The Lucky One

A Marine travels to Louisiana after serving three tours in Iraq and searches for the unknown woman he believes was his good luck charm during the war.

Director: Scott Hicks

Writers: Will Fetters (screenplay), Nicholas Sparks (novel)

Stars: Zac Efron, Taylor Schilling, Blythe Danner

Storyline

Logan is a marine serving in Iraq. While there, he finds a photo of a girl with "keep safe" written on the back. He is admiring it when his unit is attacked. He survives and credits the photo for saving him. He tries to find the owner but can't, assuming he was killed. When he goes back to the States, he finds it difficult to adjust and is still haunted by what happened. Analyzing the photo, he finds in the background a landmark that tells him she is in Louisiana. He then goes there and finds her. He learns her name is Beth. He tries to tell her what happened but can't get the words out. She assumes he's there to apply for the job they advertised looking for someone to help at her family's business, a dog kennel. He says yes but at first she gets an uneasy feeling from him but her grandmother decides to give him a chance. It isn't long that he makes a connection with her son. He then discovers that it was her brother who had the picture only he doesn't remember him.

Reviews

Zac Efron made some giant strides in shedding his Disney High School Musical image with this romantic drama where he plays a former Marine on a mission. In The Lucky One even gets some tastefully done romantic sex scenes with co-star Taylor Schilling.

While in Iraq on a military style mission Efron finds a picture of a pretty woman with the inscription 'stay safe' on the back. Without thinking it didn't help the Marine who had it before, he takes the picture and credits it as a good luck charm which kept him safe in a nasty fire fight. After discharge, Efron makes it his mission to find whose picture it is.

The mission takes him to the Louisiana bayou country where he finds Schilling together with her young son Riley Stewart and a most jealous ex-husband Jay Ferguson who is a deputy sheriff. She's living with her grandmother Blythe Danner and the photograph belonged to her brother who was in Iraq the same time as Efron.

There's a fine line between romance and stalking and Efron may have erased it. He tries to tell Schilling, but she just assumes he is answering an advertisement she put around town about her needing help with the family business which is a dog kennel. She hires him and nature takes its course.

Efron and Schilling hit it off for themselves on the screen and for the audience watching. Some real nice cinematography of Louisiana in the fall also distinguishes The Lucky One.

Will this be luck for life? You have to watch The Lucky One to find out. I will say Zac Efron was lucky to do this film.

Tangled

The magically long-haired Rapunzel has spent her entire life in a tower, but now that a runaway thief has stumbled upon her, she is about to discover the world for the first time, and who she really is.

Directors: Nathan Greno, Byron Howard

Writers: Dan Fogelman (screenplay), Jacob Grimm (fairy tale) (as the Brothers Grimm) , 3 more credits »

Stars: Mandy Moore, Zachary Levi, Donna Murphy

Storyline

After receiving the healing powers from a magical flower, the baby Princess Rapunzel is kidnapped from the palace in the middle of the night by Mother Gothel. Mother Gothel knows that the flower's magical powers are now growing within the golden hair of Rapunzel, and to stay young, she must lock Rapunzel in her hidden tower. Rapunzel is now a teenager and her hair has grown to a length of 70-feet. The beautiful Rapunzel has been in the tower her entire life, and she is curious of the outside world. One day, the bandit Flynn Ryder scales the tower and is taken captive by Rapunzel. Rapunzel strikes a deal with the charming thief to act as her guide to travel to the place where the floating lights come from that she has seen every year on her birthday. Rapunzel is about to have the most exciting and magnificent journey of her life.

Reviews

A few days ago I saw "Megamind", and thought it was just okay. I enjoyed it for what it was, but I didn't think it too spectacular. My faith in CGI entertainment was on the wane.

Well, tonight Disney pulled me from that depression, and help reinvigorate my belief in, well, just plain Disney.

What we have here is Rapuntzel turned on her head, with a dash of "Snow White" and "Sleeping Beauty" stirred in to keep our interest.

The film was charming, clever and witty without being too much of either. The comic timing was toned down for the young kiddies in the audience, mostly little girls and some younger boys, but the comedic aspect itself did not lose luster for this. If anything it showed just what good clever comedy was. Note Rapuntzel's improvised weapon, and how she brings it to bear on the baddies in the local tavern. Classic character sketch comedy, and I don't care if I was the only one who noticed it and was laughing. You're supposed to laugh!

The story itself regards fleeing the nest from a "Mime" like character, whose interest in our heroine is less than altruistic. The dashing rogue comes in to ground the story and keep Mandy Moore's character from running amuck and falling into despair.

All in all, even though a middle aged dude like myself is no where near the target audience, I enjoyed it immensely. 

Some criticisms; the villainess seemed marginally cliché. She had the liberated 70s woman gone bad thing going on for her, but it almost seems like we may have seen this character before. Not sure, really. The horse was extremely likable, but his rider could have played more of a role. In fact the supporting cast almost seemed as if they were denied screen time so we could revel in Rapuntzel's golden locks. For all that, and even though the action did dive into classic Warner Brother's cartoon territory, "Tangled" does make a very respectable showing.

That, and it was good to hear the voice of Richard Kiel play a big galoot who turns out to be a good guy. :)

My final note is that there was a very good message for young girls at the end, and in fact anyone with some sense will have caught on to it. It's a message that won't last too long, but hopefully will serve as a reminder to those who paid attention. Remember, hair isn't everything. Regardless of color *wink*

Take the family, but, if you're the father, then please, PLEASE, do not spend countless minutes like the idiot in front of me paying for his four member family with several credit cards while the ticket taker next to him managed to whiz through four or five parties of several members each for the 7:20 showing at the Redwood City theatre on Theatre Row.

Yeah, if you're reading this, you know who you are. Stop being a putz!

American Graffiti 

A couple of high school grads spend one final night cruising the strip with their buddies before they go off to college.

Director: George 

Storyline

It's the proverbial end of the summer 1962 in a small southern California town. It's the evening before best friends and recent high school graduates, Curt Henderson and Steve Bolander, are scheduled to leave town to head to college back east. Curt, who received a lucrative local scholarship, is seen as the promise that their class holds. But Curt is having second thoughts about leaving what Steve basically sees as their dead end town. Curt's beliefs are strengthened when he spots an unknown beautiful blonde in a T-bird who mouths the words "I love you" to him. As Curt tries to find that blonde while trying to get away from a local gang who have him somewhat hostage, Curt may come to a decision about his immediate future. Outgoing class president Steve, on the other hand, wants to leave, despite meaning that he will leave girlfriend, head cheerleader and Curt's sister, Laurie Henderson, behind. Steve and Laurie spend the evening "negotiating" the state of their relationship.Lucas

Writers: George Lucas, Gloria Katz, 1 more credit »

Stars: Richard Dreyfuss, Ron Howard, Paul Le Mat

Reviews

I was born at the beginning of the next decade--1970--yet "American Graffiti" was a chord that rippled throughout my life.

My father, who, like George Lucas, grew up in California's Central Valley, said this movie perfectly captured what it was like to grow up there--street cruising, hot rodding, picking up chicks, pulling pranks. Though this movie necessarily sidesteps the boredom inherent in growing up in the pesticide-choked San Joaquin Valley, the place itself is not as important the time it explores. It was a time just before the 1960s descended into the beginning of the end of American culture--the prototypical middle America that existed in almost all its small towns and now has substantively disappeared thanks to the urbanization and suburbanization of much of this country.

The ensemble cast, including so many that went on to become hugely successful in Hollywood--Ron Howard, Cindy Williams (well, with Laverne & Shirley at least), Richard Dreyfuss, and of course Harrison Ford (not to mention Lucas himself)--is handled with great skill from such a young director and reinforces the mystery why Lucas has so horribly mishandled Star Wars Eps. I and II. Lucas simply has been at the Ranch too long and his brilliant career has arrived parked in the garage at a large, entirely perfunctory business and media empire.

Anyway, regardless of Lucas' drift far away from the cutting edge, "American Graffiti" still stands as a kind of monument to his precocity. It is the kind of movie that hits every note with effortless precision, which I think is less the effort of great editing as it is a combination of youthful exuberance and actors and a director at essentially the beginning of their ascent as some of the best in the business.

This movie also withstands the test of time simply because it works magically both for those who have no particular emotional connection to the '60s and for those who were there on nearly equal levels. There is tremendous humor and naturalistic character play and dialog that few can help but be drawn into. Anyone with any sense of history will acknowledge that all the characters are standing at the edge of the deflowering and self-destruction of America in the '60s. It is a time of tremendous innocence, change, and harrowing decisions. The Bay of Pigs, Cuban Missile Crisis, and Vietnam haven't happened yet.

With Iraq and terrorism chewing at our consciousness every day, it's pretty easy for modern youth to identify and yearn for the nostalgia of such innocence.

Dracula

The vampire comes to England to seduce a visitor's fiancée and inflict havoc in the foreign land.

Director: Francis Ford Coppola

Writers: Bram Stoker (novel), James V. Hart (screenplay)

Stars: Gary Oldman, Winona Ryder, Anthony Hopkins

Storyline

This version of Dracula is closely based on Bram Stoker's classic novel of the same name. A young lawyer (Jonathan Harker) is assigned to a gloomy village in the mists of eastern Europe. He is captured and imprisoned by the undead vampire Dracula, who travels to London, inspired by a photograph of Harker's betrothed, Mina Murray. In Britain, Dracula begins a reign of seduction and terror, draining the life from Mina's closest friend, Lucy Westenra. Lucy's friends gather together to try to drive Dracula away.

Reviews

It is called "Bram Stoker's Dracula." The title is deceiving.

This film is an incoherent mess, to put it rather bluntly.

The effects, which look beautiful, only take away from the story-- you forget that this is a vampire movie and you are left with an impression that it is a special effects promo. And for crying out loud, what is with that tagline "Love Never Dies?" This film has taken a classic story and mutated it into a romance. Granted, there were huge romantic elements in the original Dracula-- the gothic horror classics such as it and Frankenstein flowed elegantly like poetry, and romance was used. But this film has taken something that Bram Stoker never intended and made it the key focus: Mina is now a riencarnation of a lover who Dracula lost while still Vlad the Impaler, and the whole film is basically an endless trek as they find each other and rediscover their lost love. OOOOKAY!

As far as events in the book goes, it is pretty accurate, but that's not the point. The point is, they completely changed the focus on some kind of unnesseccary love story. If Coppola had made the film an accurate account of the legend, it would have worked great. If he had changed the title from "Bram Stoker's", I might have liked it a little better (Even though the endless effects, as I have mentioned, made it mind-numbing and incoherent). Instead, it is only boring, tedious, and an insult to everything Bram Stoker hoped to accomplish. Poor Mr. Stoker....If he knew such trash like this would come out of his work, I'm sure he would have never written it.

If you want to see a good Dracula film, watch the Klause Kinski version of Nosferatu. It certainly isn't faithful to the novel, but at least it doesn't PRETEND to be, like this sorry excuse for a Dracula epic does.

I would give this film a negative two hundred on a scale of one to ten, if not for Anthony Hopkin's brilliant performance as Van Helsing. Truly, he's the only brillaint thing about it.

The Lobster 

In a dystopian near future, single people, according to the laws of The City, are taken to The Hotel, where they are obliged to find a romantic partner in forty-five days or are transformed into beasts and sent off into The Woods.

Director: Yorgos Lanthimos

Writers: Yorgos Lanthimos, Efthymis Filippou

Stars: Léa Seydoux, Colin Farrell, Rachel Weisz

Storyline

A love story set in a dystopian near future where single people are arrested and transferred to a creepy hotel. There they are obliged to find a matching mate in 45 days. If they fail, they are transformed into an animal and released into the woods.

Reviews

The Lobster is a surreal deadpan comedy about the strangeness of social pressures and modern relationships. 

The setting is a bleak, tightly controlled hotel on the coast of Ireland. David (Colin Farrell), a recently divorced Architect, is given 40 days to find a partner or else be transformed into an animal of his choosing; in this case, a lobster. Sound strange? That's just the first 10 minutes. Guests of the hotel are subjected to routine trips to shoot 'loners' with tranquillisers, and awkward high-school dances to entice singles to mingle. As David's days start running out, he decides to feign common interest with a heartless woman in order to escape his fate. But can he pull it off? 

Farrell really hits the mark with this role, displaying awkward machismo and fragile humility in equal measure. His comedic timing is matched only by his supporting cast that includes John C. Reilly, Ashley Jensen, and Olivia Coleman. Rachel Weisz is also spot-on as the short-sighted woman.

The Lobster has just about everything you'd want from a film. It's unpredictable, it's offbeat, and it's laugh-out-loud funny. But it's most impressive feature is the subtext - it manages to reflect how odd our own modern-day social pressures are. How loneliness is feared, how individuality loses out to the mainstream system, and how relationships have to be deemed 'legitimate' by some higher order. There's plenty to talk about with this film, and I'll definitely be seeing it again to delve a little deeper....

Kung Fu Panda 3

Continuing his "legendary adventures of awesomeness", Po must face two hugely epic, but different threats: one supernatural and the other a little closer to his home.

Directors: Alessandro Carloni, Jennifer Yuh

Writers: Jonathan Aibel, Glenn Berger

Stars: Jack Black, Angelina Jolie, Dustin Hoffman

Storyline

When Po's long-lost panda father suddenly reappears, the reunited duo travels to a secret panda paradise to meet scores of hilarious new panda characters. But when the supernatural villain Kai begins to sweep across China defeating all the kung fu masters, Po must do the impossible-learn to train a village full of his fun-loving, clumsy brethren to become the ultimate band of Kung Fu Pandas.

BoJack Horseman

Meet the most beloved sitcom horse of the '90s - 20 years later. BoJack Horseman was the star of the hit TV show "Horsin' Around," but today he's washed up, living in Hollywood, complaining about everything, and wearing colorful sweaters.

Creator: Raphael Bob-Waksberg

Stars: Will Arnett, Amy Sedaris, Alison Brie

Storyline

Meet the most beloved sitcom horse of the '90s - 20 years later. BoJack Horseman was the star of the hit TV show "Horsin' Around," but today he's washed up, living in Hollywood, complaining about everything, and wearing colorful sweaters.

Reviews

When I initially read the summary of what the series was I was excited because of my love for 90's style cartoons and I thought that it was a strange enough concept that might just work. 

When I started watching it I thought it was a tad slow but I guess they have to establish which character is which and give a little personality of each character so I'll forgive it for that but when the series got going I couldn't stop laughing. It uses the typical comedy formula that is used in a lot of comedies now which is escalation. Things keep on escalating till they are ridiculous and that teamed with Bojack's ability to say the wrong thing is a winning combo in my book. 

Although it does have many laughs through the series it still has serious moments and some sad moments too which I thought gave Bojack more depth as a character. The character manages to not be at all like the viewer but also very relatable to the same time in the observations he makes about life. 

Overall I thought that the series is defiantly worth watching, especially for fans of comedies such as It's Always Sunny In Philadelphia. Very good stuff and glad its been renewed for a second series.

Finding Dory

The friendly-but-forgetful blue tang fish reunites with her loved ones, and everyone learns a few things about the true meaning of family along the way.

Directors: Andrew Stanton, Angus MacLane

Writers: Andrew Stanton (screenplay), Andrew Stanton (screen story), 2 more credits »

Stars: Ellen DeGeneres, Albert Brooks, Diane Keaton

Storyline

"Finding Dory" reunites the friendly-but-forgetful blue tang fish with her loved ones, and everyone learns a few things about the true meaning of family along the way. Featuring the voices of Ellen DeGeneres, as Dory, Albert Brooks as Marlin, Diane Keaton as Dory's mom Jenny, Eugene Levy as Dory's dad Charlie and Ty Burrell as Bailey.

The Simpsons

Storyline

The Simpsons is an animated sitcom about the antics of a dysfunctional family called the Simpsons (surprise surprise). Homer is the oafish unhealthy beer loving father, Marge is the hardworking homemaker wife, Bart is the ten year old underachiever (and proud of it), Lisa is the unappreciated eight year old genius, and Maggie is the cute, pacifier loving silent infant.

Reviews

I love the Simpsons. Correction, I Loved the first 9 seasons of the Simpsons. Back then it had to be the most wittiest, cleverest, enjoyable TV show on the planet. It is for that reason that I find myself in such despair now. Let's face it folks the hey-day of the Simpsons was well over a decade ago. Talk about a show that just doesn't know when to stop. It aggravates me to no end to witness the desperate lengths this show goes to year after year. Every show has a shelf life people and the Simpson is way past its expiration date. I truly think that the only reason it is still on the year is force of habit. Both the public and the Fox network are so used to having on that they shutter at ending it. Trust me, It should end.

Hotel Transylvania 2

Dracula and his friends try to bring out the monster in his half human, half vampire grandson in order to keep Mavis from leaving the hotel.

Director: Genndy Tartakovsky

Writers: Adam Sandler (screenplay), Robert Smigel

Stars: Selena Gomez, Adam Sandler, Nick Offerman

Storyline

The Drac pack is back for an all-new monster comedy adventure in Sony Pictures Animation's Hotel Transylvania 2! Everything seems to be changing for the better at Hotel Transylvania... Dracula's rigid monster-only hotel policy has finally relaxed, opening up its doors to human guests. But behind closed coffins, Drac is worried that his adorable half-human, half-vampire grandson, Dennis, isn't showing signs of being a vampire. So while Mavis is busy visiting her human in-laws with Johnny - and in for a major cultural shock of her own - "Vampa" Drac enlists his friends Frank, Murray, Wayne and Griffin to put Dennis through a "monster-in-training" boot camp. But little do they know that Drac's grumpy and very old, old, old school dad Vlad is about to pay a family visit to the hotel. And when Vlad finds out that his great-grandson is not a pure blood - and humans are now welcome at Hotel Transylvania - things are going to get batty!

Home

An alien on the run from his own people makes friends with a girl. He tries to help her on her quest, but can be an interference.

Director: Tim Johnson

Writers: Tom J. Astle (screenplay), Matt Ember (screenplay), 1 more credit »

Stars: Jim Parsons, Rihanna, Steve Martin

Storyline

When Oh, a loveable misfit from another planet, lands on Earth and finds himself on the run from his own people, he forms an unlikely friendship with an adventurous girl named Tip who is on a quest of her own. Through a series of comic adventures with Tip, Oh comes to understand that being different and making mistakes is all part of being human. And while he changes her planet and she changes his world, they discover the true meaning of the word HOME.

Reviews

What baffles me more than the movie itself is the fact that there are so many ten star reviews of it on this website. Do you people like watching crap? Do you enjoy having your soul ripped from your body, mangled, then shoved back in? Are you all mad?

This movie isn't the kind of blatantly bad movie that you walk out of snickering to your friends about. This is a new kind of bad; one that I have never encountered before. There is something so sinister, so manipulative about the way this story was executed that I left the theater confused and horrified.

The movie starts of with our main character, Sheldon from the Big Bang Theory, talking in stupid grammar. Then he meets Rihanna, who is even worse at voice acting than he is. Badger from Breaking Bad is also in there somewhere. Steve Martin also joins this baffling cast, sporting a disturbing mustache. While the latter two did a good job with the awful lines they had to read, our two main protagonists, Sheldon and Rihanna, could not read lines naturally to save their lives.

The plot was really strange; easy to follow, but strange. There was definitely something wrong with the editing, and I wouldn't be surprised if the editor wasn't even fully conscious when he was cutting and pasting the scenes together. The pacing was all over the place. The movie felt like it ended three times before it actually ended. The action scenes had no tension. The emotional scenes came out of nowhere and confused me with their weight. The jokes were forced and felt flat on their faces.

The biggest and most glaring problem with this movie is the music. When they weren't playing EVERY RIHANNA SONG EVER, the movie treats us to the worst orchestral score I have ever heard in my life. Every time a song played, it felt inappropriate. The action scenes were either accompanied by bafflingly quiet Dubstep, or strangely quiet orchestral music. Every time an action scene started, the music got quieter. You don't DO that! Did the aliens IN the movie make this movie??

There are so many things I want to say about the movie, so many questions about WHO made these creative decisions and WHY they are still allowed to roam freely on this earth. This was just abysmal! It's terrible! There are very small fleeting moments of genuine emotional weight, and there are a few slightly clever lines, but it's all wrapped up in a flurry of terrible jokes, and terrible music, and terrible voice acting that it's CONFUSINGLY bad. I wanted to like the main characters, I really did! And there were moments when I did feel genuine sympathy for them, only for all that sympathy to fly out the window and into space because the editor quickly cuts to a completely different scene with a very different emotional feel to it. Or a terrible Rihanna song starts playing and ruins the mood. 

The one good thing about the movie is the animation. I enjoyed the effect of the aliens' skin color changing based on their emotions. I liked the design of the "evil" aliens, for the most part. The main character girl's hair was very well rendered. The movie looked beautiful, just like a turd looks beautiful when you polish it.

Overall, this movie is an absolute train wreck. It's kind of funny how Rihanna voices one of the main characters, and most of her music is featured in--WAIT A SECOND. BACK UP. BEEP BEEP BEEP

Rihanna plays one of the main characters and her music is featured prominently in the movie. HMMMMMMMMMMM SEEMS A BIT OF A STRANGE COINCIDENCE, DOESN'T IT???!!

Rick and Morty

An animated series that follows the exploits of a super scientist and his not so bright grandson.

Creators: Dan Harmon, Justin Roiland

Stars: Justin Roiland, Chris Parnell, Spencer Grammer

Storyline

An animated series that follows the exploits of a super scientist and his not so bright grandson.

Reviews

The show feels fidgety in the beginning. At first it makes you take a second to get used and into it. But it's as intelligent and hilarious a show as I haven't seen one since a long time! That's what I and hopeful many other viewers are going to realize after a couple of minutes. It'S one of those shows that wouldn't happen to be without Adult Swim. Not exactly a family show. Anyways - this show is brilliant. The humor is not as cheap as in most of the successful cartoons and the show is not as comfortable to watch, but that's one thing that makes it so hilarious. It's really dark sometimes, and the viewer with a good sense of humor will appreciate that. The only thing that might make the show a bit better is that the creators could make the characters a bit better known and thus more likable to the viewer. Like this a plot as in episode 6 (SE1) would work even better. Well, the characters maybe a bit flat still, but the plots and happenings are making all this acceptable. Amazingly funny and thoughtful story line for a 20min cartoon show. The sad part is, that it might not really be for the rank and file and as a result might not last for too long or even be recognized by too many people. I really hope this goes on for a while, though! I love this show - it's great. Keep up the good work

PS.: I hope they take one or two scientists on board to help them with Grandpa Rick to keep him on track regarding scientific accuracy. But that'S just a personnel tic of mine.

Minions

Minions Stuart, Kevin and Bob are recruited by Scarlett Overkill, a super-villain who, alongside her inventor husband Herb, hatches a plot to take over the world.

Directors: Kyle Balda, Pierre Coffin

Writer: Brian Lynch

Stars: Sandra Bullock, Jon Hamm, Michael Keaton

Storyline

The story of Universal Pictures and Illumination Entertainment's Minions begins at the dawn of time. Starting as single-celled yellow organisms, Minions evolve through the ages, perpetually serving the most despicable of masters. Continuously unsuccessful at keeping these masters - from T. rex to Napoleon - the Minions find themselves without someone to serve and fall into a deep depression. But one Minion named Kevin has a plan, and he - alongside teen-age rebel Stuart and lovable little Bob - ventures out into the world to find a new evil boss for his brethren to follow. The trio embarks upon a thrilling journey that ultimately leads them to their next potential master, Scarlet Overkill (Academy Award winner Sandra Bullock), the world's first supervillainess ever. They travel from frigid Antarctica to 1960s New York City, ending in modern London, where they must face their biggest challenge to date: saving all of Minionkind...from annihilation. Featuring a sound-track of hit music

Reviews

26 June 2015 Film of Choice at The Plaza Dorchester Tonight - Minions. I'm a big fan of Despicable Me and who cannot fail to love the hapless yellow Minions who only live to serve their evil master. This film was much anticipated and although I enjoyed it, my fear of Minion overkill did come true.....just a little bit. With their made up language, these endearing little chaps are entertaining in small doses but just a little too much in their own film. The story was solid......after serving many evil characters through history and unwittingly helping to hasten their demise, the Minions had established a colony but were losing their zest for life, so with the help Stuart and Bob, Kevin sets off to find a new master to unite the Minions once more. Their adventures lead them to Scarlett Overkill (voiced by Sandra Bullock) and ultimately to England where things go so wrong they end up right. I went to The Plaza at 6pm so shared the viewing with a very large number of children, who laughed raucously throughout. If you like Minions, you'll like this film. Interesting twist!!!!!

Inside Out

After young Riley is uprooted from her Midwest life and moved to San Francisco, her emotions - Joy, Fear, Anger, Disgust and Sadness - conflict on how best to navigate a new city, house, and school.

Directors: Pete Docter, Ronaldo Del Carmen

Writers: Pete Docter (story), Ronaldo Del Carmen (story) (as Ronnie del Carmen) , 8 more credits »

Stars: Amy Poehler, Bill Hader, Lewis Black

Storyline

Growing up can be a bumpy road, and it's no exception for Riley, who is uprooted from her Midwest life when her father starts a new job in San Francisco. Like all of us, Riley is guided by her emotions - Joy, Fear, Anger, Disgust and Sadness. The emotions live in Headquarters, the control center inside Riley's mind, where they help advise her through everyday life. As Riley and her emotions struggle to adjust to a new life in San Francisco, turmoil ensues in Headquarters. Although Joy, Riley's main and most important emotion, tries to keep things positive, the emotions conflict on how best to navigate a new city, house and school.

Reviews

Pixar as we've always know have proved to the world that they can deliver all sorts of emotions and messages in their wonderful films but Inside Out takes that to a whole new level. Riley's story can be relatable to many people in the world but the message and emotions she goes through is relatable to everyone. We all experience happy, sad, fearful, anger and distraughting moments constantly through our lives and Pixar truly delivers on this film by showing why it's important to have all those moments in life as they help us grow as an individual and learn valuable lessons. It's incredible to see Pixar deliver their powerful life lesson through such creative way, which is something that has been lacking in their recent films but Inside Out puts Pixar back on the top mark.

Star Wars: Episode IV - A New Hope

Luke Skywalker joins forces with a Jedi Knight, a cocky pilot, a wookiee and two droids to save the universe from the Empire's world-destroying battle-station, while also attempting to rescue Princess Leia from the evil Darth Vader.

Director: George Lucas

Writer: George Lucas

Stars: Mark Hamill, Harrison Ford, Carrie Fisher

Storyline

A young boy from Tatooine sets out on an adventure with an old Jedi named Obi-Wan Kenobi as his mentor to save Princess Leia from the ruthless Darth Vader and Destroy the Death Star built by the Empire which has the power to destroy the entire galaxy.

Reviews

There's not much to say about this movie this is *THE* movie that changed it all.

It's my favourite movie, and not only among the quadrilogy, among all movies; it has everything that can be great in a movie, great characters, great story, great sights, great special effects (they don't show 23 years) and a mythological background that made us dream for decades now, and that'll keep us dreaming for a long, long time. Maybe the characters I liked most in this one are Old Obi-Wan Kenobi, wonderfully portrayed by Alec Guinness, and Han Solo, Harrison Ford's first important role, they're both great.

Not to mention John Williams' wonderful score, without of it, the movie wouldn't have been this great it's a perfect mix, that's what it is!

Attack on Titan: Part 1

In a world where giant humanoid Titans prey on humans, Eren joins the scouting legion to get revenge on the monsters who killed everyone in his town.

Director: Shinji Higuchi

Writers: Hajime Isayama (manga), Yûsuke Watanabe (screenplay) (as Yuusuke Watanabe) , 1 more credit »

Stars: Haruma Miura, Kiko Mizuhara, Kanata Hongô

Storyline

A teenage boy named Eren Jaeger must use his special gift to fight alongside with the military to defeat the titan race. Mankind is on the brink of extinction when these man eating monsters terrorize everybody and destroy the last of human civilization left in the world.

Reviews

A few minutes into the movie I was taken by surprise that the director chose to wildly mash up the characters and their relationships. Even though I really like the anime I was open to a new envisionment of the source material, since prejudice is something I try not to practice. Maybe the director wanted a new interpretation, while maintaining the essence of the series. But then it dawned on me that this new interpretation was leaky at best and the capturing of the essence was a parody. It was a 90 minute crap-fest of half-assed dialog, disinterested story telling and slasher-like violence. The movie also had a particular inability of finding a tone. Any tone. All the scenes feel staged, unreal and almost completely unrelated. Most disturbingly however was the implausibility. Nothing seems connected and nobody related. This is a waste of brilliant source material!

Warcraft

An epic fantasy/adventure based on the popular video game series.

Director: Duncan Jones

Writers: Duncan Jones (screenplay), Charles Leavitt (screenplay), 1 more credit »

Stars: Travis Fimmel, Ben Foster, Paula Patton

Storyline

The film portrays the origin story of the initial encounters between the humans and the orcs, with an emphasis upon both the Alliance's and the Horde's sides of their conflict. Featuring characters such as Durotan and Lothar, the film will take place in a variety of locations established in the video game series.

The Green Inferno

A group of student activists travels to the Amazon to save the rain forest and soon discover that they are not alone, and that no good deed goes unpunished.

Director: Eli Roth

Writers: Guillermo Amoedo, Eli Roth, 1 more credit »

Stars: Lorenza Izzo, Ariel Levy, Aaron Burns

Storyline

A group of student activists travels to the Amazon to save the rain forest and soon discover that they are not alone, and that no good deed goes unpunished.

Reviews

Eli Roth is a director whose fame certainly goes before him. These days you don't really get many directors unashamedly dedicated to the horror genre like you did in years gone by. I like Eli Roth for this reason and I do find him a somewhat engaging, funny and entertaining guy. On the flip side I would have to say that I have found his output to be somewhat patchy and uneven. And frustratingly sparse at that. The Green Inferno is his first feature film as director since Hostel: Part II from way back in 2007! It's a long time to be out of the game. The question would have to be has he came back in a good way? Well, despite the undoubted promise of the central idea, it's a film that is kind of as frustrating as most of his other work.

The basic idea here is to bring back a type of movie that only really existed briefly over thirty years ago. The cannibal film was a particularly notorious sub-genre. Most of the films got banned here in the UK; some still remain so to this day in their uncut forms. Their combination of graphic violence, sexual assault and real animal killing made them real bad boys of the horror genre. Cannibal Holocaust (1980) is the one film that Roth has mentioned in particular as an influence and for this viewer it is easily one of the most disturbing films I have ever seen. Its docudrama, found footage style mixed with a proper mean-spiritedness made it a pretty gruelling film but very well made. The Green Inferno takes a decidedly different approach to its material and it's not always a successful one. Where Holocaust was relentlessly confrontational, Roth's film is often quite jokey. This approach means that the tone overall fluctuates wildly but it definitely dissipates the overall threat posed by the cannibals. The choice of protagonists points to the change immediately in that it centres on a group of eco aware students who travel into the middle of the Amazonian rain-forest to stage a viral protest against some environment destroying workers, needless to say things take a bad turn and they wind up captive by a tribe of cannibals. The very fact that the film centres on a group of students makes this film surely the first cannibal film that doubles up as a teen movie! It's an awkward combination with a pretty ropey script and – the main girl played by Lorenzo Izzo aside - unlikable characters. The social commentary is not so unexpected for this type of movie, as Cannibal Holocaust had that too but it is modernised considerably here – the target is after all viral warriors who are more interested in being famous than for doing the right thing.

So how does it work simply as a horror movie? Well, it certainly has its fair share of gory violence. But it has less impact than it should because of the silly jokey tone that permeates it, even once the students have been captured. Because they aren't taking their situation seriously enough, it's hard for us in the audience to either unfortunately. The on-location photography certainly adds a fair bit it has to be said and the cannibals themselves are quite distinctive too, in particular the more prominent members of the tribe were somewhat creepy. I can't help feeling though that if Roth had reigned in the silly stuff and went full-on with this material with a more disciplined approach then it would have made for a far better film. It feels slightly like a missed opportunity and I am sad to say this as I was really on this one's side and had quite a bit of optimism for it.

Divergent

In a world divided by factions based on virtues, Tris learns she's Divergent and won't fit in. When she discovers a plot to destroy Divergents, Tris and the mysterious Four must find out what makes Divergents dangerous before it's too late.

Director: Neil Burger

Writers: Veronica Roth (based on the novel by), Evan Daugherty (screenplay), 1 more credit »

Stars: Shailene Woodley, Theo James, Kate Winslet

Storyline

Set in a futuristic dystopia where society is divided into five factions that each represent a different virtue, teenagers have to decide if they want to stay in their faction or switch to another - for the rest of their lives. Tris Prior makes a choice that surprises everyone. Then Tris and her fellow faction-members have to live through a highly competitive initiation process to live out the choice they have made. They must undergo extreme physical and intense psychological tests, that transform them all. But Tris has a secret that she is Divergent, which means she doesn't fit into any one group. If anyone knew, it would mean a certain death. As she discovers a growing conflict that threatens to unravel her seemingly peaceful society, this secret might help her save the people she loves... or it might destroy her.

Reviews

I went to see this movie misled by the high rating on IMDb. Unfortunately it looks like Hollywood makes movies for people with short memory. I admit I haven't read the source book, but I guess I wouldn't, judging by what came out of it. I hereby venture myself in saying that the book is also a bad SciFi novel. It has way to obvious imports from well known themes that have been exploited to the brim by today (like the "perfect" society that sacrifices diversity for peace, the "different" guy that stands-up to the system, the genuine technology that controls individuals (poorly described, by the way), the fear confrontation ad the list could go on and on. It is not essentially bad to bring these themes in a movie, but I see nothing new, original here. So... if you have seen Equilibrum and the Hunger Games then you know it all. Movies today are just mobile phones... keep reproducing "features" from the competition, while it is supposed to be an art. Another thing can't stand in movies in general is the poor IT incursions. I am talking about the scene in which Jeanine is asked to turn off the "control system" which consists of a huge touch screen in which she just hits some "cancel" button. That was really pathetic... Anyone could have done that right? Another thing that I can't stand, is the cheap psychology things in these movies. They are all based on some sort of psychoanalysis which is long time deprecated in therapy. But it is somehow considered to be "cool" and "trendy" by producers to insert these kind of flavour into the movies to make it more profound. Or are they just as stupid and ignorants as the target viewers? Anyhow... to me, this is bad taste in art. If you want to really go for it, you must do way better that that and if you can't, then at least make it more interesting. It is also true that movies like "Inception" don't occur every month, but once they do... they set a trend and everybody will just take a byte of it. Don't get me wrong, it is a "watchable" movie, perhaps a little too long for its story, which, by the way, is very predictable and full of clichés. I read some users claiming it resembles "The Hunger Games" and so it is, especially with the modest ending that awkwardly announces a sequel. I could predict how the story developed and ended after the first 15 minutes and that's what makes this movie mediocre. Script is mediocre, but at least it does not abounds in stereotypes so it's bearable. What can be said about acting... there is no acting in this kind of movies, you only need to be young and good looking, be able to learn your part and you're done. It's not that the actors are bad, but the movie itself is not based on any acting mastery and just because of that, the girl gets a plus for making something out of it. I am curious if the ratings will stay as high as now in time.

Trash

Set in Brazil, three kids who make a discovery in a garbage dump soon find themselves running from the cops and trying to right a terrible wrong.

Directors: Stephen Daldry, Christian Duurvoort

Writers: Felipe Braga (additional material), Richard Curtis (screenplay), 1 more credit »

Stars: Wagner Moura, Rooney Mara, Martin Sheen 

Storyline

When two trash-picking boys from Rio's slums find a wallet in amongst the daily detritus of their local dump, little do they imagine that their lives are about to change forever. But when the local police show up, offering a handsome reward for the wallet's return, the boys, Rafael and Gardo, realize that what they've found must be important.

Reviews

A brilliantly exciting film from start to finish. The three boys are a triumph, and the way the film handles them, and uses their emotional closeness, their friendship, is a credit to Director Stephen Daldry and his crew, as well as to the three boys themselves, recruited from the streets of Brazil. The story jumps from one level of excitement to the next in a series of clever set pieces that, at the same time as they increase the tension to almost unbearable levels, answer the questions raised by the mystery; what exactly is the significance of what the boys find, as they comb through the giant mountains of trash, trying to earn enough to eat from recycling plastic and tin? The chase scenes through the favelas are exhilarating. Literally, you find yourself talking out loud. The film is a celebration of Andy Mulligan's stunning novel of the same name.

Million Dollar Baby

A determined woman works with a hardened boxing trainer to become a professional.

Director: Clint Eastwood

Writers: Paul Haggis (screenplay), F.X. Toole (stories)

Stars: Hilary Swank, Clint Eastwood, Morgan Freeman

Storyline

Frankie Dunn has trained and managed some incredible fighters during a lifetime spent in the ring. The most important lesson he teaches his boxers is the one that rules life: above all, always protect yourself. In the wake of a painful estrangement from his daughter, Frankie has been unwilling to let himself get close to anyone for a very long time. His only friend, Scrap, an ex-boxer who looks after Frankie's gym, knows that beneath his gruff exterior is a man who has been seeking, for the past 25 years, the forgiveness that somehow continues to elude him. Then Maggie Fitzgerald walks into his gym...

Reviews

Saw "Million Dollar Baby" in Manhattan last night. Clint Eastwood, one of the all-time most famous actors -- and directors -- has more than enough money where he could choose to pull the strings on block-buster, mindless action pictures, ala Jerry Bruckheimer, or comic books. Or, hell, in his twilight years he could just lay back and enjoy his millions. But no. He has chosen instead to make quieter, lower-budget, heart-felt, character driven films like "The Unforgiven" "True Crime" "Mystic River" and now Million Dollar Baby. And the world is a better place for it. Eastwood uses his multiple talents to make films that have something valuable to say. In the emotionally powerful, Million Dollar Baby, he tells an allegorical tale of boxing to subtly express themes of hope, redemption, sacrifice, persistence, and belief in one's self. The movie emphasizes that failure is a more honorable and personally fulfilling trait than never having tried, while also frowning upon laziness and leeching off others. But see the movie and judge for yourself. I personally consider great films as the ones where I leave the theater with a better understanding of human nature, or a desire to improve the world by even a little bit. Eastwood's latest more than succeeds on those counts.