The Hunger Games - Catching Fire

 

Jean, I think this movie is better than the first in the series. It helps if you have seen the first movie as a lot of basic information is necessary for any understanding of the events it shows. I thought the movie really came alive after we get Jennifer Lawrence into the forest. (It unfortunately took almost 90 minutes before that happens.)  The explanatory scenes slowed the movie down a lot I thought. But once Jennifer's character is in the forest and figuring out things with her woodsman smarts and flicking those deadly arrows faster than you can follow, the movie comes alive. You should be aware this is a quite violent movie. A number of the parents took their young children out of the theater during the very intense attack of the super baboons which seems to last and last. But then you have the killer fog and the attack of the jabber jays, etc. I question the PG-13 rating as there are also head shots using large hand guns and a very intense flogging using a cat-o-nine-tails. Dad

P.S. The previews were:

The Secret Life of Walter Mitty

Vampire Academy

Malificent

NOAH

The Hobbit:the Desolation of Smaug

Thor: The Dark World

Jean, You can not help but come out of the theater saying to yourself," I got more than my money's worth in this film." It has quite a big time cast including Natalie Portman, Anthony Hopkins, Stellan Skarsgard, and even Chris O'Dowd from Bridesmaids.Then you have some of the most imaginative and amazing special effects scenes.( I am still thinking of the scene where the flying wing space ship flies down the center of the palace corridor clipping the lineup of gothic columns, one by one or two by two.) This is another case where the hero is nearly beaten to a pulp by the villains like they did to Batman a while back. There is humor here, some of it really hits the mark. Thor himself can be a little boring as he does not have an alter ego, so he is the super hero "all the time." I thought this was so much better than the first one and would now go see the third as it is set up neatly in the final scene.  Dad

P.S. The previews were:

Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit

Delivery Man

Robocop

The Hobbit:Desolation of Smaug

The Hunger Games:Catching Fire

Gravity (3D)

Jean, Wow, this is such a spectacular visual effects and white-knuckle suspenseful ride. This surely qualifies for that saying "if you only see one..." I saw it in the Real 3D, glasses and all and felt it was really worth it. Moving through space and moving through those space station compartments, you end up dodging all sorts of things. Remember this is in "real time" in space. There are no flash backs to events happening on earth. It is Sandra Bullock's movie. And she is up to the question of "what do we do next?". Better left unsaid anything about the script  but they use a few familiar tricks. But the ride in space has you believing from the opening scenes. You have to watch the whole screen as things move fast in the 90 minutes. See it on the big screen!  Dad

P.S. The previews were:

Ender's Game

Grudge Match

The Monument Men

Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit

47 Ronin (3D)

The Hobbit: Desolation of Smaug (3D)

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Jean, I went to see this movie as from the previews it looked like an entertaining comedy. That was not what I saw. This is a almost clinical study of 3 addicts. They are three men, two are sex addicts and one is an alcoholic. We go through all the 12 steps program including the dairies, tokens and meetings. It makes one think about how the addict's behavior affects their close friends and family. Then you really cringe when you see the relapse coming on and that surely happens.They do not sugar-coat the impact of addiction. I think I am more patience now about people with addictions than before. At the end they even bring before the camera a number of addicts who talk about their trials and struggles to just cope with everyday matters. If coping with addiction is your interest, this is your movie.  Dad

 

The Previews were:

 

American Hustle

Nebraska

The Summit

All is Lost

The Family

Jean, I walked into the theater thinking I was going to see a comedy. This had some comedy touches like De Niro going to a movie showing of "Goodfellas" and other touches along the way. But the violence is what I saw. That is, shooting a man and then chopping off all his fingers with an ax. The sound of the crunching of the bones included. Or hanging a man by his feet and then lowering him into a barrel of acid. Or beating nearly to death a man with a baseball bat and then doing just about the same with a tennis racket. The director, Luc Besson, is fine with the violence but with the humor, not so much. He has a fine cast of De Niro, Pfeiffer, and Tommy Lee Jones but they bought into quite a violent and bloody script. The movie moves to a very violent climax in the small French town in Normandy, bringing together all the family members and their former friends in the Brooklyn Mafia. Every type of weapon is used and the body count goes over 10 or 12. Besson handles that scene in a very effective manner .It has to be one of best of any  year in it's category, but all the underlying violence and killing just put me off and it hits you in the face in the first scene.(None of this was in the previews I saw of this movie.)

 

Dad

 

P.S. I have not seen Michelle Pfeiffer in some time. It is quite evident she is in the same school of nourishment as Kelly Ripa. The thinking is you have to be able to count every rib of the person.

 

P.P.S. The previews were:

 

Don Jon

Out of the Furnace

Dallas Buyers Club

Inside  Llewyn Davis

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Closed Circuit

Jean, This must be the most cerebral movie I have seen in years. The cast, which I found just excellent, is giving you information on a number of levels throughout the film. It may be the English legal system, public versus private court, barrister versus solicitor,  their MI 5 versus MI 6, single versus double agents, etc. On top of that you have those very interesting London locations in that damp London weather. I just wished that I could "freeze-frame" the movie every so often and say "what did that  character just tell me?" I enjoyed trying to keep up with the main characters and what they were telling me. That was the only way to figure out who were the bad guys or gals and who were the good.  You have to work for an understanding of this plot line. I found it an interesting movie even with  it's cynical view of today's world.  Dad

 

P.S.  The previews were:

 

The Family

Dallas Buyers Club

Carrie

Rush

Escape Plan

The Fifth Estate

Elysium

Jean, This is District 9 on steroids to me. It has that look and all the dust and grime and poverty. But after seeing the big movies of the spring/summer, Oblivion, Iron Man 3, Star Trek,Into Darkness, Man Of Steel, World War Z, White House Down, Lone Ranger and Pacific Rim, I would put this one near the top. That is for the great look of the two different worlds shown, the great weapons they invent and you have Jason Bourne slugging it out. They put him in all these allegorical stories and inside all these Iron Man super suits and he is still that great no-holds -barred fighter. (They, also, did not make this a long movie which some have done this summer.) Matt Damon takes more punishment than even Batman did in his last movie.  Dad

 

P.S. The previews were:

 

Bad Grandpa

Thor: The Dark World

The Counselor

The Monument Men

Enders Game

Gravity