Movie Review: In the Heart of the Sea

The first thing I want to say is sorry that I am late getting this review out. We have had a very busy week and sick family to take care of. Though that tale isn't too exciting, the true story that was the inspiration for the classic novel Moby Dick definitely was. That is what today's review is on, the movie "In the Heart of the Sea", which is based on that true story.

The movie starts off following author Herman Melville (played by Ben Whishaw) finding his way to the home of a cranky old drunk sailor, Thomas Nickerson (played by Brendon Gleeson) and his wife (played by Michelle Fairley). Thomas is the last remaining survivor from the old whaling ship called the Essex, and Herman wants to hear the true story of the wreck to gather information for a book he is writing. Thomas doesn't want to talk about it, even when Herman says how much he is paying to hear it, but his wife convinces him in the hopes that he if talks about the secrets he is holding on to, he will feel better about himself. Herman hands over the money to Thomas, who then begins his long tale.

The story begins by introducing us to Owen Chase (played by Chris Hemsworth), who is an experienced whaler looking forward to being Captain on his next voyage as promised by his employers. He has dreams of making life better for his wife Peggy (played by Charlotte Riley) and child that is on the way. As he sits down with his employers, he finds out that the Essex ship he was to command will instead be captained by George Pollard (played by Benjamin Walker), as his family are the investors whose money paid for the ship to be built. George is in the hall listening to Owen get upset over this, but he eventually agrees to go on the trip. Even though George's family has had a long history in the boat building business, this will be his first time commanding a ship, and this inexperience as a captain clashes with Owen's vast experience.

The story plot had a good pace and that is always good, and hard, to find for one based on a true story. Even though it doesn't say "Based on a true story", it was taken from the true story of the Essex ship. It made me want to go and read the books and history about that sea monster of a whale.

The acting was great, and more real than most other true story movies that I've seen. I was really wondering what horrors the actors put themselves through to realistically portray their characters. I give good credits to the make-up department in this as well. They made the actors look like they really were going through tough times out to sea.

Overall, I thought that this movie was a great one to watch, and I'd recommend it for anyone that likes a good adventure movie, and even more to those people who love history and/or true stories. For these reasons I would rate this movie 9/10.

Movie Review: Krampus

So this week’s movie is Krampus, which is a Christmas horror movie. Krampus is based on an old German legend about, who else, Krampus, who goes alongside Santa on Christmas to terrorize the naughty kids. It is a forgotten legend that is making its way back into modern culture. This is the kind of movie for people who prefer the scarier Halloween movies, but with a Christmas twist. But anyways, I hope you enjoy my review on Krampus.

The movie starts with a scene of a store during what appears to be Black Friday, where the store clerks are being trampled and the customers are fighting over the things they want to buy. Near the end of this is a Christmas play in the store, where Max (played by Emjay Anthony) and another kid are fighting on the stage while Sarah (played by Toni Collette) and Tom (played by Adam Scott) try to break up the fight, and Beck (played by Stefania LaVie Owen) records it on her phone. It then goes to Beth in her room talking to her boyfriend Derek (played by Leith Towers) over video chat. After talking for a little, Derek pulls out a drug pipe, saying he knows what he's going to do for Christmas, then Beth gets called downstairs.

We meet Omi (played Krista Stadler) baking cookies and other goodies for the Christmas season as the family fights around her. She speaks in German to Max and asks him if he has finished his letter yet. He asks her if she still believes and she says she does. As he works on his letter, Sarah's sister, Linda (played by Allison Tolman) arrives with her husband, Howard (played by David Koechner), and their 3 kids, Stevie (played by Lolo Owen), Jordan (played by Queenie Samuel), and Howie Jr (played by Maverick Flack). Along with the surprise of their Aunt Dorothy (played by Conchata Ferrell), this would be the most eventful Christmas they will ever have.

The story plot of the movie started a little slow, but not too bad. My mother and I both agree that it reminded us of a mash up between Gremlins and Child's Play, just with a Christmas theme to it. I will say I was disappointed at how little Krampus himself was featured in the movie, and when he was finally on screen, he was more like a version of the Ghost of Christmas Future and Santa, but with goat features. I think they could have done a lot more with him, and I hope that if they do sequels, they will fix this. The credits have a voice actor for Krampus, but I just couldn't find a point other than laughter and other noises where he talked. Not that all of this is bad, but it did make it a little more predictable than I would have liked.

The acting wasn't too bad, but it had a feeling of being conflicting of the movie. It seemed that they started to be funny but then stopped part way through. I am not sure if the script is to blame or the directing, but I don't think it was the actors because to have most of them with the same problem just does not seem likely. It was probably very hard on the actors but I think they did well in spite of it.

Overall I think it was a fun movie to go see and get a little pre-Christmas scare, and if you have kids that are being especially bad maybe take them to see this movie, if they are able to. However, for the reasons above I would rate this move 7.3/10

Movie Review: The Good Dinosaur

So for this week's movie I was able to go watch The Good Dinosaur. In the commercials the movie asks "What if the asteroid that killed the dinosaurs missed?". I had a different idea of what might have happened, but I liked this idea as well. But anyways, I hope you enjoy my review of The Good Dinosaur.

The movie starts with a view of the asteroid belt 65 million years ago, and a few of them banging into each other, sending one off into space. As we watch the asteroid hurl its way towards earth, we take a look at dinosaurs peacefully eating away. As flames start to engulf the rock, we watch it miss the earth, and all the dinosaurs look up to watch it fly past. That means the dinosaurs get to live another day.

We then skip ahead a few million years to see Poppa (voiced by Jeffrey Wright) walking through the forest to his home, where he and Momma (voiced by Frances McDormand) have made a farm to live off of. After working hard on planting their crops, it jumps forward a little bit to a point where the crops are very tall. Poppa is working on harvesting the crops when Momma comes over and says that it's time. They walk to their hut where three eggs are about to hatch, and our hero, Arlo (voiced by Raymond Ochoa), is born along with his sister Libby (voiced by Maleah Nipay-Padilla) and brother Buck (voiced by Marcus Scribner).

The story plot was well done, but it had a few elements that felt familiar to other Disney movies, such as the Lion King. A young animal learning his true worth after a devastating accident that killed his father. I'm not saying that it's bad, it's actually a nice, up to date version of one of my favorite movies, with T-Rex Ranchers thrown into the mix as well.

The voice acting was very good for the most part, but I thought that Raymond Ochoah didn't make Arlo sound very scared in some scenes. However, the rest of it was great voice acting on everyones part. I do have to mention though that Sam Elliott as Butch was a huge highlight to this movie. His voice really made the head T-Rex Rancher that much better.

Overall, the story plot had great continuous scenes, and the voice acting was almost always great, but I would have added a few things in place of others. Even though this probably would never have happened in real life, it was a good movie, and I would rate it 8.7/10.

Movie Review: Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 2

So there has been a lot of hype for this movie, and now that the wait is over, I had the opportunity to go and watch it. Of course, in order to properly enjoy sequels like this you have to watch the previous movie/movies. So unless you have seen the other three movies, read the books or are fine with major spoilers, I recommend not reading my review yet. Thanks!

The movie starts right where part one of the two movies left off, where Katniss Everdeen (played by Jennifer Lawrence) is in a neck brace because Peeta (played by Josh Hutcherson) tried to strangle her to death. A nurse from District 13 takes off the neck brace and starts preforming vocal therapy with Katniss. After she is able to talk again, she goes to a viewing room so she can see Peeta in his holding cell while Primrose (played by Willow Shields) goes in and talks to him. Eventually, Peeta tells Prim to kill Katniss and that she is the problem with the world.

Later, Katniss requests to go to District 2 to perform a speech to the refugees. On the way there, she and Gale (played by Liam Hemsworth) begin talking, and then kiss each other. She then witnesses Gale and Beetee (played by Jeffery Right) talk about new weapons they are creating, including one that detonates, then waits for a little bit, then detonates again, killing the first respondents too. They arrive in District 2 where Commander Paylor (played by Patina Miller) mentions that they are having a hard time getting the people out of "The Nut". Gale suggests blowing up the mountains beside it to block the entrances, but Katniss says that the survivors would need a way out.

The acting in this movie I feel was better than the acting in the other three movies, even though this movie and Mockingjay Part 1 were filmed at the same time. It could be the fact that this movie has a lot more emotional scenes than in the other movies, or it could be that this movie was suspenseful with the action scenes, making them a bit more worth watching. But I think it was that the characters they were playing didn't have to hide how they felt about the situation anymore, it was more realistic and therefore easier for the actors to work with.

The story plot was, in my eyes, a mix of Catching Fire and Mockingjay Part 1. However, even with this, it was a very good story plot. It was smart of them to use Katniss with her struggles and need for peace as a symbol of what the country was going through. It was good to walk through it in her eyes. The end was definitely my favourite part because by showing what happened with her, it showed how the rest of the country may have been feeling as well. I would tell more but unless you have read the books (which I have not) it would give too much away. 

I really liked what they did with the CGI graphics as well. I could tell what was CGI and what wasn't, but it was almost lifelike in terms on how they looked.

Overall, the movie definitely exceeded my expectations, in the acting, the story plot and the CGI. It's a great movie altogether, but will not make much sense unless you have read the books or seen the other movies. So for these reasons I would rate this movie 9.2/10.

Movie Review: Woodlawn

The movie this week is actually one that was originally released in October, but my theater only just now received it. It is a sports and religion movie based on the true story of what happened in Woodlawn High School back in 1973.

The movie starts with a not so brief history of the Birmingham, Alabama bombings and the racial "problems" there. The violence leads into the first time, through government mandate, that black students attend Woodlawn High School. We briefly meet Hank (played by Sean Astin) as he prepares to head to this school on the first of many historic days.

We then find us following Tony Nathan (played by Caleb Castelle) running along the road to school, while being followed by his father in a truck. He walks through the school and soon we find him sitting in the gym with a few other fellow black students and a lot of white ones who are on the football team. Coach Tandy Gerelds (played by Nic Bishop) comes in and says to everyone that he knows how angry everyone is about the situation, including him, but to use that to win.

This was a very interesting movie to watch. As I am not a huge sports fan, it is not my first choice to watch a movie about sports. It also makes me a little hesitant to watch a sports movie that is also filled with a strong religion base to it because those are really a hit and miss type of genre. Most times you find misses, but to my viewing pleasure for the most part, this was a hit.

The story plot with the very real struggle of segregation and how the characters used skill and faith to overcome all of this is inspiring. It had a good balance between the sports aspect and religious base until the end. This is where I felt it was preachy and should have left some of it out because it took away from the real feel of the movie. I think the message would have been stronger if the end didn't make the movie feel like a 2 hour convergent advertisement.

I was impressed with the acting in the movie for the most part as well. Caleb Castille and Nic Bishop really gave their characters depth and understanding for the struggles they were going through. I did have a problem with Sean Astin at some points though. I just really had a tough time believing him to be a preacher. I think he came more alive when his character interacted in other ways, like cheering on the football team.

Overall I think the movie is worth seeing, especially if you love true stories and watching the way we humans overcome problems like racism. I would rate this movie 7.6/10 only because of the over preaching at the end and my disappointment in Sean Astin's acting.

Movie Review: The Peanuts Movie

This week I had the choice of going to the new James Bond movie or watching The Peanuts Movie. I decided to go to this movie because I used to watch one of the Christmas specials almost every year, and thought that this would be a great movie to watch from just watching the commercials. So, I hope you enjoy my review of The Peanuts Movie.

The movie starts by going through each of the houses of the kids from the comics, ending with Charlie Brown's House. Sally Brown (voiced by Mariel Sheets) answers the ringing phone and finds out that, due to the snow, there was no school that day. All the other kids are gathered up in front of Charlie Brown's house where they call him to come out and play, but meanwhile, Charlie Brown (voiced by Noah Schnapp) is just getting his winter stuff on. After getting outside and noticing that everyone else has left already, he grabs his kite and decides to try and fly it since the kite-eating tree is in hibernation. Down at the frozen lake, everyone else is playing hockey or figure skating when Charlie Brown starts to fly his kite, then the string gets caught around his feet. He stops in front of Linus (voiced by Alex Garfin), but quickly gets pulled away by his kite, running over Lucy (voiced by Hadley Belle Miller) and getting the kite stuck in the kite-eating tree.

After they all get back up, they notice a moving truck pulling up to the house across the street from Charlie Brown. Everyone starts thinking about what the new kid would be like, but Charlie Brown just hopes that they have never heard of him. Then, the snowball that he was standing on rolled out from under his feet, causing Charlie Brown to knock over the entire fence.

The movie actually surprised me by staying true to the original story created by Charles M. Shultz, and the characters we have come to know and love. I really liked how they brought in hints of our holiday favorites, without actually bringing them in, making this movie its own story. I think the best part of the movie were the words that were said about why Charlie Brown is a really beloved character around the world.

I wasn't sure how the CGI animation would work with our favorite characters, but again I was surprised. It was nice to have a third dimensional aspect to them, and it actually helped bring them to life on the big screen. I also like the occasional touch of original artwork in the movie.

The voice acting was great, and the people who voiced the characters made them feel almost real. It almost made me feel like the characters had real emotions, more than just what they had in the movie.

Overall, I think that, honestly, this is the best family film of the year, even with all the other ones I have reviewed. It's great for those who know the original comic strip, and for those who might have just been introduced to the Peanuts franchise. It's also a great movie to watch if you have only watched the This really is a great movie for everyone to enjoy, and for these reasons I would rate this movie 9.6/10.

Movie Review: The Last Witch Hunter

So this Saturday is Halloween, and I'm excited. Not just for the costumes and candy, but for more movie reviews. This week's movie is The Last Witch Hunter, but I also had the choice of the new Paranormal Activity. I might be doing Paranormal Activity: Ghost Dimension for my next review if there are no others within my age ratings. But anyways, I hope you enjoy my review of The Last Witch Hunter.

The movie starts 800 years ago where a group of witch hunters led by Kaulder (played by Vin Diesel) called the Ax and Cross are heading to a giant tree to kill the Witch Queen (played by Julie Engelbrecht). After a motivating speech, the team goes towards the tree with their weapons drawn. The Ax and Cross find the Witch Queen in the tree, who quickly kills about half the men with her magic, and traps the other half, again with magic. Kaulder escapes by falling down a hole, and finding the Witch Queen in the spot she escaped to. The two then have a fight to the death, with Kaulder wielding a flaming sword. When Kaulder stabs the Queen with his flaming sword, she curses him with eternal life as she, and everything else, burns around him.

800 years later, in the present, we find Kaulder sitting in a plane, with a really bad storm in the flight path. He blows on the window to reveal a marking which symbolizes that there is magic nearby. He gets up and goes to the back of the plane to find a young witch with runes. The runes control the weather when together, and the witch had just tossed them into her bag. Kaulder then has to separate the runes to end the storm, which he does.

The story plot was very intriguing, but seemed more like a pilot to a new TV show than a major motion picture. Could be because they're starting a new franchise with Vin Diesel. But other than that, I really liked the multiple plot twists. The movie might have been predictable, if it weren't for these twists.

The acting was very good, but Vin Diesel was more comfortable to watch in Furious 7 than this movie. It might take him a sequel or two to have the same feeling of authenticity as his other franchise, but still really good. The support actors really did make the movie even more enjoyable and helped bring it to life. I really enjoyed Rose Leslie in her portrayal of Chloe, the witch who works with Kaulder later on in the movie, and Michael Caine, who played the 36th Dolan.

Overall, the movie was good if you wanted a TV show pilot, but a little lacking when it comes to a blockbuster movie. Good acting and plot with twists are the reasons I would rate this movie 7.6/10.

Movie Review: Goosebumps

Goosebumps is a book series that came out when my mother was a kid. I discovered the books back somewhere in grade 3 and have read only a few of them since. I watched some of the episodes of the show on Netflix, so I was really interested in how they were going to do the movie. Plus it's October and Halloween is getting near so scary movies is what I’m hoping to get this month.

The movie starts with Zach (played by Dylan Minnette) and his mother, Gale (played by Amy Ryan) driving to their new house in Madison, Delaware. After getting out of the car, Zach jokes with his mom that he is only staying with her because he loves her and can't legally live on his own until he's 18. Just after they go inside, Zach's aunt Lorraine (played by Jillian Bell) stops by to visit and gives Zach a hat. He tells his mother that he's going to start unpacking, and while he does that, the girl next door named Hannah (played by Odeya Rush) starts talking to him from her window. Her father, who we later know as R. L. Stine (played by Jack Black) tells her to get away from the window, then rushes up to it and tells Zach to stay away or bad things will happen. Zach takes his things inside and goes up to his room, where he watches a video of his father playing baseball with him.

Later that night, while Zach is taking out the trash, Hannah pulls back a board in the fence, scaring him. Hannah takes Zach to an abandoned amusement park in the woods, and makes him climb the Ferris wheel. Afterwards, in his room, Zach hears Hannah scream from her room. He tells his mom, but she doesn't listen, so he calls the police. From here on the adventure gets more interesting at every turn. 

The Plot leads us through a bunch of twists and turns that try to keep us all on our toes. Some of our favorite, and creepiest characters from the Goosebumps books are in the movie as well so it also makes it fun to watch. I was looking for something a little scarier though, with it being Goosebumps, but it's good for the younger kids that might want to watch.

The acting was very good, but like most movies, there were some flaws. I really enjoyed how Odeya Rush portrayed Hannah and the sincerity she brought to the character, but I found that, true to his style of acting, Jack Black was a little manic in his R. L. Stine character. It seemed to me that he made his character more angry than any other emotion he showed in the movie. I did expect a little more from him, but still good nonetheless.

The movie was still fun to watch and if the cheesy, but cool, classic Hocus Pocus stuff can be loved every Halloween, even though it isn't always scary, so can this movie. So for these reasons I would rate this movie 7.9/10.

I have been looking at the idea of having a contest this coming Christmas season. I need to know how many people would be interested in having some fun and maybe get some loot as well. Please make sure to comment below with the words "Giving is Great!" and if I have enough interest I might be able to make this happen. Thanks!

Movie Review: Pan

There are many stories out there that we have heard since we were babies. The story of Peter Pan is one of them and really a beloved favorite. But where did Peter originally come from? I asked my Mom once and I don't remember what she said because I knew it wasn't the actual story, but she is good at making things up. That is why I was interested in checking out this week’s movie, Pan, for the review.

The movie starts somewhere around 1930 where a woman seems to be sneaking around an orphanage where she walks up to her baby and gives him a necklace with a metal pan flute on it and a letter addressed to Peter.

About twelve years later, during WWII, Peter (played by Levi Miller) wakes up in the orphanage with his friend Nibs (played by Lewis MacDougall) in the bed beside his, also awake. After jumping on the beds, they go downstairs to eat their breakfast, a gruel of some sort. Peter complains that they usually get bacon with it, and goes to sit down with Nibs. He mentions that he suspects Mother Barnabas (played by Kathy Burke), is hoarding food for herself. Peter and Nibs sneak into Barnabas' office and find a secret hatch with a bunch of junk foods and a door leading to the orphanage records. Nibs finds Peters record with the note from his mother that says that she loves him and will meet him again in this world or another. Barnabas finds them in her office and punishes them by whipping their hands and having them do chores around the orphanage.

Later that night, while all the kids go to bed, Barnabas puts up a pirate flag on the roof. Then, when the kids are asleep, pirates come down from the roof, grabbing the orphans and leaving, which Peter and Nibs see happening. The two run for the door, but Nibs gets caught just before leaving, then peter gets kicked by Barnabas into a pirate, which grabs him and pulls him up onto their flying pirate ship. Nibs tells Peter that he needs to jump off with him as he jumps, but Peter hesitates and gets flown off with the pirates.

The story plot from here is Peter meeting Hook (played by Garrett Hedlund), Smee (played by Adeel Akhtar), Tiger Lily (played by Rooney Mara) and Blackbeard (played by Hugh Jackman) and becoming the flying child we know and love. It also leads to Peter going on a great adventure to meet and know these characters. It was very imaginative and makes everything that Peter Pan is make complete sense. There are also some very interesting plot twists about the different relationships between the characters from what we already know about them, and to what is going on at that particular moment. And the costume and set design used to show us all of this was amazing. In short, I really liked all the work done on this movie.

As for the acting, I enjoyed that they used actors with theatrical backgrounds to bring the characters to life. I really enjoyed Hugh Jackman's performance the most. His portrayal of Blackbeard brought a lot of dimension and realism yet drama to the character. I did think that Garrett Hedlund was a little overboard at times but still enjoyable. I think the real cheers go for Levi Miller and his portrayal of Peter. He really gave us his true character from troublemaker to boyhood hero.

I would rate this movie 8.7/10 for overall greatness in most aspects, but sometimes there are moments where it goes a little wrong in some way.

I'm thinking about changing the color of the font to orange for Halloween. Do you think I should do it or not? Leave a comment down below if you have a specific shade of orange I should know. Thanks!

Movie Review: The Martian

 

Life alone on a different planet is something I thought of after watching this movie. I live in a house with 7 other people, which makes for a lot of noise and sometimes, being alone would be a nice thing. However, I don't know if I would want to do it without enough supplies to last and other things that are basic. This leads me to my latest movie, The Martian.

The movie starts on Mars, where the crew of the Ares 3 mission is collecting rock samples to bring back to NASA. As they finish up, a giant dust storm moves towards them and NASA informs them that the storm is bigger than they thought. The Ares 3 crew decide to abort the mission when they experience just how powerful the storm actually is. While walking through the dust storm, Mark Watney (played by Matt Damon) gets hit by a satellite dish, disappearing into the storm presumed dead. The rest of the crew reluctantly leave him there on Mars, and after the storm passes, Mark wakes up half buried in the red dirt, slightly impaled by a shard of the antenna.

The story plot is pretty much Mark trying to make supplies on Mars, such as potatoes for food and fixing broken entrance hatches, eventually making it off Mars. You know, just an average day of an everyday ordinary botanist. Except that this botanist is on Mars, is also a famous astronaut and isn't ordinary in any way. However, it was still a good story plot nonetheless.

The acting was some of Matt Damon's best work on screen yet. He really made me feel like I could have been stranded on the planet with him. However, there were some parts in the movie where it was a little non-realistic. More commonly known as goofs, these are parts of a movie where something isn't supposed to be there, or something is done that shouldn't be, or even being able to see the cameraman in a reflection. I usually go to IMDb for my references in case I forget what an actors name is or if I want to go over the synopsis again, or to just read over the goofs that I may have missed.

Overall the story and acting was great, but I could have gone without some of the goofs in the movie. For these reasons I would rate this 8.7/10.

Movie Review: Hotel Transylvania 2

My little sister was so excited when she found out that I was going to review another animated movie. She is currently seven years old, so I thought it would be a good idea to take her along to get her opinion of the movie as well as mine. However, because she is seven, she didn't have much of an opinion to tell me besides "It was awesome!", however I appreciated the thought. But anyways, here's my review of Hotel Transylvania 2.

The movie starts with Johnny (voiced by Andy Samberg) and Mavis (voiced by Selena Gomez) on their wedding day, where we get to meet Johnny's human family who join all of the other monsters from the first movie. From there we move to one year later, where Johnny tells Dracula (voiced by Adam Sandler) that Mavis wants to go on a bat fly with him. After playing around together in the clouds, she tells him that she is pregnant.

The story from here leads to one of Adam Sandlers better works in and on a movie. His child like humor fits the story line of a father trying to hold on to his little girl and grandson. There is so many parts in the story that had both the children and the adults laughing, making it a good movie for the whole family to watch. I also liked how it took the learning of tolerance a step further from the first movie. I would have like to have seen a few more adult moments in the movie but, like I said, it's an Adam Sandler written and performed movie, so I knew it wasn't going to all be there.

As for the voice acting, I think they found the right guys for the job yet again, but that helps when you know the people you are working with well. Actually, I think some of the actors perform better in stuff like this than when they have to do the live action movies. They have such a good use of their voice talents that was hidden until you watch them in an animation like this, where it directs you to the character on screen.

Overall, I, and the many kids at the theater with their parents, enjoyed the movie and had a lot of good laughs with a few touching moments. If they go for a 3rd movie, I would like to see the grown-ups be a little more grown up. For these reasons I would rate it 7.6/10

Movie Review: Maze Runner: The Scorch Trials

There have been a lot of sequels this summer, and this movie is no exception. The Maze Runner: The Scorch Trials. What do you do when you go to see yet another sequel? You take your favorite Great Aunt, who never saw the first movie. Grab some of your favorite movie snacks, sit back and enjoy the sequels.

The movie starts with a young boy with his mother telling who we would then know as a younger Thomas to run and not look back. Then it goes to the older Thomas (played by Dylan O'Brien) on the elevator thing from the first movie moving upwards, like he were being sent back into the maze. Thomas then wakes up from this dream/nightmare on a helicopter, being told to get up and move to the building outside. As Thomas runs, he looks back and sees zombie like creatures running towards him, getting shot at by the guards. We later learn that these things are called Cranks.

Thomas is introduced to Janson (played by Aidan Gillen), the person who runs the building, who tells him that he is going to give him proper clothes and shelter. Inside with the other people from the maze, Newt (played by Thomas Brodie-Sangster), Teresa (played by Kaya Scodelario), Minho (played by Ki Hong Lee), Frypan (played by Dexter Darden) and Winston (played by Alexander Flores), they soon meet other people their age, who are from other mazes, in a cafeteria. One of these other maze runners, Aris Jones (played by Jacob Lofland), who has been in a maze the longest, and one with mostly girls at that, sitting at a far table by himself.

The story plot was filled with action and suspense and it kept the audience on their toes. Some of the situations they got in, such as how they were going to get out of a tough spot, kept a fast pace for the movie. However, there were a few holes in the plot that had my Great Aunt and maybe some others in the theater thinking "Why did they do that?"  This made it hard to follow sometimes but the fast pace helped to not lose the audience completely.

The acting for the most part was really well done. For example, Dylan O'Brian really brought his character to life by showing the realism that lots of people would do and the natural curiosity his character had. However, some actors were a little flat and I think they could have done more with what they had to work with. My main thought here is Rosa Salazar who plays Brenda, who you get introduced to later on in the movie.

Overall I would rate this movie 8.0/10 for good story plot, even with the holes, and for mostly good acting in their parts.

Also, sorry for getting this review out so late. I was in a car accident and I couldn't focus on the blog for a little bit. But i'm fine and got back on track to finish. Also, I will need some older classic movies to review to further expand my movie knowledge and help me out on my reviews. Comment down below the movies you want me to review and I will try and make time to review them. Thanks!

Movie Review: A Walk in the Woods

I had a choice this week of watching a horror movie with my brother or watching a movie with my cool Aunt. I chose my Aunt and so now I get to review the movie A Walk in the Woods which is a comedy/adventure type movie that's based off of the book, also titled A Walk in the Woods. Maybe next time I can review a scary movie. But for now, enjoy the review on A Walk in the Woods

The movie begins with Bill Bryson (played by Robert Redford) in an interview on TV, talking about the books that he wrote while on his travels around the world. After the interview, Bryson and his wife, Catherine Bryson, (played by Emma Thompson) go to a funeral in which Bryson says something that probably made the situation a little more awkward (which you will see in the trailer below). Afterwards, they go home and Bryson says to Catherine that he's going to go on a walk. He comes across a sign for the Appalachian Trail and, in his mini life crisis, decides that he is going to hike it.

At night, Bryson is setting up a tent in his backyard when he is interrupted by Catherine. She asks him what he's doing, and Bryson explains that it's his pup tent that he took on all his travels. The tent collapses, and Catherine says that it is the perfect place for him to sleep that night. The next day, he looks up all the info and Catherine makes him go on a hunt to find a friend to go with him. After a long search he ends up with Stephen Katz, (played by Nick Nolte) and this is the start to many funny events. 

This movie is filled with highly acclaimed actors with a string of awards and nominations, so I expected great things from them. They did not disappoint. The acting was great and really brought the characters to life. I almost felt like I was going on this adventure with them. Paul Newman was supposed to play Katz, but unfortunately he was diagnosed with cancer and passed away. However, Nick Nolte was a great second choice for Katz and his personal brand of crazy really made me enjoy this movie a lot more. 

The story was good but I will say it moved a little slow at first. It does have a purpose to moving slow in the beginning; to show why Bryson would attempt to take on this challenge. It had a great climax and really good resolve to the whole event. I liked the personal conflict between the two main characters that got better as it went on, creating interest and keeping a great pace to the rest of the movie. I would tell you my favorite part of the movie, but it would be too revealing.

Overall I would rate this movie 8.1/10 for great acting and story, and for some good laughs as well. I would have rated it higher, but there was a bit of foul language in the movie.

Movie Review: The Transporter: Refueled

I like to play Role Playing games with my brothers. We take on different roles within the group but everyone does their own stuff. This is true for anything is life, everyone has their own role or job that they are good at, but what happens if your role leads you down a dark path? The Transporter: Refueled is based on a guy who has the role of transportation in the criminal world. I’ve heard that this is a reboot from a movie that first came out in 2002 but this is technically a sequel to the first three movies. But anyways, I hope you enjoy the review.

The movie starts off in a flashback to 1995 in front of a club in the French Rivera with a group of girls (prostitutes) out front and some guys (pimps) looking over them, when some cars pull up. A man walks out of one off the vehicles and one of the pimps says that they're working. The man from the car, Arkady Karasov (played by Radivoje Bukvic) says so are we, and two other men get out and start shooting the pimps, killing all the men but one who runs away. Karasov whistles and lots of women get out of the vans and one of them named Anna (played by Loan Chabanol) stands in front of Karasov, petrified by what she just saw. Karasov notices one of the prostitutes are still there, and offers to hire her. Maissa (played by Noémie Lenoir) accepts the offering and rides off with him, leaving Anna in front of the club on the verge of tears.

The movie then moves to 15 years later (2010) where Anna is sitting in a fancy restaurant when she gets a phone call and says that the plan is in motion. Frank Martin (played by Ed Skrein) notices six guys trying to steal his car. Frank opens the front doors with his phone, knocking two guys to the ground, alerting them all to him. One of them tells Frank to give him the keys, but Frank refuses. The six men then proceed to attack Frank until he gives up the keys, but Frank wins, noticing that he's going to be late. As he drives off, he looks at his watch and notices that he's late. Frank arrives at his dad's house as his dad, Martin Sr. (played by Ray Stevenson) walks out. Martin Sr. gets in the car saying that Franks late, then they drive off.

As the movie progresses, the fighting scenes get just a little more repetitive, but they still had lots of action in them. The plot changes slightly every now and then, but stays relatively the same throughout the movie. Everything was great and very well done in their part, but I would have maybe wanted more realism in the movie, even though they probably didn't intend for the movie to be too realistic.

I think the acting was good for what the actors had to work with. The plot and script being what it is didn't give them too much they could work with. But overall I thought the acting was good, even though they probably had a tough time doing so.

I would rate this movie 6.7/10 for giving some decent action scenes and good acting but not quite as good plot and scripting.

Do you like the new font? Comment down below and tell me your thoughts on whether I should keep using it or not. Also, if you can't read the font, which by the way is called Cooper Black, I will post this again using a different font. Thanks!

Movie Review: Hitman Agent 47

The long wait for another review is over! This time, the movie is Hitman: Agent 47 which, from other people’s perspectives, is a bad movie. But after you read this, you will know if I thought it was a bad movie or not. So, I hope you enjoy this review on the movie Hitman: Agent 47.

I’ve heard that the Hitman games have pretty much no story in them whatsoever. But the story plot in the movie was both near and far from what I’ve heard is in the games. Far because you know what the movie is going to be about early on, and near for the same reason, just from a different perspective. There is a story that is introduced at the beginning but later on you realise it isn’t much of one. This is a movie made for the action so the minimal story helps them have reasons for more action, and to me it seems to be the only reason for the lack of story, besides the fact that it’s based off of the Hitman games.

The acting was good for a movie that was made for pretty much just action. However it didn’t really lend to the actors being able to really grow and create. Because of video games being turned into movies, there is already a character that the gaming audience is expecting, therefore the actors get the feeling of being stuck when they get that role. I do think they did well for what they had to work with though, it was better than expected.

Even though there wasn’t much of a storyline, the acting was very good for what they had to work with so I would rate this movie 6.4/10. However I don’t recommend taking younger kids to this movie because of all the death and blood, unless you’re fine with it.

Movie Review: Mission Impossible Rogue Nation

As soon as I watched the new Mission Impossible movie, I set myself on my own impossible mission: to finish my review the same day of watching the movie. I’m sure some of you are thinking that it’s not that hard, but processing things is hard work for me. I was doing well on my mission but the adapter to my computer failed for charging so I did fail it this time. But anyways, I hope you enjoy my review of Mission Impossible: Rogue Nation anyway.

The movie starts on a mission to retrieve a package from a plane before it takes off. In true Mission Impossible fashion, they are working on another plan since the first ones didn’t work. While Benji Dunn (played by Simon Pegg) is thinking of a new plan, Luther Stickel (played by Ving Rhames), who isn’t in the same country, tries to help him by hacking into Russian satellites. IMF unit leader William Brandt (played by Jeremy Renner) starts to get annoyed when Ethan Hunt (played by Tom Cruise) jumps on the plane to try and get in, while the plane is taking off, yelling at Benji to open the door.

Even though the mission ends up being a success, Brandt is still under stress because CIA director Alan Huntly (played by Alec Baldwin) has brought the IMF unit before the Senate board. Things just get crazier from there as Ethan Hunt runs into some situations trying to prove the Syndicate, a rogue organization, truly exists.

The story plot was very well thought out and I liked how they brought in a sense of comradery that I feel was missing in the previous movies. There was the sense of importance and seriousness that they have all had but with some humanity and humour to help the audience relax and get ready for the next set of action. The twists and turns the movie took were great to watch and kept the audience all involved.

The acting was good too and I think having done a few movies together now has helped with that. I do feel some parts the acting was a touch stiff in their serious scenes but not too bad over all. But the one thing I was wondering after the movie was if all the actors did their own stunts. I’m wondering because there was no CGI in the movie at all (CGI means computer generated images, just in case you didn’t know).

Over all I would give this movie 8.5/10 for amazing stunt work and great story line but docked a few marks for a few stiff moments in the acting. I expected a little more from these seasoned actors but it was still a good movie.