The Other Woman

After discovering her boyfriend is married, a woman (Cameron Diaz) tries to get her ruined life back on track. But when she accidentally meets the wife he's been cheating on (Leslie Mann), she realizes they have much in common, and her sworn enemy becomes her greatest friend. When yet another affair is discovered (Kate Upton), all three women team up to plot mutual revenge on their cheating, lying, three-timing SOB.

This movie was a decent watch and what could be considered a "cute" chick flick.  But it was waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay too long.  When I walked out of the theater and saw that over 2 hours had gone by since the movie had started i was stunned. Also it was nowhere near as funny as it could have been.  Sure the revenge on your cheating spouse stuff has been done a million times but it could have been very hilarious with the group of characters that would be getting the revenge in this movie.  And in all honesty it was when they finally got around to it.  Unfortunately, it wasn't until like 3/4 through the movie that this happened due to the over abundance of bonding time between this weird pairing of friends.  Leslie Mann and Cameron Diaz could have been so much funnier if they were up to some of this scheming stuff much earlier until veering mostly into character drama instead of all out comedy.

I would somewhat recommend people checking this out - especially females.  It's not a bad movie but if you saw the trailer you pretty much saw the movie and it definitely could have been a lot funnier if they didn't spend so much time trying to pull heartstrings.  

Heaven Is For Real

 

Inspired by the #1 New York Times best-selling book of the same name, Heaven is for Real brings to the screen the true story of a small-town father who must find the courage and conviction to share his son's extraordinary, life-changing experience, with the world.

I'll be the first person to admit that I am not a very spiritual person.  I believe in certain things and I always go out of my way to do right by those near and dear to my heart and treat people the way I would like to be treated, etc, etc.  Church and faith and that kind of stuff . . . . . not so much.  I don't knock those that choose that path in life but it's just not for me.  With that being said, I figured that there was no chance in hell that I would enjoy this movie and even care enough to pay attention throughout.  I was dead wrong.  This movie definitely hooked me and I enjoyed it very much.  I don't know if it was the innocence of the kid with all the info he offered on heaven/Jesus or the convincing portrayal of his father by Greg Kinnear, but  I really liked this movie and will probably think about my beliefs or lack thereof after seeing it.  Will it change my way of thinking?  Who knows.  But it was done in a way to get you thinking and I was impressed.

I would definitely recommend people checking this one out.  Like I said - Greg Kinnear was great in the role of the father and the movie was definitely mind opening to all levels of faith believers (or lack of). 

The Quiet Ones

 

A university student (Sam Claflin) and some classmates are recruited to carry out a private experiment -- to create a poltergeist. Their subject: an alluring, but dangerously disturbed young woman (Olivia Cooke).  Their quest: to explore the dark energy that her damaged psyche might manifest. As the experiment unravels along with their sanity, the rogue PHD students are soon confronted with a terrifying reality: they have triggered an unspeakable force with a power beyond all explanation.

I was surprised at how I liked this movie.  I wouldn't say I loved it or go raving about it.  But after being disappointed time after time by PG-13 scary movies I expect them to all suck.  So by not sucking like the others, I ended up liking this one.  It was paced well and short enough that it keeps your attention.  There was good tension and enough jump causing moments instead of lame predictable crap that feels very forced.

I would somewhat recommend people checking this out.  It's not a must see by any means but it is better than most of the recent similar fare that have rolled into theaters.

A Haunted House 2

A Haunted House 2 is the sequel to the hilarious box-office hit starring Marlon Wayans as Malcolm who, after exorcising the demons of his ex, is starting fresh with his new girlfriend and her two children. After moving into their dream home, Malcolm is once again plagued by bizarre paranormal events. With spine-tingling tension and hilarious punch-lines A Haunted House 2 inspired by the latest supernatural horror movie franchises and shows that this time - it's not just the house that's haunted!

This was pretty much just more of the first.  I only sort of enjoyed it because I find Marlon Wayans funny.  If he wasn't in this it would be absolutely horrible.  His freak outs and the racial jokes between him and the Hispanic neighbors provided some good laughs - especially the chicken scene.  Unfortunately, there was too much downtime in between those parts for the movie to be fully funny.

I wouldn't really recommend anyone rushing to see this.  It's short enough and had some great laughs but not nearly enough to warrant your time and money.  

Draft Day

On the day of the NFL Draft, general manager Sonny Weaver (Costner) has the opportunity to save football in Cleveland when he trades for the number one pick. He must quickly decide what he's willing to sacrifice in pursuit of perfection as the lines between his personal and professional life become blurred on a life-changing day for a few hundred young men with dreams of playing in the NFL.

This movie is a dictionary definition of one of those movies where you have seen the movie just by seeing the trailer.  It definitely succeeded in getting me excited for this year's NFL draft and the football season to follow.   It had a very real feel to how the draft day works with trades and what not and totally drove home the importance of talent evaluation on the pro football level.  I wish the Jets had a guy like Sonny who didn't spend more time buying into the hype instead of really looking deep at their potential players.  But besides that, the movie was really just there.  And you knew how 75% of it was going to go from the trailer and you knew how the other 25% would go because it wasn't going to have the hero look bad.

I wouldn't really recommend anyone rushing to see this movie.  Just get hyped for the draft by watching the ads for this movie and save the two hours of your life to do something else.

Transcendence

 

Dr. Will Caster (Johnny Depp) is the foremost researcher in the field of Artificial Intelligence, working to create a sentient machine that combines the collective intelligence of everything ever known with the full range of human emotions. His highly controversial experiments have made him famous, but they have also made him the prime target of anti-technology extremists who will do whatever it takes to stop him.  However, in their attempt to destroy Will, they inadvertently become the catalyst for him to succeed - to be a participant in his own transcendence. For his wife Evelyn (Rebecca Hall) and best friend Max Waters (Paul Bettany), both fellow researchers, the question is not if they can - but if they should.  Their worst fears are realized as Will's thirst for knowledge evolves into a seemingly omnipresent quest for power, to what end is unknown. The only thing that is becoming terrifyingly clear is there may be no way to stop him.

This movie was majorly disappointing.  Imagine watching the genius that was Inception a few years back but with zero emotional hook and no intense build up to the whole process that kept your eyes totally glued to the screen?  Substitute the internet for dreams plus that aforementioned imagination and you have Transcendence.  This movie wanted so desperately to be Inception like and it couldn't have been further from it.  About half way through the movie I had pretty much pulled the plug on being fully interested in it anymore and was just there in body.  This will probably be the most disappointing movie of the year for me.

I wouldn't recommend anyone bothering to go see this.  It was a veiled attempt at recreating something truly amazing without all of the hard work with direction, writing and acting. 

Rio 2

 

It's a jungle out there for Blu, Jewel and their three kids in Rio 2, after they're hurtled from that magical city to the wilds of the Amazon. As Blu tries to fit in, he goes beak-to-beak with the vengeful Nigel, and meets the most fearsome adversary of all - his father-in-law. All our favorite Rio characters are back, and they're joined by Andy Garcia, Bruno Mars, Kristin Chenoweth and Rita Moreno.

This movie was a decent watch.  I left the theater feeling the same way that I did about the first one.  It's was watchable and cute but you cared more about the funny sidekick characters that are not on screen enough as opposed to the main characters.  I found myself just not that into them.  I'm not saying that the movie was bad.  It's just not nearly as enjoyable as most well produced animated fare that shows up in the theaters.

I would lukewarmly recommend people checking this out.  Kids will like it but not all adults will enjoy it as much as them.

Oculus

 

Ten years ago, tragedy struck the Russell family, leaving the lives of teenage siblings Tim and Kaylie forever changed when Tim was convicted of the brutal murder of their parents. Now in his 20s, Tim is newly released from protective custody and only wants to move on with his life; but Kaylie, still haunted by that fateful night, is convinced her parents' deaths were caused by something else altogether: a malevolent supernatural force - unleashed through the Lasser Glass, an antique mirror in their childhood home. Determined to prove Tim's innocence, Kaylie tracks down the mirror, only to learn similar deaths have befallen previous owners over the past century. With the mysterious entity now back in their hands, Tim and Kaylie soon find their hold on reality shattered by terrifying hallucinations, and realize, too late, that their childhood nightmare is beginning again.

This was a somewhat decent scary movie.  They kept you interested in where it was going.  The story telling of back and forth between what happened to the kids earilier on in life and the present day was done pretty well.  Unfortunately, just like what usually happens with these movies the - the ending falls completely flat.  Its as if they just got tired of screenwriting and just stopped writing it. 

I wouldn't really recommend anyone checking this out.  It had a decent start and middle but then ends up being a pretty big waste of time. 

Captain America: The Winter Soldier

 

After the cataclysmic events in New York with The Avengers, Marvel's Captain America: The Winter Soldier finds Steve Rogers, aka Captain America, living quietly in Washington, D.C. and trying to adjust to the modern world. But when a S.H.I.E.L.D. colleague comes under attack, Steve becomes embroiled in a web of intrigue that threatens to put the world at risk. Joining forces with Natasha Romanoff aka Black Widow, Captain America struggles to expose the ever-widening conspiracy while fighting off assailants sent to silence him at every turn. When the full scope of the villainous plot is revealed, Captain America and the Black Widow enlist the help of a new ally, the Falcon. However, they soon find themselves up against an unexpected and formidable enemy - the Winter Soldier.

Wow!  This movie was awesome across the board.  It's easily on par with the original Iron Man as the best Marvel movie after The Avengers.  I thought this movie was so much better than the first one.  I know that they wanted to stay true to the WW II era that the first one took place in but it held back from the amazing action that we've grown used to in the super hero movies.  This one didn't hold back at all.  The fighting was intense througout the movie and there were a couple of car chase sequences that felt Fast & Furious like.  Getting past the great action - the story was very spot on with today's government and kept you so glued to the screen that you barely feel that the movie is a little more than two hours long.  Captain America and Black Widow played very well off each other and The Falcon was an excellent addition to the mix.  However, the Winter Soldier stole every scene that he was in and the guy was so completely badass. 

I would absolutely recommend everyone checking this out.  It's got a great story and action galore.  How did this movie open in April.  This is a textbook summer blockbuster type of movie.