2014: Bonus: The Nut Job

The Nut Job

Genre: Animation, Comedy

Main Players: Voices of : Brendan Fraser, Katherine Heigl, Liam Neeson, Will Arnett

General Gist:  A group of squirrels venture to the city in an attempt to save their park animal friends' community from starving over the lack of nuts saved for the winter.

Tiff's Take:
My kids were excited to see this movie and we decided to make a family event out of it which is always fun.  I usually don't mind going to kids movie.  I tend to enjoy them for the most part as much as the kids.  This one, however, was not one of those movies.

I'll start by saying, we just got a new kitten and it's a little like having a new baby.  We haven't been getting real good sleep lately so I was, well, a little sleepy.  A kids movie should wake you up and keep your attention, right?  Folks, I seriously couldn't keep my eyes open during this movie.  I thought about blaming it on the kitten but I think this one was just that boring.  The characters weren't real dynamic, the story line was weak and it just wasn't that funny.  Kids movies are suppose to be funny.  What gives?  You would think with the actors involved in this that it would be better but it just wasn't.  As an adult I definitely would not recommend this one.

My kids on the other hand said they liked it.  But I think if they get popcorn and treats they'll like anything.

Tiff's Rate: Rent It - Only for the kids' sake.

Deb's Take:  
I was excited to get pre-screening tickets to this movie because it was at a new theatre that hadn't done screenings before.  I was also excited because for kids movies they usually give 4 passes, allowing more of my family members to attend.  This time I took my son and one of his friends as well as meeting up with Tiff's family.

I usually am a fan of kid's movies.  I like how the writer's often throw in humor for the adults.  The kids get hung up on the natural laughs, (burps, farts, falls) while the parents get some of the more adult aimed jokes.  This movie was so unimpressive.  For the amount of children in the theatre, I would expect tons of laughs, giggles and excited voices.  I think I only remember two moments of laughs, from anyone.  The movie was boring.  The story line was ok, but there was a sub story line that was unnecessary.  (my son even said he thought it was a weird sub story).  There was very little humor, the story lines were weak, it was slow and boring, and  I actually was having a hard time staying awake.  From a kid's perspective, my 13 year old and his friend said it was ok, but they really just liked that fact that they got to go to a movie.  This was one movie I could have lived without seeing.

Deb's Rate: Don't bother

Preview:  Another Pre-Screening!!  Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit

2012: Week 4: One for the Money

One for the Money

Genre: Action, Comedy

Main Players: Katherine Heigl, Jason O'Mara, Daniel Sunjata, Sherri Shepherd, Debbie Reynolds, John Leguizamo

General Gist: Story of a woman who is down on her luck, lack of job and money, so she goes to work for her cousin as a bounty hunter. No, she knows nothing about the job and has no experience. This is the first movie from a series of 18 books.

Deb's Take:

I will say, I love these books. Although I am currently behind by 2 books. I had to sit down and really think about the first book a little bit, after watching the movie. I mildly recall my mom and sister really being excited about this series and after reading the first one I thought is was okay, but didn't know what all they hype was about. I think it was about book 3 that I was totally hooked. So, I think this movie left me feeling sort of the same way, but it makes sense. The movie is sort of a "set-up" movie for more to come. The movie was short (took me back to the days of movies being MAYBE 90 minutes.) I was prepared to be underwhelmed with the acting because I am very sold on the book characters. I was bummed when I heard Katherine Heigl was playing Stephanie Plum. I was pleasantly surprised, she did well. Really all the characters did good, they fell into their parts pretty decently. I think my only true disappointment was Ranger. I just feel Ranger is a super "bad ass" kind of guy and Daniel Sunjata didn't make me feel that way. He was too "cute" with his dimple and he talked too much. I know, it sounds sort of weird, but read the books and you'll understand..I think. Overall, the movie was a good set-up movie, but I really am looking forward to what else they are going to do with the movies in the future. You have got to see Lula in her true light, and feel the Morelli, Ranger, Stephanie sexual tension. Read the books! (you may win them if you entered our give away) I guarantee you will be hooked with the books, the movie...the verdict is still out on that.

Tiff's Take:
I would say my thought of this movie was pretty similar to Deb.  The books are really easy, fun reads and I can totally see them being a movie or TV series.  (Actually TV more than movie but that's just my opinion)  So I wasn't too surprised to see this one come out. 

Like Deb, I was disappointed in the casting.  I really didn't think Katherine Heigl could pull it off.  And I totally had Morelli and Ranger's characters different in my head.  (Stephanie more Jersey, Morelli better looking, Ranger more muscular and Grandma Mazur a lot older) But I thought all of them did a pretty darn good job.

Don't get me wrong.  This was no award winning movie but it was a fun, thinkless type of movie.  It did a lot of setting up the characters but the books the same way too.  If they decide to do more movies (and I'm not convinced they will) I think they will get better with each one. 

Preview:

We'll be posting the winner to the giveaway next!

Week 50: New Years Eve

The pickins' are slim this holiday season! With only a few movies left I was hoping to go out with a BANG! However, it is kind of just fizzling away.

This week we say New Years Eve. This movie was basically the interconnection between about 20 different people and what they do on New Years Eve in New York. There were a ton of well known actors in this film, (look at Tiff's post, it will save me the typing!) Really there was only one story line that kind of "touched" me, and amazingly enough it was the scenes with Halle Berry and Robert De Niro. I guess saying, "amazingly enough" doesn't sound nice, really they both are great actors, I was more amazed that with all the different actors in this film there were only two that impressed me much.

The movie was pretty light hearted, with some laughs and some touching moments, but nothing of real depth that captures your soul. Kind of like watching a T.V. show as the relationships were not really developed too much, and there really was no plot. Just watching the lives of many on a Holiday.

I will say that my 14 year old daughter really did like this film, so maybe it's geared more towards the teenage female audience. Honestly, I was confused why it didn't come out on New Years, or something like that..I think the movie industry is just dying to find something to feed to us Movie Junkies because there isn't much out there right now, they were just throwing us a bone.

All in all, a decent movie, but nothing too special. I would say it is a good mother/teenage daughter show. Zac Efron and Ashton Kutcher may appeal to those tween types and it's a clean show :)

See you soon!

Week 50: New Year's Eve

For week 50 we went and saw New Year's Eve. This is from the same writer as Valentine's Day.  I didn't see Valentine's Day but I imagine they are very similar.  It's about a bunch of characters and what's going on in their life around New Year's Eve.  All the characters are intertwined in some way and you find all the connections at the end of the movie.

Of course this movie was packed full of actors:  Michelle Pfeiffer, Zac Efron, Hilary Swank, Josh Duhamel, Robert De Niro, Halle Berry, Jessica Biel, Seth Meyers (SNL), Katherine Heigl, Jon Bon Jovi, Sofia Vergara, Ashton Kutcher, Lea Michele (Glee), Sarah Jessica Parker and Abigail Breslin.  Whew.  I think I got the main players.

I don't think this movie is intended to have a lot of meat to it.  Because it doesn't.  It's fun and a little humorous and a little touching but that's about it.  If you want a similar type of concept that's done a lot better check out Crazy, Stupid, Love or Love Actually.  Way better done.

I felt like through most of the movie I was missing out on back stories that would have made the relationships more meaningful.  Again, I don't think this was meant to be really in depth but come on.  I think I could have looked past the relationship aspect if it was funnier and just generally more entertaining.  And with all the great actors in this movie none of them really stood out.  The only thing I can really say about any of them is that Zac Efron makes me feel like a 15 year old girl again.  Or maybe that I want to be a 15 year old girl again.  Take that how you will.

To Sum it up: Only mildly entertaining and a lot of good actors with not a lot of good acting.