2014: Week 25: How to Train Your Dragon 2

How to Train Your Dragon 2

Genre: Animation

Main Players: Voices of Jay Baruchel, Gerard Butler, Cate Blanchett and Jonah Hill 

General Gist: The Train Your Dragon sequel where Hiccup and his crew take on an evil dragon collector to keep the peace between humans and dragons.

Tiff's Take:
For this week only one sister was able to make it.  It does happen occasionally believe it or not.  When it happens usually the kids luck out because who else am I going to go to the movies with?!

I took both my kids to this movie.  My 9 and 6 year old.  My 9 year old was much more interested in seeing this but the 6 year old will never miss an opportunity to go to a movie and get popcorn and treats.  

I enjoyed the first one so I thought this would be equally as good.  And it was.  There was a lot of action and it was fast paced which is always good for kids.  And both my kids enjoyed it.  My 9 year old probably liked it better and I think it was a little more appropriate for him as well.  I wouldn't say that this movie was really on the violent side but it definitely had some more serious subjects that were a little too heavy for younger kids.  Empathy is not really a strong attribute of my 6 year old but there was a point where she thought the movie was sad.  If you do have kids that are sensitive to emotions then you might want to think about whether you should take them to this.  

But for me and my kids it was a hit that we all thoroughly enjoyed.

Tiff's Rate: Friday Night

Preview:  Pre-Screening of Begin Again with Adam Levine and Keira Knightley

2014: Week 10: The Monuments Men

The Monuments Men

Genre: Drama, Biography

Main Players: George Clooney, Matt Damon, Cate Blanchett, John Goodman, Bill Murray, Jean Dujardin, Hugh Bonneville, Bob Balaban

General Gist: A group of unlikely men seek out stolen art during WWII in hopes of saving what the Nazi's are trying to destroy.  Based on a true story.

Tiff's Take:
There's nothing better than a good George Clooney/Matt Damon movie.  They have such great chemistry together.  Paired with a good movie and they are fantastic.  I was hoping that this would be one of those movies but I was slightly disappointed.

All the actors did well and George and Matt were their normal wonderful selves but the movie itself was a little slow.  I'm not sure if it was the screenplay or what but it didn't feel like it had much direction.  It was also missing some pizazz or emotion or something.  Things happened too matter of factly that you almost didn't care if something happened to one of the characters.  And it was sort of easy to forget that they were plopped down in the middle of a war.  There wasn't a sense of urgency or level of intensity.

Aside from that though, it was really interesting.  (Slow and interesting at the same time?  A little bit of an oxymoron.)  The idea of what these men were trying to do was really fascinating.  This is something you don't often hear about when you learn about WWII.  For that, I enjoyed it.  But if it wasn't such an interesting topic with phenomenal actors then I don't think this movie would have really gone anywhere at all.

Tiff's Rate: Matinee

Deb's Take:
I disliked history growing up.  I didn't like my history classes, I was often bored with the facts and because of that I know very little about history, (to a fault).  In the last few years I have grown to love history because I began studying it in a more interesting way.  I like the stories behind the history.  The meat and potatoes.  My husband says I had the wrong teachers.  I think so.  Now, I know this movie is hyped up on Hollywood, but what I liked about it was that it taught me some history I didn't know.  The story was so fascinating to me.  World War II and the doings of Hitler are so intriguing.  SAD..but intriguing. 

I agree with Tiff that this movie wasn't so much about he actors.  They all did good, and I know the group of them was more of some of the "top" players, but really, the story had me engrossed more than the actors.  They did a good job, but I wouldn't say they were what made the movie, the story itself made the movie.  The movie would have been good to me no matter who played the parts.  I wasn't as underwhelmed as Tiff in this one, I don't remember feeling like the movie was slow, but I agree there wasn't much emotion or intensity.  I don't know how close to the real story this movie came, but I enjoyed learning something I didn't know before.  Although this wasn't a huge winner for me, I can't say it was a loser.

Deb's Rate: Matinee

Preview: We finally got to see 12 Years a Slave and a bonus movie with the kids.

2012: Week 50: The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey

The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey

Genre: Fantasy, Adventure

Main Players: Martin Freeman, Ian McKellen, Richard Armitage, Cate Blanchett

General Gist: A Hobbit and a gang of dwarfs (along with a wizard and warrior) go on a journey to reclaim their home from a Dragon.

Deb's Take:
I am not a Lord of the Rings fan.  I can't say I dislike it, just am not a fan.  I know I saw some of movies when they were out, but quite honestly don't remember them.  This movie, being a prequel, may have just helped me a little with the whole enjoyment of Lord of the Rings.  I like things in order. I like to know the background stories, the ins and outs, the before and afters, EVERYTHING.  I am a big picture kind of girl.  This story sort of just set the stage for me to now go and watch the Lord of the Rings movies.  I am not much of a  fantasy movie type, but this movie was good.  I really felt like the characters were picked and played well.  Martin Freeman (Bilbo) and Ian Mckellen (Gandalf)  were my favorites, but really, there wasn't a bad apple in the bunch.   Ok, so I almost forgot about the character Gollum.  WOW, after that scene I felt like nothing could be as crazy as Gollum.  Kudos to Andy Serkis for playing crazy like no other crazy I have seen.

More impressive was the scenery and landscape, as well as the visual production.  The movie was a prescreening ( meaning to us?  FREE) and it was in 3D (added bonus).  The special effects, the color, the picture itself was amazing.  I think I liked some of the screen shots better than the movie.  I also loved the costumes and make-up.  Actually, what can be done with film now a days is pretty amazing.  (I just watched an old movie..."The Holiday" with Bing Crosby and Fred Estaire, something to be said for the good old black and white, but really amazing to think what movies have become in such a short time)

Anyway, if you are a Fantasy, Hobbit fan, I think you will love it!

Deb's Rate: Good enough for Opening Night if you are a fan, I could take it as a Matinee.

Tiff's Take: 
Although I wouldn't call myself a die hard Lord of the Rings fan I really do enjoy them.  To be honest though I wasn't thinking I would like this as well as I did.  Not that I thought it would be bad but I wasn't overly excited to see it.  I remember the other movies being good but long.  And it's been a loooong time since I've read the book.  So long ago that I couldn't really tell you how the movie was bad, good, different or the same compared to the book.  

That being said, I really enjoyed this movie.  It was long but it didn't feel like it dragged on.  I enjoyed the characters, the action, all of it.  Since it had been such a long time since I'd read the book it was like I was seeing the story for the first time.  But did the movie end where the book did??  I feel like maybe they'll be another movie but honestly I have no clue.  Regardless, it was definitely one to see.             

Tiff's Rate: Friday Night 

Preview: Week 51 coming up!

Week 16: Hanna

WOW! Super slow this week....Well, if you haven't noticed we saw "Hanna" starring Saoirse Ronan, Eric Bana, (who I always like) and Cate Blanchette. My husband informed me that this was a "remake" of like the 4th degree of the movie "LE FEMME Nikita". I did remember the movie with Bridget Fonda "Point of No Return" and I guess they were similar. None the less, I liked the story line and was impressed with the players.

Hanna is a girl who was bred to be a killer. She disappeared at a young age, and is now coming back. Her father (Bana) knows her "maker" (Blanchette) is going to be on the war path, and has been preparing Hanna for years.

I think that Ronan did a great job in the movie. She had to play so many different emotions, and I believed everyone of them. She is only 17, yet has a lofty acting career, and I think this movie only helped bring her abilities to light even more. Bana did well as did Blanchette. I really think that Ronan kind of pulled the movie through though.

I liked the story line, I liked the action. It did get a little gruesome at times, but true to a spy thiller type movie. I am beginning to like these kind of movies more and more. I guess I like the action, and when an actor can also include some true emotions the movie is even more appealing.

I have to say the movie was good, I enjoyed watching it, and would recommend it...no oscars or anything, but a good Sunday afternoon.

See you Next...I mean in a few days! Dang I am slow!

Week 16: Hanna

This week we saw Hanna.  I thought this looked like an interesting movie.  I was excited to see Saoirse Ronan as the main character.  She was the one in The Lovely Bones and I thought she was really good in that one so I was hoping the same for this one.  And she was good.  She really did a great job of playing this fearless 16 year old with amazing skills.  Although I will say she looked more like a 13 year old. 

The premise behind the movie is that a CIA agent, played by Cate Blanchett, was doing this research to try to make a super army by fiddling with the DNA of unborn babies. (Official terms I know.)  Well, something happened that she had to abort the project as well as all the "subjects".  Hanna was the only one who got away with the help of rouge CIA agent played by Eric Bana.  He taught her all these crazy skills on survival so she could defend herself from Cate's character, Marissa.  Of course, it was action packed and full of suspense.  And can I say that Cate played this southern talking crazy lady very well.  She even creeped me out a little.   

My brother in law said that he's seen a few movies like this with the same general concept so apparently this isn't a super original idea but it was for me.  Maybe if you had seen those other ones this wouldn't have been so interesting.  But I  thought it was well acted and worth watching. 

To Sum it up:  Good acting, creepy characters and kept you on the edge of your seat.