The Great Wall

The Great Wall

Rating 6.5 out of 10

I was in the movie watching mood.  This movie wasn't high on my list to see but the showing time fit and I have always been fascinated with the Great Wall of China.  Amazing what a few mean dictators and a couple million slaves can accomplish.  Anyway... I tend to like this type of movie.  I am the demographic they were aiming for.  If you are too I feel you will be entertained.

The movie takes place in what I'm guessing to be the early to mid 1800's.  William Garin (Matt Damon) and his cohort Pero (Pedro Pascal) have heard about this magical black powder that can explode and kill twelve men at a time somewhere in China and they are on horseback searching for it.  When they are captured by the soldiers on the Wall it happens to be just at the time when the wall is being attacked by these horrible four legged monsters called Taotie's.  William shows off his incredible bow and arrow skills and quickly comes on board to stop the Taotie's from breaching the wall and wiping out all of China.  Clearly this is a documentary.  : >

This is said to be the most expensive movie ever made in China at $150+ million.  The director leaves every penny on the screen.  Visually the movie is fantastic.  Special effects and CGI are top notch.  As I said if you are into this type of movie you will enjoy yourself.  Definitely worth seeing on the big screen.

The Lego Batman Movie

The Lego Batman Movie

Rating 7.5 out of 10

I saw and enjoyed the first Lego movie.  I was looking forward to seeing this one too.  I found a herd of cats (otherwise known as grandkids, Delilah, Rylee, Livy and Tristan) and off to NCG theaters we went.  When you travel with that gang even if the movie is bad the evening will be entertaining.

Luckily the movie was good.  In this Lego movie as you can tell from the title they focus mostly on Batman.  The story shows the behind the scenes of how lonely Batman is after he saves the day in Gotham.  He wants to do everything himself and accept help from no one.

The animation is incredible as you would expect.  It's a funny movie with plenty of humor for the little ones and some good jokes for the parents.  Not much more you can say.  I think the movie is clearly aimed more toward the young ones.  My herd of cats enjoyed it along with the huge tub of popcorn and the couple boxes of popcorn we smuggled in. I was entertained and would go to the next Lego movie that will surely follow based on the box office success of this one.

John Wick II

John Wick 2

Rating 8.5 out of 10

I am a big fan of the 2014 movie John Wick.  It shows with Mr. Wick you don't want to mess with his dog or his car.  Keanu Reeves is the perfect guy to play the legendary hitman they call the Boogyman.   When I heard they were making a sequel this became a movie I was looking forward to see.

You didn't have to see the first John Wick to enjoy the second, but it would help.  In Wick I our hitman has retired from taking out mostly bad guys and enjoying married life until his wife suddenly dies of cancer.  As he is mourning a rotten son of a Russian mob boss breaks into his house to steal his car and kills his dog.  Wick proves he is king of the head shot and kills what seems like half of NYC gaining vengeance on little fido.

Wick 2 begins not long after Wick I.  It turns out to gain his retirement in peace from his no so nice mobster bosses he had to sign a bond in blood owing one of the worst guys a favor that he can't refuse.  Coming out of retirement for dog vengeance means he must now fulfill his debt.  Once he does his hit he finds hundreds of bad guys on all sides coming to kill him.

As with most movies of this type much depends on how good the bad guy is.  Rapper/actor Common does a good job as the bodyguard set to kill Mr. Wick.  But the best bad guy here is not a guy but a lady.  Ruby Rose was good in last months Return of Xander.  She is fantastic as the woman Wick does not want to battle but must.

I enjoyed this movie atleast as much as the first one.  I was highly entertained.

Lion

Lion 

Rating 6.5 out of 10

This is not normally a movie I would go see, but since it was nominated for an Oscar and I have barely seen any of the films I thought I'd give it a try.  The movie is based on the real life story of Saroo.  A five year old boy in rural India that is so poor his mum carries rocks for a job.  Saroo and his older brother do what they can to help out including digging thru trash cans for food and stealing coal off of moving train.  One night while out with his brother he is left on a bench as his brother goes looking for goods.  Saroo crawls into a vacant train to stay warm and falls asleep.  When he wakes up he finds himself on an express train with no stops for 1500 kilometers.  When he finally gets off the train he has no idea where he is or where is is from.  When asked his moms name he says Mum.

Saroo spends time in some not so great orphanages and narrowly misses being abducted before he is adopted by a very nice white couple from Australia.  Flash forward twenty years and he is living the good life in Australia and leaving for college.  He starts to have flashbacks from his childhood and with the help of Google Earth begins to search for his lost mum and brother.

If you saw Slumdog Millionaire this movie makes it seem like a cheerful Disney cartoon.  It is a little slow and very depressing to see the poor little kids digging through trash cans looking for something to eat.  The acting is very good.  Dev Patel is nominated for Best Actor as the older Saroo.  He won't win but the nomination is warranted.

This is the type movie that garners Oscar nominations.  I was entertained although I would not want to sit through it again even with the good ending that will make your eyes water.

The Founder

The Founder

Rating 7 out of 10

I have heard all kinds of rave reviews about this movie and wanted to see it.  That turned out to be difficult as it did not get a wide release and was hard to find even with 50+ movie screens near my house.  I found it playing at a Regal theater that I generally don't care for (I'm spoiled now with the reclining comfortable seats and drink refills at NCG).  After viewing I understand why it got the great reviews and also why it is not playing on many screens and has a low box office total.

The Founder is about the beginning of the restaurant chain McDonalds back before there were any national chains.  Ray Kroc (Michael Keaton) is a low level milkshake maker salesmen.  It's rare for him to sell one maker to a normal mom and pop burger joint it draws his attention when a place in California orders eight.  He makes the drive from the midwest out to the West Coast to see for himself.  It's amazing how the McDonald brothers have turned a normal long wait visit into an assembly line burger making perfection.

Kroc sees franchising gold.  The problem is the two brothers are far more interested in running their one story very well than making lots of money.  They allow Kroc to start franchising the McDonalds with many limitations.  Eventually Kroc takes control (not always ethically) and takes McDonalds to history.

The movie is interesting although it tends to be on the slow side.  It's like making a movie about building a house and spending fifteen minutes on digging the perfect foundation for the concrete.  It could have moved a little faster.  Michael Keaton is fantastic.  It is unbelievable that he won an Oscar for the terrible Birdman and didn't even get a nomination for this movie.  I was entertained.  This will be a great rental.

On a side note this movie brought back memories of little Royce in 1st Grade taking a field trip to the State Capitol in Oregon and the whole class got to go to this NEW restaurant called McDonalds.  Even though that was a hundred years ago I can remember the excitement in my teachers voice that we were getting to go there.  I am also thinking that we only took 50 cents to buy a burger, fries and small coke.  Back then burgers were only 15-20 cents.  I thought I went to heaven and had the best burger ever.