Tag Archives: Disney Movie Reviews

Five Reasons to see Guardians of the Galaxy

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Tickey stubs / Guardians of the GalaxyLet’s just start this off with a small confession.  While I love Disney’s Marvel movies, I had practically no desire to see Guardians of the Galaxy.  Zip.  Zilch.  Barely registering on my curiosity scale – the previews did nothing to help.  It just didn’t look that good.  There was no identifiable hero, a talking raccoon, and a big bare tree with a face.  Yeah, that looked great.  The other Marvel movies had drawing power!  Thor – now who wouldn’t want to go see a Thor movie?  Captain America – the Cap’s got everything going for him – tragic past, extreme patriotism, a true hero – you know what I mean.  Then put a bunch of the Marvel guys together and the Avengers!  Outstanding entertainment!

Back to Guardians.  So I felt I needed to see it strictly because it was a Marvel movie.  I have a Disney blog – people might expect me to mention the movie or something.  Raymond seemed excited about it, so we’d hit the matinee, see the 3D version, and at least I’d get a tub of popcorn and a Mr. Pibb out of the deal.  Space, misfits, sci-fi adventure, whatever.  It was raining – good time to kill a couple of hours indoors.  I was just this side of “let’s get this over with”.

I must publicly offer my sincerest apologies to Guardians of the Galaxy for judging the movie based purely on the previews.  I was wrong to make stereotypical judgments solely formed on The Standard Movie Snacksthe fact that the movie was set in space and appeared (to me) to be built on a somewhat ridiculous, overdone theatrical premise – misfits forced to band together take on a defeat a common foe.  I was imagining a Marvel version of Armageddon, but with CG characters that I wouldn’t be able to like.  Boy, was I ever wrong.

Guardians of the Galaxy is a fantastically entertaining adventure.  Well-developed characters with meaningful backstories combined with a real, intriguing and substantial plot – plus comedy – the good, old fashioned kind that relies on well-written lines and perfectly timed delivery.  Need more to get you to fork over the price of a movie theater ticket?  Here you go:

Five reasons to see Guardians of the Galaxy:

1. You were raised in the ’80’s.  This movie is full of great music and loads of ’80’s references that ’80’s kids will absolutely love (and appreciate).

2. You love a good space/sci-fi adventure – the kind where you’re on the edge of your seat one minute and laughing out loud the next.  Our fellow movie-goers were clapping, cheering, and laughing hysterically throughout the entire film.  Reminded me of the first time I saw Star Wars way back when it first showed in theaters in 1977.

3. You are a fan of characters with rough-exteriors and marshmallow hearts.  Film history is full of movies where misfits and imperfect (even not-so-nice) characters decide to do the right thing – resulting in self-discovery and friendship along the way.  This is what makes The Avengers a great movie and what is at the core of Guardians.

4. You adore the well-delivered one-liner.  This should have been #1 probably – at least for me.  I am a huge fan of memorable one-liners and this film delivers.

5. You like movies with a lot of heart.  Any time what should be an absolutely ridiculous situation pulls a genuine emotional response from me, I’m sold.  The fact that characters of the completely computer-generated variety can bring a tear to my eye is the sign of well-made, well-played movie.

Man, this spoiler-free movie reviewing is tough!  I could go on and on.  Was this movie perfect? No.  Would I give it 4 out of 4 stars?  Almost – it’s a solid 3-and-a-half.  Is does deliver a whole lot of fun, adventure, action, and heart.  Well worth the money I spent to see a 3D matinee.  Beware:  there’s a little bit of bad language and some violence, but it’s good entertainment for worldly kids 11/12 and above.

Have you seen Guardians of the Galaxy?  What did you think about it?

Disney’s Maleficent – Mostly Spoiler-free Review

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Maleficent Movie PosterIt’s a fairytale, people!  Please keep that in mind when/if you see this movie.  I avoided reviews and comments about Maleficent prior to seeing it (promptly upon my return from Walt Disney World).  Then, afterwards, I let myself check out the widely varying opinions of others – and there are gobs of them that range from “loved it” to “it was complete trash” (or worse).

I’m not hard to please.  I like my fairytale movies to have plausible (yet completely impossible) elements – based on whichever reality in which the story takes place, characters with lots of flaws, valuable life lessons, good versus evil (and the blurry spaces in between) – all tied up with a nice neat happy ending.  If you fall in a similar entertainment-viewing category, you will like Maleficent just fine.  Oddly enough, the entire story reminded me of a gigantic episode of ABC’s Once Upon a Time – which was a plus since I’m just wild about that show!

I saw it in 3D and contrary to some other viewers’ opinions (really raging, angry opinions, to boot), I was not at all bothered by any of the CGI effects.  Quite the opposite, in fact.  I didn’t scrutinize them at all, but rather accepted the CGI characters and scenery in the spirit in which Maleficent Theater Posterthey were generated – to create a wonderful fantasy land in which our characters could carry on their story.

The casting was just fine overall.  Angelina Jolie was stunningly beautiful as Maleficent – breathtaking!  She owned that role completely from her gorgeous red lips to her perfect tone of voice – delivering each line precisely with the perfect amount of emotion – I could have closed my eyes and imagined exactly how she was feeling at any given time, but to look away from that face during the movie would have been impossible.  Maleficent-the-being grabs you from the first and pulls you in completely – to understand her, to know her, to love her.  Elle Fanning as Aurora was well done and I completely disagree with ridiculous reviewers who didn’t think her beautiful enough – she was.  Inside and out…the character was supposed to be a beautiful soul as opposed to simply a visual stunner.  Elle Fanning captured that perfectly.Maleficent Ticket

There were a bunch of reviews that groused about the plot – perhaps they searched too hard for pro-feminist politics or a deeper meaning for “true love’s kiss”.  I liked the story – I “got” the plot and felt it was neither too deep nor too shallow.  I found (this is me and my opinion) the movie to be visually stunning and thought provoking to just the right extent.

If you are looking for a deeply moving social commentary on women’s roles or unresolved childhood issues – please pass on Maleficent.  If you’re looking for a stunningly presented fairytale with all the right elements, interesting characters, and the perfect ending – dish out the $$ and see Maleficent on the big screen – in 3D if you can.

Have you seen Maleficent?  What’s your impression of the movie?

 

Disney’s Million Dollar Arm – Spoiler-Free Review

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Million Dollar Arm Ticket StubI’m a baseball fan.  Always have been.  The St. Louis Cardinals is my team – my big brother, Mike, bought me my first Cardinals tee-shirt (Lou Brock!) in the ’70’s and Oh, the crush I had on Keith Hernandez when I was in high school…sigh.  I married a lifelong Cards fan and we’ve lived in blissful baseball harmony all these 25 years (this September 9th).  Consequently, Raymond and I both love baseball movies.  We will often kick off baseball season in the spring by re-watching a few of our favorites.  Field of Dreams, a perennial favorite, is just outstanding no matter how many times we watch it.  I was once burned, though, by another Kevin Costner movie – For Love of the Game (1999) – a chick-flick disguised as a baseball movie.  That cruel deception has made me wary of baseball movies – I walked into the theater expecting another epic baseball film and walked out royally pissed off really angry.  As usual, I digress.  Okay – back to today.

I didn’t want to read anything before seeing Million Dollar Arm, in spite of my fear of baseballMillion Dollar Arm Movie Poster movie deception, but I found a spoiler-free review in my twitter feed and trusted it enough to follow the link – so the great review here (by George Gensler) at Adventures by Daddy told me enough to know I could expect Million Dollar Arm to be a real baseball flick (with a dash of romance thrown in).  The movie’s based on a true story and if you go see it, stick around through the credits to see some wonderful actual photos and videos of the real people behind the story.

Why this is a fantastic baseball film:

Million Dollar Arm Movie PosterMillion Dollar Arm is about baseball.  And business.  And relationships, personalities, taking chances, and redemption.  I was drawn into the story right away – then experienced a huge variety of emotions.  Many scenes are funny, but I also felt sorrow, anger, joy, surprise, and frustration.  To be cliché, I laughed, I cried – and everything in between.  John Hamm does an exceptional job playing J. B. Bernstein – the sports agent main character.  His ability to manipulate viewers’ emotions is a huge part of what makes this movie work.  I have never been to India, but the parts of the film that take place in India were superbly filmed and edited – I saw India in a way I never have before.

The script, acting, and directing – along with an amazing musical soundtrack – combine to make you feel something for each character.  Those feelings may not always be positive, but that’s also what makes Million Dollar Arm good entertainment – and a GREAT baseball movie.  In fact, I haven’t enjoyed any movie as much as I did this one in quite a while.

On the fence?  Go on – there’s a great story there…even if you’re not into baseball – but if that’s the case, don’t tell me, okay?  I don’t trust people who don’t love baseball.

Have you seen Million Dollar Arm?  What did you think?      

Captain America The Winter Soldier Review

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Captain America The Winter Soldier 1While I’ve seen all the Marvel movies released by Disney, I’ve been a bit variable about how much I’ve liked each one.  First Thor and third Iron Man – didn’t like those so much.  Second Thor?  I liked that movie a bunch.  I also thought The Avengers was just fantastic.  The previews didn’t give much away about the newest Marvel installment released on April 4th.  Personally, I tried to stay away from reviews and spoilers before I went to see Captain America: The Winter Soldier, so I would be a blank slate, so to speak – with no pre-conceived notions about whether the movie would be good or not.  Raymond, who’d read quite a bit about the movie before we saw it Sunday afternoon, was very careful not to give anything away.

Before I get to the mini-review, let me say that I did like Captain America (the original) very much.  It had an Indiana Jones vibe to it and, honestly, since Raiders of the Lost Ark is one of my most favorite movies of all time (released when I was in high school) the connection gave Captain America an advantage to me.

It’s hard for a sequel to be better than the original, but with Marvel movies, it seems almost common.  Such was the case with The Winter Soldier.  I don’t want to give anything away, so no spoilers here, but this was a great movie!  Saw it in 3D (which we don’t usually choose) because that was the time we wanted – the 3D effects were good.

If you’ve been on the fence, here are a few reasons to see the new Captain America:

  • Robust plot chock full of surprises, twists and turns.Captain America The Winter Soldier 2
  • Plenty of action without sacrificing the flow of the storyline.
  • Excellent villains.
  • Beloved characters from previous Marvel movies remain true to themselves (this is important to my enjoyment of any sequel).
  • Introduction of new characters that work very well in developing the story and join seamlessly with the existing cast – this was a particular plus for The Winter Soldier with me.

There were thrills, laughs, shocks, and edge-of-your-seat excitement – everything you’d hope for in a Marvel movie plus just a little bit more.  I adored Captain America: The Winter Soldier and I think you will too.  As always, stay ’til the very last credit has rolled.

Have you seen Captain America: The Winter Soldier yet?  What did you think?