First movies to be watched in the new year! Just a handful, but I suspect this will increase quickly as the end of 2014 movies are being released in early 2015. My goal is not to write about 100+ movies in 2 movie posts like I did last year...LoL Yeah, I didn't realize that either until I was doing my recap for last year's movies. Whoops!
Night at the Museum: Secret of the Tomb (Ben Stiller, Robin Williams, Owen Wilson, etc) - Just about what you'd expect from a Night at the Museum movie. I liked the end of the trilogy. I thought it worked well and wrapped some things. It was especially poignant with Williams in it. Hugh Jackman had a great scene and I'd see him in "Camelot"! Grade: B
Boyhood (Ellar Coltrane, Patricia Arquette) - Had to see this after hearing about it and also hearing they filmed it over 12 years. It was pretty good. It sometimes took you a little bit to figure out it skipped to the next year, but it was an interesting look at someone growing up. I kind of liked how the movie was about him growing up, but it also was about everyone else growing up too (e.g., his mom). It was good. Grade: B/B+
Taken 3 (Liam Neeson) - Erm...I knew this was going to be bad when I heard/saw absolutely zero marketing for this! When Chris told me it was out, I seriously thought it was one of those spin-offs that no one hears about or straight to DVD...It's pretty bad and pretty predictable. The end action scene I didn't really enjoy, but I liked the other ones in the movie earlier on. It was too long, though. Grade: D
No Good Deed (Taraji P. Henson, Idris Elba) - Sometimes, there are reasons why you never hear about movies in theater...Yeah, this was one of them. It was really bad...I did like the twist, though. That I wasn't expecting. The movie definitely led you to believe it was a coincidence, but then you find out the true motive. So that was kind of interesting, but it really was bad. Grade: D
A Walk Among the Tombstones (Liam Neeson, Dan Stevens) - Kind of noir-ish or something? It was stylistic to say the least. It wasn't terrible. Wasn't great. It was predictable, but I liked Neeson's acting. Grade: C-
Dawn of the Planet of the Apes (Jason Clarke, Gary Oldman, Keri Russell) - Wayyyy too long and wayyyy too slow in the first half of the movie. So glad I watched this on DVD. It was so boring the first hour. The last hour picked up, but the end battle scene was only okay. It didn't even hold my interest as much as I thought. I guess it you sat and thought about it, there was an interesting message in it. I liked some of the interactions of Cesar with Clarke and Russell. It could have been shorter, though. Grade: C-
This is Where I Leave You (Jason Bateman, Tina Fey, Jane Fonda, etc) - Your predictable kind of family drama (with a hint of comedy) with some romance thrown in. I wanted it to be BETTER with the cast it had. It's an excellent cast (Chris's comment: Who's NOT in this movie?) and the scenes they're in are good, but the story just wasn't the greatest. Grade: C/C-
American Sniper (Bradley Cooper, Sienna Miller) - Had to see this given it's Cooper and up for an Oscar nom. Knew Chris wouldn't mind seeing it in theater (compared to Selma or Theory of Everything). It's a long movie (2:14 hours), but it needs the length to get you through 4 tours, his training/meeting his wife, and post-duty. The violence is, well, violent in it, but it's a war movie. He's a sniper. It tries its best to show you the difficulties he had while on duty and how hard it was to get back into a "normal life" when he'd come back. I completely forgot how Chris Kyle's story ends, though, so it was sad for me. I remembered after the movie about the headlines in 2013. I think Cooper did a fantastic job portraying Kyle and I think Miller did a good too. It's a good movie. Maybe not the greatest in the ways of story, but that wasn't the point as most biopics aren't about the story. They're about the people. The length...it's hard to say it should have been trimmed to be shorter, but it did feel long. Still good and will stick with me for a while. Grade: B+
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