messages from someone making threats.

As the flight reaches higher altitudes, the texts continue, and the culprit threatens to kill a passenger every 20 minutes. From that point on it’s up to Bill to try and stop the threat, however, as time goes on the suspect makes it seem like Bill himself is trying to hijack the plane.

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February 2014 Mini Reviews

RoboCop – 2 out of 5
The remake of the 80s remake was just OK. For an action movie with a sci-fi element, it’s not bad, but it lacks the over-the-topness and R rating that made the first one such a fun flick. On top of that, the movie spent a little too much time on the main character training and not enough time on the streets of Detroit. The movie did get a good boost from the acting of Michael Keaton, Gary Oldman and Jackie Earle Haley, though. Plus, Samuel L. Jackson added a fun element.

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January 2014 Mini Reviews

Devil’s Due – 0.5 out of 5
Probably the laziest and an early candidate for worst movie of 2014. Every bit of so called horror this movie tries to shove in your face has been seen before in the “Paranormal Activity” series. On top of that, the plot just stumbles along without ever really having a structure making for a confusing story that in the end never really goes anywhere. On top of that, the performances were terrible.

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Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit review

January is probably the worst time to be a film critic. Sure, the award ceremonies are fun, but almost without exception, the movies are just terrible. I’m looking at you “Devil’s Due.”

Fortunately, though, Hollywood just released, “Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit,” last month and it turned out better than expected.

Directed by Kenneth Branagh, who also stars, the film follows the title character.

Jack Ryan, played by Chris Pine, is a former marine who now works as an analyst for the Central Intelligence Agency. While analyzing financial reports with Russia, Ryan notices an irregularity and the CIA, namely his superior Thomas, played by Kevin Costner, sends him to Moscow to investigate.

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Top 10 Best Movies of 2013

Honorable mentions:
Before Midnight
Lone Survivor
Gravity
Monsters University
The Conjuring
The World’s End
This is the End
Pacific Rim
Man of Steel

10. “The Wolf of Wall Street”
Martin Scorsese’s latest movie was not without its flaws. The film went on a tad too long, coming in at a full three hours, and it could have used some focus on other characters. Still, this was a really well made film by Scorsese and the performances by both Leonardo DiCaprio and Jonah Hill were fantastic.

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