Dearest Blog, today it was off to the movies for one of the strangest double-bills ever, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and The Hundred-Foot Journey.
Spoiler level here will be mild, nothing you wouldn't know from the trailers...er...let's face it, you weren't planning on seeing either of these anyway, were you?
First on my agenda was the newest screen incarnation of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.
Michelangelo, Donatello, Raphael, and Leonardo try to save New York from the evil Shredder.
Here's a true fact: I am wildly excited for every Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles movie, and this one was no exception. First time those words have all been together in the same sentence? Possibly, but, despite the world of hate being rained down on it from all sides, I looked forward to TMNT, and I was not disappointed.
It's always fun to see such familiar and well-loved characters again, and I was pleased with how each turtle was represented here. The new look is okay, if not my favorite, and the martial arts moves are pretty cool in 3D. Will Arnett is entertaining, Megan Fox is smokin' hot, and no movie or TV show was ever worse for having the magnificent William Fichtner. Sure, the humor's juvenile, the story's done to death, and the effects are nothing to write home about, but, somehow, I still enjoyed this from beginning to end.
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles runs 101 minutes and is rated PG13 for "sci-fi action/violence." If it's a terrible movie, that didn't keep me from having a great time with it.
Of a possible nine Weasleys, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles gets five. I'd honestly love to score it better, but at some point I have to acknowledge it's probably a bad movie, no matter how much I like it!
Next on the docket was The Hundred-Foot Journey.
Fireworks ensue when an Indian family moves to the French countryside and opens a restaurant across the street from a hoity-toity local establishment.
Whoa! Bickering restaurant owners...sounds like the most boring movie ever, huh? What's next, two dentists trying to lease the same office space? While The Hundred-Foot Journey is a little long, it's a cute story that's elevated by a solid and likable cast. Helen Mirren is, as always, brilliant in the lead, and Manish Dayal and Charlotte Le Bon are appropriately adorable as young chefs at the two restaurants tip-toeing around the possibility of romance. The story is serious when it needs to be and funny when it means to be.
There's enough cooking and eating going on in this movie that restaurants neighboring cinemas are probably seeing a nice uptick in business this weekend. There are also plenty lingering shots of the picturesque French countryside, if that's your thing, and a nice anti-racism message as a bonus.
The Hundred-Foot Journey clocks in at 122 minutes and is rated PG for "thematic elements, some violence, language, and brief sensuality." If the movie is predicable and a bit overly-sappy, that's not hard to forgive in such a genuine and sweet picture.
Of a possible nine Weasleys, The Hundred-Foot journey gets six.
Until next time...COWABUNGA!!!
