Django Unchained

Django Unchained

Rating 7 out of 10

Director Quentin Tarantino's movie have been hit and miss with me.  Some I like alot (Kill Bill and Reservoir Dogs) while others I didn't care for at all (Grindhouse, Pulp Fiction).  With a Tarantino film though you can be guaranteed a few things.  It won't be boring. The language will be insanely bad and there will be blood by the bucket.  Django does not fail to deliver.

Django (Jango- the D is silent) is played by Jamie Foxx.  He is a slave who is separated from his beautiful wife (Kerry Washington) by his evil plantation slave owner (was there any other kind?) sold to different owners out of spite.  While being transported to his new plantation Django meets up with the German bounty hunter Dr. Schultz (played by the amazing Christoph Waltz).  Shultz busts him out in trade for helping identify three wanted men with a hefty bounty.   They then team up bounty hunting with the agreement Shultz will help Django get his wife back.

As luck would have it Djangos wife went to the worst slave owner of them all,  Calvin Candle.  Candle is played by Leonardo DiCaprio in one of his best performances ever.  Over the top enough to be evil but not hokey.

This movie like all of Tarantino's is not for everyone.  Violence is way off the scale.  Blood everywhere.  Although not as bad as some of his other films. He likes his LONG movies too.  While the movie did not seem overly long it could have easily been cut by 30-40 minutes without losing a beat.  Normally the F-word is his curse of choice.  Here it's the N-word.  If you are offended by that skip this movie.

What makes the movie work besides all the big name actors that drop in for a small part is the work of Waltz.  He delivers a line better than anyone.  I find my ears perking up every time he talks.

Not for everyone.  If you watch this preview and like what you see chances are good you will enjoy the movie.

Les Misérables

Rating 5 out of 10

As anyone that knows me might have guessed I'm not a big musical person.  I like some musicals.  One's like Grease or even Momma Mia where they talk, talk, talk and then someone bursts into song and dance.  Les Miserables is not that type of musical.  There are maybe 5-6 words in the whole movie.  All the rest of the dialog is singing.  If that does not sound so bad to you I highly recommend this movie for you.  

The acting for the most part is first rate.  I feel sure Hugh Jackman having been overlooked for  oscar nominations playing Wolverine in the X-Men films will get his shot this year.  He does a good job and the Academy seems to like performances like that.  Anne Hathaway also does a good job even though it's heartbreaking to watch them shave off her pretty hair. The one miscast for my taste was Russell Crowe.  He plays the local inspector and besides looking on the fat side is not a very good singer.  

The movie is set in 1800s France where Jean Valjean (Jackman) in sentenced to five years prison for stealing a loaf of bread to feed his sisters family.  Five turns into fifteen years when he keeps trying escape.  When he is finally released he breaks parole and finds a new identity. In a few years he becomes a successful business man and Mayor of the town.  Things start to unravel when his old prison guard is named lead Inspector (Crowe) of the town he now lives in.  

As I said if you like musicals you will find this movie incredible.  It just wasn't my thing.  

Jack Reacher

Jack Reacher

Rating 8 out of 10

Jack Reacher is a main character in a series of novels written by Lee Child.  I have read many of Child's entertaining books although not the one this movie was based on.  Reacher is a tough as nails ex-military man that has done it all.  He retired from a lifetime in the military to travel around America.  No frills.  No phones, credit cards, not even a suitcase. As luck would have it everywhere he goes trouble seem to find him.

In the first in what I'm guessing will be a series of movies Jack shows up when a guy he convicted of murder in the military police but got off from a technicality is arrested for shooting five people in downtown Pittsburg with a sniper rifle.  He is there hoping the guy hangs yet as the evidence mounts he may have been set up.

When I first heard Tom Cruise was playing Jack Reacher I thought he was too short for the 6'4" military bad a$$. He does a good joband kicked buns plenty of times.  He works with a pretty defense attorney played by the lovely Rosamund Pike (when you see her picture you will have an ah-hah moment realizing who she is).

There probably could have been a little more action, but the action there is very good.  There is a cool car chase thru the city of Pittsburg.  I enjoyed the movie.

The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey

The Hobbit

Rating 7 out of 10

I can't say this is a movie I had high anticipation on.  After watching the Lord of the Rings trilogy I hoped it would be good, but the trailers left me more confused than excited.  I am glad to say I enjoyed it even though like the LOR trilogy it may not be for everyone.  I would think if you liked the LOR movies you will indeed like this prequel.

As most movies that are intended in a series the first one usually lags as all the characters have to be introduced and a story has to be told.  I remember not liking the first LOR movie thinking it was too slow and confusing. I found The Hobbit easier to follow even though at nearly three hour playing time there was a little wiggling in the seat.

I have not read any of the books like my nerdy brother inlaw has (I'm sure he has a Gandalf action figure.  The movie starts off with the peaceful Kingdom of Erebor and the dwarfs being taken over by an evil dragon.  Sixty years later the dwarves are determine to take back their kingdom.  Not sure why it took so long.  Our star hobbit Bilbo Baggins (Martin Freeman) is dragged into the adventure even though he'd much rather stay with his slow boring life.

They battle across the continent with danger at ever turn.  Plenty of battles against some interesting and beastly creatures.  I was entertained although I could have trimmed atleast 30 minutes from the film.

I liked it.  Teenage Rocky did not like it at all.  Your taste may vary.

Life of Pi

Life of Pi

Rating 8 out of 10

This was a movie I went back and forth whether I wanted to see or not.  In fact had it not been a roofers holiday (rain day) and nothing else with a starting time that worked I would probably not be writing this  review.  I'm very glad I went.

Visually this is one of the most incredible movies you will see.  By watching the previews you would think it is a two hour movie of a boy floating in a boat with a large tiger.  There is that and much more.  Director Ang Lee can be a strange bird. He rarely gives you what you are expecting.  I did not read the book this movie is based on but now have the desire to do so.  As you also know I'm not a fan of 3d movies.  This might be one that is worth the extra three bucks for those goofy glasses.

The first third of the movie tells the story of a boy growing up in India with his parents and older brother.  His parents run a zoo in a hotel they oversee.  From an early age Pi (short for Picine) is amazed by the Bengal tiger while not really understanding the danger involved.  When a political change in the country forces Pi's parents to move to French speaking Canada they load up the animals on a ship to sell in North America where they can get a better price.  Sadly in a big storm the ship sinks taking Pi's family with it.  Pi then does end up on that small boat with the Tiger.

The voyage at sea is anything but boring.  At my NCG theater we get free refills on drinks. I always feel the need to get my monies worth out of that $3 diet coke with a refill.  I hated to leave the theater with fear of missing something.  Suraj Sharma did a good job as the young Pi.  I even liked the guy that played the older Pi.

While the story does not make you believe in God as it boasts it will give you a visually entertaining couple hours in a theater.

Rise of the Guardians

Rise of the Guardians

Rating 8.5 out of 10

I have been on a string of disappointing movies and went into the theater for this one with high hopes.  I am very glad to say this movie met my expectations and then some!  This is a movie you will buy the dvd for your kids and enjoy watching it over and over as they cycle it in with the Beauty and the Beast videos.  Clearly computer animation has gone to incredible levels.  Rise of the Guardians takes it another step higher.

Every now and then there are threats against the world children.  Luckily for all of us there are the Guardians.  Santa, Sandman, Easter Bunny and the tooth fairy.  These are picked by the Man in the Moon.  When a new threat presents himself another Guardian is needed.  Pitch the Boogieman is determined to take happiness away from the worlds children.  Jack Frost is enlisted to help the Guardians defeat evil even if he can't understand why he is needed.

As I said the animation is first rate even in the 2D version I saw.  The story is entertaining and filled with laughs for kids of all ages.  The voices are perfect.  Often in movies like this I find myself thinking of who is voicing the character rather than the character itself.  Not here.  Every voice just fits.  Alec Baldwin as Santa, Hugh Jackman is the Easter Bunny, Isla Fisher is the Tooth Fairy and Chris Pine is Jack Frost.

Take your kids to see this.  If you don't have kids, borrow some.  I'll be taking my grandkids to see this again and buying the dvd when it comes out.

Good movie.

Silver Linings Playbook

Silver Linings Playbook

Rating 4 out of 10

There will be plenty who will like this movie much more than I did.  I had high hopes as I like the stars alot.  Bradley Cooper and Jennifer Lawrence do a good job here with what they have to work with.  I wouldn't be surprised if they get award nominations.  Robert De Niro is usually good even though he hasn't really picked the right movies lately.

Pat (Cooper) is a troubled Philadelphia Eagles football fan that when we meet him is in a state institution.  Let's be honest.  Most Eagles fans belong in an institution of some sort!  : >   Pat finds he is bi-polar with a bad temper.  He loses his wife, job and home.  Forced to live with his parents (who are a little nutty too) he meets the lovely Tiffany (Lawrence).   As luck would have it she has issues too.  Her husband died six months earlier and she has been having sex with everyone in sight.   She is interested in Pat but he only wants to get his wife back.

The key that will fix everything is Pat and Tiffany are entering a ballroom dancing contest.  This is a conflicted movie of people dealing with mental illness.  Movie reviewers love movies like this.  So do the awards shows.  Royce does not.  The movie is right at two hours long and to me seemed much longer.  Not my cup...

If anyone sees this movie and enjoys it please drop me a line.