22 JUMP STREET

(2014) 112 Minutes, Rated R

Mike's Review: I will have to say I like the sequel better than 21 Jump Street.  They seemed better suited to play college kids instead of high school kids.  There were quite a few scenes that made me laugh out loud and not all the funny stuff was used up on the previews.

As for the rest of the movie the 'old' jokes were getting kind of boring and Jonah Hill does a good job of being annoying.   Channing Tatum's was actually kind of funny in this movie.  He seemed to be more into the part and his jokes were not as forced as Jonah Hill's.

Best Scene:  The parents weekend at the College was a riot as well as the office scene at 22 Jump Street when Channing Tatum's character figures out what Jonah Hill's character did...'Ding'.

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

Bean's Review: Although, I did not watch the 21 Jump Street series and saw only part of the 21 Jump Street movie, it was not difficult to follow the storyline of this movie.  It was what I was expecting, however, not as funny.    Channing Tatum is enjoyable to watch and Ice Cube was entertaining.  Jonah Hill’s character becomes a bit grating.  There are plenty of double entendres and plenty not so subtle.   Pieces of the movie were fairly funny, such as the prison scene with Rob Riggle and Dave Franco.  But too many scenes were drawn out and not as funny.

  I thought the previews of possible upcoming Jump Street movies, after the credits, were some of the best parts of the movie.

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Best scene:  Jenko dancing in the dream scene

Bean’s rating:  DVD

EDGE OF TOMORROW

(2014) 113 Minutes, Rated PG-13

Mike's Review: I didn't know this movie was based on a book until I read what actor Clark Gregg said about it on social media a couple of weeks ago.  He said something along the lines of - he wished the movie kept the same title as the book - I am not quoting what he said but I do agree with his thought.  The book is called "All you need is Kill" written by Hiroshi Sakurazaka. And I kind of liked that title.

As for the movie it was a very entertaining, well done science-fiction story.  The acting by Tom Cruise was very believable.  I won't try to explain the movie and all the ways time travel and stuff can really warp your thought process if you over think it to much.  To truly understand the plot and enjoy it for what it is, you really need to see the movie.   The special effects were nicely done, but the drone mimics reminded me too much of the sentinels from the Matrix (1999). 

I will say this, if there is a sequel it will be interesting just to see how they do it.  But then again, its a science-fiction story based on time travel.  Anything is possible.

Best Scene:  The ending.  I like how the story all wrapped up.

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

Bean's Review: One of the better movies thus far this summer.  I liked the storyline, sort of like Groundhog Day.  Although I am not a huge fan of Tom Cruise, his acting is very good and he seems to mostly deliver good movies.  At the beginning of the movie, I thought Tom Cruise’s character was going to be a “chicken-pants” through-out, but was pleasantly surprised that he, of course, was the hero.  And, I could sympathize with his character in having to relive the same day over and over and over.  It was good to see Bill Paxton, as he has not been in many recent movies.  I thought Emily Blunt portrayed her character well.  She makes a good “action” type character.

   As for the aliens, they were nothing spectacular.  The aliens invading Earth story lines are getting a bit old and boring.  The action scenes where Tom Cruise is training are good.  However, there were way too many battle scenes.

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Best scene:  When Emily Blunt’s character wants to restart, when Tom Cruise is training

Bean’s rating:  Border line Matinee/Full Price

A.C.’s Review:  Perennial sci-fi movie actor Tom Cruise returns to familiar territory in this summer’s latest take on an alien invasion story.

THE GOOD:

Cruise gets a chance to play against type for the first half hour of the movie when the portrays an Army officer who is not cut from the “best at what he does” mold that Cruise so often plays in the movies. In fact when the character is “drafted” into frontline combat he is so terrified he resorts to all methods to get out of it including attempting to black mail the General of the the forces fighting the aliens.

The Special Effects-First rate effects works went into the movie and everything looks pretty realistic.

Bill Paxton-I didn’t even know it was him playing the southern army Lt. Amazing that a mustached and good accent completely fooled me and by chance lately I have seen a lot of stuff with Paxton in it and I didn’t recognize him.

THE BAD:

I can still remember the excitement I had waiting for INDEPENDENCE DAY to come out in 1996 because I was looking forward to a true alien invasion movie as before that most aliens that came to earth in the movie were friendly like E.T. Flash-forward almost 20 years later and the whole alien invasion thing has been done to death. The only thing new here is that time travel plays a role in this invasion but if you stop to think about it aliens that can control time should be invincible no matter what Cruise does and once you realize that the whole movie falls apart.

Emily Blunt…I don’t know if it was the actress or the character but you’d be hard pressed to find a more charisma free leading lady in a movie. Where the heck was Kate Beckinsale when you need her? She would have been awesome in this role.

One and Done…This is what I call movies where there is little chance of the story being continued in another sequel but worse sometimes I don’t care if I revisited the “world” of the movie and this is one of those times. It’s pretty forgettable once you leave the theater.

Best Scene: The FIRST time Cruise drops into the pitched battle on the beach and all the chaos that enthuses…especially notable was his comrade getting crushed by a crashing helicopter after safely making it to the ground.

A.C.’s Rating: Matinee

A MILLION WAYS TO DIE IN THE WEST

(2014) 116 Minutes, Rated R

Mike's Review: This movie entertained me. It made me laugh out loud a couple of times. There were some funny scenes and some stupid scenes and some stupid funny scenes.  I like all the little cameo's through out the movie.  I think the one of Doc Brown would have been better if they hadn't spoiled it in the previews. The story was for the most part not to bad.  All in all if you like Seth MacFarlane and his type of...lets say 'bold' humor than you should like this movie

Best Scene:  The filling the hat scene was a riot..

Mike's Rating: Matinee

Bean's Review: As I was expecting this movie to be fairly silly, I was not as disappointed as I have been with more recent movies.  Unfortunately, this movie could have been much more humorous.  This movie was definitely not even in the same comedic ball park as Ted, which was hilarious.  Charlize Theron’s talents were wasted in this movie.  Seth MacFarlane’s diatribes about dying in the West were amusing, but he should stick to producing, directing and just voicing his role.  MacFarlane’s obsession with feces and defecating is not funny whatsoever and he should explore other avenues of expressing humor.  I did enjoy Giovanni Ribisi’s role, but it should have been expanded.  Some of the cameos were also entertaining.

Best scene:  When MacFarlane’s character falls off the cliff from the recoil of the gun       

Bean’s rating:  DVD

A.C.’s Review:  The Wild, Wild West as a comedy rides again! Or does it? That depends on if you enjoy the humor of Seth MacFarlane the creative force behind FAMILY GUY and its siblings AMERICAN DAD and the CLEVELAND SHOW.

Following the success of the comedy TED it appears the studio pretty much gave Seth a blank check creatively so to speak to create A MILLIONS DAYS IN THE WEST and his imprint is all over it from star, to writer, to producer to director. What you would call a good old fashion vanity project.

The story follows sheep rancher Albert Stark who after being jilted by his girlfriend for the local rich tool finds himself in an unlikely romance with a desperados wife who is currently in the frontier town where Stark lives waiting to be reunited with the outlaw played by Liam Neeson.

Unaware that she (Charlize Theron) is the wife of the most dangerous man in the territory Stark not only learns to shoot but gains much confidence with the female gunslingers help.

Along the way the movie is filled with numerous sight gags, cameos, double entandres, plenty of  slapstick and Seth’s trademark toilet humor. Is it funny? A lot of it surely is from the subtle (a riff on how no one ever smiles in photos from the 19^th century) to truly laugh out loud bits (the scene were Stark is hiding from bad guys amidst his herd of sheep). Some things fall flat (the “flower scene” with Neeson near the end) and others that would have been absoluty hilarious (A certain cameo in the barn and the Mila Kunis bit) were spoiled in the trailers.

The weakest thing I think is trying to make Seth a leading man…he’s more suited to play the funny sidekick. I can easily see this having been a better movie is say James Franco played Stark.

To the studio and probably Seth’s astonishment the movie tanked at the box office. I will admit being surprised as I thought this was going to be block buster. Though I would welcome a sequel its unlikely now. Hopefully Seth will forget about films for a while and start working on the much delayed FLINTSTONES reboot for TV.

I want to end on an up note though. The movie is actually stolen by Stark’s best pals a couple played by Giovanni Ribisi and Sarah Silverman. They share a strangely sweet  and yet deliciously funny and ironic story in which Silverman is one of the town’s many hookers who details her many daily services in casual conversation to her boyfriend who is completely unfazed. The kicker is the couple has forsworn intimacy with each other until marriage. These two characters were a lot of fun and I’d rather they had bigger roles. Also of note was Neil Patrick Harris as the rich tool and Amada Seyfriend as the jilting girlfriend-they made a good pair of quasi villains. Just a great cast over all.

Best Scene: Well I can’t really pinpoint a best scene but I will say the funniest line that got the most laughs 

was when a character yells “Oh Snap!”  Also special mention for the opening scenes that capture the 

breathtaking beauty of Monument Valley. There is something magical an timeless about Monument Valley 

in that it has been unspoiled by modern development that when you see it on screen you really believe it’s still 1882.

A.C.’s Rating: Matinee
 

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X-MEN: DAYS OF FUTURE PAST - Updated

(2014) 131 Minutes, Rated PG-13

Mike's Review:   This is a must see movie. And I will say it again... I love how the story line stays true to the past story lines and characters and ties everything all together.  All of the little bits of past movies playing into this story line as well as keeping the same actors and actresses past and present playing there characters to a tee, really makes the movie a lot more fun to watch.

I did have a few issues with this movie which didn't seem right to me.  The whole future sentinel scenes seem to make it way to easy and fast to take out the mutants, especially some of the more well established ones like Iceman and Colossus, just killing them off pretty much with out a fight.  And the other thing that was strange was Wolverines claws...didn't he get his metal ones chopped off in the last Wolverine movie? Why did future Wolverine still have them?

Best Scene: In a word...Quicksilver.  Also I really liked the ending and how it just seemed to tie in really nicely to all the past movies.

Mike's Rating: A must see!.

Bean's Review:  Enjoyed this movie.  Very interesting storyline, which was not dependent on an overwhelming amount of action sequences.  Hugh Jackman, as always, did a great job as Wolverine and his nude scene was captivating!  James McAvoy, as the young Charles Xavier, did a fine acting job and was really convincing.  I also enjoyed the interaction amongst young Charles, the Beast and Wolverine.  Jennifer Lawrence, as Raven/Mystique, also did well in playing her part.  Overall a great cast of characters and a good job of developing the characters.  Trask’s character was just evil enough, so as to allow the audience to despise him.  And good/bad character of Erik/Magneto was also done well.

I also enjoyed the tie-ins of the present characters, and the dangling of the bad guy who changes Wolverine’s body.

Best Scene: McAvoy’s scene when he tells Logan that he does not want this future.  I also thought the scene with Quicksilver in the Pentagon was quite good

Bean's Rating: Full price ticket



A.C.'s Review: The superhero stampede at the box office continues with X-MEN: DAYS OF FUTURE PAST. It’s been hit or miss with superhero films this year Captain America: The Winter Soldier being a hit and The Amazing Spider-Man 2 being a miss but we are firmly back in the hit territory with the latest X-MEN film.

Combining the casts of both “branches” of the X-MEN film series which include the original films and the 2011 prequel X-MEN: THE FIRST CLASS this ambitious film delivers on its promise of two solid hours of entertainment.

Time travel is generally a “win” when it comes to movies and it is employed here by the X-MEN of the year 2023 to go back in time and stop a devastating war with the robotic Sentinels that eventually spells doom for mutant kind and normal humans as well.

Hugh Jackman delivers his usual excellent take on Wolverine and James McAvoy as young Charles Xavier pretty much holds the entire proceeding together with his performance. On the other end of the spectrum Halle Berry is given almost nothing to do as her star has waned in recent years and I believe if X-MEN was made today she never would have been cast. Meanwhile Jennifer Lawrence who’s star is in full bloom is given a very prominent role and the movie  revolves around her character specifically.

The story takes place mostly in 1973 but cuts away every now and then to the post-apocalyptic future to follow events there as the Sentinels close in on Prof X, Magneto and the last band of mutant hold outs.

The film balances action and drama and never lets the action get out of control to the point of where it is mindless (Man of Steel and Pacific Rim to name a few examples) and can be considered “this year’s AVENGERS” though it plays with a much more serious take.

It was very enjoyable and I liked it being a period piece back to when I was a kid to get a look at all the primitive technology which was state of the art back then. That’s always fun. I look forward to the next film due out in 2016.

Best Scene: The Pentagon scene was great but I really liked the climax with Magneto moving a giant stadium and dropping it around the White House.

A.C.'s Rating: Full Admission

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