The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug: Official Trailer #2

I know that this trailer came out last month but I am still really excited for this movie...

Watch below

This second trailer continues to be a teaser but it bring in the focus on the Elves.  I am not sure how I fell about Legolas being a focus as he wasn't in the books but I can except that with the father being mentioned the son is likely to be there as well.  I hope that the movie is good and as I am starting to gear up for the holiday releases, now that the summer releases have gone by, I am starting to get really excited for the second installment of The Hobbit. 
Anyone else excited?

Elysium: Trailer

This week the new Matt Damon future world movie comes out, watch the trailer below

This movie being released in august (which in my opinion is a bit of a dump month for movies) and coming after a very action movie/ blockbuster saturated spring and early summer I am hoping that this movie it a bit different from the others.  It seems a bit sci-fi-ish because of the technology and mechanical thing that gets attached to Matt Damon in order for him to be able to get to Elysium and using brains as storage devices for information which a lot of the recent movies have been (robots, spaceships, etc).  I like that this one looks a bit gritty and more dark but this might just be that it doesn't want to give away too much of what happens once the metal thing is attached to Matt Damon.  I like the juxtaposition of the destroyed dirty earth and Elysium but besides the basic concepts I do not really know much else about the movie.
Is anyone planning or excited to see this movie?

Soul Surfer (2011): Review

Today I wanted to watch a movie that I hadn't seen before but that I wanted to see when it came out.  I decided on Soul Surfer because I was in the mood for an uplifting story with some sap.  Soul Surfer is based on the true story of Professional Surfer Bethany Hamilton, played by AnnaSophia Robb in the movie, who as a young teenager had her left arm bitten off by a shark.  She overcome this injury and didn't let it prevent her from achieving her dream of becoming a professional surfer.  This movie follows her from before the attack until her first armature national surf completion after.  It follows her struggles to adapt and those of her family and fiends who supported her journey.
This is definitely a family film and is focused on overcoming your challenges even when you doubt yourself.  It really focuses on the personal interactions and the struggles many of the characters go through as they support Bethany.  The movie also stars Dennis Quaid as Bethany's father and Helen Hunt as her mother.
This movie is quite sappy and as it is an inspirational story it focuses on the positives of overcoming challenges and not giving up when things get hard.  It shows how Bethany used her faith and missionary spirit to keep her going and that he did this to bring positivity into others lives.
It was alright of a story and I bought into the emotional journey of the characters.  It spends enough time of each character and what they were going through while keeping the story going. The CGI was inexpensive and a lot of the surfing scenes where obviously green screened but it is worth watching on an afternoon on TV.

My Rating: 2

2 Guns (2013): Review

Earlier today I went and Saw 2 Guns with the family and it was a pretty good action movie.  I think this was the first movie in a while that all of us agreed on being pretty good and that includes my mom actually liking an action movie.  Although I enjoyed this movie I do not think that it was the best I have ever scene but I have decided that Mark Wahlberg has grown on me as an actor.
2 Guns is the story of Bobby, played by Denzel Washington, and Stig, played by Mark Wahlberg, who get caught up in a plot that they are not expecting.  Bobby is an undercover DEA agent and he helps Stig, who turns out to be an undercover Navy marksmen who get manipulated into stealing over 43 million dollars from a CIA slush fund that they think is a 2 million cash stash from a Mexican Drug Lord.  They discover that they have been set up and have to work together to try and get out of the mess they are in.
Like I stated before, Mark Wahlberg has grown on me as an actor in the type of role he played in this movie.  Where he is a slightly OTT comic character that is basically a caricature and it seems like he is just having fun playing this character.  This type of OTT acting I like, where it is done over the top but slightly held back with a wink and nod to the audience that they know they are being ridiculous but are doing it for the fun of it and the fun of playing that character. Denzel Washington was fine but he is on of those actors that I have difficulty seeing blend into the character instead of seeing it as Denzel Washington.  I liked the supporting cast as well and especially Bill Paxton as the CIA agent.
The plot kept the movie going and as my mother stated "I didn't get bored" throughout it, but for me it seemed a bit too much thrown into it but with it still being pretty simplistic.  It seemed like there were things that they were trying to keep in suspense but either through the trailers or through what happened in the movie it wasn't that big of a deal.  It could have worked better at either trying to keep things as suspenseful or giving up the suspense and just going with having it be a fun ride.  I think with Mark Wahlberg's character it was a fun ride and I liked how he interacted with all of the other characters.
This movie is worth seeing if you like action movies that keep the pace up and have a pretty ridiculous plot as well as lots of stuff being blown up and people being shot with no real regards for characters being killed off.

My Rating: 2+

The Way Way Back (2013): Review

Tonight I went and saw The Way Way Back with my mom and I really enjoyed the movie.  The beginning takes a little while to get going but once it does, it really is good. 
The Way Way Back is centered around fourteen year old Duncan, played by Liam James who is going to his mother boyfriend's Trent, played by Steve Carell, beach house for the summer.  With his is his mother Pam, played by Toni Collette, and Trent's daughter.  Duncan has a poor relationship with Trent and this is identified at the beginning of the movie when Trent asks Duncan to rate his life on a scale of 1-10 and then rates him a 3. Trent is controlling and a huge A-hole to Duncan but due to being there with his mom Duncan has to put up with it. During this summer he meets the owner of a local waterpark Owen, played by Sam Rockwell, and start to grow as a person and discover who he is.  It is basically the beginning of a coming of age story for Duncan with him trying to deal with situations that he did not choose to put himself in while trying to make it work.
For me, this movie takes a while to get going and some of the story line seems a bit over awkward. I know that awkward was the point of this, as it has the indie drama feel to it but for me Steve Carell had difficulty with the A-hole feel.  This may be because he always tends to play things more comedy or dark comedy and this character didn't really have any lovable parts to it and I had difficulty seeing him embody the character.  I also thought the chemistry between him and Toni Collette could have been better as they are suppose to be boyfriend and girlfriend and I would have liked it if there was a bit more between them. That being said, I think the rest of the cast was fantastic and great in their roles.
The best part of the entire movie for me was Sam Rockwell as Owen.  I think he had the right mix of fun, sass, and supporter to Duncan.  Whenever he was on screen, especially when interacting with Duncan it was great.  The movie really picked up with my interest and enjoyment when he was truly introduced into the story.  There was a great supporting cast with Allison Janney as Betty, the drunk next door neighbor; AnnaSophia Robb as Suzanna, the teenage girl next door who is also struggling with being a teenager and her relationship with her family; Maya Rudolph, Nat Faxon, and Jim Rash as other waterpark employees; Rob Corddry, who I just love in basically everything he does, as Kip.
This movie is very much the Indie Drama and is just showing a snapshot of this boys life and the people he meet. There is some growth that he goes through but as with movie of this sort, it is just about this specific time and place in life and how it is for them to be there.  I would recommend this movie to anyone who likes or sometimes enjoys this type of movie, because this was a very good version.  

My Rating: 3+

The Wolverine (2013): Review

Today I went and saw The Wolverine, the newest installment of the X-Men movies and this one is another one that has Hugh Jackman as the main star and a continuation of how many people like Jackman as the guff Wolverine and where the last one X-Men Origins: Wolverine (2009) was the prequel to the X-Men trilogy this one is a follow up continuation.  It starts with Logan off on his own in the woods, where he is trying to just slink away from all of the trama he experienced with the death of Jean, played by Famke Janssen, and how he doesn't want to be The Wolverine anymore.  He is hunted down by Yukio, played by Rila Fukushima who convinces him to go to Japan where he can be thanked by a Japanese Soldier who's life he saved during WWII.  Logan is then drawn into the plot and needing to protect the Mariko, the soldier's granddaughter while he has be wounded and not able to heal.  There is lots of stuff thrown together to keep the plot going, which although it had a lot of characters was very simplistic.  There was a lot of foreshadowing in the movie, which to me seemed (a) quite obvious, (b) hinted at in the trailers, and (c) somewhat unnecessary. 
I would not really say that this is worth seeing unless you do not mind the other X-Men movies and Wolverine as the complaints that go along with those movies are in this one.  Yes it is better the Wolverine (2009) but was not very good in its own right.  If you do watch it, you need to stay through the first few minuets of the credits as their is an extra scene that I really enjoyed.
The good part of this movie was the acting, for the type of movie it was the actors where well cast and not abrasive, I think the part at the end with the lady and her skin was stupid and unnecessary and she was the worst actress of the lot but she was kinda just used to pull some things together.  Jackman continues to be good as Logan, but as he has been playing him for since X-Men was released in 2000 he knows this character well and can just go into the gruffness.  I like Logan better now as Jackman is older, because in my head he was an older gruffer man and with a much younger Jackman in X-Men (2000) he was the sexy gruffness not the grizzily gruffness that the character, for me, seems more to be.  It also works well with the emotional place he is in during this movie.
This movie does the thing that bugs me where the action scenes are shot tight in and are choppy, also there is quite a bit of shaky cam work.  I could have done without the train action scene but it wasn't that bad.
Overall, if you weren't planning on seeing this because of it being a Wolverine or X-Men movie, it isn't worth watching but for X-Men movie fans it is good to be able to see.

There is an extra scene in the credits that is definitely worth watching.

My Rating: 1+

White House Down (2013): Review

Today I went and saw White House Down and I am glad to say that it was a pretty solid action movie.  There were some bits that were slightly annoying and I think that if some of the gags where cut out it would have been even better.
White House Down is pretty much what it seems to be, John Cale, played by Channing Tatum is in the White House for a job interview with his daughter Emily, played by Joey King.  While they are on a tour, terrorist take over the White House and Cale steps up to help try and save President Sawyer, played by Jamie Foxx, and try and protect his daughter.  While he is doing this, there are  hurtles that must be overcome and lots of pieces that have to be fit together.  Per usual in this type of movie there are those on the outside, specifically Secret Service Agent Flannery, played by Maggie Gyllenhaal, who are trying to figure out what is going on and save the day.  There is also some of the standard who is really who and what role do they play intrigue that has become common in these movies.
There was no really mystery for me in this movie and it played pretty much to type, but that didn't really bother me because the plot kept going and changed up what was happening.  The action sequences where not drawn out.  Overall I liked the cast and the acting (for an action movie) and in my opinion Channing Tatum is a good lead in action movies and is much better then a lot of others out there right now. I also liked Maggie Gyllenhall and how she fit into the puzzle. The weak link for me was Jamie Foxx as President Sawyer and this isn't because he doesn't have the capacity to be a good actor, he does, but that it seemed like he was the only one doing gags and this was inconsistent with the overall feel of the movie.  These things through in, example the comment about the Jordan's was unnecessary and the humor could have either been more subtle, or more consistent with the other characters.  If more of the acting from the others was campy or OTT this would not have been an issue but it seemed like he was planted in from another movie.
The CGI was not too blatant and the overall movie was a solid action film.  Nothing truly notable but defiantly good enough. Also, although tight shots were done during the fighting sequences it wasn't complete tight up, there were wider shots of the fights and I really liked this.
There did seem to be too many characters that had moments where the focus was on them, and for me this was unnecessary.  They didn't need to make it that complex, people who could have just been mentioned as who they are and what role they played to keep everything going, an example being the first lady and daughter, I don't understand why we needed to see a scene of them worried, them just being mentioned would have been sufficient to why they were not there and of course they would be worried.
This is worth watching in theatres if you like seeing all the stuff get blow up and shot at on the big scene but is definitely worth a rental if you like action movies.

My Rating: 2