Movie

Furious 7 (2015)

Furious 7 (2015)

Director:

James Wan

Starring:

Vin Diesel

Paul Walker

Dwayne Johnson

Plot:

Deckard Shaw seeks revenge against Dominic Toretto and his family for his comatose brother.

Review:

I’ve seen all the Fast and Furious movies, but I’m not really a fan of them. They’re merely okay at their best, in my opinion. Furious 7 was no different.

The best part was when the Rock flexed and his cast burst off, that was pretty awesome. The rest of the movie was just eh. The action scenes are poorly shot so they could be good but you’d never know. There were also scenes where the camera was rotated and I assume I was supposed to think that was cool but it was just stupid. Since I’m not emotionally invested in any of the characters the parts where they were all being introspective were just boring. Which is just about my view of the whole movie.

I am excited about the idea of a Rock+ Jason Statham spin off.

2/5

The Bells are Ringing (1960)

The Bells are Ringing (1960)

Director:

Vincente Minnelli

Starring:

Dean Martin

Judy Holliday

Fred Clark    

Plot:

Ella Peterson is a Brooklyn telephone answering service operator who tries to improve the lives of her clients by passing along bits of information she hears from other clients. She falls in love with one of her clients, the playwright Jeffrey Moss, and is determined to meet him. The trouble is, on the phone to him, she always pretends to be an old woman whom he calls “Mom.”

Review:

For a brief time growing up we lived near an old video rental store and they had tons of musicals that I ended up loving. This was one of them. I was lucky enough to stumble across a DVD of it on my most recent trip to the McKay’s in Chattanooga (best used bookstore I’ve been too).

The songs aren’t up to Rogers and Hammerstein but what I really love is the story. Ella, Judy Holliday, is klutzy and sweet, so naturally she falls in love with playboy Dean Martin. It’s cute, but after my most recent viewing I think part of why I like it is nostalgia.

4/5

Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them (2016)

Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them (2016)

Director:

David Yates

Starring:

Eddie Redmayne

Katherine Waterston

Alison Sudol

Plot:

The adventures of writer Newt Scamander in New York’s secret community of witches and wizards seventy years before Harry Potter reads his book in school.

Review:

I was pretty excited to finally be able to watch this, even though I didn’t get to see it in theaters. Maybe I was too excited? All I had heard was how awesome it was and that it was so fun to be back in the Harry Potter universe, and it was, but…I just didn’t seem to love it as much as everyone else.

I’ve never been a fan of the HP movies, I love the books too much, which is another reason why I was looking forward to this, I wouldn’t have anything to compare it too. Unfortunately, that didn’t help things. I liked seeing all the magic, but I almost feel like the story suffered because of it. Sometimes it wasn’t about what was going on, but what they could do with their powers.

I’m also not the biggest fan of the stars of the show, I never knew what I was supposed to be feeling with them, they were both awkward for me. I loved the two support characters though.

It was a good movie, I didn’t hate it, but I think it was hyped too much for me. I thought the ending was a bit sad too.

3.5/5

Sing (2016)

Sing (2016)

Directors:

Christophe Lourdelet

Garth Jennings

Starring:

Matthew McConaughey

Reese Witherspoon

Seth McFarlane

Plot:

In a city of humanoid animals, a hustling theater impresario’s attempt to save his theater with a singing competition becomes grander than he anticipates even as its finalists’ find that their lives will never be the same.

Review:

Well this was definitely better than The Secret Life of Pets, but it kind of suffered from the fact that I’ve recently watched Moana and that was a pretty damn good kids movie. At least Sing didn’t have all the funniest bits in the trailer like The Secret Life of Pets, though most of them were.

Music was fine, story was fine, everything was pretty much fine. Nothing mind blowing, nothing horrible. It was your normal animals are people cartoon.

3/5

Trolls (2016)

Trolls (2016)

Director:

Walt Dohrn

Mike Mitchell

Starring:

Anna Kendrick

Justin Timberlake

Zooey Deschanel

Plot:

After the Bergens invade Troll Village, Poppy, the happiest Troll ever born, and the curmudgeonly Branch set off on a journey to rescue her friends.

Review:

My daughter has loved all the merchandising for this movie and I’ve loved the songs so I decided to pick this up from Red Box. It’s a cute movie, but I wasn’t expecting the bad guys to be eating the Trolls. That was kind of gruesome for a kid’s movie. You didn’t see anything, but they talked about it.

There were several parts that scared my three year old, but she did love the songs, however by the end she’s lost interest. I liked the Trolls a lot, but could have done without the romance between the two leads. Otherwise, like I said, it was a cute movie.

3/5