Maleficent

GENERAL INFORMATION
Release Info: 30 May 2014
Running Time: 97 Minutes
Staring:  Angelina Jolie, Elle Fanning, etc.
Rating? PG
SPOILERS? YES

REVIEWS
IMDB: 7 of 10
Rotten Tomatoes: Critics: 49% Audience: 71%
MY RATING: 4

MY REVIEW:
I gave this movie a shot. I was really town since I did love the original story of Sleeping Beauty as a kid. I am not sure why, but this was the only Disney story that I really liked.

Cinematography was AMAZING.. which is why there is a 4in my rating instead of a  2! Angelina Jolie was stunning and the costume she was was a real masterpiece!

The movie seems to fly over the reason that Maleficent is WHO she IS! TO me, there movie fails to paint her in the true dark light that she was in the movie. She's just not the same to me. Not really evil. It feels to me that they were trying to say, no, she's not really evil, just misunderstood. I did;t like that at all!

And, who did they change the names of the fairies!! This was just a slap in the face to the story to me.  I was not a big fan of how they were portrayed. Not really the same story.

Elle Fanning did a wonderful job as Aurora. I think she was perfectly cast. Sweet and a good fit!

Just didn't pull all the right strings for me.

Godzilla

GENERAL INFORMATION
Release Info: 16 May 2014
Running Time: 123 Minutes
Staring:  Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Elizabeth Olsen, Bryan Cranston
Rating? PG-13
SPOILERS? YES

REVIEWS
IMDB: 6.5 of 10
Rotten Tomatoes: Critics: 74% Audience: 67%
MY RATING: 6

MY REVIEW:
I wanted this movie to be awesome. I really did. I have always been a big fan of Godzilla Movies. I thought that I was going to get darker view of the old version. What I ended up with was a generic cookie-cutter military movie that was just far less that I wanted. It was good, but not great.

It was the ending that really ruined it for me! It felt like the movie wanted me to make the call if Godzilla was good or bad. That's just not what Godzilla is supposed to be. He is a force of nature that cannot be controlled. Godzilla is just supposed to "BE" nit thought up into something else.

Character development... A little flawed for me. I liked Bryan Cranstons character, it seemed that he was well developed and made sense. Everyone else just seemed like they were reading the lines as asked.

It summed to turn a little confection for me at times as thought the movie itself didn't know what it was supposed to be.. thriller, horror, science fiction, a hero movie... etc. Just seemed to be less cohesive.

I think it was a good movie. Overhyped and the trailers made the movie look very different from the movie that I saw.

Neighbors

GENERAL INFORMATION
Release Info: 9 May 2014
Running Time: 97 Minutes
Staring:  Seth Rogen and Zac Efron
Rating? R
SPOILERS? NO

REVIEWS
IMDB: 6.4 of 10
Rotten Tomatoes: Critics: 73% Audience: 64%
MY RATING: 7

STORYLINE
After they are forced to live next to a frat house, a couple with a new baby do whatever they can to take them down.

MY REVIEW:
I KNEW what this was going to be when I bought the ticket. I mean it's starring Seth Rogan. It wasn't going to be an Oscar Award Winner...

That being said, I think it was pretty decent. Not the best thing, but definitely there were others that sucked a lot worse! There was just enough to make it funny and a few things that were just not really well written, but the idea get across in a pretty funny way most of the time. Some of the jokes fell flat, but it's not that big of a deal. Solid 7.

The Galapagos Affair

The Galapagos Affair: Satan Came to Eden

GENERAL INFORMATION
Release Info: 24 April 2014
Running Time: 120 Minutes
Staring:  Documentary
Rating? Unrated
SPOILERS? YES

REVIEWS
IMDB: 6.8 of 10
MY RATING: 8 of 10

MY REVIEW:
First of all, a quick overview of the story that this documentary covers. It begins in 1929 when two Germans looking for their personal Eden arrived on the island in the Galapagos called Floreana. More Straunch and Dr. Friedrich Ritter had enough with civilization and isolated themselves from the world. in 1932, some of their letters home made it to the German papers and they began to get other land squatters on Floreana. The Wittmers arrived soon.. Heinz and his pregnant wife Margret and their sickly son Henry. Next arrived a self-proclaimed Baroness and her two man minions with their ideas of taking over the island. That's when it all went crazy.

The documentary is filled with family photos and videos taken by the families on Floreana as well as passing ships and their interactions with the families on Floreana. It's full of intrigue and mystery, missing people, murder... and many more things that make this documentary very difficult to turn away from. I was mesmerized by the story. It's interesting and a very good way to spend a little time.

Oculus

GENERAL INFORMATION
Release Info: 11 Apr 2014
Running Time: 104 Minutes
Staring:  karen Gillam, Brenton Thwaites, Katee Sackhoff
Rating? R
SPOILERS? YES

REVIEWS
IMDB: 6.5 of 10 Link
Rotten Tomatoes: Critics: 73% Audience: 52% Link
MY RATING: 7

STORYLINE
A woman tried to exonerate her brother who was convicted of murder by proving that the crime was committed by a supernatural phenemonon.

MY REVIEW:
I did like this movie. 7 of 10 is pretty good on my scale but still just a little above center.

We follow one young woman, Kaylie {Karen Gillan} and her brother Tim {Brenton Thwaites} while they try to destroy a supposed haunted antique mirror whom she blames for the loss of both parents  {Katee Sackhoff and Rory Cochrane} while they were kids and that Tim was accused and convicted of murdering.

We are taken to two parallel movies; one that shows the lives of Katlie and Tim with their parents as children and one where we see them in the present time with the mirror. At times, the transitions seem either useless or a wee bit ridiculous for my tastes.

Although the story of a possessed object is pretty typical but this one felt pretty different. Direction was pretty good and the acting was well done. They were able to create an eerie atmosphere and was richly needed.

What I really did't like are the overused cliches that exist. There was a little too much of the monster-y feel in some cases and not enough of the true scares in others.

I did like that they left it open for a sequel! 

Captain America: The Winter Soldier

GENERAL INFORMATION
Release Info: 4 Apr 2014
Running Time: 136 Minutes
Staring:  Chris Evans, Samuel L. Jackson, Scarlett Johansson, Robert Redford, Cobie Smulders, etc.
Rating? PG-13
SPOILERS? YES

REVIEWS
IMDB: 7.8 of 10 Link
Rotten Tomatoes: Critics: 89% Audience: 92% Link
MY RATING: 7 of 10

MY REVIEW:
I wasn't a big fan of the first Captain America Movie.  {Read my original review here.} This movie brought out more of the character development that I was missing in the first iteration.  The humor was well-balanced with the action sequences in a way the first was not.

Chris Evans was brilliant in this movie. He definitely built more depth into the Captain America that was given to him.

I would definitely say that this was a solid 7!

Killer Legends

GENERAL INFORMATION
Release Info: 16 March 2014
Running Time: 86 Minutes
Staring:  Documentary
Rating? N/A
SPOILERS? Not really

REVIEWS
IMDB: 6.4 of 10
MY RATING: 8

STORYLINE

Four timeless urban legends continue to haunt the psyche of the American public. This documentary follows filmmakers Joshua Zeman and Rachel Mills as they investigate the true crimes that may have spawned these urban legends, while exploring how these myths evolved and why we continue to believe. The documentary probes the following legends: The Candyman, The Baby-Sitter and the Man Upstairs, The Hookman and The Killer Clown. This documentary explores the genesis of these legends and the reason they are still so gripping and continue to haunt our nightmares.

MY REVIEW:
What I liked about this documentary:

• I appreciate the filmmakers attempt to bring a reality back to some of these legends! They have been brewing in the back of everyones mind for a long time and someone really needed to remind the people that they were just stories that jot overly saturated in the worlds eye.
• Growing up in Texas, two hours away from Texarkana, hearing the stories of the Phantom Killer, watching the Town that Dreaded Sundown so many times at slumber parties and being told.. "You know, he's still out there" brought that story to life for me. 
• They put real faces of the victims and show respect to the actual murders.

What I did not like:

• It did feel a bit rushed through the stories. It's only an hour and a half so telling four stories and their history is pushing it for content alone. There was so much more that could have been related to the watcher. 
• The documentary calls itself out for "getting to the bottom of the legends." They really just rehash stuff that we already know. 

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The Den

GENERAL INFORMATION
Release Info: 14 March 2014
Running Time: 81 Minutes
Staring:  Unknowns
Rating? R
SPOILERS? NO

REVIEWS
IMDB: 6.1 of 10
MY RATING: 2

STORYLINE
While studying the habits of web cam chat users from the apparent safety of her own home, a young woman's life begins to spiral out of control after witnessing a grisly murder online.

MY REVIEW:
This is a teen scream movie. This was not what I thought it was going to be.

Why would you continue to video yourself while you are being chased by a lunatic?? This just ruins the "fear" you are supposed to have. Instead of believing that she was being chased, I just spent the time wondering why she didn't drop the camera and get something else like bat or a gun!

Poorly shot, poorly edited. Dreadful!

Odd Thomas

GENERAL INFORMATION
Release Info: 28 Feb 2014
Running Time: 97 Minutes
Staring:  Anton Yelchin, Ashley Sommers, Lenora Varela
Rating? Unrated
SPOILERS? No

REVIEWS
IMDB: 6.9 of 10
MY RATING: 7 of 10

STORYLINE
Small town fry cook Thomas is an ordinary guy with a paranormal secret: He sees dead people, everywhere. When a creepy stranger shows up with an entourage of ghostly bodachs (predators who feel on pain and portend mass destruction) Thomas knows that his town is in serious trouble. Teaming up with his girlfriend Stormy and a local sheriff, he plunges into an epic battle of good vs. evil to try to stop a disaster of apocalyptic proportions. Based on the best-selling thriller by Dean Koontz.

MY REVIEW:
This was a solid movie and a very enjoyable watch. As with many movies based on novels, there were many of the finer details left out. Even with that, I still feel that they did a good job of capturing Odd Thomas' character. I was not a big fan of the chemistry between Odd Thomas {Anton Yeltsin} and Stormy {Addison Timlin}. Not sure of it was just chemistry or casting, but it was not what I wanted to see.

I hate making comparisons to the book, but I will. In the book, there was more ghostly communication with other spirits with Thomas.. diverse ghosts like Elvis. I would have loved to see that brought into the movie. That would have been hilarious. It would have also helped the viewer understand the world of the dead as it plays out in this world.

I did like the movie and I enjoyed the world that it created. I'd love to see this one made into a series. Monster of the week series would work well in this space.

The Monuments Men

GENERAL INFORMATION
Release Info: 7 Feb 2014
Running Time: 118 Minutes
Staring:  George Clooney, Matt Damon, Bill Murray, John Goodman, Cate Blanchett
Rating? PG-13
SPOILERS? YES

REVIEWS
IMDB: 6.1 of 10 Link
Rotten Tomatoes: Critics: 31% Audience: 44% Link
MY RATING: 7

MY REVIEW:
I've read some really horrible reviews and it was basically critically shunned.

I got the feeling that I was thinking that I would get hearing the storied and seeing what these men endured. I think the ensemble was just strong enough to carry out the intended purpose of this type of movie. It's based on a true story and I think they did a great job with the casting. The real men who volunteered for this mission were not solders, so casting the likes of Bill Murray and John Goodman alongside Matt Damon and George Clooney seemed to be a good choice. Yes, the script could have been a little better and some of the scenes were really overdone,but it was good. Solid 7.