THE EXPENDABLES 3 - updated

(2014) 126 Minutes, Rated PG-13

Mike's Review:   Much better than The Expendables 2, and close to the first Expendables which started it all.  This time the story was better and seem more plausible.  The addition of the younger crew was interesting and seeing the old school crew back in action was enjoyable to watch.

The things I didn't care for in this movie were more along the special effects side.  For example the use of green screen when they are driving around recruiting the new team and the just bad CGI that was mixed into the helicopter fight scene was kind of cartoon-ish.

But on the other side the big hard core explosions and hand to hand combat was pretty good.

Now its going to be interesting to see if there will be an Expendables 4 due to the fact this one isn't doing so hot at the box office.  But if there is another sequel, I think Lou Ferrigno should be in it this time.

Best Scene: The truck chase scene had some good stunts but I also liked the building demolition..  

Mike's Rating: Worth the price of the Ticket

Bean's Review: Much, much better than the second Expendables, which I barely remember, as it was so bad.  Great opening with tons of unique stunts.  The storyline was believable, for this type of movie.  The original characters were easy to connect with and the dialogue, although containing some clichés, was good with some humor.

Although I know this movie was incorporating the aging-experienced characters with the new recruits, some actors are really showing their age and perhaps should give up this type of movie.   I do enjoy Harrison Ford’s acting and most of his movies, but his acting in this movie was way over-done.  If it was intentional on the director’s part, it did not work for me, as it was just annoying. 

As for Antonio Banderas, it was great to see him in a movie, as he does so few.  However, I did not care for his character.  I rather see him as a stronger actor, such as in Assassins and Desperado, as opposed to the desperate, sorry character this storyline provided for him.

For the most part, I did like the new recruits, especially Glen Powell, playing Thorn.   And the addition of a female was done well, as there was no stupid sex banter amongst the team.

Mel Gibson did a good job of playing the bad guy, but a fight with Sylvester Stallone was a bit silly, as Mel Gibson could not withstand even one punch from Stallone let alone a whole fight scene.

I was not sure how the storyline would incorporate Kelsey Grammar, as he is by no means of the Expendable genre, but the directors did well in placing him as a recruit monger

Best scene:  when Christmas and “Doctor Death” throw the darts

Bean’s rating:  Full price ticket 

A.C.'s Review: If it’s August it must be time for another EXPENDABLES movie! In this third installment of the franchise the aging action heroes from the 1980’s and 90’s once again find themselves going up against a super bad guy-this time played by  Mel Gibson.

Outside of Wesley Snipes joining the team and the addition of some young Expendable recruits  there isn’t much new here but that doesn’t mean it isn’t enjoyable. The finale where the team literally takes out almost an entire platoon of bad guys is a sight to behold.

Much has been made as to whether the recent online piracy of this movie, the PG-13 rating or discontent with  part 2 has led to lackluster box office results. I can’t really say which is to blame-my guess is that the concept while novel at first is wearing off. With that said I hope there is one last Expendables mission where the action lives up to the name and the Expendables all die sacrificing themselves for some greater good. That way the series would go out with a bang.

I am also hoping the low box office doesn’t affect plans for the proposed EXPENDABELLES featuring and all woman cast of female action stars…imagine Angelina Jolie, Lucy Liu, Michelle Rodriguez and others teaming up…well, that would get me there opening weekend.

One final note on EX-3. The inclusion of the Antonio Banderas character nearly derailed the entire movie. For some reason screenwriter Sly thought it would be a good idea to drop an alleged “comic” character into the middle of this movie. I love GILLIGAN’S ISLAND but that doesn’t mean I want Gilligan in the midst of an action movie. The character was not funny and annoying.

:Best Scene: The Expendables decimating an army with the help of Han Solo at the controls of a helicopter and hearing Arnold’s trademark “Get to the Choppah” line.

A.C.'s Rating: Full Price

TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES

(2014) 101 Minutes, Rated PG-13

Mike's Review: This movie wasn't a total train wreck.  Its a movie about turtles that have been mutated and trained as ninjas, If you can fathom that then this movie is worth watching.  BUT if you know and grew up with the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles of the 1990's, then I'm sure you will have the same issues I did with the movie.  I won't go into a huge breakdown of what was wrong and what I liked.  Instead I thought a quick list of pros and cons would explain it better.

First the Pros:  

Some might not agree but I liked the way the new versions of the turtles are portrayed being larger and stronger and more realistic looking. But I don't think they needed lips.  

I like their individual looks and styles and for the most part they stayed true to the original personalities we all know.

I liked the little nods to past turtle movies that were through out the movie, pizza on the head, roof top battle scene with Shredder... etc.

And now the Cons:

I didn't care for the splinter design at all or Tony Shalhoub being the voice

I didn't care for the background story changes.  Being April O'Neil's pets and lab test subjects.

I didn't like the 3 minutes Whoopi Goldberg was in the movie.

There were more pros and cons through out the movie, but those were the main ones for me.  Overall I would say if they had stuck to the original story line of how the turtles came to be and added more character development to the turtles and fired the guy that came up with the splinter design this movie would have been an even bigger hit then it is turning out to be.

Best Scene:  The big rig driving down the side of a snow pact mountain. (yes you read that right...ha ha ha)

Mike's Rating: Matinee

GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY

(2014) 121 Minutes, Rated PG-13

Mike's Review:   This is a must see movie. And a complete riot!  I had no idea this movie was going to be so funny, I practically laughed all the way through.   

For not knowing much about the whole Guardians story line going into the movie, I really didn't need to.  The movie explains things well and started to show how it ties itself into the rest of the Marvel Universe and I'm sure future sequels are sure to have even more tie ins. 

Overall I enjoyed the whole movie. It actually has made me want to start researching and learning more about the characters and the whole Guardians of the Galaxy storyline because if the movie was this awesome, than the comic book should be a fun read as well.

Best Scene: Rocket.  

Mike's Rating: A must see!

Bean's Review:  Finally, a summer movie that is definitely worth seeing (and more than once)! Chris Pratt, whom I do not recall seeing in any other movie, plays Peter Quill/Starlord, a very reluctant hero, who, along with extremely funny and entertaining cohorts, saves the galaxy from being blown to pieces by the misuse of an orb by the very bad Ronan.

The beginning of this movie was quite sad and then bizarre and near the end, we find out why Peter was abducted by the “aliens”.  Each of Peter’s companions, Drax, Gamora, Rocket and Groot are played well by each of their actors.  Rocket’s dialogue and antics are a hoot!  The story develops nicely and you are able to connect to each character.  Michael Rooker acts much like his character in The Walking Dead and the arrow was a nice touch.  Benicio del Toro’s character, the Collector, was over the top.

  

This movie was reminiscent of another very entertaining and extremely funny sci-fi movie, the Fifth Element.

Best scene:  any scene wherein Rocket is translating for Groot

Bean’s rating:  Full price ticket and would see it again and again

A.C.'s Review: Avengers in space pretty much covers the premise of Marvel’s latest block buster. Marvel Studios has done it again…aside from a few missteps like IRON MAN 2 & 3 for the most part these guys deliver.

Kidnapped from Earth as a child Peter Quill grows up as a space pirate with many different worlds as his playground. His life of crime comes to an end when he unwittingly steals a powerful object that threatens the lives of billions. Banding together with a rogues gallery that includes a lovely female assassin, a musclebound alien out for personal revenge, a sentient plant/tree and of all things a talking genetically altered raccoon these unlikely heroes must save the galaxy.

The real joy in this movies is seeing the characters come together and how they form a strange band of heroes and even an unlikely family. There’s tons of great visuals and special effects but these were just icing on the cake as the dynamics between the group is what I cared about.

My only quibbles are twice characters survive in the vacuum of space which seems more unbelievable than talking trees and animals and I thought most of the songs on the “Awesome Mix tape” weren’t that awesome but I’m not a fan of 1970’s music in general.

Eating crow I had pronounced when I first heard about it that this would be Marvel’s first truly epic bomb but as I saw the trailers I became more and more convinced they might have something here and was actually anticipating it by the time it came out. I was not disappointed. I am  looking forward to the sequel as well as the rumored team up between the group and the Avengers in AVENGERS 3.

 

Best Scene: When all the group first meet on Xander as they attempt to capture, fight and steal from each other..

A.C.'s Rating: Full Admission

THE PURGE: ANARCHY

(2014) 103 Minutes, Rated R

A.C.’s Review:  A new revolving franchise like the SAW and PARANORMAL movies was born last year when the movie THE PURGE was released in June…the difference being THE PURGE was dropped into the prime summer season instead of October like the above examples.

Apparently the gamble paid off and now this summer in an even more prime month of July the sequel THE PURGE: ANARCHY has arrived.

Picking up on the premise that 10 or so years in the future the government makes all crime legal for one night to severely curtail criminal activity on the other 364 days of the year this movie builds on the idea. Moving away from the “home invasion” format of the first movie we take to the streets where various innocents find themselves trapped in a Los Angeles gone mad where potential death, rape or worse awaits around every corner.

The hero is a man only known as Sergeant who is out to avenge the death of his son by a drunk driver and will use the purge to exact that revenge. Along the way he reluctantly becomes the protector of a mother and daughter and a young couple trapped out on the streets. Sergeant is played by Frank Grillo (Captain America,-The Winter Soldier, The Grey) who I always enjoy seeing turn up in movies. This is the first time he is the lead role and more than handily manages it.

This was a very entertaining movie and clocks in at 1:45. I easily would have enjoyed a full 2 hours of it. There is action coupled with characters you care about and just a great premise that makes the moviegoer think what would they do in a world like this.

With nearly $85 million in box office worldwide on a $9 million budget you can bet we will be purging for several years to come. Look forward to seeing what happens next purge.

Best Scene: The group takes refuge in a supposedly safe apartment that turns out to be anything but.

A.C.'s Rating: Full Admission

LUCY

(2014) 89 Minutes, Rated R

Mike's Review: Not to bad of a science fiction type of movie.  It kind of reminded me a little bit to The Matrix (1999) and had a "keep your interest" type of story to it.  The action, acting and special effect were all pretty good.  The only thing I didn't care for were the random National Geographic type of animal clips and cartoon-y brain percentage use count down clips they keep using through out the whole movie.  It would have been better if they had the movie set up to where Morgan Freeman was narrating it.  

Best Scene:  There were some good ones.  I likes the plane scene and the ending the best.  I wonder if there will be a sequel?

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

Bean's Review: Not what I was expecting.  This was not the constant fight, revenge movie that we are typically exposed to in the summer.  This movie leaned heavily on science…fiction and what we know to be actual.  There was very little gratuitous deaths, as Lucy’s character did not even kill the really “bad” guy, played by Min-sik Choi, an extremely frightful drug lord.  Lucy, played quite well by Scarlett Johansson, is unwittingly exposed to a synthetic new drug that has made her into an omniscient being.  Morgan Freeman’s character, Prof. Norman, aides Lucy in her climatically last stage of her “life” into an informational device.  Freeman does a good job at being the sympathetic, caring person that helps Lucy rid herself of her “humanness”.   

The introduction of the French police captain, Pierro Del Rio, played by Amr Waked (look forward to seeing him in other movies), added levity to the movie.  As most of the movies I have seen have been too lengthy,  this movie could have been longer, as more “time” spent on the development of Lucy’s character would have made me connect better with the movie.   

Best scene:  the operating room, when Lucy just walks in and wants the surgeon to remove the bag of drugs from her body                               

Bean’s rating:  Matinee-overall very entertaining movie-but could have been better

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