Let me start by going over the things that I DIDN’T love…Okay, now that we have that out of the way.  I’m not kidding. Based on one viewing there’s nothing about this movie I didn’t love.

Visuals – Yes, by all means you MUST SEE IN IMAX 3D. I usually avoid 3D movies because they rarely deliver anything other than a few gimmicky scenes. And it’s horribly distracting when the movie pops between 3D and 2D. Within the first few minutes of the film I completely forgot that I was wearing the glasses and was completely drawn into each scene. Some of the shots of the Enterprise left me breathless.

Story – I’ve watched a lot of J.J. Abrams work and this is unquestionably his best. The story flowed from scene to scene. It was put together extremely well and payed homage to the other storyline perfectly. ( You’ll understand when you see the movie. )

I’ve noticed that many stories want to arrive at a certain destination and sometimes there are scenes that force the story down a certain path that doesn’t feel altogether plausible or the characters feel like they aren’t behaving correctly. That was never the case in this movie. It felt like all the pieces fit together effortlessly and flawlessly.

Acting – Spot on from beginning to end. The interactions between the crew was simply fantastic and is the highlight of the movie. There is tension and humor throughout. There weren’t any raucously funny moments but numerous scenes where the entire audience was laughing and even more chuckle worthy scenes. As far as humor goes only Star Trek 4: The one with the Whales had better humor.

I can’t wait to go and see it again and make sure my first impression is lasting. Usually I find a few flaws here and there upon a second viewing. But the worse case scenario is that I’ll drop the grade down to an A-. There’s no way it could fall below that.

This was as difficult a task of finding peetimes as for any other movie I’ve ever seen, with the exception of Inception for different reasons. The pacing is so quick and there is so much humor in the first half of the movie that it was a conundrum trying to pick out a decent peetime or two. With the help of Shanee Edwards we have 4 peetimes and we both agree that the first two are the only ones we would recommend using. The second half of the movie is jam packed with unmissable scenes. We have two peetimes during that part of the movie but you’ll be happy if you plan ahead and don’t need them.

Let me start of by saying I haven’t read the book. I know, I know, it’s required reading for practically every high school student. I must have been sick that day.

It’s difficult to give this move a single overall grade because some aspects were pretty good while others were…not so much. Lets start with the good. The sets and costumes were fantastic. If you like period pieces then there will be a lot here for you to like.

The acting was, I thought, rather bland for the most part. Of course Leonardo DiCaprio was his typical amazing self. Can’t find fault with any of his performance. And I thought Joel Edgerton, playing Tom Buchanan, did a rather good job with a few difficult scenes. He had a handful of scenes that required him to act without speaking and I thought he pulled them off splendidly. Everyone else was somewhat stale.

My biggest problem with the movie is the story, specifically how the love story between Gatsby and Daisy is handled. I know The Great Gatsby is required reading for high school students and is generally held in high esteem but it is terrifically dated. Once again this is a love story where we are told about love between the two characters but we don’t feel it. Not one ounce of it. During the movie I couldn’t stop thinking, “Just pick another girl. There’s nothing special about Daisy.”

I don’t care when a story was written, if the author simply says, “These two characters are madly in love with each other,” but doesn’t follow up with showing us why they are in love then it has completely missed the mark. I need to see the characters motivation. I want to feel and understand the love between the characters, not just see it. I would say the same thing about the recent Les Mis. It’s the single worst love story I’ve ever seen. A movie where they get the love story right is Titanic. We understand the characters and see them fall in love and the best part is we understand why they are falling in love. Okay, I’ll get off my soap box now.

There is a lot to like about Iron Man 3, but, speaking for myself, not a lot to love. Where it falls short is that there’s never a moment where I feel that Iron Man won’t survive and save the day. Of course they’re not going to kill of Iron Man in a movie. You know going in that he wins. But the main threat that they’re going for in this movie, assuming you’ve seen the previews, is that Tony Stark is coming unraveled at the seems after the events in *The Avengers*.  That’s a good angle to take but, honestly, I never bought it. Not because I knew that in the end he would overcome his internal demons, but because I don’t feel that Robert Downey Jr. pulled it off. I’m not sure if it was the acting, or the directing or the script but Stark’s anxiety battle just didn’t seem real enough.

My grade for the acting would be a C+. It wasn’t great and it didn’t suck. Just average.

The story was, I thought, just so-so. It seemed a little contrived to me. I hope going forward they try a story that doesn’t involve Iron Man being attacked directly for something he did in his past. That theme has been picked over well enough in the first three movies now.

My grade for the story would be a C-.

There’s no question that the action carried this movie. There was lots of interesting additions to the Iron Man suit that were fun to see. I’ll leave it at that because I don’t want to give anything away.

Action grade is easily an A-.

Overall I’d give the movie a B-. The action is the only thing that pulls it out of mediocrity.

I just have one more thing to say, or to hint at, because I don’t want to offer up any spoilers, but I hate the way the movie ends. Not the final battle but what happens after that. Common, be daring. Have some fun with it.

And finally, don’t you just want to yell at the audience to sit in their seats after the movie is over? The after credit scene was probably the funniest part of the movie. Oh well, someday everyone will have the RunPee app and they’ll know when to stay and when to go.

Evil Dead was by far the best remake I have ever seen. This movie captured me in the first three minutes and didn’t let go until the credits ended. We walked out of the very crowded theater just glowing. The whole crowd was roaring with each and every scene. It was a lively movie. It was down right creepy!

The acting was great. Character development was great. The special effects were great. The storyline was great and the directing was great.  I am leading up to something with all of this greatness..be patient.

In several discussions after the movie it was brought to my attention that the original was a cult classic. I had not yet seen it. I am a fan of Bruce Campbell so I decided to go home and watch the original.  We got our popcorn ready, turned off the lights and pressed play. I was expecting the be blown away like I was in the theater.

I couldn’t stand it. I hated it like I hate getting sunburns. Not the little glow sunburn, I’m talking about the go to the emergency room so you don’t die, kind of sunburn. Thirty minutes in I turned it off, wondering what was all the fuss is about?

If you hated the original, that’s okay, this one smoked the first one. If you loved the original, that’s cool too, this one is a thousand times better. You will be blown away.

If you’re a big G.I. Joe fan and you know all the characters and their relationships to each other then you might like this movie. But I’m not a G.I. Joe fan and I don’t know anything about the universe so a large portion of the movie was confusing to me. It was easy enough to figure out who the really good guys are – the Joes. And it was easy to figure out who the bad guys were. But then there’s the bad guys who aren’t really bad and want revenge against the really bad guys so they fight with the good guys. Well, I think that’s what was going on because I don’t have a clue who these people are and the movie gave very little background.

I knew what the plot was just from the trailers so no surprise there. That much was easy to follow. But there was so much that was contrived beyond belief. I rolled my eyes more than once and I’m a pretty forgiving fellow when it comes to moving the plot forward.

At least there is a lot of action. But I didn’t see anything that was really impressive.

If you’re only going to see it because of Bruce Willis or Channing Tatum then don’t bother. They don’t have more than 10 minutes of screen time combined.

One more thing; I know this is nitpicking but it bothered me that Lady Jaye wore mascara in the battle scenes. Seriously, would a female soldier ever think, I have my gun, my ammo, my grenades…what I’m I forgetting? Oh yes, I forgot to put on mascara. There were lots of other things I could nitpick on but that one just stood out.

The only good thing I can say about the movie is that there are a handful of times that the audience chuckled. Other than that I found nothing redeeming about this movie.

This is a smart, funny and colorful movie about a clan of cave people who must travel to unknown territory after their cave was destroyed by plate tectonics. They meet up with a more evolved person – his forehead isn’t sloped – who introduces them to the prehistoric version of shoes, cell phones, sun glasses and a walker for Grandma.

In a way the story is a lesson in history, geology, evolution and, most importantly, relationships.

Grug, the father, is having a difficult time relating to his teenage daughter, Eep. Not so very different from today’s struggles between father and daughter.  There were laugh out loud moments and also tender touching moments topped off with some great action scenes.

This was Nickolas Cage’s finest performance since National Treasure. Emma Stone’s husky yet feminine voice was perfect for the daughter Eep.

This is not a movie for just the kiddies it will also appeal to the adult audience.

I didn’t see the 3D version of the movie because I was getting peetimes – it’s hard to write with those glasses on – but I would highly recommend seeing the 3D. I know that I’m going to go back and re-watch it again, this time in 3D, just to enjoy the beauty.

Tina Fey (Portia) and Paul Rudd (John) didn’t have the best on screen chemistry and the story has been done time and time again.

The movie isn’t bad; it’s just bland. The best parts of the movie were the scenes with Lily Tomlin as Portia’s mother. If they could have found a way to double her screen time I’d be tempted to give this movie a B; as it is I can’t give it anything other than the middle of the road C.

“Spring Breakers” was absolutely not what I was expecting. When I saw that Selena Gomez was starring I figured it would be a lighthearted comedy. I overlooked the fact that it has an R-rating. There was nothing lighthearted about this movie. It was an in your face and slap you on the butt kind of movie.

For the first thirty minutes I really wanted to leave. I didn’t enjoy any part of it. My major gripe up to that point was Selena Gomez’s role. I was left wondering, why is she in this movie? She did not fit at all. Once she left, the movie took hold of me and it was a thrill ride to the end.

The now famous and utterly loved James Franco saved the day. His role just put him at the top of my favorite people list. He plays Alien, a rap artist/drug dealer/thief in this movie. His performance glued my eyes to the screen and made me question my own morality. He was a bad, bad boy but I loved him.

I want to warn you on a few things. In the first two minutes alone you will see every different size and shape of naked girls. There are some very creative usages of beer bongs used on the previously mentioned girls. Drugs are also used in some creative ways. There are some super steamy almost sex scenes. Its rated R for a reason. I saw this at the late show and was surprised to see a bunch of children there. I’m sure they had a lot of questions for Mommy and Daddy that night. So if you want to avoid some uncomfortable family time, leave the tots at home.

I’m really looking forward to hearing your thoughts on this movie. I want to know if it really was good or am I just a warped individual that enjoyed the heck out of this morally deprived movie.

“Olympus has Fallen” is a lot like “Die Hard” in the White House. It is by no means as good but it’s still an entertaining and action packed movie. ( When I say “Die Hard” I’m talking about the original movie and not the latest release in the series. )

Movie critics are split on their reviews but the audience ratings are pretty solid in the “like it” category. The theater was nearly packed last night when I saw it. There were a few occasions during the movie that people cheered in response to the on screen action, and it got a smattering of applause at the very end. Best of all there were plenty of scenes that made the entire audience laugh.

Mike Banning – Gerard Butler – plays a likeable character that you want to root for. The supporting cast is rock solid. Of course Morgan Freeman is outstanding as the Speaker of the House. I wish the script had given Freeman more opportunity to impress us with his commanding presence but there were at least a few scenes where he got to shine. His talents weren’t wasted by any means.

This movie is R-rated for a reason. It’s bloody and violent and it’s not all just people getting shot with high caliber machine guns. There are scenes of women being beaten almost to the point of unconsciousness but it’s never a sexual attack. If that sort of thing bothers you then steer clear.

The story itself is scary plausible and I think that’s what makes the film so compelling. I’m sure a lot of experts are going to rush out and proclaim there are secret countermeasures to the type of attack used in this movie. However, I’m reminded of Tom Clancy’s book *Executive Orders* that used a terrorist attack involving a hijacked passenger plane to demolish the Capitol Building during the State of the Union address. That book came out 4 years before 9/11 and obviously no one took that scenario seriously enough to ensure that it couldn’t succeed. After seeing this movie I hope there are some serious questions being asked to make sure this scenario could be thwarted. Because I’m sure a lot of terrorists will see this movie and think, “You know, that’s worth a try.”

I’ve been waiting to see this movie for months and it was well worth the wait. Halle Berry and Abigail Breslin both display great range as actors across a spectrum of emotions.

It can be argued that the plot is implausible; a 911 operator receiving two different calls from the victims of the same psycho doesn’t happen every day. But it isn’t impossible and no one writes stories about the serial killer not getting caught. That’s not good entertainment. One way to tell a great story is to take average people and put them in implausible situations and see how they react. That’s what we have in this movie.

The ending is one of the best I’ve seen in this genre. It was surprisingly satisfying. Totally worth the price of admission.