Gifted

Gifted

Rating 6 out of 10

I thought this movie looked cute from the first trailer viewing.  Good cast.  Was concerned that it had a limited release, but some time on my hands I decided to give it a shot.  It was a good rainy day movie.

The movie starts with little Mary begrudgingly going off for her first day at school.  We find out that Frank is her uncle.  When her mother (his sister) died he took on the task of raising her.  We soon find out that Mary is gifted to the genius status.  In first grade she is doing huge multiplication problems in her head.  The teachers of course want to send her directly to the school for the gifted but Uncle Frank promised her mom (who was also a genius) she would get a normal life with normal kids.

Grandma gets involved and wants to push her to the limits she did with Mom that caused her demise. Grandma is rich and controlling and sues for custody.

The film moves along at a slow pace and is fairly predictable.  What makes this an above average movie is the acting .  Chris Evans is very good as Uncle Frank and little McKenna Grace could not be cuter as Mary.  Octavia Spencer is also good as the neighbor that helps out with Mary.

I was entertained.  I would say when this hits RedBox it would be a very good rental.

Fate of the Furious

The Fate of the Furious

Rating 3 out of 10

Clearly this has been an interesting series of movies.  I have liked most of the Fast and Furious movies.  I think the apex was Fast Five.  They really should have stopped there.  The problem is the movies keep making a bazillion dollars so sad to say there will be more.  This Fate movie grossed over $500 Million world wide.  For me after this one I am out.

The Furious 7 movie was so over the top and unbelievable but still had a fun factor even though it seemed to have been written by a third grader.  So the bar was set pretty low with Fate of the Furious.  Sadly for all of us four guys that saw it the movie finished far below expectations.  As anyone that has watched tv in the past few months has surely seen the trailers for F8 knows this time Dom goes rogue.  The only thing the family can't handle is a bad Dom.  I'm not going to give spoilers as to why Dom goes rogue but I should to save you ten bucks.  The action is not very good.  Every fight scene with the Rock or Jason Statham is so full of shaky cam it was hard to watch.

The plot is so weak even that third grader that wrote the last one would say Oh Please!  Needless to say I was not entertained.  Slapped my forehead so many times I had a headache when I left.  I know you have to take these with a grain of salt. I just couldn't do it.

I would say don't even bother to rent but that's just me.

Boss Baby

Boss Baby 

Rating 7 out of 10

This was not a cartoon I was anxious to see.  It looked kinda dumb and predictable.  Maybe I'll rent it.  Maybe.  But when my beautiful granddaughter Olivia has a birthday she pretty much gets what she wants from me (most other days also).  We braved the thunderstorms and her momma Mandy met us there were a car load of young ones.  Two minutes before the movie started what must have been a bus load of kids invaded the theater.  Oh man, when the movie gets boring this is going to be painful.

Then the movie started.  Much to my surprise it was actually funny.  The kids were all laughing heartily and I laughed out loud a few times too.  The 97 minute movie moves along at a good pace.  Yes the story is predictable.  Young Timmy is loving life with his two caring parents (voiced by Lisa Kudrow and Jimmy Kimmel) spoiling him with truck loads of attention. Then one day it's all ruined when a baby from the baby factory (Alec Baldwin).  There is a side plot where Boss Baby is a special baby that is being groomed to take over the Baby Factory except the bad guy is causing problems.  Timmy is out to do whatever it takes to get Boss out of his life.

My Grandkids laughed until their sides hurt.  I laughed and was entertained,  It was much better than I thought it would be,  I wouldn't rate it up there even close to Moana or some of the other great animated films of last year.  I won't buy the dvd but I will recommend it for kids of all ages.