Interstellar

This tremendous movie directed by the great Christopher Nolan stars Matthew McConaughey as Cooper, a former astronaut and a widowed father of two.  Michael Caine plays a scientist named Dr. Brand, Anne Hathaway plays Brand’s daughter Amelia, and John Lithgow plays Cooper’s father-in-law.  Mackenzie Foy plays Cooper’s daughter, Murphy, as a preteen, and Jessica Chastain plays Murphy as an adult. 

They live in a time where they are constantly plagued by dust storms and it is increasingly harder to grow any crops that can be used for food.  None-the-less Cooper and his family are farmers.    One day he and his daughter stumble upon an underground NASA facility led by his former mentor, Dr.  Brand. 

Cooper is persuaded to go to outer space with a crew that includes Dr. Brand’s daughter Amelia in search of a habitable place to live for the human race.  Cooper must leave behind his family and cannot promise his return.  In outer space, time moves more slowly so 1 hour in space may be one year on earth. 

Christopher Nolan and his younger brother Jonathan both wrote this and did an amazing job putting it all together.   I love everything Christopher Nolan does as a director.  The imagery in this movie was spectacular as was the sound.   

Matthew McConaughey,  Anne Hathaway,   Jessica Chastain, and Michael Caine were all fantastic in their portrayals as was the rest of the cast.  I hope that Matthew McConaughey and Christopher and Jonathan Nolan are nominated for Oscars because I thought this movie was incredible.  I am going to see this movie again since I’m sure I missed something.  I gave this movie 3 ½ out of 4 stars.  

Hercules

This movie stars Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson as Hercules.  He is told in his dreams that his kids and wife will be murdered.  Hercules has always been a protector of everyone who crosses his path and is in need of his help.  He and a group of mercenaries go off to help the town of Thrace.

I thought the Rock was outstanding.  At times he just stood there in a pose as he did as a wrestler.  He’s also not a bad actor.  The special effects were not available 10 years ago but the movie industry has come a long way and I loved the special effects in this movie. 

I gave this movie 3 out of 4 stars.  

Maleficent

Angelina Jolie voices the lead role of the evil sorceress Maleficent who is on the prowl to abduct Elle Fanning who played Princess Aurora.  Maleficent casts all kinds of spells upon the innocent Princess Aurora. 

I loved the animation in this extraordinarily beautiful movie.  You can actually turn off the sound and view the wonderful sets.  The animators did a great job drawing the layouts for this movie.  Angelina Jolie and Elle Fanning were fantastic in their roles.  I gave this movie 3 out of 4 stars. 

The Book of Life

This family friendly offering stars Christina Applegate as she tells a story of what happened many years ago on the Day of the Dead.  Maria, who was voiced by Zoe Saldana, must choose between two men with one to be her husband.  One was Joaquin, voiced by Channing Tatum, and the other is Manolo and was voiced by Diego Luna. 

Joaquin is a decorated veteran and has a good luck charm that he carries with him at all times.  Manolo has a love for music but becomes a bullfighter following his family’s tradition.  Maria is in love with Manolo but chooses Joaquin to marry in hopes that he will protect their town from a brutal bandit voiced by Dan Navarro. 

I very much enjoyed The Book of Life.  All the actors did a fine job but the director, Jorge Gutierrez, did a fantastic job especially considering this was his first movie.  I gave this movie 3 out of 4 stars.  

Nightcrawler

This action packed movie stars Jake Gyllenhaal as Lou Bloom, a petty thief trying to make it stealing copper and selling it to scrap yards .   After coming upon a car crash and talking with those filming the incident, he finds that there is good money to be made and so begins a new career as a film journalist.    He finds that he has a knack for getting the best shots and has a solid buyer in Nina, a local TV producer played by Rene Russo.  The riskier the film the more money he makes.

He hires an assistant to help him who is played by Riz Ahmed.  Soon after Lou gets greedy when he arrives on the scene of a home invasion and murder before the perpetrators have left.  He captures them on film as they leave the house. 

Jake Gyllenhaal was terrific in what was a difficult role to play.  He lost a significant amount of weight to fit the part. I love the fact that he always seems to choose difficult roles and is always successful in his portrayals. 

Rene Russo was also outstanding.  I loved the way that her and Jake Gyllenhaal played off of each other.  I think her role was an excellent portrayal of the stress and anxiety of being a TV producer and needing to always get the best ratings. 

I gave this movie 3 out of 4 stars. 

Begin Again

For a low budget movie, this one was fantastic.  It stars Keira Knightley as an up and coming English singer and Mark Ruffalo as a down on his luck agent.    Ruffalo wants to help Knightley begin her career and they become great friends. 

This movie was very heart warming and I really enjoyed it.   Begin Again will end up being on my top 10 list for the year.  I think everyone else will enjoy it as well.  Both Knightley and Ruffalo should be up for Oscars.   I rate this movie 4 out of 4 stars.  It’s tremendous.  

Deliver Us From Evil

This was one of the best horror films of the year.  Eric Bana stars as a married police officer with one child.  His wife was played by Olivia Munn. 

Eric Bana’s character, Ralph Sarchie, is called on to investigate a case in which some strange happenings are occurring between a number of individuals who seem to be under some sort of demonic force.  He teams up with a priest, played by Edgar Ramirez, in an attempt to exorcise the demons. 

I thought this movie was outstanding and it really got into your head.  I rate this movie 3 ½ out of 4 stars.