Ice Age: Collision Course

Collision Course to the Head                                              1/5


Animated
    It's and animated movie (Thats really the best I can say)











Rotten Tomatos 11%                                       Cinemascore: A-

No surprises here. I enjoy going to see most movies, but the Ice Age movies are basically the movie equivalent of homework for me, I do it to give it a fair shot but expect little in return. Movies like Ice Age: Collision Course are forgivable only because they let me appreciate good movies even more; I'll let my thoughts out quick. Pretty much everything outside the animation is mentally disgusting. The only time I chuckled was from Simon Pegg's character, a weasel named Buck, but even that deminshed as the film went on. Is there anything that surprised me? Actually yes, the film was a little racist so that wasn't expected. Outside that and a couple chuckles Ice Age: Collision Course only delivers butt jokes and a throbbing headache.

Thursday July 28, 2016 Update

Coming out this weekend is the new Bourne Movie Jason Bourne and the R rated comedy Bad Moms. I wanted to use this post as an opertunity to say that I won't be able to write full reviews on either movie coming out considering that I usually go to see movies on Thursday nights and this particular night I am going to be out with friends of mine to celebrate a birthday. I may post some quick thoughts later in the week but first I need the chance to see the movies and I'll be working all weekend.

Next week however is Suicide Squad, the much anticipated DC movie featuring a gathering of Villains including Margot Robbie as Harley Quinn, Will Smith as Deadshot, and Jared Leto as the Joker. This is one of my most anticipated movies of the year and I have already made arrangements to see it as soon as it comes out. Hopefully it lives up to the hype.

Thats about it for now, I keep my posts updated and hopefully will get the chance to give my thoughts on Bourne and Bad Moms.

Star Trek: Beyond

A Tribute to It's Stars and Legacy                                      4/5


Epic!
     JJ may have left but the gravitas has stayed

Thematic
     Identity and unity are discussed and dissected at a narrative level

Action Packed
     Director Justin Lin brings excitement and a level of grit

Original Song
     Sledgehammer by Rihanna might garner attention come oscar season   



Rotten Tomatos 85%                                      Cinemascore: A-

The rebooted Star Trek film from 2009 is one of my favorite films of all time, not just because its a great sci-fi epic, but because it's an amazing character piece that discusses the balance between fate and free will. 2013's Into Darkness was divisive and outraged many hardcore fans (which I can't really consider myself apart of), but as a movie I thought again it was outstanding, integrating a deep conversation about the nature of mortality with the thrills of a summer popcorn flick. Star Trek: Beyond has a huge quota to fill. It's marked not only by director JJ. Abrams departure from the franchise (since he left Star Trek to do Star Wars and I have no regrets there), but has to stand for and celebrate the fiftieth anniversary of the franchise.  I'm happy to say that Beyond works on all the levels it needs to and is a worthy model to the franchises history as well as it's future forward.

The story this time around is classic tv Sci-fi (which Star Trek has it's roots in). The Enterprise is attacked by an unknown enemy and it's crew is separated and marooned on a unexplored planet. The various members of the crew lead by Captain Kirk (Chris Pine) must find a way to reunite and stop their mysterious attacker, Krall (Idris Elba), from enacting revenge on the federation. Beyond takes its simple premise and makes it feel timeless. It fits right in with it's competing blockbusters and I believe it should satisfy any common movie goer just from an entertainment aspect.

But this is Star Trek, and like any great Sci-fi film it deserves substance, to be examined and to discover layers under the surface and fortunately Star Trek delivers yet again. This is a story about identity and discovering purpose through unity; Kirk and Spock are both at a crossroads in their five year journey and they begin to reconsider why they are traveling in the first place. As they story develops, and the crew is marooned, it's only by working together, and for each other, that they find purpose and the will to carry out their mission even though it could mean certain death. The theme is continued further with the villain, though it only developers late into the third act so I'll skip out on the details. We are warned in the trailer that "It's easy to get lost in the vastness of space" and that just the kind of crisis we see Kirk and Spock (and by extension their crew) struggle with in this movie.

Though the movie makes marks of greatness it arguably the most flawed of the recent trilogy. For one Krall, the villain, remains fairly undeveloped for a majority of the movie and even when more is revealed several inconsistencies remain. The CGI is a little lacking toward the end but not nearly enough to distract from the action. Lastly there is the script co-written by Simon Pegg (Who I'm a huge fan of); though the characters he pair together are near brilliant decisions, every now and then the film will hit a scene that seems a little too 'scripted'. I know that sounds stupid since the whole film is suppose to be scripted but it was just something I started to pick up on, either the scenes were stale or the dialogue was too 'one-liney.' I'm not too sure but it only happened two or three times and It never halted or shorted the smile on my face.

I loved Star Trek Beyond and would recomend it to any Sci-fi fan, any action fan, or anybody just curious as to what Star Trek is all about. I can't consider myself a Treky but I love good science fiction and Star Trek has a knack for delivering great stories with insightful commentaries. Going forward, Star Trek: Beyond is a standout this summer and will stick in my memory for some time to come.


Side note...
Beyond pays as much homage to it's fallen star's as it does the legacy of the franchise (hence the title). If your a fan of Leonard Nimoy or wanted to pay respects to the young Anton Yelchin, Beyond will thank you, and will satisfy as a worthy tribute.

The Infiltrator

Follow the Money Up                    3/5


Preformance
     It's Bryan Cranston, need I say more.

Nail Biter
     Tense at parts.

     

Rotten Tomatos 68%          Cinemascore:A-


It's not often I go into a movie with few expectations. By the time any movie releases I'm usually over saturated with the summary, maybe a few trailers, and dozens of reviews, however I had the fortune of going into The Infiltrator without the foresight of what I would be seeing. The premise is all to familiar while being rooted in reality; Bryan Cranston plays real life undercover agent Robert Mazur and comes up with a scheme to launder the money behind Escobar's drug trade freezing their assets in the process. As expected Cranston plays his role fantastically, its not really an oscar caliber preformance considering the character (as he was written) in the script wasn't anything exceptional, but it would still be a sin to ignore the impact on a technical level. Cranston's portrayal of Mazur makes the story fun when it's too serious, and makes some moments tense though we know he will be fine. The story is flawed, several plot lines just straight up dissapear or don't make since at all, and the direction is only just ok. Despite these objections, they didn't subtract too much from the movie as the plot unfolded. As non fiction thrillers go, I was glued to my seat and invested. Chasing the money along with Robert Mazur is one chase worth checking out.

Ghostbusters

Scaring up Laughs and Nonsense         2/5


Funny as Hell
     Paul Feig and his girls bring the laughs but Hemsworth gets the gold

Origin Story
     It's no comic book but a superhero story this is

Nostalgia Bomb
     Cameos, Callbacks and more even though it's not a strength

Standout!
     Seriously Hemsworth makes this movie



Rotten Tomatos 73%        Cinemascore: B+

It's here...man it feels dead on arrival. The internet has been butchering this movie for months now (no thanks to those horrible trailers). Despite my doubts though I remained faithful to this movie: "It's going to be great" I thought, "The cast and crew they got are great, Paul Feig is a perfect fit" I thought. Now that it out, its hard not to reflect on the roller coster it has been. This went from one of my most anticipated of 2016, to one of my greatest concerns, to a critically acclaimed movie, to finally just ok. Disappointment, that's what I fell coming out of Ghostbusters. After all the will it won't it suck, could it be great talk ect. its just ok. Here's why:

Ghostbusters hit notes on two spectrums, being really enjoyable and being really dumb. When this movie works it works big time. The leads are funny, I ended up enjoying Leslie Jones the most out of the four (surprising considering I hated her from the trailers). Feig's direction can be found in the movies more subtle moments, like the Ghostbusters interviewing their secretary, Kevin (Hemsworth). Best of all the humor delivers (...most of the time). The standout in this department is Hemsworth who gave me several belly laughs (you know the laughs that make you burst out really hard). Ghostbusters was certainly worth the price of admission and kept a smile on my face for minutes at a time.

Sadly this movie has three big problems, first is the comedy. I know I just said that I laughed and the main cast is funny but there were plenty of times the script pushed a little too hard for a laugh. The result was more of an uncomfortable pause as the actresses tried to stick a rough landing. Second were the cameos. Cameos in a movie should never be a bad thing, but here we had to stop the action just so the secretary from the first ghostbusters could pop up. The amount of cameos is disturbing but most importantly nobody seems to care when they show up. What's the point of seeing Bill Murray in a Ghostbusters movie if he has no bearing on the plot and delivers his lines as enthusiastically a domesticated sloth.

But worst of all, worst then both of those issues combined, is the villain. The Villian in this movie is soooooooooo bad, soooooooo obnoxious, soooooooo stupidly forced,  soooooooo blatantly written , that it makes me question how smart studios think we are (not so smart, not smart at all it would appear). When he introduces himself to Leslie's character I was on board, but by the fourth time he talks to himself or the audience about how much he hates humanity and how unfair the world is I was done. I really don't think Sony cares anymore, I know he is just a plot devise but he basically rips all the fun away whenever he's on screen (well until the second half when he just starts body hopping but the trailers already spoiled that didn't they).

In the end Ghostbusters is fine, it's just fine. Sure Sony, bring on the sequel. Sure Internet, tare this movie apart. Sure hyper feminist hate anybody who hates this movie because they must hate woman. In the end though, the irony to all of this is that Ghostbusters really isn't really deserving of any of it (the hate, the drama, the possible sequel) at all.

Mike and Dave Need Wedding Dates

Party With Efron and DeVine            3/5


Funny as Hell
     I laughed...a lot

Vacation!
     I'm a sucker for vacation movie plots, add to the escapism I guess

     

Rotten Tomatos 39%        Cinemascore: B


Mike and Dave Need Wedding Dates was the adult comedy to debut this weekend alongside The Secret Life of Pets and it does exactly what its suppose to (provided your into this sort of comedy). This movie is a cluster of sex jokes, some of them really funny and some barely worth a chuckle, still if your firing 100 shells a minute a couple are going to be bullseyes. The writing in this movie is actually sharper then it lets on at first and provides several great sandboxes for its characters to let loose in. Mike and Dave has plenty of moments that struck me just right but its greatest weakness is its four main leads (Efron, Kendrick, DeVine and Plaza). Many of the movies scenarios call for over the top reactions but these guys just have no off switch. DeVine in particular started to feel less human as the movie went on because his delivery was just so overpowering. That being said the point of the movie is that the main four characters are a little out of touch so it didn't crash and burn the plot like it may in other movies. This movie wont be for everyone, but considering how much I laugh I have to say I would recomend it and watch it again in the future.

The Secret Life of Pets

A Pet Story                             3/5


Animated
    Another solid animated movie this year

Standout!
     Jenny Slate as Gidget and Kevin Hart as Snowball

Trailer Sold
     This movie opened huge with the aid of a great marketing campaign

     
     

Rotten Tomatos 74%       Cinemascore: A-

The Secret Life of Pets is another solid addition to a year that has been dominated by animated films. It's premise is simple: What do our pets do when we're not around? While that question is answered in on a variety of occasions, but the true story is about Max (Louis C.K.) who is his owner, Kate's, favorite pet until she adopts another dog named Duke (Eric Stonestreet). After trying to get rid of one another, Max and Duke end up on the street trying to find their way home while the pets Max used to live with organize a search party, lead by Max's secret admirer Gidget (Jenny Slate), to find them.

First let me address the elephant in the room, if this plot and premise sounds a lot like Toy Story don't worry your right. This movie takes as much from Toy Story as the Force Awakens did from A New Hope, but as I mentioned in that review (and as I will mention here) a movie can borrow plots and ideas from each other as long as there is something new it brings to the table; I believe this aspect of Pets is redeemed with the characters. Snowball (Kevin Hart) and Gidget easily delivered the most laughs but I found myself behind most of the characters in this movie and loved watching them bounce off each other. The movie has a grasp on its boundaries and when to hit the right notes.

For the first half of Pets I found myself enjoying the movie more so then Dory, however a better movie this is not. Many of the character arcs in this movie are a little underdeveloped making for some convenient second act character changes. For example Duke in the beginning of the movie is a complete jerk to Max, even though Max hasn't really welcomed him, but by the second act it seems this mean spirited identity of his in completely dropped so the two can work together.

The Secret Life of Pets is everything the trailers promised, a fun adventure through the big apple starring our favorite animals at home. I was with this movie from opening credits and had a couple good laughs along the way. If your curious, it won't bite to check it out.