Jupiter Ascending 3D

Jean, this is a soap opera with seemingly unlimited visual effects. It is another epic from the Wachowski brothers. What a confusing mish-mash of ideas. You are not disappointed with all kinds of quirky gadgets and life forms, however. You have anti-gravity boots for surfing in space, slow-motion bullets and projectiles, grotesque space ships, and gothic cities in space, lizards in uniforms, elephants at the space ship controls, war hammers against space ships and on and on. It is over 2 hours long. Acting in all this is Mila Kunis, Channing Tatum, Eddie Redmayne, Sean Bean,  among others. Singing behind this is  what sounded like the Red Army Chorus, as planets and and planets are destroyed. You come out of this visual effects vortex a little shell-shocked.  Dad

P.S. The Previews were:

Terminator: Genisys
Cappie
Spy
Run All Night
Focus
Insurgent

Kingsman, The Secret Service

Jean, This supposed to be a parody of all the past James Bond 007 movies. And for the first 30-40 minutes it does a fine job, especially the humor, due to the presence of Colin Firth. Then it descends into a mindless, non-stop series of hand to hand combat scenes and mass barroom brawls. It really becomes tedious with all the count down situations you endure, one after another.  This movie has an unusual large number of product placements as well, from MacDonalds, to specific beers and scotch brands. Wait for Netflix on this one.  Dad

P.S. The previews were:

Run All Night

Age of Adeline

Entourage, the movie

'71

American Sniper

Jean, This is a grim and gritty and sometimes gruesome movie. It shows Clint Eastwood's respect for the military and their mission in Irag. The story is about a Navy Seal who became an American sniper with 4 tours of duty in Irag. He is credited with over 160 kills in those tours of duty. This is 2 hours and 14 minutes of fire fights in Irag with really a minimum of family scenes in the "states". Bradley Cooper plays the role of the sniper in an excellent understated manner. He shows the affects of the killings on  a human in so many small but effective ways. There are no bands playing, and soldiers marching here, but a realistic and thought provoking  look at a military man's life. Dad

The previews were:

Kingsman

Love Has No Color

Chappie

Mad Max: Fury Road

Into the Woods

Jean, This is film version of Sondheim's musical. It has a number of stars in cameo and full roles including  Johnny Depp. Meryl Streep, Chris Pine, Tracey Ullmann, Anna Kendrick, Emily Blunt and others. I went to see it as the musical is to a great part sung with little speaking.  The lyrics are so clever and rhymes on top of rhymes.  You can sit there and just listen to the words and enjoy music and sing-song story unfold. I was surprised how many parents brought their children and this was way over their heads. Many of the Grimm fairy tale characters are in the same wood, from Cinderella, Rapunzel to Jack and the Bean Stalk and the Giant and Red Riding Hood. It looks great up on the screen with visual effects and elaborate sets. It is an enjoyable film if long at 125 minutes.  Dad

The previews were:

Selma

Longest Ride

Little Boy

Age of Adaline

Cinderella

Taken 3

 

 
 Jean, Since I saw the first two, I had to see the third. The first was quite entertaining, but the second was poor and all about  about running up and down narrow alleys in Turkey. This third one is not even as good as the second one. You never leave Los Angeles. There some run-of-the-mill car chases and the automatic weapons shooting up a lot of windows and bars full of liquor bottles. But the story about  Liam Neeson saving his wife or ex-wife or his daughter is getting so old. Even those "bad guy Russians" are so yesterday. This is not that entertaining.  Dad

P.S. The previews were:

Chappie

Mordecai

Terminator:  Genisys

Unfinished Business

Kingsman

Run All Night

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