Movie Reviews

I saw a bunch of movies in December. There were like 7 must sees and several more maybes. For some reason Hollywood figures people would only like movies in December and the other months are filled with dreck. I didn't see all I planned to. I completely missed Dumb and Dumber To. The others just didn't show up at our theater. After they book all the action/zombie/alien movies, there isn't a lot of room left for anything that I want to see. Here are my humble reviews They won't influence whether you go to see them because they probably are gone by now. This is January after all.

Big Hero 6 - I am a sucker for kids' animated movies. This was very well done. It wasn't as funny as I thought it would be or I wanted it to be. He's a giant marshmallow robot. You couldn't get some more humor out of that? Aside from that, a fine movie. 7 stars.

The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies - I spent a lot of energy trying to figure out exactly what the 5 armies were. My count varied between 3 and 8. The group of villagers that came to the mountain - were they one? I found out later they were not. "The Battle of Several Armies" might have been a less confusing title. I'm a little troubled that every time they get in big trouble they are taken away by the eagles. After a while you can kind of see that coming. Fun fact: They guy who play a wizard (Saruman?) actually knew JRR Tolkein and every year reads the Lord of the Rings. Its sad those movies have come to an end. There is another book he wrote - The Silmarillion. I'm sure that won't be a movie. If you want to feel really stupid sometime, and who doesn't, try reading the first two or three pages. Its the most confusing thing ever. 8 stars.

Into the Woods - It grew on me. I didn't like it, took about a 20 minute nap, and then refreshed, I started liking it a bit more. I liked My Fair Lady and Mary Poppins as musicals. That's about it. In real life people don't just burst into song. Do you walk down the street and see cops dancing on garbage cans? No. Another problem I have with musical plays is that the writers seem to spend hours on the lyrics and then slap a tune on top of it at the last minute. They'll have adorable lyrics like, "Its been good to know ya, Here in Nova Scotia", and I'll think, "Hey, well played", but then the melody just doesn't seem to be nearly as good. Maybe if I heard the songs again (I won't) I might have a greater appreciation for them. 4 stars.

Interstellar - I was forced to go to this, but there was the much shorter Night at the Museum playing at the same time. So, I watched the first and last half hour of Interstellar then ducked out to see the other movie. Even though I didn't see a lot of it, I think I can give an objective review. It was confusing and stupid. But, at least they didn't break into song. 1 star.

Night at the Museum - I have liked these more as they've come out. I like #2 better than #1, and #3 better than #2. Maybe I liked this movie so much because I was thinking, "Thank God I'm not watching Interstellar right now". I usually haven't liked Robin Williams, but since he had passed away I've given him a second chance with me. I think serious actors must get a little ticked off when all these stand up comedians get acting jobs. There is a bunch of them. But then I saw that Robin was actually a seriously trained actor. So the movie was funny, but sad also since it was the last in the series and also knowing that Robin had passed away. It won't win any Oscars, I'm sure, but a nice little movie. 8 stars.

I've still got movies left to go, so next time.