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