2014: Week 3: Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit

Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit

Genre: Action, Drama

Main Players: Chris Pine, Keira Knightley, Kevin Costner, Kenneth Branagh,

General Gist:  A young Marine is recruited to become a covert CIA analyst and uncovers a Russian plot to crash the U.S. economy.

Deb's Take:  
First off  WOW!  What a great movie to see in the IMAX.  I don't usually care if I see a movie in the IMAX theatre or not, but this is a great one to spend the extra couple bucks if you like a good thrill ride. 

I will start by saying that movies that address the stock market, economy, international conspiracy, ect, always sort of make me feel ignorant.  I am trying to do better at understanding worldly economics, how the stock market works and how the government comes into play.  I am getting smarter, but still have a long way to go.  This movie was all about terrorists, economy and the stock market.  I think I actually had all the logistics figured out in this one. (Go Deb!)  Because of my understanding the movie was much more enjoyable. It wasn't rocket science, but I'm still happy.

Ok, as far as the movie itself.  I had forgotten how much I like Kevin Costner.  He is such a cool actor.  I like his calm, cool, collected nature that so many of his characters portray.  He sort of seems that way in real life too.  He did an excellent job in this movie, and, as usual, he was his calm, cool self.  Chris Pine is an actor I often forget about until I stumble across one of his movies.  He has the young boy charm, but the movie lover's face. What I liked most about his work in this movie, was the ability to capture the emotions of his character. He had some really badass chase scenes and stunts.  He did such a great job.  Kenneth Branagh plays an amazing bad guy.  I would turn and run if I ever crossed his path in real life. 

The story line was engaging and the action was non stop.  There wasn't a point in this movie that I wasn't totally sucked in.  A great date night movie!  Thanks Leslie and Brian for joining us on this one!!

Deb's Rate: Opening Night

Tiff's Take:
I'll admit that action movies aren't my all time favorite types of movies but I always enjoy them.  I really enjoyed this one.  As Deb said, it was fantastic in IMAX.  Definitely worth the extra cost to see it that way.

This was fast paced and kept you tensed up throughout the whole thing.  That's a sure sign of a good action movie.  What I liked about this one was that it didn't spend a lot of time setting things up.  It got right to the point and just started right in.  It wasn't unnecessarily lengthy.  Another thing I liked about it was the fact that it wasn't super confusing.  I knew who was bad, who was good, what the problem was and how they were going to fix it.  I often enjoy these movies but I usually leave them not really sure what happened.  So, good writing I guess.

I had no idea until after the fact that Jack Ryan is a character in other movies/books.  So can't really compare how Chris Pine was versus Alec Baldwin or Harrison Ford or whoever else played Jack Ryan but I'll say he did pretty darn good in my opinion.  They all did.  I literally loved everyone in their roles.  Well done!  

Tiff's Rate: Definitely a strong Friday Night.

Preview: Looks like another pre-screening for us.  "Labor Day" with Kate Winslet and Josh Brolin coming next week.

Week 48: My Week with Marilyn

While all the family was here for Thanksgiving we went and saw My Week with Marilyn down at the Cinema Suites downtown.  So much fun going there.  And it was Russ' first time and he thought it was pretty cool.  He decided he wants to see the new Mission Impossible there.

So, on to the movie.  Let me tell ya.  Deb and I have really been struggling these past couple weeks on what movies to see.  There really hasn't been a whole lot of good stuff coming out.  Hopefully the last few weeks in December will be better.  Luckily this movie worked with our schedule and was a movie no one else in our family had seen. 

The movie was really more about a guy, Colin played by Eddie Redmayne, who worked on one of Marilyn Monroe's movies and his interaction with her during that time.  Marilyn is played by Michelle Williams.  I'll be honest, other than the blonde hair I didn't think she would fit the part.  Marilyn is so curvy and sexual and Michelle Williams just isn't.  But I think she did a fantastic job.  Now, I'm not an expert on all things Marilyn Monroe but from my limited knowledge of her I think Williams portrayed her well. 

I really thought Eddie Redmayne did a great job as well.  There were some other well known actors in this movie.  Kenneth Branagh, Julia Ormond, Judi Dench and Emma Watson had a small role.  It was good to see Emma in something besides Harry Potter.  Just to see how she was.  And she was good.

The storyline was interesting as well.  It was about an assistant director who gets chummy and ends up falling in love with Marilyn over this short period of time.  It was interesting to see what the life of a star might look like.  And how easily infatuated a "normal" person might get with them. 

Overall, I liked this movie and thought it had great acting.  I heard Michelle Williams might be considered for an Oscar for this role.  We'll see.

To Sum it up: Well acted, charming characters and interesting look at stardom.