THE AMAZING SPIDER-MAN 2 Trailer

So the new trailer for Amazing Spider-man 2 just came out and personally I think it looks amazing, but I can't help to think there sure are alot of villians in that 2 minute preview.  Please don't let this be another Spider-man 3 mistake...way too many villians and a really shitty venom.  I know alot of people didn't much care for the first Amazing Spider-man but I loved it.  Yes they had to show the whole Uncle Ben dying again, but that's part of Spider-man's history and story.  If you really wanna argue origin stories then let's talk about Man of Steel and how it's okay to kill thousands of people.  Anyways, sorry for the tangent.  So this trailer is leading me to believe that one of the rumors is true, and that is that The Sinister Six is coming in a big bad way.  The Sinister Six is a group of Spider-man villians, now this group has changed over time and it's consisted of:  The Lizard, Electro, The Rhino, Doc Oc, Green Goblin, Vulture, Mysterio, Kraven the Hunter, Sandman, and Venom.  They have all been apart of the Sinister Six at one time or another.  So it's looking like this maybe coming in the 3rd or 4th movie.  Now hearing that gets me very excited but also worried.  Do we need someone like Joss Wheddon to direct this since we now know he can make many characters work together on one screen (Avengers) ?  Regardless on reviews or what people say about the Amazing Spider-man movies....I'm all in. Also did you get a look at the very quick shot of Paul Giamatti as The Rhino, and then also once he turns into the Rhino "Transformer", I'm not so sure about that take on it but I will hold all judgement until I see the movie.  So for you're viewing pleasure here is trailer for The Amazing Spider-man 2 coming to a theater May 2nd, 2014.

                    

                                                 

Time for a change

All right it's due time for a change on this blog I have going.  I haven't written a review in a very long time.  Time to revamp this blog.  More details to come. 

Monsters University (2013)

We saw Monsters University starring Billy Crystal, John Goodman, Steve Buscemi, Helen Mirren, Charlie Day, Nathan Fillion, and many more.   This is a sequel to the 2001 animated movie Monsters Inc.  It's another slam dunk from Pixar, and just as good as the first one.  It takes place before the events of Monsters Inc. when Mike and Sully are in college and haven't even met each other yet.  There is so many cool and funny scenes throughout this movie.  It's gives you a glance at the college life but only if everyone was a monster or some other kind of crazy creature.  The animation and visuals are fantastic, Sulley's fur looks so real.  Pixar also invented a new way of doing lighting in this movie which I'm sure will be the new way to do shadows and lighting in cartoons now.  There is a scene that really shows it off in the movie where they are running down a hallway and jellyfish are being thrown everywhere.   This movie is great for adults and kids especially when allot of us seen the original when we were kids.  I highly recommend this movie for any lovers of Pixar, animation, kids movies, and Monsters Inc.

I give this movie a 5.0, I gave enough reasons above. 

Despicable Me 2 (2013)

I went and saw Despicable Me 2 starring Steve Carell, Kristen Wiig, Benjamin Bratt, Russell Brand, Ken Jeong, and Miranda Cosgrove.  This is a sequel to the 2010 computer animated comedy.  In this one Gru is hired by the AVL (Anti Villain League) to find the world's newest criminal master mind.  This movie was just as funny as the first one especially with the minions.  It seems they know where the laughs come from because you see allot more of the little yellow guys this time around.  There's not so much of a story from the kids this time around which I thought was kind of disappointing because they were hilarious in the first one "IT'S SO FLUFFY!!!"  I didn't care for the main story in this one and there wasn't any big surprises that you can't see coming very early in the movie.  Not saying that makes it a bad movie I mean it is a cartoon and geared towards kids with some adult humor, but it felt a little toned down from the first one. 

So if you enjoyed the first Despicable Me then I recommend checking this one out.

I give this movie a 4.0 for having minions  

A Good Day to Die Hard (2013)

I watched the next installment in the Die Hard franchise last night, A Good Day to Die Hard a.k.a.  Die Hard 5.  Starring as always Mr. Bad Ass himself Bruce Willis as John McClane.  The plotline is John McClane is looking for his son and found him in Russia but his son has some secrets of his own for why he's in Russia.  During this adventure McClane gets entangled in a secret operation that he just doesn't want to be a part of.  This Die Hard is the worst one out of the series so far, saying so far because a sixth one is planned.  There is no back-story in this movie so your lost after the first 10 minutes.  Now granted you watch these for the action and shoot-'em up violence which it does deliver on to a crazy high extent.  When the first action sequence starts you almost wonder is this called Die Hard: Destroy all vehicles in Russia (you'll see why). 

I don't recommend this movie unless your a "DIE HARD" fan of the franchise.  This is more a fun brainless action movie that has no payoff in the end.  It's sad to say because I do love the Die Hard movies, especially the third with Sam Jackson.  But I would have to say this series died awhile ago and needs to be laid to rest.  

I give this movie a 2.0, for cool action sequences that's about it.

This Is The End (2013)

Just saw This Is The End, which is a R-rated comedy about the end of the world.  It has Seth Rogen who also wrote and directed the movie, Craig Robinson, James Franco, Jonah Hill, Danny McBride, and  Jay Baruchel.  This movie is hilarious it's just so damn funny.  They do show alot of the funny parts in the commercials but there is still so much that they didn't show.  The basic premise is James Franco is throwing a huge house party and during this party the end of world happens.  A few chosen celebrities have to figure out how to survive while finding out what's exactly going on outside of Franco's house.  All the actors play themselves, a little more heightened and comedic version of themselves but themselves.  It's really great too since they are playing themselves they randomly make jokes about each other like for example Seth Rogen's notorious laugh.  There are many celebrities who appear throughout the movie that makes it even better.   Also trying to figure out exactly what is happening and what's causing the end of the world is alot of fun throughout the movie. 

I do recommend this movie especially if you like any of these actors and their other comedies. 

I give this movie a 5.0 for just being awesome.

Amazon Original Pilots

So after watching all of the comedy Amazon original pilots I'm at the point where they just aren't that good, granted it's very hard to judge a show on just one episode.  One thing I do like is that most of the actors in these are all new comers, which is great if the show gets picked up.  I enjoy seeing new people especially in comedic roles.  I was kind of hoping they would have a more vast array of types of shows such as a thriller, or even a drama.  It's all comedies or kid's shows.  Hopefully when these all get decided on they will expand or just leave it to Netflix since they are doing a fantastic job with original series.  I'm not sure when they will announce what has been picked up and what has been cancelled.  But once a decision has been made on all the shows I will put up a post about it.  Until then here is a short review on each show and these can be watched on the Amazon app which is on most bluray players and game systems.  Also can be watched online at www.amazon.com/originals.

Betas

A group of friends who are computer program developers are trying to get a startup going.  This pilot episode is basically them going through the ups and downs trying to find a company to buy their program.  Also random shenanigans in between the main story kind of keep it from getting too boring but it's just not enough.  This isn't really a comedy show but it does try to have some funny scenes and jokes but it's just really not funny.  It falls in between a weird place on trying to be too many things and just doesn't succeed.  It stars Charlie Saxton (Movie 43) and Ed Begley Jr. (Pineapple Express).  

I don't really recommend watching this one.

Alpha House

This one is about 3 senators in D.C. who are all trying to deal with issues in government.  They all live together and part of the story is them trying to find a new roommate because or an incident involving a guest start comedian at the beginning of the episode.  Now the story sounds like a setup for a sitcom comedy show.  This is far from it, it does have some comedic parts but the show itself has a serious tone.  It stars John Goodman and if it wasn't for him I personally don't think it would be as interesting, he definitely makes this show worth while.  So if you're a huge John Goodman fan and really like politically themed shows then is for you.  I recommend it but only on those terms. 

Browsers

So 4 young adults in the big city get hired on at a news website as interns.  This website basically browses the web for links, videos, and any information and tries to be the first one out there with the hot new info on the internet.  These 4 new interns all have specific skills to do this job.  They range from a stoner, a guy who still lives with his parents and 2 very determined people who will do anything to reach the top.  So it sounds like you got the basic premise down...right?   NOPE, they also all sing.  Not in the sense that they are trying to become singers and that's the part of the plotline.  More in the sense that they take situations in the show and sing about them with original songs.  Did I just make this sound really cheesy?, probably not because this isn't Glee 2.0.  The singing and choreographed numbers are entertaining and it does move the story along well.  The show had me laughing at times, especially a song the head honcho sings which is played by Bebe Neuwirth (The Faculty).  So I do recommend watching this one unless you just hate singing and the internet but if you're reading this on here you at least like 50% of that so check it out. 

Dark Minions

This is a stop motion animation show.  Since these are pilot episodes though this isn't entirely finished.  Only about 5 minutes of it is actually animated, the rest of it is just storyboards and the voices.  It has the voice talents of John Ross Bowie (Big Bang Theory), Kevin Sussman (Big Bang Theory), Clancy Brown (Shawshank Redemption), Richard Kind (Spin City), and Phil LaMarr (Mad TV).  The basic premise is 2 broke guys need a job and take one on a warship in space just for the money.  It had some funny scenes in it.  I don't see this one getting picked up just because it probably costs a good amount of money to produce since it's all stop motion animation (Nightmare Before Christmas).  I would probably keep watching this one, mostly because I enjoy that kind of animation.  I also enjoyed the actors who play the voices on the show.  It's not really a kind friendly show but I don't remember any worse language than you hear on regular cable TV.  So I would say wait for it to be picked up and hopefully you could see a full episode fully animated and that would make a huge difference in viewing this show. 

Onion New Empire

Hearing this was going to be one of the new pilots from Amazon I got really excited just because the Onion news can be hilarious.  The same does not bode for the show, it wasn't as funny as I though it would be.  Don't get me wrong it still has hilarious parts but it's more on the "Oh My God, did they really just say or do that?"  It stars Jeffrey Tambor (Arrested Development), Christopher Masterson (Malcom in the Middle), William Sadler (The Shawshank Redemption), Cheyenne Jackson (30 Rock).  If you're familiar with The Onion News that you would be familiar enough with this show it's basically a fake news organization with fake news repots twisted with the worst possible outcomes.  There was an Onion New Network show on TV a few years back and is still randomly online so I'm not sure if this show will succeed since there's already something out there available.  If you enjoys The Onion News then yeah check out this pilot and hopefully you get some laughs out of it.

Supanatural

This is a cartoon series geared towards adults, yes I spelled it correctly above.  It's about 2 women from the ghetto who fight Supernatural forces but everything has an ethnic twist to it.  I get the whole twist on everything and the jokes can be funny but just seems more stereotypical racist than anything.  Which don't get me wrong that can be funny when it's done right but they just don't seem to pull it off here.  It stars a bunch of new people who haven't been in anything but it does have Riki Lindhome (Last House on the Left).  I could see something like this playing on Adult Swim...maybe, but I don't see many people enjoying this show.  If you really like animation and watch supernatural and you always wished instead of 2 stunningly handsome men it starred 2 super stereotypical ghetto women, then this show is for you.

Those Who Can't

This is a comedy about 3 guys who are all high school teachers.  One is a gym teacher, another is History I think and the other one I can't even remember.  There were a couple funny jokes here and there.  It's a little darker humor kind of like Always Sunny In Philadelphia but just not as good.  The 3 teacher who are also friends basically play pranks on each other and joke around the entire time which can be very funny at times.  Also the fact this is on Amazon and they can say anything makes it kind of funny since they aren't censored at all.  It again stars a bunch of new people who really haven't been in much and also comedian Nikki Glaser is in it.  If this one gets picked up I would give it another chance since it did have funny jokes and scenes throughout.

 Zombieland

Allright last but not least I watched Zombieland.  This is a continuation of the movie Zombieland, but without any of the same actors.  Now doing that right there can be a big mistake.  Watching this I kept my expectations low because of the new actors, and I would have to say you should probably do the same.  The environment, jokes, and character names are all the same.  But at times it feels like a zombieland rip-off or one of those straight to DVD movies that's ripping off of a huge blockbuster (Transformers / Transmorphers).  It stars...you guessed it a bunch of newbies and also Tim Bagley (Knocked Up).  You would think this is probably the one that would be picked up, but I have heard rumors already that this one has been cancelled but I would like to see a few more episodes to judge it properly.  So if you're really into zombies and want to see a little more of the zombieland world then yeah check it out.  If not just go watch the movie again.   

Hemlock Grove (2013)

For the past 2 weeks I’ve been watching a Netflix original series produced by Eli Roth called Hemlock Grove.  It stars Famke Janseen (X-men),  Lili Taylor (The Haunting), and many new comers.  Since Eli Roth is behind it there are some pretty bloody and gory parts.  This is a supernatural show revolving around a girl who is murdered from some sort of wild animal.  As the town searches for the murderer, suspects from the town they all start to reveal who they really are and the secrets start coming out at every corner.   Nobody is who they seem, you start to wonder what kind of supernatural entities certain characters are.  It takes awhile for the truth to get out and they do seem to draw out pretty much all of the stories.  I get the idea of drawing it out to build character stories and deeper storylines, but sometimes there’s not enough to keep it interesting.  I will say that if you do enjoy the first few that you should keep watching.  There is a catch to this series though that I will warn you about, there’s not much pay off on the season finale.  About 2 question gets answered and that’s about it.  One cool thing that did get me hooked was seeing a supernatural transformation.  This only happens twice throughout the season which was kind of disappointing, I would’ve loved seeing it a few more times throughout but you deal with what you get.  Each episode is about 45 minutes and there are 13 episodes to the season.   They do end it on a sort of what is going to happen next ending and left a lot of questions for viewers.  So I would say that I’m anticipating a second season on Netflix.  This is only available on Netflix instant, but definitely worth a shot if you’re into the whole supernatural aspect of it.

I do recommend this show, but it does drag on and can be very slow at times.

I give it a 4.0 for keeping me wondering what would happen next and the finale keeps me asking for more

and wanting to know the secrets of Hemlock Grove. 

Lords Of Salem (2013)

Allright so I watched Lords of Salem last night and I  don’t even know how to sum this movie up for a review but let’s see what I can do.  This is Rob Zombie’s newest horror movie, it’s not so much a horror movie but a just fucked up visual witch fest.  It stars Sheri Moon Zombie (House of 1,000 Corpses), Bruce Davison (X-men), and Dee Wallace (E.T.).  The basic premise is Heidi who is a radio DJ and one day receives what she thinks is a demo from a band but instead is some sort of hidden message from a spell by the Salem witches.  Now this movie is not for most people, unless you’re a fan of Rob Zombie movies.  There is alot of symbolism in this movie, that to the usual viewer would be totally confused.  I’m still confused as to what exactly happened throughout the movie and the ending especially.  There’s a lot of old lady nudity and Sheri Moon’s ass is un-credited but makes an appearance several times. 

So I don’t recommend this movie unless your dead set on going to see it.  It’s very weird and super confusing, I’m sure Rob Zombie had an idea and it sounded great in his head but visually it just doesn’t work for most people.  If you still feel like seeing this it is in some theaters but it didn’t get a full release so you may have to a little road trip to see it.

I give this movie 2 stars, for just in general of being messed up and I wanted to keep watching to see what happened and how everything would play out.   

American Mary (2012)

I watched a movie called American Mary.  This was one of the Screamfest movies from last year, if you’re not familiar with Screamfest it’s basically like Sundance for Horror movies.  This movie is about a medical student still in school and learning to become a skilled surgeon.  After needing cash because of bills pilling up Mary decides to check out a local strip club to make some extra cash.  Mary instead is hired by the club owner and some underground groups to do body modification surgeries.  While doing this she starts to learn towards the underground part of surgeries and not so much with the legit surgery experience.  It stars Katherine Isabelle (Ginger Snaps), not really any star power in this movie since it is a lower budget horror movie.  For lower budget horror movies I always give credit to the screamfest films, they do a pretty good job at picking the best out of the lot.  I’m not saying this is an amazing movie or anything but it was interesting.  There are a few different directions that the plot goes to move the story which is interesting.  After watching this I was curious to what was involved with Body Modification, it was interesting to say the least and most people actually participate in this even if it’s at a very low level.  It can include Tattoos, piercings, to just dying your hair.  Now this movie takes body modification to the extreme and does have some gory parts when things go wrong, it is of course a horror movie. 

Now this movie isn’t released to rent or buy until June 18^th, 2013 but I do recommend maybe renting it if you’re into the low budget horror genre

I give this movie a 3.5 for a good story and getting me to look into something I didn’t really know anything about.

Bachelorette (2012)

I watched Bachelorette this week, it’s about a group of old high school friends getting back together because one of them is getting married.  After having an incident during the bachelorette party and then a drunken accident with the wedding dress everything just goes downhill from there.  It stars Kirsten Dunst (Spider-man), Rebel Wilson (Pitch Perfect), Lizzy Caplan (Cloverfield), Isla Fisher (Wedding Crashers), Andrew Rannells (The New Normal), James Marsden (Enchanted), and Adam Scott (Parks and Rec).  Before watching this I figured it was just a rip-off of Bridesmaids taking a mostly girls cast and putting them in funny situations.  Yes it does do this but in different ways and the cast makes some scenes so funny, Isla Fisher’s and Lizzy Caplan’s characters are hilarious.  Some of Isa Fisher’s jokes and mannerisms are still making me laugh.  Eveytime I try to sum up this movie I feel like I have to compare it to bridesmaids but it’s not really like that.  It’s almost a darker comedy version of it in a way.

I do recommend this movie especially if you have Netflix instant

I give this movie a 4.0 for the shenanigans they get in to and the great cast. 

Red Dawn (2012)

We watched Red Dawn the other night which is available to rent or own right now.  This is a remake of the 1984 classic movie titled the same.  This new version stars Chris Hemsworth (Thor), Josh Peck (Drake and Josh), Josh Hutcherson (The Hunger Games), Adrianne Palicki (G.I. Joe Retaliation), Isabel Lucas (Transformers 2), and Jeffrey Dean Morgan (The Watchmen).  The story is that North Korea invades the United States and a group of teenagers escapes to fight and take them down.  This then sparks resistances  around the world to fight against the North Koreans.  Now this movie had several problems first of all it was originally China who invaded the United States. The directors realized that China has covered majority of the United States debt so the film makers decided to change that after the fact using C.G.   This movie was also made back in 2009 but shelved because of financial problems, having Chris Hemsworth being a huge star now I guess they figured the time was right.  I also feel that this could never happen in the world we live in, and they try to place this into a real world scenario but I just couldn’t get into that fact.  I think it worked better back in the 80’s so it does seem a little dated.  The movie wasn’t horrible and I would recommend it for some cool action and if you can’t get into older movies this would be a good option for watching Red Dawn it’s the same basic premise of the original.

I give this movie a 2.5 for being another remake they should of just stayed away from. 

A Sound of Thunder (2005)

I watched A Sound of Thunder, this is loosely based off a Ray Bradbury short story also titled A Sound of Thunder.  It’s basically the original story that spawned the term The Butterfly Effect (also a very good movie).  It all takes place in 2055 when a company called Time Safari offers customers the chance to travel back to the prehistoric era and actually kill a dinosaur.  So time travel is a thing but it’s governed and has vey strict rules.  They know that if you change one thing in the past it can change the entire future.  Well as you can imagine something does go wrong on one of the expeditions and things start to change.  They have a limited amount of time to find out what happened and fix it before it’s too late.  This movie stars Edward Burns (Man on a Ledge, 27 Dresses), and Ben Kingsley (Iron Man 3).  Now if you watch the movie you have to realize I don’t like it for the visual effects because they are horrible, I mean really really bad.  I liked it for the idea and I love the whole Butterfly Effect premise, which also is the main reason I hope time travel never gets figured out.  I really wish this would have been received better and looked a lot better than it did.  It had a decent budget of 52 million dollars so I don’t why the C.G. and effects looked so bad. 

I did enjoy this movie when it came out and still enjoyed it watching it again but you have to get past the horrible visuals.  I’m not sure if I would exactly recommend it to anybody but if you’ve got nothing to do and it’s on TV. or someone has it to borrow then yeah check it out. 

I give this movie a 3.0 because it’s really hard to ignore all the crappy C.G. but I still enjoyed the story

Evil Dead (2013)

I decided to go see Evil Dead because it’s the freaking Evil Dead.  They’ve been talking about remaking this movie for years and they finally did it, and succeeded in a great movie.  Starring Jane Levy (Suburgatory),  Shiloh Fernandez (Red Ridding Hood), and Jessica Lucas (Cloverfield).  This is a remake of the horror classic of the same name.  If you’re a fan of the old Evil Dead movies then you’ll love this one.  They took parts from both Evil Dead 1 and 2 and put them together in this one.  They most likely did that because Evil Dead 2 is kind of a remake of Evil Dead 1 from back in the day.  There are plenty of callbacks to the old movies in this but also enough new ideas to keep it fresh and interesting.  The basic story now is a group of 5 friends go to a remote cabin to help Jane Levy’s character off of drugs.  While at the cabin they find a mysterious book in the basement, and of course one the curious friends just has to open and read from the book.   This in turn releases some very Evil spirits that want to torture and have fun with the teenagers.   For me personally it didn’t make me jump but some scenes made me cringe, there is some pretty gross parts in this movie.  Also majority of the budget was probably spent on blood especially towards the end.  Also there is a very short after credits scene and some cool stuff they play during the credits (this is mostly for fans of the original series).  I do recommend this movie

I give this movie a 5.0 for being an amazing remake of a classic horror movie that never happens.

Hit & Run (2012)

I watched Hit & Run, which stars Kristen Bell (Veronica Mars), Dax Shepard (Without A Paddle), Tom Arnold (True Lies), Michael Rosenbaum (Smallville), and Bradley Cooper (The Hangover).  This movie is about a man who is in witness protection for being a eye witness to a crime, his girlfriend gets a job interview in LA but needs to get there by the end of the day or she looses to another applicant.  Dax's character Charlie decides to drive her but in turn Charlie's former partners in crime find this out and hunt him down in several car chases and crazy obstacles.  This is when the back story on Charlie starts to open up and you find out what part he played in the previous crimes and why he's such a good driver.  I realize this storyline doesn't sound amazing but it was very entertaining for being directed, written and starring Dax Shepard.  It's a good watch especially if you like any of the many actors in this movie.  It's available to rent or own, I recommend heading to your local redbox and checking it out.

I give this movie 3.5 stars for being entertaining.

Safety Not Guaranteed (2012)

Safety Not Guaranteed (2012) is a movie about an true life ad that was posted in a newspaper about a man who was planning on time traveling to the past for unknown reasons and was looking for a partner to time travel with him.  A magazine company looking for new stories, follows this story to see if there's any truth behind the ad.  In turn they find alot more than they expected.  It stars Aubrey Plaza (Parks and Rec), Jake Johnson (The New Girl), Mark Duplass (The League).  I wasn't sure if I would like this movie but it turned out to be pretty good.  It's not a science fiction movie, it's more on the drama and you question the whole time weather this guy is crazy or did he really figure out how to time travel.  It does have a few funny parts in it, but it is mostly people growing and learning from either past mistakes.  I may have made this sound boring but if you're into these type of drama comedies than you should check it out.  It's available now on Netflix and Redbox. 

I give this movie 4 stars, for keeping me guessing until the end.

The Man With The Iron Fists (2012)

I watched The Man With The Iron Fists for you and unless you're a fan of Asian movies and alot of craziness than this movie isn't for you.  It does say on the title Quentin Tarantino presents, leading you to believe it was made by Quentin.  It was not it was produced by him which basically means he heard the story and maybe gave a couple notes on the movie.  It was directed and written by RZA, and it stars RZA (WuTang Clan), Russell Crowe (Gladiator), Lucy Liu (Charlie's Angels).  Now while watching this it does have alot of stuff straight out of a Quentin Tarantino movie, old western theme, newer music, lots of blood and violence, crazy weapons.  All those things do make it interesting, I really didn't care for the story much but the action scenes were very cool and the weapons they use are inventive and interesting.  The basic story is about a treasure of mass amounts of gold is sought after several families of warriors and assassins, after it's located in a town all hell breaks loose and the blacksmith played by RZA gets involved and has to help protect his town and family.  This movie is available to rent or own now.

I give this movie 2 stars for some cool action scenes but really could've been condensed into a half an hour bloody kick ass mini movie. 

Tomb Raider Video Game

I played Tomb Raider which is available for Xbox360, PS3, and The P.C.  This is a reboot on the classic video game Tomb Raider.  It gives you an origin story of Lara Croft being just a traveler with her father looking for historical artifacts and her becoming the infamous tomb raider.  After their boat crashes on a mysterious island they are taken captive by the island inhabitants.  After escaping near death several times you start to realize there's alot more going on the island than you first realize.  She goes through hell trying to save her family and friends, it's a much darker take than the old Tomb Raider games.  A few puzzles throughout the game make it a little challenging and gets you thinking.  Also the game isn't very short it probably took me around 10 to 12 hours to beat.  I didn't play the multiplayer online so I can't really say if that was worth it or not.  I would guess majority of people who are playing this they are playing it for the story and campaign mode.  I really liked that they gave Lara Croft his whole new back-story and a reboot.  The game is alot like the Uncharted games if you've ever played them.  One thing I do love about these games is that they are visually amazing, you can play the game and have others just watch the game.  It's almost like watching a 10 hour movie with randomly dying in parts and then reviving to try try try again.  Tomb Raider is motion captured and voiced by Camilla Luddington who's been on such shows as Greys Anatomy, Californication, and True Blood.  The game is put out by Square Enix.  I highly recommend this game, it's definitely one of the best games I've played in awhile.

I give this game a 5.0 for just being fun and awesome.

Wreck-It Ralph (2012)

This movie was the best cartoon movie that was out last year, it seems like it was geared towards my generation and anyone who likes video games.  It stars the voice talents of John C. Reilly (Talladega Nights), Sarah Silverman (The Sarah Silverman Program), and Jack McBrayer (30 Rock).  Ralph is a misunderstood bad guy in a video game called Fix-It Felix.  He wants to be respected by the good guys in the video game so he's jumps from game to game in search of becoming a hero.  This movie has so many callbacks to old school video games, from Sonic, to street fighter, to q*bert.   There's also some hidden features on the bluray, if you pause the movie it goes to Chris Hardwick giving cool little tidbits about the movie and hidden things throughout the different scenes.  Lots of cool stuff I would like to watch for on a separate viewing of the movie.  It definitely should've won best animated film from last year.  This was one of the Disney animation movies and not a Pixar film which the last few years they have been killing it with better movies in my opinion.  It's entertaining enough for anyone and everyone. 

I give this movie a 5.0, such a great movie

Alex Cross (2012)

We watched Alex Cross for you, I say for you because I'll start off by just saying you can go ahead and skip this one.  It stars Tyler Perry (Madea Movies), and Matthew Fox (Lost).  It's about a detective Alex Cross getting entangled in a sadistic serial killer's plans and then in turn having to hunt him down.  There's not much mystery to this movie you can guess the entire plot line and what will happen next very easily.  It's based off the popular James Patterson book series, apparently loosely based according to my wife.  So if you're a fan of the books don't watch this if you're not a fan of the books then still don't watch this.  Instead you should watch Kiss the Girls (1997) and Along Came a Spider (2001) which are also based on James Patterson books but these are actually good. 

I give this movie 1.0 for not being entertaining at all.

Smiley (2012)

Well I was wondering how long it would take to watch a really bad horror movie, and apparently not that long.  I watched Smiley, most of you have probably never heard of it and probably never will other than right here.  It stars nobody worth noting so let's just get to what it's about.  It's about a fake urban legend if you are video chatting with someone and you type in "I did it for the lulz" 3 times (yes I know) then Smiley comes up behind that person and kills them.  Now Smiley is a man who stitched up his eyes and cut his mouth into a smile so it literally looks like this =).   They mainly focus on the main girl and her trying to convince others to believe and her paranoia.  I'm not usually picky but the dialogue, acting and jokes are ridiculously bad.  So my conclusion is I don't recommend this movie.  If you want a good urban legen movie to watch, then check out Urban Legend (1998) instead.

I give it a 1 because I've got to give it something.

Silent Hill Revelation (2012)

I decided to watch Silent Hill: Revelation (not in 3D) which is available to rent or own.  It stars Adelaide Clemens, Kit Harington (Game of Thrones), and Sean Bean (Lord of the Rings).  This is a sequel to Silent Hill (2006),  in this continuation of the Silent Hill story Heather gets sucked in to the world of Silent Hill.  What she doesn't realize is how attached to this world she already is and has been since her childhood.  Before watching this movie I thought it was just another take on Silent Hill, but it's actually goes with the story of the first movie.  Almost every character returns to reprise their rolls, there's a few jumps and yes even those creepy ass nurses make a comeback.  I still liked the first one better but this is a good sequel.  If you're a fan of the first Silent Hill I recommend this one, but only if you've seen the first one. 

I give this movie a 3.75 (I can give it a percentage, it's my rating system) for being a good continuation of the story but not totally up to par of the first one.  

The Master

I decided to watch The Master, it stars Joaquin Phoenix (Signs), Philip Seymour Hoffman (Mission Impossible 3), Amy Adams (Enchanted).  It's about a man who comes home from World War II and meets a man who starts to write a book and begins a following which starts to turn into a sort of cult.  It's very loosely based on Scientology, they don't make any mention of Scientology but after watching it you can see where they were going leading into that theory.  This is a Paul Thomas Anderson movie so it's very artsy and can be very boring at times.  There were a few scenes that pulled me in when they started talking about the methods, hypnosis and what they were trying to accomplish.  Other than that it's not very entertaining.  So I recommend just skipping this one.

I give this movie 2 stars for almost putting me asleep  

Twilight Saga's Breaking Dawn Pt. 2

I regret to inform you all that I finally watched Breaking Dawn pt. 2.  Now you already know who it stars, you know what it's about, if you have any interest in this movie you already know everything you need to know.  What you don't know is what I thought about it.  I thought it was better than the book, now anybody who read the book knows how anti-climatic the ending is (total snooze fest).  Now I won't say any spoilers for those who actually care and plan on watching this.  Instead I will spoil the movie The Usual Suspects:  Keyser Soze is Kevin Spacey.  Sorry but you've had 17 years to watch it so get over it.  Anyways back to Vampire/Wolf/Human love triangle pt. 2.  I doubt this review will get anyone to watch this movie and that's totally fine with me.  This movie gets released to rent of buy this Saturday March 2nd.

I give this movie a 3 because I did enjoy the ending, but mostly because it's the last one and hopefully there will be no more. 

Rise of the Guardians (2012)

I watched Rise of the Guardians for all the kids out there or adults who also love cartoon movies.  It stars the voices of Chris Pine (Star Trek), Alec Baldwin (30 Rock), Jude Law (Sherlock Holmes), Isla Fisher (Wedding Crashers), and Hugh Jackman (Wolverine).  This movie is a new take on classic characters Santa, The Easter Bunny, Sandman, The Tooth Fairy, and Jack Frost.  When the Boogeyman comes back from a deep sleep he threatens the dreams of every child in the world.  So the Guardians of children (Santa, The Easter Bunny, etc.) have to step up to fight back and prevent evil from winning.  It's a basic good vs. evil with a couple cool twists on characters.  Kids would love this movie it shows imagination and belief that keeps these characters alive for years to come.  As an adult I also enjoyed it just as much.  This movie is available to rent or buy on March 12th.  If you have kids and they haven't seen this yet, it's definitely worth checking out with the entire family.

I give this movie 4 stars for the original story and my soft spot for animation movies. 

End of Watch (2012)

I watched End of Watch which is available to rent or own right now.  It stars Jake Gyllenhaal (Donnie Darko),  Michael Pena (Crash), and Anna Kendrick (Pitch Perfect).  This is a different take on a partially found footage movie, it's about 2 cops and it shows their day to day jobs patrolling the ghetto streets of LA.  The movie starts off very slow but picks up once the characters stumble across some big drug busts and some insane criminal activity.  It not only focuses just on the work life, it goes into their personal life which gives it a good mix and makes the story interesting.  The way they do the found footage is using the police car camera and using mini cameras on the officers uniforms but that is a very small part of the movie. 

I give this movie 4 stars, I really enjoyed it all in all especially after the half way point but take my advice and don't just fast forward to that point, watch it in entirety

Warm Bodies

Went and saw Warm Bodies the other day.  This is the movie about a Zombie apocalypse and a Zombie falling in love with a human and what that means now for the human race.  Now I know you're thinking already ughhh another Twilight kind of movie...Nope it's not.  I would say it makes fun of itself more than anything and shows what Twilight could've been if they were more entertaining.  It stars Nicholas Hoult (X-men First Class), Teresa Palmer (The Sorcerer's Apprentice), Rob Corddry (Childrens Hospital), and John Malkovich (Con Air).  This is not a scary zombie movie, it's very funny and entertaining.  At times it's a little slow but it's just building the story and relationships which moves the story forward as it goes.  I do recommend this movie, it is available to see in most theaters.

I give this movie 4 stars.  

Fun Size

I watched Fun Size which is available now to rent or buy it stars Victoria Justice ( Nickelodeon's Victorious }Chelsea Handler ( Chelsea Lately ), Johnny Knoxville (Jackass), and Jane Levy ( Suburgatory ).  The basic premise is a teenager and her friend get invited to the biggest Halloween party ever thrown by the popular guy in school.  They instead have to take the little brother trick or treating but Uh Ohhh the little brother gets lost and queue the craziness of getting to the party and also find the little brother.  This is a PG-13 Halloween Nickelodeon movie.  Being a nickelodeon movie it kinda confused me while watching it.  You would think it would be geared more towards kids kinda like Snow Day or if you're going old school Good Burger and Harriet the Spy...you know you watched them tons of times.  But instead it's basically a kid version of Superbad.  Because of that I don't know who to recommend it to, I guess teenagers who enjoy Victoria Justice and crazy antics teenagers could never actually get into but how crazy would it be if all that actually happened.  I would say if you're thinking about watching this maybe instead you just rent Superbad.

I give this movie 2 stars, it will make you laugh a few times but doesn't quite satisfy.    

Bully

We watched Bully last night which is the documentary about bullying and how it is a problem in schools all around the country.  This is a really good movie it shows several teens stories throughout the movie, most take place down south.  I kinda wish they would've went around the country in different areas since it is a problem all around America.  I'm happy they actually show the bullying and how mean it can actually be.  They show consequences of what teens do when they've just had it enough, they show how some can take it and some seek alternatives that kids should never have to pursue, also the ones who hide and don't know how to stand up for themselves.  Some of the things that happen have been in the news and heard about over the past few years, so it may sound familiar.  I hope more people who have kids and don't realize how mean kids can really be will watch this documentary, then hopefully try to prevent this in their own children and schools.  This movie is available to rent or buy right now.  If you're a fan of documentaries and you weren't that dickhead bully in school you will enjoy this movie.
I give this movie 4 stars.

Sinister

I finally got to see Sinister last night which is now available to rent or buy, thank you Redbox.  I've been hyped up for this movie since last October so my expectations were very high and I heard nothing but good things from this movie.  Let me tell you that my expectations were a little too high.  The basic premise of this movie is a family moves into a house because the husband is a writer and he's writing his next big hit about a true life murder.  As they are moving in he finds a box in the attic with old super 8 rolls of movie film and a projector.  As he's watching them each one has a horrible murder of a family.  He starts to research these films and during this search he comes across a man hidden in each film.  Who is this man, why did he make these films, and what does he want?  The movie does have some cool aspects in the story that I didn't expect.  If you've seen Insidious it reminded a little of that.  Sinister was a good movie but it just wasn't that scary.  It made me jump once or twice but didn't fully creep me out.  I like the found footage aspect of the movie, they were very short scenes and made it still feel like a normal horror movie.  Majority of the scary moments in this movie were expected, mostly because of them being in the trailer which seems to be the downfall of most movies now.  It stars Ethan Hawke (Training Day, Daybreakers ).

I give this movie 3.5 stars.  I might have been disappointed but it was still a good scary movie with a couple of unexpected plot lines.  I recommend it

Would You Rather

I watched Would You Rather which is available on VOD and in limited release right now.  This movie is a horror gore torture movie.  So if you're not into movies like Hostel and Saw you probably won't care too much for this one.  It's about a group of people who are all in need of money for different reasons.  A man gathers these people for a dinner party and game, and promises a large cash prize to the winner of the night.  What the guests don't know is the rules of the game and what they are actually playing for is their lives.  This movie had me interested throughout majority of it wondering what the person would choose and what I would choose in that situation.  It has a couple cool scenes such as would you stab the person next to you in the thigh with an ice pick or beat them with a whipping staff 3 times.  I would only recommend this movie if you're into this specific horror genre or if you've ever been curious maybe this is one to check out.  It's nothing great just a movie that at times will make you wanna look away but also watch through your fingers.  It stars Brittany Snow (Pitch Perfect, Harispray), Jeffrey Combs (Re-Animator, House on Haunted Hill),  Eddie Steeples ( Darrell on My Name is Earl ), and Sasha Grey (Mostly porn movies) and not really sure why she's in this movie but it's not for the porn aspect of her career.

I give this movie 3.5 out 5 stars.  It was interesting enough to keep watching and I would recommend it to any horror genre fan.

The Following

The Following -

So I just started watching The Following with Kevin Bacon on FOX.  I'm about 5 episodes late to this serial killer party so if you're watching it already good on ya.  So far from just the first episode it's pretty awesome.  This show has me asking enough questions but it gives just the right amount of answers to keep me interested.  So far there's been certain riddles, if you're a fan of edgar alan poe then you might like it even more, not sure if that will play into the rest of the episodes but it works starting off.  Hopefully it doesn't turn into the not so popular movie The Raven.  .  While watching the first episode I kept thinking this would be a good show on HBO or Showtime but it still works well on network television with no disappointments.  Along with Kevin Bacon it also has Shawn Ashmore who played Iceman on the X-men movies.  So I do recommend watching this show for sure, I will update this post once I'm caught up to the newest episode.  Knowing myself I'll be caught upwith this show in no time.