2012: Bonus Review: Red Dawn

Red Dawn

Genre: Action

Main Players: Chris Hemsworth, Isabel Lucas, Josh Hutcherson, Josh Peck, Adrianne Palicki, Connor Cruise

General Gist: A group of teenagers work to save their town from an invasion of North Koreans

Deb's Take:  This one was one of our Thanksgiving extravaganza of movie seeing.  As many of you know, this movie was a remake, I remember seeing Red Dawn as a teen/tween and always think it’s cool when 30 years later I am taking my kids to see a movie that I grew up on.  This movie followed the same line, with up to date technology and advancements.  There was a lot of action, suspense, and unexpected events.  The acting was adequate, not a movie that I was expecting a whole lot from.  The actors were good at their roles, but really just a whole bunch of kids. It wasn’t bad or anything, just nothing exceptional.  What I enjoyed more was hearing my kids’ reactions.  My daughter doesn’t usually go to movies like this, and she said she really liked it, she seemed to enjoy the suspense.  My son was slightly troubled by the unnecessary death of some of the characters, and several times explained how those deaths could have been easily avoided.  (He is like that!)  All in all it was a fun family event, a little on the violent side, but not too bad for my 16 and 12 year old.

Deb's Rate: Rent it

Preview:  Almost there!

 

2012: Week 23: Snow White and the Huntsman

Snow White and the Huntsman

Genre: Action, Adventure, Drama

Main Players: Kristen Stewart, Chris Hemsworth, Charlize Theron

General Gist:  Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs with a twist.

Tiff's Take:
This week we saw another take on Snow White.  Mirror Mirror was another version that came out this year.  These two are so different you can't even compare them.  Mirror Mirror was more fanciful and fun and this one was not.  Even though it did have a definite magical aspect it was more serious.

I liked the idea of this version.  The more "real life" story behind Snow White.  But I just don't think it quite delivered.  I feel like it should have been better.  I would have liked more out of Stewart's Snow White character.  She hardly talked at all throughout the whole movie.  I also would have liked more out of Kristen Stewart herself.  I really want to like her but she just falls a little short in a lot of the things she does.  Chris Hemsworth and Charlize Theron on the other hand were fantastic.  Charlize Theron played evil perfectly.  And I've decided Chris Hemsworth is my new Brad Pitt.  I love him. 

So am I saying don't see it?  Not necessarily but don't expect to much out of it.  I know a lot of people are not fans of Kristen Stewart's acting.  If you are one of those people she will probably ruin the show for you.  (My dear sweet sister-in-law, if you are reading this I'm talking to you.)       

Tiff's Rate: Matinee 

Deb's Take: 
Mom surprised us with a visit this week so we got to see this movie with her and my 15 year old.  Always nice to have other people around and get their views too!

Well, I know I am in the minority of the 4 of us who attended this movie.  I really liked it!  I love fairy tales of course, although this one wasn't so much about the fairy tale.  This version of Snow White didn't focus so much on "true love" or the dwarfs.  The main storyline was more of a focus on the evil queen and the direct conflict with Snow White.  Charlize Theron plays the queen in the version.  Man, she was good.  I think she did an excellent job.  Chris Hemsworth is someone I have been seeing more and more lately, he did really good too!  Granted, I think he always plays sort of the tough guy, save the day, warrior type..but he is good at it.  Kristen Stewart was sort of the downfall of this movie, to me.  There is something about her looks, her demeanor that just didn't fit this role.  She always looks sort of scared and vulnerable, in this movie her character was suppose to be tough and a leader.  I just don't think she can pull that off real well. 

I enjoyed the action and adventure in this movie, and it seemed fast paced to me.  I liked this version.  Also, very well rated.  PG-13 appropriate.  It may not be a winner all around, but it was for me!

Deb's Rate:  Friday Night

Preview: A lot of vacation time coming up.  Hoping for a pre-screening in our future.

2012: Week 19: The Avengers

The Avengers

Genre: Action, Adventure, Sci-Fi

Main Players: Robert Downey Jr., Chris Evans, Mark Ruffalo, Chris Hemsworth, Scarlett Johansson, Jeremy Renner, Tom Hiddleston

General Gist:  A team of super heroes is pulled together in order to save the earth from an attack by an unearthly enemy.

Deb's Take: 

I am not a super fan of the Super Hero movies.  Yet, after seeing this film that brings a team of super heroes together I realized I had seen almost every movie about each individual character that preceded The Avengers.  I think it might have something to do with my husband really liking these kinds of films.

 As far as Super Heroes go, this movie was good.  Sometimes the Sci-Fi stuff ends up being so ridiculous that I just can't get into the movie.  This movie...not to shabby in the Sci-Fi area.  I will say, see "Thor" before you see this movie, there are some pivotal points that may be lost otherwise.  This movie gives you good action, decent acting, a lot more comedy than I would have expected, and some Sci-Fi thrills.   Although it wasn't my type of movie, it really was a good movie and I have to say if this type of movie is your thing, you will love it.

Deb's Rate: Opening night for all you Super Hero Fans, personally I could have taken it as a Matinee

Tiff's Take:
Last year when all these Marvel movies were coming out I thought it was weird.  Why all the super heroes?  It wasn't until this movie came out that I realized it was on purpose and leading up to this one final movie.  I know, I'm pretty quick.  Good idea.  It seems right up my alley even though I'm not a big super hero fanatic.

Going to this movie made me feel a little bit like I did when I went to see Moneyball.  I felt like I was doing the movie a disservice by not knowing all there is to know about these super hero characters.  I mean, there were some of the movies that I didn't even see like The Hulk and the first Iron Man.  I sorta wish I had now.  Even though I hadn't seen them all I felt like I still knew what was going on mainly from seeing Thor since the main bad guy is from that movie.  So, like Deb said, you might want to see Thor first if you haven't.

As far as liking the movie...I'll be honest.  The first part was a little slow.  I felt like they could have reintroduced all the characters a little better.  It seemed like a hodge podge of activity at first.  It didn't start getting really good until about halfway through.  I did love the characters/actors in this movie though.  I love almost anything Robert Downey Jr. plays and I love Chris Hemsworth's Thor character.  He's probably my favorite.  Ruffalo's Hulk character was surprisingly funny too.

So what I'm saying here is if you're into this stuff you'll probably love the movie.  If you're not, you'll probably like it okay but maybe not think it's worth the hype.

Tiff's Rate: Borderline Matinee/Friday Night

Preview: We will post the winner of our "Footloose" giveaway tonight.  Next review...What to Expect When You're Expecting.

2012: Week 17: The Cabin in the Woods

The Cabin In The Woods

Genre: Horror, Thriller

Main Players: Kristen Connolly, Chris Hemsworth, Anna Hutchison, Fran Kranz, Jesse Williams, Richard Jenkins, Bradley Whitford

General Gist: Five friends go on a weekend vacation to an isolated cabin in the woods.  They find some old hidden treasures in the cellar of the cabin and awaken a family of zombies. They then must attempt to escape to safety.

Deb's Take:
Well, as you may or may not notice, Tiff and I seldom go to horror/thriller movies.  Off the top of my head I can't think of one we have reviewed in the last year and a half.  We are big weenies when it comes to horror! We are the people sitting all couched down in their seats.   I have my shirt up over my mouth (for some reason that protects me...) and my eyes are squinted to the point of barely even being able to see the screen.  When I think of it though, it's not really the slasher type movies that freak me out. I hate the scenes that make you jump, but really it's more that I just don't enjoy that type of movie.  The movies that really freak me out are the ones with ghosts and spirits and such.  I watched "Poltergeist" as a kid and have never been the same!

So...we wanted to see "October Baby", but when we got there the projector was broke, (I need to interject here that planning a weekly movie is not always the easiest thing for us with our families and jobs and timing is an issue.  We had this one perfectly timed with pick-up times for the kids, dad's getting home at a certain time and babysitters...so we were bummed) the bright side was that since the projector was broke they told us we could go to any other movie for free. 

Anyway, about the movie.  I had no idea what this movie was about, simply because I never go to them so never even look at their story lines.  This movie was VERY different then I expected.  I really don't want to give the details away because it was so unique as a horror film.  There was sort of a sci-fi twist that I wasn't expecting.  All the typical scenes were in the movie, the stupid..."I am going out in the woods in the middle of night by myself" and "Let's split up so we have to fight alone".  But really this horror movie was actually made for those people who don't really like horror movies.  I jumped a few times, but really, I wasn't scared because of the way they played it all out.  The movie wasn't intended to be that kind of horror.  The actors were good, for all the necessary acting that is needed in a horror movie.  They all fit their parts well, and weren't too corny.

Deb's Rate:  Matinee( I say this mostly because I think the movie theatre environment would be better than your home, unless you have a cool home theatre room!)

Tiff's Take:
Well, an interesting turn of events and we end up at this movie and we survived to tell about it.  You know, I use to love watching scary movies.  In highschool and college I really enjoyed it.  These days, not so much.  I'm becoming more of a wimp in my old age.

I really didn't know exactly what this movie was about but it wasn't what I expected.  Don't get me wrong.  It was gory and made me jump and all that jazz but it had a little twist that was unique, at least I'm guessing, to horror films.  Actually, I thought it was pretty interesting.  It gave the movie a little more dimension.  That being said, I'm not sure it made the movie exceptional but it did take it to another level.

Nothing really to add about the actors.  Dido to what Deb said.  Funny fact though.  Anna Hutchison who plays the "slutty" girl looked so familiar to me as I was watching the movie but I could not put my finger on where I'd seen her before.  Turns out she was the yellow power ranger in Power Ranger Jungle Fury.  Thanks to our son, my husband and I know that series all to well.  It's left me scarred seeing a power ranger take her shirt off.      

Tiff's Rate: Rent it.  Unless you're really into horror movies then it's worth a Matinee.

Preview: It seems to be about time for another giveaway. 

Week 24: Thor

Thor was the movie for this week. I have never been a real sci-fi/superhero kind of girl, but this movie was well played and I really liked it. Thor, played by Chris Hemsworth and Lok, played by Tom Hiddleston, played the good brother/bad brother part marvelously. I don't recall either of these actors from other movies. Their characters were perfect! I was quite impressed with both. Natalie Portman, who played the love interest/scientist did a great job, as she usually does..(except for my reveiws of black swan from week 2 or 3). Anthony Hopkins also did great playing the father and king.

The movie took place on 3 different planets. I am sometimes a little turned off by the ideas of what other planets may or may not be. This movie didn't overkill the planets too much, and the whole "beam me up Scottie" idea seemed to work for this one.

I was surprised at the humor in this movie, there were some funny scenes...I think Darcy, played by Kat Dennings, added to that humor, along with Natalie Portman. It wasn't all fights and battles, but had some comedy as well.

I was pleasantly surprised with this movie choice. I would definately recommend it! When I left I couldn't wait to get home to tell my husband and son how good it was and that they would enjoy it as well.

Great movie for the superhero/starwarsy types as well as the basic movie goer. See you next week!

Week 24: Thor

This weekend we went and saw Thor.  I would have never pegged myself for liking superhero movies so well but I have to admit that the last couple I've seen I've really liked.  This was no exception.  This movie was actually really entertaining. 

The main character, Thor, was played by Chris Hemsworth.  I've never seen him before but he really was spot on.  He had the body, look and personality for the role.  Thanks to my sister-in-law, we were also scoping him out to play Jamie in the Outlander series.  Not that there's a movie coming out or anything.  But if there was, he'd be perfect.  Just slap a Scottish accent on him and voila.  But that's beside the point. 

And again, Natalie Portman.  I can't believe she's in another movie.  Seriously, how many has she been in?  She was really good too.  I'm always a little surprise how funny she can be.  I thought she had a good mix in this movie. 

The plot was about two battling planets, one good one bad.  Thor, from the good planet, was suppose to be King but his dad banished him to teach him a lesson.  He ends up on earth, meeting Natalie's character scientist Jane.  The main gist is while Thor is on earth the good planet is in trouble.  Thor learns his lesson about being too arrogant and finds a way back to his planet to save the day.  In the meantime, he falls in love with Jane.  Even though the love story aspect was quick and a little shallow it still worked in this movie.  The action and humor made up for it.  I would definitely recommend this movie.

To Sum it up: Great cast, good amount of humor and thoroughly entertaining.