Grudge Match

Grudge Match

Rating 6.5 out of 10

Lots of movies being released this Christmas day.  The only one that could be considered "family friendly" and take the wife to is Grudge Match. Anyone that has watched tv in the past month or so has seen the many commercials running showing the aging Sylvester Stallone and Robert De Niro in a boxing rematch from a fight years ago.

Thirty years ago Henry "Razor" Sharp (Stallone) and Billy "The Kid" McDonald (De Niro) are the elite of the light heavyweight boxing world.  In their first fight The Kid wins a close one.  In the second fight Razor knocks him out in the forth round in a blowout.   Before a third and deciding bout can be fought Razor up and retires.  This drives McDonald crazy as he has no chance to defend his honor.

As the years go by Razor works in a low paying job at the Pittsburg steel mill as McDonald goes on to riches and is doing well.  When a 30 year anniversary of their last fight spikes interest they are offered $100,000 for a last rematch.  Razor begrudgingly agrees as he needs the money.  McDonald sees it as a way to finally regain his honor.

While the movie is most definitely a paint by the numbers simplistic movie it has a fair amount of laughs and entertainment.  The co-stars Alan Arkin and Kevin Hart steal the show. Both are very funny.  We get plenty of AARP jokes and Stallone pokes fun at his Rocky alias.  When it gets to the final showdown the fight for me was a little creepy with really old guys punching the crap out of each other.  Ultimately the movie wraps up quite nicely.

Over all the movie is harmless and I was entertained.  The wife liked it much more than I did. I think I would have liked it more had I not seen most of the funny parts a hundred times in the commercials before viewing.  Make sure to stay for the parts after the closing credits.  Some of the funniest parts are there.

Saving Mr. Banks

Saving Mr. Banks

Rating 6 out of 10

Disclaimer: I have not seen the movie Mary Poppins nor have I read any of P.L. Travers books.

This is mostly a movie about the life of author P.L. Travers (Emma Thompson).  She is the lady that wrote the series of books Mary Poppins.  Turns out Mary Poppins was an aunt that came to help her family when she was young and her father (Mr. Banks) was gravely sick.  When Travers wrote the books she was very attached to the characters and their memories.

Walt Disney (Tom Hanks)  read the books to his daughters when they were young and made them a promise that one day he would make a movie of the beloved character.   The problem was Travers wanted no part of turning Mary Poppins into a movie.  Especially one made by Disney, who at that time had only animated movies that she detested.  She didn't care for America or Americans for that matter.  Walt Disney was very persistent and contacted Travers many times over twenty plus years.  She finally caved in due to lack of funds.  She wasn't sure which would be worse selling her story to a movie or starving to death.

The movie is based on a true story and details how difficult it was for them to come to an agreement. The movie also details in flashbacks her childhood and relationship with her alcoholic father whom she loved dearly despite all his flaws.

The movie is very well acted.  Hanks reminded me greatly of watching The Wonderful World of Disney every Sunday night with my family.  Emma Thompson is good as the stogy author.  My problem is I found the movie mostly depressing.  Travers was a very unhappy, rude and unlikable woman that treated everyone like dirt.  The movie leaves it open as to if she liked the finished product of Mary Poppins.  Reading up on IMDB I found she was very unhappy with the movie and refused to let Disney make any follow up movies.

The movie is entertaining.  Just not the uplifting heartwarming story I was hoping for.

The Hobbit: The Desolation Of Smaug

The Hobbit: The Desolation Of Smaug

Rating 6 out of 10

As you probably know this is the second movie in a Hobbit trilogy following last years The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey and the prequel to the wildly successful and more entertaining Lord of the Rings trilogy.   The first Hobbit movie kinda rambled on.  While being very good visually to look at but a story that was hard to follow and unlike the LOR movies had characters that were too much alike to really form a bond to.

I will say that Hobbit II is much better than Hobbit I.  It still suffers from too many characters and a story that while if you read the books might be easy to follow but if you have not you don't really understand what is going on.  I don't really play video games anymore.  After a while they seemed to be where you would drive to this area and shoot a bunch of bad guys, then drive to that area and shoot a bunch of bad guys... over and over without really knowing what the end game is.  This movie is kinda like that.  The main goal is to get the dwarves their riches back by killing the huge sleeping dragon.  Somehow the Orgs want to kill the dwarves and demolish the wold.

What makes this movie better than the first is the arrow shooting elves are back.  Orlando Bloom is back playing Legolas from the LOR series.  Evangeline Lilly is great as the female elf that can out fight the boys and feels she needs to defend the elves because it's the right thing to do.

Visually while being atleast 30-40 minutes longer than it needs to be is incredible to watch.  I didn't see anything where 3D would help.  We saw it on the big IMAX screen and were glad we did.

If you liked the first one you will like this one more.  I was mostly entertained.  Not sorry I saw it but wouldn't pay to see it again.  Will I see the Hobbit III?  Sure.

Tyler Perry's A Madea Christmas

Tyler Perry's A Madea Christmas

Rating 4 out of 10

I will start this review by admitting that I don't think women dressing up like women are funny.  Not that it offends me or anything.  Just not funny.  I thought Flip Wilson was funny (showing my age) and Dustin Hoffman was funny in Tootsie (again showing my age).  I have never seen a Madea movie and after sitting through this one I know why.  It's just not for me.

Madea can be funny.  I agree to that.  The problem is it's just a nonsense.  No need for any type of sensical plot when you can just cut Madea loose and let her make fun of everyone.  Doesn't work for me.

Madea has a cranky racist friend in Atlanta that is set on visiting her twenty something daughter that has moved off to rural Alabama whether the daughter want's her or not.  Madea decides to tag along.  When they get to Alabama we find that the friends lovely daughter has (gasp) married a white guy.  Most of the movie is keeping that fact a secret from mom even when the white guys parents (Larry the Cable Guy) show up.  All the Alabama people are hicks with southern accents and dumb enough to sign contracts they don't bother to read.  All the hateful people in the beginning of the movie become wonderful for no real reason.

If you can overlook the lack of plot and lack of any name actors (wonder what Blair on Facts of Life is up to?) to get a few Madea laughs it may be worth it to you.  Me?  I've had my fill of Madea movies.

Out of the Furnace

Out of the Furnace

Rating 5 out of 10

Before I start my review I have to tell about the movie theater I saw this movie in.  Working on a job just south of Washington DC the nearby theater had seats that were like my recliner at home!  These even had the electric buttons on the arm rest that recline the chair and extend the foot rest.  I didn't have to find a place with no one in front of me so I could extend my long legs and mostly clean shoes into that seat. Pure heaven for myself with my diet coke and bag of black twirlers!

On to the review...

The good.   This may be the most well acted movie of 2013.  Christian Bale is great as the brooding good brother that works at a steel mill, pays his bills and loves his girlfriend.  Casey Affleck is good as the crazy brother who comes home from time to time between his military tours.  Sam Shepard is always great.  When I see him on screen I just wish he were my uncle and I could sit on the porch and have him dispense wisdom to me.  The person that steals the show is Woody Harrelson.  In real life he is clearly a nut job and is determined not to be locked into any particular tip of role.  Here he is the very bad man leading a bunch of hillbilly drug dealers. You really feel the fear when he gets upset with someone.

The not so good.  The problem is the slow moving script.  I would call this the feel bad movie of the year.  The good brother goes to jail on a drunk driving accident and loses everything (not a spoiler), the crazy brother is having some sort of post traumatic stress breakdown from all the bad things he has seen.  He can't find work after the military and resorts to some sort of Fight Club for money as he seems to enjoy the beatings.  Heck, even the dad is dying from cancer in their dirty town where the mill is closing.  You feel like you need a shower when you leave the theater.

When the crazy brother crosses the bad drug dealer (Harrelson) the good brother comes looking for payback.  It's just when director Scott Cooper goes from A to Z you get every letter in the alphabet.  I wouldn't say I disliked the movie.  Disappointed may be a better word.  The very ending left me scratching my head wondering what I had seen.

I would say rent this one for the good acting.

Homefront

Homefront

Rating 7.5 out of 10

I like Jason Statham.  He is a good looking action star with that English accent.  I'm afraid he is becoming this generations Jean-Claude Van Damme.   Van Damme had some good movies early then ran off a string of stinkers that even a hard core action fan like myself could not like.  He has made some good movies but lately his choices of what parts to take have you scratching your head.  I'm glad to say Homefront is pretty good for an action movie.  If you like action movies at all you should leave the theater a happy camper.

The movie starts with DEA agent Phil Broker (Statham)  undercover with a very bad biker gang that amazingly enough it big in the drug trade.  When the bust goes down the biker leaders son gets killed and that bad guy blames Broker and vows to get even.  Flash forward several years and Broker is living in a small Louisiana town after his wife had died raising his 10 year old daughter.  After a while he crosses swords with the local drug dealer Gator (James Franco) and life goes crazy.  Gator realizes who Broker is and alerts the bad biker dude in prison.

The action is as good as you'd expect and the acting is better than you usually get in this type of movie.  I'm not a Franco fan yet he does a good job in not going over the top.  This has my all time favorite character actor, Clancy Brown.  Click on the name and you'll say "oh, that guy".  Besides having a cool last name he always plays his part well.  Anorexic Kate Bosworth found a part she is made for, the skinny crack addicted mom that causes trouble.  Winona Ryder shows up to prove she is still around.  The hot redhead from the tv show Under the Dome (Rachelle Lefevre) is the teacher.

If you like action movies I'd put this on the to see list.

Frozen

Frozen

Rating 6 out of 10

I had a good date for this movie so it's hard to be critical at all.  I took my lovely little granddaughter after a yummy meal at McD's.  There was a day when Disney ruled the roost when it came to animated movies.  They would crank out a classic every year or two having parents standing in line saying please take my money.  In the past decade Pixar starting with Toy Story has left Disney in the dust one movie after another.

Frozen is a cute enough Disney-type movie that you will enjoy, you youngsters will like and next year you won't remember ever seeing it.  It goes back to the old school days of Disney when they have a cute/likable lead, a minimal story and a funny sidekick or two.  They also go back to the characters breaking into song every 2-3 minutes.  I will say if you LOVE the musical parts of the old Disney movies you will also love this movie.  There must be 10-12 songs in the 85 minute movie.  I could have done with 2-3 tops.

With Frozen we start at a kingdom far away where the King has two lovely daughters.  One daughter is born with the blessing/curse of ice.  She can create ice/snow with anything she touches at will.  When the daughters are young the ice daughter Elsa (velvet voiced Idina Menzel) accidentally hurts younger sister Anna (Kristen Bell).  The king decides to keep them separate from then on to avoid another problem.  When Elsa is of age he opens the kingdom to her coming out party and problems abound.  She leaves the kingdom and Anna goes after her.

As I said the movie moves along at a decent pace.  Would have been better for this guy had they not broke into song so much.  My three year old date stayed amused for the hour and half (with help of a large bucket of popcorn).  I think last years Rise of the Guardians is far better than this one.  If you are looking for a cute movie to take the young kids to this is not a bad choice.  My theater was packed.