Tuesday, June 16, 2015

In Theaters: June 19, 2015

There are TWO wide releases this weekend!

Dope


If it weren't for all the crap this is rated R for it would look pretty interesting to me!  Dope is about a group of nerdy inner city kids and a particularly bad/interesting/movie-worthy day in their lives.

But Dope is rated R for language, drug content, sexuality/nudity and some violence - all involving teens.  What a shame, am I right?

Inside Out


Inside Out is finally here!  For annoying scheduling reasons, 2014 had no Pixar release.  That means Inside Out is our first Pixar release since June 21st, 2013 - almost exactly two years ago - when Monsters University came out.  This is annoying because it broke the streak of Pixar releasing a new movie every year for seven years straight, and a movie was ready to be released, it was just the schedule that didn't work for Disney.

Anyway it's here now!  Inside Out is about the characters (character traits, really) that live inside your head.  That's Sadness, Anger, Fear, Joy, etc.  I've already heard many of my friends express their excitement for this movie, and these are people who don't normally pay very much attention to movies, so I'm thinking this one will do well.  It may not knock Jurassic World from its record-breaking perch, but it will still do well.

Inside Out is rated PG for mild thematic elements and some action.


      Big Shot Critic

Friday, June 12, 2015

Review: Jurassic World

Jurassic World


      Think back to the first time you saw Jurassic Park.  Think of the wonder of seeing the dinosaurs on screen.  Think of the tension you felt when they got loose.  And think of the thrill of the whole experience.  All these elements have been redesigned, revamped, and repackaged for your viewing pleasure in Jurassic World.  It feels very much like a Jurassic Park movie.  And it delivers.
      The original theme from Jurassic Park is withheld from all the trailers and ads for Jurassic World.  This is a very intelligent move.  When the original theme played in Jurassic World I was sucked right in.  It's a cheap trick but, oh boy, does it work.
      The whole movie treads very familiar ground.  There are many plot points in common with the original Jurassic Park.  Maybe even most of the plot points.  But they all feel fresh and completely viable today, on June 12, 2015.  Part of this must be attributed to the cast which includes Chris Pratt, Bryce Dallas Howard, Irrfan Khan, and Vincent D'Onofrio.  All did well, but combine this performance in a leading role with last year's Guardians of the Galaxy (the role that skyrocketed Chris Pratt to fame last August) and Chris Pratt is here to stay.  This movie sets in stone his A-List status.
      The wonder of the original so perfectly blended with the horror of escaped dinosaurs, I think, is the balance that made it work so well.  That balance was missing from The Lost World and Jurassic Park III, but makes a great return in Jurassic World.  I had almost forgotten movies could make me feel this way.  It's a total thrill ride.


      Big Shot Critic

Wednesday, June 10, 2015

In Theaters: June 12, 2015

There is only ONE wide release this weekend!

Jurassic World


A great many teenagers will be seeing this movie this weekend who weren't even born when Jurassic Park III came out in 2001.  It's been a full fourteen years since the last one came out and that's why I don't get where the hype is coming from for this movie!  It's a mystery.  Since when does a movie franchise go from great (Jurassic Park) to good (The Lost World) to bad (Jurassic Park III) in only eight years . . . and then fourteen years later people get stoked for the fourth one??  Do you see my confusion?

Don't get me wrong.  I expect it to be decent, but I'm wondering why the general public (those who often scoff at reboots and remakes) are so gung-ho about this one!  I just don't get it.

Everyone has faith in Chris Pratt after Guardians of the Galaxy, but director Colin Trevorrow is decidedly unproven.  He has one feature to his credit, the 2012 independent comedy Safety Not Guaranteed, which starred one of my least favorite actresses, Aubrey Plaza.  Interestingly, that movie had something to do with dinosaurs!  The premise was that a journalist answers an ad on a wanted page from a crazy man seeking an assistant to travel with him back in time to see dinosaurs in a time machine he claimed to have invented.  The movie got its title from the final line of the ad, "Safety Not Guaranteed."

Also, the premise of Jurassic World seems like very very familiar territory for this franchise.  A new kind of dinosaur gets free in the park and attacks people.  Honestly, how is this exciting to people!?  I don't understand it.  I'll go see it, but I don't understand it.

In any case Jurassic World is rated PG-13 for intense sequences of science-fiction violence and peril.


      Big Shot Critic

Wednesday, June 3, 2015

In Theaters: June 5, 2015

There are THREE wide releases this weekend.

Entourage



I have heard of a TV show called Entourage for eleven years now, and I didn't even know what channel it aired on until today.

Entourage was a show on HBO that ran from 2004 to 2011.  It was about a successful actor from Queens, New York, and his group of friends as they adjust to life in Los Angeles.  I've only ever heard of it because they've been trying to get a movie off the ground for probably five years now.  Here it is!

Early reviews are pretty bad.  It has a 29% on Rotten Tomatoes as of this post.

Entourage is rated R for pervasive language, strong sexual content, nudity and some drug use.

Insidious Chapter 3


So it turns out there was an Insidious 2.  Who knew?  The Insidious movies are the heavy hitters of horror these days.  The first one came out in 2011 and led the whole horror genre away from the "torture porn" era marked by Saw movies.  This is a very good thing, as horror had become little more than extreme violence with a paper thin script.  So bring on more Insidious!  What's this one about?  Let's see.

I'm pretty sure this one is about, um, evil spirits?  Or, like, haunted stuff maybe?  Anyway, one thing is for sure.  There are only three I's in the word "insidious" so they're gonna have to really step up their number incorporation game if they make a fourth one.

Insidious Chapter 3 is rated PG-13 for violence, frightening images, some language and thematic elements.

Spy


Let's review.  Sure, Paul Feig directed Bridesmaids and The Heat.  He has made a name for himself in R-rated comedies.  So if you like those, you'll probably like this.  But be warned: Paul Feig is also the one who started this strange all female Ghostbusters reboot idea.  Very strange.

Also, I find Melissa McCarthy mostly annoying.  I'm warming up to her though.

As for the premise, the poster kinda says it all.  Melissa McCarthy works for the CIA as a pencil pusher but she is needed in the field.

Spy is rated R for language throughout, violence, and some sexual content including brief graphic nudity.


      Big Shot Critic