Review – Iron Man 3

                  Rating = ★★½    Tagline = Matinee

                                                                                                            The first Iron Man caught me completely off guard. Hadn’t expected anything special going in, thought it would be along the lines of a fun blockbuster. I was dead wrong. It turned out to be much more than that. Went deep into the character and crafted a fantastic story around action, not vise versa. Iron Man became one my favorite superhero film’s; joined Batman Begins and The Dark Knight. Wasn’t flawless, but pretty much as close as you could get for a superhero movie. The wait for Iron Man 2 was excruciating – had to wait two whole years. I was pumped going in, but my initial emotion was disappointment. Overall, it was merely standard. Went in a different direction that didn’t pan out. Good fight scenes, though. Waiting for Iron Man 3 wasn’t too hard. After watching, it’s the smallest amount better than the second. Both sequels pull down the original from greatness. Don’t mean to be all pessimistic, had moments, and was entertaining.

Trailer: Ender’s Game

My thoughts (I’ve read the Ender’s Game book):

• A great cast was assembled.
• Gives off the feel of an action popcorn movie.
• Spoilers noticed, I think.
• They seem to have done a good job not going overboard on the CGI.
• Some awesome shots.
• Many of the same elements that were in the book are present, but lots of aspects appear altered.
• Can’t really get a feel for the dramatic side or the story structure.
• What’s the tone going to be for the most part, adventure type action, or maybe take a dark path?
• Is the complexity of the book going to be tackled?
• Lot’s of question only to be answered by another trailer or the movie itself.

Overall: I’m on the fence.

Review – Trance

                Rating = ★★★    Tagline = High Matinee

                                                                                                          I’m always intrigued when the latest Danny Boyle movie comes out. He’s such a unique and diverse director. Boyle has covered many different genres, from sci-fi, zombie movies, biography’s, to action thrillers. You name a genre, he’s tackled it before, even if it’s elements of it in a different kind of movie altogether. All of his movies, however, are connected by their stylist qualities and similar themes. Trance has a lot in conman with what Nolan did in Inception and Memento. Reality vs hypnosis isn’t as elaborate, but plays with the same idea how the human mind can be tricked (certainly won’t be the final movie to do this). You never know what’s real, what’s a dream, or imagination. We are left in the dark for most of it wondering and contemplating. Boyle crafts the story well so not to lose the audience, throws clues throughout. The rug is constantly pulled out from under you still. Boyle does toy with things too much, and it can get in the way of other aspects. He keeps things together while pulling them apart.

Review – Pain and Gain

                   Rating = ★★½     Tagline = Low Matinee

                                                                                                         Pain and Gain provided a pretty unusual experience. That’s actually not something that hurts the movie, it really is its biggest strength. The story is strange to say the least. What makes it even stranger and more baffling is it’s based on a true story. I looked up the story afterward because I was curious to how much the truth was stretched. After my research, I was a bit stunned to find out how much was the actual truth. Of course not all aspects were 100% truthful. Still, one wacky story. While you watch everything play out, at times, things seem to crazy to be even remotely true. That actually adds something to the movie in a big way. The biggest plus is the plot; you never know what to expect. A lot of the movie doesn’t work, the very few elements that shine, shine brightly, though.

Review – To the Wonder

                Rating = ★★½      Tagline = Low Rental

                                                                                                   Terrence Malick has a unique style, defiantly leaves his mark. If you’ve seen a few of Malick’s movies before, you can always tell it’s him directing, regardless if you didn’t know going in. I’ve always appreciated what Malick does. I’m not his biggest fan however. Never have I hated anything he’s done, just sort of admired aspects while other things come on too strong. They seem to be style over substance. That term is mainly used for blockbusters who rely on CGI. In cases like this, though, a director can have a heavy style that engulfs everything; in a way it is everything. With a big style, it can become subjective – either works for you or it doesn’t. I knew To The Wonder wasn’t going to change any of my feelings. Still went in with an open mind of course. Was very intrigued, but nothing really meshed together for me.

Review – The Company You Keep

                 Rating = ★★★    Tagline = Matinee

                                                                                                            I love a good dialog and character driven mystery. I’m always on the look out for one. Even though I look, most of the best are discovered by some sort of accident. What might have made me enjoy The Company You Keep more is that I went in cold. It’s super rare nowadays when you don’t hear tons of rumors, see a few trailers, and know a lot about the movie before going in. Sometimes you’ll know too much. I try my best to avoid a good deal of all the exposure. You can’t slip by all of it. Also, at times, curiosity just wins over. With so many blockbusters making headlines lately, a film like this will fade into the background in the marketing department. The movie I was originally going to see was sold out. So, instead of waiting for the next showing (or sneaking in, common, we’ve all done that), I saw the poster. Thought, Robert Redford, might as well. Glad I made that choice.

Review – The Host

                Rating = ★★     Tagline = Low Rental

                                                                                                              Last November the Twilight series came to an end. You had people sobbing over that and some that jumped for joy. I was never a fan. The best one out of the series was the third, but it still couldn’t rise above being mediocre. Obviously, Twilight wasn’t something targeted to me. In the end, it pleased its fan base while excluding everyone else. Series such as Harry Potter, or The Hunger games just recently can please die-hard fans while managing to bring in people who never read the books before. Twilight was aimed at its die-hard fans with such intensity, that in a way, it forcible excluded anyone else. Stephenie Myer (the author of the Twilight books) has another one of her book’s adapted to the big screen – The Host. Myer substitutes vampires and werewolves for aliens. For people wondering if The Host is just like Twilight, know it is.

Review – The Croods

              Rating = ★★★    Tagline = High Matinee

2012 really disappointed in the animation department. Ice Age: Continental Drift was a let down for me. I’d been looking forward to it because I love the main characters in that series. While not awful, it was below average. The same can be said for The Rise of the Guardians. Pixar hit a bump in the road with Brave. Still am amazed it won best picture. Again, not terrible, but I wouldn’t have even nominated it for best animated film. Madagascar 3: Europe’s Most Wanted was a step up from second Madagascar movie. It gave the series a nice little pick up. Overall, though, nothing to rave about. ParaNorman and Frankenweenie were solid, but I wasn’t crazy about either of them like others were. Only one really shined – Wrek-It Ralph. That was truly excellent and worked on numerous levels (should have won over Brave). I’m pleased to report 2013 has started off well in the animation deportment. The Croods is a pleasant time.

Review – Identity Thief

                   Rating  = ★ ½     Tagline = Pass

It’s funny how a movie called Identity Thief doesn’t seem to have an Identity itself. Is this supposed to be a buddy comedy? A road-trip comedy? An action comedy? It flirts around with different elements that never mesh together in a cohesive manner. When you get down to it, though, this is a comedy. It’s not unheard of when a comedy creates a world that could never exist in reality. I don’t care when it happens, I’ve loved many comedies like that. Identity Thief is very far fetched. The lack of interesting characters and most importantly, jokes, made this to where I was watching my watch more than the movie. The story could have used work too. I don’t know if I’m alone here, but the way this guy get’s his identity stolen is played for laughs. I just felt bad for him. It just didn’t seem like a laughing situation. Especially the way everything plays out.