The Hunger Games: Catching Fire

Jennifer Lawrence who recently received an Oscar for best actress is back again with Catching Fire and this is a wonderful movie. Katniss and her fellow tribesmen Peeta come back home as winners of the first hunger games. Along the way Katniss starts a feeling that there is a lot of stuff going on around her that she doesn't even know about. Donald Sutherland plays the perfect villain and he has plans to remove these two winners by putting them at another hunger games contest.

I thought Jennifer Lawrence should've been nominated for best actress but that didn't happen.   This Hunger Games is spectacular, maybe she will be nominated again for this movie.  The great Philip Seymour Hoffman stars and this is one of his last movies.  Once again he is spectacular like he is in all of his roles. I think he is one of the most spectacular actors that I have ever had the pleasure to be a part of.

I gave this movie 4 out of 4 stars.

Nebraska

If you haven't found this movie called Nebraska check it out.  There is some tremendous acting all through this wonderful movie. The movie stars Bruce Dern, June Squibb and the brilliant performance by Will Forte, who all are great in their roles. Dern stars as an elderly man who is on the go to pick up an out of state lottery ticket. Once Will Forte heard the news of the lottery ticket he thought he would drive his elderly father to get the big lottery ticket without knowing it was phony.

This brilliant movie was directed by Alexander Payne.  With him combined with fantastic actors, it was no surprise that this was nominated for many Oscars.

I gave this movie 4 out of 4 stars.

Need for Speed

Aaron Paul recently starred in the drama Breaking Bad that was a worldwide hit.  He seems to get more popular as time goes by. Paul is in a new movie called Need for Speed.  I thought this movie was exciting to watch and once you start watching it you can't turn away from it.

Toby (Aaron Paul) stars as an experienced driver who owns a custom garage shop.  He is suddenly challenged by a former driver and partner Dino (Dominique Cooper). This is a complete race that will turn over everything that Toby owns including his garage and hot racing automobile.

Suddenly there is an accident and Toby is held responsible, leaving him to spend some time behind bars.  Once he gets out of jail he is wisecracking his way to prove his innocence. Toby decides to talk to an investor of a Shelby Ford Mustang packaged by the owner. He has an abrasive daughter who goes on the hunt to come along and make sure the brash American doesn't wreck the car. There is a bounty put on the head of the Mustang and it's off to the races when more greedy villains are combined with some high rate police officers.

I thought that Aaron Paul did a tremendous job in his role as the head strong driver and his performance was solid as well.  The fact that the driving was all brilliantly staged and there were no special-effect drivers anywhere in this movie.  I love the fact that all these drivers learned to drive these amazingly fast cars right behind the wheel.  The terrific Michael Keaton was amazing in his over-the-top announcer.  I think Keaton is a terrific actor but he just doesn't get many roles to really sink his teeth into.

I thought this movie had some high points in it and Aaron Paul was really good in his role.  I can only give it 2 1/2 out of 4 stars. I really wanted to like this movie and yes I love the racing and the overall excitement and thrill of the crashes, once again I just wish the story would've been better.

I gave this movie 2 1/2 out of 4 stars.

300: Rise Of An Empire

Zack Snyder who directed the first 300 produces this movie that I thought was an ok film but I thought this version was even better and directed by a terrific director who is early in his career.

Special effects for this film I thought were the best part of this entire movie and since this is a 3-D movie, I thought the looks of the film were outstanding. I never urge people to see movies in 3-D but this one is a no brainer. Even though it’s not directed by Zack Snyder I thought the elements were good and the characters were written out quite well.

This story takes place right after the first 300, there is evil v. s. good once again and there is an evil force in the universe. Eva Green I thought her character was excellent even though she was evil. I totally bought into everything in her performance and I thought she would be a character that will rise in the 3^rd film which will come. But she won’t be apart of it since she dies in the 2^nd film.

I give this movie 3 out 4 stars.

Mr. Peabody & Sherman

Mr. Peabody (Ty Burrell from modern family) plays the Nobel prize-winning dog whose inventions have led him to the top of his class.  Sherman (Max Charles), up-and-coming lad who goes to school with Penny and tries to learn everything Peabody has taught him. This is all based on the old Rocky & Bullwinkle that aired till the mid-1960s.

Penny calls a burly social worker played by Allison Janney to take Sherman from Mr. Peabody. And then she discovers the fact that she can go back in time and visit in a generation that's available.

Mr. Peabody, Sherman and Penny all go on a trip through time and they meet up with all kinds of literary characters like Marie Antoinette, Leonardo da Vinci, Armageddon, and many others all classic advances in this great movie keep you over-the-top and very entertaining.

Ty Burrell, Max Charles, Ariel Winter, Allison Janney, Patrick Warburton and many others all form an excellent performance. The movie comes in 3-D and regular version and I think this movie is a good one to see either way. It will still be a spectacular event for the entire family if seen regular. I still don't know why they have to make all these movies in the 3-D version it’s really not a necessity.

I gave this wonderful movie 3 1/2 out of four stars.