The Good Dinosaur

The Good Dinosaur

Rating 4 out of 10

Normally a Pixar movie is an easy bullseye.  So many classic movies.  A new Pixar release and you automatically order the DVD.  The Good Dinosaur has an interesting premise.  What if the meteor that hit Earth many years ago that killed all the dinosaurs instead skirted by our atmosphere and years later humans and dino's are living together.  The voices are great.  I find it distracting when I recognize every voice in the movie.  Besides the always cool Sam Elliot I didn't know a single one.  With Pixar you know the animation is going to be first rate.

The main problem here is the story.  Our start dino that has battled everything in his life since being born the runt of the litter gets washed down the river in what appears to be weekly flash floods.  He is so far away and given up for dead by his family the only one that can help his is a little caveman (cave boy?).  The story is rather dull even with a trio of T-Rex's that have a heard of prehistoric buffalo.

I wouldn't say this cartoon is for little kids.  I went with three grandkids who often turned their heads when cute little gerbil looking animals are eaten alive by long sharp toothed flying beasts.  The animation is mostly nothing short of incredible.  The flowing fields, majestic mountains and rivers are so realistic you think they smuggled in film stock.  Then they made the main dinosaur stars of the movie look like Saturday morning cartoons.  I don't get that.

I was hoping for much more and three little ones under five were not impressed either.  I'd take their opinion over mine every time.

The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 2

The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 2

Rating 5 out of 10

The Hunger Games trilogy stretched into a fourlogy comes to an end with this finale.  I started reading the books.  Thought the first one was pretty good.  Got half way thru the second one and became bored then gave up.  I have to say I kinda feel that way about the movies too.  The part 1 of Mockingjay was slow with very little action.  In part 2 we get lots of action yet it still manages to be boring.

For those following the perils of Katniss Everdeen the good guys have finally come knocking on the Capital doors with thoughts of killing the evil President Snow and ending his reign.  Peeta is still crazy yet they insist on bringing him along on every adventure.

I quit playing video games years ago when it seemed every war movie had you going from area to area killing all the bad guys but never really knowing where you are going.  This movie gave me the same feel.  Once they get in the gates they go from area to area coming across some sort of bad guy occasionally losing a good guy then moving on.  Snow has cameras that let him know where they are yet he only sends a few soldiers each time.  It has a twist at the end that turns out to be so obvious you see it coming a mile away.

I thought the whole thing was a mess. Lots of random scenes glued together that didn't make much sense.  I guess those that loved the books will love this movie.  It will make million$.  I was not entertained and wish I had gone to something else.

Secret in their Eyes

Secret in their Eyes

Rating 6 out of 10

This movie looked very interesting to me.  Great cast.  Chiwetel Ejiofor (always good), Julia Roberts (leaving the pretty woman looks behind), Nicole Kidman and Alfred Molina.  In the trailer we see three cops showing up at a crime scene of a murdered girl in a dumpster only to find out it's Roberts beloved daughter.  The movie is set in early 2002 in LA.  Not long after 9/11 when hysteria of another terrorist attack is high.  When the main suspect is also someone linked to the Muslim community and may be considered an asset politics play into his prosecution or lack there of.

Flash forward thirteen years and Ejiofor who is no longer with the department has tracked down the bad guy and begins to make efforts to locate him.  Kidman is now the D.A. They are not sure even if they find him that they have enough to prosecute him.

The problem with this movie (besides it being pretty slow) is all the flashbacks.  Instead of telling the movie in order the director gives us chunks of now mixed with pieces of thirteen years ago. The main way of telling what time you are in is by Kidmans hair length.

There is a nice twist at the end but over all with this cast it should have been much better.  Will make a good rainy day rental.

The 33

The 33

Rating 8 out of 10

I thought this movie looked pretty good when I saw the trailers.  I was surprised to see it was not getting very good reviews. On Rottentomeatoes.com it only rates a 42%.  Although the audience score is pushing 70%.  After skimming over several of the bad reviews I saw most of the complains were on things like the movie using a white actor in a hispanic role or someone's accent not being perfect.  I decided to give it a try with the Hottie and my daughter and her husband.  Even brought the three year old granddaughter hoping it kept her attention.

Anyone that even casually watches the new should remember back in 2010 when a mine in Chile collapsed and trapped 33 miners more than 2000 feet below ground.  It was crazy.  They were so far underground it took the truck driving them down to the mining area more than an hour to get them to the bottom.  The 33 miners were pushed into a "safe room" not much bigger than a school room with only 3 days of food and water.  They knew right off their situation was grave as it took more than 100 years of digging to get the hole that deep.  There were a couple possible escape routes but one was never finished and the other caved in too.

The movie then shifts to above and below ground.  How the miners manage to not give up when they are starving and can't imagine how anyone can get to them.  Antonio Banderas gives his best performance ever as Mario who refuses to give up.  Lou Diamond Phillips is also great as the supervisor that knew in his gut the mine was getting dangerous.  Above ground the mine owners and then the Chile government have to decide whether it's worth sinking million$ into a recovery when chances are very slim they are still alive and even if they are how could they possibly get them out. Once it becomes a world wide story they really have no choice but to go all out in the recovery.

My daughter cried thru the whole movie.  That doesn't really count since she is pregnant and cries at Publix commercials these days.  The hottie cried at the end and I have to admit my eyes watered a little.

I really enjoyed this movie.  Thought the acting was good and with a two hour run time it seemed just long enough.  It made me go right home and dig out wikipedia to find out more about the story.

Spectre

Spectre

Rating 6 out of 10

I have to admit off the bat that I'm one of three people on the planet that does not care for Daniel Craig as Bond.  Not that I don't like Craig.  I have seen him in other movies and liked him.  I just like the older Bonds better.  I also understand these films are supposed to be prequels to the others.  This is Bond before he became the suave agent we later see with Connery or Roger Moore.

With this movie Bond faces off with the bad guy that was king over all the other bond villains.  I guess if you followed the other movies very closely or read the books you would know who Frans Oberhauser (the always great Christoph Waltz) was.  I didn't follow closely enough because I had no idea who he was.

One of my favorite parts of any Bond film is when he goes into the spy gadget room with Q and gets the wristwatch that turns into a laser or pen that allows him to breath underwater.  That doesn't happen here.  Also there is the cool car they give him that besides being fast will spill oil on the road behind or shoot missiles from the tail pipe.  There is a car but he has to steal it. Gotta get that car sponsor money in there.

While the action is toned down a bit for a Bond film there is a great fight scene with Dave Bautista (Big guy Drax on Guardians of the Galaxy) that is worth the price of admission.  I thought the Bond girl Lea Seydoux was the most bland and plain ever.

I understand the irony of me picking a James Bond movie apart while admitting I love it when Superman flies or Spiderman shoots webs from his wrist. I don't even try to explain it.  Most people will love this movie.  I thought it was okay.

Our Brand is Crisis

Our Brand is Crisis

Rating 4 out of 10

I thought this movie looked entertaining when I saw the trailer.  Great cast.  Sandra Bullock and Billy Bob Thornton.  There were several funny clips in the trailer.  Looked forward to seeing it.  Then it opened to terrible reviews and quickly faded.  Out of town for work and rain that kept me from working and this was the only movie out for me to see.

The movie is about a fading political consultant (Bullock) that is brought into a losing campaign in Bolivia.  The candidate's current advisors figure it can't hurt to bring her in .  Either she would help them win or give them someone to blame if they lose.  The consultant for the leading candidate is her long time nemesis (Thornton) whom she can never seem to beat.

The movie starts off interesting and funny as Bullock and Thornton lock horns and play dirty tricks on each other.  About an hour into the hour and forty eight minute movie mark the movie decides to take itself way too seriously.  It quits being funny and turns into a boring political movie where if the wrong guy wins the election the whole country will fall into despair.  It just falls off a cliff.

I was thinking all those reviewers on www.rottentomatoes.com got it wrong.  It was better than I thought it was going to be.  Then I understood and was wanting it to hurry up an end.

I wouldn't even bother renting this.  Feel free if you are a big Sandra Bullock fan.

Steve Jobs 

Rating 7.5 out of 10

I have been a Steve Jobs fan before I knew who Steve Jobs was.  I bought my first computer in 1986. An Apple Iic and was amazed by it.  Later upgraded to an Apple IIgs and then on to Macintosh's.  I remember buying a used 20 MEG hard drive for $500 and being so excited connecting it to my computer my hands were shaking.  Didn't know what I would do with all that storage space.  Today that would hold about four digital pictures.  I have had most every Mac computer from then until now.

So I have followed the rise and fall and then rise of Jobs.  I read the very good Steve Jobs book a few years ago.  Jobs was a very complex man.  You are not going to scratch the surface in a two hour movie and they don't really try to here.  This movie was written by Aaron Sorkin (Moneybag, The Social Network, American President, A Few Good Men) known for his snappy writing.  He does not fail here.  The writing in Jobs is first rate.  He rattles from one step to another without missing a beat. It's pretty amazing.

The movie gives three snapshots in Jobs life.  When Jobs announces the first Macintosh which turns out to be a huge failure.  He predicts a Million computers sold in the first three months.  Instead they sold 55,000.  Chapter two centers with the announcement of his Next computer after being ousted by Apple and CEO John Sculley (Jeff Daniels).  Chapter three is announcing the iMac.  Peppered in the three chapters is Jobs relationships with Steve Wozniak, Sculley, his daughter Lisa and his right hand woman Joanna Hoffman.  The movie dwells on the daughter a little more than I would have liked but I know Sorkin was trying to show his maturity over the years.

The acting is very good.  Michael Fassbender as Jobs is a great actor.  Jeff Daniels is always fantastic when he is not playing Dumb and Dumber.  Kate Winslet is great as the only person on the planet that would stand up to Jobs when he was being a bully (often).  I don't even like Seth Rogen and his is good as the Woz.  My minor complaint is that Fassbender did very little to get the look of Jobs.  It's kinda like making a movie about Abe Lincoln with Thomas Jefferson playing Abe.

Overall I was entertained.  I think this would make a great rental or rainy day movie for any fan.

Burnt

Burnt

Rating 6 out of 10

I was mildly interested in seeing this movie when I first saw the trailers.  I was going to the movies with the young son and this was the only movie starting in what we had to work with.  I have not really watched any of the cooking shows.  Especially those where the head chef yells like an idiot at all the other cooks.  I would probably give him a close look at the nearest frying pan.  Also my tastes in fine dining land somewhere between Copelands and Golden Corral.  I did find it interesting all the behind the scenes of cooking these overpriced meals that my buddy Ted loved so much.

Adam Jones (Bradley Cooper) is the wonder chef who went to Paris as a 19 year old and hit it big.  He was too young and immature at the time and quickly flamed out.  Too much drinking, drugs and women that came with the fame.  He ends up in New Orleans cooking seafood in small roadside dives.

Now his is in London determined to make his way back to the top.  Hopefully a little more mature and determine.  We get to see Chef Jones have tantrums that would make Gordon Ramsey proud.  He assembles his misfit dream team and is in direct completion with friend that runs the neighboring restaurant.  There are side stories with drug dealers from his past in town to collect large sums of money and do him physical harm.

What made this movie watchable for me was Bradley Cooper.  This role is right in his wheelhouse.  He does a good job and is believable as a top chef.  Not crazy about Sienna Miller who plays Helene his sidekick and love interest.

If you like those cooking shows you will enjoy this movie.  I was entertained.  If you are not a hard core Gordon Ramsey fan I'd probably wait to rent.