RevRon

Everything IS awesome! The cheesy pop song that is the butt of numerous jokes in “The Lego Movie” also sums up the film perfectly. The animation is some of the most amazing melding of 3D and stop-motion I’ve ever seen, the voice acting is incredible and felt tailor made for the film, the film has the perfect blend of the funny stuff and the touching, heartwarming stuff and the story is a bright and shining example of true, unique creativity…plus, it’s all about the greatest toys ever created. So, it has that going for it as well.

“Dallas Buyers Club” is a dramatic story that reflects the era of fear and loathing during the AIDS epidemic in the 80s that really shows off the true talent that Matthew McConaughey is capable of. The film does a great job of showing the inner turmoil and steel-hard determination that McConaughey’s character is going through and his desire to set up an organization to help those suffer with HIV and AIDS the way he is but it’s the performances from McConaughey, Jennifer Garner and Jared Leto that really make it come to life. It’s emotional, powerful and all those other buzz words that you see on the Blu-Ray and it is really worthy of all that praise. It’s just an all-around strong movie with a great, interesting and intense story and fantastic performances.

While I wasn’t a fan of the first film, I kinda get why it resonated with certain audience members. Dark comedies are fantastic (in my opinion) and Machete was just an unapologetic jumble of boobs, blood, guns and sheer ridiculousness. However, the sequel fails to recapture that formula and, ultimately, ended up feeling like a parody or like someone was making fun of Robert Rodriguez and the first movie. The jokes are terrible, the action is forgettable and the story is a sloppy excuse **** parody. While some of the characters might have been intriguing or even awesome, Rodriguez wastes them and treats them like they are nothing more than filler to make the film get to a feature length. The only saving grace is that Mel Gibson is incredible as the film’s bad guy. Other than that, the film was just a sequel that didn’t need to be made…but that’s not shocking when you take into consideration that the film is a sequel to a movie that was created from a fake trailer.

“Free Birds” isn’t a movie. Movies don’t end with convenient product placements saving the day. Even though the film has terrific voice acting, the movie is a generic, cheaply animated film with a paradox encrusted time traveling story, stuffed with bad jokes, garnished with morals and themes that are doing nothing but flying over the heads of their intended audience and washed down with the reality that this film was made to do nothing more than to sell Chuck E. Cheese pizzas. To call this a movie is just an insult.

“Escape Plan” starts out interesting but ends kinda generically. However, that didn’t really hurt my overall enjoyment of the film. While it’s not stellar, the movie is mildly entertaining. Jim Caviezel is a great evil warden (when you can hear him…he whispers too much) and it’s clear that Arnold and Sly really enjoyed working together (Arnold looks like he’s having A LOT of fun playing his character). The only issue I had was the film scrambles to resolve some plot threads at the end and the movie becomes a generic action film during the escape. Still, it has its moments and wasn’t an entire waste for me.

I suppose “Ender’s Game” could have been a decent, average adaptation of a book that was written by a complete lunatic; however, the film was just an emotionless, joyless and thrill-less rollercoaster ride that had no real ups or downs. While the special effects look incredible, the film feels like that was the only important part of the film as every scene that should be about the characters plays out like the really cool looking CG effects are the real star. Even the great performances and themes of the film feel like they play second fiddle to a movie that was more about the special effects. In the end, “Ender’s Game” was just boring and lacked any real spark.

I didn’t care for the first film but, at the behest of many friends and a girlfriend who loves the books, I gave this one a chance and actually found myself enjoying the experience. While I’m still not blown away by this franchise, I did think the story was much more interesting this time around and the introduction of new, more interesting characters, really helped get me into it. Granted, I still have some issues like the action isn’t that satisfying, Hutcherson isn’t a very memorable actor (and it play havoc on his character) and a lot of Jennifer Lawrence’s performance came out like overacting to me BUT I still think it was a decent film.

I didn’t find “Last Vegas” to be absolutely horrible—far from it. The jokes may be predictable and very formulaic but Douglas, De Niro, Freeman and Kline are all terrific together and really have a chemistry that works and makes them believable in their roles as old friends. However, the story gets really corny towards the end and takes away from the little humor the film gives you at the beginning.

In today’s day and age, we throw around the phrase “mind-blowing” a lot (**** probably published three articles this morning that contain the phrase…the other articles are insinuating that you don’t know anything). However, I have to say that “Primer” is as close to a real life instance of my mind actually exploding! The way this film handled time travel came off frighteningly realistic and, if it wasn’t for the below average acting, you could easily think it was a documentary on the discovery of time travel. Even though the acting isn’t great, the film delivers an incredibly intelligent script that actually challenges the viewer and is, quite possibly, the smartest, most realistic, science fiction film I have ever seen.

Visually, “The Fifth Estate” looks great. The cast is nothing but talented people doing an amazing job (especially Daniel Brühl and Benedict Cumberbatch). The music perfectly compliments the visuals and the editing is just fantastic. However, the story lacks the drama and tension it really needed and just fell completely flat. While not entirely terrible, the movie wasted its potential and is just average and, sort of, forgettable…the complete opposite of the controversy WikiLeaks started.

“You’re Next” does do quite a few things right. The music is fantastic, the overall visual presentation looks tremendous and fits well in the horror/thriller genre and, even though the scares are cheap, they are quite effective. However, the acting isn’t too special, the story gets repetitive and doesn’t feel like it’s enough to fill up an hour and a half, and the motivation for why the killers are attacking the family is super cheesy and was way too easy for me to figure out very early on in the film. While the movie does look good, it just feels too much like any other thriller that involves masked men attacking an isolated group of people.

“Charming” is one word I would use to describe this film… “Realistic” is probably another. One of the last two films James Gandolfini made, “Enough Said” really proved to be a terrific and unique romantic comedy. The film isn’t silly but rather humorous and heartwarming thanks to a great story, great performances and characters that felt real and authentic. Overall, the film is just an endearing and delightful film that is very down-to-earth.

The only racing I get interested in usually involves the words “kart” and “Mario” but I was shocked by how much I enjoyed “Rush.” The story about Hunt’s and Lauda’s rivalry during the 1976 Formula 1 racing season is interesting enough but the performances from Chris Hemsworth and Daniel Brühl are just impossibly good. Add that with fantastic visual and heart-pounding race sequences and the film ended up being far better than I thought it could have been.

Even though most of the events in this film were greatly exaggerated from the actual events of the man who inspired the film, “Lee Daniels’ The Butler” tells an engaging and dramatic story and is overflowing with talent from an exceptional cast.

“A.C.O.D.” has its moments of hilarity but there just wasn’t enough of them…especially when you consider how many talented comedic performers make up the cast. While the performances are great, the characters are interesting and there are some funny moments, the film just isn’t as strong as you would think it would be after just a glance at the cast list.

The original is a classic and, all knee-jerk remake reactions aside, this 2013 update isn’t that bad…it even has some points that are better. For the most part, not much has changed from the Sissy Spacek film so this remake can easily work in favor of fans of the original as it can be used as a gateway to gather interest in seeing the original (or it can be a point of hatred as it really is almost dead-on to the original). Advancements in special effects also helped make the most meaningful moments of revenge a little more interesting this time around and, I have to say, Julianne Moore proved to be the best yet with playing Margaret White. It’s easy to hate on a remake for no other reason than it’s a remake but “Carrie” keeps itself true to the original and Chloë Grace Moretz is fantastic as Carrie and really filled in Sissy Spacek’s shoes nicely.

Emotional, powerful, griping…these are just some of the words that sum up “Fruitvale Station.” In his first feature length film, director Ryan Coogler really nailed the emotion the story needed and Michael B. Jordan’s performance is incredible. Both these elements work so well together that it makes the film hit home and makes the viewer remember that Oscar Grant, the victim in this film and true story it’s based off of, is more than just a headline attached to an article or a point of argument for a Facebook debate but, rather, was a person with hopes, dreams, and people who cared for him.

While considerably toned down when compared to other “Jackass” properties, it doesn’t stop this film from being incredibly funny and, shockingly, tender at times, as well. Sure, much of the movie is predictable and you know where they are going most of the time with their hidden camera pranks but it’s still all in good fun and adding those pranks to an actual story made for a nice “Borat”-style feel.

Overall, this movie is a hilarious insight about the impact porno has on modern day relationships and is a fantastic directorial debut of the immensely talented Joseph Gordon-Levitt. Entertaining all around, easily engaging and a great cast (Tony Danza was awesome in it, by the way) makes this movie extremely entertaining.

There was potential for this film and there were a lot of aspects I enjoyed but, the film just fell flat for me and, thanks to a repetitive narrative, I ended up losing all interest in it. “Retreat” is interesting, has interesting and well developed characters, has great performances, and, basically, has all the ingredients for an intense thriller but, during the film’s climax, the movie just starts repeating itself with similar scenes over and over again and it just ended up looking lazy to me and I found I no longer cared about the movie. I liked where it was going and where it ended; it was the middle part of the journey I didn’t care for.

I’m a big fan of the character of Riddick and was more than excited to see him return for a new adventure. Although the story does suffer from some severe lack of balance, the film didn’t fail in satisfying me with some brutal action and Sci-Fi awesome-tude (totally a word, I swear). Not a bad new adventure for the man, I have to say.

Critics here on Metacritic don't seem to be too keen on this film but I definitely enjoyed it. I’m a big fan of Sharlto Copley so I went into this movie knowing nothing more than he was in it and that it was a thriller. However, I was pleasantly surprised with the film thanks to great performances, an engaging story and a nice twist ending that takes a way too familiar genre of this day and makes it unique and new.

I honestly regret not seeing this film sooner because it is just amazing! The story is a fantastic mystery that kept me hooked the entire time and the performances from Hugh Jackman, Maria Bello, Terrence Howard, Viola Davis, Melissa Leo, Paul Dano and Jake Gyllenhaal are all top shelf stuff. Pretty much everything about this movie is incredible and it didn’t fail to entertain me in the slightest.

I’ve never cared for any of the “Paranormal Activity” films. Aside from being bored by them, I’ve always found them to be impossible to scare me, filled with unlikeable characters played by terrible actors and to be, all around, cheaply made. For the most part, this latest installation isn’t much different. The story is still simple and doesn’t have much meat to it and I wasn’t scared at all. However, this film finally brought some decent acting to the franchise and characters that really seemed to have some depth and culture to them and was not the usual privileged rich white people who all have faces that look like a demon haunting them is only slightly worse than having a poor signal for your Wi-Fi.

The News Crew is back and they are just as funny as the first time around! I was very excited for this one and the final product went above and beyond my expectations. Like the last one, the film is silly but with a biting wit and a unique intelligence to it and the gang once again brings their individual characters to life and play well off each other. It was not uncommon for me to laugh till I cried and couldn’t breathe during this film and it makes me desire a third adventure with Ron Burgundy, Brick Tamland, Brian Fantana and Champ Kind.

This movie just felt lazy to me. It’s like the production just said, “Forget decent action, forget likable characters, forget about having a decent antagonist and let’s focus on spending the entire budget on getting Bruce Willis to phone-in his role like he does in everything he’s in.” And since the budget was probably small, Willis’ role is incredibly short. For the most part, this film is just forgettable as it does little to stand out.

I like the mystery of this film, I liked the tone and I loved the cast! However, the film tends to forget its methodical, slow pace towards the end and decides that they did enough character development and decides to wrap things up quickly…whether or not you knew who the responsible parties were. This movie could have been great if more care was taking into the growth and development of the players (heck, even just making sure the characters are introduced by name would have helped) as it was to make sure the film was dark, grimy and depressing. While not terrible, “A Single Shot” triumphs with great performances and a fantastic tone but fails with its lack of expansion on some important players in the story.

While not terrible, this one could have been infinitely better. The humor falls flat most of the film, the special effects are terrible (even though, they kinda are suppose to be), the acting is passable (at best) and Greg Grunberg just doesn’t have the chops to be a leading man. There’s definitely some charm to this film as it lampoons Sci-Fi films of old but it just had too many drawbacks to be the spectacular piece of satire it could have been.

Yep, this movie was not meant for me. I guess if you think Bella and Edward are dynamic characters with rich backgrounds and their romance is a whirlwind event, you might enjoy this latest dash to cash in on “Twilight” with another tween book franchise. The film is a complete mess of bad acting, uninteresting characters, weak action, a weaker plot and a story that feels the need to stuff itself with every single fantasy film cliché you can think of. Unless you’re a part of the target audience (tweens), this movie is just a forgettable piece of unimaginative nothingness.

I love “The Lord of the Rings” films and was very happy with “The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey.” “The Desolation of Smaug” picks up the pace like a year hasn’t passed since the last release and it gets moving quickly and fluidly. The characters are still interesting and played by actors who seemed to be magically made for their roles, the visuals are breathtaking, the special effects are incredible and the movie is dramatic, action-packed and fun! I really enjoyed this return visit to Middle-earth.

This anthology of skits is one of those movies that is out to try and offend their audience…but the problem there is the fact they forgot to add jokes with the offensive material. To put it bluntly, this film is pointless. The skits are lazily written, the actors are terrible (not shocking when you see it has Rob Schneider, Michelle Rodriguez and Lindsay Lohan) and there isn’t anything funny about it. Offensive and childish material is fine but when your material is hack, expired or just endless beaten to death like a dead horse that was already beaten to death BY a dead horse that was beaten to death, the offensive and childish material ends up being extremely grating and annoying rather than humorous and fun.

[SPOILER ALERT: This review contains spoilers.]

Suffering from uneven tones and characters that lack any real development, “The Family” is a slight disappointment. The story is simple but something that could have been easily entertaining; however, the film can’t decide if it wants to be a dark comedy or a crime thriller and the way it jumps back and forth makes the film feel grating at points. Additionally, despite the fact there are some great performances in the film, the characters really don’t have much depth or get much development as the film progresses. However, the film has some amusing moments and Robert De Niro and Tommy Lee Jones are great together in it, so it has some merits…just not much beyond watching it once.

I really dug the first film and was excited for this one. Despite hearing some bad talk about it and seeing Jim Carrey disown the film due to his own morals and ethics, I have to say I thought this movie was just as slick, cool and entertaining as the first one. It was nice to see new faces added to the world of “Kick-Ass” and it was nice seeing Aaron Taylor-Johnson get to be a bigger presence in the story (let’s face it, Hit-Girl stole the first movie). I also really dug the evolution of the characters of Kick-Ass and Hit-Girl and the hyper-violent fight and action scenes are just expected from this franchise but just as entertaining as they were the last time around. While the story got a lot darker than it did in the last movie (of course, the comic gets even darker), I still thought “Kick-Ass 2” was a great sequel to an already cool movie.

Despite the critical reviews and audience’s general hatred of the film, I really enjoyed “The Lone Ranger.” The film is not without its problems as Armie Hammer’s performance is a little cheesy for the fabled hero of the old west but he eventually gets better as the film progresses. Secondly, the story felt a little long and it tended to drag at points. However, there are some great action sequences, William Fichtner is great as the villain and Johnny Depp is pretty entertaining as Tonto. The film has its good and it has its bad but I enjoyed it more than I hated it.

I don’t care how stupid or how many of these movies they make, I will watch them all. This franchise just appeals to the raw, visceral side of entertainment and that’s why they are guilty pleasures of mine. “Fast & Furious 6” doesn’t clog itself up with complicated narratives, plots, stories or characters. Nope, it’s just a basic, straight-up, un-cut action film with fast cars, explosive action scenes and hot girls thrown in pointlessly for eye candy. The entire film is just ridiculous fun and is a great movie to just kick back and stuff your face with popcorn to. The only complaint beyond having Michelle Rodriquez return to the franchise was the inclusion of Gina Carano to the cast. The internet may have once been obsessed with her but she can’t act to save her life…and that says a lot because it’s not like this franchise was built on stellar acting. Carano aside, “Furious 6” is a fun addition to a franchise that will always be a guilty, fun pleasure of mine.

This sequel felt like it was missing some of the magic (and star power) of the first film. The adventure in the film’s story felt pretty sloppy and a lot of the special effects were either decent or just terrible. Logan Lerman gave an extremely flat and lifeless performance and, while the film has some great and fun action sequences, “Sea of Monsters” ultimately felt like a Direct-to-DVD sequel rather than a film that made it to the theaters. However, Nathan Fillion’s very short role really stole the film.

"Jobs" was ambitious but it never really felt like a big budget biopic about Steve Jobs and, ultimately, felt like a made-for-TV story about the Apple guru. I wasn't sold on Kutcher's performance and only saw him as Ashton the entire movie and not Steve. Additionally, I felt they handled Jobs' growth as a person poorly as the movie jumped from point to point and any character development needed for the next scene was just conveniently there when the story arrived. However, I really enjoyed Josh Gad as Wozniak, the soundtrack was great and I admire that they didn't sugarcoat the reality that Jobs had a reputation of being kind of a big meanie-head. In the end, "Jobs" was a passable biopic about the man who created a company where people will wait in line for days to get a phone that is really no different from the previous one they waited in line for.

I thought this one was a lot of fun. It has a great mix of action and comedy that keeps it from being too serious and too silly. Washinton and Wahlberg are great together and play off one another terrifically. Edward James Olmos and Bill Paxton are also really great in the film as well and just give the film a very solid cast. The only complaint I had was the movie feels a little rushed at the end but it didn't kill my enjoyment factor. Just a fun (and funny) movie.

I didn't care for the first film because it was just an annoying mess of bad jokes and bad acting--However, the special effects were decent. Not much has changed in this sequel as the jokes are still really, really bad and the acting is hammy and groan-inducing but the story did feel like they were trying to add some emotion to it as we see Smurfette deal with the isolation of feeling like she doesn't belong mirrored with Patrick's stepfather desperately trying to be a positive influence in his life. Sadly, this emphasis on story elements that feel like they have some heart to it are still surrounded by bad "blue" humor and acting gorged on scenery. But the special effects are still decent...

Who doesn't love a car chase? But a whole movie about a car chase? Well, it worked for the "Fast and Furious" franchise and those are guilty pleasures of mine but this movie was just sloppy. The edit is so chaotic and uneven that it's hard to tell what is going on most of the time, the story is completely generic, Ethan Hawke looks like he's just not trying the entire film and Selena Gomez is unbearable in her performance that is basically her just using a bunch of tech buzz words and yelling like the escort character in a video game escort mission. The only things I enjoyed about the movie is the fact that Hawke did his own stunt driving and the movie's final chase--that was filmed entirely from the perspective of the hood of a car--looked cool and was exciting. Beyond that, the movie is just a waste of time.

After a long wait (and a whole lot of complications), "All the Boys Love Mandy Lane" was finally released and the wait wasn't worth it. To put it simply, the movie is boring and the story wants to be a teen slasher from the 70s and 80s but it doesn't feel like putting in the effort--the twist ending is painfully obvious before the first teen gets slashed. Additionally, the film just looks sloppy. While I get they are going for the grindhouse, low-budget look but with an already lazy style and lifeless actors, it makes the film look cheap rather than an homage to something like "Texas Chainsaw Massacre." Finally, the actors are just absolutely terrible. Amber Heard is lifeless and isn't providing any rhyme or reason for why her character Mandy Lane is so desired by every man who sees them. Heard thinks playing the part **** that everyone wants means just smiling sheepishly and playing with your hair but, in the end, she just looked like a cardboard cut-out that the rest of the actors just pretended was actually **** the movie will try to compensate for that by constantly filming her in slo-mo and making sure the sun is shining behind her and I guess that means she's hot. In the end, "Mandy Lane" is just boring and its laziness is very apparent.

I really enjoyed the first film and was excited for the sequel--and it lived up to my expectations. The movie takes the working formula from the last one and expands on it but doesn't try to reinvent it. The core returning cast is still charming and have great chemistry together and the new players jump into the mix without any complications. The humor is great, the action is exciting and the film is just pure fun!

"White House Down" isn't an incredible piece of action/comedy but the movie has its moments. At its worst, the film is kinda grating and unfunny and way too over the top (but Roland Emmerich DID direct it) and at its best, the film is fun, has some great action and Jaime Foxx and Channing Tatum are a decent and amusing duo. The worst part, however, is the terrible green screen composite shots outside of the White House. They looked so surreal and fake that the film felt like it took place in some alternate reality...however, that's sort of fitting since the entire movie felt like a live action cartoon.

And with this, the unofficial Cornetto Trilogy comes to an end. While I didn't think "The World's End" was as laugh-out-loud funny as "Shaun of the Dead" and "Hot Fuzz," I definitely enjoyed it. The only downside was that I found Simon Pegg's character to be very grating and annoying during the first half of the film--however, once his character develops a little more, he's great. I think Pegg is a fantastic actor and very funny guy but he was just too obnoxious for me for the first half. However, the entire cast is comprised of fantastically talented people, the special effects are great, the story is a beautiful homage to classic sci-fi and the fight scenes were just incredible! Overall, a great end to a fantastic series of movies.

I loved the first film and have been impressed to no end with the undertaking that Marvel Studios has taken with their shared cinematic universe. "Thor: The Dark World" is exciting, dramatic and, most of all, very funny. Once again Chris Hemsworth and Tom Hiddleston prove that they were born to play Thor and Loki and Christopher Eccleston shows that he can make it as a dark, foreboding villain in the Marvel universe as Malekith. From start to finish, I feel this sequel out-did the first movie and showed us exactly how comic book adaptations are suppose to be: Fun, action pack and full of larger than life characters.

"Planes" feels like a direct-to-DVD release (which it originally was) and is nothing really beyond a kids movie. Disney took Pixar's "Cars" universe and took it to the skies and presented a lazy movie that kids will dig but adults might find boring. The story is pretty standard stuff, the jokes are just a bunch of plane-based puns and some of the cast is great. However, the main character is voiced by Dane Cook and, while he's subdued and not his usual "if I yell my punchline people might find it funny" self, he proves that he's not very good and lacks range. In the end, Disney took a Pixar property and made it for little kids so they could sell a lot of "Planes"-based merchandise.

"We're the Millers" can be rude, crude and very offensive but, man, was it hilarious! There's a big difference between being offensive because you think it makes you edgy with your comedy and being offensive for the sake of actually being funny. I got the feeling this movie rode that line quite well as it felt fully self-aware about how the humor went in the film. Jason Sudeikis really helped the film along as he carried the movie to hilarious results and the rest of the cast was right there keeping pace or trying to enhance everything going on. The only low point for me was Emma Roberts wasn't the funniest but with the rest of the cast carrying her, that complaint is barely recognizable. While the movie tends to go on longer than it needs to be and kinda ends after a very noticeable slowdown, the movie is still very funny.

I guess this was suppose to be a horror film--at least, that's the genre it is categorized as--but nothing was scary about this film. The story feels half-done as almost nothing is explained in its plot--and not in a mysterious way that lets the viewer create their own conclusions but in a way that leads me to believe the screenwriter just gave up because "writing is hard." The only saving grace is the fact that Clancy Brown is in it and he does a tremendous job with the little screen time he gets. A young actor by the name of Carter Cabassa also does quite well in the film but isn't allowed to shine until the movie is almost over. The rest of the cast is just painful to endure as they can't act, are completely lifeless or interact with each other in the most unnatural way possible. Slasher Films really came out of the gate limping and lost with this one.

I thought the first movie was bad but leave it to Adam Sandler to once again out do himself in the god awful film department. The movie has no story to speak of and the plot was forgotten in a haze of bad bodily function jokes and Nick Swardson once again trying way to hard to be funny and failing at every turn. The film sets up dozens of potential plotlines but most are forgotten about or quickly thrown back in to try and recover by giving it a poorly constructed resolution. To top it off, the jokes in the film are so painfully bad that it should come with a warning that expecting mothers should avoid the film and how it will destroy your ability to ever find joy in this world again. The worse part, Adam Sandler will make sure to be a part of something even worse in 2014.