Movie Reviews

American Ultra (2015)

American-Ultra

American Ultra (2015)

Director:

Nima Nourizadeh

Starring:

Jesse Eisenberg

Kristen Stewart

Connie Britton

John Leguizamo

Plot:

A stoner – who is in fact a government agent – is marked as a liability and targeted for extermination. But he’s too well-trained and too high for them to handle.

Review:

Ummm… this movie was fairly unremarkable. It had it’s funny moments and it was amusing seeing Jesse Eisenberg somehow fight people. Other than that, though, there wasn’t much.

The story was interesting enough. The acting was good. I just, I don’t know, it didn’t grab me. It wasn’t bad. It wasn’t good. It was there.

3/5

My 2015 Favorites

Movies:

2015 was not a good year for movies, for me at least. Of course, I’ve yet to see Star Wars so that could certainly change. I gave only two movies 5 stars, Tomorrowland and Mockingjay. I had several 4 stars that I remember very fondly though. Anyway, the following is a list of the movies I enjoyed the most, star ranking be damned.

    1. Tomorrowland– I was not expecting to love this movie as much as I did and I’m so thankful that I rented it. Literally the day after I watched it I went out, bought it, and watched it again. I have it downloaded on all of my devices and will just randomly watch parts of it. I love it and I could easily see this movie becoming one of my all-time favorites
    2. Jurassic World– This movie is another one that I bought, but I haven’t actually watched it yet. Thinking back to the theater I really loved it and I’m excited for more in the franchise like this. Also, Chris Pratt is awesome.
    3. Kingsman: The Secret Service– I think this movie was so great because I wasn’t expecting it. I went in with very little expectations and was pleasantly surprised.
    4. Parallels– I hesitate listing this because, while I liked it, it doesn’t feel complete. I really hope there’s more to come because the world created was very interesting.This was the year of books. I read over 100 books and so many of them were good. I did of course read a couple I absolutely loathed (I’m looking at you Fable: Edge of the World and Murder is Binding) but the majority of what I read I really enjoyed.

Books:

 

    1. Lois Lane: Fallout by Gwenda Bond– I gave this as a Christmas present, that should really tell you how much I enjoyed it. I can easily see this being the first book in a series I absolutely adore.
    2. Justice Calling by Annie Bellet– This is the first book in the Twenty-Sided Sorceress series and one of my favorite discoveries of the year. Great series and I’m looking forward to reading the most recent installment.
    3. Anything by Jenn McKinlay- I read several McKinlay books this year and I loved almost all of them and the one I didn’t love I still liked. If you’re looking for a cozy mystery I highly recommend anything she’s done. She writes great characters and her stories are light and fairly believable.
    4. Clariel by Garth Nix- Even after all this time Nix stayed true to the world and showed us a great character.
    5. Magic Breaks & Magic Shifts by Ilona Andrews- It’s Ilona Andrews, of course these books were amazing.
    6. Dead Heat by Patricia Briggs- Just like Ilona Andrews, Briggs never fails to give me a book I love.
    7. Cinder by Marissa Meyer- Really liked the unique take on fairy tales this series has brought. I haven’t yet read the final installment, but I’m looking forward to it.

TV:

 

I don’t write as many TV blog posts as I should, probably because I watch too much damn TV, but here’s a list of my favorites for the year.

    1. Sense 8 on Netflix– This show suffered some pacing issues, but it didn’t affect how much I loved it. Season 2 can’t come out fast enough.
    2. Marvel’s Agent Carter on ABC– Loved this show. Really loved this show. I want to be Agent Carter when/if I grow up. She’s such a great character and I’m really looking forward to season 2 which starts in January.
    3. Jane the Virgin on CW– When I’m watching this show I’m in freakin love. When I’m not watching this show I can’t really understand why I liked it so much because it sounds so crazy. Every episode delivers and it has continued into the second season, there has been no dip in quality. Highly recommend, more people should be watching this.
    4. Daredevil on Netflix– Episode two has one of the best fight scenes of the year from movies or TV, it was that good.
    5. Jessica Jones on Netflix– I didn’t think it was possible, but this was darker than Daredevil. Not really a huge fan of dark, but they did this very well. I thought Jessica Jones was a realistic portrayal of an abuse victim that happens to have some superpowers. She was rarely likable, but I never hated her, you could always understand why she acted the way she did. Actors were spot on as well, it was freaky seeing Tennant be so evil.
    6. Dark Matter on SyFy– I found this show on Netflix and was pleasantly surprised. It takes a couple episodes to gather steam but when it does it becomes an interesting Sci-Fi tv show. Nice female lead and an interesting story.

 

This has been my 2015 year in review. What did you enjoy most this year?

Close Range (2015)

Close Range

Close Range (2015)

Director:

Isaac Florentine

Starring:

Scott Adkins

Nick Chinlund

Caitlin Keats

Plot:

A rogue soldier turned outlaw is thrust into a relentless fight with a corrupt sheriff, his obedient deputies, and a dangerous drug cartel in order to protect his sister and her young daughter.

Review:

This was a surprisingly well directed low budget action movie. There was not an overabundance of shaky cam or quick cuts and the story wasn’t edited to the point of confusion. I think that it helped that there wasn’t much story, but that’s an acceptable route to go with an action film.

The movie starts off immediately with Adkins kicking drug cartel butt and it rarely slows down from there. Caitlin Keats even gets in on the action and is not completely a damsel in distress needing her brother to take care of her, so I really liked that.

Every time I see Adkins in something lately I wish he got more work in bigger budget things, even his own TV show could be awesome. In fact this movie was short enough that it could be like a pilot episode pitch.

Adkins is a rogue soldier falsely accused and just wants the world to leave him alone. Too bad his particular set of skills puts him in high demand. Unable to escape Adkins takes matters into his own hands and fights for the people that can’t fight for themselves.

You know, something like that.

Anyway, if you like action movies Close Range is worth checking out.

3.5/5

How the Grinch Stole Christmas (2000)

Grinch

How the Grinch Stole Christmas (2000)

Director:

Ron Howard

Starring:

Jim Carey

Taylor Momsen

Plot:

A creature is intent on stealing Christmas.

Review:

Great IMDB plot synopsis. This is a nice, now classic, Christmas movie. Great message about the season and still applies. A really sweet song and Jim Carey at his most age appropriate. This is part of my yearly Christmas rotation and my daughter liked this version better than the cartoon.

5/5

Christmas Mail (2010)

Christmas Mail

Christmas Mail (2010)

Director:

John Murlowski

Starring:

Ashley Scott

A.J. Buckley

Lochlyn Munro

Plot:

In this holiday romantic comedy, a mysterious woman who works at the post office answering Santa’s mail captures the heart of a disillusioned postal carrier

Review:

This wasn’t bad, the actors were all fine, but the story was kind of lacking. I think it needed more holiday magic and less drama. The dude was a single parent raising his niece, he had a job he didn’t like, and his boss wanted him to spy on the chick, oh and he wanted to return to his rock band.

The girl was maybe the daughter of Santa, not sure if that was ever confirmed I zoned out a few times. I think she should have channeled more Catherine Bell in her witch movies.

This was better than the last few Christmas movies I’ve watched, but nothing amazing.

3/5