Movie Guru Corey

10. Inside out 9.   Brooklyn 8.   Sicario 7.   It Follows 6.   Steve Jobs 5.  Ex Machina 4.   The Big Short 3.   The Martian 2.   Bridge of Spies 1.   Spotlight Honerable mentions: Paddington, Creed, The Gift, Shaun the Sheep, and Dope

10. The Loft 9.   The Gunman 8.    Hot Pursuit 7.    Hot Tub Time machine 2 6.    Love the Coopers 5.    Woman in Black 2 4.     Fantastic 4 3.     Rock the Kasbah 2.     The Lazarus Effect 1.      The Perfect Guy Dishonerable mentions: Minions, Jupiter Ascending, and The Seventh Son

This week there were not many choices when it came to movie trailers. This week is a bit different, the film has actually been out for a while, but it never got a US translation. Daisey Ridley and Dev Patel lend their voices to the film. The film is about a twenty something women that learns to be happy through her middle school self. The movie hits select theaters February 26.

When it comes to remakes, the question on the writers mind should be how can I improve on the original. Many people consider the 1991 original to be a classic, by many standards, it was over the top fun. This film goes with nearly the same plot, Johnny Utah ( Luke Bracey),fresh from the FBI academy is out on the case of Bodhi (Edgar Ramierez) who seems to be robbing places for no reason. For those that have seen the original the one real difference that you will notice the action has been turned up a considerable amount. The problem I found was it lacked the originals overall cheessenes. Putting the film into 3d,I thought, was a bit of an odd choice, but it is something that wasn't as bad as some films in 3d recently. GRADE: C-

        With the year coming to a close there is one movie that expands from a limited release. Since released on Christmas Day, The Hateful Eight has done fantastic in its run, to the point were it's expansion was pushed up.                                           The Hateful Eight

Christmas brings us another Will Ferrel comedy, this time in the form of Daddy's Home. Ferrell teams up again with Mark Wahlberg, who had critic and comercial success in their last outing, The Other Guys. This time Brad (Will Ferrel) is doing the best he can to be a good stepfather to his wife's children. One day Dusty (Mark Wahlberg) comes back and decides he wants his family back. This idea has been used in some way or another through many different films over the years. It really needs to be out to rest for a while.The PG13 rating was because of several sexual comments that just seemed to be forced which could have made this film easily pg. Finally, nearly all of the jokes fell flat which maybe speaks to the over used concept. GRADE:D

        When it comes to Jenifer Lawrence and David O Russel many think of greatness like American Hustle and Silver Linings playbook. Coming into it, knowing it was not shown very much previous to the critic screening, did not get my hopes up for this.        From the beginning, the story was nearly spelling out that Joy was meant for great things, but life seemed to get in the way. All things started to change when she cleans up red wine off the floor of her father's girlfriend's yacht floor. A mop that rings out itself. She gets her family to help get the mop business started. The movie goes through the lows and the highs of this endeavor.        Most of this movie seems so much like a movie we see every other week. So the question is, what is made up in this film what seems so familiar or is the true parts just so formulated these days? I'm honestly not sure what the answer is.  ...

This is a movie that has been out for a very long time and I just found it a local theater. As some of you may know movies that are compeling and raw. This film has this and so much more. When the Catholic sex scandal broke in the early 2000s I was in middle school and did not know the power of this story. This rocked many to to their core but at the same time helped so many. This film starts with a possible story for the Spotlight team (Mike Keaton, Mark Ruffalo, and Rachel Mcadams).Once the evidence piled in, it goes into serious scroutiny over everything to,make sure the story stuck. The absolute detail out into this film is something that is rare these days. This on top of strong performances from Keaton and Rufallo. With this film there is huge contenders in Oscar time. Only time will tell. GRADE:A+

The trailer for this week kind of took me by surprise because I had never heard of it, which is very rare . This film is from the father son team of Alfonso and Jonas Cuaron. The film stars Gael Bernal and Jeffery Dean Morgan. Gael stars as Moises a man trying to get back across to the United States to his child. Morgan plays Sam a man that believes the government is not doing what it should to block illegal imigration, so he takes drastic measures to stop them. The film hits theaters March 4 2016.

When people look at the team up of Amy Poehler and Tina Fey people think of Weekend update and Baby Mama.  Going into this my hopes were probably set a bit higher than what it probably should have been. They star as Maura and Kate Ellis. They come to Florida to find that their parents (James Brolin and Diane Wiest) have sold their childhood home. The sisters throw a huge party in the house to send it off, hijinx do ensue. I have been a huge fan of these two since the weekend update days, so like I said, my hopes were very high. Going in I expected this film to I expected this film to be very funny and it was not. There were many jokes that fell flat. It really just ended up feeling like a standard coming of age story which is sad to see. GRADE: C

I will try to keep this as low of a spoiler count as I can, but this is a warning to the readers. Going into this film I tried to keep my expectations as low as I possibly could because, well the prequels. The film picks up thirty years after the return of the Jedi and a new empire has a empire has risen in the form of the First Order. Their mission is to destroy everything that destroyed the original Empire, including Luke Skywalker. The film most defintley gets the feel of the original films back, which was very necessary for a movie like this. To me, there were two great perfomances in the film, in the form of Oscar Isaac as Pie and Daisey Ridley. There were a few things I was a little eh about as well. The film had serious mirrors to A New Hope which made the movie thoroughly predictable the whole way through. The character of Poe played by Oscar Isaac was criminally under used considering how well the character is written written. Finally, Kylo Ren peopl have criticised the...

This film marks the fourth in the decently sucessful franchise. This time around Alvin, Simon, and Theodore are growing up and Dave (Jason Lee) is trying to give them more responsibility and they fail, a lot. With Dave now a successful record producer, he goes to Miami and takes his new girlfriend Samantha ( Kimberly Williams-Paisley) with him. The guys think that he is going to propose and the mischief ensues. This movie, I don't believ, was as horrible as I thought it was going to be but there is issues. This film continues on taking the singing away from the chipmunks, which made the first two films better. It bugs the question as to why make sequels when you run out of material with the original formula. Secondly, the is is also the second film in a row where the villain is way to under developed for anyone to really care who he is. This is a real shame because Tony Hale is a very talented actor. I could even go as far as to say his character being more than a cameo is bad....

This is the week that many people have been waiting for, the release of Star Wars. It has come. Starring Harrison Ford, Daisey Ridley and Osscar Issac, this movie is expected to shatter records. How many records, will be seen. For those who are not fans of Star Wars, or it sells out there are two more wide releases. Tina Fey and Amy Poehler team up again in the film Sisters. The film tells the story of two sisters who throw one last party in the house throw grew up in before it is sold. Finally there is the fourth installment in the chipmunks series, this sends the crew to Miami for another crazy adventure.

This week was a very tough choice with a of the epic trailers released this week. My pick for the week is the latest in the X men franchise. It has the returning cast like James McAvoy, Michael Fassbender, and Jenifer Lawrence. There are many new comers to this case including Oscar Isaac, Sophie Turner, Olivia Munn, and Tye Sheridan. This is a setup for a very epic showdown worth to be called a finale. The X men take on the first mutant, who is bent on world, domination. The film drops May 27, 2016, check it out!

   The Ridiculous Six is the start of the long contract that Adam Sandler signed with Netflix. It comes in the form of the spoof of the classic Magnificent 7.      In the story it surrounds White Knife (Adam Sandler) and his seemingly perfect life with the apache tribe. Things get a little messy when his long absent father (Nick Nolte) shows up and is subsequently kidnapped. Fifty thousand dollars is needed to set him free, so White Knife takes it upon himself to rob the terrible people of the West to get his father back. Along the way he finds out that he has many other brothers in the shape of Taylor Lautner, Terry Crews, Rob Schneider, Jorge Garcia, and Luke Wilson.      Through most of the later of Sandler's Carter you could at least count on his movies being entertaining. This film seemed choppy in places when it came to the story. None of the jokes seemed to really work. It's hard to say but Sandler has done so much better even in recent...

      I am one that keeps up with better than most people I have known through the years. The one thing I have not heard about this year is the performance of Bryan Cranston as the legendary screenwriter Dalton Trumbo. Cranston now has both a golden globe and sag nomination. Once you see this film, I hope you can agree there is no one else that could have played this man.      The film picks up in the height of his career where he is very well respected in Hollywood getting job after job. The one problem he had was, he was a registered communist. This did not sit well with a lot of people in that era. When it came to the Red scare the government started its witch hunt with Hollywood and subsequently, Dalton Trumbo. Trumbo was put in front of a congressional hearing, and did not fold like many did in the day. The movie mostly focuses on what occurs during and after this hearing.    The performance of Cranston is the huge plus of this film. I al...

   In the Heart of the Sea depicts the true events that inspired the Herman Melvile classic Moby Dick.   The movie focuses on Owen Chase and George Pollard played by Chris Hemsworth and Ben Walker. They are tasked with running the whale ship Essex and gathering 2000 barrels of whale oil. Just days off port bad things start happening, including nearly getting sunk by a squal. After their first whale they hit a bit of a dry spell. They port and here of a huge pod of whales. The rest is legend.  The film is directed by legendary director Ron Howard, who uses the visual effects to his advantage, which is pretty much the whole time the film at sea.  My problem is it really does not go into very much depth when it comes to the tragedy portion of the story, so in the end, I am not sure their struggles are felt as well as they could. GRADE:C+

  The week before the Force Awakens has one wide release for us.    This week brings us In the Heart of the Sea. This is the true story that inspired the Moby Dick novel. The film stars Chris Hemsworth, Cillian Murphy, Tom Holland, and Brendan Gleeson.

When it comes to writer and director, he has written and directed many cult films such as Kiss Kiss Bang Bang and writing films like Lethal Weapon. So when I heard of Nice Guys in development, I was excited, and the trailer backs what I was hoping for. In case there is anyone on the young side reading this, there is a lot of language and some nudity in it. Nice Guys is out next summer.

In limited release we have the film, The     Letters, which tells the of story of the early works of Mother Teresa also while trying to cover right after her life and the possibility of her becoming a saint.  First of all when you have a movie that stars Max Von Sydow and Rutger Hauer, it is really hard not to have my expectations on the high side. I believe that the biggest problem with this film is that with what they have in the film it does not work as a a flash back film, it should have been one or the other. With the way they have it, it ends up bland. GRADE: C-

       Over the years there have been many working of the Krampus story. We now come to this film co written and directed by Trick or Treat helmer Mike Dougherty.       This film at the center has a very dysfunctional family. Every one is resenting each other in one way or another. Max has his letter to Santa read and mocked in front of everybody and explodes. He wishes that all of his family would just go away, this unfortunately brings out Krampus.       This film is full of humor with a decent amount of creepy moments. I love the fact that it does not take it self to seriously. I believe it also plays off that fact. The Krampus helpers were very well designed. In the end it was a whole lot better then I expected. GRADE:B

This week there is only one wise release this week and it comes in the form of the horror comedy Krampus. This movie stars Adam Scott and Emjay Anthony among many other people. Krampus is the story German folklore that tells of a monster that comes to take people that don't behave to hell on Christmas.

This week was few and far between when it came to film trailers. This one I felt was something that is set to have a great performance by Tom Hiddleston. We will get to see March 2016.

        Once I heard that this film was written author Nick Hornby, the man behind High Fidelity and Fever Pitch, I was very interested.          This film centers around Eilis (Saoirse Ronan) and her immigration from Ireland to the United States or well, Brooklyn, New York in the case of the story. She gets to the US, was very scared, and home sick. She makes friends in the way of the Irish boarding house lead by Mrs Kehoe ( Julie Walters). One day while at a church she meets Tony (Emory Cohen) and the sparks fly. When tragedy strikes in Ireland, Eilis is caught between her future and her past.              Besides the story, there are many other aspects of the film that are excellent.  The performance of Saoirse Ronan as Eilis was amazing and should put her in top contention for best actress in the Oscar race. The set and costume design were b...

When you think of Pixar, you think of greatness like Inside Out and Toy Story. This week brought the second Pixar film of the year, the Good Dinosaur. We as the film viewing nation, get two Pixar films because it was thought that what they had with Good Dinosaur so far was not up to the par of Pixar. People were let go, things were redone and here we go. This has a great concept, what happens if the asteroid never hit and the dinosaurs lived.  Arlo is the smallest of three kids of Ma(Fracnces McDormand) and Pa (Jeffery Wright). The family is all about making their mark, or going above and beyond one self. Arlo's brother and sister do it pretty fast, but Arlo cant find his courage. When he is swept away by a river and dragged miles from anything he knows, he has to find courage to get home. This review is one where I am at a bit of a loss for words because really its not that there was so much wrong with it as in the fact there was absolutely nothing special about it. It really ...

         When doing a monster film especially after the classics of the 1920's and 30's, to me, there has to be decent amount of homage to the original while making your own thing.      This movie centers around Igor (Daniel Radcliffe) and his start as a circus hunchback. When a trapeze accident occurs Igor meets Victor Frankenstein to save the artist. Victor ( James McAvoy) sees something in him and springs him from the circus. The rest is legend.     Ok there are several notes on this film. If you call a movie Victor Frankenstein do not have the main character be igor, that's wrong. There is no development of the Victor or Igor characters. The monster is something of legenf, and he was mishandled as well. In the end when you remake a film it needs to be improved on and in no ways has this film done that. GRADE: D-

      Through this week there have been many good trailers that have come out over the past week, and there is one that almost took the gold, but then the Civil War teaser came out. Personally, I was not a huge fan of the last Avengers film, but this caught my eye.      This movie stars a whole bunch of people including Chris Evans, Robert Downey Jr, and Anthony Mackie. The story centers around the split of the Avengers because of a bill that forces people people with abilities to register with the government. Some of the Avengers like it, some don't, take a look!

         Many people when looking at this film seem to groan say "why another Rocky film?", thinking that is the biggest mistake you will make about this film. He is in the film, but he has in fact become the mentor.        Adonis Johnson is the secret son of the late Apollo Creed thanks to an affair.   Adonis (Michael B Jordan) starts out trying to do the boxing to as a side career, but realizes that is not what he wants. Adonis moves to Philadelphia to train and hope to get Rocky Balboa (Sylvester Stallone) as his trainer. Balboa, in the beginning, is hesitant, but gives in, in the end. Rocky moves Adonis out of Micky's gym to get away from the gym mate that has challenged him to his first real fight. During the training, it is revealed that Rocky has a fight of his own to take on.      This movie works on so many levels, it kind of surprised. It works as a sequel in the Rocky, wh...

     With the Thanksgiving holiday coming up, the three new films of the week are now going to be released on the Wednesday before.       We first have the Rocky spinoff Creed, staring Michael B Jordan and Sylvester Stallone. This time Rocky is slid to the supporting role in favor of giving the son that Apollo Creed never knew, the spotlight.       We have the second Pixar movie of the year with The Good Dinosaur. This film explores the idea of what would have happened if the asteroid never wiped out the dinosaurs.       Finally, there is Victor Frankenstein, which stars James McAvoy and Daniel Radcliff. This film explores the friendship of Frankenstein and Igor during the creation of the Frankenstein monster.

Oscar nominee Billy Ray takes on a remake of the 2009 Oscar winning foreign film Secret in Their Eyes. He has a huge cast to back him up including Nicole Kidman, Julia Roberts, Lee Noris, Michael Kelly, Chiwetel Ejiofor, and Alfred Molina. The story revolves around a group of counter terrorist agency right after 9-11. They get a call about a body in a dumpster next to a Mosque that they were investigating. Ray (Chiwetel Ejiofor) and Jess( Julia Roberts) went to investigate like it be any other case, except it isn’t, it ends up being Jess's daughter. The murder goes unsolved, and thirteen years later a second crack at it. To me there was chemistry that worked and some that don’t. The chemistry between Julia Roberts and Chiwetel Ejiofor is fantastic. The chemistry between Nicole Kidman and Chiwetel Ejiofor lacked, considering they are supposed to be romantically interested in each other. The selling point of the movie is going to be what the secret will be. Watching the ...

      This week brings us the second Christmas movie of the season, in the form of the stoner comedy The Night Before. Ethan, Issac, and Chris (Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Seth Rogen, and Anthony Mackie) are life long friends, and after the death of Ethan's parents, the tradition of partying Christmas Eve was born.        Years later they all agree that this is the last year for the partying. This year they were able to get tickets to the coveted Night Cracker ball. Everyone has their personal battles to deal with: Ethan is afraid of being alone, Issac is having a baby and Chris is trying to deal with being famous. All of these problems come out in full force during the film.      This film is directed by Jonothan Levine, who directed Levitt and Rogen in the cancer film 50/50 comes back to direct this film, while it is not as good it is not without some merits. The movie is very funny, with one of the better performances done by Rogen. I ...

          This week brings us the last in the Hunger Games series, Mockingjay Part 2. Following the success of the split of the last book of the Harry Potter franchise, Hunger Games also split it's last book in two films, in hope to mirror this success.      So with trying to not give too many spoilers away for those who have not read the book, the whole story of the last half of the book is to get Katniss (Jenifer Lawrence) to the presidential palace to kill President Snow ( Donald Sutherland).      This film is all about the action that part 1 sorely lacked. The problem was with the parts that were not action , primarily the Peta Katniss relationship, to me, seemed to not really work in the story. The large amount of the story is making Panem a democratic country. The relationship part just seems to be added. This why I believe the Mockingjay book should have one film. All of the story occured in ...

  So this week is the week where serious blockbusters of the holiday season start. This week there are three wide release films.    The big talk of the weekend will be how well will Mockingjay Part 2 do? Everyone will want to see how Katniss (Jenifer Lawrence) and company take down President Snow (Donald Sutherland).     For people that are not fans of the Hunger Games there is the Crime thriller Secret in their Eyes. It is the story of Jess (Julia Roberts) and her struggle to bring the murderer of her daughter to justice.       Finally, on the lighter note, there is the  Seth Rogen comedy The Night Before. It revolves around three friends with a history of partying on Christmas Eve going out for one final ride before they essentially have to grow up.

    There were a few decent trailers released this week that could have all made it to the trailer of the week this week. The winner, from what I have viewed, goes to the new Zoolander trailer.     This film has Zoolander helping Interpol investigating the murders of very attractive people who die with Zoolander's signature poses on their faces.    Coming to theaters Febuary 2016, the film stars Ben Stiller, Owen Wilson, Will Ferrell, Penelope Cruz, and Benedict Cumberbatch. Take a look!

    The 33 tells the story of the San Jose mine and its collapse in 2010. 33 men were trapped miles underground for 69 days and all ended making it. This movie tells the story of what happens above and below ground.     The key to this film was to try and make you feel for the miners and the families. It makes a semi decent attempt at it. With many of the disaster films where a rescue is needed, a formula comes with it , many fall into that, unfortunately, so does this film. When watching this film it really feels like you have seen so many of these elements before.  This unfortunately holds it back from being a great film.  There are some good parts to the film  though. The performance given by Antonio Banderas was the best I have seeen from him in avery long time. Also the way theey executed the collapse was very well done.   In the end it has some things going for  it but the story holds it back. GRADE:C

          It is very hard to write what would be considered a great sports movies, because all are generally done in the same way. When it comes to writer director Angelo Pizzo, who wrote two of what are considered the greatest sports films of all time, Rudy and Hoosiers. Since thoose films sports films in general have followed the same formula. So when we get to My All American it ends up with that formula.        Finn Wittrock stars as Fred Steinmark, a kid that grew up playing football. When it was time to go to college he gets rejected multiple times because they thought he was too small to play safety.  He finally gets a chance at the University of Texas from coach Darrell Royal (Aaron Eckhart). By the beginning of sophomore year he gets to start. This is the story of the whirlwind season.      Since I dont really know too much of the story I could not know what is really e...

           I really wanted to like this movie, I thought it had a very entertaining trailer. It has a very big cast including Diane Keaton, John Goodman, Alan Arkin and Ed Helms. On top of that, as embarrassing as this may be, I do have a soft spot for sentimental Christmas movies.            To put this in as short of a summary as possible, it is the day before Christmas at the parents house (John Goodman and Diane Keaton), it is all about the crazyness that ensues on the day.          First of all this film is advertised as comedy when it is very much not. It is very much on the drama side with a  slight comedy. Another problem it has is way too many characters in one film. When there are so many characters in one movie it is hard to develop any of the characters to the point where people care. With so many characters it is also hard for the story to have fo...

This week we get a calm before the storm that is Hunger Games. There are three films in at over 1000 screens starting tomorrow The 33: The story of the Chilean miners and their 2010 rescue after the mine collapses. My All American: My All American is the story of a kid who was thought to be to small to play football and how he ends up with a scholarship to the University of Texas. Love the Coopers Finally,there is the family comedy Love the Coopers about a family's return home for a Christmas feast.

Today is the day we honor our veterans we have many films that honor these men. Saving Private Ryan The story of a troop trying to bring a last living son home. Lone Survivor: Story of Marcus Luttrell and his account of what accored during the failed mission of operation Redwing. The Great Escape: The courageous story of how men captured by the German army during world war 2 create and hatch a plan to escape the camp. Honor the veterans most of us don't know what they went throufh, bu they have fought for us.

When people think of Pixar and the desire for the sequel, people wanted one to the 2003 Finding Nemo. In this film we find the quirky Dory has disappeared due to what looks like sleep swimming, and as we all know she has some memory issues. By the end of the trailer she does seem to remember some things, which is a very interesting concept. We will get to see what happens June 17, 2016. 

Ok, a couple weeks ago was the release of the trailer that broke the internet, now this weekend there was a realse of a Japanese trailer with tons of new footage. There was far less use of the Oscar Issac character Poe this time around which I didn't think would happen. There has been a lot of Rey and Fin, maybe there is a surprise in it for when the film comes out. I do love the trailer it has the action that feels the same as the original trilogy which is exciting. I do hope that keeping Mark Hamill out of the trailers doesn't mean bad things for Luke. We will see!!

This is a movie that can be for everyone from kids to adults. As a kid I loved watching the vhs cartoons, they were always so funny. So coming into this I had high expectations, which most of the time is not good. The basic story of the film is Charlie Brown trying to make him feel worthy enough to talk to the new red headed girl. This film does have remanats of the old movies while bringing heart that doesn't seem like it was in them. It is a worthy movie for the Peanuts franchise. GRADE:B

Since I did go on a whole thing about star wars earlier in the blog I say stick with the theme. Here is the new international trailer! Discussion coming soon......

I may be a little biased here I was one of the very few it seemed to not be totally dazzled by Skyfall, to me, I compare it to Casino Royale. This time around there is an attempt to shut down the 00 program in light of more technological means. While this is happening Bond is following one last tip from Q and it leads Bond to a connection to his past. In the end this is a very long movie but I don't believe there is any way it could have been shorter. The problem comes in the story. The main vilian played by Christoph Waltz seems to be under utilized and under developed. The whole thing with the complete connection to the past was not used to its potential.  In the end it is no where near the worst bond , if I had to say, probably my second favorite in the Craig saga. GRADE: B-

This week starts the the big movies of the holiday season with the release of Spectre and Peanuts Movie. These films are both projected to do well, only time will tell.

Another entry into the horror comedy genre comes with Scout Guide to the Zombie Apocalypse.  Three scouts ( Tye Sheridan, Logan Miller, and Joey Morgan) are out on a campout when a zombie outbreak occurs. While trying to go to a party and discovering the outbreak, the scouts run into a tough cocktail waitress Denise ( Sarah Dumont). It becomes about getting through the zombies using the skills they learned as scouts. This movie is no where near perfect, but going in expecting perfection is a big mistake. There are decent amount of very funny parts. The movie is here to entertain. GRADE: C+

For this weeks featured trailer I have the new one from the Kung Fu Panda franchise. The first two films were good, I have no worries about this film. Adding Bryan Cranston to the cast will be a huge plus too. Kung fu Panda 3 hits theaters January 29, 2016

When I was you I did enjoy watching Dan Rather on 60 minutes. I guess I was to young and oblivious to what happen that caused him his job. This film was based on a book by the women who this story centers around, Mary Mapes.  This does bring up the question as to how accurate can this film really be if it told by the person who is essentially the main character of the story. Watching it you can see there is a heavy push to say that Rather and Mapes were in the right,even if they really couldn't prove it. If you don't know the controversy, here it is. At this point of the Bush vs Kerry campaign, a lot of emphasis was put on the candidates military record. Mapes ( Cate Blanchett) heard of a possibility that Bush may have went AWOL from the Texas Air National Gaurd. What it seems from the movie is she grabbed at straws even if it might not be accurate. After it was called out by other news stations things really unravel fast. Now do we have all of the facts, no, but is it a c...

I hope that everyone that has read my Halloween selection has evnjoyed it, both the good and the bad. For the final one I will go with my favorite horror film, John carpenter's The Thing. How can it possibly get any better than a shapeshifting alien that eats people. On top of the fact that they are isolated in a frozen tundra. How can it get any more terrifying.

I first do want to give this movie credit for the attempt at the political satire because its a very risky genre your either good or not, no inbetween.    Jane ( Sandra Bullock) is a political strategist who was good at what she did but lost her touch, so she retired. A couple years later she is brought out of retirement to help a struggling Bolivian presidential candidateand she accepts. As the race goes on lines get crossed and hands get dirty.   In the end to me how it ended was horrible for the story, there is no soft landing in political satire. That really killed the kick in the pants the film needed to make it a lot better. GRADE:D+

I suppose it is a little cliche using Halloween as an example of a good horror film on Halloween, but hey who cares! The big difference to me with this and most horror is the jump scares. To me, in this film, there were none. It just seemed to me there were a lot of creepy parts. There was just something about a person escaped from a mental hospital, in a shattner mask killing people that was cool.

This film was a marker for me in the sense that I really started to notice how horrible scary movies were getting.   Going in I thought this would be good because of it being a remake of what I had heard was not a horibble film...... Well I was wrong. For those who don't know the story a little girl's parents are murdered and the murderer is arested. The killer ecapes on the now grown girl's Prom night to exact revenge. All I can say is cheap scares do not work.

  Breaking the scary rule for the funniest movie about zombies, sorry Shaun of the Dead.   It is simply about a group of people trying to get from one place to another. What makes it good is they made a comedy where you actually care fore the characters, which is really hard to do. The movie also happens to be crazy funny so, how can you go wrong?

 Going into this film I had such high hopes for it, Brad Cooper has been pretty consistent in picking good projects. I am very sad to say this was not near as good as I was hoping.    Adam Jones (Cooper) plays a chef that was on the top and was able to get the Michelin star, twice. The power got to his head, and crashed.   He pops up back in England and with the help of Tony ( Daniel Bruhl) and Helena (Siena Miller) he makes a run for it.   Personally I believe its biggest problem is in the screenplay. It seemed a lot of conviences and very predictable. In the end solid performances, lacking story. GRADE: C-

When doing these bad scary movies I really try to look for ones that are super bad. This movie is all about what you sound like when you die and since it is of curbecause of a ghost. This film was super predictable the whole way through and on top of it there was no real end. Very aggravating!

Here are the movies coming out for this week: Burnt Our Brand is Crisis Truth Scouts Guide to the Zombie Apocalypse

      The first Scream is considered by many to be one of the greatest horror films of the 90s. It still blows my mind that you can make such a good film with so many horror cliches in the same film. Now people arent as fond of the sequals, but really it is more of the same, which most people are not fond of.

I do want to start doing some trailer post on a regular basis, so here is dirty Grandpa. This is something I heard about a couple months ago and did not think much of but after watching the trailer today, it seems very funny. Take a look.

I just wanted to give a quick thank you to people reading this blog it is more popular than I could ever imagine in these first two months. I am very greatful!

Now this is very much a Halloween movie but scary, no. What we do in the shadows is the funniest movie I have seen this year. The story is the daily life of four vampires renting out a flat in New Zealand and how their lives are turned upside down when an unwanted vampire shows up. Anyone that hasn't seen it, should. I know I broke the horror rule but this is worth checking out.

      Like previously said, there are the good horror films, and then there is the Lazarus Effect. This movie seemed to rip the plot of the action film Lucy, to a tee, and tried to make it a scary film. The scary thing about this movie is how little it changed from an action film. The basis is someone dies and is brought back to life. The twist is she uses her new found psychic powers for bad instead of good, well better intentions.  Venturing off in a different direction could have helped save it.

  This is considered by many to be a very well made horror film. Unlike with yesterday, this movie is a little less subtle than, It follows. This movie is based on a case of real life, paranormal hunters, Ed and Loraine Warren. It has decent scares and to me the best exorcism scene of any movie I have ever seen. To me, having some sense in reality can make it a little better too, like the film Exorcism of Emily Rose. Horror movies work when they do not go for the cheap thrills. This idea was thrown out the window when they did the spin off Annabelle.

    As everyone knows not all horror films can be good. This genre has no middle they are either bad or good. The Apparition   is not one of the better movies. It is about an entity that comes from a different dimension  an grows in power as people start to believe in it. Now this doesn't seem like a bad idea but there was no explanation to it beside it being a crazy experiment. Cheap thrills and no real ending.  Perhaps you guys enjoy this film, but this is a pick for the bad horror department.

     Like I said in my preview post Halloween means scary movies. This week, I will be spending each day going through the best and the worst, according to me.      I first wanted to talk about a film that is on the better side. It Follows came out earlier this year and I was surprised on how much I liked it. It was something of a rather simple concept but it did work on each level. One thing that I do like is subtle horror, not a film that is constantly is going for the jump scares. In the case of this film you get cursed when having sex with the wrong person. The curse follows you until it gets you very subtle until it gets you, subtle to the end. If you liked the film or not let me know in the comments.

Halloween time means time for trick or treating and scary films so all this week we go through some of the best and possibly, some of the worst. We will try and have fun.

      There have been several renditions of Steve Jobs in the past but this one is heads above the rest of them. It is hard to really know where to start with this film, starting with director Danny Boyle and screenwriter Aaron Sorkin. You then add the likes of Michael Fassbender, Kate Winslet, and Jeff Daniels who all give fantastic performances, it is hard to drop the ball.      This film centers around three iconic moments in his life: 1984 Macintosh release, 1988 Next release, and the 1998 imac release. The film goes through some of the biggest struggles including with his first daughter Lisa. When it comes to bio pictures I am not usually a fan, but this was different, it did not seem so long and drawn out, which plagues most bio pictures. The final thing is Fassbender really nails his Jobs performance which is essential for a film like this,     In the end this film deserves a place at the Oscars, to me, so far, Fassbender is the front ...

       Woodlawn is the story of how one team overcame diversity to excel as a team. In this case there is a religious component put in this film. As I have said in past reviews Hollywood tends to glamorize religion for the sake of the "story". Sad to say, this is one of those  films.         This film is one that echoes the Denzel Washington film Remember the Titans. One year the black community is segregated into the white community and they do not like it. In the case of Woodlawn what brings the team together is a sports chaplain (Sean Astin), instead of football camp. When they come together, they really start to win. The similarities in both films is really hard to ignore when watching woodlawn.       Don't get me wrong this film is not nearly as bad as some of the other religious films. There are parts that are just so cheesy and cliched, its at times hard to watch. It seems the idea of hitting a happy ending home was...

When it comes to the Hasbro film adaptations most people do not expect it to be very good, sadly this film is one of those examples. Jerrica (Aubrey Peeples) lives with her sisters and aunt (Molly Ringwold). This is a family that is close and has music that bonds them. When a recording of Jerrica goes on YouTube it goes viral. With her aunts house being foreclosed she decides to do it to try and save the  house. Once her famous life begins a link to her past forth new challenges. In the end it just stays by the books. It could have been so much more. It's sad I was hoping for more from it. GRADE:C-

  I have to say I love Vin Diesel, I follow him on Facebook, he brings a charm to his characters and this one is really no different. Having said that it did lack in may places. For the most part the film is very predictable, there seems to be a lot of conveniences and oh come on moments.  Diesel plays Kaulder, a man that is more than eight hundred years old because of a curse put on him by the witch queen. After the events of the witch queen, he spends his life hunting down witches that break the treaty put in  place to protect humans from witch magic.  Its a tough balance that Diesel's character must keep.  I do somehow believe that if this movie had an R rating it would have been a tad better. GRADE: D+

 As much respect as I have for Bill Murray and his career, looking back at what  I watched, I really am not sure I can make heads or tails of what I watched.    Murray stars as Rich Lanz, a down on his luck music agent, who brings his talent (Zooey Deschanel) to Afghanistan to sing for the troops. His client ditches and takes his money and passports. Lanz gets help from two gun smugglers (Danny Mcbride and Scott Caan) and some interesting things happen.   The problem is this is a very loveable cast but the script is all over the place and lacks focus that could make it better. GRADE: D

For me three posts on one film is not something I usually do but I feel now there is more things to address about it can nsidering it will likely be either the biggest or second biggest film of the year.   People have exploded online that through all the trailers there is not a single scene with him in it. There have been people that have gone as far to say that luke has turned into the Villan of the film Kylo Ren. This makes no sense at all.  At least to me it seems if he would have went to the darkside, it would have been when his father tempted him. Having said this, it seems weird that there is nothing from him. To me a better theory would be that Luke's son turned to the dark side and became Kylo ren. We will all just have to wait and find out.

       So by now most of the free world has seen the latest trailer for the Force Awakens. From what I have read and heard most of what people are crazy for this film.     It was interesting to me that through the whole trailer, nothing in terms of what it is about, which could be bad or good depending on the way you look at it. There are many interesting little tid bits in the trailer.  It was interesting to see one of the characters, unknown to us now, going through down star destroyers.    Over all, this has the feel of the original three films, which lacked in the prequels to me, quite horribly. I do hope that is something that I can count on come December 18th.    The question on everybody's mind is how will it do in the money department. We all know it has the potential to be really big but how big? Will it break the 650 million record set by Jurassic World? There is also the dismal 350 million return of the Revenge of t...

Here it is,discussion of the trailer coming tomorrow.

  Having  Spielberg and Hanks do a film together usually means great things from Saving Private Ryan to The Terminal, they have always done good work together. Things don't change with the new film, Bridge of Spies.   Hanks stars as Jim Donovan, a lawyer pushed into defending a known Russian spy Rudalph Able (Mark Rylance). The story ih how even though Donovan doesn't agree with what Able did, he still believes in a fair trial for him. The story goes on to an American pilot being shot down over Russia and how bad the United States want him back.     This film doesn't seem to be marketed as the blockbuster status Spielberg films usually are but it doesn't make it any less good. It makes me want to be there in East Berlin to see what really happened and that is hard to do. GRADE:A

From the time I first watched Hellboy I knee that I'd always be a fan of Guillermo del Toro. To me he seemed to be a master visual story teller.    We move on to this year's Crimson Peak and for at least a lot of it. I'm not really sure if it was marketed the wrong way, but horror for this film is a very big strech. This film is very much a mystery with horror elements in it. A lot of people get mad with misrepresentation like that.  The film centers around Edith Cushing (Mia Wasikowska) and the paranormal encounters she encounters once she marries Thomas Sharpe (Tom Hiddleston).    In the end, not a terrible film, just one where the third act was not all I hoped it would be. GRADE: C+

As many people that grew up in the 1990s I was stoked to see what could be done with a movie. Fast forward to 2015 and here we are.  Zach (Dylan Minnette) moves to Delaware with his mother (Amy Ryan) next to Rl Stein (Jack Black) who first seems to not be very nice, but he is hiding a secret.   This movie is highly entertaining, having said that there a few convieniant points in the script. GRADE: C+

Perhaps not reading the book didnt help when I viewed this film because the more I thought about this the more that it struck me as a hallmark movie.    Ashley Judd plays Ave, a middle aged women that runs a family drugstore and is a big part in her small town of Big Stone Gap. The big thing with the plot is why doesn't she have a man. Her world gets turned upside down when her mother passes away. She then goes on to try to meet the father she has never met.   In the end the characters end being very one dimensional with a story that does very little in helping those characters develop. Much like a hallmark film. Grade: D-

     The topic of 3D always comes up this day in age when it comes to film. These days it seems so many are in 3D, sometimes for what would seem to be no reason at all.With two out of the last three films I have seen in 3D things have changed.      "The Walk" brings a master of animation director Robert Zemeckis ( A Christmas Carol and Polar Express) to the story of Philippe Petit and his legendary walk between the twin towers to the big screen. Something with a story such as this needs visuals that will blow your mind, and all I can say is wait for the walk.   In the end it is a very solid film, but somehow I believe  the PG rating kept it from being the best it could have been. GRADE: B-

        Looking back at before the summer had started Pan was so nothing I really looked forward to. It had an interesting cast   ( Hugh Jackman Amanda Seyfried) and a respected director Joe Wright (Atonement). Having my expectations high, to me, did not seem to be a terrible thing..... I was wrong.        This story is all about how Peter Pan makes it to Neverland. To people who grew up on the story, it is not the way you think. Hook is switched to a good guy at this point and they face off against Blackbeard, not a pan villain.        In the end the film seems to lack the magic that Peter Pan deserves. GRADE: D

  This is a movie that, to me, really sells  itself on the performance of its lead actors. The leads sell it in a huge way.  Emily Blunt starts as Kate Macer, a senior tactical officer in the Arizona branch of the FBI. One day after a big raid she is recruited to do an off the books job by Matt (Josh Brolin) and his partner Alejandro (Benicio Del Toro). Through the film she is dragged along for one reason or another.     In the end this is a very rough look at what life in that business is really like that is really sold by the performances of the leads. This is a great addition in the career of Dennis Villenueve. GRADE:A-

    This movie is something that is really hard to put a grade to. This movie while very predictable is also very good, which is a hard thing to do.     Matt Damon stars as Mark Watney who is part of a manned mission to Mars with a team that includes Jessica Chastain and Kate Mara. A massive storm comes and they are forced to abort the mission. On the way to the escape shuttle Mark is hit by a piece of antenna and thrown an unspecified distance. He is thought to be dead but not suprisee. He wakes up, realizes that he is alone and begins to fight to survive.      This is director Ridley Scott's best film in years. I was able to see this movie in 3D and it is something to see. GRADE: A-

   When watching an Adam Sandler film no mater if it is a kids film or not, I always try to take it with a grain of salt.I try to enjoy it for what it is. This film, again, fits into that category.    In this film Jonathan (Andy Sandberg) and Mavis( Selena Gomez) get married. They have a son Dennis who is not quite the same as everyone else at the hotel. Mavis begins to think that he may be better living in California away from her father ( Adam Sandler), who doesn't seem to understand the fact Dennis may not be the same as he is.   In the end it really is not a horrible movie, Sandler has done far worse, but I would be lying if I didn't say I was hoping for better.   GRADE:C-

Doing a film like this is very difficult. You try to do what is right by Rob Hall and the rest of the climbers that did not make it off Everest that climb. For those who did make it off it is really about he said she said. in the end someone will get mad.   In the film Rob Hall (Jason Clarke) has a company that brings climbing hopefuls to Everest to try and make it to the top. On this particular run two massive snow storms hit with devastating effects.  This film is very well done visually and with it being the story it is there really is growing or character arcs. You take this movie for what it is, a survivors tale, you should enjoy it. GRADE:  B-

   Thomas (Dylan O'Brien) and his friends have escaped the maze and wicked or so they thought. When Thomas finds something is not all that it should be in the new sanctuary they are given, him and his friends are hit the road to find a group that will help them get to a supposed non infected area of the world.       Having seen this and the previous Maze Runner film, I can say this one is a bit better.Studios try to commercialize the film and undercut the story. To me there is really no depth to the characters, but in a film like this it is a hard thing to do. Also the film cuts off on a decent cliff hanger with out wrapping up anything. That is one thing I dont understand this series seems to be one long story because in the case of both books nothing was wrapped up it all ended in cliffhangers. That isn't a movie when you do that. GRADE: C-

   Looking back through this film it is something that is very hard to hate. it has very obvious flaws but it is a fun little film.    Ben Whittaker is 70 years old, retired and bored so he applies to a rising internet based clothes selling company as an intern and gets the job. He is put with the creator of the company, Jules (Anne Hathaway). She first has no desire for any help at all, but as the film goes on she is more and more open to help as Jules and Ben become friends. In the end a very lovable cliched little film. GRADE: C+  

      I had no idea what to expect when going to watch this film. I have always taken a liking to the "indie film" genre, the style is more artistic, it doesn't seem to be terribly commercialized and, to me, it shows.     The one thing that stands out in the film is the excellent performance by Lilly Tomlin. She stars as a grandma that is trying to help her granddaughter Iris (Julia Garner) raise the money she needs for the abortion appointment she has that evening, It is a hilarious and emotional roller coaster ride, which is hard to do in a film well, and Grandma does beautifully.    In the end the film has a lot of heart and very funny even though it is a little cliched. GRADE B+

  These kind of movies are not my favorite kind of movies to watch but I do I have made it through the Hostile films but sad to say I have never seen Cabin Fever film. They all have one thing in common, excessive gore. Having said this going into this film I did believe that it was was going to be a lot worse than it actually was.    The story centers around the character of Justine and how she gets "inspired" to join her college activist group. They take a trip down to South America to try and save the Amazon rain forest.  Once they get there they do some protesting and get deported back but on the way back trouble with the plane gets them stranded in the jungle where they are kidnapped by a cannibal tribe.    To me this film really felt like its sole purpose was to gross the viewer out. It is a typical Eli Roth film, lots of blood, cliche filled story. I predicted everything that would happen the whole film. GRADE: D+

     When I was a teenager my favorite film was The Departed. I was always fascinated by the Frank Costello character played by Jack Nicholson. It was not until later that I found out it was based on Jimmy Bulger.        Having not really any idea what to expect it was very interesting to see how a relatively small crime boss was able to use the FBI to take out competition because of the ignorance of John Connolly (Joel Edgerton). As Connolly rose the ranks of the FBI, Bulger ran South Boston. But as all stories go there has to be a fall.        Director Scott Cooper is back on top of his game after a rather lackluster Out of the Furnace and this is Johnny Depp's best film and performance in years.  In the end, it is worth the price of admission. GRADE: B

       It's hard to know where to begin with this movie,there is just that much wrong with it. It is one cliche after another the entire movie to the point of it being very predictable. The chemistry between the leads also seems really forced.        Sanaa Lathan stars as Leah a lobbyist in what seems to be a stable relationship with Dave (Morris Chesnut), but he wont commit when she wants him too. This is when she meets Carter (Michael Ealy) who for a while seems perfect till well he isnt. She does not want to anymore and he does not like it.Things continue to spiral out of control  until the rather predictable end.         As nicely as I can put this:Stick to Lifetime. GRADE: F

As I have said before Christian films take one theme and jam it down your throat for however long it has you in the seat and this film is no different.  Hayden Christensen and Kate Bosworth star as Don and Eva Piper. The story begins with Don getting in an auto accident and dying. While the fire department was waiting for a corner to come and take the body away a minister comes to pray for the people in the accident when he discovers that Don is alive. The film than continues on Dons journey to recovery and the strong support of his wife. Things remain pretty grim until Don learns his life lesson. In the end it never really made me care or feel anything for what was going in the film. The one thing was it didn’t really try and hit a superficial theme in your head as bad as most religious films. GRADE:  C- 

Going into this movie I had my doubts because of the last M. Night movies, from the Village to After Earth there was just a few things off about them, and watching the trailers did not much to convince me. I can say this though, I was wrong.  It ended up being a decent blend of comedy and thrills.                 It is the story of Becca (Olivia Dejonge) and Tyler ( Ed Oxenbould) going to visit their estranged grandparents while their mother (Kathryn Hahn) goes on vacation with her boyfriend. They are nice but strange and as the visit goes on things keep getting more and more strange.  This film also brings back the M. Night twist ending in this sense not great but not horrible either.                 In the end it had solid entertainment, definite return for M. Night. GRADE: C+