Fantastic Four

Fantastic Four

This movie is based off of Marvel Comic’s team of four superheroes known as the Fantastic Four.  Reed Richards (Miles Teller) is Mr. Fantastic who has the ability to stretch his body in any way imaginable.  Johnny Storm (Michael B. Jordan) is The Human Torch who can put himself on fire and shoot fireballs.  Susan Storm (Kate Mara) is The Invisible Woman who as you would guess can make herself invisible.  Ben Grimm (Jamie Bell) is The Thing who has a stone body and super-human strength.  The four together are the Fantastic Four.

Reed has always been fascinated with science and inventions, particularly teleportation. He and his friend Ben have been working on teleporting since childhood.   Reed is recruited to attend the Baxter Foundation which is a research institution sponsored by the government.  There he meets up with Johnny and Susan who are brother and sister and whose father Franklin (Reg E. Cathey) is the director.  Franklin brings in Victor von Doom (Toby Kebbell) who had previously worked with Susan. 

The four find success and secretly teleport themselves to another dimension.  But something goes wrong and Victor is left behind while the others gain their individual super powers.

The Fantastic Four didn’t make a whole lot of sense if you follow the comic books.  The movie spent too much time on how they came to be and not enough time on the superhero part.  The director (Josh Trank) took this movie the wrong way and I was completely disappointed as a fan of the comics.  I grew up reading Marvel Comics and I don’t understand why this movie flopped.  The original Fantastic Four was a terrific movie but this version was not.  The special effects were outstanding but that’s the only plus.  Stan Lee who was one of the writers of the comic book version usually makes an appearance, but he didn’t do so in this movie.  This only adds to the fact that this version of the Fantastic Four was not worth watching.  I gave this movie 2 out of 4 stars.  

Unfriended

Unfriended is a horror film of modern day technology.   It begins with Blaire Lily (Shelley Hennig) skyping with her boyfriend Mitch played by Moses Jacob Storm.  Just as the online conversation begins to get racy, they are joined by three more friends and one unknown.  They repeatedly try to kick off the unknown but have no success.

The whole group was at a party one year earlier when Lily’s best friend, Laura, became drunk and passed out.  Someone was taping Laura and while she was passed out, bad things were done to her.  The whole thing ended up on You Tube causing Laura to commit suicide.

You are led to believe in the movie that the unknown chatter is Laura trying to get revenge from whomever videoed her.  She makes the whole group play a game where they must admit to secrets that the others are not aware of.  If they do not tell the truth, they will be killed. 

I thought this movie was different and fit in with today’s world.  The director started out strongly.  I enjoyed about the first half hour of this movie and then I began to fall asleep.  The direction seemed to get lazy and the actors were only so-so.  The idea was good but there was bad execution.  

I gave this movie two out of four stars.  

Penguins of Madagascar

I was really looking forward to this movie.  It disappointed me.  I found it way to long. 

The movie tells the story of three penguins who leave the “Penguin March” to rescue a runaway egg.  Once the egg hatches, the story covers their exploits.

The penguins were very cute, but the story becomes too complicated.  This was just another Madagascar movie that went nowhere.  I enjoyed the three older penguins (Skipper, Kowalski, and Rico) teaching the little penguin (Private) the ways of the world.  If the polar bear had been in the movie and they didn't leave home, I think it would have been more effective. 

The movie was good but it wasn't great.    This, however, will be a good family movie but my girls were more interested in checking their cell phones than watching the movie.  I gave this movie 2 out of 4 stars.  

Beyond the Lights

I went into this movie hoping to be entertained and at times I was.  But it was very similar to Kevin Costner’s movie the Bodyguard with Whitney Houston, and I found myself making comparisons throughout. 

It stars Nate Parker as Kaz, a police officer with aspirations of becoming a politician, Gugu Mbatha-Raw as Noni, a well-liked pop singer who was exploited by everyone as a sex object, Minnie Driver as Macy Jean, Noni’s mother and manager, and Danny Glover as Kaz’s dad who was also a police officer.

Noni was raised by her mother to be no less than perfect at all times.  As a child, they travelled around to talent contests.  If Noni did not come in first, it just wasn’t good enough.  But all of her hard work paid off, as she becomes a pop idol superstar.  However, being a celebrity comes at a price and being exploited gets to her.  She attempts to jump off of a balcony but is saved by Kaz, who had been filling in as her personal protector.  They hit it off, and become a couple much to Noni’s mother’s chagrin.

Gugu Mbatha-Raw is a terrific singer and I truly enjoyed listening to her sing.  Her acting skills were fantastic as well.  Of course Minnie Driver and Danny Glover played their parts perfectly also.  I just thought the story line could have been less predictable.  This movie was better than The Bodyguard but I wanted more than I got.  I gave this movie 2 out of 4 stars.  

Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good Day

I went into this movie with the hopes that it would keep me laughing but it never happened.  There were some funny parts but I found myself checking my watch to check the time.  It stars Steve Carell as Ben Cooper the father, Jennifer Garner as Kelly Cooper the mother, Dylan Minnette as Anthony Cooper the oldest son, Ed Oxenbould as Alexander Cooper the youngest son, and Kerris Dorsey as Emily Cooper the daughter. Jennifer Coolidge also had a small but memorable performance as a driving instructor. 

Alexander has a bad day and wishes that everyone else in his family could understand about bad days as they all have seemed to never have them.  The next day, everything that could go wrong does for the other family members.

As I said above the movie had its moments but I found myself very uninterested.  Jennifer Garner, Steve Carell, and the others were great but the movie was just slow and never got any momentum.  I gave this movie 2 out of 4 stars.  

Dracula Untold

This movie tells the story of Dracula and how he came to be.  It stars Luke Evans as Dracula and Sarah Gadon as his wife. 

Dracula was originally a prince who was raised as a fierce and revered fighter.  Prince Vlad, as he was known, was ruling his country of Transylvania.  The Turks came in and demanded that all of the young boys be taken away and trained as fighters as Prince Vlad had once been.  They also insisted that one of those boys be Prince Vlad’s son. 

The movie is based on the love and devotion that Prince Vlad has for his wife and son.   I loved this proof of family loyalty.  I just expected more out of this movie than I received.  At times the movie was showing signs of greatness but it never came to fruition.  The cinematography was fantastic and there was lots of action but I wanted more.  I gave this movie 2 out of 4 stars. 

Brick Mansions

This is one of the last movies filmed by Paul Walker before he died.  There are some very exciting scenes in this movie but once again at other times the movie lacked solid entertainment.  I really feel bad about that because of the great actor that Paul Walker was. 

The low points unfortunately overwhelm this movie.  I gave this movie 2 out of 4 stars. 

Let’s Be Cops

I thought that this movie had some very funny parts in it.  It starred Damon Wayans Jr. and Jake Johnson as two friends trying to make their in life in California.  They dress as police officers to attend a masquerade party and have so much fun they decide to continue to pretend to be police officers after the party is over.  Their exploits get them involved with a mob who are bullying the neighborhood for “protection money”.  The mob becomes angry with them and try to hunt them down.  

I thought this movie was hilarious at times but other times it didn’t hold my attention.  I went in hoping that I would just laugh out loud but that really didn’t happen so I was horribly disappointed.  It had great potential but was written poorly.  I gave this movie 2 out of 4 stars. 

Sin City: A Dame to Kill For

First of all, I loved the first Sin City movie.  The second Sin City was visually spectacular as was the first but had better action.  Mickey Rourke, Jessica Alba, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Eva Green, and Rosario Dawson are all great actors but not so much in this movie. 

As far as the storyline goes, it was written by the great Frank Miller and I was stunned because the movie did not hold up to the high praise that I usually give a Frank Miller movie.   Besides writing the first Sin City, he also wrote all three of the Dark Knight movies.  However, he fell short with this one.  I think director Robert Rodriguez gave him a little bit more freedom than he was actually ready for.   

I gave this movie two stars because I thought it lacked substance despite the well-known actors, writer, and director and the visual effects.

The Quiet Ones

Operating on the theory that there is something haunting a woman, four people come together to find out what is actually haunting her.  She has been taken over by some sort of poltergeist.  

I thought that there were some high points in The Quiet Ones but not enough for me to recommend it.  I thought that this movie copied other movies, which was quite disappointing.  Some people will love this movie and some will not.  I am in the middle so I gave this move 2 ½ out of 4 stars. 

Need For Speed

Determined to take down his rival, a sprint car racer played by Aaron Paul runs through a cross-country gauntlet of cops and bounty hunters in a huge race.

I thought this movie had some high points especially the acting of Aaron Paul who was also great in Breaking Bad.  There were also some dull points in the movie.  The movie was too long and drawn out.  I gave this movie 2 ½ out of 4 stars.