GOD'S NOT DEAD 2

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
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TOMORROWLAND

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.

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.

Pancho
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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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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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Dolphin Tale 2

Warner Bros.

Rated PG

Running time: 107 Minutes


















Click below to watch a movie trailer of Dolphin Tale 2.



In Warner Bros. Dolphin Tale 2, bottlenose dolphin Winter is depressed and is in danger of being removed from the Clearwater Marine Aquarium that she is rehabilitating at unless she pairs up with another dolphin.

Based on real events and Written and Directed by Charles Martin Smith, this sequel to Dolphin Tale continues the story of Winter - whose tail was lost in a crab trap. Most of the cast Harry Connick, Jr., Ashley Judd, Nathan Gamble, Cozi Zuehlsdorff, Kris Kristofferson, Morgan Freeman, Juliana Harkavy, Austin Stowell, and Austin Highsmith from Dolphin Tale returns in Dolphin Tale 2.

I did not know that the USDA, United States Department of Agriculture, was responsible for aquarium animals. USDA inspector Charles Martin Smith was appropriately upset about the condition of Winter, although he refers to Winter as a number than her name. After giving Connick Jr. a violation for keeping Winter in isolation and her deteriorating health, Smith issues a requirement that Connick, Jr. match Winter with another female dolphin or he will have Winter transferred.

Young people Gamble and Zuehlsdorff are of course upset that Winter may be transferred from the aquarium and argue with Connick, Jr. that they can not lose Winter and should pair her up with another dolphin named Mandy that Connick, Jr. is planning on releasing back into the sea. It is fortunate that a juvenile female dolphin named Hope has been rescued and is being brought to the aquarium. Not only would Gamble and Zuehlsdorff be happy with this new development, but this would also appease the Board of Dirctors of the aquarium. It is sad, but there is also the reality that the aquarium is also a business as well as a marine hospital - although being a business is not the focus of the aquarium.

I have always liked dolphins, especially after shooting a documentary video Dolphins of the Orange Coast for the Coastal Dolphin Survey Project for Orange Coast College. Knowing that there are teams of marine scientists that care for our sea animals makes me very happy.

I liked the cameo of disabled surfer Bethany Hamilton, and also that dolphins Winter and Hope played themselves. It is great that the movie was filmed at the actual Clearwater Marine Aquarium.

At the end of the movie there was actual archival video of the events that the movie had portrayed - including interaction with Winter with many people with disabilites, most of which were children.

There are plans for a third Dolphin Tale movie, continuing the Clearwater Marine Aquarium's mission of Rescue, Rehabilitate, and Release.

Click here to watch a movie featurette of Dolphin Tale 2.

http://www.traileraddict.com/dolphin-tale-2/featurette-the-mission


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HOW TO TRAIN YOUR DRAGON 2

DreamWorks Animation

Rated PG

Running time: 102 Minutes

Click below to watch a movie trailer of How to Train Your Dragons 2.



In Dreamworks Animation's How to Train Your Dragon 2, Hiccup/Jay Baruchel and his dragon Toothless map the unexplored lands and territories, when they come across an insane dragon conqueror called Drago Bludvist/Djimon Hounsou - as well as someone from Hiccup's/Baruchel's past.

This is the second movie in the How to Train Your Dragon trilogy Executive Produced, Written, and Directed by Dean DeBlois, and based on the How to Train Your Dragon book series by Cressida Cowell.

This is one of those rare movies that I think is actually better than the original movie. The story is bigger and more open than in the first movie as Hiccup/Baruchel explore the area surrounding the island of Berk from which he is from. The characters from the first movie have returned. Hiccup's/Baruchel's father Gerard Butler, as well as characters Craig Ferguson, America Ferrera, Jonah Hill, Christopher Mintz-Plasse, T.J. Miller, Kristen Wiig, and the friends have grown in the reported five years since the events of the first movie and are young adults now. Hiccup/Baruchel grows even more as the movie develops, especially when he meets Valka/Cate Blanchett. Hiccup/Baruchel's scenes when flying with Toothless were awe inspiring to watch. It helps that there was the Dreamworks Dragons TV show that aired in-between the release dates of the two movies which had showed how the dragons were being integrated into the Viking island of Berk, including running dragon games. After watching the TV show, it is not such a culture shock when watching How to Train Your Dragon 2 from the story of the original How to Train Your Dragon. The animation of How to Train Your Dragon 2 is quite involved too as the movie depicts the various new dragons and massive battle scenes, which reminded me of World War II battle scenes.

I think of all the movies that I had watched over the Fourth of July weekend, How to Train Your Dragon 2 was the best movie for me story and entertainment-wise. This movie was a lot of fun. I loved at how family motivated the movie is with Hiccup/Baruchel and how emotional the movie was for me as a result. Even Toothless seemed to become part of a family when they discover the new world of dragons. I will admit that I had cried when I watched this movie, as the movie was that powerful toward the end.

One thing that did bother me - and it should not bother me as this is an animated movie, so they were not hurt - was of how the sheep were used in this movie. I kept thinking of The American Humane Association. This is an animated movie, and how the sheep were used were funny and reminded me of the Wallace and Gromit movies - but how the sheep were used would have been disturbing in a live action movie and I had to keep reminding myself that this is an animated movie and thus not real.

The final movie in the trilogy, currently titled How to Train Your Dragon 3, is scheduled for release on June 17, 2016.

Click below to watch another movie trailer of How to Train Your Dragon 2.



Click below to watch the featurette movie trailer of How to Train Your Dragon 2.



Rated PG for violence. Running time: 102 Minutes.

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Maleficent

Walt Disney Pictures

Rated PG

Running time: 97 Minutes



Click below to watch a movie trailer of Maleficent.




Walt Disney Pictures Maleficent is the story of the fairy queen Maleficent, Angelina Jolie, who curses the baby daughter of a king into a death-like sleep on her sixteenth birthday.

In this live action version of Walt Disney's 1959 animated movie Sleeping Beauty and released on Sleeping Beauty's 55th Anniversary in 2014, Maleficent is told from the point of view of the queen fairy Maleficent - who was the villain in Sleeping Beauty and is considered to be the greatest villain in Disney history. In this 2014 movie you get to know who Maleficent is. In a similar style to Walt Disney Pictures Oz the Great and Powerful, both visually and story-wise, in that Maleficent is also a tragedy such as in Oz the Great and Powerful. The movie Maleficent is a tour de force for Actress and Executive Producer Jolie as you feel for Maleficent as she goes through a very personal dark and painful time in the movie. Jolie worked closely with the costume designers and special make-up effects artist Rick Baker to maintain the scary look of the animated Sleeping Beauty. It is curious that all the actors were chosen in part for their likeness to their characters in the animated Sleeping Beauty. Fairy actresses Lesley Manville, Imelda Staunton, and Juno Temple were guided by the artists of Cirque du Soleil to give the proper feeling of featherweight and agility when Manville, Staunton, and Temple are the tiny fairies.

As the king, Sharlto Copley appears to show any love to his daughter Aurora/Elle Fanning. King Copley is so obsessed on his plans of destroying Maleficent/Jolie, that he has no time or interest for family. In fact, you do not know the queen/Hannah New at all. She only has a couple of lines and then you do not see her at all anymore. Queen New is basically just there in the movie as a cameo of Aurora's/Fanning's mother and you do not care about her at all.

It should be pointed out that the movie Maleficent is not exactly the same story as Sleeping Beauty. While the movie has elements of Sleeping Beauty, Maleficent does not follow the story that everyone has grown up with. Although Aurora's/Fanning's baby christening sequence is word for word from the movie Sleeping Beauty - because Jolie felt that this sequence was the core and setup of the entire movie of Maleficent, and the movie is really about what happened before this scene - the first time that I had realized that the story of Maleficent would be a different story was when a minor plot point was not revealed. I kept expecting that particular plot point would be revealed later on in the movie, but it never was.

It was great to hear the song "Once Upon a Dream" from the 1959 Sleeping Beauty film as the end credits song for Maleficent, which was sung for the movie Maleficent by Lana Del Rey, who was chosen to sing the song by Jolie.

There are so many wonderful movie trailers of this movie. It was hard for me to pick a movie trailer for this review. For this review, I choose the movie trailers that compared Maleficent with Sleeping Beauty, as people would be familiar most with Sleeping Beauty. Click here to watch the Maleficent movie trailers.

Click below to watch another movie trailer of Maleficent.

 
Rated PG for violence and intense scenes. Running time: 97 Minutes.

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GOD'S NOT DEAD

Pure Flix Entertainment

Rated PG

Running Time: 113 Minutes

Click below to watch the God's Not Dead movie trailer.



In Pure Flix Entertainment's God's Not Dead, freshman college student Shane Harper must prove to his Philosophy teacher Kevin Sorbo that God's Not Dead.

When Sorbo refuses to waste time in his philosophy class debating about the Big Man in the Sky, Sorbo has his class write down God is Dead. Christian-based Harper can not do that - and Sorbo assigns Harper to defend the antithesis. The class soon becomes a mock-trial about the existence of God.

Based on the book God's Not Dead by Rice Broocks and the song "Like a Lion"  written by Christian artist Daniel Bashta - which became the song "God's Not Dead" for the Christian Band the Newsboys. I liked Harper's struggles in how to deal with defending his beliefs, in his Christianity. It made me think of if I were strong enough to take on such a task to defend my belief in God, and how I would do it if I could.

While some of the film is an over-the-top, in-your-face style of Christianity which bothered me, the blatant anti-Christianity also bothered me. Reporter Trisha LaFache's ambush interviews seemed especially mean-spirited. Things and ideas should be brought into the movie slowly. The small conversations discussing what this was all about were the ones that were the most profound to me. I did like the arguments, both pro and con, of the existence of God - especially the science arguments by Harper of Darwinism and the Big Bang. The list of philosophers used in the movie, most of which I did not make the connection that they were atheists before, drove home the intellectual elitism to me of which the college tenure portrayed. The film also showed how other cultures approach God, some of which felt very stereotyped to me in the movie.

I liked the fact that there were several mentions of the play Death of a Salesman. It is curious how some of the themes in Death of a Salesman actually plays into the movie God's Not Dead.

There was a large cast of characters, which I liked, but I was not exactly happy that all of the characters were connected to each other in some way. I would have preferred groups of characters having their own stories - in which they basically did, but have no connection to each other at all.

Not only is the title of the movie based on the Christian artist band Newsboys song God's Not Dead, the Newsboys have a larger presence in the movie than just a cameo. While the movie is definitely a drama between Harper and Sorbo, the movie is also a concert film for the Newsboys, which is not necessarily a bad thing. Other Christian artists songs are also used as background music in the movie. Cameos from A & E's TV show Duck Dynasty, Willie Robertson and Korie Robertson, made for an interesting appearance. I liked how Robertson explained that everything, money, success, life is temporary - but that Jesus is not.

It is great that both Kevin Sorbo and Dean Cain appear in this movie. Sorbo was up for the role of Superman in the TV series Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman - in which Cain got the part, while Sorbo got the role of Hercules in Hercules: The Legendary Journeys. It is interesting to note that these heroes play not-so-heroic roles in God's Not Dead. Too bad they did not have any scenes together, but it is nice to know that Sorbo and Cain were in the same movie together.

Because of the college environment, this film should be seen by youth groups and has a definite youth group feeling to it - especially coming from the pastor David A.R. White and his missionary friend Benjamin Ochieng - and about the choices we make. The Free Will. The film reminded me of my college days and of my relationships with my professors. I saw this film at a matinee and the theater was half-full. This is very good for a limited release film on it's opening weekend. The audience was composed of a mixed audience age wise. At the end of the movie, the audience applauded.

Before the closing credits rolled, there was a list of legal cases concerning religious freedom on various schools and colleges. There were a lot more legal cases than I thought there would be. While the list of cases rolled through the screen too fast for me to read them all - I noticed that most of the cases were favorable about religious freedom, with the rest of the cases still pending as of 2014.

It is curious, that as I was waiting in line to get my ticket, there was a couple behind me that were going to see God's Not Dead as well, but one of them was confused about the time - because there was another movie with God in the title that was playing at the same theater there as well, Son of God. How often are there two religious movies released at the same time in mainstream theaters? The trailers showed another religious movie that is coming out around Easter that I also want to see Heaven is for Real. I think that would make the most religious movies in the mainstream theaters that would be out at the same time that I have ever experienced.

It is great to see a contemporary Christian movie dealing with today's issues for once, including mobile cell phone texts, than an historical religious film that is usually shown during the Lenten season. And for a religious movie in limited release for it's opening weekend - God's Not Dead wound up at number 5 at the box office. The Hollywood industry newspaper Variety says that "Faith-based audiences are once again proving to be anything but conservative at the U.S. box office."

Rated PG for violence. Running time: 113 minutes.

Pancho
All people smile in the same language.

DESPICABLE ME 2

Universal Pictures

Rated PG

Running time: 98 Minutes



Click below to watch the Despicable Me 2 movie trailer.



In Universal Pictures and Illumination Entertainment's Despicable Me 2, Gru, Steve Carell, and the girls Miranda Cosgrove, Dana Gaier, and Elsie Fisher, return to save the world.

This sequel to Despicable Me is Illumination Entertainment's first sequel and it's longest film as of 2013. After his daughter's birthday party, Gru/Carell is dragged in to the Anti-Villain League by Kristen Wiig to find out who stole a secret laboratory and to stop the villain from using the secret monstrous mutagen the laboratory was developing to take over the world. Steve Carell, Russell Brand, and Miranda Cosgrove reprise their roles - while Kristen Wiig returns, this time portraying agent Lucy Wilde, as well as Ken Jeong returning portraying Floyd Eagle-san.

I like this film better than the original Despicable Me - probably because Gru/Carell is a real single father this time now, as well as being brought into the game to become a hero out to save the world by the Anti-Villain League with cool cars, gadgets, and weapons. Gru is much more lovable to me, despite his women problems with his neighbor Nasim Pedrad trying to fix him up. The girls obviously love and idolize Gru/Carell, although young Fisher also wants a mother. The opening shot if Illumination Entertainment's logo and the minion Pierre Coffin prepared me to be in the just the right silly mood for watching Despicable Me 2. This is an animated James Bond film - as opposed to Monster's University's animated Revenge of the Nerds and much more enjoyable to me, probably because the story is more of a Hero's Journey. I also liked Gru's/Carrell's over protectiveness of his daughter Cosgrove from a boy, Moises Arias and his father's Benjamin Bratt's zealousness at the local mall.

As much as I love the minions in both this film and the last Despicable Me, the minions would have been better if there were only three or four minions where you can actually get to know them, instead of an army of minions. When you see the two or three minions at once, you are not sure if these are the same minions that you had seen before or are completely different minions. While the hundreds of minions, or maybe thousands of minions, are a major plot point - I would have preferred three or four main leader minions and an entire sub race of other minions that look different from them that the main minions managed. I am not sure if I like the one-eyed minion or not, but I am looking forward to the new Minions movie.

There were lots of musical numbers in the movie - including music from the Village People's YMCA, as well as Pharrell Williams Happy.

During the end credits, the minions audition for new minions for the new Minions movie. I am sure this sequence would have looked great in 3D. Unfortunately I saw the movie in 2D, but the animation still looked great.

Rated PG for mild violence. Running time: 98 Minutes.

Click below to watch another movie trailer of Despicable Me 2.



Pancho 
All people smile in the same language.
 Pancho's Movie Reviews

 

OZ THE GREAT AND POWERFUL

Walt Disney Pictures

Rated PG

Running time: 130 Minutes




Click below to watch the Oz the Great and Powerful trailer.




In Walt Disney Pictures Oz the Great and Powerful, James Franco is Oz, a con artist carnival magician who gets caught up in a twister - and winds up in the Land of Oz.

Based on the works of L. Frank Baum and directed by Sam Raimi with music from Danny Elfman, this is a prequel to The Wizard of Oz from 1939 as elements from The Wizard of Oz is explained in Oz the Great and Powerful. Like The Wizard of Oz, at the beginning of the movie Oz the Great and Powerful, the movie starts out in black and white when it is set in Kansas - and turns into color when Franco/Oz arrives at the land of Oz. The aspect ratio of the movie also changes to the wider widescreen format and goes from monaural sound to surround sound when the movie is in the Land of Oz. And just like the original The Wizard of Oz, several characters from the black and white Kansas play characters in the land of Oz, such as Michelle Williams, Zach Braff, and Joey King.

After an unsuccessful magic show in a traveling circus, Franco/Oz gets caught in a twister while riding in a hot air balloon. When he arrives in the Land of Oz, Franco/Oz gets mistaken to be the Wizard that was described in prophecy. Franco/Oz soon gets recruited to save the Land of Oz from the wicked witch who had killed the king of Oz.

I liked the fact that the opening credits were created more like practical credits in line with the time of the movie instead of CGI credits and that practical sets were mostly used in the film. Elfman's music gives the movie a classic Hollywood movie feel to the movie. The song Almost Home from Mariah Carey is used during the end credits of the movie and is the only contemporary song in the movie. This is not a musical with characters breaking into song like in the original Wizard of Oz or as Disney musical animated fairy tale films tend to do.

While it has been years since I have read Baum's Oz series, and I have never seen the theater musical play Wicked, this felt like a true prequel to the movie The Wizard of Oz as we got to know much more of the characters from the original The Wizard of Oz movie. The story is such a tragedy, but the movie does set up the events to The Wizard of Oz movie that is set 20 years later.

I felt that Franco/Oz's relationships with the women in the beginning of the movie were a little too long to get to the story - but when Franco/Oz first arrives in the Land of Oz, it feels like riding in an attraction at Disneyland, which is quite appropriate as the movie was produced by Walt Disney Pictures. Disney had been trying to produce a film based on the Baum's Oz books since the late 1930's. Producer Joe Roth was happy to finally have a fairy tale with a male protagonist, such as the male protagonist in the origin story of Oz the Great and Powerful. Franco/Oz's desire to be a great man, obviously leads to him becoming Oz the Great and Powerful. Franco received magical training with magician Lance Burton in preparation for the role of a magician in this film. Franco and Braff reminded me of Matthew Broderick and Nathan Lane. In fact, I could see Broderick and Lane doing their roles.

The twister was much more intense and violent than the twister in The Wizard of Oz. It was more like the movie Twister than the sanitized fantasy version that was shown in The Wizard of Oz. In fact there were several times that I expected Franco/Oz to be seriously injured during the various episodes of the movie.

I saw the movie in regular 2-D, but the movie was obviously designed as a 3-D movie. The movie does have some scary scenes that Raimi had to edit down to get a PG rating, which is Raimi's first PG film. For those of us who were scared as children from the original The Wizard of Oz, Oz the Great and Powerful is a scarier movie for children - especially the flying baboons. I am sure the movie is even scarier in 3-D.

Rated PG for violence. Running time: 130 Minutes.

Pancho 
All people smile in the same language.
 

ESCAPE FROM PLANET EARTH

Rainmaker Entertainment

Rated PG

Running time: 89 minutes




Click below to watch the Escape From Planet Earth trailer.

 

In The Weinstein Company's animated film Escape From Planet Earth, egotistical astronaut Brendan Fraser is sent to investigate an SOS from the Dark Planet - Earth.

The Dark Planet is the place where representatives of famous alien races have disappeared, including the Roswell aliens. National hero astronaut Fraser, with his media attention and his marketing, reminds me of an egotistical version of Buzz Lightyear of Star Command, while his nerdy Mission Control brother Rob Corddry at BASA wants nothing to do with any kind of adventure. Actually the running joke in the movie was how nerdy Corddry got hot Sarah Jessica Parker to be his wife. When BASA's no-nonsense chief Jessica Alba sends Fraser into deep space to the Dark Planet, Fraser winds up at a 7-Eleven in the middle of nowhere and gets captured by William Shatner - and gets sent to Area 51. Now Corddry must leave his home planet of Baab to go rescue his brother on this strange dark planet called Earth.

This is a nice family film. The film has an impressive celebrity cast for an animated film, although I could barely tell their distinctive voices as I was too caught up in the characters themselves. I was expecting Ricky Gervais, as the computer, to have a larger computer role in the movie and was disappointed in that. 7-Eleven actually had a larger role in the movie than I would have thought. I was expecting just a simple product placement with 7-Eleven, but it actually had several scenes in the movie, with one of those fan-blown balloons becoming one of my favorite characters in the movie. It was rather sad to learn how and why Shatner became a bad guy who wants to wipe out all the aliens. The aliens at Area 51,  Craig Robinson, Jane Lynch, and George Lopez were great as Corddry's friends.

Rated PG for violence. Running time: 89 Minutes.

Pancho 
All people smile in the same language.
 

MIRROR MIRROR

Relativity Media

Rated PG

Running time: 106 Minutes



Click below to watch the Mirror Mirror trailer.



In Relativity Media's Mirror Mirror, evil Queen Julia Roberts steals control of her dead husband's kingdom and exiles her step-daughter Snow White, Lily Collins.

This retelling of the Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs story is a cute retelling of the story by The Brothers Grimm, and reminds me more of The Princess Bride rather than of the Disney Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs movie. The seven dwarfs also have different names in this movie than what they had in the Disney movie, such as Grimm, Butcher, Wolf, Napoleon, Half Pint, Grub, and Chuckles. The dwarfs on their stilts make awesome bandits and adds to the stylized look of the movie. When Collins discovers that Roberts servant Nathan Lane is collecting taxes from the poor people of the kingdom, Collins has the taxes returned to the people and credits the dwarfs for the money's return. Feeling appreciated, the dwarfs decide to teach Collins how to fight, and Collins soon learns to kick butt - thus making the movie a swashbuckler. Collins sword fight against Prince Armie Hammer is reminiscent of the sword fight in The Princess Bride, despite the fact that Collins loves Hammer. Having the Queen wanting to marry Hammer, both for his money and his looks is almost obscene - especially when she uses a love potion on him. It made me want Collins to thwart Roberts wedding plans and win back Collins birthright, which Collins was determined to do.

Instead of just talking with the magic mirror - which would have made me think that would have been one of the main points of the movie considering that the title of the movie is Mirror Mirror. Roberts walks into the mirror in her castle, and winds up in some type of other dimension besides a lakeside hut which houses the real magic mirror which contains Roberts reflection - who continually warns Roberts of the consequences of using magic.

The scene that got to me, was the scene where Roberts is undergoing a "beauty treatment" - with foul substances, as well as a "beauty treatment" with insects. Having all of that put on me would definitely creep me out. I could not watch that scene with the bugs. Arghhh! While the beast of the forest looks like something that could have survived in the forest, I wanted something bigger and scarier. At least the beast was something similar to the Disney beast from Disney's Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, which made the beast somewhat acceptable to me.

I liked the musical dance number that the characters did during the end credits of the movie.

Rated PG for violence. Running time: 106 Minutes.

Pancho
All people smile in the same language.

 Pancho's Movie Reviews