MOVIE REVIEW: 22 JUMP STREET

After making their way through high school (twice), big changes are in store for officers Schmidt (Jonah Hill) and Jenko (Channing Tatum) when they go deep undercover at a local college. But when Jenko meets a kindred spirit on the football team, and Schmidt infiltrates the bohemian art major scene, they begin to question their partnership. Now they don't have to just crack the case - they have to figure out if they can have a mature relationship. If these two overgrown adolescents can grow from freshmen into real men, college might be the best thing that ever happened to them.~ Jeremy Wheeler, Rovi

Director: Christopher Miller, Phil Lord     

Cast: Jonah Hill, Channing Tatum, Peter Stormare, Ice Cube. 

Release Date: Jun 13, 2014

Rated: R for Language Throughout, Drug Material, Brief Nudity, Sexual Content and Some Violence     

Runtime: 1 hr. 49 min.     

Genres: Action/Adventure, Comedy     

Review:

22 Jump Street is pretty much 21 Jump Street with a bigger budget.  Something the movie literally tells you within 10 minutes of watching it.  Its self aware humor peppers the film as it plays up the bromance that’s part of every cop flicks.  All the while it’s skewering bloated sequel while being one at the same time.  That’s not to say it isn’t funny because it is but it could have used a tad bit of trimming.  Thankfully, Hill and Tatum continue their fantastic chemistry from the first, each playing up their parts to perfection.  Christopher Miller and Phil Lord, yes the same guys that made The Lego Movie, keep the action rolling at a steady pace with just a smattering of dead spots.  The third act might feel a tad bit tacked on but as a whole it’s a really fun film.  Be sure to stick around for the credits as they posit what countless sequels would look like, something Ice Cube might know a little something about..

B+

MOVIE REVIEW: EDGE OF TOMORROW

Tom Cruise stars as a soldier who lives out the last day of his life over and over again in this Warner Bros. sci-fi production from driector Doug Liman. Emily Blunt and Bill Paxton co-star, with Dante Harper and Joby Harold providing the script. ~ Jeremy Wheeler, Rovi

Director: Doug Liman 

Cast: Tom Cruise, Emily Blunt, Bill Paxton, Jonas Armstrong, Kick Gurry.

Release Date: Jun 06, 2014

Rated PG-13 for intense seq. of sci-fi action, brief suggestive material, intense seq. of sci-fi violence and language 

Genres: Action/Adventure 

Review:

Doug Liman’s Edge of Tomorrow maybe the biggest surprise of the summer.  An odd thing to say considering it stars Tom Cruise and Emily Blunt, believably badass throughout, during the middle of blockbuster season.  Cruise’s last sci-fi epic, Oblivion, failed to impress because of how much it borrowed from other sources while never really adding much to the mix.  Edge of Tomorrow also borrows heavily from other sources, think Groundhog Day meets Starship Troopers, but it’s just a film that’s a lot more enjoyable to watch especially the first 2 acts.  Cruise and Blunt are wonderful together with the latter really leaving you with a different impression of her overall.  Cruise isn’t overly serious, having fun with the role that doesn’t place him in the hero role right away, instead making him earn it.  Massive set pieces are revisited various times but some sharp editing keeps it from becoming too tedious.  The last act falters a tad because it falls into some standard sci-fi territory which gives you time to start nitpicking the story’s premise and the endless plot holes at play.  That’s when you kind of wish Liman would have trimmed the film just a tad.   

B+

Cindy Prascik's Review of The Railway Man

 



Dearest Blog, yesterday I took a pass on the weekend's big releases to spend some quality time with Colin Firth and The Railway Man.

Spoiler level here will be mild, nothing you wouldn't get from the trailer.

Years after World War II, a tormented former POW comes face to face with one of his captors.

Well, Blog, you know me. I'm a blockbuster kinda gal. I like monsters and superheroes and have, on more than one occasion, called The Expendables "all the movie I'll ever need." (Don't judge!)

Sometimes, though...sometimes there's a different kind of movie that tells a story I want to hear, and tells it in such a way that I'm willing to put off my date with a wicked witch and shoot-em-ups and even Sharlto Copley to see it.

The Railway Man is an extraordinary true story of love and redemption and forgiveness. The horrors of war are depicted in brutal detail, but never gratuitously. The pace is deliberate--this movie is in no hurry to get anywhere--but it never feels like it's dragging. It would be easy to single out the always-remarkable (and, by always, I mean even in St. Trinian's!) Colin Firth as worth mentioning, but the entire cast is so extraordinary that wouldn't be fair. Even Nicole Kidman, a perennial member of my "Most Hated" list, manages to shine. Sadly, the fact that the film's been released in May, when everything about it screams "awards season," tells me Someone Very Important has already deemed it unworthy of next winter's accolades. That's a real shame.

The Railway Man is a wonderful, terrible, beautiful, painful story that's easily the best movie I've seen this year. With a new blockbuster landing every weekend, it won't stick around long, so I enthusiastically encourage you to get out and see it as soon as you can.

The Railway Man runs 116 minutes and is rated R for "disturbing prisoner of war violence." (Is that a thing?)

The trailer for The Railway Man closes with the line, "Sometime the hating has to stop," and the movie is just great enough to inspire viewers to go out and try to make it so.

Of a possible nine Weasleys, The Railway Man gets eight and a half.

Until next time...

MOVIE REVIEW: A MILLION WAYS TO DIE IN THE WEST

Mild-mannered sheep farmer Albert Stark (Seth MacFarlane) feels certain that the Western frontier is trying to kill him, then he loses his girlfriend, Louise (Amanda Seyfried), to the town's most successful businessman. However, a beautiful, pistol-packing woman named Anna (Charlize Theron) rides into town and helps Albert find his inner courage. Then Stark must put his newfound bravery to the test when Anna's outlaw husband arrives with plans to plant him in an unmarked grave.

Director: Seth MacFarlane 

Cast: Seth MacFarlane, Charlize Theron, Amanda Seyfried, Giovanni Ribisi, Liam Neeson

Release Date: May 30, 2014

Genres: Comedy Western, Outlaw (Gunfighter) Film, 

Comedy, Western 

Review:

After the surprising success of Ted, my expectation of Seth MacFarlane next live action film were fairly high.  Sadly, A Million Ways to Die in the West doesn’t live up to expectations.  It plays out like an extended “Road to…” episode of Family Guy with very little in the way of innovation, satire or even laughs.  It will bring a grin to your face from time to time but MacFarlane seems to forget he’s making a comedy and seems more interested in making a clichéd western.  Outside of the occasional MacFarlane riffs on how horrible the old west was, there isn’t a ton to the plot.  As a result the story as a whole lacks forward momentum with noticeable dead spots spread across the bloated run time, most obvious during the climax of the forced storyline with MacFarlane and Theron.  A Million Ways to Die in the West is one of those films that has a few false endings and then it drags on for another 20 minutes longer than it should, essentially wasting  Liam Neeson’s screen time.  A few laughs here and there will never replace Blazing Saddles.

C-

Cindy Prascik's Review of X-Men: Days of Future Past

Dearest Blog, today it was off to the cinema in the hope that X-Men: Days of Future Past would live up the hype. I am pleased to report I was not disappointed.

Spoiler level here will be mild, limited to one very specific, non plot-related...um..."asset" that I must mention.

Logan travels to the past to try to change history and avoid a terrible fate for mutants and humans.

Well, dear Blog, whenever the 70s are in play, one thing's for sure: the fashion is going to be good for laughs, whether intentional or not. While Days of Future Past doesn't go full American Hustle, it's fair to say the ascot is not Michael Fassbender's best look.

I love the cast of X-Men: Days of Future Past like I've loved few others. Were I to make a bullet list of the acting awesomeness, we'd be here all night. Suffice to say everyone is just great, and it's worth mentioning that Evan Peters--who is routinely terrific in American Horror Story--is every bit as good as his better-known castmates in his sadly limited screen time.

With its wibbly-wobbly timey-wimey plot, Days of Future Past could have ended up a convoluted mess, but instead it's handled expertly, a clever story that never bogs down. If the movie feels a little too long, I can't say there was so much as a minute I wasn't engaged. The effects are solid and--yes!!--we do get one (1) "pants optional" scene with the ever-fit Mr. Jackman. (The movie gods have heard my prayers!) If I had one complaint, it's that I kinda feel like what's the point of anything happening if you can just go back and make it un-happen, or what we'll call "The Heroes Effect."

That sounds like a pretty huge problem, but it diminishes my enthusiasm for neither the film nor the franchise.

I did not see this in 3D, and I can't say I felt like I was missing anything.

X-Men: Days of Future Past clocks in at 131 minutes and is rated PG13 for "sequences of intense sci-fi violence and action, some suggestive material, nudity, and language."

X-Men: Days of Future Past gets full marks for writing, acting, directing, and effects, and a few small quibbles won't stop me from calling it a truly great movie.

Of a possible nine Weasleys, X-Men: Days of Future Past gets eight.

Until next time...

Your argument is invalid.

MOVIE REVIEW: X-MEN: DAYS OF FUTURE PAST

Convinced that mutants pose a threat to humanity, Dr. Bolivar Trask (Peter Dinklage) develops the Sentinels, enormous robotic weapons that can detect a mutant gene and zero in on that person. In the 21st century, the Sentinels have evolved into highly efficient killing machines. With mutants now facing extinction, Wolverine (Hugh Jackman) volunteers to go back in time and rally the X-Men of the past to help change a pivotal moment in history and thereby save their future.

Director: Bryan Singer 

Cast: James McAvoy, Michael Fassbender, Jennifer Lawrence, Patrick Stewart, Ian McKellen.

Release Date: May 23, 2014

Runtime: 2 hr. 11 min. 

Genres: Sci-Fi Action, Superhero Film, Action, Fantasy

Review:

All in all I don’t think I’d be too far off base by saying that X-Men: Days of Future Past was probably more challenging endeavor than assembling The Avengers.  Thankfully Bryan Singer is back in the drivers seat along with an incredibly strong script which works surprisingly well even with the all the characters and timelines at play.  Singer’s ability to weave complex storylines while keeping the story’s heart is his gift to the series.  Watching him build this epic story will leave most fans even more bitter that he choose Superman Returns over the third X-men film.  Everything about the story is huge and the action set pieces are simply dazzling with the film rarely faltering during its 2 hour runtime.  James McAvoy, Michael Fassbender and Jennifer Lawrence are all in fine form.  They’re all much more comfortable in the characters skin bringing even more depth and meaning to each of them.  Hugh Jackman also gives us his best turn as Wolverine since X-2.  The original cast gets their moments to shine even if some of the new characters mostly serve as superhero fodder with the exception of Evans Peters Quicksilver who’s gone from the film far too quickly.  X-Men: Days of Future Past was probably one of the most anticipated film on this years calendar and is a rare example of a film delivering in spades.

A-