Lawless

 

Lawless is the true story of the infamous Bondurant Brothers: bootlegging siblings who made a run for the American Dream in Prohibition-era Virginia. In this epic gangster tale, inspired by true-life tales of author Matt Bondurant's family in his novel "The Wettest County In The World," the loyalty of three brothers is put to the test against the backdrop of the nation's most notorious crime wave.

I'm kind of torn on this movie.  I liked it, but still thought that it could have been so much better.  For a two hour movie, the characters weren't really developed enough and it just felt like parts of the story were missing and we were just supposed to "know" or assume stuff.  I loved Tom Hardy and Guy Pearce.  Gary Oldman's character seemed great but ended up not being a necessary part of the movie whatsoever.  Surprisingly, Shia LeBeouf was pretty crappy in this movie.  Maybe that's what held it back?  I found myself wanted to see more of the other characters than his. 

Again - I would lukewarmly recommend this movie to people.  It isn't bad, but it could have been so much better.  I liked it and was disappointed at the same time.

Sparkle

 

Sparkle tells the story of the title character; Sparkle, (Jordin Sparks) the youngest of three sisters and a music prodigy who struggles to becomes a star while overcoming issues that are tearing her family apart. Sparkle is from an affluent Detroit area, naive to the unexpected experiences her new life will bring as she and her two sisters blossom into a dynamic singing group during the Motown-era. Whitney Houston will play the trio's mother (Emma). Mike Epps plays a wealthy comedian named Satin, who woos Sparkle's sister into a drug-filled abusive relationship on their way to the top. During her journey, Sparkle endures the trials and tribulations of fame but fights to rise through the ranks of the music business.

I made it 25 minutes into this movie before not being able to take it anymore.  It's like a homemade rehashing of Dreamgirls.  It's pretty much crap. 

I wouldn't recommend anyone ever bothering with this.  It wasn't even worth a 26th minute of watching for me.

The Expendables 2

Barney Ross (Sylvester Stallone), Lee Christmas (Jason Statham), Yin Yang (Jet Li), Gunnar Jensen (Dolph Lundgren), Toll Road (Randy Couture) and Hale Caesar (Terry Crews) -- with newest members Billy the Kid (Liam Hemsworth) and Maggie (Yu Nan) aboard -- are reunited when Mr. Church (Bruce Willis) enlists the Expendables to take on a seemingly simple job. The task looks like an easy paycheck for Barney and his band of old-school mercenaries. But when things go wrong and one of their own is viciously killed, the Expendables are compelled to seek revenge in hostile territory where the odds are stacked against them. Hell-bent on payback, the crew cuts a swath of destruction through opposing forces, wreaking havoc and shutting down an unexpected threat in the nick of time - six pounds of weapons-grade plutonium; enough to change the balance of power in the world. But that's nothing compared to the justice they serve against the villainous adversary who savagely murdered their brother.

This movie is great, just like the first one,  for being exactly what it's supposed to be - a throwback to over the top 80s action movies.  There is crazy shootouts and fighting.  There are cliche one liners all over the place and they have even brought in more throwback actors that pretty much made entire careers out of these types of movies.

If you liked the first one (or 80s action movies) - you will like this movie just as much.  If you didn't - don't touch it with a ten foot pole.  It's pretty much one of the easiest movies to review.

ParaNorman

In ParaNorman, a small town comes under siege by zombies. Who can it call? Only misunderstood local boy Norman (voiced by Kodi Smit-McPhee), who is able to speak with the dead. In addition to the zombies, he'll have to take on ghosts, witches and, worst, of all, grown-ups, to save his town from a centuries-old curse. But this young ghoul whisperer may find his paranormal activities pushed to their otherworldly limits.

This movie had moments where there were good laughs.  However, the animation was kind of creepy like Coraline.  Worse than that the story was waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay out there and much too dark for any kids to be seeing this - much less understanding it. 

I wouldn't really recommend people checking this out.  It's not horrible.  Its just an animated movie that isn't remotely for kids and kind of dark but not committed to be "dark enough" for adults to really like.

The Odd Life Of Timothy Green

The Odd Life Of Timothy Green is a story about a happily married couple, Cindy and Jim Green (Jennifer Garner and Joel Edgerton), who can't wait to start a family but can only dream about what their child would be like. When young Timothy (CJ Adams) shows up on their doorstep one stormy night, Cindy and Jim, and their small town of Stanleyvill, learn that sometimes the unexpected can bring some of life's greatest gifts.

This was one of those blatant heartstring movies.  They take some characters and give them a horrible situation - in this case being unable to have children - and milk the sadness out of it as much as they can.  At the risk of losing my man card - I usually love movies like this, but wasn't really hooked by any of the characters.  No hook = no sympathy connection = movie is just kind of there.

I wouldn't really recommend people checking this out.  Well, maybe it was just me and you'll connect with the characters and enjoy a sapfest.  It just didn't work for me at all.

The Campaign

When long-term congressman Cam Brady (Will Ferrell) commits a major public gaffe before an upcoming election, a pair of ultra-wealthy CEOs plot to put up a rival candidate and gain influence over their North Carolina district. Their man: naive Marty Huggins (Zach Galifianakis), director of the local Tourism Center. At first, Marty appears to be the unlikeliest possible choice but, with the help of his new benefactors' support, a cutthroat campaign manager and his family's political connections, he soon becomes a contender who gives the charismatic Cam plenty to worry about. As Election Day closes in, the two are locked in a dead heat, with insults quickly escalating to injury until all they care about is burying each other.

This movie definitely had moments of hilarity from both Ferrell and Galifinakas.  But the laughs were spaced out too far and there was too much down time for an already extremely short movie.  Ferrell was back in an Anchorman type role where he was so self-obsessed and oblivious.  Galifinakas's quirkiness was awesome at first but kind of grew old.  The funniest part of the movie was actually his two kids.  The few lines that they let them have had me dying.

I would somewhat recommend people checking out this one.  The laughs that were there were huge, but I just wish that there would have been much more of them.

The Bourne Legacy

The architect behind the "Bourne" film series, Tony Gilroy, takes the helm in the next chapter of the hugely popular espionage franchise - The Bourne Legacy. The writer/director expands the "Bourne" universe created by Robert Ludlum with an original story that introduces us to a new hero (Jeremy Renner) whose life-or-death stakes have been triggered by the events of the first three films.

This was an awesome twist to the franchise.  It took place alongside the Jason Bourne stuff and that back and forth was great.  This movie was a little more talky talky than the other three and went much more in depth about how these men became super agents and the methods used to do so.  The action scenes were still great and I think Jeremy Renner was an excellent choice to be cast in this.  Ideally, the best part of this movie is that it was done in a way that the franchise can ultimately go to a whole other level like what they did with the Fast & Furious franchise by continuing it without the main star but leaving it open that Vin Diesel could come back.  The thought of the next movie or another one down the road in this franchise having both Renner and Damon is awesome.  Very good overall storytelling.

I would definitely recommend people checking this movie out.  Again - the action wasn't as high as in past Bourne movies, but the writing/story is very smart and involves the overall franchise instead of just keeping this one seperate. 

Hope Springs

Kay (Meryl Streep) and Arnold (Tommy Lee Jones) are a devoted couple, but decades of marriage have left Kay wanting to spice things up and reconnect with her husband. When she hears of a renowned couple's specialist (Steve Carell) in the small town of Great Hope Springs, she attempts to persuade her skeptical husband, a steadfast man of routine, to get on a plane for a week of marriage therapy. Just convincing the stubborn Arnold to go on the retreat is hard enough � the real challenge for both of them comes as they shed their bedroom hang-ups and try to re-ignite the spark that caused them to fall for each other in the first place.

This was a cute relationship movie.  You care about the characters and the situation that they are in/going through.  And both of them did a great job.  The movie was definitely watchable, but outside of seeing where these two characters end up - there really is no major point to the movie.

I would recommend this to anyone who is a Meryl Streep fan or can identify with the level of their relationship I guess.  Again - the characters are well portrayed but there is no overall point to the movie.

Total Recall

Total Recall is an action thriller about reality and memory, inspired anew by the famous short story "We Can Remember It For You Wholesale" by Philip K. Dick. Welcome to Rekall, the company that can turn your dreams into real memories. For a factory worker named Douglas Quaid (Colin Farrell), even though he's got a beautiful wife (Kate Beckinsale) who he loves, the mind-trip sounds like the perfect vacation from his frustrating life - real memories of life as a super-spy might be just what he needs. But when the procedure goes horribly wrong, Quaid becomes a hunted man. Finding himself on the run from the police (controlled by Chancellor Cohaagen (Bryan Cranston), the leader of the free world) Quaid teams up with a rebel fighter (Jessica Biel) to find the head of the underground resistance (Bill Nighy) and stop Cohaagen. The line between fantasy and reality gets blurred and the fate of his world hangs in the balance as Quaid discovers his true identity, his true love, and his true fate.

Ok.  There are two ways to look at this movie.  The first is to pretend that the original Total Recall with Arnold Schwartzenegger never happened.  If you do that, this is a barely watchable sci-fi movie.  They basically had the robots from I, Robot and the stormtroopers from Star Wars make a baby and those were the soldiers chasing them.  Then they basically stole the exact look and transportation from Minority Report.  Then they told Beckinsale to pretend that she was in Underworld 17.  Unfortunately, stealing all these things from other good sci fi movies (I'm referring loosely to Underworld 1 included in that), doesn't make a good sci fi movie.  This movie had some of the dryest acting ever and was barely watchable due to the visual effects of it.  If you are watching this in the second way to see it . . . . factoring in the original Total Recall . . . . . . this movie is absolutely horrible.  The first Total Recall was one of the iconic movies of my teenage years.  I can pretty much quote it word for word and at the time, the makeup and effects were top notch.  This movie was pretty much a giant insult to that movie across the board. 

I wouldn't really recommend anyone bothering with this movie.  It's pretty much garbage either way you look at it and a total waste of time.

Diary Of A Wimpy Kid: Dog Days

Based on author and cartoonist Jeff Kinney's fourth Wimpy Kid book - this one covers Greg's worst summer ever.

There really isn't much of a synopsis necessary for this one because it's pretty much just more of the same story and characters.  If you liked the others and the characters - like I do.  Then you will like this one as well.  It's pretty much the same laughs and the same morals for a third go round.

I would definitely recommend this to anyone who like the previous Wimpy Kid movies.  I have read all the books and seen the movies and enjoy them for being simple, family movies that are not in 3D and don't go over the top.  These are the kinds of movies that you can take your kids to and not worry if it's okay for them to see it.