Pancho's Movie Reviews

INDEPENDENCE DAY: RESURGENCE

2016-08-30T21:31:00.002-07:00

20th Century Fox

Rated PG-13

Running time: 120 minutes

Click below to watch a movie trailer of Independence Day: Resurgence on YouTube.

In Twentieth Century Fox's Independence Day: Resurgence, it has been 20 years since the war of 1996, but a distress signal had been sent out - and the aliens are coming back.

In the sequel to Independence Day, Produced, Written, and Directed by Roland Emmerich and based on Characters created by Dean Devlin and Roland Emmerich, it has been 20 years since the alien war of 1996. Humanity has combined their technology with the alien's technology to help improve the defense of Earth - but the aliens have responded to a distress signal from a mothership from the previous war, and have returned to Earth in greater numbers.

While the first movie seemed more of a contemporary movie - Independence Day: Resurgence, the first movie sequel as of 2016 to be released twenty years after the original movie, is set in the present day but seems more of a science fiction film than the first one with all of the alien technology involved as well as having a huge base on the moon. However, Resurgence seemed less silly to me then the original Independence Day. Aside from one character that eventually became comic relief, the main silliness to me was what looks like an unintentional pokemon referance. The film also reminds me of the movie Starship Troopers.

This movie is a combination of old, as well as a new generation of heroes Maika Monroe, Jessie T. Usher, Liam Hemsworth, Charlotte Gainsbourg, Angelababy, and Sela Ward as these characters work together as an international generation of heroes in order to fight off an even bigger alien invasion on Independence Day. While the movie seemed bigger, there did not seem to me to have as many powerful dramatic scenes in this movie as the first movie had. For political reasons there were certain landmarks that were not depicted destroyed during the movie.

Some of the background of the movie might be a little confusing. A lot of the background is explained in the prequel novel Independence Day: Crucible, which is like required reading if you want to understand what happened in between the two movies, as well as understand the references that Resurgence had made.

A lot of the stars from the first movie Jeff Goldblum, Judd Hirsch, Vivica A. Fox, John Storey, and Brent Spiner reprised their roles in this one and were like mentors to the new generation. Will Smith is not in this movie, aside from a couple of pictures, and while there were occasional references to Smith - there was no memorable scene at least to me where they explained what happened to him. That was explained in the book Crucible. Usher as Smith's adopted son in the movie had big shoes to fill as he leads the new generation of fighter pilots against the aliens. Former President Bill Pullman, despite his aging abilities, is still a leader in this movie.

Once again the movie spent a lot of time at Area 51, which in a way ties the movie back to the original Independence Day. It also explained how Brent Spiner's character returned for this movie. The movie also spends some time at Cheyenne Mountain with President Sela Ward as they lead the attack against the aliens.

There was a cameo with Robert Loggia who reprised his role in this movie, his final film role. The movie was Dedicated to Robert Loggia during the credits.

I love that they created a website for the movie warof1996.com

The movie sets up the sequel Independence Day 3.

Click below to watch another movie trailer of Independence Day: Resurgence from YouTube.

Click below to watch the Superbowl TV spot of Independence Day: Resurgence from YouTube.

Rated PG-13 for violence and language. Running time: 120 Minutes.

Pancho
All people smile in the same language.

X-MEN: APOCALYPSE

2016-06-05T21:02:00.001-07:00

Twentieth-Century Fox/Marvel

Rated PG-13

Running Time: 144 Minutes

Click below to watch a trailer of X-Men: Apocalypse from YouTube.

In Twentieth-Century Fox/Marvel's X-Men: Apocalypse, Professor Charles Xavier/James McAvoy and his mutant students, must go up against the first mutant Apocalypse/Oscar Isaac and his Four Horseman, Storm/Alexandra Shipp, Psylocke/Olivia Munn, Angel/Ben Hardy, and Magneto/Michael Fassbender to stop Apocalypse/Isaac from literally destroying the world.

Produced, Written and Directed by Bryan Singer and based on the X-Men characters from Marvel Comics, this is the ninth film in the X-Men series and a sequel to X-Men: Days of Future Past. Mutant/god Apocalypse/Isaac, who takes other people's powers to make him even more powerful, awakens after being buried by his worshipers since the year 3600 BC. Seeing the world as it is today in 1983, and still feeling angry at being betrayed by his worshippers - Apocalypse/Isaac decides to destroy the world because they are lost, and wants to remake it with the strongest in control as he seeks out his new Four Horsemen and having them devoting themselves to him as his children.

With Apocalypse/Isaac considering himself a god, I think this is the most religious of the X-Men movies and has a lot of Old Testament themes to it. The movie definitely has a more disaster movie feel to it, instead of just an action movie. The launching of the nuclear missiles is both intimidating, and yes we've seen this in other disaster movies. There was not enough desperation from the government for me when they had lost control of their nuclear missiles. Although with all of the world-wide destruction in the movie, you do not feel all of the death from that as the cities get destroyed. The deaths that you feel are the more intimate, one on one deaths.

Being released in 2016, with Apocalypse's first appearance in an X-Men movie, this marks Apocalypse's 30 anniversary since his first appearance in the X-Men comics (July1986).

Due to the international feel of the movie, there are subtitles for the various languages - including Egyptian and a very rudimentary Polish language.

With the new timeline, at Xavier's School for Gifted Youngsters, there is a younger group of the core of X-Men, basically children learning how to control their powers, with Jean Grey/Sophie Turner, Scott Summers/Tye Sheridan, Nightcrawler/Kodi Smit-McPhee, and newcomers Quicksilver/Evan Peters and Jubilee/Lana Condor - although Condor did not get to do anything with her powers, but I am looking forward to seeing them in future movies. Quicksilver's/Peters scenes I think are the most fun. Returning X-Men Raven/Jennifer Lawrence, Hank McCoy/Nicholas Hoult, and Havok/Lucas Till continue their roles - as well as returning CIA agent Moira MacTaggert/Rose Byrne, who is also the unrequited love interest of Xavier/McAvoy. McAvoy finally got to shave his head for his role as Xavier.

I think this was Michael Fassbender's best characterization of his character Magneto in the X-Men movies. It definitely gave me the feels for him and his family in this movie, which also includes his return to Auschwitz.

It was great seeing Tomas Lemarquis as Caliban, thus setting up the Morlocks in the X-Men Universe.

One of the fun things in the movie is that they showed a clip of the Star Trek episode "Who Mourns for Adonais" as one of Apocalypse/Isaac's first experiences to the modern world. I wish they would have used a better clip from that episode to make it even more fun.

Stan Lee makes his appearance in the middle of the movie, along with his wife Joanie Lee.

There is an awesome uncredited cameo in the movie.

In the beginning of the movie - at least in my theater showing - Alexandra Shipp, who plays Storm, talks about how much she enjoyed playing the role and that hundreds of people worked to put together this movie and that everyone should enjoy it. This insert seems like an appeal to all of the fanboys who have been criticizing comic book films lately.

I saw the movie in RealD 3D. Outside of a few action scenes and the opening credits, I mostly did not notice the 3D - which gave depth into the movie, instead of things coming out at you.

There is one after credits scene, which sets up new elements for the X-Men universe, including the upcoming Wolverine sequel. There was also one scene in the movie, that to me, sets up a possible Phoenix story, while Psylocke/Munn sets up the X-Force movie.

Click below to watch another movie trailer of X-Men: Apocalypse from YouTube.

Click below to watch a final movie trailer of X-Men: Apocalypse from YouTube.

Rated PG-13 for violence. Running time: 144 Minutes.

Pancho
All people smile in the same language.

CAPTAIN AMERICA: CIVIL WAR

2016-05-08T22:50:00.002-07:00

Walt Disney Studios/Marvel Studios

Rated PG-13

Running Time: 146 Minutes

Click here to watch the TV spots of Captain America: Civil War on YouTube.

In Walt Disney Studios/Marvel Studios Captain America: Civil War, the consequences of the Avengers world-wide actions put Iron Man/Robert Downey, Jr. and Captain America/Chris Evans on opposite sides.

This is a non-spoiler review. I thoroughly enjoyed this movie. There is one MCU continuity issue for me, but is a very minor non-issue when concerning this movie.

The thirteenth film of the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU), and as of 2016 the 75th anniversary of Captain America, the movie is set one year after the events of Avengers: Age of Ultron and deals with the events of the past few movies, Directed by Anthony and Joe Russo, and based on the 10th anniversary of the Marvel comic book crossover storyline limited series Civil War by Mark Millar and Steve McNiven.

Actually this movie is really more of an Avengers movie than a Captain America movie. At the very least, the story is just as much about Tony Stark/Iron Man/Downey, Jr. as it is about Captain America/Evans. You also got to see more of the background of Captain America's friend Bucky Barnes/The Winter Soldier/Stan. The movie has an ensemble cast of Chris Evans, Robert Downey Jr., Scarlett Johansson/Black Widow, Sebastian Stan/The Winter Soldier, Anthony Mackie/Falcon, Don Cheadle/War Machine, Jeremy Renner/Hawkeye, Chadwick Boseman/Black Panther, Paul Bettany/Vision, Elizabeth Olsen/Scarlet Witch, Paul Rudd/Ant-Man, Emily VanCamp/Sharon Carter, and Tom Holland/Spider-Man.

This is an international movie as the characters travel to various countries - and the MCU country of Wakanda is represented well in the United Nations. There are sub-titles in the movie as several of the characters speak various languages.

The politics of whether or not the Avengers should be under oversight by the United Nations when informed by U.S. Secretary of State Thaddeus Ross/William Hurt were very important issues. I am basically Team Cap/Evans, who was against the accords and feels that the Avengers are better policing themselves instead of the government policing them - but the reasons why Tony Stark/Downey, Jr. are for the accords are very compelling, and I totally felt for him and could go for Team Iron Man. I totally understand the reasons which split the Avengers, and I felt for both sides - which is especially sad as they are friends.

Aside from the politics, the theme of this movie is that of loss. There were a few times where I felt for the characters at their loss.

It is awesome to see the Avengers using their full powers and fighting abilities fighting each other. Even without their powers, they are incredible hand to hand martial artists. Also, the number of Avengers, despite the fact that they were split up, makes me appreciate just how powerful a group of Avengers really are - and why there needs to be some kind of oversight with this kind of power. Some of the action scenes were very dramatic done with film strobe usage.

Introducing Black Panther on his 50th anniversary and one of the first black superheroes in American comics, as well as introducing Spider-Man into the MCU was awesome. Black Panther/Chadwick Boseman was done right - and Spider-Man/Holland was awesome and actually had more to do in this film than I had expected. Actually, all of the Avengers had their own scene moments and made you really appreciate them as characters - especially the vulnerable Scarlet Witch/Olson. Even a couple of minor MCU characters had scene moments in the movie, which make me appreciate the scope of the MCU more.

There are a few terrorist acts in the movie - and as a member of my local Community Emergency Response Team (CERT), I totally sympathized with the first responders dealing with the aftermath of those acts in this movie. It also brings home the idea of world events being bought into the movie.

There is an intense helicopter scene, that hopefully was done with CGI, that was incredible.

For Stan Lee fans, his cameo is at the very end of the movie. You can enjoy the movie without worrying about missing his cameo.

I saw the film at a 9:00 Saturday morning showing and the theater was half-full. There were a lot of kids in the theater. I can only recall one language word in the movie and that was as a reaction word from Spider-Man and is not used as a graphic language word. In fact, the kid behind me had more of a reaction to a simple kissing scene than that one word.

There are two after-credits scenes. In my theater, a lot of people left after the first after-credits scene , but there were still a few people who stayed for the second after-credits scene. It is curious that one of the after-credit scenes in Ant-Man was used in this movie.

Spider-Man will return.

Click below to watch a trailer of Captain America: Civil War from YouTube.

Click below to watch another trailer of Captain America: Civil War from YouTube.

Click below to watch the Team Cap and Team Iron Man trailers of Captain America: Civil War from YouTube.

Rated PG-13 for violence. Running time: 146 Minutes.

Pancho
All people smile in the same language.

GOD'S NOT DEAD 2

2016-04-03T20:46:00.001-07:00

Pure Flix

Rated PG

Running Time: 121 Minutes

Click below to watch a movie trailer of God's Not Dead 2 from YouTube.

In Pure Flix's God's Not Dead 2, high school teacher Melissa Joan Hart is asked a question about Jesus in class and her response gets her in trouble with the school board and she winds up in court.

In this sequel to God's Not Dead, high school teacher Melissa Joan Hart, who is is a Christian and taking care of her grandfather Pat Boone, is teaching history in class when one of her troubled students, Hayley Orrantia asks a question about Jesus. Hart gives a simple answer - of which high school principal Robin Givens hears about. Now the school board threatens to fire Hart and make an example of her in court, and public defender Jesse Metcalfe must defend her.

I liked this movie better than the first one as it was not an in your face film in the beginning of the film as the first God's Not Dead. The Christian music gave you the feeling of a Christian film in the beginning of the movie. I will admit to tearing up a couple of times during the film as Hart undergoes this burden. I felt it rather sad that Orrantia's atheistic parents Maria Canals-Barrera and Carey Scott - who practically disowned their religious son - were taking the religious issue to court for the publicity of getting Orrantia into an ivy league school, as well as principal Givens controlling Orrantia.

I liked the legal arguments both for and against the religious aspects in the classroom according to the law, the separation of church and state. This was a pretty intense trial film, both with the trial and the protests outside the courts. It is curious on how the media was anti-religion - but as the religious leaders said, there is the silent majority. There was at least one religious argument that was not brought up that I would have liked to see in the movie even though they had the perfect setups. While I am not a lawyer, I have been summoned to jury duty before and had some issues with some of the procedures presented in the movie. Family was also an important theme in this movie, and also had me tearing up at some of the familial relationships.

Several of the stars from the first movie, Trisha LaFache, Paul Kwo, David A.R. White, Benjamin A. Onyango, as well as The Newsboys appeared in this movie. As well as Duck Dynasty's star Sadie Robertson's first feature film. This was former senator and actor Fred Dalton Thompson's final film appearance. I will admit that Kwo's reappearance was the most interesting appearance of the returning actors.

Ernie Hudson was great as the judge and had much more of an acting challenge in this film than in his more famous Ghostbusters role, and Ray Wise once again played an antagonist - this time as the smarmy prosecution lawyer supposedly doing this for the good of all students.

While The Newsboys were in the movie, God's Not Dead 2 is much more of a trial film for the case of Hart. It is not as much of a Newsboys concert film as the first film was, although there is some Newsboys concert footage.

At the end of the movie the audience applauded and were singing God's Not Dead. During the credits, there was a list of similar trials that had taken place. These went by too fast for me to read them, but I noticed that at least one trial as of 2016 was still ongoing. There was a website shown for support.

A lady who was sitting behind me reached down and wished me God Bless You while she was leaving.

There is an after credits scene at the end of the movie. The lady who was sitting behind me missed the after credits scene as she had left with most of the audience leaving during the credits, although there were a few people still left in the theater to watch this important scene.

Rated PG for some thematic elements. Running time: 121 minutes.

Click below to watch the music video of The Newsboys song God's Not Dead from YouTube.

Pancho
All people smile in the same language.

BATMAN v SUPERMAN: DAWN OF JUSTICE

2016-04-01T23:05:00.001-07:00

Warner Bros.

Rated PG-13

Running time: 151 Minutes

Click below to watch a movie trailer of Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice from YouTube.

In Warner Bros. Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, Batman's/Ben Affleck's and Superman's/Henry Cavill's different ideologies finally come to a head in a fight to the finish.

A sequel to Man of Steel, and loosely based on the graphic novel The Dark Knight Returns by Frank Miller - with Batman created by Bob Kane and Bill Finger, and Superman created by Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster, Executive Produced by Christopher Nolan and Directed by Zack Snyder. The movie is the second installment of the new DC Extended Universe.

Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice seems to me to be told from billionaire Ben Affleck/Bruce Wayne/Batman's point of view - especially after the 9/11 type of events that had happened from Man of Steel. This is Batman's introduction, and origin - as well as Bruce Wayne's/Affleck's and Clark Kent's/Cavill's first meeting - and these events have Batman/Affleck and half the world very concerned about the power of Superman/Cavill.

I happened to like this film - although a lot of people felt it was too slow as most of the action happened toward the end of the film, which also dealt with the Doomsday story line from the comics. There was a good use of Superman's/Cavill's powers throughout, and you got to see Batman's/Affleck's hand to hand fighting with the bad guys - some of which are based on the Batman: Arkham games - as well as fighting with Superman/Cavill. I liked the dramatic setup and characterization of the movie, although some people were confused by the plot, which also includes dream sequences. Most of Superman's/Cavill's characterization of the movie was actually set up in Man of Steel, so the movie seems more of Batman's/Affleck's viewpoint.

There is a lot of religious overtones in the movie with comparisons of the Greek Gods, as well as of Christianity - God vs Man - between Batman/Affleck and Superman/Cavill. My favorite line is, "devils don't come from Hell beneath us, they come from the sky." When you consider that devils are fallen angels, this line really hit home for me. There is also another theme presented in the movie with the major characters about parentage.

I thought Affleck was great in his introduction to the DC Extended Universe as Bruce Wayne/Batman as a tragically hardened vigilante. Cavill was able to put on twice as much muscle mass for this movie than he did for Man of Steel and had looked very much like what Superman should be. There were also a couple of shots in the movie were Cavill/Superman looked like Christopher Reeve/Superman to me.

With Holly Hunter as a Senator in the movie conducting a Senate committee hearing on Superman, I could not help but think about the movie The Incredibles of which Hunter was also in and had in that movie dealing with similar issues about superheroes.

The movie portrays a younger Lex Luthor/Jesse Eisenberg than has been seen in previous incarnations, but is quite literate of books. For a dramatic movie, most of the humor in the movie comes from Luthor/Eisenberg in his sarcasm. While I could accept Eisenberg's portrayal of Luthor, I would have preferred him to be bald from a childhood accident, thus having issues with his father. It is interesting to me that Luthor's concerns with Superman are similar to Batman's but on a more psychotic level and based on the comic All-Star Superman.

It was good to have the stars like Laurence Fishburne, Amy Adams, and Diane Lane from Man of Steel in this movie. Jeremy Irons as Alfred is the only major character from Batman's comic book series, outside of his parents Jeffrey Dean Morgan and Lauren Cohan. Other cameo appearances in the movie were nice to see, some of whom are real people.

This is the first time that the trio, Superman, Batman, and Wonder Woman have appeared in a live-action film. I thought Gal Gadot was great as Diana Prince/Wonder Woman. The movie also sets up the premise for The Justice League with cameos of the future metahuman members of The Justice League. I liked the musical introductions/themes that Hans Zimmer created for the various characters, which are supposed to be used in future movies for these characters. It is too bad that Zimmer has quit writing music for superhero movies after being burned out of writing them for eleven years.

What is anachronistic for the film is that the Daily Planet is actually printing newspapers. A friend of mine used to be a printing manager for the local Los Angeles Times printing plant. He left after 25 years because The Times does not "print" newspapers anymore. The Times is all online now.

While I had expected what was going to happen, I had mixed feelings about the end of the movie, both positive and negative. A lot of fans were very disappointed with the end. I will admit that I can not wait to see how this will affect future movie sequels in the DC Extended Universe.

During the end credits, there was a Special Thanks section with what seemed like about a couple dozen names of comic book creative artists who have worked on Batman and Superman comics at one point over the decades. A lot of material from these creative artists were touched upon in the movie.

With the very dramatic tone of the movie, there are no after credits scenes during the credits as with a Marvel movie.

Rated PG-13 for violence, language, sexual situations.

Click below to watch another movie trailer to Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice from YouTube.

Pancho
All people smile in the same language.

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LONDON HAS FALLEN

2016-03-25T21:31:00.001-07:00

Gramercy Pictures

Rated R

Running time: 1:39 Minutes

Click below to watch a movie trailer of London Has Fallen from YouTube.

In Gramercy Pictures London Has Fallen, United States President Aaron Eckhart attends the British Prime Minister's funeral in London - and suddenly has to go on the run with Secret Service Agent Gerard Butler to escape terrorists.

In the sequel to Olympus Has Fallen, three years have passed and the western world's leaders are gathering to attend the state funeral for the British Prime Minister - when terrorists attack and President Eckhart and Secret Service Agent Butler go on the run throughout London.

The movie has several actors from Olympus Has Fallen reprising their roles in this movie, especially Vice President Morgan Freeman, Director of the Secret Service Angela Bassett, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Robert Forster, Butler's wife Radha Mitchell, and Secretary of Defense Melissa Leo. Freeman always has a presence as a leader in his leadership roles and this was no exception. Alon Aboutboul was good as the terrorist arms dealer on the FBI's 10 Most Wanted Fugitives list. So was Charlotte Riley as the MI6 agent. I wish Riley had more to do, she could have been a kick ass character.

With recent real world events, some of the terrorist scenes can be difficult to watch, as well as the news videos accompanying them. I had a relatives that were in the cities of those real world events, so these scenes hit a little home to me. I also felt a little upset that the movie opened with news reports of terrorism attacks in the Philippines, including the failed real world police operation which lead to the deaths of several members of the Special Action Force in the Philippines. The trailer's initial release also had controversy as to it's timing to the anniversary of the 2005 London bombings attack.

There were typical car chases and explosions but I liked the action sequences with Butler taking charge of President Eckhart's protection throughout the movie, as well as the political scenes both with the heads of state and with Vice President Freeman and the National Security Council at the White House. The movie set up all the political players with graphics of their titles as they are introduced. I had a problem with how the terrorists got pass all of the world security Dignitary Protection services of not only the United States, but all of the other western Dignitary Protection services for the various heads of states in what is supposedly the most protected event in the world, and I also did not like how filmmakers did the tag of the movie.

It is curious that underneath the political terrorism, the theme of the movie was about family, which I liked.

I think this is the first time that I have seen Marine One in action which I liked.

While I think Olympus Has Fallen is a better film, London Has Fallen is a typical action popcorn film.

Click below to watch another movie trailer of London Has Fallen on YouTube.

Rated R for violence and language. Running time: 1:39 Minutes.

Pancho
All people smile in the same language.

DEADPOOL

2016-02-20T23:24:00.002-08:00

Twentieth Century Fox

Rated R

Running Time: 108 Minutes

Click below to watch a movie trailer of Deadpool from YouTube.

In Twentieth Century Fox's Deadpool, God's Perfect Idiot, mercenary superhero Ryan Reynolds goes after a British villain Ed Skrein who nearly destroyed Reynolds life and face and kidnapped his fiancee, the hot chick, Morena Baccarin.

THIS IS AN R RATED MOVIE - DO NOT BRING YOUR KIDS as there is graphic violence and big boy curse words throughout the movie, as well as sex and nudity. This is a different kind of superhero story, and was always intended to be an R movie. Although, surprisingly there is not as much sex and nudity as I was expecting given the hype that I was exposed to. But there is genuine love that grew between Baccarin and Reynolds and in a sense this is the driving force behind the movie. Most of the graphic violence comes from Deadpool's use of his katana swords. What's great is that computer generated graphic test footage was incorporated into the movie and not just used as a gimmick to sell the movie to the studio.

Based on the Marvel Comics character created by Rob Liefeld and Fabian Nicienza, and as of February 2016, is released 25 years after his first appearance in New Mutants #98, the Merc with a Mouth Deadpool is an antihero with moral ambiguity who constantly breaks the "fourth wall" and talks to the audience as he goes about fighting the bad guys looking for Skrein and Skrein's henchwoman Gina Carano/Angel Dust. While the movie is marketed as a comedy - there is a lot more drama in the movie Deadpool than I had expected, similar to the movie Ted which also was a comedy but had a lot of drama to that movie. Most of the drama dealt with Baccarin's relationship with Reynolds and his developing cancer. This is a tour de force performance for Reynolds, especially as he had spearheaded the making of the movie.

The first half of the movie goes back and forth between the present day of Reynolds searching for Skrein so that Skrein can cure Reynolds of his disfigurement, and the origin story of former special forces operative Reynolds/Deadpool - who was trying to find a cure for his terminal cancer. After the movie gets caught up, Deadpool is a fairly straightforward superhero film.

With the creation of Deadpool by supposedly the same secret organization who created Wolverine - at least in the comics - both characters have mutant healing factors. With the promise of a cure, and abilities most men would only dream of, Deadpool's creation cured his cancer - but permanently disfigured him and messed up his relationship with Baccarin. The movie Deadpool is basically the eight X-Men film to be done - especially with a CGI character Stefan Kapicic as Colossus, as well as having a moody teen Brianna Hildebrand as Negasonic Teenage Warhead as the only two X-Men shown in the movie that is trying to recruit Deadpool. This is also the first X-Men related movie where Wolverine does not make an appearance. Wolverine was originally supposed to have a cameo, but was cut from the movie. Pictures of Hugh Jackman, who played Wolverine, however do appear in the movie. The movie also has no relationship to the previous Deadpool appearance in the movie X-Men Origins: Wolverine.

Deadpool's elderly blind woman roommate Leslie Uggams and Deadpool's best friend T.J. Miller were also good in the movie.

For Stan Lee fans, a gratuitous cameo is in the middle of the movie in a strip club.

There are two after credits scenes, which teases Deadpool 2 - with a major X-Men/Deadpool character to be introduced when it gets made. I am also looking forward for Monica Baccarin to becoming the mutant Copycat in a future movie, which was sort of teased in that Baccarin played a lot of roles. Both the opening credits and the closing credits of Deadpool are very creative and are indicative of the type of movie Deadpool is, as well as the music for the opening credits and the closing credits.

The movie broke several box office records for an R-Rated movie, including the first R-Rated movie to open above $100 million at the US Box office. This is especially of interest as Deadpool was made on a smaller budget than a regular superhero movie.

Rated R for graphic violence, graphic language, sexual situations, nudity, and drug use. Running time: 108 Minutes.

Click below to watch an R-Rated review of Deadpool from YouTube.

Click below to watch the comic movie trailer of Deadpool from YouTube.

Click below to watch the romantic movie trailer of Deadpool from YouTube.

Pancho
All people smile in the same language.

STAR WARS: THE FORCE AWAKENS

2015-12-21T10:17:00.001-08:00

Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures

Rated PG-13

Running time: 135 Minutes

Click below to watch a movie trailer of Star Wars: The Force Awakens from YouTube.

In Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures Star Wars: The Force Awakens, the old generation meets the new in this Star Wars sequel.

The seventh installment of the Star Wars series, the movie takes place thirty years after Star Wars: Return of the Jedi - and released thirty-two years after Return of the Jedi, thirty-eight years after Star Wars: A New Hope. Produced, Written, along with Lawrence Kasdan, and Directed by J.J. Abrams, Based on Characters Created by George Lucas, this is a worthy successor to the Star Wars legacy and the first of a new trilogy. With the transition of Lucasfilm over to Disney, Lucas stated that this was a way to pass Star Wars on to a new generation of filmmakers. The movie has all the elements of a Star Wars film including the original cast and I felt that the movie has more action and more story in this movie than in the other movies. I think that is mainly because, not only does the movie have the feeling of the original trilogy, the movie also has the feeling of the Star Wars Expanded Universe.

Thirty years after Return of the Jedi - Luke Skywalker/Mark Hamill, the last Jedi has disappeared. The First Order has risen from the fallen Galactic Empire seeks to eliminate Luke/Hamill and the Republic. The Resistance, led by Luke's twin Sister Leia Organa/Carrie Fisher opposes The First Order while looking for Luke/Hamill.

Meanwhile, former stormtrooper Finn/John Boyega escapes the First Order with the help of pilot Poe Dameron/Oscar Isaac and crash on a desert planet - where Finn meets scavenger Rey/Daisy Ridley as they continue to escape from the First Order with the help of Han Solo/Harrison Ford and get to the Resistance with a map to find Luke/Hamill.

I saw this movie at a 9:00 am Saturday showing opening weekend and the theater was packed. The audience reacted positively to the movie and cheered when the Star Wars logo appeared. They also cheered when Han Solo/Harrison Ford as well as the Millennium Falcon appeared. While the original cast appeared in the movie, the movie definitely is the film of the new generation - Daisy Ridley, John Boyega, Oscar Isaac. Nonetheless, Harrison Ford received top billing in the movie - his first time for a Star Wars film, as well as being the first non-Jedi character to be credited first in the series.

It was wonderful to hear John Williams music during the opening title crawl. I knew I was finally watching a Star Wars movie after all these years when I heard the music. Not only does the movie has new music like Rey's theme, but the movie also uses familiar music like Luke's theme. Just hearing the full 90 piece orchestra and 24-voice men's chorus made me feel like a teenager again experiencing a Star Wars movie. There were times where I teared up a little during the movie as well as yelling YES during some of the scenes.

The aerial battles and the ground battles were incredible for me and felt more realistic when done on planet as compared to being done out in space. Watching in 3D - while I blinked a couple of times with debris flying out at me - at times the aerial and space battles felt like watching a video game to me. The stormtroopers were more ruthless and deadly than in the previous movies, especially one particular stormtrooper. I am looking forward to how the filmmakers are going to treat Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, which is coming out in 2016 and is supposed to be more of a war movie than a space movie.

There are more new aliens, although most of them were not major characters. The movie does have some subtitles for an alien language that was spoken.

The droid BB-8 is an actual droid created by Disney Research and not CGI and seven different BB units were used in the film with the actors. It was wonderful to see BB-8 in action and definitely had a personality and felt like the new R2-D2 for the movie. The movie used more practical miniature models and real locations rather than CGI to make it aesthetically closer to the original trilogy. Interestingly enough, at $200 million dollars, this is the highest budgeted Star Wars film so far.

While this is the second Star Wars film that is released in IMAX, this is the first film using IMAX cameras on some scenes during filming. Star Wars: The Force Awakens is being shown on every IMAX screen in North America for four straight weeks.

By the time the movie was over, you definitely get the feeling that there will be more stories to tell and more movies - and it has been announced that everyone will be back for the sequel, Star Wars: Episode VIII.

At the end of the movie the audience applauded.

J.J. Abrams Director's credit as with all the other credits appeared at the end of the movie, just like in all of the other Star Wars movies.

At $100 million, Star Wars: The Force Awakens broke the record for pre-sales, breaking the previous pre-sale record holder The Dark Knight Rises three times over which had $25 million in pre-sales as well as initially crashing the ticket selling websites after starting ticket sales. It also had a record breaking $57 million from Thursday night "previews" and the first film to gross more than $100,million in a "single" day, the fastest to $100 million. This is significant as this is the first live-action Star Wars movie released in December with the widest December release while all the previous movies had been released in the month of May. As of 2015, Star Wars: The Force Awakens holds the record for highest grossing opening weekend at $215 million. Click this link from Box Office Mojo for more domestic records that Star Wars: The Force Awakens broke.

After twelve days, Star Wars: The Force Awakens became the fastest movie to reach $1 billion dollars.

Rated PG-13 for violence. Running time: 135 Minutes.

Pancho
All people smile in the same language.

SPECTRE

2015-11-21T20:20:00.002-08:00

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios Inc.
Columbia Pictures

Rated PG-13

Running time: 148 Minutes

Click below to watch a movie trailer of Spectre from YouTube.

In Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer and Columbia Pictures SPECTRE, James Bond, Daniel Craig, goes after the criminal organization that has been manipulating his life.

In the twenty-fourth James Bond film, Based on characters created by Ian Fleming - and the fourth appearance by Craig who is also the Co-Producer - Bond/Craig is undergoing an unofficial mission from the previous M - an uncredited Judi Dench - and recovers assassin Alessandro Cremona's ring that has a stylised octopus. The current M, Ralph Fiennes, then suspends Bond/Craig from field duty for Bond's/Craig's unauthorized mission. Meanwhile M/Fiennes undergoes a power struggle with C, Andrew Scott, as a result of domestic MI5 and foreign MI6 merging and C/Scott proposing that Britain joining a global electronic surveillance and intelligence initiative between nine member states - and shutting down the outdated licensed to kill '00' section. Bond/Craig disobeys M's/Fiennes's order of standing down from field duty and goes off to visit Cremona's widow, Monica Bellucci, and learns about Cremona's criminal organisation that he works with - SPECTRE.

While I liked the movie, I felt the movie could have been tighter in the story. It felt like it was dragging to me and did not seem as suspenseful to me as a result.

Monica Bellucci has the distinction of being the oldest Bond girl in the series. Bellucci is extremely hot and it is hard for me to believe she is 51 at the time of the movie's release. When Bond searches for the daughter of Jesper Christensen, who was a former member of a SPECTRE sub-organization, psychologist Lea Seydoux, you could tell that she would be a strong Bond girl character in the movie who could also kick butt. Although I felt that Seydoux fell in love with Bond/Craig a little too soon.

The title song by Sam Smith Writing's on the Wall does not have does not have the same name as the title of the movie, and so to me did not have as much of a connection to the movie as other Bond songs, while in actuality the title comes from a quote from Pierce Brosnan's GoldenEye. In a sense, this is appropriate as the title Spectre is not an Ian Fleming story title. Although the song did become the first Bond song to get to the UK Top of the Pops No. #1 rank. The music by Thomas Newman does have the feeling of a Bond movie.

I can understand the argument between human intelligence and electronic/signals intelligence. In the real world both are necessary - as sadly evidenced from recent events, especially when in the movie there was a plan to blow up a stadium. Now intelligence sources are strongly being going over in the real world as a result of intelligence failure during the recent events.

The movie references classic Bond films.

M/Fiennes, Q/Ben Whishaw, and Moneypenny/Naomie Harris return in the film to assist Bond/Craig, as well as cameo portraits of other Bond characters from Craig's Bond films appearing in the movie. I liked that Q/Whishaw had a scene outside of the lab. Dave Bautista's introduction in the movie was most impressive, and he only had one word of dialog in the entire movie. Christoph Waltz was great as the Bond villain who has been manipulating Bond throughout his entire career. It is incredible that the criminal organisation SPECTRE has not been seen since the 1971 movie Diamonds Are Forever.

I loved the Day of the Dead sequences in Mexico City and wished there was more of the references for Bond to what the parade meant to the people. There is a world-wide feeling to the movie as evidenced by the five different languages spoken in the movie with the subtitles, and the intelligence gathering alliance of countries, as well as the various locations - which includes London, Mexico City, Austria, Morocco, and Rome, Italy.

The film's budget made SPECTRE one of the most expensive movies ever made, yet there was only one over the top Bond action sequence that was slightly unbelievable, and one explosion that to me was a bit of an overkill. The rest of the action sequences were good. Aside from the Aston Martin DB10 coupe car for Bond, there was only one Bond gadget that was in the movie. SPECTRE is the second Bond film to be screened in IMAX, although it was not filmed in IMAX. The movie had the biggest opening of all time in the United Kingdom during it's first 007 week of release.

This is the first Bond film not to feature the trumpet playing of Derek Watkins who has played on every film since Dr. No. This is also the longest Bond film to date.

It is said that Craig will not come back to playing Bond, so this film had a finality of Craig's last film as Bond. It seemed appropriate that it referenced classic Bond films as a result, as well as cameo pictures of past stars in Craig's series of Bond films of which his series of movies was an overarching storyline.

Click below to watch another movie trailer of Spectre from YouTube.

James Bond will return.

Rated PG-13 for violence, sexual situations, language. Running time: 148 Minutes.

Pancho
All people smile in the same language.

THE MARTIAN

2015-10-23T22:06:00.000-07:00

20th Century Fox

Rated PG-13

Running time: 144 Minutes

Click below to watch a movie trailer of The Martian from YouTube.

In Twentieth Century Fox's The Martian, on a manned mission to Mars - astronaut/biologist Matt Damon is accidentally left behind on Mars when his crew thinks he is dead.

In a cross between Gravity, Interstellar, and Robinson Crusoe on Mars - but actually more upbeat than the others - The Martian, Produced and Directed by Ridley Scott and based on the Novel The Martian Written by Andy Weir, has Damon trying to survive all by himself after a Martian storm makes the manned Mars expedition crew believe that Damon has been lost and presumed dead after debris strikes him during the storm. Due to the limited resources that would last him thirty-one days, Damon has to science himself to survive with food and water for the next four years. Damon's sense of humor, as he is determined to use his relevant skills to survive, makes this film much more enjoyable to watch than the serious Gravity and Interstellar movies - although the movie does feel like Interstellar with the movie having both actors Damon and Jessica Chastain in both movies.

Damon's medical treatment of himself for his wounds were pretty graphic for me to see and I could barely watch them. I personally think I would have screamed a lot more than Damon did while digging into my own wounds.

The Ares III crew, Jessica Chastain, Michael Pena, Kate Mara, Sebastian Stan, Aksel Hennie, represent NASA astronauts at it's best - while Kristen Wiig, Sean Bean, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Donald Glover, Benedict Wong, Mackenzie Davis, and Jeff Daniels represent NASA Mission Control and JPL. Daniels as the head of NASA was too much of a bureaucrat for me, while the others represented the true space proponents to me as they try to problem solve Damon's rescue and bring him home - similar to Apollo 13 - once they are able to communicate with Damon. The lack of communication with NASA and Damon's crew mates was most frustrating for me as someone who is used to using various methods of instantaneous communications.

This movie is also the most dramatic role I have seen Michael Pena play, even though he still has a comedic characterization. I also loved the astronauts flying through the spacecraft Hermes in zero gravity. Having the news media like CNN and CNN reporter Frederick Pleitgen and the world routing for Damon made for a connection for me that Gravity and Interstellar did not have.

In scenes similar to the movie Apollo 13, NASA does what it can on the ground in order to help Damon survive and come home. NASA had scientific advisers for the movie, including James L. Green, the Director of the Planetary Science Division at NASA, helping to make the movie more scientifically accurate. Fifty pages of the script is NASA material - although there are some inaccuracies done for dramatic effect. Perhaps the mostly scientific accuracy of the movie is why some people believe that the events of this fictional movie actually did happen The movie does show how dangerous living and traveling in space can be. As Damon says, at some point - everything is going to go south on you.

I think it is cool that The Martian has been screened on the International Space Station - and that four days before the US release, NASA announced that they had found evidence that water flows on the surface of Mars. For more on NASA's planned missions to Mars, click here.

There was a lot of disco music from the collection of Commander Chastain's collection of music, which Damon played while he was alone on Mars. Surprisingly, none of the other astronauts seemed to have had their own collections of music to play as entertainment during their long mission - especially since Damon had access to their personal effects left behind when the astronauts suddenly had to abort the Mars mission.

There are scenes as the end credits start to play at the end of the movie, even though Damon's end scenes are not in the book. I thought Gloria Gaynor's I Will Survive was a great song to use for the end of the movie.

Click below to watch another movie trailer of The Martian from YouTube.

Click below to watch a special documentary feature clip of the crew of The Martian from YouTube.

Rated PG-13 for language and nudity. Running time: 144 Minutes.

Pancho
All people smile in the same language.

MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE - ROGUE NATION

2015-09-07T09:22:00.003-07:00

Paramount Pictures

Rated PG-13

Running time: 131 Minutes

Click below to watch a movie trailer of Mission: Impossible - Rogue Nation from YouTube.

In Paramount Pictures Mission: Impossible - Rogue Nation, Agent Tom Cruise is going after the mysterious Syndicate that is targeting the members of his organization, the IMF - Jeremy Renner, Simon Pegg, and Ving Rhames.

Starring and Produced by Tom Cruise, this fifth movie to the Mission: Impossible films - which takes place immediately after the movie Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol - is a fun movie with Cruise, Field Operations Director Renner, computer expert Pegg, and agent Rhames reprising their roles from previous films. This is the first Mission: Impossible film where the IMF team is a veteran of at least one other Mission: Impossible film. Of the films that I have seen in this series, this was the most fun. It is curious that before the movie, they aired the James Bond movie trailer SPECTRE. Mission: Impossible - Rogue Nation is a more fun film than James Bond, with the character relationships providing the fun in Mission: Impossible.

In the movie, Cruise is on the run from the CIA, headed by Chief Director Alec Baldwin, that wants a Senate Oversite Committee to disband the IMF (Impossible Missions Force) after a series of botched operations, and is trying to order Renner to give up Cruise's location. Cruise meanwhile is trying to find Sean Harris. the head of The Syndicate - an international criminal organization - that is escalating a series of terrorist acts as well as targeting the IMF.

During the opening title sequence, which has graphics just like the TV series, there were clips of the movie shown, just like in the TV series of clips of that week's episode. These movie clips did not have any spoilers, but definitely teased what was going to happen in the movie. It was great that the musical theme of the TV show by Lalo Schifrin was all over the movie, which made it feel like a Mission: Impossible episode. Another nod to the TV series is The Syndicate, which was the antagonist organization in the TV series, as well as Cruise receiving his mission briefing from a vinyl record from which the original TV briefings came from.

The movie does have a world-wide feel to the movie as they travel to various countries, just as a James Bond movie does, with locations in London, Vienna, Monaco, Morocco, and Morocco's largest city Casablanca. The movie also had several car chases to make for great action. It is amazing that spies nowadays have to be so electronic savvy when you see all the gadgets that everyone uses. Just as the original TV series and TV series update made use of the latest state of the art technology, the movies do as well.

Operative Rebecca Ferguson was pretty awesome in the movie as someone who you were not sure which side she was on whenever she engaged Cruise. I definitely fell in love with Ferguson as a "bad girl" and I look forward to seeing more of her work.

Cruise hanging off of a plane, an Airbus A400M, was a real stunt with Cruise at an altitude of 5000 feet. The underwater footage is the first film release featuring footage from Arri's new 6.5 Alexa 65 camera. Cruise trained with diving specialist Kirk Krack to hold his breath underwater for three minutes to perform an underwater sequence without any edits trying to defeat a security system.

For the IMAX theatrical release, the movie has a Mission Impossible style SMPTE Academy leader countdown at the beginning of the movie instead of the normal IMAX countdown.

Rated PG-13 for violence, language. Running time: 131 Minutes.

Pancho
All people smile in the same language.

HITMAN: AGENT 47

2015-08-24T22:43:00.001-07:00

20th Century Fox

Rated R

Running time: 96 Minutes

Click below to watch a movie trailer of Hitman: Agent 47 from YouTube.

In 20th Century Fox's Hitman: Agent 47, mysterious woman Hannah Ware, who is searching to find her father Ciaran Hinds and uncover the mysteries of her ancestry, teams up with an elite assassin while another elite assassin is after her.

Based on the video game series Hitman, this reboot movie is a combination of the Bourne films, Dark Angel, and John Wick. Rupert Friend as engineered human being 47 plowing through security reminds me of Jason Statham from the Transporter films. It is interesting to see the juxtaposition between Friend and Zachary Quinto, especially during their fight scenes. I believe Quinto could become a new action star if he wants to go in that direction in his career. Ware is also someone you could be looking out for as an action star.

It is sad that Paul Walker was originally supposed to play Agent 47 before he passed away.

The number of nameless victims in the movie represents the visceral action of the video game, as they are just action figures and not actual characters. There were very few people that you would actually care about if they were killed. I will admit though, that the action did make me flinch a couple of times. The movie is too urban and inner-city to be a full-blown action film, but is more of an action thriller with the feel of video game action.

It is curious that for a high tech movie, the surveilance cameras that were used in the movie were an obsolete model. We have never used those cameras at work and our building is 15 years old.

There is an after credits scene which sets up a sequel.

Rated R for violence and language. Running time: 96 Minutes.

Pancho
All people smile in the same language.

THE MAN FROM U.N.C.L.E.

2015-08-23T10:56:00.001-07:00

Warner Bros.

Rated PG-13

Running time: 116 Minutes

Click below to watch a movie trailer of The Man from UNCLE from YouTube.

In Warner Bros. The Man From U.N.C.L.E., CIA agent Napoleon Solo/Henry Cavill must join forces with KGB operative Illya Kuryakin/Armie Hammer to track down a private atom bomb.

Based on the television series The Man From U.N.C.L.E., the movie is Written and Directed by Guy Ritchie. The Man From U.N.C.L.E. is set during the height of the Cold War of the 1960's in 1963, soon after the Cuban Missile Crisis. News archive footage from British Pathe, including footage of President John F. Kennedy and World War II and atomic bomb footage, as well as the graphics at the beginning of the movie and throughout the movie reflect that time period. Not only does having the film set during the 60's retain the flavor of the TV series and the spy movies of the 60's, along with the music in the film, the 60's style separates the movie from the current series of spy films set in today's world. It was also nice that they incorporated the theme song from the TV series into the movie.

In a most dangerous time of our history, top CIA agent Solo/Cavill extracts Alicia Vikander, the daughter of Nazi scientist turned US collaborator at the end of World War II Christian Berkel from East Berlin - evading the best KGB operative within three years Kuryakin/Hammer. Vikander's uncle Sylvester Groth works for a shipping company owned by Elizabeth Debicki and Luca Calvani who are Nazi sympathizers and have ties to an international criminal organization that want to destabilize the fragile balance of power and intend to use Berkel to build thier own private atom bomb. Rivals used to working independently - Solo/Cavill and Kuryakin/Hammer are ordered by their governments to work together on this mission, as well as with Vikander to act as Kuryakin's/Hammer's fiancee, in order to locate Vikander's father Berkel and to stop Debicki and Calvani from succeeding in having Berkel developing the nuclear weapon.

I felt that The Man From U.N.C.L.E. is more fun than a James Bond movie in that the comedy comes from the character relationships, rather than the plot. I always felt a lot of the plot in a James Bond movie was contrived. It is curious that Ian Fleming developed both James Bond and The Man From U.N.C.L.E. A couple of the dining scenes reflect the humorous character relationships between Solo/Cavill and Kuryakin/Hammer when they are working together in the field as well as the relationships during the various chase scenes.

I loved the rivalry between Solo/Cavill and Kuryakin/Hammer and how they grew to respect each other. Actually, personally I related to Cavill more to his role as Napoleon Solo rather than Cavill in his role as Superman as Solo uses his criminal talents in infiltration as well as overcoming security systems. It is curious that Armie Hammer was once considered for the role of Superman. Cavill and Hammer did most of their own stunts, which I think was great - especially as Kuryakin/Hammer had more of a temper and Hammer doing his own stunts which would be shown onscreen. With Kuryakin/Hammer having a temper as well as being Vikander's "fiancee" and his relationship with her, it feels that Kuryakin/Hammer is more of the protagonist of the movie during most of the film instead of Solo/Cavill and Kuryakin/Hammer being equal.

I did not recognize Hugh Grant as Commander Waverly as his hair has changed from the last time I saw him. It is funny that Grant is the only principle character that used his own accent in the movie.

Due to the various languages spoken in the film, such as Russian and Italian, there are subtitles in the movie. The movie has in international feel as it travels from East Berlin, to Rome.

The graphics of the end credits show the dossiers of the agents of The Man From U.N.C.L.E. - United Network Command for Law and Enforcement.

I am looking forward to more of The Man From U.N.C.L.E. films, even hopefully a film of The Girl From U.N.C.L.E.

On a sad note, before the movie started, the theater showed a video of emergency procedures for the theater in case of an event. It is a shame that with events that are happening in today's news that the movie going experience has come to this.

Rated PG-13 for violence, sexual situations, nudity. Running time: 116 Minutes.

Click below to watch another movie trailer of The Man From Uncle on YouTube.

Click below to watch the Comic-Con movie trailer of The Man From UNCLE on YouTube.

Click below to watch a 60's style movie trailer of The Man From UNCLE from YouTube.

Pancho
All people smile in the same language.

ANT-MAN

2015-07-26T22:41:00.001-07:00

Marvel Studios

Rated: PG-13

Running time: 117 Minutes

Click below to watch a movie trailer of Ant-Man from YouTube.

In Marvel Studio's Ant-Man, ex-burglar Paul Rudd is recruited by retired scientist Michael Douglas to be the super hero Ant-Man to stop rival scientist Corey Stoll from misusing Douglas's Ant-Man technology.

One of the original Avengers from The Avengers comic book, Ant-Man finally makes it to the Marvel Cinematic Universe as the twelfth installment of the MCU movies after being through years of development. Co-Written by Paul Rudd, Ant-Man is the last film of Marvel's Phase Two. Basically Ant-Man is a Marvel version of Honey, I Shrunk the Kids and The Rocketeer. In fact Ant-Man had been in development since the late 1980's when Ant-Man creator Stan Lee pitched the idea to New Line Entertainment - then owner of Marvel - but New Line found it too similar to Honey, I Shrunk the Kids.

In the movie, forty years ago, scientist Douglas develops the Pym particles which allows shrinking technology. Douglas buries that technology and resigns from SHIELD, when his misguided prodigy Stoll attempts to sell the technology to the government as a weapon for an army of soldiers that are the size of insects with superhuman strength - the ultimate secret weapon. When the Stoll of today continues to try to reinvent the technology to use as a weapons system for an army of soldiers, Douglas and his estranged executive daughter of his company Evangeline Lilly recruit ex-con burglar and divorced father Rudd to use his talents and the Ant-Man suit to redeem himself and stop Stoll in order to save the world for both of their daughters.

This movie is much more dramatic than what the currently airing trailers of which the media is airing now portrays. The movie trailers used in this review more closely represent what the style of the movie really is. It was great to see Rudd/Ant-Man going at it as a kick ass fighter with his shrinking technology and defeating security systems, which is what I wanted see in Rudd to be doing for an Ant-Man movie. Lilly is also amazing as the one who trains Rudd/Ant-Man. Most of the comic relief comes from Rudd's buddy Michael Pena and Pena's crew David Dastmalchian and Tip "T.I." Harris - and Pena's crew do not have a large part in this movie. The movie mostly concerns Douglas, Rudd, Lilly and Stoll.

It was also great to see the cameo from Garrett Morris who played Ant-Man at a party in a Saturday Night Live skit. It would have been great if the Morris cameo was at a party as well, in order to have more of a tribute to the SNL skit, maybe a cameo in a party with Stan Lee. For Stan Lee fans, Lee's cameo is at the end of the movie, so you can concentrate mostly on watching the movie until then. It was also great to see cameos of Hayley Atwell as Agent Peggy Carter and John Slattery as inventor Howard Stark, as well as a young CGI'd Micheal Douglas during the 1989 sequence.

It was cool to have the song It's a Small World being used in the film, considering the theme of Ant-Man and the movie being owned by Walt Disney Studios. Curiously, the song It's a Small World does not have a Disney Corporation copyright, and is the only Disney entity outside of Oswald the Lucky Rabbit not to have a Disney copyright. I also liked the story themes of Mentor/Pupil and Father/Daughter that were used in the film, making the movie even more of a family film. I admit to tearing up a little a couple of times during the Father/Daughter scenes, with Douglas and Lilly and with Rudd's daughter Abby Ryder Fortson and the love that they obviously had for each other.

With the introduction of the science of Pym particles, Ant-Man brings the subatomic quantum realm - the Microverse - into the Marvel Cinematic Universe. There are additional ties to the MCU with the continuous referrals to The Avengers. Actually, the movie feels very much like the original Iron Man movie on a small scale (no pun intended). It is amazing to me to realize how many technological suits there are in the MCU.

I wish there was more personality to the ants, but as Douglas says, Do you know how many ants there are? Even for the one ant Rudd seemed to be connect to, a personality would have been nice. Personality for the ants would have made the ants more anthropomorphic, especially when Rudd controls the ants to do his bidding. As it was, I felt Rudd's relationship with the ants appeared to be more of a master/slave relationship otherwise.

The film was shot in the 1.85 format to give a greater appreciation of the vertical aspects of the Ant-Man scenes that can not be appreciated in the traditional 2.35 aspect ratio movie format. The movie also made extensive use of macro photography to show things from Ant-Man's point of view.

It was great to see during the end credits Special Thanks to Marvel comic book artists John Buscema, John Byrne, and Gene Colan.

There is a mid credits scene and an after credits scene. It is curious to note that in my theater, most of the audience stayed all the way through to the end credits. People are getting hip to Marvel's end credits, which is a film-goer's bonus. Personally I enjoy listening to the music of the end credits as well as reading the various film departments and names.

Ant-Man will return.

Click below to watch another movie trailer of Ant-Man from YouTube.

Click below to watch a final trailer of Ant-Man from YouTube.

Rated PG-13 for violence and language. Running time: 117 Minutes.

Pancho
All people smile in the same language.

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TERMINATOR GENISYS

2015-07-18T22:21:00.000-07:00

Paramount Pictures

Rated PG-13

Running time: 126 Minutes

Click below to watch a movie trailer of Terminator Genisys on YouTube.

Paramount Pictures Terminator Genisys, has an apocryphal future war in 2029 against computer artificial intelligence Skynet and it's robot Terminators bent on destroying the human race. Human Resistance soldier Jai Courtney is sent back in time by Human Resistance leader Jason Clarke to save and protect Clarke's mother, Emilia Clarke, from the robot Terminators Brett Azar and Byung-hun Lee that have been sent to kill Emilia Clarke in the past - before the war and before Jason Clarke is born.

The fifth installment in the Terminator series - and the first film in a proposed new Terminator trilogy - the first half of Terminator Genisys is basically a combination of The Terminator and Terminator 2: Judgment Day. The first half of the movie was to me the best and my favorite part of the movie, as the movie explored the various consequences of multiple timelines while time traveling. Courtney was very confused in that the situations were not what he expected to happen when he traveled back in time - as the timeline has been altered. The opposite situation as opposed to a strong kick-ass Emilia Clarke, who knew what was going on - which is opposite of what the original Terminator movie was. The second half of the movie goes off onto it's own story in order to stop Judgement Day from happening - with a Terminator still after them. I was not crazy about the direction of the second half of the story, even if the movie did have tributes to the TV series Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles trying to stop Judgement Day from happening, but I did like the action of the second half of the movie and loved the relationship of the characters. Terminator Creator James Cameron says that he considers Terminator Genisys to be the official third film of the Terminator franchise.

The filmmakers studied the Back to the Future films about how time travel works. This was important as you can get lost with how convoluted the various timelines can become.

Fan favorite Matt Smith (credited as Matthew Smith) was pretty much wasted as a fan favorite as he had very little screen time, although he was an important character. Dayo Okeniyi and Courtney B. Vance's characters were hardly used and those characters are major characters in the series.

There is a very logical explanation of Terminator Arnold Schwarzenegger's mature age in the movie, as he reprises his role, as the filmmakers did not use makeup or CGI to make Arnold younger. Arnold was just as bad-ass as always in this movie and he was fun for me to watch. Many actors in the series were considered to have the actors reprise their original roles, but for various reasons they did not do so. I also do not like Schwarzenegger's credit that was listed in the movie as that is not what his name was. All the questions in the movie were answered except for one, unless I missed the answer which was not obvious. That one question was answered in another movie and I was expecting it to be reiterated in this movie.

There is a mid credits scene at the end of the movie. The first Terminator movie with a mid credits scene. It is also the first film in the series to be shot digitally and the first in the series to be shot with an anamorphic lens.

Click below to watch another movie trailer of Terminator Genisys on YouTube.

Rated PG-13 for violence, language, nudity. Running time: 126 Minutes.

Pancho
All people smile in the same language.

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TOMORROWLAND

2015-06-04T20:16:00.001-07:00

Walt Disney Pictures

Rated PG

Running time: 130 Minutes

Click below to watch a movie trailer of Tomorrowland from YouTube.

In Walt Disney Pictures Tomorrowland, Britt Robertson receives a special pin that takes her to Tomorrowland.

Written and Directed by Brad Bird, a young enthusiastic Thomas Robinson builds a jet pack and brings it to the 1964 New York World's Fair. He is then recruited and given a pin by Raffey Cassidy to be able to gain passage to the secret dimensional metropolis Tomorrowland. Decades later - activist daughter of NASA engineer Tim McGraw - Robertson suddenly finds a pin in her possession and - because of the pin's properties, is so intrigued by the wonders of it - searches for Tomorrowland. She soon tracks down fatalistic George Clooney - who can lead her to Tomorrowland. However, Robertson and Clooney are soon followed by some bad guy Audio Animatronics.

The movie is rated PG, but there were some scenes that I thought should have been PG-13. There was one scene especially - although everything turned out okay in the end - that was pretty shocking to me when it happened. I was going - this is a Disney movie? There are also bad guys in the movie, so there is some violence that is almost PG-13. I would have liked Robertson to have been running around with her brother Pierce Gagnon trying to find Tomorrowland in order to have made the film even more of a family friendly movie.

The movie is split between being optimistic and pessimistic. The movie told the story of two wolves - one good, one evil. The wolves fight each other. Which one wins? The one you feed. That story is the basic theme of the movie. Clooney had fatalistic coverages of the news on his wall of TV monitors feeding his fatalism. While Robertson is chasing after the cool optimism of Tomorrowland. I loved the optimistic future of Tomorrowland, of the best and brightest of the world who wanted to actually change it. That was what I wanted to be fed with during the movie, with Clooney showing Robertson the wonders of Tomorrowland.

Tomorrowland's architecture looks very much like Tomorrowland from Disneyland. The technology of Tomorrowland was also pretty cool too. Some of the technology reminded me of the TV series Eureka. Although we did not get to see the best and brightest of the citizens of Tomorrowland as actual characters in Tomorrowland, except for Cassidy and the governor Hugh Laurie - both of whom were basically controlling the story of Tomorrowland. Actually the closest to seeing the best and brightest people of Tomorrowland, outside of the stars, were mannequins of Gustave Eiffel, Jules Verne, Nikola Tesla and of Thomas Edison. Actually it was pretty cool that the characters of the movie traveled all over the world, giving a true sense of optimism.

The governor of Tomorrowland Laurie was not so optimistic and did not seem as bright as one should be as governor of a scientific society like Tomorrowland. I was surprised and sad that the movie brought up such apocalyptic subjects like Mutually Assured Destruction. As a result, the movie was not as much of a fun positive entertainment as I wanted the movie to be with the threat of the future running out throughout the entire plot.

I liked the science fiction store with all the props and memorabilia of science fiction films. It was great having the owner Hugo Gernsback/Keegan-Michael Key make an entrance to the Star Wars theme song.

What was cool was that the movie had the song There's a Great, Big Beautiful Tomorrow in the beginning of the movie, giving the sense of a positive movie for Robinson. I was singing along with the song, although I was the only one around me doing that in the theater. I guess no one in the theater was old enough to be exposed to the song from Disneyland's late attraction - Carousel of Progress.

I cried at the end of the movie. There is a sense of optimism at the end of the movie, but the music played during the end credits was pretty somber in parts. The Tomorrowland animated sequence during the end credits represents Bird's animation influence.

Based on components of the themed land Tomorrowland at Disney theme parks, the end credits showed that the movie was filmed at Tomorrowland - although part of the movie was definitely filmed at It's a Small World at Fantasyland in Disneyland along with having the song It's a Small World (After All) in the movie, to which I was also singing to. I think it is quite appropriate that Tomorrowland opened during Disneyland's 60th Diamond Anniversary Celebration. I liked the end credit touch at the very end of the credits.

This is the first theatrical film to be released in Dolby Vision.

Click below to watch another movie trailer of Tomorrowland from YouTube.

Click below to watch a final movie trailer of Tomorrowland from YouTube.

Rated PG for violence. Running time: 130 Minutes.

Pancho
All people smile in the same language.

AVENGERS - AGE OF ULTRON

2015-05-09T20:16:00.000-07:00

Walt Disney Studios

Rated PG-13

Running time: 141 Minutes

Click below to watch a movie trailer of Avengers - Age of Ultron from YouTube.

In Walt Disney Studios Avengers - Age of Ultron, an artificial intelligence robot Ultron/James Spader threatens human extinction - and the Avengers must stop it.

In this sequel to The Avengers, and the eleventh installment of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Avengers - Age of Ultron is Written and Directed by Joss Whedon, and has an ensemble cast of Tony Stark/Robert Downey Jr., Thor/Chris Hemsworth, Hulk-Banner/Mark Ruffalo, Captain America/Chris Evans, Black Widow/Scarlett Johansson, and Hawkeye/Jeremy Renner as the Avengers.

After the Avengers raid a Hydra outpost run by Baron Wolfgang von Strucker/Thomas Kretschmann, they run into twins Pietro/Aaron Taylor-Johnson and Wanda/Elizabeth Olsen who were experiments of Strucker using Loki's scepter. After Wanda/Olsen tries to overwhelm Stark/Downey, Jr. with a vision of the deaths of the Avengers, Stark/Downey, Jr. retrieves Loki's scepter. Stark/Downey, Jr. and Banner/Ruffalo discover an artificial intelligence in the scepter's gem and they use it to complete Stark's Ultron global defense program, designed to save the word. When Ultron/Spader becomes sentient, he believes he must destroy humanity in order to save Earth.

Amidst all the action, the movie sets up the Avengers - Infinity Wars movies with the Infinity Stones, as well as a hint of the Captain America - Civil Wars movie with the conflicts between Stark/Downey and his guilt of the possible deaths of the Avengers, and Captain America/Evans with his idealism on the direction and true purpose of the Avengers. Thor's/Hemsworth's vision in the film of the larger threat puts the movie on the path to tie all of the MCU together.

I liked seeing how all of the Avengers powers and abilities have improved in this sequel, although they had to use various Hollywood tricks to cover up Johansson's pregnancy. Hawkeye/Renner had more to do in this film than he had to do in the last film in which his role was pretty much wasted. It was cool watching the Hulkbuster in action. The Hulk's portrayal was based on the Peter David Hulk from the comic books with a split personality of each personality hating the other - which is intensified with his relationship with Black Widow/Johansson, in which you learn more of Black Widow's/Johansson's background. Black Widow's/Johansson's background is a similar background to a similar character in the TV show Marvel's Agent Carter. Hayley Atwell - the star of Agent Carter - had a cameo as her character, Agent Carter, in Age of Ultron. It was great having Lou Ferrigno as the voice of the Hulk in this movie - as well as Nick Fury/Samuel L. Jackson rallying the Avengers to stand and fight.

Seeing the Maximoff twins being there for each other and the use of their powers was great, especially with Taylor-Johnson running outdoors to give life to his running instead of running in front of a green screen. Due to rights issues, Taylor-Johnson's Quicksilver is a different version of the Quicksilver shown in the X-Men movies. As agent Maria Hill/Cobie Smulders says, he's fast and she's weird, referring to Olsen's hypnosis and telekinesis powers.

I loved the theme song of Pinocchio's I Got No Strings for Ultron's/Spader's theme song. This seems appropriate both artistically, and that Disney owns both films. With Ultron/Spader having access to the entire Internet, Age of Ultron also has a more world-wide scope to the movie than The Avengers did as the Avengers travel around the world dealing with Ultron's/Spader's activities and his army of robots. The end of the movie felt very similar to the end of Man of Steel to me, but was a more positive ending as the Avengers worked hard to save the citizens while they battled Ultron/Spader and his robots.

Stan Lee's Excelsior cameo is during the Avenger's party. Lee says that this is his favorite cameo to date, which possibly may be due to his being a World War II veteran. The TV show Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. TV episode "The Dirty Half Dozen" - which aired a few days before the movie's opening - sets up the opening scenes of Avengers - Age of Ultron. Then a few days later, after the movie's opening, the episode "Scars" on Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. picks up after the events of Age of Ultron.

I was at a preview screening of the movie, and there was Thor and Captain America directly behind me in line. Several people were carrying Captain America shields.

For those who listen to the music and stay through all the way to the end credits, there is only one mid-credits scene at the end of the movie. Joss Whedon confirms that there is only one mid credits scene, although there is a leaked second scene on the net that may or may not have been real and was possibly cut out of the movie, but this second "scene" was still fun to watch.

Avengers - Age of Ultron was on track to break the box office for an opening weekend, with a bigger opening weekend than the original Avengers, but was knocked out of the race due to the Mayweather-Pacquiao boxing match that aired that weekend.

Click below to watch another movie trailer of Avengers - Age of Ultron from YouTube.

Click below to watch a final movie trailer of Avengers - Age of Ultron from YouTube.

Rated PG-13. for violence. Running time: 141 Minutes

Pancho
All people smile in the same language.

Insurgent

2015-05-02T21:59:00.000-07:00

Lionsgate

Rated PG-13

Running Time: 119 Minutes

Click below to watch a movie trailer of Insurgent on YouTube.

In Lionsgate Insurgent, has Shailene Woodley and Theo James are on the run after evading a hostile takeover from Kate Winslet and her mind controlled soldiers in post-apocalyptic Chicago.

Based on the second book of the Divergent trilogy written by Veronica Roth, with Ansel Elgort, Ray Stevenson, Zoe Kravitz, Miles Teller, Maggie Q, and Mekhi Phifer returning from Divergent, the movie takes place a few days after the first movie. Jai Courtney and his soldiers search through the wreckage of Abnegation for an unknown box that has the symbols of all the factions. Winslet says that the box contains information from the city's founders with the means to end the Divergence problem which has grown beyond all control, but only a Divergent can open the box - so Winslet orders all Divergents to be hunted down and captured. An angry Woodley, who is the key to the box, goes after Winslet - who believes that Divergents will destroy their society.

I was not familiar with the Divergent series, but I did not have to see the first movie in order to follow what was happening in Insurgent. It is good that most of the cast resumed their roles from the original movie to maintain continuity, with Insurgent being Kate Winslet's first sequel - although the movie Insurgent is different than the novel Insurgent. The movie had the feeling to me of The Maze Runner, especially towards the end, with both movies as post-apocalyptic movies.

This is the first film in the Divergent series to be released in 3-D.

The final book in the Divergent trilogy - Allegiant, will be made into two films, with Shailene Woodley, Theo James, and Naomi Watts reprising their roles.

Click below to watch another movie trailer of Insurgent on YouTube.

Rated PG-13 for violence, sexual situations. Running time: 119 Minutes.

Pancho
All people smile in the same language.

FURIOUS 7

2015-04-20T22:37:00.001-07:00

Universal Pictures

Rated: PG-13

Running Time: 137 Minutes

Click below to watch a movie trailer of Furious 7.

In Universal Pictures Furious 7, Vin Diesel and his crew must find Jason Statham - who is targeting Diesel's "family" after what Diesel did to Statham's brother, Luke Evans.

In the seventh movie in The Fast and the Furious movie series, Diesel, former LAPD Paul Walker and the rest of their crew, Michelle Rodriquez, Tyrese Gibson, and Chris "Ludacris" Bridges have returned to the United States to live normal lives after getting amnesties from Diplomatic Security Service agent Dwayne Johnson - until rogue special forces assassin Statham seeks revenge against "the team that crippled his brother."

The three previous movies of the Fast and Furious films were set between 2 Fast 2 Furious and The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift. Furious 7 is the first film to take place time wise after Tokyo Drift.

The move was released in 3D internationally, which is the first for a film in the series to be released in 3D.

My favorite action scenes were the car drop scenes. These scenes were done for real using a Lockheed C-17 Hercules as well as a C-130 Hercules and various camera angles.

I was not crazy about the fact that Djimon Hounsou was a secondary bad guy in the movie. As much as I like Hounsou, his character distracted from the intensity of Statham's character being the main bad guy. It is also kind of disappointing that Hounsou is being typecast as a villain. I have lost track of how many bad guy roles he has played. I also was not crazy about the fact that the crew never used voice activated headsets, but instead used handheld radios while driving. Considering that their rides are under dangerous conditions, using the handheld radios were rather distracting.

I was expecting Johnson to be playing a major role in the movie, but his role was basically taken up by the leader of a covert ops team Kurt Russell. Russell's character was fun, and I was never quite sure which way he was going to turn.

This is my first Fast and Furious movie, so I am just getting to know these characters. I did not have to see the other movies to enjoy these characters and their relationships with each other. I immediately got that family feeling from them, with Diesel as the patriarch. Actually the whole movie had that family feeling in the film, especially with Jordana Brewster as Walker's wife. It was rather sad seeing Diesel dealing with Rodriquez loss of memory of their relationship together. I think this is a fun, and sad movie to watch.

This movie is mostly known as Paul Walker's final movie. Walker's name is not shown in the opening credits. I thought that I might have missed seeing his name while watching the credits - despite Walker being a major character in the movie, even if he only did half of the filming - and was disappointed in not seeing his name. I realized while watching the movie that the producers would have saved his name for the tribute in the end credits. The movie had to be rewritten and had the rest of the movie filmed with body doubles - including Walker's brothers Caleb Walker and Cody Walker doubling for Walker, with Walker's face CGI'd over their faces. The Walker brothers also provided voice over for Walker's character. The movie does have a logical reason why Walker will not be in any future movies of the Fast and Furious series and I was satisfied and sad with it. Actually with the loss of Walker, I would not be surprised if computer hacker Nathalie Emmanuel becomes a new member of the crew.

At the end of the movie there is a tribute to Walker, including footage from previous Fast and Furious films. You could feel that the filmmakers really wanted to honor Paul's legacy. The movie ends with the dedication - For Paul.

Rated PG-13 for violence and language. Running time: 137 minutes.

Pancho
All people smile in the same language.

Kingsman: THE SECRET SERVICE

2015-02-28T12:50:00.002-08:00

20th Century Fox

Rated R

Running Time: 129 Minutes

Click below to watch a movie trailer of Kingsman: THE SECRET SERVICE on YouTube.

In Twentieth Century Fox's Kingsman: The Secret Service, a smart orphaned street punk Taron Egerton is recruited by tailor Colin Firth/Galahad to join an independent international intelligence agency to stop megalomaniac Samuel L. Jackson from committing genocide.

Based on the comic book, The Secret Service by Dave Gibbons and Mark Millar, and Directed by Matthew Vaughn, Kingsman: The Secret Service is basically classic James Bond movies meets the British agents from The Avengers as well as a mix of Men in Black, without the aliens, and My Fair Lady, as the movie follows the recruitment and training of potential secret agent Egerton in which Firth/Galahad sponsors Egerton to compete with other various young potential agents for the Kingsmen, which includes candidate Sophie Cookson, and trained by Mark Strong/Merlin to become the next Lancelot agent. The Kingsmen are modern day Knights of the Round Table from Arthurian legends, with leader Michael Caine as Arthur. This is an over-the-top comic book spy film - which is similar in plot to Tom Clancy's novel Rainbow Six - and is a proposed origin film for a new proposed film series. The graphic violence in the movie is lessened by the comic depiction of the violence, but is still rather graphic.

It seems funny to me, but rather more appropriate to me that Egerton's training from Strong/Merlin did not relate to Egerton's final fight scenes in the movie, despite their relationship - but rather it was Egerton's training from Firth/Galahad which trained him for Egerton's final fight scenes. I wanted to see more of a relationship between Egerton and his dog J.B. which added some comedy relief. Actually, I wanted to see more scenes with the trainees and their dogs. I believe the dogs should have been a major part of their training.

I liked the fact that Kingsman has a world-wide scope, like a true James Bond film dealing with various countries and heads of state, including heads of state Hanna Alstrom and Bjorn Floberg. Having Colin Firth doing 80% of his own stunts made his performance even more believable. I also liked the fact that the Kingmen are gentlemen, with A Gentlemen's Guide for a strict code of conduct since "Manners Maketh Man," This Gentlemen's code of conduct is a major aspect of Firth/Galahad's relationship with Egerton. I also liked the fact that the Kingsmen have a stylish line of tailor's clothes in conjunction with men's style retailer Mr. Porter. The collaborations between luxury retailer Mr. Porter and various heritage brands is the first of its kind to make Kingsman: The Secret Service the first film with outfits from the movie available for the moviegoers to buy.

I was not crazy about Jackson's lisp in the movie, until I found out that his lisp represents a typical "dysfunction" of some form of a James Bond villain and is reminiscent of Jackson's own lisp when he was younger that he had overcome. It is quite ironic that Jackson's character is named Valentine and that the movie was released on Valentine's Day weekend. In a cameo role - based on a combinations of characters from the comic book, including himself - having Mark Hamil using his Joker voice was a little distracting to me considering his character as I wanted to hear his normal voice, but it is cleverly ironic that Hamil is in the movie after being in the original comic book.

It was funny to me that at the end of the movie, while I was leaving, a lady was telling the usher who was cleaning up, "That was a great movie, except for the end. That was so strange." I thought the ending was totally appropriate for a classic James Bond takeoff.

Rated R for graphic violence, language, nudity.

Pancho
All people smile in the same language.

NIGHT OF THE MUSEUM: SECRET OF THE TOMB

2015-02-12T21:53:00.001-08:00

20th Century Fox

Rated: PG

Running time: 98 Minutes

Click below to watch the movie trailer of Night of the Museum: Secret of the Tomb on YouTube.

In Twentieth Century Fox's Night of the Museum: Secret of the Tomb, the living museum exhibits of the New York City of the American Museum of Natural History are acting strangely and Ben Stiller must go to London to the British Museum where the other half of the exhibits are in order to fix the magical tablet that makes them come alive - before Stiller's museum friends become wax exhibits forever.

The final installment of the Night of the Museum trilogy, Night of the Museum: Secret of the Tomb is basically Night of the Museum set in London as the other exhibits, returning characters Teddy Roosevelt/Robin Williams, Jedediah/Owen Wilson, Octavius/Steve Coogan, Ahkmenrah/Rami Malek, Attila the Hun/Patrick Gallagher, Sacajawea/Mizuo Peck, and Dexter/Crystal the Monkey follow Stiller to London. The movie goes more into the history of the magical tablet. Given that, the only real British aspect of the movie is Sir Lancelot/Dan Stevens, as well as Rebel Wilson's Australian accent. I would have loved to have Stiller and his son learn more about London and the British Museum in this movie. The movie is also the shortest of the Museum trilogy, so that also makes the movie feel not as satisfying. My favorite scenes are of Neanderthal Stiller and Rebel Wilson. The juxtaposition between Neanderthal Stiller and Stiller's music DJ son Skyler Gisondo is interesting as is Stiller's relationship to both of them.

The uncredited cameos with Hugh Jackman and Alice Eve were cute. It is ironic that Jackman made his acting debut as King Arthur in a production of Camelot as a child. I liked the fact that the uncredited Alice Eve portrayed herself along with Jackman playing himself.

It was nice to have Dick Van Dyke, Bill Cobbs, and Mickey Rooney reprise their original roles.

At the end of the film there is a dedication to Robin Williams and Mickey Rooney. The scenes with Williams and Rooney are heartbreaking when you think about them, with this being Williams final onscreen role.

Rated PG for violence. Running time: 98 minutes.

Pancho
All people smile in the same language.

TAKEN 3

2015-02-07T20:17:00.001-08:00

20th Century Fox

Rated: PG-13

Running time: 109 Minutes

Click below to watch the movie trailer of Taken 3.

In Twentieth Century Fox's Taken 3, Liam Neeson is wrongly accused of a horrible crime and is on the run from LAPD inspector Forrest Whitaker and the Los Angeles Police Department.

In the third and final film in the Taken series, and Written by Luc Besson and Robert Mark Kamen, Neeson, Famke Janssen, and Maggie Grace return as Neeson gets a text to meet with his ex-wife Janssen when he discovers something horrible. Immediately the Los Angeles Police Department arrive to arrest him for a crime he did not commit. Neeson escapes and looks for the person who framed him while trying to protect his pregnant daughter Grace from suffering the same fate.

While I have always like Liam Neeson, this movie felt like a poor man's John Wick, although Neeson did do all of his own fighting sequences for the film.

Being a Trojan, I liked the fact that they used aerial footage of USC, and several extras were listed as USC students during Grace's university scenes.

Forrest Whitaker was pretty much wasted in this movie. I really had wanted him to play more of an obsessed detective in getting Neeson in this movie as the movie trailers seem to portray. Having Neeson and Whitaker matching wits in their various obsessions, with the police caught in the middle would have been great to see. I really wanted to see more of the police coordinating with each other a lot more in order to get Neeson rather than what was shown in the movie.

Click below to watch another movie trailer of Taken 3.

Rated PG-13 for violence and language. Running time: 109 Minutes.

Pancho
All people smile in the same language.

INTO THE WOODS

2015-01-30T20:50:00.001-08:00

Walt Disney Pictures

Rated PG

Running time: 125 Minutes

Click below to watch the movie trailer of Into the Woods.

In Walt Disney Pictures Into the Woods, a childless baker James Corden and his wife Emily Blunt must find certain items for witch Meryl Streep in order for her to remove the curse that she had put on their family tree.

Based on the Tony Award winning Broadway musical by Stephen Sondheim, and Directed by Rob Marshall, this live-action musical movie intertwines the fairy tales of Little Red Riding Hood - Lilla Crawford, Cinderella - Anna Kendrick, Jack and the Beanstalk - Daniel Huttlestone, and Rapunzel - Mackenzie Mauzy, between Corden's and Blunt's original story quest of going into the woods for items from each of these fairy tale characters.

While I have never seen the theatrical production, Into the Woods seems well-adapted as a movie. It is a shame that due to the low budget, Director Rob Marshall decided not to shoot the movie in 3-D Adapting a stage production into a movie seemed perfect, especially moving the camera through the woods, as well as the direction/choreography of the artificial waterfall for the duet of Chris Pine and Billy Magnussen singing the song Agony. Actually I thought Chris Pine was much better as a singer than I thought he would be. Although several songs from the theatrical production were cut from the film, I love the ensemble cast of the movie with Corden and Blunt leading the way, and Streep singing her own songs live. Crawford's and Huttlestone's performances I thought were wonderful considering their ages, but then Crawford and Huttlestone are veterans of musical theater with Huttlestone appearing in Les Miserables.

This a a dark movie - and people should remember that, despite the Disney name, this is a Steven Sondheim musical and not your typical Disney family oriented animated movie musical. This is the second Broadway adaption that Disney has made, and the style and themes of the movie are slightly different from Disney, being a darker, existentialist, and more adult movie - along with the consequences of wishes as the major theme of the movie since the musical was not originated from Disney and does not follow the happily ever after fairy tale endings that we have all grown up with.

Even though Johnny Depp is credited in the movie, Depp's performance is really just a cameo appearance in the movie. The movie is not about Depp, but his performance did capture his character as it was based on the Zoot suit wearing Wolf from the old 1940's Tex Avery cartoons.

Click below to watch another movie trailer of Into the Woods.

Rated PG for violence and sexual intentions. Running time: 125 Minutes.

Pancho
All people smile in the same language.

ST. VINCENT

2014-12-13T22:00:00.003-08:00

The Weinstein Company

Rated PG-13

Running time: 102 Minutes

Click below to watch a movie trailer of St. Vincent from YouTube.

In The Weinstein Company's St. Vincent, drunken, gambling slacker Bill Murray winds up being babysitter to next door neighbor boy Jaeden Lieberher.

Single mom Melissa McCarthy and her 12 year-old son Jaeden Lieberher move in next door to cantankerous Murray's home. Jobless, in debt, and desperate for money, a reluctant Murray offers up himself to being a babysitter and unwitting mentor to Lieberher.

As Lieberher's mother and being a nurse, this is probably the most normal role that I have seen Melissa McCarthy play in the movies. McCarthy's indignation to Murray's idea of after-school activities for Lieberher is pure mom, especially with Lieberher being in a private religious school. I did like the growing mentoring relationship between Murray and Lieberher, especially as you learn more about Murray. While I am not an expert, Murray's lady of the night Naomi Watts Russian accent seemed totally believable to me.

This is the best acting that I have seen Bill Murray do as his character goes through some changes. I would not be surprised if Murray gets nominated for an Oscar for Best Actor for this movie role.

After watching the Vietnam War pictures in the movie, it seemed appropriate that I saw St. Vincent on Veterans Day.

Rated PG-13 for Sexual Situations, Language, and Violence.

Pancho
All people smile in the same language.

BIG HERO 6

2014-12-06T21:55:00.001-08:00

Walt Disney Pictures

Rated PG

Running time: 102 Minutes

Click below to watch a movie trailer of Big Hero 6 from YouTube.

In Walt Disney Pictures Big Hero 6, Hiro/Ryan Potter has his invention stolen and used for evil by a man in a kabuki mask, so Ryan/Potter uses his brother Tadashi/Daniel Henney's robot Baymax/Scott Adsit to stop him.

Based on the Marvel Comics superhero team by Man of Action, and mainly draws from the mini-series where Wasabi and Fred first appeared. Big Hero 6 is the 54th Disney animated feature and is the first Disney animated feature film to feature characters from Marvel Entertainment and gave special thanks to Marvel - although this movie is not part of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. As much as I wanted it to be part of the MCU, Big Hero 6 is not part of that universe.

Set in the hybrid metropolis San Fransokyo, a combination of San Francisco and Tokyo, Hiro/Potter is a punk robotics expert engaging in robofights. Older brother Tadashi/Henney, trying to get Hiro/Potter off the streets, takes Hiro/Potter to his robotics lab at his university The Institute of Technology where Hiro/Potter meets his friends Go Go/Jamie Chung, Wasabi/Damon Wayans Jr., Honey Lemon/Genesis Rodriguez, and mascot Fred/T.J. Miller - as well as Baymax/Adsit, an inflatable soft robotics huggable personal health care robot that Tadashi/Henney created to help people. Tadashi/Henney's teacher, Professor Callaghan/James Cromwell gets impressed with Hiro/Potter. Hiro/Potter wants to go the nerd school and designs his own robotics project for the annual exhibition so he can get an invitation to the school. Soon, a man in a mask steels Hiro's/Potter's project and Hiro/Potter and his nerd friends, with the help of Baymax/Adsit, form a superhero team and go after the masked man to get answers.

The geek/nerd in me liked the fact that the characters are all geniuses. This is a positive portrayal for education for young people, especially when Hiro/Potter says that he has to get into this nerd school. I have had nephews and nieces enter robotic competitions, so the robots, especially penguin waddling Baymax/Adsit, were also cool to me. I also like the fact that Hiro/Potter is the first biracial lead in a Disney animated film. Hiro/Potter's invention for the annual exhibition reminds me of the Power Ring from Green Lantern where the only limit is your imagination. While yes Big Hero 6 is a story of a boy and his robot Baymax/Adsit, the movie is much more than what the trailer commercials that most people have seen as part of the marketing campaign portrays. Visually the animation style of the movie reminds me of Japanese manga with a Disney feel. Big Hero 6 is the first Disney animated film to be adapted into a Japanese manga.

For Stan Lee fans, there is a portrait of him in Fred's/Miller's house and some of the audience reacted positively to seeing that scene. I also liked that Fred/Miller's dialog was mostly improvised by comedian Miller.

Of course, being based on a Marvel comic, there is an after credits scene at the end of the movie. I think that this was the best after credits scene that I have ever seen of any movie, Marvel included. There is a special credit at the end of this scene. Those few in the audience that had stayed behind during the credits music for this scene applauded. Being part of a comic book series, I would not be surprised if there were a sequel or even a series of movies to Big Hero 6 in the near future with further adventures of this superhero team.

Big Hero 6 is the first animated Marvel film to be released theatrically via Walt Disney Animation Studios. This is also the first Disney animated feature which shows the studio logos in the beginning, and the main title, the closing credits sequence, and the studio logos at the end, as well as the first to have "Created and Produced at Walt Disney Animation Studios, Burbank, California" at the end. It is also the first WDAS feature to use Disney's Hyperion Rendering system for light shining through a translucent object like Baymax/Adsit's covering.

In the beginning of the movie was a short feature from Walt Disney Animation Studios, Feast. This was a cute short about hungry Boston terrier dog Winston and his master James. Feast was nominated for an Annie Award for Best Animated Short Subject at the 42nd Annie Awards.

I also saw this movie on the day that the trailer for Star Wars: The Force Awakens premiered, on Black Friday 2014. At the end of the trailer the audience applauded. One guy behind me said, Again! Again!

Click below to watch another movie trailer of Big Hero 6 from YouTube.

Click below to watch a final movie trailer of Big Hero 6 from YouTube.

Rated PG for violence. Running time: 102 Minutes.

Pancho
All people smile in the same language.

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