The Sun Is Also A Star

An adaptation of Nicola Yoon’s novel "The Sun is Also a Star." College-bound romantic Daniel Bae and Jamaica-born pragmatist Natasha Kingsley meet—and fall for each other—over one magical day amidst the fervor and flurry of New York City. Sparks immediately fly between these two strangers, who might never have met had fate not given them a little push. But will fate be enough to take these teens from star-crossed to lucky in love? With just hours left on the clock in what looks to be her last day in the U.S., Natasha is fighting against her family’s deportation as fiercely as she’s fighting her budding feelings for Daniel, who is working just as hard to convince her they are destined to be together. A modern-day story about finding love against all odds, “The Sun Is Also a Star” explores whether our lives are determined by fate or the random events of the universe.

This was a decent "young adult" book adaption about the debate of science verses destiny.  There was a lot of cute romantic moments but unfortunately the movie lacks a true hook that prevents you from forgetting about the movie mostly five minutes after you have finished watching it.

I wouldn't really recommend anyone rushing to see this.  It's not a bad watch necessarily.  It's just not really that memorable either.

Aladdin

The “Aladdin” cast includes: Two-time Oscar® nominee Will Smith (“Ali,” “Men in Black”) as the Genie who has the power to grant three wishes to whoever possesses his magic lamp; Mena Massoud (Amazon’s “Jack Ryan”) as Aladdin, the hapless but lovable street rat who is smitten with the Sultan’s daughter; Naomi Scott (“Power Rangers”) as Princess Jasmine, the Sultan’s beautiful daughter who wants to have a say in how she lives her life; Marwan Kenzari (“Murder on the Orient Express”) as Jafar, an evil sorcerer who devises a nefarious plot to unseat the Sultan and rule Agrabah himself; Navid Negahban (“Homeland”) as the Sultan, the ruler of Agrabah who is eager to find a proper husband for his daughter, Jasmine; Nasim Pedrad (“Saturday Night Live”) as Dalia, Princess Jasmine’s hand maiden and confidante; Billy Magnussen (“Into the Woods”) as Prince Anders, a suitor from Skanland and potential husband for Princess Jasmine; and Numan Acar (“Homeland”) as Hakim, Jafar’s right-hand man and head of the palace guards.

Aladdin is probably my favorite overall Disney movie.  Always has been since I've seen it.  So I was extremely nervous when I heard about this.  I was worried that it would never live up to the greatness that was the animated version.  I'm not going to say that this is awesome or must see BUT it was a pretty decent watch and they did a pretty impressive job with going live action on it.  The music was still there.  The laughs were still there.  I was pleasantly surprised.

I would recommend people checking this out.  But don't get too excited like I forced myself not to.  Because you will end up not liking it as much.

Booksmart

The story follows two academic superstars and best friends (Beanie Feldstein and Kaitlyn Dever) who, on the eve of their high school graduation, suddenly realize that they should have worked less and played more. Determined never to fall short of their peers, the girls set out on a mission to cram four years of fun into one night.

This movie was really funny.  I was surprised at how much it had me laughing from beginning to end.  Big fan of Beanie Feldstein and think she has a huge future and she killed it in this.  Her and Kaitlyn Dever had incredibly believable chemistry and played off of each other so very well.

I would absolutely recommend people checking this out.  It was very funny and very much worth the time to watch it.  

John Wick: Chapter 3 - Parabellum

John Wick (Keanu Reeves) is on the run for two reasons… he’s being hunted for a global $14 million dollar open contract on his life, and for breaking a central rule: taking a life on Continental Hotel grounds. The victim was a member of the High Table who ordered the open contract. John should have already been executed, except the Continental’s manager, Winston, has given him a one-hour grace period before he’s ‘Excommunicado’ – membership revoked, banned from all services and cut off from other members. John uses the service industry to stay alive as he fights and kills his way out of New York City.

It's absolutely crazy to me that this is a three movie franchise at this point.  It's even more baffling how much I thoroughly enjoy this franchise.  The action - while insane levels of unbelievable - is so badass that you can't not enjoy the crazyiness of it all.  I will happily keep watching Keanu Reeves mowing down guys for several more installments.

I would absolutely recommend people check this movie out.  Action fans will love it and its a great continuation of a surprisingly enjoyable movie franchise.

Detective Pikachu

"Detective Pikachu" is the first live-action film based on the globally popular Pokémon franchise and will star Ryan Reynolds, Justice Smith ("Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom") and Kathryn Newton (Big Little Lies). Smith will star as a teen whose father is kidnapped which leads him to Reynolds’ Pikachu and Kathryn Newton as a young journalist who team up in order to find him.

I was never into Pokémon so I'll be honest here.  I have absolutely no idea what I watched.  It was cool visually and Ryan Reynolds as the voice of a smartass Pikachu was entertaining but I have legit no idea what I just watched.

I'm really not the one who should say yay or nay to this because again I have no Pokémon knowledge whatsoever.  This is one of the only pop culture phenomenons that I was just never able to wrap my head around.

BrightBurn

What if a child from another world crash-landed on Earth, but instead of becoming a hero to mankind, he proved to be something far more sinister? With Brightburn, the visionary filmmaker of Guardians of the Galaxy and Slither presents a startling, subversive take on a radical new genre: superhero horror.

This was an awesome concept, the trailer looked great and the movie absolutely delivered.  I love when a movie goes superhero but on a simple budget like this.  It had you on the edge numerous times.  There was not crazy special effects throughout and the movie was that much more intense and creepy because of it.

I would definitely recommend both scary movie fans and superhero movie fans checking this out because it is a very original take on the whole Superman story.  

The Hustle

Anne Hathaway and Rebel Wilson are nasty women in the big screen update of "Dirty Rotten Scoundrels." They’ll play variations on the roles originally played by Michael Caine and Steve Martin in the 1988 original. The new version will update the story by putting the focus on two lady cons attempting to get money from a rich tech prodigy.

This movie was massively disappointing.  I am a big fan of both of the leads and the chemistry between them was really good but it was an absolute waste in this movie with zero substance around them whatsoever.  Like nothing.  It was just the two of them and garbage.  Very disappointing.

I would not recommend anyone bother with this.  It is absolutely not worth your time or money.

A Dog's Journey

Audiences are invited along on A Dog’s Journey, the next chapter of the beloved bestselling series by author W. Bruce Cameron. The family film told from the dog’s perspective serves as the much-anticipated follow-up to the soulful story of one devoted dog who finds the meaning of his own existence through the lives of the humans he teaches to laugh and love.

This was literally just more of the same from the first movie like this.  Total heartstrings but very cute from beginning to end.  Any animal lover is guaranteed to love this movie and any fan of the first one should obviously check this one out.

I would recommend this to all animal lovers.  It's a very cute family film that plucks every right heartstring along the way.

Breakthrough

Based on the Joyce Smith novel “The Impossible: The Miraculous Story of a Mother’s Faith and Her Child’s Resurrection,” based on the true story. When Joyce Smith’s fourteen-year-old son John fell through an icy Missouri lake one winter morning, she and her family had seemingly lost everything. At the hospital, John lay lifeless for more than sixty minutes. But Joyce was not ready to give up on her son. She mustered all her faith and strength into one force and cried out to God in a loud voice to save him. Miraculously, her son’s heart immediately started beating again. In the coming days, John would defy every expert, every case history, and every scientific prediction. Sixteen days after falling through the ice and being clinically dead for an hour, he walked out of the hospital under his own power, completely healed.

Usually these religious/spiritual movies are a total joke to me.  Like they are usually so blatant and forced that I pull the plug less than halfway through.  But there was something about this one.  It kept my interest straight through and found a lot of spiritually dead parts of me getting triggered a bit as I got caught up in the story.  That was pretty impressive.

I never thought I would say this but I would actually recommend people checking this bad boy out.  It's actually a very enjoyable and pretty realistic story - especially with the interactions between all the characters and what not.

The Best Of Enemies

The Best of Enemies follows the story of Ann Atwater (Henson), a civil rights activist in Durham, N.C., who battled Ku Klux Klan leader C.P. Ellis (Rockwell) for a decade until 1971, when the two agreed to co-chair a two-week community meeting to deal with a court-ordered school desegregation decree. That event changed both of their lives immeasurably.

This is one of those biographical movies that you know is good.  It's well acted.  It tells a great story.  But for some reason the movie is just kind of there.  You pretty much forget having watched it five minutes after its over.

I wouldn't really recommend anyone rushing to see this.  There really is no reason to.  You can just wait to randomly catch this one on tv randomly.

Long Shot

Fred Flarsky (Seth Rogen), an unemployed journalist battered by his own misfortune, endeavors to pursue his childhood crush and babysitter who now happens to be one of the most powerful and unattainable women on the planet (Charlize Theron).

Never in a million years did I think that this would be a good rom-com pairing.  Like it just didn't make sense whatsoever but that's obviously the hook.  This movie was very enjoyable.  You believe the chemistry between the two leads.  There are plenty of laughs throughout and you find yourself rooting for them and enjoying the ride.  By definition - this is a good rom-com.

I would surprisingly recommend people checking this bad boy out.  I enjoyed it very much and was pleasantly surprised.

Uglydolls

Unconventionality rules in UGLYDOLLS, the new animated musical adventure set in the adorably different town of Uglyville, where weird is celebrated, strange is special and beauty is embraced as more than simply meets the eye.

This is not even worth me reviewing.  This is blatantly a kids movie.  This is very much NOT one of those animated movies that older kids and the adults that take them can enjoy too.  It is just for kids.  The message to the kids is great but it is not an enjoyable watch for anyone outside of them.

If you have small children - take them to see it and hopefully its in a theater with reclining seats so you can take a nap.  Outside of that scenario though - I would pass on seeing this ever.