Rating: 200 Degrees (Out of 360) This movie has a funky premise, weird set-ups for jokes and doesn't really make any sense. With that said, there are a few laugh out load jokes (one about a long island ice tea - which totally went over my kids heads, but made me LOL). My kids liked it, so I guess it works for their target audience.
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Rating: 320 Degrees (Out of 360) Another super fun romp through the galaxy! Can't wait for the Guardians team to meet up with the Avengers! Rating: 260 Degrees (Out of 360) What can I say about this crazy weird over the top blockbuster? Well, they found a way to make cars fight a submarine ... I'll give them that. So rugged Mr. Cue Ball (Diesel) turns on his crew and is able to reek havoc and stay one step ahead. I usually have a hard time with leads that can do everything and really have no weaknesses, but this movie was fun. The visuals were good, the tone and style were what you expect and the Rock has a particular charm that works here. It's a big blockbuster, so see it on the big screen (or don't it's your money). Rating: 220 Degrees (Out of 360) Kong looked great! Good use of jungle weapons (IE thrown trees) and real feeling. Kong felt like he had real weight. The cast was fun too. I like Sam Jackson's character and how and why he was so bent on killing Kong. Reilly's slightly "gone mad" bit had some fun jokes, but they didn't seem to fit or land well within this movie. They seemed a bit too silly given the level of threat and the fact that the entire rest of the movie was playing it straight. The effects looked good but the lizard bad guy things the "Skull Walkers" were meh... They were seemingly invincible to all the military guys, but very easy to kill for Brie Larson's character. Anyway, I liked it, it was a fun "popcorn" movie, but it certainly didn't blow my socks off. Rating: 90 Degrees (Out of 360) What!?! Why such a low rating? Why because it's boring, that's why. The acting was fine, the music was fine, it worked as a live action reshoot of the classic cartoon. But at the end of the day it's slow and boring. I was fighting falling asleep the entire movie and this is nearly a shot by shot recreation of the original. So that's really cool, except that we don't get anything new. Where the characters fun? Sometimes, but the thing about movie style is that it evolves. and this movie captures the slower drawn out style of the original without updating it for todays audience. So, is it ok, sure, but not my kind of movie and bottom line very dull and not well suited for todays movie stylings. Rating: 305 Degrees (Out of 360) Obviously, the Wolverine has been a staple for the X-Men franchise, and fortunately for Fox, they went out with a bang. Hugh Jackman's portrayal of Wolverine has always been pretty good (despite him being WAY too tall to depict the comic character) and this final installment of his story was one of the best of the entire X-men-verse. The tone was set well form the start. Desolate and desperate, Logan works as a border crossing limo driver saving money to get him and Professor X to safety. They never say exactly what happened to Professor X, nor specifically who was killed in a past episode of dementia, but you don't need that information. He is obviously struggling with his grip on reality and to control his powers. The main villains are the Revers. These are a group technologically enhanced human hired guns sent out by the company performing illegal Mutant cloning to find and capture the escaped clones. This is where X23 comes into play. She's fun to watch as she has to learn to integrate into sosietal norms after living her entire life within the confines of a lab. I'm going to stop here and just say, see this one. It's not required to binge through the entirety of the X-Man-Verse to catch up, but maybe just watching the very first X-Man movie would be a good homework assignment. Rating: 220 Degrees (Out of 360) Right off the bat, I do want to say that I did genuinely laugh a lot during this movie. I found the jokes to mostly land, and I was entertained. With that said, everything was way over the top! But it was kind of ok though because the lead character (Charlie Day) was very self referential to that fact, and literally called out how extreme that years senior pranks had gotten on several occasions. Many of the set ups were predictable, the plot was thin and the motivations were week, but the jokes were good. So if your ok with situations that only occur to tell a joke, then you'll laugh and be entertained, but if you're looking for a better flow, with jokes that occur organically then this is not for you. I liked it more than I didn't because I did laugh enough for this to be a passable movie. Rating: 250 Degrees (Out Of 360) I am a Dungeons and Dragons nerd so this movie does strike a chord within me. I really enjoy movies that can take me on an gaming adventure. This one did just that! I found the fantasy and the characters to feel game like. The graphics were fine, but it is really confusing to see a movie like this one with such a high budget released in February. It has all the glamour and star power of a summer blockbuster, buts it's winter. With all that said, I was ultimately left underwhelmed. The story was so basic and simple I started to nod off at one point. I do recommend seeing parts of this movie, but the overall structure was weak and lacked a real driving motivation for the characters. On top of all that, Matt Damon's 'accent' was really bad and went in and out throughout the entire movie. Ultimately, the inner D&D nerd was satisfied with what I saw, but it just didn't have the story arcs of a descent movie. There was just combat and fight for the sake of fighting. Rating: 325 Degrees (Out of 360) You ever have that guilty pleasure of watching or playing a first person shooter on 'god' mode? Well this is that movie, but it wasn't Rambo style, bullets don't hurt, it's explained and John just kicks all ass. I loved the first, and this successfully pulled me in for another chapter. The skill and fight choreography are just off the charts great and the display of actual skills like Judo and BJJ are reflected in moves that could work in a real situation. He is just a tough, focused, lethal man. Countless kill shots are used to decimate dozens of men as he works though his revenge. In my hypocrisy, as much as I loved the 'god' mode movie, he was a bit too tough. In addition, the plot is a bit weird in that the bigger picture of the over arching evil empire leadership structure is still a mystery. If you liked the first or any other action movie, this is a must see! Cheers. Rating: 340 Degrees (Out of 360) Wow! This genius movie took me a touch off guard. I was not expecting this to be so over the top self referential and meta in it's dialogue. The jokes were non-stop and most landed. I enjoyed the characters, the chemistry and the self awareness of the goofiness of the set up and the plot. I'm going to keep these thoughts very brief for this movie. It hit my style of filming, joke telling and wittiness that made me smile from ear to ear. I took the kids and wife, whom all enjoyed this one similarly. Go see it! I did take some points off for some of the scenes being too flashy, jumpy or bright. Simply a bit too busy, but the pallet was usually cleansed right after with a slower joke. Cheers. Rating: 320 Degrees (Out of 360) Mr. Shyamalan has elevated his downward slump with this one. I liked it, a lot. McAvoy owned this role. He plays a character with 23 (24) personalities and though we don't see all of them, we see enough to see a fun range of characters all played to perfection. As with all of M. Night's work, there is a twist, so as I like to do, will stay very vague. The script is great and fun in a dark way, the character flaws are well portrayed and I thought the way things went down felt real. Like 10 Clearfield Lane, the set was minimal and this really made the actors skills shine. I'll leave it at that. M. Night hasn't made the best of movies as of late, but give this one a chance. It's good. Oh, and I learned what the twist was prior to watching and it made me want to see it all the more, so I'll add the spoiler below the trailer. Cheers. Spoiler:
There is a cameo with Bruce Willis, reprising his role from Unbreakable. So, this is an official Unbreakable sequel. Rating: 140 Degrees (Out of 360) This movie felt a bit like two short stories compiled into one odd turd. Don't get me wrong, I actually really enjoyed the second half of this film. The second half takes place where the first movie of this franchise did and makes a fantastic tie-in to the original. But... It's the disjointed and weird plot of the first half and lame goal of the film. The action scenes were a bit dull, except for the final fight with the Doc which was real fun. The monsters did not feel new or unique and they were predictably killed with little real effort. Jumping to the audio, this movie wanted jump scares, so it was loud. The sound effects for a lot of the movie was tweaked too much for the scare and was a bit too much for comfort. All in all, I would recommend skipping it if your a casual movie goer, but obviously, if your a fan of the series then you've already seen it. Rating: 5 Degrees (Out of 360) Well, this one made a very exclusive list ... It's so bad it's good! This was a fun movie complete with silly stunts performed by old dudes (relatively speaking). Vin is fine, but this seems to be his standard character with little acting needed, so he could screw it up. Donny Yen and (my current fav Martial Artist) Tony Jaa got to kick some ass in some fun scenes, but I'd say theor skills were still under used. In the same vein as the F&F movie franchise, everything is beyond real with campy one liners. Basically, this feals like a modern 80s movie that should have come out 10 years ago when people cared moe about X games skills. If you desire a fun mindless show, definitely see it. I had fun. Rating: 260 Degrees (Out of 360) Monster Truck was fun. Nuff said. Nah, just kidding. I got to see this one with the whole family, and we were all engaged and entertained. The tone was just right for the premise and the actors were fine. The set up and premise are bit silly, but not too outlandish for a fun Sci-Fi like this. The monsters are a new species whom developed in deep pockets of water that get discovered while drilling for oil. Ok, lets put a side that 'evil' corp that wants to drill for oil and pollute the water as a political message, and just call that a 'plot device'. From here, they need to collect the monster that escaped, so they can cover up the new discovery. The real fun comes from how the teens interact with the monster, both the lead Lukas Till and costar Jane Levy really shine with this. I think they had some really fun one liners that resonated with how I speak, and played well and never felt forced. Bottom line, this was a fantastic family movie. I have reduced my rating though because it his tailored to kids and some of the over arching plot devices are heavy handed and simple. Rating: 160 Degrees (Out of 360) Nothing like kicking off 2017 with a dud. Now, I really wanted to like it. In my youth, I played role playing games like Vampire the Masquerade and Werewolf the Apocalypse and I really enjoyed the very first instalment in this film franchise, but ugg ... enough already. The visual effect are on par with TV effects from 2 or 3 years ago, the plot is linear and completely non-original and the set pieces looked like they were purchased from a Game of Thrones garage sale. On the bright side, Kate Beckinsale doesn't seem bored with the character and I like how she played her character to seemingly long for death, but wasn't suicidal. And, every once in a while, the action choreography was fun, but again there was only fleeting moments of grace in this turd of a movie. I'll say one last thing about the bad guy, what was he? They allude that he's special, or something different from being a vampire or a werewolf, but they never close the loop, so it's just another hole in the plot. Ultimately, skip it, even if is free and cut for TV, just don't... |