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

2012: Week 9: 21 Jump Street

21 Jump Street

Genre: Comedy, Action

Main Players: Jonah Hill, Channing Tatum

General Gist: Two underachieving cops go undercover in a local high school to try and break up a drug ring. Spoof on the TV series 21 Jump Street from the 1980's.

Tiff's Take:
I'm going to show my age a couple times with this review.  First of all, I had no idea what the original TV series was all about.  It was way before my time of TV series watching.  Before someone told me, I didn't even know Johnny Depp was in it.  So needless to say, I didn't have any preconceived notions about what this movie might be like.  That might be a good thing.

Secondly, watching this movie, I once again felt too old to appreciate much of the humor.  What is it with these movies we've been seeing lately?  Don't get me wrong, this was a decently funny movie and the crowd was really enjoying it but there were also a lot of parts where I was just shaking my head and mentally rolling my eyes.  A lot of the parts were just too over the top for me.  Jonah Hill fit his character pretty well but Channing Tatum, in all his yummy goodness, did not.  Maybe comedy just isn't his thing.  I definitely preferred him in The Vow.

So, yes, I'm too young to appreciate any throw backs to the original and yes, I'm too old to think this was a knockout comedy.

Tiff's Rate: Rent it

Deb's Take:
I vaguely remember this T.V. show when I was young. I don't remember ever really watching it much, but it was where Johnny Depp got his stardom, I believe. I think the T.V. show was more serious, where this show was comedy.

Now when I say comedy, I don't mean the kind of comedy that you get from Steve Martin or Chevy Chase. This comedy was like "The Hang Over" in high school. The stupid, roll your eyes, chuckle kind of comedy. It was definitely rated R for a reason. I did laugh, and once I realized the movie was more racy and perverse than funny and knee slapping, I was able to enjoy it a little more. I think that Jonah Hill did a good job. It was interesting to see Channing Tatum in a different role than what I am use to seeing him. He was okay too. I guess I found it hard to watch 22-30 year olds trying to pull off high schoolers. I know Hollywood always does that, but this time I found it hard to believe these kids were "kids", because they weren't.

Although I really enjoyed the "Hang Over", and this movie kind of reminded me of that humor, this time I wasn't as impressed. I think the story line was ok, but the whole thing was sort of juvenile for me. This was a pre-screening, and the place was full, and a there was a lot of laughing. There were, however, a lot of 18-25 year olds watching though. Just saying....

I will say, there was a cameo or two that surprised me.

Deb's Rate: Rent it: (or get it for free and a take a friend..like we did, thanks for joining us Chris!)

Preview: A Giveaway is in the works. As far as our next movie...could be "The Lorax" for the kids, not quite sure yet....