THE AGE OF ADALINE

(2015) 112 Minutes, Rated PG-13

A.C.’s Review:  While waiting for Avengers to come out I saw some films I might not normally go to. In this case it was ADALINE. The story of a woman who hasn’t aged from 29 years old following an accident in the 1930’s that’s mixed with a pseudo-scientific explanation. I thought the movie might be good for the period elements. Unfortunately the movie only spends a little time in the 30’s 50’s and 1960’s. The bulk of the movie takes place in 2015…a time period I am very familiar with.

A half hour in I had a feeling that taking a chance on this movie had been a mistake. It quickly became a love story between Adaline and a rich philanthropist whom I didn’t like. So we spend a lot of the movie with Adaline being all should I or shouldn’t I be with this guy because she does not dare to love when she knows she will never grow old with whoever she is with. I am not a big fan of romance movies but when they are done right such as THE LONGEST RIDE they can be entertaining.

The movie finally finds a pulse when Adeline and the rich guy go to his parents 40^th wedding anniversary  In a twist his father turns out to be a man she jilted decades ago when she got to close to him. She manages to cover by saying she is the daughter of his old lover but eventually the father played by Harrison Ford uncovers her secret. Adaline runs off...gets in another car accident and wouldn’t you know it..it undoes her immortality and she can now live happily ever after with rich dude.

The movie could have redeemed itself if they turned it all on its ear and had Adaline and the Harrison Ford character renew they love and run off together but that would be too unconventional for a Hollywood movie.

Best Scene: Whenever the father and Adeline were on screen together.

A.C.’s Rating:  DVD

AVENGERS: AGE OF ULTRON - updated

(2015) 141 Minutes, Rated PG-13

Mike's Review: Not quite as good as the first Avengers movie, but it was still pretty darn impressive.
The only few things I had a problem with were that I thought that Tony Stark's - Avengers tower seemed too dark and unwelcoming. It was lacking the cool "toy" filled feel of his workshop basement. But that seems kind of minor to the other problem I had with the movie and that was Ultron.  Ultron just didn't come off as that bad of a bad guy for some reason.  He seemed more like a computer virus, that was in a way, pretty easy to wipe out.  I mean in the movie he did some gnarly stuff, but when I think of bad-ass wipe out the human race type of Artificial Intelligence I tend to lean more towards a Terminator or The Borg.

On the other side of this I thought Ultron was pretty funny.  He had some pretty good one liners as well as some pretty well done CGI.  Another stand out character this time around was Hawkeye, he had some good one liners as well.

On a sad note it was sad to see Jarvis go, but it was really cool to see him come to life as The Vision, not only in voice but as the actor as well. Paul Bettany did a really good job.

Best scene:  There were a couple of good scenes.  You can already see the tension building up between Iron Man and Captain America which will be battling it out in Captain America: Civil War.

Mike’s rating:  Must See of course

Bean's Review: I do not have the background knowledge of the Avengers from the comic books, so my review is based on the first Avenger movie, Capt. America and Thor movies.  I also did not see all of the Iron Man movies.

As expected, a very action packed movie with a lot of fight scenes.  The fight scenes are much more palatable than in “normal, human” based movies of recent viewings, as these characters are “super heroes” or super-beings or AI’s.

As a lot of comic book characters are silly, the acting needs to be good to carry the wild/farfetched story lines.  This movie has quite good acting.  I enjoy the banter amongst the Avengers.  Ultron was done well.  James Spader as the voice and mannerisms of Ultron was a very good choice.

The time spent on Hawkeye’s personal life was strange and out-of-place.

The development of the storyline to reflect the Twins becoming “good guys” was satisfying and I was sorry to see the male twin killed.

My favorite characters are Capt. America and Thor.  I would have liked to have seen more of Thor.  I also enjoy Hawkeye’s quips.  Iron Man provides some comic relief, but his constant talking becomes annoying.

Best scene:  Hawkeye’s conversation with Wanda, the female twin, when they are being attacked by Ultron’s army

Bean’s Rating:  Matinee/Full price – depends on your obsession with Marvel characters

A.C.'s Review: After a three year wait THE AVENGERS are finally back and are facing their biggest challenge ever…not Ultron but topping their first film from 2012. Do they succeed? Not quite.

There are a lot of positives about the film. The special effects are second to none. So many things are well done. At the climax the visual of the Slovakian city being lifted in the air was so believable it look like someone was filming the real thing.

Also the film scores a direct hit with the introduction of Wanda Maximoff a/k/a the Scarlet Witch. Though her powers aren’t well explained actress Elizabeth Oleson (younger sister of that famous set of twins) does an amazing job bringing the character to life and is a welcome addition. I am glad she will be turning up in next year’s CAPTAIN AMERICA-CIVIL WAR.

I also liked how numerous side characters form the solo superhero films were included in bit parts such as Sam Wilson’s Falcon from CA: THE WINTER SOLDIER.

Unfortunately with all the positives the film just cannot live up to the original film. There are several key issues that derail the film from greatness.

The number one problem was Ultron. The trailers were building him up to be an incredibly dangerous opponent…perhaps the most dangerous ever to be seen in the Marvel films and he looked and sounded pretty terrifying in those previews. However in the actual film he doesn’t come off as anywhere near as menacing as he was made out to be. Worse in fact they have him cracking one liners like he was Tony Stark. There is one point where he temporarily cannot remember the word children and when he remembers and laughs he sounds for all the world like a FAMILY GUY character.

Second was too much Hawkeye! I get what they are trying to do…make up for the short shrift he got in the original film but giving him a while subplot and a family nobody cares about is not going to make him more interesting. He’s just a guy with arrows that are eventually going to run out and he would get squashed like a bug. In fact he would be dead but not for the heroic sacrifice of another character. It should have been Hawkeye dying and not his savior.

I will admit straight bias with these two complaints. While there was too much Hawkeye there was not enough of my favorite character Thor. He spends most of the movie in a truncated subplot to set up events in films to come and is barely on screen. He does get the best line in the movie when he is stalling for time and tells Vision he is running out of things to say to Ultron so he should hurry up and attack.

Second SHIELD arrives to help save the day and I am a huge fan of the AGENTS OF SHIELD TV show so I cheered when this happened but due to  a weird turf war between Marvel’s TV and Movie division…none of the characters from the TV show appeared or were even referenced. A major disappointment. The causal movie goer would have no idea that the initial scene where the AVENGERS are in Slovakianwas directly related to intel achieved by the agents in the TV show.

Bottom line is some of the magic wore off between movies but hopefully it will return by AVENGERS 3: THE INFINITY WAR Part 1.

Best Scene: A tie. I  really liked the party scene at Stark Tower where the Avengers and friends are just hanging out and having a good time…followed by the subsequent first attack by Ultron. However when the SHIELD Hellicarrier showed up to help save the day I loved it!

A.C.'s Rating: A reluctant Full Price

THE LONGEST RIDE

(2015) 139 Minutes, Rated PG-13

A.C.’s Review:  I am seeing AVENGERS  with a friend on May 11^th so I needed to find some other films to see until that comes out so I went to see this. I am not the target audience for a Nicholas Spark’s romance novel turned film but I decided to give it a chance any way. From the previews I saw it was telling the story of a contemporary romance between a sorority girl  studying to be an art appraiser and a bull rider in North Carolina as well as a parallel story in the 1940’s about a young Jewish couple as related to the sorority girl (Britt Robertson) by the surviving member of the couple an old man played by Alan Alda that the pair befriend after they save him from a car accident.

My interest was in the 1940’s part of the story because I have come to appreciate period pieces featuring vintage vehicles and surroundings. It helped that the story was actually interesting and I cared about the young couple named Levinson. On a personal note part of the storyline involved the art world…something I grew up in so I could relate to it.

All and all it was actually a nice change of pace movie for me. If it had just focused on the contemporary couple it wouldn’t have been as engaging but the dual stories greatly helped the movie. It clocked in at just over two hours but didn’t feel like it as I was interested in the proceedings.

Best Scene: Just about any scene during the courtship between the Ira and Ruth Levinson.

A.C.’s Rating: Full Price

EX MACHINA - updated

(2015) 108 Minutes, Rated R

Bean's Review: Interesting story-not what I was expecting.  To me, the three main characters were unknown.  However, their acting was quite well done.  And, their acting was better than in most recent movies with “well-known” actors.

The story kept my attention in that, were each of the three main characters, “good” or “bad” – the characterization of each keeps you guessing, especially with Nathan, who ends up being a “psycho”.  Ironically, or may be not so ironic, Ava, the AI got the “last laugh”, as she escapes and joins society as a human, Nathan is killed by Ava and Kyoko, another AI, and Caleb is left locked in the maze of the “house”.

   

The movie was reminiscent of The Stepford Wives.  While watching this movie, Blade Runner and I, Robot did not even enter my mind-just The Stepford Wives.  Perhaps because Ava was female based and in I, Robot, the main robot or AI is male based and Ava looks more human.  In Blade Runner, the genetically engineered humans, just seemed more human than Ava-until she put on her “new skin”.

Best scene:  the dance scene with Nathan and Kyoko-it was really out of place, creepy and bizarre

Bean’s rating:  matinee – I would not watch again-but it is worth seeing once

Mike's Review: This movie is a tough one to review.  The whole concept of the movie could be and is debated forever. The bottom line is when does Artificial Intelligence become so intelligent that you can no longer tell the difference.  The idea behind this movie was basically testing the latest and greatest AI to see if it could pass the test And I would say that it passed with flying colors

From a special effect point of view the effects they did for Ava were just as good as the ones they had for Sonny in I, Robot, which is impressive because this movie had nobody I knew in it and wasn't made with a big budget studio behind it.

From the AI aspect of the movie it was very creepy and also interesting at the same time. I think the craziest part is the potential.that is implied with just how close we are to actually creating AI in the here and now.  And who knows we could already have and no one knows.

From the back ground story side of the movie I did not care for the inventor guy and was happy to see him get it in the end.  The tester guy did well but he should have gotten out of the house at the end.

Overall this movie keeps you guessing and entertained.
  

Best Scene: I liked the house.

Mike's Rating: Worth the price of the ticket
 

A,C.'s Review: The subject of Artificial Intelligence has been a sci/fi staple for decades from HAL in 2001 A Space Odyssey to the robotic boy played by Hayley Joe Osment in A.I. EX MACHINA is the latest offering to take a look at what would be the results of a computer obtaining sentience.

The whole movie takes place at the secluded estate of an internet billionaire who has created a search engine company that has become bigger than Google. Now the eccentric genius has created AVA an android woman and is in the process of using one of his employees named Caleb to test her to see if she truly is the breakthrough he has been looking for after what’s reveled to be many failed attempts.

The inventor Nathan played by Oscar Isaac soon to be a household name when he appears as one of the protagonists in this year’s STAR WARS: THE FORCE AWAKENS, has determined he needs one more generation of the program to achieve true A.I. and plans to erase AVA’s program thus “killing her”. As what usually happens in these type of movies Caleb the programmer has fallen in love with AVA and is determined to rescue her.

There is a fourth character Koyoko who initially appears to be a Chinese servant of Nathan but is actually one of the failed previous generations of the AVA program. She speaks not one line of dialogue the entire movie but she was my favorite character out of the four leads. Trying to figure out what she was “thinking” was interesting for me, plus the actress the plays her was drop dead gorgeous.

In the end it all falls apart of course and twists and tragedy takes place. Ava turns out not to be what she seemed to be and what she did to Caleb is frankly unforgivable and that sort of made me disappointed in the end.

Best Scene: I have to agree with Bean the dance sequence was something to see.

A.C.'s Rating: Matinee

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

FURIOUS SEVEN

(2015) 137 Minutes, Rated PG-13

Mike's Review: After seeing this installment of the the Furious Franchise I am curious to see what direction they go in with number 8.  They did a very nice job with the way they handled the whole Paul Walker side of the story and I am sure you have heard about all of that so I don't feel the need to go into any more detail, other then to say, when they did the little flashback scene of all the stuff from the other six movies, I felt myself thinking like I was part of the family, because I had watched all those movies and remembered the ride as well, and going down that memory road (no pun intended) was a nice touch.

Now the whole car jumping from building to building was way to much. I'm all for over the top but that whole scene didn't even need to be in the movie. I mean if the car started off in a vault...wouldn't crashing a car through a vault wall pretty much end the car right then and there?

I also liked the little scene Lucas Black had with Vin Diesel in Tokyo, but there should have been more. 

Overall I would say this one was not to bad.  They introduced some new elements to the story and wrapped some other ones up.  The soundtrack was awesome and the fight scenes were pretty good. The story seemed a little choppy but the ending was better than I thought it was going to be.  
  

Best scene:  I thought the bus fight scene with Tony Jaa was pretty good as well as the cars getting to the bus via airplane.

Mike’s rating:  Worth the price of the ticket and DVD worthy

Bean's Review:  Yet, another sequel.  The special effects and action scenes were both quite good and just over-the-top unbelievable.  The storyline was muddled.  Although, a huge money-maker, disappointing in that how much more can one do with a car??  

The fight scenes with Jason Statham and Dwayne Johnson were just ridiculous as was the one with Jason Stratham and Vin Diesel.  These characters are not “super heros” and thus, could not in ones wildest imagination withstand the types of beatings portrayed.  And, although, I really like Jason Stratham and his roles, there is no way he could have beaten Dwayne Johnson.
 

Glad to see that Letty’s memory returned, as that storyline was getting old.  The introduction of Kurt Russell was unexpected and he does not seem to be aging well.  At least his character stayed a “good guy”.

The only “real acting” I saw was with Tyrese Gibson and Chris Bridges, plus it provided some comic relief.

  

And, unfortunately, there was a total aura of sadness about the movie, due to Paul Walker’s death.  The cast and writers did a nice job of saying their goodbyes, but was a sequel that included Paul Walker needed?

Best scene:  the car jumping from building to building was quite good

Bean’s rating:  matinee-due to special effects that need to be seen on a big screen

A.C.'s Review: Cruising into theater’s this spring is the much delayed seventh installment of the street racing franchise. Originally due out last year the film was delayed by the tragic and senseless death of star Paul Walker. After much reworking of the film and using  Walker’s brothers and some clever CGI the studio was able to finally deliver this film to its fans. As of this writing it sits atop the box office with over a billion dollars in the bank worldwide.

The movie was of course fun entertainment but the real life tragedy hanging over every scene with Walker in it kind of put a pall over the proceedings at least for me. Also the truth of the matter is the script just wasn’t as strong as films four, five and six in the series. Also it wasn’t helped by the introduction of a character played by Kurt Russell. “Mr. Nobody” as he was called, was pretty annoying, but to the films credit, at the moment I expected him to betray the team he didn’t.

There were some awesome sequences that would have been even more awesome if they hadn’t given them away in the trailers. Why do studios do this all the time!?

Where the series goes from here remains to be seen. The least liked entries were the ones that had no Vin Diesel or no Paul Walker so it’s anybody’s guess. There is a rumor Eva Mendes is coming back from part 2 in the next movie and that would be very welcome. She is easily one of the most gorgeous women in Hollywood.

Best Scene: The closing scene where gang pretty much says goodbye to Brian and his family and Brian and Dom drive their separate ways in a tribute to Paul Walker.

A.C.'s Rating:  Matinee

UNFRIENDED

(2015) 83 Minutes, Rated R

A.C.’s Review:  What is a movie when it is not a movie? Unfriended was one hour and twenty minutes of several teenagers on a skype chat being menaced by a hacker purporting to be their dead friend who committed suicide a year earlier thanks to an embarrassing video one of the friends posted on You Tube.

I knew the format of this movie going in and it sounded different so I thought I would give it a chance. In addition to the Skyping the main character…I forget her name was continually private messaging, looking things up on Google…just about everything you can do online she was doing as part of the plot as she and her friends try to figure out what is going on. Why don’t they just log off you ask? If they do someone will die. They might have well have because everybody pretty much died anyway.

While watching two women got up and left a half hour into it. I suspect they went into this not knowing that it was all going to take place on someone’s computer monitor or why else would they leave? You should always know a little bit about a movie before going into it.

Anyway the film was worthless for those of us who did stick around. It gets points for trying to do something creative but failed in the execution when there was no reason to like or care about the teens being tormented.

Best Scene: The Phantom Hacker prints out a message to the main girl’s computer. The others demand her to read what it says. She refuses saying she can’t but they won’t let up. Finally she reads it and what is said was that one of her friends will die if she reads it to the others and one of the teens promptly gets his head blown off by a gun.

A.C.’s Rating:  DVD