NOAH updated

(2014) 138 Minutes, Rated PG-13

Bean's Review:   Pretty disappointed with this movie, as with such a great cast, I was expecting a better story.  Once again, the movie was about 1/2 too long for the story line.  Although, called Noah, the story only loosely followed the Bible.  I have no issue with that, it is the story was not very good.  The acting was good by Russell Crowe, Ray Winstone and Anthony Hopkins.  There were interesting concepts in the story, such as the Watchers, but Noah’s mission to seek out only the innocent and just almost ended very badly. 

Best Scene: When Anthony Hopkins’ character was teaching one of the boys cat cradle – so incongruous to the rest of the movie

Bean's Rating: DVD.

 

A.C.'s Review: Noah was a very weak effort on Hollywood’s part to latch onto anything that has the least amount of  “name recognition” in hopes of luring people to the theater. Probably everyone in the world knows the brief biblical story of Noah and the Great Flood and as I understand it other religions also have similar stories in their repertoire.

In this epic fail in an attempt to pad out the story we get a Noah that the scriptwriters don’t know what to do with. All bases are covered. Noah is a mystic, Noah is an action hero, Noah at one point even becomes the villain with homicidal tendencies towards his own grandchildren. What a mess! Also there is the uncomfortable notion that Noah’s family is left to repopulate the world….that implies some pretty untoward things need to happen for that to take place.

I will say to reviewer Bean…that I can see why they included the rock monsters aka “The  Watchers”. The needed some explanation as to how Noah and his family alone could construct that vast ark…which is glossed over in the Bible stories. When I saw them I couldn’t help but think about how upset William Shatner was when he directed Star Trek V and the studio cut his budget and he couldn’t have some rock monster “demons” for the finale. Finally these rock monsters see the light and in a Paramount released movie no less…but if you are cribbing from Bill Shatner and Star Trek V you are in trouble.

On a plus side the animal effects were well done.

Best Scene: The last survivors clinging to a mountaintop before the being washed away as the Ark floats away-with Noah turning his cold ear to their pleas.

 

A.C.'s: Rating: DVD only

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DIVERGENT

(2014) 139 Minutes, Rated PG-13

Mike's Review:   This movie was okay, but a tad long and dragged out.  I will say this, it was a lot better than some of those other "tween" movies out there based on a book series and if a sequel came around I would more than likely see it.  The cast wasn't anything special and any actor could have played any of the characters. But on the other hand now that they have spent so much time introducing us to these characters, any sequel that is done would really need the same actors and actresses to carry on their role, otherwise this first movie would have been just a waist of time.
   
Best Scene:  I liked the fight scenes.

Mike's Rating: Matinee, worth seeing on the big screen, just not at full price.

Bean's Review:  This movie was too long for the storyline, a storyline that once again takes place in a bleak future and tries to remove independent thought from the human race via fractions.  The fractions were an interesting concept, but there was not enough plot to justify the length of the movie.  I was actually a bit bored.  The movie also did not utilize Ashley Judd’s and Kate Winslet’s talents, respectively.  The parts these two women had could have been played by most any other actor.  I do think Shailene Woodley and Theo James performed well and I enjoyed watching them interact with each other.

Best Scene: When Woodley’s character throws the knife at Winslet’s character

Bean's Rating: DVD.

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MR. PEABODY & SHERMAN

(2014) 92 Minutes, Rated PG

Mike's Review:  I really didn't like this movie, in fact I saw it almost two weeks ago and it took all this time just to force myself to write a review for it.  I thought cartoons were supposed to be funny and at least fun to watch.  This movie wasn't, I think I laughed maybe once. 

One of the two main problems I had with this movie was the fact they were trying to lecture parents on how to be parents and if you weren't a good enough parent than you kids would be taken away from you.  Kids don't need to see a cartoon that tells them if they do something wrong than they will be taken away from there parents. That whole part of the movie plot really ticked me off.  

The second problem I had with this movie was there was so much history and historical things going on, that if you didn't know anything about history or couldn't read the text on the screen telling you the time frame and location of where they were in that point in time, then you wouldn't understand what was going on. Which means a lot of the younger kids just starting to learn to read, let alone learn about history, would have no clue what was going on as they bounced around time.  

I could go on, but I really don't want to waist any more time writing this review.  Bottom line this cartoon could have done so much more for kids by actually teaching them something in a fun way, rather than to scare them into thinking they would be taken away from their parents.

Best Scene: ha ha ha ha

Mike's Rating: Don't waist your time or money on this one.

300: RISE OF AN EMPIRE

(2014) 102 Minutes, Rated R

A.C.’s Review:  After being pushed back from its original fall 2013 release date 300: RISE OF AN EMPIRE – the sequel/equal/prequel to the very successful Frank Miller created and Zach Snyder directed THE 300 has finally arrived in theaters.

The original was a take on the epic battle of 300 Spartans vs an overwhelming force of Persians invaders out to take over Greece. Culled from Frank Miller’s graphic novel the first film broke ground by employing a visual style that made it seem as lifted from the comic book page as well as making a star out of the unknown Gerard Butler.

In the new film Zach Snyder relinquished directing duties but penned the script and what he did was brilliant. The elephant in the room is how do you make a follow up to a movie where the story has already been told and you don’t have Gerard Butler back as Leonidas the leader of the Spartans since he perished in the last reel of the original film?

By making it a prequel/equal/sequel. Snyder’s excellent idea was to focus the movie on a different band of heroes that confront the immense Persian naval fleet seen in the back ground in the original movie. This movie opens shortly before Leonidas and the 300 leave to mount their epic land defense of Sparta. Therefore the hero of this film a Greek general of what would be analogous to  modern day Marine General is seen visiting Sparta to rally support but Leonidas is conveniently off screen consulting the oracle as if to attack the Persians so the General speaks to the Queen (Lena Headly-returning).

Once the sea battle begins there are bits and snatches of dialogue that convey that the action is happening concurrently to Leonidas battle to hold off the Persians with his 300 men.

Anyone who did not perish in the first movie (and even some who did via flashback) Snyder deftly weaves into the story whether in major roles or glorified cameos. Snyder did such a great job with this screenplay it astounds me that his MAN OF STEEL movie was one of the worst films of 2013.

In this film Snyder creates an epic villain in the female commander of the entire Persian navy and who is the right hand woman of Xerxes  the God/King and leader of the invading Persian forces. Soon it becomes clear however that the naval commander played by Eva Green is the true power behind the throne.

If I had to describe this character it would be to think of her as a female Darth Vader. A fearsome force to contend with but also with a tragic back story as to why this Greek woman would be fighting alongside the Persians. She is the best character in the film hands down.

This is an overall excellent film in terms of the characters and the visual effects similar to the first film. The over exaggerated blood splatter is a bit much though because if you believe the movie the human body is the equivalent to a child’s balloon filled to capacity with blood and sprays everywhere under the cut from a sword.

Best of all the film even leaves room open for a sequel and visiting this world again wouldn’t be a bad way to spend a couple hours.

Best Scene: The Greek General and the Eva Green’s female Naval commander stage a truce and meet face to face. Their interactions can only be viewed and not described.

A.C.’s Rating:  Full price for sure but not necessary to view in 3D. Just fine in 2D..

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NON-STOP

(2014) 106 Minutes, Rated PG-13

Mike's Review:   Not too bad of a  movie.  I have like Liam Nielsen in just about everything I have seen him act in and this movie shows just how well he can carry a movie on his own, just like he did in Taken (2008).  I liked how the twists of the plot kept you guessing through out the movie on just who you thought was the actual "bad-guy". I won't give away any spoilers, but it wasn't who I had originally thought it was.
   
Best Scene:  The airplane bathroom fight scene.

Mike's Rating: Worth the price of the ticket.

Bean's Review:   I was expecting more from this movie based on the trailers.  However, the plot was a bit of a twist from the typical airplane hijacking movies, but I was waiting for the movie to get to the point.  Therefore, the movie was too long for the storyline.  Liam Nielsen, as usual, was great to watch.  However, any of the other characters could have been interchanged with any other actor.  There were no stand-out roles. 

The action scenes kept my attention, especially when the plane encounter turbulence.

Overall, an entertaining movie, but I felt cheated in that it could have been much better.

Best Scene: fight in the airplane bathroom

Bean's Rating: Matinee/DVD.

POMPEII

(2014) 105 Minutes, Rated PG-13

A.C.’s Review:  The disaster genre is one of my favorite categories of movies and I was greatly anticipating the release of POMPEII recounting the 79 AD eruption of Mount Vesuvius that towered over the city of Pompeii on the shores of the Bay of Naples.

No disaster movie would be complete without a group of characters to care about when in the face of danger as well as some we hate and hope they get their just desserts when the inevitable occurs.

The protagonists of the film are the slave Milo (Kit Harrington) and Cassia (Emily Browning) a wealthy merchants daughter who falls in love in the days leading up to the devastating eruption. Complicating matters besides the class difference is Roman Senator Corvus played by (which was a complete surprise to me not knowing he was in the movie) Keifer Sutherland. It was strange to see him playing a devious villain after years of good guy Jack Bauer on TV’s 24. Still he seemed to relish in the role being bad to the bone trying to force Cassia as his own, even as Pompeii crumples around them all.

Even the supporting players such as other gladiators and hand maidens and Cassie’s parents as well as the Senator’s henchman are all interesting characters and fun to watch. In fact the story and relationships were so good it could have just been a movie about them without the Volcano.

With that said when Vesuvius does blow the effects are amazing and the carnage is brought to life in all its glory. The effects are so well done its easy to forget you are watching effects. It all looks so real.

This was an excellent movie and so called professional film critics are a pack of lemmings. The director Paul W.S. Anderson has done some movies that these critics look down on so naturally they want to disparage this new film because it is the “hip” and trendy thing to do. Ignore them all. This film is a don’t miss if you like action, thrills and a good story all rolled into one.

My one caveat is that despite being harder to find go to the 2D showings. The 3D is not necessary and is just a cash grab.
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Best Scene: Actually the ending as our heroes meet their fate as opposed to the usual Hollywood copout feel good endings when there shouldn’t be.

A.C.’s Rating:  Full Price!.

 

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