The Amazing Spider-Man 2

The Amazing Spider-Man 2

Rating 6 out of 10

I may not be the best to review this since I didn't really care for the first one of these Spider-Man reboot movies.  One thing I don't care for is director Marc Webb feeling the need to re-tell the whole long story of how Peter Parker has these crazy powers.  After three earlier movies can't he assume we kinda know the tale?  With Spidey 2 we get much more of that along with long setups for each of the bad guys too.  When I go see a superhero movie I want to see the good guy battling it out with the bad guys.

The movie starts with our web slinging hero (Andrew Garfield)  saving the day when a group of bad guys steal an armored car transporting some sort of nuclear waste through downtown New York City (I'm sure that is a normal route).  As he takes care of business he realizes he is late for his own college graduation and once again weighs the problems of keeping the world safe and his relationship with his girlfriend Gwen Stacy (Emma Stone).

Most of the next ninety plus minutes is dedicated to us seeing how much Peter loves Stacy and introducing in great detail our two bad guys, Electro (Jamie Foxx) and Harry Osborn (Dane DeHaan) A little more than two hours in to the movie we get our big show down.

This is not a bad movie.  Just a mostly boring one for an action movie.  I think I'll skip Spider-Man 3.

Brick Mansions

Brick Mansions

Rating 4 out of 10

A couple times a year I see a movie that I hate to admit here that I saw.  Think I'll just skip that review.  You really expected THAT movie to be good I'm sure people will ask.  Well, not really.  I didn't expect this movie to be good.  I had already been warned by my son inlaw how bad it was.  I can tolerate a bad movie if it has actors I like and lots of action to distract how bad the script is.  Heck I saw both of the Expendable movies and eagerly away the next one this summer!  I liked Paul Walker and this was the last movie he completed before his death.

In downtown Detroit there is a section that has become so bad the police have given up trying.  The city just builds a 40 foot wall around the area of tall brick buildings and let the animals take care of them selves.  There is on man in Brick Mansions that wants to try to clean it up.  He fights the drug dealers in what sure seems to be a losing battle.  He is Lino (David Belle) who is one of those guys who somehow jumps off buildings and crawls up walls without ever getting hurt. Very cool.

When Mansion thugs steal a H-bomb from an armored car (because we transport those things around all the time) the only good cop in Detroit (Paul Walker)  is recruited to join Lino to go in and find/disarm the bomb and avenge the death of his police captain father who was murdered there years ago.  It plays out as stupid as it sounds.

The action is decent.  Mostly when David Belle does his jumping around although it is full of the dreaded shaky cam that I can't stand. This movie killed a couple hours on a rainy day out of town.  Sadly that time could have been better spent playing in the rain.

Bears

Bears

Rating 7 out of 10

One of my favorite movie times is when I get to share a theater seat and a small bag of popcorn with my lovely granddaughter.  This time we saw Disney's Bears.  This was a movie she picked.  It was either this or Rio II.

When I was a young tike I would ride my dinosaur home from school and watch a tv show called Wild Kingdom with a very old guy named Marlin Perkins and sponsored by some insurance company.  It was a nature show and this movie reminded me of that show very much.

Bears is a year in the life of a momma bear and her two cubs.  It starts with the bears in their hibernation cave and follows them in their trek for food and their dangers.  They walk through the beautiful Alaskan mountains on their way to the oceans and rivers where the salmon spawn and fill the bellies of many large bears.  The movie is masterfully narrated by John C. Reilly.

The scenery and visuals are incredible.  I was amazed at the end of the movie when they showed how they filmed much of the bear scenes.  The hour and twenty minute movie kept my four year old granddaughters attention for about half of that.  There were some scenes of the bears eating their salmon that was a big much for her.  "that's disgusting" she said.

I enjoyed the movie.  Enjoyed the company more.

The Other Woman

The Other Woman

Rating 3 out of 10

How bad does a movie that has a large portion of it's nearly two hours with Kate Upton in a skimpy swimsuit yet still is dreadfully boring?  Watch The Other Woman and you will soon see. There were some people laughing at times during this movie. Mostly it was dead silence.  I"m not a big fan of Leslie Mann, but here she was like scratching on a chalkboard in her overacting.

In case you have not seen the movie trailer it starts off with a leggy blonde lawyer (Cameron Diaz) falling deeply in love with a Mr. Wonderful named Mark (Nikolaj Coster from the far better Game of Thrones tv show).  Mark literally charms the pants off her.  When she makes a surprise visit to his home she finds his unsuspecting wife (Leslie).  Instead of getting mad she wants to be best friend with her husbands woman on the side.  There are many stale gags that die on the floor.  When the women follow the cheater to the beach they find him with yet another woman (Upton).

They all three become best friends and decide to get even via some half baked proving he is stealing money from his company plan.  Nothing makes much sense. The only part of this movie that made me happy was the credits when the movie was over.  : >

This is a don't even bother to rent type of movie.

3 Days to Kill

3 Days to Kill

Rating 6 out of 10

Some people can't stand Kevin Costner.  Like detest him and every movie he is in.  I don't get it.  I am a fan.  I think that even when he is in a bad movie he almost always is good.  This is one of those movies.  He takes a movie that otherwise would have gone straight to dvd and makes it a mildly entertaining movie.

Costner plays a long time C.I.A. spy/hitman.  He is the best of the best.  He can take out a room of bad guys without breaking a sweat.   Nothing can stop him.  Well, nothing except a brain tumor that has drifted to his lungs and given him a few months to live.  He wants to walk away and spend what time he has with his estranged teenage daughter and lovely ex-wife.

As luck would have it amazingly the C.I.A has one last job for him to do.  That almost never happens! : >   Not only will they let him walk away but the sexy handler (Amber Heard) has a new experimental drug that could cure is tumors.

Much of the movie is the hokey/sweet efforts he goes to reconnect with is daughter.  Not many surprises. Lots of action and shooting.  Pretty much paint by the numbers but I was mildly entertained.  I would classify this as a decent rental when it comes out.

Need for Speed

Need for Speed

Rating 4 out of 10

I had a roofers holiday (rain day) and felt like a movie.  Need for Speed was the only one with a start time that worked.   This is one of the first movies made by Aaron Paul in attempt to capitalize on his hot Breaking Bad fame.  He is clearly the big name in the movie with a list of B actors and sadly showing how far Michael Keaton has fallen.

Aaron Paul plays Tobey Marshall, a natural born race car driver that has taken over his fathers garage after he passes away and specializes in very expensive muscle cars.  Even with the very high dollar clientele the banker is on the doorsteps ready to repo.  The fine acting in the movie is the evil banker who is played by my friend Frank Brennan who is just like that evil heartless banker in real life (not really).  Several things happen where Tobey goes to jail after his best friend dies.  When he gets out the only way (of course) he can avenge his friends death is to win a secret race thru the curvy California roads with and against multi million dollar cars.  How else would one do it?

The teenage Royce would have LOVED this movie.  Lots of fast cars, hot babes and action like nobodies business.  Plot that makes not a nickels worth of sense?  Teenage Royce could not care less. Lets watch this movie again!  Middle aged Royce sees it a little differently.  Middle aged Royce wonders about all those poor people in the cars wrecked with idiot Tobey drives down the wrong side of the road at 100+ mph and am not amazed when a three million dollar Mustang jumps across three lanes of traffic at 15ft, lands in the dirt without a scratch.

This is a mostly harmless go fast sports car movie that if you can park enough neurons at the door you could enjoy it.  Enough neurons that you think Dukes of Hazard was a documentary.  It could be done...

Captain America: The Winter Soldier

Captain America: The Winter Soldier

Rating 8 out of 10

When the first Captain America came out in 2011 I went in with low expectations.  It didn't look like it was going to be very good.  I was pleasantly surprised as the movie was much better than I thought it would be.   This time expectations were higher with this version and once again I was pleasantly surprised.  The Winter Soldier is great.   The action in the first ten minutes of the movie is first rate.

This movie begins not long after the Avengers have saved NYC and the world.  Captain America or Steve Rogers (the hunky Chris Evans) is still working with S.H.I.E.L.D and it's leader Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson).  A big reason this movie is better than the last is Captain America has joined forces with the Black Widow (Scarlett Johansson) who besides being very hot knows how to kick butt and has some of the best lines of the movie.

When an assassination attempt on Nick Fury happens Rogers uncovers a group of bad guys has infiltrated not only the government but the deepest parts of S.H.I.E.L.D.  Of course their plan is to take over the world and kill millions.  What bad guy does not want this?  It's up to Captain America and Black Widow to save the world and they don't know who they can trust.  They find a friend in Falcon (Anthony Mackie).  An ex-special forces man that has these cool strap on wings that enable him to fly like a bird.

The action is first rate here. If you like super hero movies your money will be well spent here.   I enjoyed this very much and would pay to see it again.  Also thought it was cool that S.H.I.E.L.D uses a Macbook Pro like the one I 'm typing on to run their organization!