FURIOUS 7

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
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Kingsman: THE SECRET SERVICE

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
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NIGHT OF THE MUSEUM: SECRET OF THE TOMB

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.

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TAKEN 3

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.

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INTO THE WOODS

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.

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ST. VINCENT

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.

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BIG HERO 6

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
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