The Second Best Exotic Marigold Hotel

Jean, This is an entertaining enough sequel to the first movie.The entertainment comes from the performances of the big names such as Judi Dench, Maggie Smith, Richard Gere etc. The story line is almost serpentine in it's many different side stories you are asked to follow and keep straight. It shows that this follows a very successful movie, in that you can see a lot of money being spent .  They tell you the morale of the story is "the present is time", but am not sure what that is supposed to mean. You do see a lot of the streets of Jaipur and Mumbai. India but the travelogue aspects of India are not shown.   Dad

P.S. The previews are:

"71
Desert Dancer
Aloha
Woman in Gold

Cinderella

Jean, This is an very enjoyable and beautiful looking film. It is a live action film, not animated. The scenes and sets are more than you could wish for and the costumes are almost beyond belief. The well-known story is kept intact with a few touches of humor and fantasy. There are some quite magic moments such as the first appearance of the Fairy Godmother, the changing of the pumpkin into one amazing carriage, the emerging of Cinderella's dress ,  the magic ball, the clock striking 12 midnight and all that entails and on. Cinderella is personified by the acting of Lily James as the title character, and Kate Blanchett as the evil Stepmother. for example. You get your money's worth in this film with time spent on getting to know the characters and their stories. The director is Kenneth Branagh and he keeps this film moving along.  Also before the main film, there is a 10-12 minute short film starring the characters from "Frozen" entitled "Frozen Fever" with Elsa and Anna an others  back.  Dad

P.S. The previews were:

 Inside Out
PAN
Minions
H@me
Age of Adaline
Tomorrowland

A Most Violent Year

Jean, This is a very tense  and suspenseful film about New York in the year of 1981. (That year was one of the most violent in New York history.) A small business is trying to expand in the very competitive home heating oil delivery business. The two  business owners are Oscar Isaac and his wife in the movie,Christine Chasten. They are just excellent in their roles. Oscar Isaac reminds you of a young Al Pacino, say in the Godfather movies. Most of the violence is not shown but is beneath the surface. In the meetings of the main characters, much violence is clearly inferred.  One of the best atmospheric  movies to be seen in a long time. Dad

P.S. The previews were:

Leviathon
Clouds of Sils Maria
The Second Best Marigold Hotel
Red Army

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