The Arrival

GENERAL INFORMATION

Release Info: 11 November 2016
   Saw it at Lynnhaven Mall AMC (Written 19 Nov)

Director: Dennis Villenueve
Writer: Eric Heisserer and Ted Chiang
Running Time: 1 Hour and 56 Minutes

Staring:  Amy Adams, Jeremy Renner and Forest Whitaker

Rating? PG-13

SPOILERS? Not Enough to make a difference

REVIEWS

IMDB: 8.5 of 10

MY RATING: 9

STORYLINE

When mysterious spacecraft touch down across the globe, an elite team - led by expert linguist Louise Banks - is brought together to investigate. As mankind teeters on the verge of global war, Banks and the team race against time for answers - and to find them, she will take a chance that could threaten her life, and quite possibly humanity.

MY REVIEW

You know that feeling you get when you leave a movie that just makes you feel like it spoke to you on a level that cannot be explained? That IS how I felt leaving The Arrival. I was not surprised since the director Denis Villeneuve also directed another stellar movie, Sicario, as well as having experience in writing, acting, editing and cinematography. I think that helps him create a complete experience. I think the question, "Are we alone here?" is the foremost query for anyone who is interested in space exploration and the universe. This movie demands your attention unlike any other Sci-Fi in this specific genre since Contact.

What I DID LIKE about this movie:

• This movie was filled with complex and nuanced emotional pieces that when tied together and reviewed at the completion are amazing works of creativity! There are so many streams of conscious thought going on at the same time in this movie and they are intertwined beautifully.
• Amy Adams earns some serious street cred from me for this role where she plays mother, teacher, educator, scientist and explorer. Her range going from one to the next brought a genuine humanity to the character of Dr. Louise Banks.
• If you enjoyed Inception and it's story in a story in a story theme, this will work for you. I appreciated the complex planes of existence told in back story flashbacks. I don't want to give anything away, but this was done beautifully!
• The Score! It was understated but bold. There should be Oscars here!!
• I think the set design and costuming was stunning. It was understated and likely drab in most places, but I think it was necessary.  

What I DID NOT LIKE about this movie:

• I wanted more from the story that was promised. Aliens arriving on earth and I only got to see them briefly. I wanted to better understand the whole piece and I know it's unlikely in a movie like this. (By a movie like this, I mean that it was less about aliens and more about the human experience.) 
• It was super slow to get started but once it picked up, it was good. Just took WAY too long to get going.

On a more personal note..... First, there's a song that's been on repeat for the last few weeks in my head and in my iPhone. Blue October's Home. This band has been a big part of my life since their first album, Consent to Treatment, came out in 1998. They're songs have such amazing lyrics and Justin Furstenfeld puts his life into the these songs and they have such amazing soul. So, here is the music video and I have a feeling that if you give it a listen, you'll like it!!

On to the normal stuff! It's been a fun few days!! I finally got a new job this month!! I am super excited! So excited that I went out and bought some new SHOES!! I love heels and these little black velvet wedges were JUST the thing that I needed to make my afternoon! Absolutely does not hurt that they look super adorable with skinny jeans!! Halloween was last week. I was a fancy cat, again! I think I need to throw away these ears so I can make better choices!!

Captain America: Civil War

GENERAL INFORMATION

Release Info: 6 May 2016

Director: Anthony Russo and Joe Russo
Writer: Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely
Running Time: 147 Minutes

Staring:  Chris Evans, Robert Downey Jr., Scarlett Johanssen, Sebastian Stan, Anthony Mackie, Don Cheadle, Jeremy Renner, Paul Bettany and many manny more!!

Rating? PG-13

SPOILERS? NO

REVIEWS

IMDB: 8.3 of 10

MY RATING: 8

STORYLINE

With many people fearing the actions of super heroes, the government decides to push for the Hero Registration Act, a law that limits a hero's actions. This results in a division in The Avengers. Iron Man stands with this Act, claiming that their actions must be kept in check otherwise cities will continue to be destroyed, but Captain America feels that saving the world is daring enough and that they cannot rely on the government to protect the world. This escalates into an all-out war between Team Iron Man (Iron Man, Black Panther, Vision, Black Widow, War Machine, and Spiderman) and Team Captain America (Captain America, Bucky Barnes, Falcon, Sharon Carter, Scarlett Witch, Hawkeye, and Ant Man) while a new villain emerges.

MY REVIEW

Well, let's just go ahead and be honest with ourselves for a moment. This is much less a Civil War and more of a Super Hero's fighting with each other War. I mean, it's not bad,  and overall, it was pretty impressive IN SPITE of it being just a Super Hero movie. I do love Tony Stark, well, Robert Downey Jr.. Yes, I know, it's supposed to be all about Captain America, Chris Evans, but he just doesn't do the same thing for me that good old RDJr does for me!! (I mean that in a very nice way!

I could pass for a super hero?

What I DID LIKE about this movie:

• Direction: I feel like Anthony and Joe Russo did a good job juggling between A-Listers in this story. We all have our favorites in the Avengers and yes, this IS a Captain America movie, but there are a lot of stars who showed up!! I am NOT complaining!! Jeremy Renner's appearance does make me a very happy girl! And the ICING on the cake was bringing in the unexpected like Spiderman and Ant-Man (PAUL RUDD)!! Freaking Genius!
• Flow: The story flows pretty nicely from the first to the second act and then into the third is where it falls apart for me. (See below)

What I DID NOT LIKE about this movie:

• THIRD ACT!! The villain is just not villainous enough for me. He's not interesting, bot bad. His story doesn't work for me at all!
• CAMERA WORK!! The camera work is the one thing that annoys me when they try to get all artsy and get on the hand-held shaky cam. NO!!!!!! I hate that!

Other than those little hiccups, I did love this movie. It was pretty great!! Nice emotional pieces to give the story just enough for me to possibly see it a second time!!

On a more personal note..... Yesterday, we adopted a new little guy! This is little Rocket J.! (I don't know what the J. stands for yet, I guess he'll have to earn his middle name!

Mission: Impossible - Rogue Nation

GENERAL INFORMATION
Release Info: 31 July 2015
Running Time: 131 Minutes
Staring:  Tom Cruise, Rebecca Ferguson, Jeremy Renner, Simon Pegg, Ving Rames and Alec Baldwin
Rating? PG-13
SPOILERS? YES

REVIEWS
IMDB: 8.1 of 10
Rotten Tomatoes: Critics: 93% Audience: 92%
MY RATING: 7ish of 10

MY REVIEW:
I do want to point out that Tom Cruise is 53 years old. 53 YEARS OLD. His leading ladies keep getting younger and this is no exception. This one introduces Rebecca Ferguson as the new Mission girl.. she's 32. It just becomes Mission:  Improbable to me.

It was not the best movie in the world, but if you liked the last Mission: Impossible, then you'll like this one. Ethan Hunt {Cruise} returns on hot on the trip of an underground group of baddies called the Syndicate. We see Alan Hunley {Alec Baldwin} appear before a senate committee demanding that the IMF {Impossible Missions Force} be disbanded with William Brandt {Jeremy Renner} being cool as always. Hanley succeeds and now Ethan is a wanted man. Typical storyline continues.

We get to see Benji Dunn {Simon Pegg} and Luther Stickell {Ving Rhames} again. It's lots of action and lots of Tom Cruise being Tom Cruise. I enjoyed the travel aspect and found myself trying to remember the last time I stood in some of the places they filmed.

Here's where the movie fell apart for me... Ghost Protocol was a decent movie and it was exciting, Rogue Nation must didn't seem to have the calibre of action sequences and over the top white-knuckle feelings that I got previously.

I loved most of the characters in general but the "villain" in this movie seems less cool and interesting. He's just not that "villain-y" for me.

All in all, it was a fun watch for the summer and I'm sure it will get some decent reviews from the fans.

Avengers: Age of Ultron

GENERAL INFORMATION
Release Info: 1 May 2015
Running Time: 141 Minutes
Staring:  Robert Downey Jr., Chris Evans, Mark Ruffalo, Chris Hemsworth, Scarlett Johansson, Jeremy Renner and many more.
Rating? R
SPOILERS? NO

REVIEWS
IMDB: 7.9 of 10
Rotten Tomatoes: Critics: 74% Audience: 87%
MY RATING: 6 of 10. Above Average

MY REVIEW:
I am not a comic book fan girl, or even a comic book reader in general. I will wholeheartedly admit to going to see this movie because it was my husbands turn to select the Friday night entertainment. I was not really thrilled that this was his choice, but I am a good sport and played along, and with a smile I might add!

I thought it was pretty good. There was a decent story line and a few unexpected plot points that seemed to further the story line and even clear up a few things for me from the other Avengers movies. (Yes, I saw those too and yes, they were likely my husbands night to choose the movie!)

The script seems a little lacking to me. There seemed to be some missing points. I would think that there would be some sense of stand-alone movie pieces for a movie such as this, but I literally had questions about who people were, why they were bad/good and a general whatever face during the whole of the movie.

There was a little too much predictable humor. Generally, that's not bad, but this was an action movie. Too many one-liners for me.