Movie Reviews

A Trip to the Moon (Color) (1902)

a trip to the moon

A Trip to the Moon (Color) (1902)

Director:

Georges Méliès

Starring:

Georges Méliès

François Lallement

Jules-Eugène Legris

Plot:

A group of astronomers go on an expedition to the moon.

Review:

Spoiler, I’m giving this movie a 5 stars just because of the technological feat that was accomplished. The start of the film says that it was found in horrible condition but they were able to restore most of it. Crazy.

Anyway, not really sure what was going on. It looked like a bunch of wizards/scientists decided to be shot to the moon in a bullet from a large cannon. While there they attacked and killed many of the moon people and then came home unwittingly taking a moon creature with them. Naturally they chained it up and made it dance in a parade.

Wouldn’t it be crazy if someone somehow managed to do that? Shoot themselves out of a large cannon, somehow survive, only to die when they get to the moon and there’s no oxygen.

Anyway, the movie was only fifteen minutes long so really there’s no reason not to watch it.

5/5

 

 

Get Hard (2015)

Get-Hard-2015-3

Get Hard (2015)

Director:

Etan Cohen

Starring:

Will Ferrell

Kevin Hart

Alison Brie

Plot:

When millionaire James King is jailed for fraud and bound for San Quentin, he turns to Darnell Lewis to prep him to go behind bars.

Review:

Was not expecting to laugh as much as I did for this movie. I mean, I went in hoping to laugh, but anticipating a mediocre comedy. When in fact it was slightly more than that.

I appreciated the fact that there was not an over abundance of short jokes like there normally are with Kevin Hart movies. There didn’t need to be because of how well the movie was shot. All they had to do was show Ferrell and Hart standing beside each other.

Ferrell’s character was the best part of the movie, though possibly the weakest too. He was supposed to be so smart and make so much money on the stock market but he was too trusting. Not really a trait people in his position tend to have, but oh well. His interactions with Hart and the gang bangers were hilarious, though.

Hart was fine, though a little flat character wise, it’s not a huge deal in a comedy movie. However, that’s actually something that’s starting to bug me. Certain comedies I don’t expect too much realistic behavior, for example Stepbrothers, but others I feel like the story should still be plausible. Maybe I’m starting to expect too much?

Oh well, it was a funny movie and if you’ve got nothing better to watch why not?

3.5/5

Mission Impossible: Rogue Nation (2015)

mission-impossible-rogue-nation-1

Mission Impossible: Rogue Nation (2015)

Director:

Christopher McQuarrie

Starring:

Tom Cruise

Simon Pegg

Rebecca Ferguson

Jeremy Renner

Plot:

Ethan and team take on their most impossible mission yet, eradicating the Syndicate – an International rogue organization as highly skilled as they are, committed to destroying the IMF.

Review:

This was such a pleasant surprise. I’d honestly completely forgotten they were releasing a new Mission Impossible movie until my husband brought it up. Since our daughter is having her first sleepover with the grandparents I thought this was a great movie to keep me distracted.

The IMF is experiencing some backlash from their previous less than covert operations. Blowing up the Kremlin tends to piss off some people. Because of that this entire operation was spent with the agents dodging the bad guys and the good.

Simon Pegg was great, Tom Cruise was great, Rebecca Ferguson was great, you get the picture? The actors were perfect, the story was entertaining, and there were masks. I actually think the movie will end up looking better when I see it on a smaller screen, so much was going on that it was sometimes difficult to focus on everything.

Watching this made me want to re-watch the previous ones and I think once I’ve finished the Matrix Trilogy I will move on to the Mission Impossible series.

4/5

 

Ant-Man (2015)

Ant-Man

Ant-Man (2015)

Director:

Peyton Reed

Starring:

Paul Rudd

Michael Douglas

Corey Stoll

Evangeline Lilly

Plot:

Armed with a super-suit with the astonishing ability to shrink in scale but increase in strength, cat burglar Scott Lang must embrace his inner hero and help his mentor, Dr. Hank Pym, plan and pull off a heist that will save the world.

Review:

The movie had some pacing issues and was nowhere near as funny as I thought it was going to be. I was actually pretty disappointed in everything. I feel like this keeps happening with the most recent additions to the Marvel franchise. It was an introduction to the character but they were hamstrung by the universe that’s been built. The issue facing Ant-Man couldn’t be too big because they didn’t want to call in the Avengers and it ended up having problems because of it.

The action was lacking and there was a lot of downtime. There were a few funny moments but the dialog that was supposed to be funny felt forced.

There’s been a lot of buildup in the last two movies toward, I guess, Captain America: Civil War, and because of that the story for movies like Ant-Man and Avengers: Age of Ultron felt like they were filler.

I’m being a little unfair, Ant-Man wasn’t that bad, but it certainly didn’t live up to my expectations.

3/5

Stepbrothers (2008)

Brennan Huff (Will Ferrell, right) and Dale Doback (John C. Reilly, left) are two middle-aged, immature, overgrown boys forced to live together as stepbrothers when Dale's single father, Robert (Richard Jenkins, center) marries Brennan's mom in Columbia Pictures' Step Brothers. The film is directed by Adam McKay. The screenplay is by Will Ferrell & Adam McKay from a story by Will Ferrell & Adam McKay & John C. Reilly. The producers are Jimmy Miller and Judd Apatow.

Stepbrothers (2008)

Director:

Adam McKay

Starring:

Will Ferrell

John C. Reilly

Mary Steenburgen

Richard Jenkins

Plot:

Two aimless middle-aged losers still living at home are forced against their will to become room-mates when their parents marry.

Review:

I worked at a movie theater when this came out and we had a preview reel that played in the lobby that was looped every thirty minutes. This was the only preview that I did not end up loathing and in fact still laughed at every time I saw it.

Easily one of the best Will Ferrell movies. His chemistry with John C. Reilly is great and the fact that the parents don’t act like their actions are ridiculous makes it even better. They’re grown men asking to build bunk beds for crying out loud. No matter how many times I see it this movie never fails to make me laugh.

It’s not just the leads that make this movie, though. It wouldn’t hit nearly as well if it wasn’t for the amazing supporting cast. They’re all perfect and just nail it from the shitty little kids to Ferrell’s coworkers. Totally worth watching.

5/5