Movie Guru Corey

   I first want to start by saying that post traumatic stress disorder is a very serious condtion that affects contless soldiers. There is not enough awarness for this issue. Now, having said that, here is the review for "Man Down".     Gabe Drummer,( Shia LaBeouf), is a marine that prides him self on his family and friends. The film goes from boot camp to him coming home from war. During his time there he witnessed a very terrible tragedy that changes the very fabric of who he is.   The big theme of the film post traumatic stress disorder and how it affects people. My biggest issue with the film was the execution of the story. A big thing that occurs through the movie is the flash forward and back through the timeline of the story. Generally, with flash forwards and backs they need to fulfill a purpose. The only thing that it seemed to do was dance around the rather predictable and poorly executed endings I have seen. This being on top of a very predictable story lin

    It has been a few years since the last shark movie hit theaters.       Nancy, (Blake Lively) is a girl in grief after the death of her mother. She thinks, the best way to connect with her, is through surfing at the beach where her mom did when she found out she was pregnant with her. And as we know she has a friend waiting for her in the water.      Shark movies are very hard to make. The sole reason is because sharks do not make good antagonist in movies. They have to be hyped almost to like what Freddy or Jason would be like in their respective movies. This is my biggest problem with the film. Other than that, Lively carries the movie quite well. The movie is short and to the point.     In the end, well made movie, even if the shark is hyped up a bit. GRADE:B-

        It has been tradition since 2012 to get a new Purge movie every two years and this year is no different. Writer/director James DeMonaco delivers the best one in the series.        After the events of the last purge, Seargent (Frank Grillo) moves his life to Washington D.C., where he is head of security for presidential hopeful, Charlie Roan (Elizabeth Mitchell). Her platform is to get rid of the Purge because of who it targets. There are people in political office who do not like this.       This movie builds on what the second one had, with the start of the revolution, and how the poor were the ones that were suffering. The next logical step was to take it to: the government level. Making government corruption was a risky move that, I believe, pays off.      In the end, yes, it is an action movie, but with its heavy political tones, it makes it compelling. GRADE: C+

  Well, as the return of the blog it seems fit now that it returns on the weekend of July 4th. This weekend we get three decent releases.   First it is the team up of Steven Spielberg with Disney. This is the classic story of a little girl and the friendship with BFG (Mark Rylance)   We get now a new Tarzan story. This story picks up after he leaves Congo. He married Jane ( Margot Robbie) and is pushed to return.     Finally, we get the next chapter of the Purge series. This time Sergant ( Frank Grillo) is now part of the detail that protects a presidential hopeful during purge night.

     For a little while, I had been debating on which movie to make my triumphant return with. I kept putting it off and missing good movies to come back with. So I'm just going to do it with the little movie that is "Neon Demon"        The film tells the story of Jesse (Elle Fanning), a sixteen year that has just moved to California to become a model. Without as much of an effort, she becomes an instant star. This is something that doesn't sit well with the aged models she works with.     Going into this, I was expecting more from from the director of "Drive", Nic Refn. The neon demon refers to how the life of the runway can change a person . This is evident for a decent portion of the movie then it takes a weird turn and becomes something it shouldnt. First, I would like to say that I'm a huge Elle Fanning fan, but as this movie goes on, it just seems like it's not a role she should be in the role. She is older than 16 but she doesn't sel

This week is a surprise with only one wide release this week. We get the sequel to the huge 2014 faith film "God's Not Dead" This time the a school teacher (Melissa Joan Hart) is taken to court over her discussion of Jesus in her class. The original opened in the high triple digit theater count. This time it will be opening in the range of 2000 theaters.

With the release of "Batman vs Superman" Warner Brothers decided to drop the trailer for the "Lego Movie" spinoff. It once again has Will Arnett as Batman. This time he is joined by Alfred, Comissoner Gordon, Batgirl, and the Joker. The movie drops Febuary 10, 2017

    Hollywood lately has made a habit of pushing out sequels after their relevant time. This time we get a sequel to the 2002 "My Big Fat Greek Wedding"     This time around Toula (Nia Vardalos) and Ian (Jon Corbett) now have a daughter that is about to graduate from high school. The fact that her family is overbearing and wants to break free from the hold they have. While that is going on Toula's parents find out their marriage license was never signed hence another "Greek Wedding".     I think that the problem that lies with the film film is that it is more of the same of the first movie. With a sequel, one hopes to expand on what you have, which this did not. Having said that I loved the first film and it is hard not to enjoy the charm of the follow up. GRADE:C+

    With the continued success of Christian films comes more and more, and at a frequent basis. This time we have "Miracles from Heaven". This is one that is based off the real life story.      Kristy Beam (Jenifer Gardner) and her family have lived happy in Texas and holding onto their faith. It is soon discovered that her daughter, Anna (Kylie Rogers) has a rare condition that paralyzes the bowels. This turns the family's whole life arounf. How could they possibly keep their faith now?     Overall, the best tow things about this film was the performances by both Jennifer Garner and Kylie Rogers. Very much highlights when it comes to this film. The issue I had with this, and it does not seem to be as bad as some religious films is, how many times can you try to push a point across to your audience. To, me that is the problem with most faith films. Shoving a point down your throat kills what could be good. GRADE:C

    Now this is a film I just happen to notice when I was driving through the town of Charleston. Personally, working in movie theaters for so long, it's a thing I do.    This movie surrounds David (Ben Dickinson) and his team that acquires the rights to market what is something similar to google glasses. Part of his job is to know the glasses like the back of his hand. Through the course of the use he finds out th that he can create avatars to look like real people. So he makes one to look like his best friends girlfriend and essentially has an afair with it. What could go wrong?    This is a great example of how things can unwind so fast. Someone starts with essentially the perfect life and by the end it's not. To me it did a decent job of telling us what it is like to be obsessed with technology and what that can do. What was interesting was the character development for David was well done, other charaters, not so much. GRADE: C+

This week has the big action sequel.        "Batman vs Superman: Dawn of Justice". Everyone's question is who win's the battle? And could it be as bad as everyone thinks it will be?     The other film of the weekend is another long awaited sequel "My Big Fat Greek Wedding 2". This brings the original. This time it's been at least 17 years later and now the daughter, wants to get away from her over bearing Greek family.

      This is the first time I have felt a trailer from Netflix. This film written and directed baby Ricky Gervais.     The film has two foreign correspondents Frank (Eric Bana) and Albert (Ricky Gervais). They are supposed to be corresponding in Ecuador, but are hiding in New York. What's the worst that could happen?     The film drops April 29th.

       When it comes to the young adult genre films are either big or they arent. There a films like the "Harry Potter" or " Hunger Games". Many have come and gone in an attempt to be big. The "Divergent" series is something that lands somewhere in the middle.      This time around the faction system is gone. The people that put them into Chicago invited them to the outside. The new leader Evelyn (Naomi Watts) insists no one leaves. This does not stop Tris (Shailene Woodley) and Four (Theo James). When they make it out, they came across the scientist studying them, lead by David ( Jeff Daniels). Now the question is can they be trusted?       There were several things that were interesting about this. This movie relied heavily on computer generated imagery, almost too much. There were times in it were it seemed that it was difficult for them to blend the actors in with the scene. There are incredible similarities between the last book in the "Dive

This week there is only one true wide release with "Alliegant". It is the start of the final chapter of Tris and Four. One limited release I will be able to see is "the Bronze". It's the story of what happens when a bronze medalist can't get over that competition is done for her.

  Now, before I start this, this trailer has salty language, so watch of your own accord.     When it comes to my trailer of the week post, I go for what is compelling to me, or in some cases controversial. This week the animated comedy "Sausage Party" has taken it.  To start out with it, it is an R rated animated comedy which is intriguing it self. The story it self is about what happens when a sausage finds out what humans do with food. To top it off the cast is good for a comedy, including Seth Rogen, James Franco, and Ed Norton. We will all get to see. We will all get to see when the film drops August 12.

   JJ Abrams wants to keep films a secret it stays a secret! Before the release of "13 Hours", close to nobody knew about this film. Then there was the question on could this be the sequel to the 2008 hit. Abrams came out and said it was a "blood relative" to that film, but what does that mean?   I will not be putting in any spoilers because to me, this film works because of the mystery surrounding it. Anyway, Michelle (Mary Elizabeth Winstead), has just broken up with her boyfriend when she gets into a terrible car wreck. She wakes up in a basement bunker of Howard (John Goodman). Howard says there has been an attack and the land above is not habitable. Questions begin to arise on whether Howard is being truthful or not. So the question is does she stick it out with Howard or go and face the possibly destroyed world on her own?     This movie was only going to work of you were able to suceffuly build tension the whole way through, which it does. There Are amazi

  When it comes to Sasha Baron Cohen films you either like them or you don't there is no in between.   This time around we have "Brothers Grimsby". Nobby (Sasha Cohen) is a man that was separated from his brother Sebastian (Mark Strong). After 28 years he finds him and surprise he's a spy.   The absolute biggest problem with this film is the jokes just go past the point of being funny. Some of them were not horrible, and some just did not need to be in the movie at all.   My follow up issue is with the spy element. It was marketed as a spy film when it wasn't the case. It seemed to be more of a side show for the jokes.  In the end if the jokes were taken back a bit it would have been better. GRADE:C-

    This week brings us three movies that could not be anymore different.    First we have the movie that has been hidden for most of its production, "10 Cloverfield Lane". It revolves around a women that is saved from a car wreck just before a chemical attack.      We then have a comedy about about a man's search for his brother.      Finally, we have Young Messiah. It is about a year in the life of young Jesus.

  Tina Fey is at it again with a film that is not not necessarily something she would do.   Kim (Tina Fey) works at a network where she types the scripts of the news read on TV all day every day. When the war in Afghanistan breaks out, there is an opportunity for her to break out in front of the camera, she takes it.   First of all the biggest thing is the film is viewed as a comedy which I don't really agree with. This film has comedic parts that aren't horrible but, there were many parts I was hoping that it would be serious instead of going for the joke.   Another thing was it seemed that the film went off on many different directions instead of focusing on a single perspective, which threw me a bit.  In the end it is hard to write a good wartime journalism movie because most what we see now has been done and doesn't come off as fresh. GRADE:C

This is a bit late so I do apologize. This week brought us two trailers from the reboot of "Ghostbusters". This film has brought about a bit of a stir because the cast has women this time around. The cast this time around includes Melissa McCarthy, Kristen Wiig, Kate McKinnon, Leslie Jones, and Chris Hemsworth. The movie drops July 15.

    I honestly was one that thought "Olympus has Fallen" was one that needed to be a stand alone film. Here we are in 2016 with a sequel.     The story brings Mike Banning (Gerard Butler) to England with President Asher (Aaron Eckhart) to the funeral of the British Prime Minister. This of course is a trap for all of the world. The initial attack takes out many of them, except for Asher. The terrorist now focus all the tactics on him so they can execute him on live tv.     This movie is something that goes straight for the action, with no real story. The character Mike Banning says so many corny lines after doing something action packed that one could make a drinking game out of it. GRADE:C-

     I have always been a big Jason Bateman fan, so watching this was never out of the question. When I actually sat down and watched it, it was much more than I expected.     Nick Wilde (Jason Bateman) is a fox that lives by his own rules. He has been hustling people since he was twelve years old, out of their money, for popsicles. When new officer Judy Hopps (Ginifer Goodwin) catches wind of this she tries to arrest him with no prevail. Later that day she is handed a missing person case, where Nick, could be the only one that knows where he went. Hopps tricks Nick into helping her go to the back allys of Zootopia.     This movie is a huge move in the social commentary department when it comes to racism. There has been a lot of flare ups in the recent years and the movie plays to that perfectly. It also seemed like they put in a Trump like character, which was erie. Overall, best Disney film I've seen in a very long time. GRADE:A

   This week has a film that should finally have something to take "Deadpool" off the top spot.    "Zootoptia" is a Disney film that is without the Pixar stamp. With the success of.   "Frozen" and "Wreck it Ralph" they are expecting something big.    Tina Fey is also back this weekend in "Whiskey Tango Foxtrot". The film is the auto bigraphical experience of Kim Baker during her time in Afghanistan.     Finally we have "London has Fallen", the follow up to "Olympus has Fallen". This time has Mike Banning (Gerard Butler) attempting to thwart a terrorist that is bent on killing all world leaders.

     When it comes to cop films, for the most part, I tend to be a huge fan. When this came out, I was not very sure what to expect from it because there was such little press for it.     A professional group of thieves lead by Michael Atwood (Chiwetel Ejiofor) does the biding of Irina Vlaslov ( Kate Winslet). The guys want out of her buiding, but her being a big player in the Russian mafia, she gets what she wants. She drags the crew into a final heist with a huge payoff, what could possibly go wrong?        The biggest thing that hurt this film was the scope was so huge for this film with how many characters it has. It is hard to care or, for that matter get to know any Of the characters when the time spent with them is so short. On top of that, this film does not go in any new directions for the crime thrillers. I feel like if they may have added twenty to thirty minutes to get to know all the characters it may have added an edge it doesn't quite have. GRADE:C

   This week was a tough choice in terms of trailers. Today the trailer for "Nina" released about the late jazz singer Nina Simone. The controversy lies in lead actress Zoe Saldana to be wearing what has been called "blackface". Come watch and judge for yourself! The film drops April 22.

I did want to apologize again about the live blog, I lost service mid run. From what I saw Chris Rock did an amazing job tackle the overlying race issue. When it comes to suprises there were 2 that really stood out. The Oscar for best visual effects went to a smaller film with Ex machina instead of Mad Max which was great. I was honestly very suprised that Mark Rylance took the award over Stallone. Stallone had won every other award who really had the edge.I'm not say Rylance was not great it was just a big surprise. On my predictions I went 17 for 24, which is not bad.

  Inspiring sports films, in my experience have been either really good or really bad, I really have not seen any were it was more in the middle. That was until Eddie the Eagle.    Eddie ( Taron Edgerton) is a kid who's number one goal in life is to become an Olympic athlete. The downside was he wasnot really built as an athlete. In the beginning he starts out wanting to do the summer games, but he could never find anything he could really pick up. One day while at work with his dad near a ski hill, he gets inspiration to become a winter games Olympian. After failing to qualify for the 1984 games, he decides to try and give ski jumping a try. The rest is history.........     This movie worked more than "Race" did last week,  it doesn't try to go as broad. There were a few things that bugged me though. The film went in the way of many comedic moments instead of going serious, which seems like a different choice. It also to me seemed like Eddie had so many hu

Here is my first attempt to pick the winners of the academy awards this weekend.   Performance by an actor in a leading role • Bryan Cranston in "Trumbo" • Matt Damon in "The Martian" • Leonardo DiCaprio in "The Revenant" • Michael Fassbender in "Steve Jobs" • Eddie Redmayne in "The Danish Girl" This category belongs to Leo. This is his year! Performance by an actor in a supporting role • Christian Bale in "The Big Short" • Tom Hardy in "The Revenant" • Mark Ruffalo in "Spotlight" • Mark Rylance in "Bridge of Spies" • Sylvester Stallone in "Creed" Many people believe this will be the academy making up for missing him in the original Rocky. We will see! Performance by an actress in a leading role • Cate Blanchett in "Carol" • Brie Larson in "Room" • Jennifer Lawrence in "Joy" • Charlotte Rampling in "45 Years"

    I have been on the record with this blog saying that I really am not that huge of a fan of Christian movies. To be honest I went into this movie not expecting much from it but, not all Christian movies are the same I learned.     Clavius(Joseph Fiennes) is a high ranking figure in the Roman army and happens to be at the crusifixion of Jesus (Cliff Curtis). Once Jesus has died Clavius is tasked with guarding the body, because of the prophecy that he will rise in three days. When Jesus rises after the third day, Clavius is tasked to find the body, to hopefully stop unrest from happening.   It was nice to get off the path of just telling a Jesus crucifixion story that has little to worth Jesus, per say. A big thing this movie had was a great performance by Joe Fiennes, probably a career best so far. In the end there are some familiar plot points that do make it a little predictable, but it is a welcome change to the Christian film formula. GRADE:C+

 To be honest I am not sure where to even start when it comes to this movie. Going into it I was not really expecting this to wow and well...., it was something.    Horus (Nikolaj Coster-Waldau) is god of the air and is about to take the throne of Egypt when Set (Gerard Butler) comes in and overthrows, sending Horus into hiding. Meanwhile Bek (Brenton Thwaites), a mortal is enslaved under the rule of Set, decides to act to change things.   It is hard to start with what exactly bugged me most about this film. One thing that was very noticable was how white people of Egypt actually are. Another thing was for a movie that really focuses on the use of computer generated imagery, especially when it comes to the chariot rides and god transformations. Finally, the story seemed to be about the same as the "Clash of the Titans" series, so I would very much expect a sequel if it does well. GRADE:D

This weekend is huge we have the Oscars this Sunday night! Look for my predictions here in the next day or two. On top of the Oscars there are three wide release movies dropping in theaters. First is "Gods of Egypt". In the film gods rules the lands of egypt. There are gods that are good and some that are not. What happens when they don't get along. Next is "Eddie the Eagle". Ed Edwards is a man that always loved to prove people wrong. When he is cut from the British Olympic ski team, he is determined to do anything he can to come back. The final one is "Triple 9". Corrupt cops and criminals want to pull of a huge heist and the only way to do it is to force a 999 call.

  Nicholas Hoult headlines a movie about a group of friends that are on the rise in the late 1990s. With the label on the rise so are they. There is a kink in the rise though, not all of them will be able to land on top. With all of them wanting the ultimate prize, how far will they go to get it? The film also stars James Corden and Ed Skrein and drops April 1st.

         Race is the story of infamous runner Jesse Owens, and his rise to fame in the 1936 German Olympics.      Jesse Owens (Stephan James)comes to Ohio a huge success from high school. He catches the eye of Larry Snyder (Jason Sudeikis), who promises that with hard work he will make it to the Olympics. The rest of the story, is history.    In the end there is no doubt that the movie is uplifting. For being a movie about race takes steps to were it will avoid being so hard on the issue . I also felt like the movie tried to be very broad and cover as many topics as it could instead of focusing on one thing. GRADE:C

   Robert Eggers brought The Witch to the Sundance film festival to raving reviews and awards. The production company had planned a limited release and a video on demand. When it completed its run, A24 decided that going with a wide release would be best for it.     The Witch is based on a New England folk tale. Thomaisn (Anya Taylor-Joy) and her family move to the country side after being bullied by the settlements mayor. When they get settled the baby brother dissapears without any sort of explanation. Things just get worse from there.     This movie does not follow any of the normal horror rules. People that expect jump scares will be dissapointed. The movie is creepy in every sense that it could. It does have a very Sundance film festival feel which puts it on another level. It in fact delivers . GRADE:B+

   This week we have three new movies that could not be more different from each other.   First, Stephan James and Jason Sudeikis star in the movie about Jesse Owens training for the 1936 Olympics.          Next we get the Sundance hit, The Witch. It revolves around a supposed curse put on a  family in colonial America.    Finally, there is Risen, the story of a man that slowly believes in the works of Jesus and God after Jesus's crucifixion.

     It is very hard to write a romantic film, or in this case an unromantic movie.       Alice (Dakota Johnson) is a recent graduate from college and has only known one relationship. She decides to take a break from this relationship to explore the single life in New York city. When she moves to the city, She gets a job at a large law firm, and becomes quick friends with Robin (Rebel Wilson). Robin is a professional in the single life, and is determined to show Alice how to navigate it.   Like I previously said, it is hard to make a romance and make it original. This movie struggled with too many characters to care about them. One thing that stood out was the character of Robin was, at many times, too much to handle. There was a lot of things in both the male and female characters that fell to cliched moments. It really was a typical valentines day plot. GRADE: D+    

Terrorism is a big player in movies these days. It now comes to how you finesse your terrorist plot line. Brian (Idris Elba) and Mason (Ricard Madden) try to an attack during Bastille Day, a huge French holiday. The movie drops July 13th.

    When the original Zoolander came out, it was not a huge hit. It came out right within the time frame of September 11th, so nobody was going anywhere at that particular time. Where it made all of its money was in video sales. The huge video sales fueled speculations of a sequel for years. We now are at 2016 and have the sequel.    We find out that everything that Zoolander (Ben Stiller) had worked for in the first film came down in shambles shortly after the end of the first film Derek lost everything. He went into hiding until Alexanya (Kristen Wiig) drags him and Hansel ( Owen Wilson) out of retirement. After the show they are recruited by Interpol to help figure out who is killing the worlds most beautiful people.   When doing a sequel it is important to get it out when it is still relevant to culture. A few years ago there was another cult movie that took a step at a sequel, but failed. For having as long as they did on the did on the film, it felt very thrown together. Mos