The Theory of Everything

 

 

Jean, This is a much more positive and uplifting movie that I had expected. There is so much more to the story of Stephen Hawking and his ALS disease. It is how he practically overcomes the disease and his relationship with not only his first wife but with  other women and his children. Both of the leads should get some kind of awards for disappearing into their roles. That is Eddie Redmayne and Felicity Jones. And the setting being among the building of Cambridge, and classrooms are so authentic. I was so surprised how engrossing and romantic a movie this is.  Dad

P.S. The previews were:

A Most Violent Year

Tomorrowland

In the Heart of the Sea

Unbroken

The Hunger Games: Mockingjay, part 1

 

 

Jean, Although this film is setting the stage for the big finale film which is at least a year away, it is one of the most engrossing of the series. Jennifer Lawrence could not be better than in this film. She carries off her role, scene after scene. There is no running in the forest and flicking those deadly arrows as in the past. It is more a story line leading us to the next film. In doing so, it keeps your attention as much if not more than the past films. Seymour Hoffman is in this one but since his appearances were not complete before his passing, you get some shots that are not all that important.  I think this is much more entertaining than anyone could expect.  Dad

P.S. The previews were:

Cinderella

Annie

Insurgent

Pitch Perfect II

The Hobbit: Battle of the Five Armies

Night at the Museum: Secret of the Tomb

Interstellar

 

 
Jean, I feel as if I went to the moon and back. This is a long, long (168 minutes) 
space opera. I found it entertaining on that level. You will get confused with Chris Nolan's murky science, space lectures and time-space relationships. You get a smorgasbord of black holes, worm holes and gargantuan holes, etc. (Some of these even have tears in them.) There are many passages that simply drag on too darn long. But I thought it had an entertaining quality as you watched the main characters and their changing relationships. These lead up to an ending which is not to be guessed or maybe not fully grasped at first sight.   Many of the visuals are very well done but not  beyond what  I have seen before. Dad

P.S. The Previews are:

Selma

Exodus, Gods and Kings

Chappie

The Hobbit, The Battle of the Five Armies

Avengers, Age of Ultron

Hunger Games, Mockingjay, Part 1

Birdman

Jean, This is a movie worth making time to see on the big screen. Among other highlights, you have two very good country actors going mano a mano over and over. That would be Michael Keaton and Edward Norton. You also have the inside or back stage of a Broadway play heading for it's opening. Much of the movie plays out in the backstage and underground hallways of this particular theater. The energy builds to an ending that has to be seen as it is both unexpected but  satisfying. This is one of the best and most entertaining movies I have seen all year.  Dad

P.S. The previews are:

Wild

Top Five

Mortecai

The Second Most Exotic Marigold Hotel

Gone Girl

Jean, This is a long, long entertaining crime drama. At two and one-half hours, it seems too long for the story but it does keep your interest as there are a few twists to understand along the way. Both of the leads are very good. Ben Affleck seems to play himself and that is what is called for in that role in my mind. Rosamund Pike is just about perfect in her role. There are a number of holes in the story that immediately suggest themselves but you go with the story as it carries you along anyway.  Dad

P.S. The previews were:

A Most Violent Year

Kingsman

Fifty Shades of Gray

St. Vincent

Exodus

Tracks

Jean, This is a movie made from the book by the same name. It is the 1700 mile trek made by a young lady, from Alice Springs, Australia to the Indian Ocean in 1977. Mia Wasikowska is the main character and does a fine job. You see some amazing shots of the harsh landscape and learn a lot about camels. (She uses four camels she trains to make the trip as her carrier animals.) Nat'l Geographic Magazine helps with the trip and one of it's photographers is a dramatic character throughout the film. I found it a quite  interesting travel film across a near desert land and the people who endure it's hardships. At the end, they role the credits and show you the  actual people and animals portrayed in the film. (Some animals die but the real life circumstances are explained.)

Dad

P.S. The previews are:

The Imitation Game

Foxcatcher

Rosewater

Theory of Everything

The November Man

 

 

 

 

 

Jean, This is Pierce Brosnan in an action hero role. The movie really looks great with the different cities of Europe shown in the car chase scenes. Here we have an older Jason Bourne, and a Russian "Girl with a Dragon Tattoo" being the paid assassins. The story keeps your attention especially in the first half of the movie. I thought it was a little too long at about 1 hour and 45 minutes but there is no shortage of shooting back and forth and even slicing people up with knives and even drones watching everyone in the city. The Russians are back in the role of the bad guys with Chechnya  etc. I enjoyed the movie as being in the upper levels of the current run of "spy versus CIA action" movies.  Dad

The Previews were:

The Best of Me

Hector and the Search for Happiness

The Drop

The Equalizer

A Walk Among the Tombstones

Mas negro que la noche (Darker Than Night)

Transformers: Age of Extinction 3D

Jean: This may be the biggest blockbuster of the summer. If you have already seen Noah, Captain America, Godzilla, Amazing Spiderman, X-Men, Edge of Tomorrow and 22 Jump Street, this may beat them all. It is a tour de force of a movie. You know what you are going to get from Michael Bay but this may be his masterpiece.   He starts by beginning with a new cast with Mark Wahlberg replacing Shia and a more current story line about government secret plans, etc. He also gives us some dazzling new looks at the robots with high definition details of the machines showing edges and shading on their plates and broader almost panoramic action views and well developed personalities. You will want to see more of Galvatron and Lockdown, for example. 

From a small beginning on a farm  and an old crashed semi to Optimus Prime, Bumble Bee and the all the others, it is a wild and crazy ride. If you are into action/adventure and war of the machines, this is your movie and 2 hours and 35 minutes of it . (It is a little too long.) The metal on metal sounds adds to the realistic details you are shown of the robots, even their full face expressions come through, including their emotions. I did the 3 D choice and thought it amazing.  Dad

P.S. The 3D for me was almost uncomfortable when you are flying between the valley walls in the beginning or walking on the cables between the space ship and super high-rise building over Chicago.

P.P.S. The previews were:

Hunger Games

Into the Storm

The Boxtrolls(3D)

Hercules(3D)

Guardians of the Galaxy(3D)

Dawn of Planet of the Apes(3D)

Edge of Tomorrow

 

 

Jean, This is one of the most fun, entertaining movie I have seen in months. Tom Cruise shows he is still a fine action hero, with humor. Emily Blunt joins him as an equally strong action star. She can handle all those heavy weapons and take on hand to hand combat with the best. (She starts where Linda Hamilton left off.) The story involves mimic biology and mimics (like hyperactive land squids) and Alphas and the great Omega. The story takes you to London, the shores of France, a dam in the mountains of Germany and even the Pyramid at the Louvre. There is a central theme of being cursed or blessed to relive one day over and over again. I guess the steepness of your learning curve can save your life or not. Doug Liman, the director has put together a fast paced action movie that makes you think. If you do not think fast, you will miss what is happening.  Dad

The previews were:

The Rover

Welcome to Yesterday

A Most Wanted Man

Get On Up

Into The Storm

Jersey Boys

The Other Woman

Jean, This is a story of three women who join forces to get revenge against a philandering husband. It has some very funny scenes and most of them are due to the actions of Leslie Mann. She can steal a scene just by staring at someone. There are also some very funny lines but you have to listen carefully as the actresses just run over them. This movie is just too long, but it does have it's moments if you have patience. I would not go out of my way to see this movie unless you also are a big fan of seeing Cameron Diaz and Kate Upton in white bikini bathing suits on a beach or two or three. Dad

The previews were:

Words and Pictures

Wish I Was Here

Chef

Begin Again

Faults in Our Stars

Obvious Child

The German Doctor

Jean, This is a movie about some of the "missing years" of the Nazi doctor Josef Mengele while he was hiding n Patagonia, Argentina in the early 1960's. He stayed with a family who were not aware of his true identity. It is a short but quite interesting and chilling story. The Spanish actor who plays Mengele, Alex Brendlemuhl, is just excellent in his portrayal. It is shot in many of the actual areas of Argentina which adds a lot to the atmospherics of the film. They also show his many medical journals that he kept during his medical experiments and observations.  I enjoyed it ,even if it was only about one hour and one half.  Dad

The previews were:

Begin Again

Chef

A Most Wanted Man

Wish I Was Here

Fading Gigolo

 

 

 

Jean, This is a gentle comedy, very gentle. (There are not a lot of laughs.) It was written and directed by John Turturro, but Woody Allen acts in many, many of the scenes.The story revolves around of Woody coming up with the idea of having his former employee works as a high priced male prostitute in Manhattan. It also stars some glamour girls like Sharon Stone and others . There is a lot of ethnic society customs shown, mostly hasidic Jewish rabbis. If one is interested in a convoluted story line, acted out in the ethnic neighborhoods of Manhattan, then this is their movie. Look for more social commentary from Woody in his stuttering , stand-up comedy  manner, but more pedantic than humorous.  Dad

The previews were:

Wish I was Here

Palo Alto

The Most Wanted Man

The Immigrant

Obvious Child

Boyhood

Godzilla

Jean, This is an example of..if something is good then more is better. They give you such a long series of mindless scenes of monsters tramping on skyscrapers, bridges and even themselves. You have to wait a long time before you even see the star. Godzilla, but they serve up a new monster, the MUTO meaning Massive, Unidentified, Terrestrial, Organisms.  I immediately thought of the monsters in Spielberg's "War of the Worlds". This movie is too long at just over two hours and I did not see Godzilla enough. But I am afraid that I will get another chance to see him in the future.  Dad

The previews were:

The Rover

Edge of Tomorrow

Into the Storm

22 Jump Street

A Most Wanted Man

The Signal

Noah

Jean, This is one big, sweeping movie on the big screen. It is quite impressive as they bring into the Bible story some new characters and imaginative creatures to make the story work. The location shots done in Iceland are very scenic and add authenticity. Russell Crowe is back in his Gladiator mode and carries his role of Noah off impressively. The shots of the animals, including the birds and the snakes are quite starling to see.  The ark being built and then on those wild ocean waters looks very realistic and scary.I was surprised how you were drawn into the personal life of Noah and his family. Some of the folks entering the theater were asking the ticket taker if they were going to get  wet. On coming out of the movie,  there were many of those viewers with teary eyes. It worked for them and it worked for me as well. It was one audacious bit of story telling that worked.  Dad

P.S.  The previews were:

Transformers: Age of Extinction

Heaven is for Real

Draft Day

The Maze Runner

 Hercules

Transcendence

Captain America 2 - The Winter Soldier

 Jean, This was a big time action/adventure movie with a brain. It was an intelligent approach to a current event issue with great visual effects. Chris Evans really seemed so relaxed and comfortable in his role this time. He and Scarlett were a good team when on screen together. I did not realize what a large role Robert Redford would play in not only a speaking role but also some action as well. There were a number of surprises and it reminded me in part of "Three Days of the Condor" with the changing of sides within the intelligence bureaus. The final climax was not a blast of explosions but the continuation of a continuing  plot while the horrendous air battle over Washington was played out. The battle itself as well as the carnage and destruction of the falling space ships into the high-rise office billings is something to see.  I enjoyed this film very much.  Dad

P.S. The previews were:

The Expendables III

Maleficent

The Amazing Spiderman 2

X-Men: Days of Future Past

Godzilla

Guardians of the Galaxy

Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit

 

Jean, This reminded me of the Jason Bourne movies. It has great location shots of different European cities as well as New York City and hand to hand combat, computer screens all over the place, car chases and solving a search for a subject using all kinds of clues by association. Chris Pine adds a youthful energy to the role of Jack Ryan in his very early years in the CIA. I can see him coming back in future movies. It was interesting seeing Kenneth Branagh as the Russian villain (and the director). At only 100 minutes, it was worth the time considering how long some of the other movies have been running lately.  Dad

P.S. The previews were:

NOAH

The Monuments Men

Non-Stop

3 Days To Kill

Labor Day

Draft Day

I, Frankenstein

Jean, This is a visual effects extravaganza of a comic book movie. It takes Frankenstein from his creation in some European snowy castle in 1793 to the present time, 200 years later. Frankenstein is played by Aaron Eckhart  who must have gone on a big diet and weightlifting program to look like he does without his shirt. (He is zero body fat.) In the modern time, he comes into the midst of a war going on between the good flying gargoyles of Queen Leonore and the bad demons of the devil Prince Naberius played by Bill Nighy in a Saville Row very tailored medium blue suit. After a chase to capture the notes of the original Dr. Frankenstein in the form of a book, you come to a epic final battle scene between the two forces that is really something to see. Is this the beginning of another franchise movie character? I wonder about that as the movie is more a run of the mill visual effects action film without much new to recommend it. Dad

P.S. Remember the creaky machinery they had in Young Frankenstein to get the monster to come alive? In this movie you have to multiply that rickety lash up by 1000 to get the contraptions they have for the viewers here.

P.P.S. The Previews were:

The Quiet One

Non-Stop

Cesar Chavez

Transcendance

NOAH

Labor Day

 

 

 

Jean, I expected to see some heavy breathing sex scenes and maybe some shoot outs with the police but this movie is a slowly developing romantic movie that could have  come from the author of "The Note Book". The three main characters, the housewife and mother, Kate Winslet, the escaped convict, Josh Brolin, and the young son, Gaitland Griffith , are all excellent. And there is a fourth character, a peach pie, or maybe many peach pies. Most of it takes place over a three day weekend, Labor Day, in a small New Hampshire town.  I enjoyed the romantic movie and how the writer gave us important background story points along the way and did not see coming, the ending he choose.  Dad

The previews were:

NOAH

Interstellar

Winter's Tale

Heaven is for Real

In Secret

The Hobbit: Desolation of Smaug 3D

 

 

 

 

Jean, This movie, second in the series, moves much more quickly than the first one. It also has some really scary creatures this time. There are the huge scary looking spiders and then the world class, fire breathing dragon. This is one formidable. nasty creature, He does not show up until you are two hours into the movie but you can not take too much of him. (His only fault is he is a little too talkative for me.) This is another quite intense movie, with many beheadings, and arrows through the head shots with associated carnage. But they get on the road early here and they use all kinds of past means of transport including, in barrels, in mine train buckets, etc. It sets up very nicely for the next movie with a sudden ending. It is a good 2 hours and 45 minutes long, with an additional 6 long previews at the beginning. For some reason the length did not bother me at all maybe because it really keeps coming up with new vistas and new villains, and I thought the 3D was worth it in this film. Dad

The previews were:

The Secret Life of Walter Mitty

Edge of Tomorrow

Jupiter Ascending

The Amazing Spider Man 2

Maleficent

47 Ronin

American Hustle

 

 

 

 

 

Jean, This a comedy but not with a lot of laughs. It is more filled with smiles, lots of smiles. It is the story based on a real life FBI sting of the late 1970's. I saw it as "The Real Housewives of New Jersey" meets "Goodfellas". Even Robert De Niro has a cameo role, which is one of many cameos (He plays Victor Tellegio from Miami.) The five main cast members do just excellent jobs. I think Jennifer Lawernce  completely disappears into her role. I do not think there is anything she can not do. The cons start stacking on other cons that is gets quite hard to follow, but I do not think that gets in the way of enjoying a very entertaining film.  Dad

P.S. The Previews are:

The Monuments Men

Robocop

Her

August:Osage County

In Secret

Inside Llewyn Davis

 

 

Jean, This a Coen Brothers movie about a week in the life of a guitar player in 1961 winter in New York City. He is played by Oscar Isaac.( He played the nasty Prince John in the last Robin Hood film starring Russell Crowe.) It is a long, slow and dark movie that I do not think can be called a comedy.The only time is became interesting to me was when they talked about guitars and playing the different kinds of  guitar music, folk  and other kinds. It was too long and slow and dark for me. And I am critical of his treatment of pets.  Dad

The previews were:

The Invisible Woman

Cesar Chavez

August: Osage County

The Grand Budapest Hotel