Sleeping with other People- Rental

Sleeping with other People

Rating 8 out of 10

I was recently on a long plane ride with plenty of time to kill.  Delta had quite a few movies that were free to watch.  I had seen a commercial for this movie months ago and thought it looked interesting yet never saw it come to theaters.  The hottie and I clicked go and gave it a try.  It turned out to be a sweet and entertaining movie we both enjoyed.

I find myself surprised that I like the star of the movie, Jason Sudeikis, as much as I do.  I liked him in Horrible Bosses and thought We're the Millers was better than the reviewers gave it.  I like the female lead, Alison Brie, also but I'm not sure where I have seen her before.

Jake (Sudeikis) and Lainey (Brie) meet in college and end up being each others first time.  They drift apart and over the next several years date alot without finding the special one.  They agree they are not meant for each other while they do like each other and become friends.  Jake is a serial dater that can't commit.  Lainey always commits to the wrong guy who is with someone else.  The movie tests the When Harry Met Sally theory that a man and woman can't be friends.  That sex thing always gets in the way.

While the name and theme of the movie leads one to think it's a teenage sex romp stupid comedy.  It really isn't.  It's more a fairly well written movie about a friendship over the years.  I was surprised how much I enjoyed this movie.

Creed

Creed

Rating 8.5 out of 10

I had reservations about his movie in the beginning.  Looked like it could be good or could be a hammed up extension of the mostly very good Rocky saga.  After a few people I know saw this movie and liked it I decided to go.  A rainy day in Kennesaw means unpaid vacation days for roofers.  So I scooped up my friend Mark and we were off to the local NCG for an early movie.

In Creed we have Adonis Johnson.  Turns out Apollo Creed while being a great boxer was not always a great husband.  He got a woman pregnant just before he decided to fight this big blonde Russian guy that did not end well.  Adonis is born after Apollo dies and never meets his father.  When his mother dies he spends several years in orphanages fighting all the time until Apollo's wife takes him in.  He gets a proper education and has a fancy finance job.  Yet fighting is still in his blood.  He flies off to Mexico to do backstreet fights.  He quits his job and decides to become a boxer like his dad.

When he goes to Philadelphia looking to Rocky for help he finds reluctance.  Of course it would be a short movie if Rocky held to his guns and refused to train Adonis.  Through a couple amazingly lucky breaks Adonis lands a huge fight just as Rocky did so many years ago.

With this movie the fight is not really a big part of the movie.  It's the relationships Adonis builds and cultivates as he goes along.  While it's agreed Sylvester Stallone has not been in many runs for an Oscar award I feel this may be his best job of acting ever.  Michael B. Jordan does a good job as Adonis.  Acting overall is very good.

I was highly entertained and will probably pay to see this one again.  Good movie folks.

The Good Dinosaur

The Good Dinosaur

Rating 4 out of 10

Normally a Pixar movie is an easy bullseye.  So many classic movies.  A new Pixar release and you automatically order the DVD.  The Good Dinosaur has an interesting premise.  What if the meteor that hit Earth many years ago that killed all the dinosaurs instead skirted by our atmosphere and years later humans and dino's are living together.  The voices are great.  I find it distracting when I recognize every voice in the movie.  Besides the always cool Sam Elliot I didn't know a single one.  With Pixar you know the animation is going to be first rate.

The main problem here is the story.  Our start dino that has battled everything in his life since being born the runt of the litter gets washed down the river in what appears to be weekly flash floods.  He is so far away and given up for dead by his family the only one that can help his is a little caveman (cave boy?).  The story is rather dull even with a trio of T-Rex's that have a heard of prehistoric buffalo.

I wouldn't say this cartoon is for little kids.  I went with three grandkids who often turned their heads when cute little gerbil looking animals are eaten alive by long sharp toothed flying beasts.  The animation is mostly nothing short of incredible.  The flowing fields, majestic mountains and rivers are so realistic you think they smuggled in film stock.  Then they made the main dinosaur stars of the movie look like Saturday morning cartoons.  I don't get that.

I was hoping for much more and three little ones under five were not impressed either.  I'd take their opinion over mine every time.

The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 2

The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 2

Rating 5 out of 10

The Hunger Games trilogy stretched into a fourlogy comes to an end with this finale.  I started reading the books.  Thought the first one was pretty good.  Got half way thru the second one and became bored then gave up.  I have to say I kinda feel that way about the movies too.  The part 1 of Mockingjay was slow with very little action.  In part 2 we get lots of action yet it still manages to be boring.

For those following the perils of Katniss Everdeen the good guys have finally come knocking on the Capital doors with thoughts of killing the evil President Snow and ending his reign.  Peeta is still crazy yet they insist on bringing him along on every adventure.

I quit playing video games years ago when it seemed every war movie had you going from area to area killing all the bad guys but never really knowing where you are going.  This movie gave me the same feel.  Once they get in the gates they go from area to area coming across some sort of bad guy occasionally losing a good guy then moving on.  Snow has cameras that let him know where they are yet he only sends a few soldiers each time.  It has a twist at the end that turns out to be so obvious you see it coming a mile away.

I thought the whole thing was a mess. Lots of random scenes glued together that didn't make much sense.  I guess those that loved the books will love this movie.  It will make million$.  I was not entertained and wish I had gone to something else.

Secret in their Eyes

Secret in their Eyes

Rating 6 out of 10

This movie looked very interesting to me.  Great cast.  Chiwetel Ejiofor (always good), Julia Roberts (leaving the pretty woman looks behind), Nicole Kidman and Alfred Molina.  In the trailer we see three cops showing up at a crime scene of a murdered girl in a dumpster only to find out it's Roberts beloved daughter.  The movie is set in early 2002 in LA.  Not long after 9/11 when hysteria of another terrorist attack is high.  When the main suspect is also someone linked to the Muslim community and may be considered an asset politics play into his prosecution or lack there of.

Flash forward thirteen years and Ejiofor who is no longer with the department has tracked down the bad guy and begins to make efforts to locate him.  Kidman is now the D.A. They are not sure even if they find him that they have enough to prosecute him.

The problem with this movie (besides it being pretty slow) is all the flashbacks.  Instead of telling the movie in order the director gives us chunks of now mixed with pieces of thirteen years ago. The main way of telling what time you are in is by Kidmans hair length.

There is a nice twist at the end but over all with this cast it should have been much better.  Will make a good rainy day rental.

The 33

The 33

Rating 8 out of 10

I thought this movie looked pretty good when I saw the trailers.  I was surprised to see it was not getting very good reviews. On Rottentomeatoes.com it only rates a 42%.  Although the audience score is pushing 70%.  After skimming over several of the bad reviews I saw most of the complains were on things like the movie using a white actor in a hispanic role or someone's accent not being perfect.  I decided to give it a try with the Hottie and my daughter and her husband.  Even brought the three year old granddaughter hoping it kept her attention.

Anyone that even casually watches the new should remember back in 2010 when a mine in Chile collapsed and trapped 33 miners more than 2000 feet below ground.  It was crazy.  They were so far underground it took the truck driving them down to the mining area more than an hour to get them to the bottom.  The 33 miners were pushed into a "safe room" not much bigger than a school room with only 3 days of food and water.  They knew right off their situation was grave as it took more than 100 years of digging to get the hole that deep.  There were a couple possible escape routes but one was never finished and the other caved in too.

The movie then shifts to above and below ground.  How the miners manage to not give up when they are starving and can't imagine how anyone can get to them.  Antonio Banderas gives his best performance ever as Mario who refuses to give up.  Lou Diamond Phillips is also great as the supervisor that knew in his gut the mine was getting dangerous.  Above ground the mine owners and then the Chile government have to decide whether it's worth sinking million$ into a recovery when chances are very slim they are still alive and even if they are how could they possibly get them out. Once it becomes a world wide story they really have no choice but to go all out in the recovery.

My daughter cried thru the whole movie.  That doesn't really count since she is pregnant and cries at Publix commercials these days.  The hottie cried at the end and I have to admit my eyes watered a little.

I really enjoyed this movie.  Thought the acting was good and with a two hour run time it seemed just long enough.  It made me go right home and dig out wikipedia to find out more about the story.

Spectre

Spectre

Rating 6 out of 10

I have to admit off the bat that I'm one of three people on the planet that does not care for Daniel Craig as Bond.  Not that I don't like Craig.  I have seen him in other movies and liked him.  I just like the older Bonds better.  I also understand these films are supposed to be prequels to the others.  This is Bond before he became the suave agent we later see with Connery or Roger Moore.

With this movie Bond faces off with the bad guy that was king over all the other bond villains.  I guess if you followed the other movies very closely or read the books you would know who Frans Oberhauser (the always great Christoph Waltz) was.  I didn't follow closely enough because I had no idea who he was.

One of my favorite parts of any Bond film is when he goes into the spy gadget room with Q and gets the wristwatch that turns into a laser or pen that allows him to breath underwater.  That doesn't happen here.  Also there is the cool car they give him that besides being fast will spill oil on the road behind or shoot missiles from the tail pipe.  There is a car but he has to steal it. Gotta get that car sponsor money in there.

While the action is toned down a bit for a Bond film there is a great fight scene with Dave Bautista (Big guy Drax on Guardians of the Galaxy) that is worth the price of admission.  I thought the Bond girl Lea Seydoux was the most bland and plain ever.

I understand the irony of me picking a James Bond movie apart while admitting I love it when Superman flies or Spiderman shoots webs from his wrist. I don't even try to explain it.  Most people will love this movie.  I thought it was okay.