Movie Review: Rogue One

Before I begin, I am going to say that if you do not want spoilers for Rogue One, do not read past this point. But if you have already seen the movie, or don't care too much about spoilers, then read on. There won't be major spoilers, but some minor ones in my brief beginning synopsis, hopefully. So, with that being said, lets get on with the review.

This weeks movie is one long anticipated by many people, as told by the audience to me. Rogue One is about the story of getting the plans for the Death Star, happening just before Episode 4: A New Hope in the Star Wars movie series. It is a story that intrigued me as well because we see Leia giving R2D2 the plans, but we never hear how she got them except people died to get it. To finally have that history brought to life would be exciting to anyone who has watched the series.

The movie starts with the traditional "A long time ago in a galaxy far far away..." but then does something different. It doesn't show the Star Wars logo with scrolling text, but instead goes right into a shot of a planet with a starship flying towards it. We then see a young girl running across a black field with an Imperial ship in the background. She runs into a house saying that they are here. We learn this is a young Jyn Erso (played by Beau Gadston) and in her home is her mother, Lyra Erso (played by Valene Kane) already hurriedly packing up things along with her husband, Galen Erso (played by Mads Mikkelsen). Jyn runs to her room and starts packing as well. Lyra makes a call to Saw Gerrera (played by Forest Whitaker) telling him that they have arrived. Galen takes a minute to talk to Jyn and explain how that anything he does, he does to protect her and never to forget that, and how she will always be his Stardust. Lyra then takes Jyn away through the back of the house while Galen goes out the front to meet the man walking out of the Imperial ship.

The man turns out to be Orson Krennic (played by Ben Mandelsohn), a high ranking Imperial Senator. He makes small talk about Galen being a farmer and how lonely it must be. Galen lies and says it is even more so since his wife died. While that is happening we see Lyra and Jyn running along the back. Lyra stops and talks to Jyn while giving her a necklace saying that she should always trust the force. She then tells Jyn to keep going while she turns back to help her husband. Just as Orson orders a Stormtrooper to go search the house, Lyra comes running down the fields yelling that he will not take Galen. During all this Jyn has decided to sneak back to where her parents are and hides in the tall grass to see what is going on. She watches as Lyra shoots and wounds Orson but gets shot herself and dies. Orson then orders the Stormtroopers to find Jyn, so she runs. In a cave she opens up what looks to be a rock but is in fact a hidden bunker and climbs in. She stays there for a while until Saw finds her. All of a sudden, an older Jyn (played by Felicity Jones) wakes up in a cell from the memory dream she just had.

The acting was so full of emotions. The actors were able to take the audience on a full ride and really bring the story alive. The way that Felicity Jones portrayed Jyn was outstanding. She not only rose to the challenge of holding the lead of a major movie, but worked well alongside the other actors as well. Not only did the actors portraying the new characters shine, but I have to give some real praise to the people who had to take over the roles of already beloved characters. Like Guy Henry who replaced Peter Cushing in the role of Grand Moff Tarkin, or the cheers for Inguild Deila stepping in to play a younger Leia for Carrie Fisher and looking amazing doing it. This means I also must give a 2 thumbs up to the make-up department for bringing this magic back to life.

The story plot is hard to go into without delving into too much detail and risking major spoilers, but I just have to say that it is so well done. Not only does it take us through character development in such detail that we can't help but fall in love with the characters, but it doesn't slow down the story to do it. There was a great pace to everything with wonderful action, story line, and even humor that not once are we left feeling like we are missing anything. As a matter of fact it is so well done that you could take your Star Wars newbie friends to this movie and they will not feel lost. The writers out did themselves with the producers and director making the vision come to life. But be warned about this mini spoiler, you will probably cry around the end of it, so bring some tissues if you can.

Overall, the actors did amazing jobs as their characters, with many funny and involving moments as well. Though some moments I could live without, not saying what, it was still a very great movie. So, for the reasons stated above, I would rate this 9.5/10.

Since it is the holidays and we are on a Star Wars theme this post I am going to leave you with a gift.

For those who have already seen it this will be a fun replay, but for those people, like me up until now, that are watching for the first time, beware. This is a VERY cheesy but fun watch. It is one of those things that is so bad it is good.

I would like to thank Kurt Flesher from Country 97 The Wolf for introducing me to this Christmas special while waiting for Rogue One to start. My family had a ton of fun and laughs watching it.
Without further interruption from me here is the Star Wars Holiday Special.

Movie Review: Moana

This weeks movie is Moana, and it is about a girl who goes on an adventure to find a Demigod and a mythical island. It is based on a Hawaiian legend that I am excited to see Disney bring to life. I will be honest, I like the idea of going on adventures, but I am scared of them as well, because I would have to leave everything I know and venture into the unknown. Here is what I think of Moana's adventure. 

The movie starts with a story on tapestry narrated by Gramma Tala (voiced by Rachel House) about the goddess Te Fiti, and how she created islands from the sea. She then laid on her side and became an island, and people came to take her heart, one of which was the demigod Maui (voiced by Dwayne Johnson). When he came close to the island on boat, he morphed into a giant hawk and flew the rest of the way. When overhead, he turns into a lizard and crawls across the island and finds the heart. He turns back to a human, and removes the heart with his giant fish hook. When he does, the island begins to turn black and crumble, so he runs off the island and turns back into a hawk. But the lava monster Te Ka was waiting at the reef of the island, wanting the heart for their self. As Maui flew closer and closer, he turned human to strike Te Ka, but got hit himself and fell deep into the ocean, along with his fish hook and the heart.

It moves to Gramma Tala finishing telling the tale to a group of children by saying that one of them would go beyond the reef to find Maui and restore the heart of Te Fiti. The Chief Tui (voiced by Temuera Morrison) comes in and says that no one goes beyond the reef, and that the monsters in the stories aren't real, when the tapestries with art of such monsters drop down. Most of the children run around screaming, except for one, a young Moana (voiced by Auli'i Cravalho). She sneaks out and goes to the ocean, where a baby turtle is trapped by birds and unable to go to the ocean. Moana helps it to the water, which parts shortly after to reveal a shell. As Moana picks up the shell, the water parts more to reveal more shells, until she is in deeper water than her own height, where the sea creatures swim around her. A green stone floats towards her while she plays with the water, and she grabs it and begins to feel the markings on it. But before she can properly grip it again, her father calls out and the water brings her back to shore, causing her to drop the rock. Chief Tui, who happens to be Moana's father, comes out and takes her around the island town, teaching her about all her duties in song while she ages into teenage years.

The story plot went through differently than you would expect, but was consistent throughout anyways. The movie itself was mostly an original idea, which seems hard to come by these days. It was a great breath of fresh air for the most part. There were parts that could have been done differently, like the dragging part in the middle where Moana is first heading out on her own. It also seemed to move slow after we meet Maui as well, but the pace did pick up after a while, so it worked out in the end. I also think they over did the crazy chicken joke a little too much as well, but the theater full of kids seemed to disagree with me on that.

The voice acting was better than most animated movies, and that's saying something. With how Auli'i Cravalho voiced Moana, it felt more like watching a live action movie than animation. She was expressive in her voice and played well against Dwayne Johnson's booming voice for Maui. Alongside the animation, it was one of the better 3D Disney movies. Though I wish they would bring back the hand drawn and 2D style animation, this was still great.

Overall, The animation was top notch, coupled with the outstanding voice acting, it had a lot of great moments. With how the story plot went, it could have used some work, but otherwise still pretty good. And with the reasons stated above, I would rate this 8.7/10.

Movie Review: Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them

It was 15 years ago that Harry Potter first came to theater, so it seems fitting that we finally get an extension to the wizarding world. The textbook this story is based on is actually one that I was most interested in with the original series. It will be interesting how they turn a text book into a story and learning more about the author. I probably should have watched the Harry Potter series again first, but it is too late for that. It could be a good or bad thing, but I hope you enjoy my review of Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them.

The movie starts with a group of people, most likely wizards, standing in a group, when a blue fire disintegrates them all. We see the back of a mans head, then newspaper clippings start flying around with similar headlines, asking about a man named Grindelwald. Further reading of the papers show these are the headlines in the US. As the papers settle into a picture of the Statue of Liberty we zoom into the actual statue with a boat passing by.

On the deck of the boat we see a man sitting on a bench with a suitcase next to him. The latch on the suitcase flips open on its own, and as the man closes the latch he lifts the suitcase onto his lap. We soon see this is Newt Scamander (played by Eddie Redmayne) and he talks to someone, or something, in the case telling them to be patient, as they are almost there. He soon exits the boat and goes through security at the New York boat terminal. The inspector asks some questions about what is in his suitcase, when the latch opens on its own again. Newt says he should get it fixed and closes it again. The inspector asks to see in his bag, and Newt puts it up and makes it "muggle worthy" to inspect. When the case is opened all we see is some clothing, personal items and a pocket watch ticking away. The inspector closes the case and says welcome to New York.

The plot of the story brought us an interesting perspective of how the wizarding world is in America. It took us to the past before Harry Potter time, so there wasn't a competing story line as well. I enjoyed that aspect of it. Being the first movie in this story line, a lot of time was spent in character development, so maybe we lost a little bit of story there, but it did not lack that much. There was some great action and even some growth of the main character. Trying not to give away too much, but what I enjoyed most is that the hero of the story, Newt, appears to have some autistic traits to him. I like that we now have movies like this one and The Accountant with Autistic people as lead characters. It gives us hope and is nice to know that I could be able to relate to him at least a little.

The acting was also top notch, mostly on the part of Eddie Redmayne. The way he portrayed Newt Scamander was definitely greater than I was expecting. You would almost think he was autistic in real life if you didn't know better. The character Tina Goldstein played by Katherine Waterston at first comes across as static and one dimensional, but it does not stay that way. I think this was a smart way for her to play the character, as it gave us growth to like her when she annoyed us at first. Then there is Colin Farrell as Percival Graves. He kept us guessing between good and bad and I can think of no one better to play this role. He also lead us brilliantly into one great twist, which I saw coming, but it was still well done. I did find some of the background characters were a touch bland, but these actors and the CGI beasts make up the difference. I am curious to see how things grow in the sequel, which we all know will happen.

Overall, the story plot went through very smoothly, and the acting was great, and the CGI was exceptional. There are some things to look out for in this movie, and some might surprise you to know. So, for these reasons, I would rate this 9.0/10.

Also thank-you to my good friend Quade who helped me set up a facebook page. If you have time please check it out and give it a like.
https://www.facebook.com/Samsslap/

Movie Review: Doctor Strange

As many long time readers know, my family loves Marvel movies. Doctor Strange caught my interest when I saw the trailers, and intrigued me enough to go and see it. The characters and world twisting seems like they would create something completely new from what Marvel has done before. So, I hope you enjoy my review on Doctor Strange.

The movie starts with three figures walking through a dark courtyard area towards a door. We then end up in a secret library with the librarian putting away a book with chains to hold the book in place on a strange book rack. The three men walk in, along with many others surrounding the librarian, then using magic to bind him in place. The one hooded man, Kaecilius (played by Mads Mikkelsen) comes close to the librarians head, grabs the two small axes behind his back, then slices his head off with one quick slash. Kaecilius then goes and finds a book, flips through until he finds the pages he wants, then tears them out. A mysterious hooded figure appears in the room and says the spell will only bring him trouble. He reaches for his axes as if to attack, but then runs off with all the others following soon after. They all end up on the streets, and make a break for some of the bigger buildings across the street. They all stop dead in their tracks when they see a sort of glass mirror effect in front of them, turning around to the hooded person move their hand, causing the buildings to shift abnormally. Gravity turns sideways as this happens, and some of the buildings behind them move outwards and begin rolling towards them all. A battle ensues here, with some of the people getting crushed by the rolling buildings, but in the end Kaecilius escapes with some of them, and the figure causes everything to go back to normal. The person then begins walking down the street, and from the back we see them take off their hood to reveal a bald head.

It then moves to Doctor Stephen Strange (played by Benedict Cumberbatch) washing his hands, putting on his surgery jacket, then his mask, and finally his gloves to prepare for doing a surgery. He begins to do the surgery, then says to one of the other doctors it's a challenge round, and they change the song, to which Strange says the song is "Feels So Good, Chuck Mangione, 1977" and that it isn't a challenge. The other doctor says its 1978, but Strange says the album was released in December 1977 and became more popular in 1978. The other doctor said they checked Wikipedia, but Strange tells him to look again to confirm. The assisting surgeon asks Strange where he stores all this useless information. Turns out he is right and everyone can't believe it. He finishes what he is doing and notices Dr. Christine Palmer (played by Rachel McAdams) standing outside the door gesturing to an emergency. The other surgeon offers to finish up as he goes to talk to her.

The acting was enjoyable to watch and almost lifelike. I love it when a group of strong actors come together and actually make something good. Rachel McAdams was probably a little more cliché than I would have liked, but she played it well. But I must give my praise to Benedict Cumberbatch who plays an ego ridden know it all very well, but adding that vulnerable side to bring his character to the transition of sorcerer is brilliant. Mads Mikkelsen's bad guy, Kaecilius, also seems very cliché straight bad guy until closer to the end when his pain over why he is doing what he is truly comes out. I believe some of the cliché acting probably has to do with the script.

The story plot was fascinating to go through. It has some of that knock down the big ego guy and transform him into something we can relate to back in the origin of Ironman, but his human struggle is so much more relatable to. His search to regain what he once had only to be taken deeper into a dark pit makes for his come back as super hero that much more interesting to watch. I like the twists, both in storyline and actual reality. The CGI is amazing to watch and worth going to see the movie alone. My only problem would be some of the cliché touches but I guess every super hero movie needs some of those.

Overall, with the almost lifelike performances, and the twisted reality scenes, it had the opportunity to be greater. Though the clichés were there, along with a few other things, it was still very good. So, for the reasons above, I would rate this 8.9/10.

Movie Review: Inferno

This weeks movie is Inferno, which is the third movie in the DaVinci Code series. The only one I haven't seen in the trilogy is Angels and Demons, and it intrigues me to see it after this one, in case there is something I would have missed in the story line. So, I hope you enjoy my review on Inferno.

The movie starts with jumpy footage of a video playing, with a man talking about overpopulation and a plague. It then moves to the same man, Bertrand Zobrist (played by Ben Foster), running into a building from some men in suits. He climbs on the roof, then realizes that he cornered himself when one of the two men climbs up after him. The man, Christoph Bouchard (played by Omar Sy), tells Bertrand to hand over the package, to which he falls backwards and kills himself, which can be seen in the trailer below.

It then moves to Robert Langdon (played by Tom Hanks), as it appears, sleeping, and having a terrible nightmare of sorts. Within are people halfway through the ground, legs sticking up, others with their heads turned to face behind them, and people infected with something. As he goes though more and more, he suddenly jerks awake and we find ourselves in a hospital room. The doctor, Sienna Brooks (played by Felicity Jones), is on the other side of the room when he wakes up, and Robert asks where he is. She tells him that a bullet grazed his head and he's in the hospital with amnesia, when he tells Sienna to turn out the lights. She does that, and Robert realises that he's in Siena, Italy when he sees the Torre Del Mangia.

The acting was very well done for a lot of the movie, but I had a few problems. Ben Foster did good in the first few scenes you saw him in, but he felt a little flat most elsewhere. Felicity Jones also did great in a lot of her scenes, but she had a point where she didn't quite have enough emotion, and fell short of her best. But even so, Tom Hanks was very enjoyable in portraying his character in every aspect possible.

The story plot went about as smooth as uncarved wood, though it was still understandable and enjoyable. It mostly made sense throughout, except at the twists, but that's what the twists are about. It was interesting watching Robert solve a mystery puzzle he had already solved the day before, but at the same time it also seemed to slow the movie down from the pace of the first movie. It just couldn't hold my interest very well.

Overall, the acting had some flaws, and it was a little rough around the edges, it was still a decently good movie. Some things could have been better, others might have been better left out, but considering the good I would rate this 7.3/10.

Movie Review: The Accountant

This weeks movie is one that caught my attention with the trailer as something I might be able to relate to. I have always been different than others and not really good with socializing. However, I probably will not do some of the things that this guy does. I started this blog with the hopes to understand and relate to people better. And with that, I hope you enjoy my review on The Accountant.

The movie starts with what looks like a man getting out of a taxi then running across the street into a building. He climbs up the stairs, gun in hand, while some voices can be heard from around the corner. We then see a shadow figure of a gun being pointed at a guys head, then a shot rings out and we cut out.

Next we go 30 years in the past at the Harbour Neuroscience Institute in New Hampshire, and find a young boy with Autism (played by Seth Lee) sitting at a table dumping out a puzzle. He blows on his fingers, then starts to put the puzzle together quickly while some adults speak to each other in another room. It turns out they are the boys parents, and they are talking to the neurologist about how to handle his behaviour and sensitivity to things like lights and clothing. He suggests that the boy spend a month or two with him, but the father, a military man, says if he is sensitive to those things he doesn't need more of it and refuses. At this time the boy finishes the puzzle except for one lost piece and he starts freaking out. His brother doesn't know what to do, but the young girl with Autism in the room finds the missing piece for him. He then completes the puzzle, which we now notice is upside down.

The acting was very well done for most of it, but it felt a little off at times. Ben Affleck took his role and made it almost seem like he was his character, even if it was a little stale sometimes. However, John Bernthal didn't quite give me the feel of a good bad guy from the way he sounded. But otherwise, it was pretty good acting for many of the other actors.

The story was actually relatable in the terms of how people with brains that function differently work, and I could believe that someone with his abilities could end up like this. And with the twists throughout the movie, some subtle and others more obvious, it felt like the kind of thing that could happen to people in real life, almost. Though the flow through of the movie wasn't the greatest, it still had some great moments in it.

Overall, the acting went mostly well, and the movie had some great twists and turns, but sometimes it felt off in areas that can be found if you have a good eye. But, it had good intensions for it all, which was only a little off, but mostly on, and for these reasons I would rate this movie 7.8/10.

Movie Review: Storks

There are times when doing a job seems like it's too tough and not worth it. I feel that way a lot, even though I sometimes don't have a good reason to. It would be easier for me to just stay in my room all the time and not worry about everything else in the world. This weeks movie, Storks, touches on that theme when the storks go from delivering babies to household goods. Is taking the easy route the better way to go?

The movie starts with a narration by Junior (voiced by Andy Samberg), telling us the history of Storks, which can be seen in the trailer below. For as long as time Storks have delivered babies. No matter what happened to them, they had to deliver. As we watch the stork get tortured and beaten up trying to deliver the babies, we end on a still of one crazy situation. Well thank goodness they don't do that any more, because they now deliver packages for Cornerstore.com.

Junior is then seen flying through the store, celebrating his one millionth delivery. Everything seems to be going great, although no one seems to want to celebrate with him. They give him excuses, but he shrugs it off. He gets nervous when he is called to the boss office. This is when we meet the boss Hunter (Voiced by Kelsey Grammer) who informs Junior that he is up for a big promotion. Junior is really excited until Hunter informs he has will have to fire the orphan Tulip (voiced by Katie Crown).

The movie had a plot that gave time for them to develop the characters and that was nice, but it also lead to a lot of almost wasted scenes that dragged on a little too long. It did have a few surprise twists throughout the movie that was fun to watch, but then became generic at the end. I almost wish they had done a different ending than what they chose. You can tell they are trying hard to compete with top animation creators like Pixar and Dreamworks, but missed the mark. The motion animation was okay and was not too hard to watch.

The voice acting was fun, but I have to say a lot of the jokes given seemed a little forced, and it was a little distracting at times. I wonder if the movie would have done better with some improvisations from the actors to give the animators something more to work with. Makes me wish Robin Williams was around to show them how to bring a character to life, like how he did with the Genie in Aladdin. It was more enjoyable to watch this movie than Norm of the North, so they get a big thumbs up from me there.

Overall, it was an enjoyable movie to watch, but not up to top level tier. Kids might get a little lost in the middle, but they will have fun with the characters. And for these reasons I would rate this movie 6.6/10.

Movie Review: Pete's Dragon (2016)

There are a few movies that my Mom has great memories about, but has not been able to show me. The 1977 version of the movie Pete's Dragon was one of them. She says we use to have the VHS version, but it was eaten by the player, something I will apparently never understand. That meant it was really fun for her to join in watching this new version of the story. But anyways, I hope you enjoy my review on the remake of this classic movie.

The movie starts with a family consisting of a mother, father, and a young child named Pete (played by Levi Alexander) going on a car ride somewhere. Pete is trying to read his book while they are driving through the mountains, and his mother helps him on some words. When Pete reads the word "adventure", he asks if they are on an adventure, and his mother answers yes. Suddenly, a deer shows up on the road and his father swerves and crashes, leaving only Pete to survive. He runs into the woods when he hears wolves howling, but soon gets surrounded by them. Just when things seem grim for Pete, the wolves get scared by something behind Pete and run off. When he notices the large creature scaring them off, Pete walks up to it and it becomes really friendly towards Pete, who soon becomes its friend.

Six years later, we listen to a man named Meacham (played by Robert Redford) telling the story of the time when he saw a dragon in the woods, but his daughter and park ranger Grace (played by Bryce Dallas Howard) disagrees with him about there being a dragon. It then moves to a now more grown Pete (played by Oakes Fegley) running through the woods, while his dragon, now named Elliot, chases after him. They play around in the forest for a while, and then Pete sees a bunny and tries to catch it. He chases it down to a small river and catches it, but is confronted by a large bear. The two roar and growl at each other, but the bear backs off when it sees Eliot. Pete turns around, then climbs onto Eliot and goes flying around the forest.

The acting was really well done by the young actor Oakes Fegley. He had such a great emotional connection to Elliot, even though he was computer generated. This is the second great kid actor Disney has brought to us this year. I also liked how they brought in Bryce Dallas Howard as the park ranger Grace. She did such a good job as her character that it almost felt real. However Karl Urban's character Gavin felt a little exaggerated and over acted at some points.

The story plot flowed smoothly through the movie, but it could have done a little better. Even though it did really good character development in shorter times, there was a little bit of jumping back and forth between the two stories at first. However, the way they did Eliot's animations were extraordinarily detailed. If it weren't for how most fantasy dragons looked, I would almost say it might have been real.

Overall, the actors did amazing jobs with their characters, and the story was very moving towards the end. Though there were a few things not perfect, the animation is not one of those things. And for the reasons stated above, I would rate this movie 9.0/10.

Movie Review: Suicide Squad

This weeks movie is Suicide Squad, another chance for DC to try and get out of Marvel's long shadow in the Cinematic Universe. Their good vs good with Batman vs Superman did not go over as well as they would have liked, so lets see how their bad vs evil handles the pressure.

The movie starts with us going to a top secret prison and following the guards into a cell where we see Deadshot (played by Will Smith) just beating down on a punching bag made of pillows and sheets. The guard teases him as he hands him his dinner. When the weird mystery dinner is questioned by Deadshot the guard gives a rude comeback. This causes Deadshot to threaten the guard who then takes him using the strength of other guards to torture him.

Next door we come into a large spacious room where we find Harley Quinn (played by Margot Robbie) swinging on tied up sheets in a cage. She starts flirting with the head guard as he has other guards get ready to electrify the cage. He reminds her that she is not to touch the cage bars, she giggles and flirts some more. He gives a signal and the electricity flings her backwards. She gets mad and runs at the bars again, this time getting knocked out cold. He states she is a special kind of crazy.

The story plot started out well with a great introduction to the characters, with promises of wonderful anti-hero moments filled with attitude. Then we get into the action and it almost all fizzled out. The bad villains, even with life threatening reasons to play nice, were just a little too nice. The characters were underused, which leaves us feeling a little unsatisfied with the story line. It was better than Batman vs Superman, but I think the DC cinematic universe needs to look at a better director and/or writers to get out of Marvels long shadow. I almost wish they had tried to go for a higher rating on this movie to bring the story to life. 

The acting was done very well in most parts, but in some parts it felt a little bland. I don't even blame the actors for it. For example, you could see hints of genius with Jared Leto's Joker, but he had such little screen play it made it hard to see. Margot Robbie at times seemed to be over playing Harley with her craziness, but then again Harley is an over board character, but after the introduction she seems to fizzle a little bit. I give her props for showing a wide range of emotions when it comes to her. Will Smith did a great job with Deadshot, but again he seems to fizzle out and this is what leads me to think it was probably a combination of the script and editing, not the actors.

Overall, even with the problems with the movie, I think it is heads above the last one DC put out and worth seeing. I think as they grow in the cinematic universe we will see them find the footing they need to make great movies. For this reason I would rate this movie 7.9/10.

Movie Review: Jason Bourne

This weeks movie is Jason Bourne, which I haven't seen much of or do not remember. However I have heard that it's a great series and I cannot wait to see the rest of the movies. But for now, I have to go off of just the one movie for history of them all, so here are my thoughts on the movie, Jason Bourne.

The movie starts with a flashback to when David Webb (played by Matt Damon) was first in the Treadstone program, training to become Jason Bourne. After a short montage type part, it jumps ahead eight years after Jason Bourne, who had been hiding in Greece, exposed Blackbriar. It goes to Jason and another man getting ready to fight each other while every other person makes wagers on who will win. All of them get ready to see a good fight, but Jason punches the other guy out with one punch.

Over in Iceland, Nicky Parsons (played by Julia Stiles) goes to a secret hacker base to get information on the CIA. She inserts a USB into her computer and begins hacking in, but soon after the CIA notices, but can't trace where it's coming from. Nicky gets access to the secret training programs such as Blackbriar and Treadstone and starts downloading them into the USB, then someone from the CIA traces her computer and places malware into it. Once it's done downloading, Nicky grabs the USB and prepares to go, when all the power gets shut off and everyone panics slightly. Nicky fights and runs out of the building, only to be chased by some agents from the CIA.

The acting seemed comfortable to the actors. They know their roles and how to portray them well. I have to say that Matt Damon rocks the title character. He really seemed torn, lost, and determined, which makes for a great action lead. The stunts they performed were amazing as well. Some of the younger actors did seem to have some troubles keeping up to his abilities, but it was still enjoyable to watch.

The story plot was full of action, including a car chase in Las Vegas that I think out shines the one from Fast and Furious 7. It keeps you on the edge of your seat. The only thing I have to say is that after watching the montage at the beginning of the movie, it seems like this is a repeated story line for this movies franchise. I could be wrong and will watch the rest of the movies to find out for sure. I do give it credit for making me want to watch the rest of the series. 

Overall, the acting was really good, but it felt like a repeat of another of the movies. Some things could have been changed to make it more original, but I would rate this movie 8.2/10 for the reasons stated above.

Movie Review: The Secret Life of Pets

Things change in life, and if you don't fight the change, you could find happiness. A good friend of mine, Quade, talks about this at times and I find it is true. It is also the theme for this weeks movie review, The Secret Life of Pets.

The movie starts with Max (voiced by Louis C.K.) taking us through the story of how he met his owner and best friend, Katie (voiced by Ellie Kemper). It starts out with him as a puppy in a box with a sign that says "FREE" on it, when Katie comes along and picks him up. He says how they were both looking for a roommate, so they stayed together, and from then on they were inseparable from each other. As we watch the years pass by, he tells us how most people would see them as soulmates, meant to just be them forever. There is only one thing that makes him sad, and those are the times she has to leave him at home. When she does this, he just sits at the door, waiting for her to come home.

We move on to meet the other animals in the area, starting with Gidget (voiced by Jenny Slate), who lives in the apartment building next to Max's. Then we start seeing other owners leave their pets at home, with the next pet being a cat named Chloe (voiced by Lake Bell). We continue on to meet a pug named Mel (voiced by Bobby Moynihan), a little bird named Sweet Pea (voiced by Tara Strong), and a dachshund named Buddy (voiced by Hannibal Buress). We have fun seeing what they do when their humans leave, and this can all be seen in the trailer below. 

The story plot has followed the same theme as Toy Story by Pixar, in which we have a human with a favorite thing, in this case a dog, and this favorite is introduced to a new one, and jealousy comes between the two of them. Then an adventure happens that causes these two opposing forces to become friends and work together. Not a ground breaking theme, but a good way to reintroduce it to the next generation of kids. It is consistently funny, which makes it enjoyable for adults to watch, but it really is geared for the youngest of the crowd.

The voice acting was full of talent which creates a lot of chemistry on the screen. They matched the stereotype of the animals well, including Kevin Hart as the cute but evil bunny Snowball. My only complaint there is again, nothing stood out as groundbreaking. The actors did a great job, but I missed that standout performance that creates the buzz the next day.

Overall, the movie is a great family movie to watch especially for families with younger kids. It has a great theme that Illumination knew would hit well, but not something new like when it was first put out there. However, the characters were fun to watch, and for these reasons I would rate this movie 7.8/10.

Movie Review: The BFG

This week’s movie is based on a children’s book by Roald Dahl called the BFG. I will be honest, I didn't recognize his name until I googled him. He wrote many great and slightly dark stories that I loved. Supposedly, I would watch the Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory so much as a young kid that I apparently wore through a VHS tape and two DVD's. Anyways, I hope you enjoy my review on The BFG.

The movie starts with a lady walking down some stairs towards the front door where a pile of mail is waiting. She goes to lock the door, but instead picks up magazines to read, then leaves to her room. On the stairs, under a blanket is Sophie (played by Ruby Barnhill) who goes down and locks the door and takes the rest of the mail with her upstairs. You then hear narration of Sophie talking about the “witching hour” while she puts mail into a holder, then shouts out the window at four drunk men do quiet down, as there are children sleeping. She then takes her blanket to her bed where she turns on her flashlight and begins to read her book. Shortly after she begins, she hears a sound from down the hallway and immediately turns off her flashlight and acts as if she were asleep. The orphanage owner lady opens the door and looks for anyone who would be awake, but doesn’t see anyone and leaves.

Sophie turns the flashlight back on to read, but hears something outside, and turns it off again to check on it. Sophie recites the three rules of the witching hour “Don’t get out of bed”, “Don’t go to the window” and “Don’t draw back the curtains”, doing each of them in order. After drawing back the curtains, she sees three cats had knocked over a garbage can. Just before she can head inside, she sees a giant hand reach out from around the corner and pick up the garbage can. Sophie gets scared when she sees the giants head come around, and she runs back inside and hides under blanket. The giants hand reaches in and grabs Sophie, and from here the adventure gets more fun and crazy.

The acting was really enjoyable in all aspects. The animated giants were actually done through live action animation, which brought me back to my first movie review ever, The Adventures of Tintin. I was an instant fan then, but this movie took it to a whole new level. To have the interaction between the live actors and the animated ones in the way they did was brilliant. Mark Rylance as the BFG was a perfect choice, then how the animators caught the lightest movements in his facial features were amazing. The added bright spot was young actress Ruby Barnhill. She was fresh and energetic, which made for some great on screen magic when she interacted with everything.

The story plot was filled with so many things to bring you in. Not only was it a story about two misfits finding each other, but there was standing up against bullying, believing in yourself, and so much more. It really is a story with something for everyone. There are a few parts that the very youngest of audience members might find scary, however, it really is a movie for everyone to enjoy. There was one part where the movie dragged on for a little, but it does not last long.

Overall, I recommend this movie to anyone, and you will not regret watching it. The one part that they lingered on a little too long is the only reason I would rate this move 9.3/10.