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Three thousand years ago, the greatest sailors in the world voyaged across the vast Pacific, discovering the many islands of Oceania. But then, for a millennium, their voyages stopped – and no one knows why. From Walt Disney Animation Studios comes Moana, a sweeping, CG-animated feature film about an adventurous teenager who sails out on a daring mission to save her people. During her journey, Moana (voice of Auli’i Cravalho) meets the once-mighty demigod Maui (voice of Dwayne Johnson), who guides her in her quest to become a master wayfinder. Together, they sail across the open ocean on an action-packed voyage, encountering enormous monsters and impossible odds, and along the way, Moana fulfills the ancient quest of her ancestors and discovers the one thing she’s always sought: her own identity.
Disney knocked this one out of the park. The only knock I can make against this was that it was lacking the usually charismatic and funny side characters that they generate. This one had the crazy chicken which was great but didn't really talk. Outside of that, this movie was awesome. The Rock as a Disney character was just as great as you would expect. Moana is definitely a worthy princess addition. And the story and animation were top notch.
I absolutely recommend people checking this movie out. It's another Disney classic and what could be better than combining The Rock with Disney?
A new comedy from writer/director David E. Talbert ("Baggage Claim") and producer Will Packer ("Ride Along," "Think Like a Man" series, "This Christmas"), Almost Christmas tells the festive story of a beloved patriarch who asks his family for one gift this holiday season: to get along. If they can honor that wish and spend five days under the same roof without killing one another, it will be a Christmas miracle.
A dime a dozen type of movie. Typical stereotypical characters. Lots of family drama, heartstrings and laughs. A decent overall watch that you honestly forget all about five minutes after watching it.
I wouldn't recommend anyone wasting their time with this very forgettable movie. It ends up just kind of being there.
From acclaimed writer/director Jeff Nichols, Loving celebrates the real-life courage and commitment of an interracial couple, Richard and Mildred Loving (portrayed by Joel Edgerton and Ruth Negga), who married and then spent the next nine years fighting for the right to live as a family in their hometown. Their civil rights case, Loving v. Virginia, went all the way to the Supreme Court, which in 1967 reaffirmed the very foundation of the right to marry - and their love story has become an inspiration to couples ever since.
Wow! This was a very powerful character drama covering a time in our history that makes me feel very ashamed. The tensions and judgements that these characters had to deal with while just trying to live their lives is very upsetting and this movie did a phenomenal job of taking the audience there and making you feel it all through them.
I would absolutely recommend everyone checking this movie out. It's definitely one of the better movies of the year carried by phenomenal acting.
Three-time Academy Award® winner Ang Lee brings his extraordinary vision to Billy Lynn’s Long Halftime Walk, based on the widely-acclaimed, bestselling novel. The film is told from the point of view of 19-year-old private Billy Lynn (newcomer Joe Alwyn) who, along with his fellow soldiers in Bravo Squad, becomes a hero after a harrowing Iraq battle and is brought home temporarily for a victory tour. Through flashbacks, culminating at the spectacular halftime show of the Thanksgiving Day football game, the film reveals what really happened to the squad – contrasting the realities of the war with America’s perceptions.
There were great and then some lame parts to this one. The story was told phenomenally well between the football game events and the flashbacks. The innocence of the main character even though he was a soldier was excellently portrayed. It really made you feel for all the kids that enlist as soldiers. Unfortunately, there were several parts in the movie that were blatant heart string pulls and others that kind of ruined the realistic feel of the whole story. On top of that, there was Kristen Stewart who pretty much sucks in everything she is in.
I would somewhat recommend people checking this out. There are many reasons to enjoy this movie. There are some flaws too but I still kind of enjoyed the film.
Bleed for This is the incredible true story of one of the most inspiring and unlikely comebacks in sports history. Miles Teller ("Whiplash, "Divergent") stars as Vinny “The Pazmanian Devil” Pazienza, a local Providence boxer who shot to stardom after winning two world title fights. After a near-fatal car accident leaves Vinny with a broken neck, he is told he may never walk again. Against all odds and doctor’s orders, renowned trainer Kevin Rooney (Aaron Eckhart) agrees to help Vinny return to the ring just a year after the accident for what could be the last fight of his life.
This movie was a decent watch with some decent performances. But to call it like it is - the trailer pretty much told you the whole movie. I can't think of a single part of this movie that I hadn't basically seen already. That combined with a lot of the action coming across as overacting this movie was pretty much doomed to being decent at best.
I wouldn't really recommend anyone rushing to see this one. Again - it's not bad but it's not that good either. It's a 2 1/2 star movie that you can definitely wait to see.
Everyone knows that growing up is hard, and life is no easier for high school junior Nadine (Hailee Steinfeld), who is already at peak awkwardness when her all-star older brother Darian (Blake Jenner) starts dating her best friend Krista (Haley Lu Richardson). All at once, Nadine feels more alone than ever, until the unexpected friendship of a thoughtful boy (Hayden Szeto) gives her a glimmer of hope that things just might not be so terrible after all.
This was a very funny coming of age movie about teenage angst as well as family dealings with tragedy and daily curve balls of life. Hailee Steinfeld was amazing and the awkward moments she experienced throughout the movie brought huge laughs.
I would definitely recommend people checking this out. The writing, the acting and the direction were all top notch.
Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them opens in 1926 as Newt Scamander has just completed a global excursion to find and document an extraordinary array of magical creatures. Arriving in New York for a brief stopover, he might have come and gone without incident…were it not for a No-Maj (American for Muggle) named Jacob, a misplaced magical case, and the escape of some of Newt’s fantastic beasts, which could spell trouble for both the wizarding and No-Maj worlds.
I'm pretty sure that this movie is going to be all about people's expectations when going in to it. If you are super pumped and want something Harry Potter level - you will probably be disappointed. If you go in thinking it is a lame knock off of the Harry Potter movies - you will probably be surprised and like it. If you are down the middle - you will walk out thinking it was a pretty good movie and a good setup for a spinoff franchise moving foward. I fell into that third group. They did a good job of developing the main characters (although Newt Scamander kind of felt like my least favorite one). They did good with the effects on the "beasts" and the story progressed well enough to keep you interested as the tension built. The only real knock I'll make against the movie is that I had hoped that when it started with a quick story update via newspapers in the opening credits that the movie wouldn't be so long. I was wrong and it was definitely longer than it needed to be.
I would recommend people checking this out. Not that my thoughts ultimately matter on this. You were either definitely seeing this or definitely not seeing it already. Just keep your expectations not too high and you will be able to enjoy the movie more.
When mysterious spacecraft touch down across the globe, an elite team - lead by expert linguist Louise Banks (Amy Adams) - are brought together to investigate. As mankind teeters on the verge of global war, Banks and the team race against time for answers – and to find them, she will take a chance that could threaten her life, and quite possibly humanity.
Let me start by saying that this is soooooooo not the movie that you go into it expecting. Sure it is a movie about aliens arriving and is advertised as a heavy sci-fi kind of movie but it really doesn't play like a sci-fi movie even though it's all about communicating with aliens. Normally something like that would infuriate me and I would hate the movie just because of that. But this movie was one of the best psychological movies about being a human being I've ever seen. And the fact that it's a movie that is actually about communication period shown through trying to communicate with these aliens makes it truly impressive. You leave the theater really wondering about life as a whole and if you would still go down certain paths in life. I can't really say much else without ruining the movie.
I seriously enjoyed this movie on a very deep level and it really is an incredible deep thought conversation starter for people who have seen it. I would absolutely recommend people checking this movie out but don't go into expecting to see a bona fide sci-fi movie because the best part of it is the non sci-fi aspects or parts of it.
An ordinary suburban couple (Zach Galifianakis, Isla Fisher) finds it's not easy keeping up with the Joneses (Jon Hamm, Gal Gadot) - their impossibly gorgeous and ultra-sophisticated new neighbors - especially when they discover that Mr. and Mrs. "Jones" are covert operatives.
This movie was literally the trailer. I don't remember seeing anything that I had not already seen in the ads for it. Add to that the trailer was not funny at all and you have a pretty big piece of garbage. All four of these actors are better than this.
I would absolutely not recommend anyone wasting their time with this. Really just a big waste of film.
Hacksaw Ridge is the extraordinary true story of conscientious collaborator Desmond Doss (Andrew Garfield) who, in Okinawa during the bloodiest battle of WWII, saved 75 men without firing or carrying a gun. He believed the war was just, but killing was nevertheless wrong; he was the only American soldier in WWII to fight on the front lines without a weapon. As an army medic, Doss single-handedly evacuated the wounded from behind enemy lines, braved fire while tending to soldiers and was wounded by a grenade and hit by snipers. He was the first conscientious objector to ever earn the Congressional Medal of Honor.
Wow. For a very slow paced movie for the first 3/4 of the film, this movie massively slammed on the gas pedal for the last 1/4 to end up giving you a movie with a little bit of everything. You had the love story that you liked because of the chemistry between the two actors. You had the wearing your character on your sleeve no matter what thing with Andrew Garfield wanting to be part of the army but fighting them at the same time about not wanting to use a gun. This felt like it was going to be pretty much the whole movie. But then they got past that portion of the story and the actual part that took place on Hacksaw Ridge was some of the most intense war movie stuff I've ever seen. You really felt like you were there in the battle and I'm not going to lie - I almost jumped clear out of my seat like three times during the battle portion of the movie because the intensity was dialed up to 1,000. Normally a movie with so many pieces to it like this ends up being hurt for being all over the place. That was not the case with this movie because it was told very well and had plenty of hooks throughout to keep you fully vested in the outcome of the story.
I would definitely recommend people check this movie out. It was a great watch and had a little bit of everything. Just be warned that there is a lot of war type violence/gore towards the end of the movie.
After the Bergens invade Troll Village, Poppy (Kendrick), the happiest Troll ever born, and the overly-cautious curmudgeonly Branch (Timberlake) set off on a journey to rescue her friends. Together, this mismatched duo embark on a rescue mission full of adventure and mishaps - trying to tolerate each other long enough to get the job done.
This was an extremely fun movie. The characters/voices were great and done in a way that you get hooked by several of them. The story is told both through the adventures of the trolls and scrapbook like narration which also gets mocked throughout the movie. And the music was awesome. I found myself dancing with the nieces several times throughout the movie. This is absolutely one of those movies that are just as enjoyable for the adults as it is for the kids.
I definitely recommend everyone checking this movie out. It was lots of laughs, fun and dance music. Definitely worth the trip to theaters.
Marvel’s Doctor Strange follows the story of the talented neurosurgeon Doctor Stephen Strange who, after a tragic car accident, must put ego aside and learn the secrets of a hidden world of mysticism and alternate dimensions. Based in New York City’s Greenwich Village, Doctor Strange must act as an intermediary between the real world and what lies beyond, utilizing a vast array of metaphysical abilities and artifacts to protect the Marvel cinematic universe.
When the movie was in go mode - this was one of the craziest things I've ever seen visually on screen. When it was not in go mode - there was waaaaaaaaay too much explaining of the backstory and the world of mysticism. It's not that it was bad. It was just ALOT to take in. There are origin stories that are amazing movies and lead to a line of enjoyable sequels and then there are origin stories that are kind of like that we need to get this stuff out of the way type movies so that there can then be awesome sequels. This movie was definitely one of those second types. And honestly, it kind of had to be. There is way too much info that needed to be put out there before you could really enjoy the character and movies of Doctor Strange. Honestly, it was one of the reasons that I never really read this comic. But I really don't want to sound like I'm knocking the movie because I did like it very much and I absolutely can't wait for sequels or for Doctor Strange (which Cumberbatch is perfect casting for) to show up in future other Marvel movie. Again - it was just alot to take in.
I would definitely recommend that people check this out. It was one hell of an enjoyable ride and amazing visually. Just be prepared for ALOT of explanation of this universe we are starting to go into to with Marvel.
