Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters

My sister gave me this movie awhile back since I had never seen it, and it was alright, better than I expected, especially when I found out that MTV films played a role in the making of it.  Barring Vaarsity Blues, their track record isn't the greatest.  I was quite surprised to see Jeremy Renner in this one as well, especially with his talent.

Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters was released in 2013 and is a German/American horror/action film.  It is meant to be a continuation on from the Grimm's fairy tale of Hansel & Gretel.  In case you know nothing about the original fairy tale, two children get lost in the woods from their dad and end up at a cottage made of candy that is owned by a witch.  The witch is force-feeding them candy, trying to fatten them up so that she can eat them.  As the witch is trying to put Hansel into the oven, Gretel kills the witch, hence the witch hunters.

The cast includes:
Jeremy Renner as Hansel (The Bourne Legacy, The Avengers, MI: Ghost Protocol, Hurt Locker, American Hustle)
Gemma Arteton as Gretel (Prince of Persia, Clash of the Titans, Quantum of Solace, RocknRolla)
Famke Janssen as Muriel (X-Men Series, Hemlock Grove, Nip/Tuck, Taken, Rounders)
Peter Stormare as Sheriff Berringer (Constantine, 22 Jump Street, The Last Stand, Killing Room, Prison Break)
Thomas Mann as Ben (Beautiful Creatures, Fun Size, It's Kind of a Funny Story, Project X)


Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters was originally supposed to be released in March 2012, but due to Renner's busy schedule with the Avengers and The Bourne Legacy, it ended up getting pushed back.  Although it was not well received by most outside of the horror genre in the US, it garnered international attention and was a hit in Germany, Brazil, Mexico and Russia.   It ended up grossing $225 billion on a $50 billion budget, making it a box office success.  Although I can't personally say it is deserving, a sequel is currently in the works and scheduled to be released in 2016.

The film is written and produced by Tommy Wirkola, a Norwegian director with a love of horror.  This is his first American film and he originally wanted to make the story a short, but ended up selling it in Hollywood as a franchise with the goal of trilogy.  Witches are definitely portrayed as villains and the costumes were done by the same company that did Harry Potty & The Ghostly Hollows.  Filming took place in Germany in a forest near Berlin. 

This movie is entertaining for a B movie, there is weird attention to detail such as Hansel having diabetes from all of the sugar and the drawings on the home cottage wall.  Then there is the inattention to detail in the horrendously out of place weapons for the era, especially the guns, and the fact that at least one of the beginning witches is definitely a large man.  Also, I felt like for 2 people whose occupation it is to hunt witches that they would have a much better aim haha.  Gretel was the worst, she couldn't hit the broad side of a barn.  I also wonder why in the heck no one was pointing out the obvious with the grand white witch's heart and where it now resides.  Overall, I give this movie 3/5 stars.  It is a good movie if you don't want anything too serious and just feel like being entertained by something from the horror genre. 

 Here is the link to the movie's site: hanselandgretelmovie.com/

The Hunger Games: Catching Fire

Today I finally had the opportunity to finish watching Catching Fire as the plumbers were fixing stuff in my house....  Let me start by saying:  Wow... just wow.... phenomenal.  I laughed, I cried, I yelled, I hated when it was over, and don't want to wait for the rest of the story!  I have been boycotting reading the books until the movies are over because I don't want to ruin the movies that I love so much.  If the movie is this spectacular, I can't even imagine how amazing the books must be.

Catching Fire is the 2nd movie in the Hunger Games Trilogy.  It was released in 2013 and is based on the Suzanne Collins book of the same name (Catching Fire).  The first movie (The Hunger Games) was released in 2012.  Catching Fire is an American sci-fi, adventure, dystopian film.  The movie is taking place one year after the original Hunger Games movie ended.  Filming began in Atlanta, GA and ended with the majority done in Hawaii.


Lots of returning faces and some new one can be seen in the cast:


Jennifer Lawrence as Katniss (Hunger Games, Silver Linings Playbook, Winter's Bone, X-Men:First Class)
Liam Hemsworth as Gale (Hunger Games, Last Song, Empire State, Expendables 2)
Woody Harrelson as Haymitch (Hunger Games, Cheers, Zombieland, No Country For Old Men, True Detective)
Josh Hutcherson as Peeta (Hunger Games, Bridge to Terabithia, The Kids Are Alright, Epic, Journey to the Center of the Earth)
Donald Sutherland as President Snow (Hunger Games, MASH, Italian Job, Pride & Prejudice, Crossing Lines)
Elizabeth Banks as Effie (Hunger Games, Next Three Days, Pitch Perfect, Modern Family, 30 Rock, Scrubs)
Lenny Kravitz as Cinna (Hunger Games, Precious, Zoolander, The Butler)
Stanley Tucci as Caesar (Terminal, Devil Wears Prada, Transformers: Age of Extinction, Julie & Julia, ER)
Phillip Seymour Hoffman as Plutarch (Capote, Doubt, Charlie Wilson's War, The Master, Moneyball, Mission Impossible III)
Sam Claflin as Finnick (Snow White & the Huntsman, Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides, Quiet Ones)
Jena Malone as Johanna (Hatfields & McCoys, Sucker Punch, The Ruins, Into the Wild, Pride & Prejudice)

 

Catching Fire currently ranks as the tenth highest grossing film domestically, and surpassed the sales of the first film.  For Thanksgiving weekend rankings: it was the first 2-D film since 2008 (Dark Knight) to top the box office.  It was the first film since 1983 (The Exocist) to have a female lead that topped the box office.  The film grossed over $864 million worldwide.

In order to get rid of the shaky feeling of the arena scenes from the first movie, Catching Fire's arena scenes were all shot using IMAX cameras.  Reviews of the film have been positive overall.  The final installment of the trilogy: Mockingjay will be released in 2 Parts, with Part 1 being released this November and the 2nd part coming out in November 2015.

Overall I give this movie 5 out of 5 stars.  It was nothing short of spectacular.  The characters are done excellently.  The story is enough messed up and relatable.  The Costuming is amazing.  The visual effects are stunning.  It is just an all around wonderful movie.  Don't miss it.  Re-watch value is high! 





You can view the official website here: Catching Fire

Tarzan

Liam and I recently watched Disney's Tarzan, which I hadn't seen in forever.  Let me just say that I cried 3 times in the first 10-15 minutes of the movie, and that by the end I had cried a total of 6 times.  I don't remember my heart aching so many times before, I am turning into my mother.

Tarzan was released in 1999 by Walt Disney Animation and is considered the last of the Disney Renaissance films.  It is the 37th Walt Disney Animated Classic and the first animated feature of the story of Tarzan, based off of the book Tarzan and the Apes by Edgar Rice Burroughs.

Tarzan is a story about a British couple who are shipwrecked on an island with their baby and cannot survive the wildlife.  An ape who has recently lost her own baby hears Tarzan crying and raises him as her own with the gorillas.  As an adult, other humans come to explore the island and Tarzan is torn between wanting to be with his own kind and staying with the family that raised him.


Voice talents include:
Tony Goldwyn as Tarzan (Scandal, Divergent, Law & Order: CI, Last Samurai, Ghost)
Glenn Close as Kala (Simpsons, Damages, Hoodwinked, The Shield, Stepford Wives, Air Force One)
Brian Blessed as Clayton (Peppa Pig, King Lear, Star Wars Episode I, Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves)
Minnie Driver as Jane (Good Will Hunting, Grosse Point Blank, About A Boy, I Give It A Year, Riches)
Nigel Hawthorne as Professor Porter (Amistad, Demolition Man, Yes, Prime Minister, Black Cauldron)
Wayne Knight as Tanto (Seinfeld, Jurassic Park, Space Jam, The Exes, Hot in Cleveland, 3rd Rock From the Sun)
Rosie O'Donnell as Terk (Flintstones, Now & Then, League of Their Own, The View, Rosie O'Donnell Show)

It's production budget of $130 million made it the most Expensive animated film of all time at the time of its release.  Disney's Treasure Planet finally topped it t $140 million in 2002.  Tarzan gross $448 billion worldwide as was the first Disney film to open at #1 since Pocahontas.

For the movie Tarzan, the production team developed a new CGI concept called Deep Canvas, which allowed artists to created CGI backgrounds that looked like a painting.  This technique was awarded a Technical Achievement Award in 2003 from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Science.  The songs for the film were written and performed by Phil Collins.

I loved this movie, and although it has some disturbing emotional scenes for adults, my toddler didn't seem to be negatively affected.  He loved the movie and keeps requesting to watch the "movie with the baby" which is what Tarzan is now called in our house.  4.5 out of 5 stars. 

You can visit the official site: Tarzan

How To Train Your Dragon 2

Yesterday my sister and I took Liam to the movies to see How To Train Your Dragon 2.  I must say that my sister and I enjoyed the movie immensely more than my toddler did.  It was a great movie for older kids and adults and any younger kids who love dragons.  As for my son, there were moments that he enjoyed it but he got bored with it and was ready to leave.  It took a lot of convincing and bribing to get him to stay for the entire movie, and it was definitely a struggle, with that being said.  I definitely loved the movie for me.

How to Train Your Dragon 2 is (surprise) the sequel to How to Train Your Dragon.  It is a Dreamworks Animation film.  It is the second in a trilogy with the original coming out in 2010, and the third expected to be released in June of 2016.  It is based off of a book series with the same name by Cressida Cowell. The main character is a boy named Hiccup and his nightfury dragon named Toothless who is from a Viking culture.  This film is 5 years from the original film with the characters now as young adults.  It is quite a site to see Vikings as dragon riders.  At the end of the original film Hiccup helped his Viking village of Berk make peace with dragons.


The voice casts includes the talent of:
 Jay Baruchel as Hiccup (Are You Afraid of the Dark, She's Out of My League, Robocop, Tropic Thunder)
Cate Blanchett as Valka (Curious Case of Benjamin Button, Lord of the Rings, Blue Jasmine, Robin Hood)
Gerard Butler as Stoic (300, Olympus Has Fallen, PS I Love You, Phantom of the Opera, Gamer, Law Abiding Citizen)
Craig Ferguson as Gobber (Brave, Winne the Pooh, Drew Carey Show, The Late Late Show)
America Ferrera As Astrid (Ugly Betty, End of Watch, Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants, Our Family Wedding)
Jonah Hill as Snotlout (21 Jump Street, Superbad, Wolf of Wallstreet, This is the End, Get Him to the Greek)
Christoper Mintz-Plasse as Fishlegs (Superbad, Kickass, Role Models, Neighbors, This is the End, Year One)
Kristen Wiig as Ruffnut (Bridesmaids, Despicable Me 2, SNL, Secret Life of Walter Mitty, Friends with Kids, Paul)
Djimon Hounsou as Drago (Gladiator, Blood Diamond, Amistad, Constantine, The Island, Push, Eragon, Beauty Shop)

How to Train Your Dragon 2 is the first Dreamworks Animation film to use scalable multi-core processing, which was developed with HP.  This enabled artists to work in real-time, instead of having to wait 8 hours to see the results of their work.  This was also the first film to use new animation and lighting software throughout the entire production (Premo & Torch).  This allowed subtle improvement to movement and facial features such as the the appearance of skin moving over muscle or fat jiggling.  By the end of production over 500 people had worked on the film at the Dreamworks headquarters in Glendale as well as branch offices in Redwood city and Dreamworks India in Bangalore.


The sequel was written, directed and executive produced by the same man as the original: Dean Deblois (Lilo & Stitch).  he agreed to come back on the condition that it would be a trilogy.  The entire original voice cast returned for the sequel. This film was focused on Norway as the primary location.  Overall the film has received positive critical acclaim, but is thus far unimpressed with it's overall monetary gross of $75 million to date with it currently behind 22 Jump Street in North American sales. 

I thought that this was a really great movie with a high re-watachability rate.  It made me laugh, it made me cry, I did wish for someone else to have voiced Hiccup, but otherwise the picture quality was great and the storyline was great as well with many learning points.  The characters were lovable and seeing the vast amount of different dragons that appear as butterflies was amazing.  I also enjoyed some of the dog aspects adopted in the mannerisms of the dragons.  I love the idea of this story and I think the delivery was good.  I give the film 4.5 out of 5 stars and highly recommend it, especially if your child is about 6 or 7 or older. 

Visit the official website: www.howtotrainyourdragon.com

Beautiful Creatures

I literally just finished watching this movie for the first time.  I wasn't really sure what to think about it.  I had heard so many things about it.  That it was great.  That the book was so much better, etc.  Naturally the book is always better in my opinion, because there are some imaginative thoughts that can never make be imagined the same way as my mind sees them, so I will always have a disappointment factor.  I always try to see the movie first so that I can enjoy them both separately.  With that being said, I have NOT read this book yet (but I definitely will now), and I have to say that I was really intrigued by the story.  Overall I felt that the filming was interesting in that there were very few close ups of people faces, I felt like the characters were all being filmed from far away for the majority of the movie.  They really included the setting as a big part of the filming.  I was left wanting to know more about the background (as is normal in most book to movie stories).  Watching this movie knowing it was based on a book made me feel like the movie was just scratching the surface of an expansive new world.  I loved the glimpse that I got into this world, but I felt like this movie that was beautiful creatures did not have enough time to really tell it's story.  It seemed like with so much to tell that it should have been a 2 part movie to really let the ancillary characters come to life.  Don't shy away from it though, it is still totally worth seeing.

Beautiful creatures was released in February of 2013.  It is considered a romantic fantasy film and is based on the novel Kami Garcia & Margaret Stohl.  It starts off with a boy named Ethan Wate living in small town Gatlin, South Caroline, he reigns as the narrator.  It also features a new girl to school named Lena Duchannes who is automatically shunned in a religious zealot town as a devil worshiper.  We learn that lena is something called a caster (akin to a witch), that considers themselves a separate race from mortals (normal boring powerless humans).  Of course it is Romeo & Juliet-esque in that they fall in love.  I won't say too much more for fear of spoilers, but it is definitely a romance, but not in the sort of chick flick manner.  More of an epic story fantasy romance. It is also a challenge between light and dark forces in nature, life, and even a religious aspect.

Alcon entertainment purchased the rights to the movie back in 2009.  Casting began in late 2011.  Jack O'Connell was originally slated to play the Ethan but dropped out of the film due to a scheduling conflict. The filming took place in New Orleans.  Filming included practical special effects as well as computer based ones, in the dining room scene, the table, chairs and chandeliers all really moved.

The cast included:
Alden Ehrenreich as Ethan ( Blue Jasmine, Stoker, Tetro)
Alice Englert as Lena (In Fear, Ginger & Rosa)
Jeremy Irons as Macon (Lion King, Man in the Iron Mask, Borgias, Eragon, Kingdom of Heaven)
Viola Davis as Amma (The Help, Ender's Game, State of Play, Law & Order: SVU, Antwone Fisher)
Emmy Rossum as Ridley (Devil Wears Prada, Phantom of the Opera, Shameless, Poseidon, Nola)
Emma Thompson as Mrs. Lincoln/Sarafine (Nanny McPhee, Saving Mr. Banks, Harry Potter)

Beautiful Creatures was considered a box office flop in America bringing in only $19 million domestically against a $60 million budget.  Internationally it reached $40 million in sales for a total of just over $60 million, barely recouping it's budget.  The film received mixed reviews averaging at about a 50%.  Most critics considered it a watered down Twilight with roles in reverse. 

Overall I give this movie a 3.5 star out of 5 total stars.  I think the storyline and potential was there, but the time limit was not enough to show the full story.  I was left wanting to know a lot of details that I felt were left out.  Jeremy Irons did a great job of playing Macon in a development role and I felt that Ethan was played well as a developing character as well.  However, I feel like outside of Emmy and Viola, the women fell short.  They didn't seem to embrace their roles and really bring the characters out.  I didn't really like Ethan's "ignorant mortal" character until about 40-50% into the movie.  There were some great sweeping shots, but overall the story was lacking.  The ending definitely left you off at a possible major cliffhanger.  I also felt like the dark side was emphasized a lot, while the light side was only the alternative you want, but never really explained much.  Even so, it was still worth a watch.

Here is the official website for the movie: Beautiful Creatures

Trouble with the Curve

I watched this other day, because I thought it might be pretty good having Clint Eastwood and Amy Adams in it.  It was worth watching once as a filler movie, but was definitely not at the top of Eastwood's work.


Trouble with the Curve is a 2012 sports drama film.  The film revolves around an aging baseball scout (Eastwood) whose deteriorating health leads his daughter (Amy Adams) to accompany him on one last scouting trip.  This is the first movie that Eastwood has acted in since 2008's Gran Torino, and his first acting role that he didn't also direct since his cameo in 1995's Casper.







The cast includes:
Clint Eastwood as Gus (Bridges of Madison County, Unforgiven, Good the Bad and the Ugly)
Chelcie Ross as Smitty (Mad Men, Drag Me to Hell, Basic Instinct, Major League, Hoosiers)
Amy Adams as Mickey (Enchanted, American Hustle, Her, Man of Steel, The Fighter, Leap Year)
Matthew Lillard as Phillip (Scoppy Doo, The Bridge, Without a Paddle, Thir13en Ghosts)
John Goodman as Pete (Monster's, Inc, Argo, Alpha House, Roseanne, Community, Evan Almighty)
Justin Timberlake as Johnny (SNL, In Time, Friends with Benefits, Bad Teacher, Alpha Dog)

A year after Trouble with the Curve was released it became the subject of a plagiarism lawsuit by a producer alleging that his former partner had taken an unfinished script after a dispute.  The results of the lawsusit were that the original was draftds as early as 1996.  A judge found that the similarities were over-stated and that the film was not a plagiarism.   Overall criticism to the film marked it at around 50%.

I give this movie 3 out of 5 stars.  It was not a spectacular film, but it wasn't horrible.  Kind of a boring movie, a lot of potential, but kind of a snoozer in terms of action.  Interesting look into sports scouting. 

You can visit the official website at: Trouble with the Curve

The Croods

I have been wanting to watch this one since I first saw a preview for it.  Now that it is on netflix, I keep trying to convince Liam to watch it with me.  Finally I forced it upon him.  I can say that I enjoyed it more than he did, but he was ok with it.  He likes the visuals, but I think the moments between action would start to bore him a bit as it was more  of a story and not a musical like some kids movies are. 

In case you also have not seen The Croods, it is a 2013 3-D animated adventure comedy.  It did definitely have some hilarious moments that had me laughing.  The Croods was produced by Dreamworks Animation and distributed by 20th Century Fox.  The Croods are a cave dwelling prehistoric family that have their world turned upside down with the world starts to shift.  It takes place in a fictional prehistoric time with imaginary creatures.  The man of the cave (Grug) finds his place as leader and security provider threatened when a prehistoric genius gets the family to leave their comfort zone for future safety. His teenage rebel daughter Eep is enamored by Guy (the genius) which makes him even more adverse to the new guys "ideas."






The voice talent of The Croods is as follows:
Nicholas Cage as Grug (National Treasure, Ghost Rider, Lord of War, Windtalkers, Family Man)
Emma Stone as Eep  (The Help, Easy A, Amazing Spiderman, Zombieland, Superbad)
Ryan Reynolds as Guy (Green Lantern, Just Friends, Turbo, Definitely, Maybe; Smokin' Aces)
Catherine Keener as Ugga (40 Year Old Virgin, Captain Phillips, Capote, Death to Smoochy, 8 MM)
Cloris Leachman as Gran (Raising Hope, Beerfest, Malcolm in the Middle, Touched by an Angel)
Clark Duke as Thunk (Hot Tub Time Machine, Two & a Half Men, The Office, Greek, Kick-Ass)

The Croods premiered in the US in March of 2013.  It received mostly positive reviews and was considered a success with earnings of over $587 million on a $135 million budget.  This success caused the movie to launch a sequel that will be released in June in 2017 and a tv show that is already in development stages.  The Croods was the first feature film to be featured in 4DX format featuring strobe lights, tilting seats, blowing wind and fog as well as odor effects in Budapest, Hungary.  The Croods is the second highest grossing Dreamworks Film behind King Fu Panda. It received a lot higher reviews internationally and opened at number one in 54 countries.   It was nominated for many awards including the Academy Award for Best Animated Feature.

Overall I thought this was an excellent movie.  I think that the American crowd prefers the animated features with musicals.  I thought that the story line was great, it even made me cry, and had some great witty humor jokes built in.  I think that older kids and adults would enjoy it a lot more than my toddler did.  I definitely recommend this movie and give it a 4/5 stars. 

The Croods Movie Dreamworks Official Site

X-Men: Days of Future Past

Today I was lucky enough to get to make it to the theater to see the new X-Men movie: Days of Future Past.  This held  true with all X-Men movies, that they stay consistently good.  I think that with the first class character that James McAvoy did a MUCH better job playing Professor X.  I wasn't really seeing him as fitting into the role well in X-Men First Class, but the way he had to play his character is a role he is familiar with and he delivered it well.  Michael Fassbender (Magneto from the past) once again did a great job and actually had me imagining Magneto as a hottie.  As a Jennifer Lawrence lover, I thought that it was great getting to know Raven/Mystique more intimately.  Of course we can't leave out that Wolverine plays a pivotal role with ever badass Hugh Jackman who is looking even better than ever in his bulking up, if that is even possible after his last Wolverine movie.

In case you have lived under a rock or have missed out on any part of the series this movie:  X-Men Days of Future Past is the 7th film in the X-Men series and brought back director Bryan Singer (X-Men & X2).  The release order of the X-Men films is X-Men, X2, X-Men: The Last Stand, X-Men Origins: Wolverine, X-Men: First Class, The Wolverine, X-Men: Days of Future Past.   The X-Men Franchise is the 15th highest grossing movie franchise of all time.  As far as timeline is concerned..  X-Men:Days of Future Past is a sequel to both X-Men First Class and X-Men: The Last Stand.   X-Men Apocalypse is set to be released on May 27, 2016 and will focus on the origin of the mutant series which places it as a sequel to X-Men:First Class set in the 1980s and will feature a young Cyclops, Jean Grey & Storm.  Wolverine 3 will be released on March 3, 2017, as a sequel to The Wolverine. 

X-Men: Days of Future Past as I stated before is a sequel to both X-Men: First Class and X-Men: Last Stand.  It is dealing with the future and with the younger characters in 1973.  In the future, year 2023 Sentinels (sentient robots) are exterminating mutants and humans who help them.  Kitty Pryde has the power to send Wolverine back to the year 1973 to try to change history and save everyone's lives. Wolverine must make Professor X and Magneto work together to save Mystique or else there will be no change in the future outcome. 

X-Men delivers another great and familiar cast for the most part:
Hugh Jackman as Logan/Wolverine (Les Miserables, Australia, Prestige, Swordfish, Van Helsing)
James McAvoy as Young Professor X (Wanted, Atonement, Becoming Jane, Last King of Scotland)
Michael Fassbender as Young Magneto (Inglorious Bastards, Prometheus, 300, 12 Years A Slave)
Jennifer Lawrence as Young Raven/Mystique (Hunger Games, Silver Linings Playbook)
Halle Berry as Storm (Cloud Atlas, Monster's Ball, Perfect Stranger, Gothika, Die Another Day)
Nicholas Hoult as Young Hank McCoy/Beast (Warm Bodies, Jack the Giant Slayer, About a Boy)
Ellen Page as Kitty Pryde (Inception, Juno, Hard Candy, To Rome With Love, Smart People)
Peter Dinklage as Dr. Bolivar Trask (Game of Thrones, Low Down, Death at a Funeral, Nip/Tuck)
Evan Peters as Peter/Quicksilver (American Horror Story, Never Back Down, KickAss, OneTreeHill)
Ian McKellen older Magneto (Lord of the Rings/Hobbit, Stardust)
Patrick Stewart as older Professor X (American Dad, Family Guy, Star Trek, Safe House)

 X-Men: Days of Future Past wasn't supposed to be released until July of this year but ended up coming out 2 months early.  From the initial movie posters it appears that Rogue was initially supposed to play a larger role, but almost all of her scenes were cut in post-production.  It is reported that her cut scenes will be featured on the DVD release of deleted scenes.  The story line was inspired by the "Days of Future Past" comic story line.  Most of the filming was done in the Montreal, Canada area.  20th Century Fox was said that this is the second most expensive film they have produced since 2009s Avatar.  Overall the film has received mostly good reviews with a current score of 8.8 on IMDB and a rotten tomatoes score of 90/95% for critics and audiences respectively. 

Overall I have to say that this film did not disappoint.  The combination of the new and old cast as well as the darkness of impending doom and the time travel to the 1970s made for a great movie.  The dynamics worked so much better than it did on X-Men First Class.  I felt that they did an amazing job with Quick Silver's part and with creating super freaky sentinels.  The fighting style from the future was quite creative.  I highly recommend this film for both new and old X-Men fans.  I would give it a 9 out of 10 starts, so for 5 star cases a 5 out of 5 stars.  Check this one out.

You can also check out my review of The Wolverine

Captain America: The Winter Soldier

I know I just did a movie review a couple of days ago, but it is rare that I make it out to the theater and I had the opportunity to watch the new Captain American this evening.  I must say that I was definitely not disappointed and it was worth watching.  I loved the first one and although this one took on a bit of a different tone, it was still great in it's own light.  It really tied into the Avengers in a way that was only slightly hinted at in the initial movie.

Captain America: The Winter Solstice is the sequel to the 2011 movie Captain America: The First Avenger.  It is an American superhero film from the Marvel franchise.  It is produced by Marvel studios and distributed by Walt Disney. Christopher Markus and Steven McFeeley co-wrote this movie as they did the initial Captain America.  I also want to point out that timeline-wise this movie actually falls after the first Avengers movie as opposed to the original Captain American: The First Avenger movie.  The only timeline that really seems to sync up with the first is on the occasions where Steve Rogers (Captain America) talks about different technologies that are new etc (but given the short time frame of the Avengers this could still be true).  Without the comic books you may understand more the relation with Black Widow and Nick Fury if you have seen the Avengers movie, but otherwise you can kind of jump right in with some basic knowledge from the original film due to scenes such as Nick Fury approaching Captain America in the end of the initial film to talk about a new mission.   In this film Captain America teams up with Black Widow and Sam Wilson to uncover a conspiracy within S.H.I.E.L.D., all the while facing a mysterious assassin known only as "The Winter Soldier."

The cast featured much returning talent as well as a few new faces to include:
Chris Evans as Steve Rogers/Captain America (Fantastic Four, Push, Cellular, Perfect Score)
Samuel L. Jackson as Nick Fury (Pulp Fiction, Basic, Lakeview Terrace, Jumper, Coach Carter)
Scarlett Johansson as Natasha Romanov/Black Widow (Her, Prestige, Black Dahlia, Island)
Robert Redford as Alexander Pierce (Lions for Lambs, Three Days of the Condor, Horse Whisperer)
Sebastian Stan as Bucky Barnes (Once Upon A Time, Black Swan, Gossip Girl, Gone, Kings)
Anthony Mackie as Sam Wilson (Man on a Ledge, Notorious, Hurt Locker, Haven, Crossover)

Colbie Smulders as Maria Hill (How I Met Your Mother, Grassroots, Delivery Man, L Word)
Frank Grillo as Brock Rumlow (Warrior, Minority Report, Zero Dark Thirty, Prison Break)


Overall the film was a financial and critical success grossing over $682 million worldwide.  A third installment is already in the works and slated to be released May 6th, 2016.  It set an April single day ($36.9 Million) and April opening weekend record ($95 million) for and overall 46% increase opening over it's predecessor.  Captain America: The Winter Soldier featured as much live action as possible.  The most extensive CGI was done in regards to Falcon and his wings being completely CGI.  Also int he age affects on the character of Peggy Carter.  This Captain America movie was focused on being more a "political thriller" to pay homage to the time period of the comics.

This sequel had a grittier feel and more of a political conspiracy vibe.  You can feel that Captain America does not feel as if he fully fits in to the modern age, and he is trying to discover just who he is.  Black Widow is not Scarlett Johansson at her sexiest, she is portrayed in a  gritty (especially in the dull looking hair dye job) and somewhat rough look and playing at being a tough girl while trying to discover where she really belongs in the world as well, which makes for a good and pushing friendship between the two.  I definitely thought that it was a a good continuation on from Captain America: The First Avenger.  I am already looking forward to the third movie to be released in 2014 with the same writers and Chris Evans reprising his role as Captain America.  Overall I give the movie 4.5 out of 5 stars.
*Also don't forget to watch the credits as Marvel always likes to throw tidbits in there as well.

You can visit the official site here: Captain America

City of Bones: The Mortal Instruments

I always like to watch a movie before I read the book. This movie came out last year and I remember that my main reason for wanting to watch it was for my crush on Jonathan Rhys Myers and my Hobbit Dwarf Crush Kili  I know that the biggest complain about this movie was by the book lovers.  So as someone who knows better I am judging JUST the movie.  Overall I have to say that my biggest problem with this movie was the "love interest."  I just didn't like him for her, and I could tell just by watching it that his character was written better than that for some reason.  It really didn't diminish from the overall effect of the movie though.

The Mortal Instruments: City of Bones is a 2013 German/Canadian Action Adventure Science Fantasy movie.  It is based on the first book in the Mortal Instrument Series with the same title: City of Bones.  The book is written by Cassandra Clare. 

The main character Clary starts seeing a weird symbol all around her and is even drawing it in her sleep.  During the movie she has a birthday and I was not clear on this but I think that she was 15 turning 16.  It seemed to be that it would have been more appropriate to have her be turning 18, but again this is a made up world.  I just don't feel like her age fit in with things like her mom not freaking out when she stayed out all night to go to a club...  but perhaps I grew up with a different kind of mom.  At this club she witnesses a murder that no one else seems able to see.  This gets her involved with a group of people known as "the shadow hunters."  When he mother disappears Clary finds herself joining up with them to help her find her mother and in the meantime she starts to find out that everything she thinks she knows about her life has been misled.

This movie had quite the cast to include:
Lily Collins as Clary (Mirror, Mirror, The Blind Side, Adbuction)
Jamie Campbell Bower as Jace  (Twilight Saga, Camelot, Sweeney Todd)
Kevin Zegers as Alec (Gossip Girl, Frozen, Jane Austen Book Club, Titans, Air Bud)
Jemima West as Isabelle (Borgias, Messenger: The Story of Joan of Arc)
Robert Sheehan as Simon (The Borrowers, Misfits, Season of the Witch, A Turtle's Tale)
Lena Headey as Jocelyn (Game of Thrones, 300, The Purge, Brothers Grimm)
CCH Pounder as Dorothea (Warehouse 13, Sons of Anarchy, Law & Order SVU, Avatar, The Shield)
Jared Harris as Hodge (Lincoln, Mad Men, Fringe, Sherlock Holmes)
Jonathan Rhys Meyers as Valentine (Dracula, Tudors, From Paris With Love, August Rush)
Aiden Turner as Luke (The Hobbit, Being Human)

When the book author Cassandra Clare originally decided to look into the idea of turning her story into a movie she had a hard time finding a studio to accept the story with a female role.  many studios she approached wanted her to change to story to feature a male lead role and she refused, which I think made for a better story.  Originally the character of Jace was offered to Alex Pettyfer (Magic Mike) but he turned it down.  7 other actors were considered for the role before it ended up going to Jamie Campell Bower.  Filming took place from August to November of 2012 in Toronto, Hamilton,Ontario & New York City.  Demi Lovato and Colbie Caillat wrote songs specifically for this movie and are featured on the soundtrack. 

Overall the movie was received negatively from critics stating unoriginality and failure to connect with the audience.  There were also negative comments in regards to the screen play writing.  Reportedly $60Mil was spent in marketing on a film that grossed $90 million.  A lot of the failure in reception was said to be due to marketing to a very narrow audience of teens due to Clary's reported age.  In May of 2013 a sequel; The City of Ashes; was already announced even before the movie was released.  The principal actors are slated to be on board even though the sequel work has been pushed back to sometime this year.  Sigourney Weaver has reportedly also signed on to be a part of the sequel.

My overall take on this movie was probably higher than most.  I didn't have very high expectations and was mostly expecting to watch for some love of fantasy and eye candy.  I actually thought that the overall base story was quite compelling.  I felt that there were some things that were new in the fantasy movie realm.  I like the idea of the Underworld and the Angel Blood in the shadow hunters.  I feel like there were definitely a few missing pieces as often happens from book to movie and trying to cram an entire story into a short amount of time.  When I watched this movie I felt like it was a wonderful beginning, but that the story definitely needed to go on.  Overall I was quite entertained and I hope that a sequel does come out to continue the story.  I also feel like I definitely need to check the books out even though I normally shy away from Young Adult novels.  Overall I enjoyed this movie and give it a 4/5 stars. 

You can visit the official site here: City of Bones

Monster's University

I have been wanting to see Monster's University since I first heard that they were making it.  I was definitely more excited to watch it than Liam (my 3 year old son) was.  He is never too keen on watching new things until you convince him to give it a try.  I definitely enjoyed the movie although it seemed almost more geared towards adults than children.  I would have liked to have seen more of little Mikey and added some of little Sully.  But as always there were some great lessons to be learned for older kids.

In case you know nothing about Monster's University it is a 2013 Computer animated 3D comedy children's film.  It is the prequel to the 2001 movie Monster's Inc.  It is the first prequel that Pixar has created to date and was their 14th full-length film.  This returns to our two friends Mike & Sully before they met when they were both studying at Monster's University to become the top scarers.  They start the movie out as rivals. 

It was produced by Pixar and released by Disney.  Disney had plans to make a sequel to Monster's Inc since 2005 but due to disagreements with Pixar, they tasked their Circle 7 Animation studio to make it.  An early draft of the film was worked on but with the purchase of Pixar by Disney in 2006 it put that film away.  A Pixar made sequel was confirmed in 2010, but they decided on making a Prequel instead in 2011.  Overall the film received positive reviews and was a box office success grossing $743 million against a $200 million budget.  The original sequel was set to come out in early November 2012 but had to be preponed due to coinciding with The Twilight Saga-Breaking Dawn Part 2.  One a prequel was decided on, it pushed everything back to 2013.




Monster's University features a wonderful voice acting cast to include:
Micheal "Mike" Wazowski-Billy Crystal (When Harry Met Sally, Analyze This, City Slickers)
James P. Sullivan "Sully"-John Goodman (Roseanne, Argo, Community, Saturday Night Live)
Randall "Randy" Boggs-Steve Buscemi (Reservoir Dogs, ConAir, Boardwalk Empire, 30 Rock)
Dean Hardscrabble-Helen Mirren (Red, The Queen, State of Play, Teaching Mrs. Tingle)
Done-Joel Murray (Mad Men, Two and a Half Men, Shameless, Dharma & Greg, Still Standing)
Terri-Sean Hayes (Will & Grace, Sean Saves the World)
Terry-Dave Foley (Hot in Cleavland, Dan Vs, How to Be A Gentleman, Will & Grace)
Art-Charlie Day (It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia, Horrible Bosses, Pacific Rim, Third Watch)

Overall I have to say that this was a good standalone film.  When you compare it with it's predecessor Monster's Inc. which was such a phenomenal movie this one falls short of a 5 star rating.  I round it up to a 4 star because it is still good and fun to watch, but could have been better.  There were many great elements in the movie and Mike & Sully stayed in character.  I felt like almost every scene I had watched in previews was not featured in the actual movie such as Mike being turned into a disco ball by Sully.  It seems that the previews painted Sully out to be more of a bully to Mike than he was in the finished product and I am ok with that result but it always sucks when you are watching for certain parts and never seen them.  This film introduced a lot of fun new characters that brought a whole new element of "scary" to the monsters.  It did have a slightly darker tone than the original movie.  Once we got it started my son was definitely into it from the start and there are some great lessons on friendship and cheating and being excelling at what makes you unique.  I would definitely recommend this movie and would watch it again.

Here is the official website: monstersuniversity.com/edu/

Oz: The Great & Powerful

Having wanted to see this one for quite some time, I was very happy to finally find the time to watch it last night.  I am a huge James Franco fan and it had some other fantastic actresses and voice actors as well.  The cinematography/CGI was beautifully done and I give the highest of honors to it.  The movie started out so beautifully and when OZ gets to Oz initially you feel like he may have made a wrong turn and ended up in Wonderland...  Unfortunately by the time he gets to the Emerald City things start to get weird.

Oz The Great and Powerful is about the Tale of Oz from the Wizard's point of view and is a prequel to he Wizard of Oz, and Return to Oz.  It was released in 2013 and directed by Sam Raimi.  The film is based on the Oz novels of L. Frank Baum and is supposed to be set at a time-frame 20 years previous to the 1939 film The Wizard of Oz.  Oscar Diggs (otherwise known as Oz) is a struggling traveling magician who arrives in the Land of Oz in a similar fashion as Dorothy (by way of tornado) while riding in a hot air balloon.  Oscar finds himself recruited to restore order to Oz and in the middle of a three-way fight with powerful witches Theodora, Evanora & Glinda.

Despite mixed reviews it was considered a box office success with a general theatrical release date of March 8, 2013.  It grossed $493 million worldwide, $234 million in the US & Canada.  Oz is supposed to be dated in teh year 1905 (placing it 20 years before the original film The Wizard of Oz).

There are quite a few instances of paying homage to the original film in this one.  Such as the starting out of the film in Sepia and then fading into color once Oscar arrives in Oz.  Cameo appearances of characters in Kansas that are also characters in Oz.  Annie (when in Kansas) informs Oscar that she has been proposed to by a man name John Gale...  Possible relation to Dorothy Gale.  The rest you will have to view for yourself as they may present themselves as spoilers if you do not know the story.



There is quite an all-star cast in this movie as well to include

Oscar Diggs/Wizard of Oz: James Franco (Spider-Man franchise, 127 Hours, General Hospital)
Theodora: Mila Kunis (That 70s Show, Black Swan, Family Guy, Ted, Friends With Benefits)
Evanora: Rachel Weisz (Mummy franchise, Constantine, Constant Gardener, Agora)
Glina/Annie: Michelle Williams (My Week With Marilyn, Shutter Island, Dawson's Creek)
Frank/Finley: Zach Braff (Scrubs, The Last Kiss, Garden State, Chicken Little)
Also featuring Bill Cobbs, Joey King and Tony Cox)

The original Wizard of Oz was put out by MGM in 1939 as they had bought the rights to it first.  Walt Disney had always dreamed of working on an Oz film and later acquired rights to the remaining books of Oz, which lead him to start working on  The Rainbow Road to Oz with his Mousketeers.  Unfortunately he didn't like the way that it was going and didn't feel that it was worth of the Oz story and it wasn't until after his death that Return to Oz was released becoming a cult classic.

Initially Robert Downey, Jr was sought after as the role of Oz but once Sam Raimi was hired on and discovered the disinterest in the film by Downey they decided to look to Johnny Depp.  Depp declined due to his working on the Lone Ranger at the time and it wasn't until 5 months before filming began that James Franco was signed on for a 7 million dollar deal.  Franco & Raimi had previously worked together on the Spiderman franchise.  Art Director Robert Stromberg (Avatar, Alice in Wonderland) went with an art deco approach to the emerald city.  (This explains why the opening feels like Wonderland).  There were many artistic stipulation placed on this production to include the ruby slippers, the color of green of the original witches skin as well as the mole on her chin,  and they could not use a yellow brick swirl for Munchkinland.  This led to the green of the wicked witch being significantly darker, it has a special name but it could be a spoiler.

On March 7th, 2013, a sequel was confirmed.  Mila Kunis stated that all acting talent had already signed on for a sequel.  Sam Raimi was already made it known that a sequel would be directed by someone other than himself.  The sequel would reportedly NOT contain Dorothy and it was stated that 20 years between the prequel and the original allow for a lot to happen.

Overall I have to say that I give this film 3.5 out of 5 stars.  It was good, but not fantastic.  As I previously stated, it started out SO well with the lead up to Oz and then things started to get weird, there was a weird kind of love triangle interest int he beginning of meeting both witch sisters which was kind of left hanging in the air.  The movement of the witches was very irritating to me during battles, they were very jerky and much too fast and strange feeling.  Glinda didn't have the feel of being as good as you wanted her to be, I felt like she was more on par with the Wicked Glinda which was ok, but not expected.  Overall the story was really good when it flowed consistently, with the background of how the Wicked Witch came to be and with the Wizard of Oz.  However there were some seriously choppy parts that felt like things had been cut or taken out and then never smoothed over to make the movie flow as one.  I loved the use of the brain as opposed to magic and the belief in something to make something come to pass.  I also loved the costuming in the movies, some very awesome takes on witchy dresses and Oscar look svery dapper throughout in his suits.  It was a great backdrop as to how the Wizard became what we saw in the Wizard of Oz.  The scenes were very beautiful but the weird jerkiness and some of the witch battles that had some really tacky feeling CGI as well as choppy parts leave me with a 3.5 for this movie.  If you are a lover of Oz though it is definitely worth the watch...  but maybe not more than once.

If you would like to view the movie website you can go here: Oz The Great and Powerful

The Hangover III

I have waited to watch this one for awhile, enjoying the first two installments of the movie and had high expectations from the finale.  After all the effort put into this movie franchise I was expecting the "wolf pack" to go out with a bang.  Unfortunately they ended up with more than a fizzle instead.  I have to admit that I was sadly disappointed by this movie. 

In case you know nothing of the Hangover Movie series I don't want to ruin it for you, but let me give you a little bit of background knowledge.  The Hangover is a comedy film, and this is the third and final film in the trilogy.  The first film was based around waking up from a night of  a bachelor party and not remembering anything, trying to piece together the memories.  The second film featured the wedding and having memories to piece together, so when this film came around I had certain hilarious expectations.  This film is featured around the Wolf Pack as they try to get help for Alan (Zach Galifianakis) after he is faced with a personal crisis.  They end up on a road trip heading for a treatment center, but end up having to face past events from the original Hangover movie. 

There are a lot of great actors in this film:

Phil-played by Bradley Cooper: (Silver Linings Playbook, Limitless, Alias, American Hustle)
Stu-Played by Ed Helms (The Office, We're The Millers, Children's Hospital, Semi-Pro)
Alan-played by Zach Galifianakis (Due Date, The Campaign, Dinner for Schmucks, The Muppets)
Doug- played by Justin Bartha (National Treasure, The New Normal, The Rebound, Dark Horse)
Chow- played by Ken Jeong (Community, Turbo, Zookeeper, American Dad, MadTV)
Marshall-played by John Goodman (Roseanne, Monsters, Inc., Argo, Big Lebowski, Alpha House)
Cassie-played by Melissa McCarthy (Bridesmaids, Mike & Molly, Heat, Gilmore Girls)
Jade-played by Heather Graham (Boogie Nights, From Hell, Emily's Reasons Why Not, Scrubs)
Black Doug-played by Mike Epps (Lottery Ticket, Something New, Resident Evil, How High)

The Hangover III had the second biggest worldwide opening weekend for an R-Rated comedy, coming in only behind the Hangover II.  It ended up with total box office earnings of $362 million.  Most reviews of the film have been negative from critics.  The general consensus being that the film deviated from the story line of the first two films and gave nothing to replace the formula that made them so successful. 

I have to agree with the negative critics on this one.  The Hangover movies became famous and loved for the their backward story-telling and the drunken humor.  While this movie offered no backwards story telling, not even a flashback to the incident from the first film that is in question in this one.  There is no memory loss and not much be way of humor.  There is definitely a darker tone to this movie and it felt like it was rushed in creation when you watch it.  All of your favorite characters are there for you to see, but their personalities seem to be a lot drier and there isn't a lot of scenes worth really devoting your whole attention to, let alone allowing a chuckle to escape.  I think that drifting from the original flow to close the trilogy was a foul.   I give this move 2.5 out of 5 stars.  The only reason to watch it is so get a close to the story and to actually feel better about where Alan ends up in life.  The giraffe incident was just too awful even for me as an opening to the film and it sets the tone for how the rest of the movie will go.  The ending makes you wish that it had been the beginning to this movie instead.   That would have been much more enjoyable to watch.

The official movie website: Hangover Part III

We're Back: A Dinosaur's Story

There are a lot of old movie gems that it is hard to find in day to day happenings.  This past weekendI went grocery shopping and at the checkout I happened to see a movie behind one of the magazines.  being the movie addict that I am, I of course looked to see what it was and lo and behold it was We're Back!  I admittedly squealed with glee and of course added it to my purchases!  Liam was a bit hesitant to watch this movie but it did have dinosaurs so I was able to sneak it on without too much of a fight.

In case you missed out on this awesome movie with an all-star voice cast, let me tell you a little bit about it.  We're Back is a 1993 animated Sci-Fi adventure movie that was released by Steven Spielberg's Amblimation animated studio.  It was created based on the 1987 children's book of the same name written by Hudson Talbott (which I totally want to read now).   The story is about 4 dinosaurs that are given a brain grain cereal which makes them smart and able to talk and be kind to people and then they are brought back to "modern day" New York.  A giant helium balloon of Rex was flown in the actual 1993 Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade, but midway through the head was popped, but the body made it to the end. 

The all star cast includes:
John Goodman (Monster's Inc, Roseanne, Argo, Community, SNL, West Wing, Blue's Brothers)
Rhea Perlman (Cheers, Matilda)
Jay Leno (Tonight Show, Jay Leno Show, Fairly OddParents)
Larry King (Larry King Live, Larry King Now)
Walter Cronkite (Great Performances, ESPN SportsCentury, Biography, CBS Evening News)
Charles Fleischer (Zodiac, Who Framed Roger Rabbit, A Nightmare on Elm Street)
Kenneth Mars (Land Before Time Series, Malcom in the Middle, Little Mermaid, Pink Panther)
Yeardley Smith (Simpsons, Dharma & Greg, City Slickers)
Martin Short (Cat in the Hat, Frankenweenie, SNL, Primetime Glick, Santa Clause Series)
Julia Child the famous chef

 Originally John Malkovich was scheduled to play Dr. Screweyes but left due to constant rewrite and due to executive meddling from this movie, he ended up leaving Hollywood for a few years to do only International productions.

The film received mixed reviews, mostly on the negative side citing poor narration as a number one problem.  Pizza hut did carry a line of toys and video games were made featuring different adaptions for every format which had nothing to do with the original story.  The film grossed $3.7 million opening weekend and overall ended with $9.3 million making it a box office bomb movie. 

Overall I have to admit that I liked this movie more as a child, but the nostalgia is still there and I still find it entertaining.  It is an incredibly short movie in terms of children's movies today at a run time of only 80 minutes.  I give this movie a solid 3.  The animation is fine, but nothing special.  I love John Goodman, so that made me like the movie more and the voices are fun with all of the stars.  The story is a bit choppy and features some elements that are a bit dark for children (a scary circus, dinosaurs portrayed as being scary).  It does however provide the lessons that running away to the circus is bad, wishes can come true, and that love can change a person for the better.) If nothing else you need to watch it for John Goodman's singing :)

Lilo & Stich 2: Stich Has A Glitch

As promised, I am here to review the second movie in the Stitch series.  Although there may be some confusion since technically The Stitch movie was made second, this movie actually falls second in terms of story timeline, so I consider it the second movie in the series.  This movie has been the reigning favorite with my son.  I personally like the first one and The Stitch Movie the best, but this one seems to always get Liam's vote. Luckily they have great repeat watch value as a parent and especially for a toddler which is priceless as any parent well knows. 

We are once again brought into the tropical Hawaiian world of Lilo and her pay Stitch in this movie!  Elvis music reigns supreme but in a good way.  Most notably in this sequel, Stitch no longer tries to hide who.what he is, and he is a much more talkative character in this movie.  Stitch is learning how to fit into a human society and learn how to raise his "goodness level".  We get to see our main character Lilo a young girl aspiring to be a hula dancer and her alien friend Stitch who everyone calls a dog for lack of anything better to call him.  Lilo lives with her older sister Nani (their parents were deceased before the start of the original movie).  The character David is trying to further a relationship with Nani throughout the movie.  Lilo's main focus is to come up with the best Hulu dance ever for a competition so that she can win as her mother did before her.  Stitch is to be her partner in the dance when all of a sudden he starts "glitching."  During his "glitch" moments he is quite destructive and actually semi dangerous to those around him but the normal Stitch which is now good does not know what happens during these times or how to stop it.  His creator Jumba and pal Pleakley are on a mission to try to fix Stitch (they decided to stay on Earth after the end of the first movie).   Social worker Cobra Bubbles was absent from his role in this film.

Lilo & Stitch 2 was released in 2005 (the original was released in 2002).  The add-on "Stitch Has a Glitch" was never associated with the original film in any titling but became commonly associated with the movie and was later added on to the title and in advertising.  This is the only film in the entire franchise where you will hear Lilo with a different voice (Dakota Fanning) due to the scheduling conflicts with the Lilo & Stitch tv show that was also airing at the same time as recording for this show.  Chris Sanders (writer/director) of the first film still did voicing but did not participate in any of the production of this film that was a straight to DVD release after an original theatrical release plan.  It received mixed reviews, with most of the negative responses saying that the story was not as engaging as the original and that the humor had gone from intellectual witty to a much more dumbed down younger sort of humor.  To me there was a bit more of dark undertone to a lot of the humor in the original that I admittedly loved.  But this movie showed a lot more lessons in friendship and love. 

Voice acting remained the same with Dakota Fanning, in place of Daveigh Chase (Donnie Darko), although I must admit that having seen all of the films multiple times now, that it is not a noticeable change by any means.


Lilo is voiced by Dakota Fanning (Man on Fire, Twilight Saga, Push, War of the Worlds, Hounddog)
Stitch is voiced by Chris Sanders who also wrote the screenplay
Nani is voiced by Tia Carrere (Wayne's World)
David (Nani's love interest) is voiced by Jason Scott Lee (Bruce Lee's Dragon)
Jumba (Stitch's creator) is voiced by David Ogden Stiers (Cogsworth, MASH)

I give this film 4/5 stars.  Although it is not as great as the original film in my opinion, it still has a lot of great values.  I love that the animation is different that you would usually see, especially for a Disney film.  The characters in their personalities, especially Lilo are very real in the way that she feels about people and school and going through sorrow and anger in a way that is not often faced in young children, especially in cartoon movies.  You can see her growth through her friendship with Stitch.  This movie also will always stand out to me because Liam was able to empathetically connect with this movie in a way that I have never seen him do so with other movies.  Towards the end of the movie Stitch is in a possible dead state and my three year old son actually felt the sadness and the loss and had tears welled up into his eyes.  The love of Lilo is what ultimately feeds Stitches life-force and the loss is short lived and then you are able to rejoice in the happiness, so that for younger children this is not ending on a sad note.  This movie held overall a lot less violence than the other films, and mostly featured inner turmoil and the fact that teaching lessons such as hurting a friend and scratching them can be very hurtful to another person.  You can tell that overall the audience for the film was intended to be younger.  I definitely recommend this movie and to continue in the story line to get the full effect don't miss out on the original Lilo & Stitch.


Here is the official website: Lilo & Stitch 2: Stitch Has A Glitch

In case you missed my review on the original: Lilo & Stitch you can find it here: Lilo & Stitch

Grown Ups 2

I thought that the first movie Grown Ups was fairly entertaining, at about a 4 start rate.  With the track record of the majority of sequels in Hollywood these days I didn't haev overly high hopes for the second one.  It was definitely worth watching though.  The first half had a lot more humor as the second half held a lot more serious life issues.  I always prefer Adam Sandler with humor (unless weare talking about Click or Spanglish with both were great).

Grown Ups 2 is considered a Buddy comedy.  You can tell that the cast has a great time making the film.  As will any Happy Madison production (Adam Sandler's company) you can expect some raunchy humor.  The first joke really opens up with deer pee spraying all over....  and then it does improve for a bit in humor as I myself do not find that overly hilarious especially for how long they drag the set out for.  Unfortunately we had to miss out on Rob Schneider's character due to scheduling conflicts, making this one of a very few Sandler movies to not feature at least a cameo by Rob.  It did not do very well critically and was nominated for 9 Raspberry awards which to include Worst Movie of the year.   The original Grown Ups was focused on friend recounting their school basketball championship, while this one is based largely around Lenny (Sandler's character) having moved back to his hometown and just the every day life antics and marital/parental themes that they encounter.  All with the Sandler twist to life of course.

Grown Ups 2 was filmed in Massachusetts (masquerading as Connecticut for the film) and contained a ton of cameo roles as is tradition for a Sandler production.  This is surprisingly the first sequel that Adam Sandler has ever been in.  Rotten Tomatoes scored this film with an abysmal 7% approval rating.  I can't say that it was the greatest movie I ever saw, but what did you expect from a Sandler film?  It wasn't THAT bad.  There were a plethora of bad reviews by people who looked at this movie en masse.  But those who understood a Sandler movie and his sense of humor and what he has been working with for decades they knew what to expect and knew that there is always low brow and crude humor with family values rounding it all out.  Sandler movies are as in a genre of their own, kind of like you haev to look at Quintin Tarantino movies separately from others. The move still grossed $247 million worldwide (about 30 million less than the original Grown Ups). It opened in the number 2 spot behind Despicable Me 2. 





The film definitely features an all-star cast looking to be funny in the classic Adam Sandler style:
Lenny Feder played by Adam Sandler (SNL, Big Daddy, Happy Gilmore, 50 First Dates, Spanglish)
Eric Lamensoff played by Kevin James (King of Queens, Hitch, Everybody Loves Raymond)
Kurt McKenzie played by Chris Rock (SNL, In Living Color, Down to Earth, Bad Company)
Marcus Higgins played by David Spade (Just Shoot Me, Tommy Boy, 8 Simple Rules, SNL)
Roxanne (Lenny's wife) played by Salma Hayek (Frida, Desperado, Ugly Betty, 30 Rock, Bandidas)
Deanne (Kurts wife) played by Maya Rudolph (Bridesmaids, Chicago Hope, Idiocracy, SNL)
Sally (Eric's wife) played by Maria Bello (History of Violence, Coyote Ugly, ER, Payback)
You will also find cameos from Nick Swardson, Steve Buscemi, Colin Quinn, Tim Meadows, Jon Lovitz, Steve Austin, Shaquille O'neal, Taylor Lautner, Andy Samberg, etc.

Overall I give this movie 3.5 stars.  It is a classic Sandler film, not his greatest but not his worst and as with any of his films, you can find enjoyment in the fact that you know that everyone on set is having a good time.  I did wish that we got to see more of the hilarious kids as we did in the first installment but this one seemed more focused on the adults.  It was worth a watch to be entertained, but not something that you would watch a bunch of times.  It tried to mix the crude humor with a more mature look at life and it didn't mix as well because the crude seemed a bit far fetched for the now older age of the actors and the mature was more mature and enlightening than usual which made the difference stand out starkly.  Still if you are a Sandler fan you won't be disappointed.  There is also some buzz about a third one in the works for a possible 2015 release. 

Here is the official site for the movie: Grown Ups 2

The Mighty Ducks

This used to be one of my all-time favorite movies as a child!  I had a huge crush on Joshua Jackson (Charlie) back then and I LOVED hockey!  There were a lot of hockey/figure skating movies that came out during my childhood and with the winter Olympics here, it reminds me of how I used to religiously watch all the time.  It was great to receive this great trip down memory lane on this snowy day.  Unfortunately this movie was a bit old for Liam and although I tried to watch it with him a couple of times, it kept getting ejected for things like Rugrats, Curious George, and Rio.  In his defense it is about Pee-Wee Hockey and a little above a 3 year old's head.

In case you missed sharing the Mighty Ducks at the height of it's fame in 1992 when it was released by Walt Disney Studios, let me tell you a bit about it.  It is an American sports comedy film directed by Stephen Herek (101 Dalmations).  It stars Emilio Estevez as a former pee-wee hockey star turned lawyer, who finds himself forced to coach for community service.  The team he is given consists of a cluster of a group of kids that have not yet learned how to work together.  The team includes younger versions of stars who made it big later in life, most notably Charlie who is played by Joshua Jackson.

The Mighty Ducks grossed over $50 million, making it a surprising success with audiences and spawning the beginning of a trilogy and also a spin-off tv show.  Critically this movie was a bomb, but the audiences loved it causing it to continue on into the trilogy with D2 & D3 coming out every 2 years respectively (1994, 1996).  The movie went on to inspire a real-life hockey team owned by Disney to be named after it in 1993, which when sold by Disney was renamed the Anaheim Ducks.






Stars you can find in the movie:
Gordon Bombay (the coach) played by Emilio Estevez (The Breakfast Club, Young Guns, St Elmo's Fire, The Outsiders, Bobby, etc)
Hans (Gordon's mentor) played by Joss Ackland (Kid in King Arthur's Court, Hunt For Red October)
Coach Jack Riley played by Lane Smith (Lois & Clark the New Adventures of Superman)
Charlie Conway played by Joshua Jackson (Dawson's Creek, The Skulls, Fringe)
Fulton Reed played by Elden Henson*aka Ratliff* (Butterfly Effect, Deja Vu, Lords of Dogtown)
Dave Karp played by Aaron Schwartz (Gossip Girl)
Connie Moreau played by Marguerite Moreau (Grey's Anatomy, Shameless, Parenthood)

The overall movie is about an underdog team!  And I loved it as a child!  Watching it as an adult was still great!  I give it a 4 out of 5 stars.  I do remember that the story gets better and will haev to revisit the rest of the trilogy as there were some holes in this script, and it had a rocky started but it pulled through and ended strong.  I definitely recommend watching it.   I would think kids age 10 and up would definitely be a great audience for it, and even younger if you child is into Hockey!  Also revisit the young Joshua Jackson and what really put him on the map!





Unfortunately there is no really good trailer that I can find so you can check out both of these videos to get an idea of whether or not you would be interested in this movie:

Here is the Disney Wiki Page *Caution it does contain spoilers: The_Mighty_Ducks