Movie Guru Corey

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

   My latest pick for romance films is another award winner from the year 2015. Eilis is a girl trying to find herself. She moves from Ireland to Brooklyn for a better life. This is where she meets Tony,and the two really hit it off. The reason I love this movie is because of the classic feel it has. I love the classic feel it has when it comes to the romance aspects of it. It does not take the roads that modern romance takes which was quite impressive.

    Richard Curtis has given, what some people consider, some of the best romatic comedies of all time. My favorite of the bunch is Love Actually. Normally when you have too many characters with intersecting stories, it's too hard to keep the story together. I feel like it worked because not all of the stories end up magically happy it really helped. With a title like that the ups and downs were needed.

      This is a movie many years in the making. Ever since the premier of the X-Men Origins: Wolverine in 2009. There was a plan to do it almost right away, there was even test footage shot for the film, but it was ultimately shelved. Fast forward to a few years later, mysteriously, the test footage was leaked,  and went crazy viral. This started the wheels turning that they could possibly have something.    Wade ( Ryan Reynolds) was a special forces operative that was dishonorably discharged. He then becomes a mercenary to pay the bills. After a job meets Vanessa (Morena Baccarin), a stripper that ultimately takes a fancy to Wade. As their relationship really takes off, it is revealed that Wade has terminal cancer. Instead of sitting down and taking it he seeks the help of a mysterious man, Ajax (Ed Skerin), who promises to cure him of everything. Let us just say, not everything goes to plan.     Lets just start with, yes this movie is very funny, a lot funnier than I would have

This is the weekend of romance and love. I'm talking Valentines Day weekend! This week we really only get romantic comedy how to be single with Rebel Wilson and Dakota Johnson. The other two films have been anticipated for a long time. Can Zoolander 2 live up to the expectations? Just how much will Deapool make? We will find out soon.

I love the way that this took a different spin on the romance movie. This movie has Tom (Joseph Gordon Levitt) not get Summer (Zoey Deschanel) and he truley morns that fact. The spin is he looks back on all the bad and good that happened during their 500 days, and sees why they should not be together, still love it.

     Joel and  Ethan Coen have been associated with well made films for their entire carrer. When I heard they were going to tackle Hollywood satire, let's just say my intrest was peaked.    Eddie Mannix (Josh Brolin) is a top executive at Capital Pictures, and business is booming. Towards the end of production on the company's biggest picture of the year, Hail Cesar, the films star Baird Whitlock ( George Clonney) is kidnapped and a ransom is demanded. It is up to Mannix to get him back with out news making it to the press.    The movie has the classic Coen brothers look to it and humor as well. If you are not a fan of dry humor, it's not for you. I'm terms of scope this movie pulls satire of classic Hollywood off almost flawlessly. That would really be the only problem with the film, if you are not up on classic Hollywood you probably won't understand all of the movie. In the end, with the cast it has and the punches at classic hollywood, it's hard to beat

When it comes to romance films, this one is up there towards the top. It is really funny watching someone, who cant help being a jerk, falls for the only waitress that will help him. Through the entire film the encounters he has with just about everyone is really funny. It is also really nice watching him try to change his ways for the person he has feelings for. On top of the film it really, to me, is career performances for Helen Hunt and Jack Nicholson. This is also director James L Brooks greatest films.

    New year, means another notch in the belt of the Nicholas Sparks movies. This year we get the Choice.    Travis ( Ben Walker) has a good  and easy life because..... he makes no comitments. A new girl moves in and it starts to bother his lifestyle. After a rather awkward start, Travis and Gabby ( Teresa Palmer) start to become friends. There is a big connection between the two, even though Gabby is already in a steady relationship with Ryan ( Tom Welling ). When Ryan goes away on a business trip for a few weeks, and certain things begin to happen.    This, to me is not even close to the worst of the Nicholas Sparks films. Ben Walker and Teresa Palmer actually work very well together. When I was watching this movie, it felt like I had watched it several times before. From beginning to end it was very familiar. I think that the movie itself is a little behind of its time, its really not that bad. GRADE:C

This movie came out rather recently, and was met with huge praise, praise that it very much deserved. Cate Blanchett and Rooney Mara take the lead roles as two women in love at a time where it was not nearly as accepted as it is today. The mix of the romance with the severe social constraints make for a very compelling movie, and even more, makes you want them to be together.

As many of you already know, the Sundance Film Festival recently wrapped up, and as usual many films stood out. This particular one, The Lobster, stars Colin Farrell and Rachel Weiz. The movie revolves around the concept that one can not be single. Everyone that is single is put up in a hotel, and after forty-five days, if love is not found, they are turned into an animal and let loose in the woods. At this time there is no date set for a United States release, but hopefully some day.

         My pick for the next romance film is in fact a Nicholas Sparks film. I saw this film long after it came out. I always remeber people telling me how good it was. When I finally saw it, I do remember thinking how real it was. I have, since then, seen every single Nicholas Sparks adapted films, it is the one that doesn't really seen to force the romance as much. When you want two people to end up together, something has been done right.

          As many of you know, every year through the running of the superbowl many movie spots run. This year I watched them all, and to be honest, it was hard to pick the best one. I picked what I feel is the best three of the bunch. The Jungle Book: Jason Bourne:  10 Cloverfield Lane:                                                             I hope you enjoy these as much as I did!!

   For my first pick in the romance department, When Harry Met Sally. The reason this movie is so good is this movie is the original can men and women just be friends dilemma. Since this films release many have went down the same path, with less than tasteful results.While being a movie that looks at romance in a real way, it is also very funny.    Come back tomorrow for the next pick.

     Being so late to the punch when it comes to this review, I have been able to read quite a few reviews for The Finest Hours. I can say that I disagree with a number of them.     Bernie Weber (Chris Pine), is a tough, by the books, Coast Guard officer. Also shown  in the film is his polite and loving side. At the time of his huge rescue, he is also set to marry Miriam ( Holliday Grainger). In February of 1952 the costal town of Chatham, Massachusetts and the the surrounding waters  were hit with a blizzard that made navigating the waters impossible. The SS Pendleton was one of the few ships that was caught out in the weather. On the rocky waves, this ship breaks in two, leaving the surviving crew stranded. Against all odds, Bernie and a crew of three go out to save the crew.    Now this is a rescue story, so expecting anything more than that is, well, setting yourself up for issues. It is very standardized, yes, but what are you expecting from something like a Coast Guard rescu

With valentines day coming up next sunday, romance will be in the air. For the week of valentines day, every day I will post about one of my favorite romance films all the way to the big day.

      I may be at a disadvantage never reading the source material, or even seeing the movie, but here is a crack at a review.     It has the story of Elizabeth Bennett (Lilly James) being the strong independent woman that doesn't need a man to be happy. We then get Mr. Darcy (Sam Riley), someone who seems to be just as independent as she is. When they meet, both are attracted to each other in seemingly unconventional ways.    First of all it is a great attempt to have what many consider one of the greatest romance novels of all time and throw in a zombie apocalypse with it. The one thing I really loved about the movie was the quirky performance given by Matt Smith as Mr. Collins.        These days though it is hard to do a zombie film that do not feel like they have seen a hundred times. Watching the movie it seems like the movie was cut from an R to a PG-13 to attract a larger audience. When it comes to zombie movies will undercut the movie, in the horror sense. GRADE:C

This week there are three new movies. First, we have a classic tale with a zombie twist in Pride and Prejudice and Zombies. This week also brings us the next in the long line of Nicholas Sparks movies,  The Choice. Finally we have another comedy from the Coen brothers about the golden age of cinema, Hail Cesar

For the most part, I have always been someone that has not been a huge fan of the bio pic genre. Here lately, things seem to be turning around, this time with the Miles Davis bio-pic Miles ahead. Don Cheadle plays the lead role in this film, which with a good surprise he actually directs this film as well. This movie seems all around cool, but we will see what happens April 1st.

     This weekend brought us another major award show on the way to the Oscars. Winning the best supporting actor trophy was Idris Elba for Beasts of No Nation. While I personally have not seen the film, it will surely validate to some people that in fact the Oscars are so white. Another thing that came Alicia Vikander for the Danish Girl. The question is will it stir up the Oscar race for best supporting actress. I do find it interesting as well, because when she was winning awards, or given best supporting actress, it was for Ex Machina. The best actor went to, surprise, Leo Dicaprio for Revanent. The best actress trophy went to Brie Larson for Room. Finally, the best picture went to Spotlight. This could end up up being being a close race with the Revanent close on its tails.      There were surprises and a few reinforcements in the acting categories. We will have to see what happens when February 28th rolls around.