Guardians of the Galaxy Review

OK, after watching Ant-Man and liking it,  I decided to give this movie a shot - since I like superhero movies that don't take themselves too seriously.  Unfortunately I must not have been the target audience for this movie.  I liked Chris Pratt in the Jurassic World movie, and don't blame him for this movie's outcome.  However, the characters, script and humor just didn't deliver for me in this movie.  Here are my reasons for giving this movie an abysmal review:

1. I fell asleep half-way into the movie.  Not good - since I rarely fall asleep watching movies - unless they are really not that interesting or I am extremely sleep-deprived.
2.  Humor hardly funny.   It seems that a talking raccoon and a tree alien that only says like one sentence in the whole movie has someone cracking up.  It wasn't me.  The humor is a bit off-color and weird.  Not what you expect from a movie with talking animals.  If you make a movie geared at kids, it is my opinion you should keep the humor kid-friendly.  This movie script seemed to want adult humor mixed with childish characters.  Seems like that is the trend lately (like in movies similar to Ted and Ted 2) but I'm not a fan of that combination.
3. Confusing Plot - Ok maybe some of this is related to #1 above,  but I didn't find the plot that engaging or easy to follow.
4.  Expectations Set Way Too High - I admit after reading and researching this movie - I was expecting more - a lot more.  It could be that my expectations were too high - but after watching and enjoying the recent Marvel movie Ant-Man - I thought this would be a similar hit.   The two movies are so different the only thing they really have in common is that they are both done by Marvel Studios.
Botton Line:  A lot of people love this movie.  I guess I'm not your average reviewer since I found it left so much to be desired.  I wish I had 120 minutes of my life back after this one.  You have been warned.

Ant-Man Review

I had to see this movie.  I was a bit skeptical about it since I'm starting to tire of Marvel movies, and with a name like "Ant-Man" I didn't have very high hopes for a noteworthy movie.  However, that being said - I was pleasantly surprised.  Paul Rudd is the new select person to be "Ant-Man" due to Michael Douglas' character wanting to pass on the responsibilities of the super suit to a new person.   Evangeline Lilly also plays in this which I was pleasantly surprised to learn since I have seen very little that she is in since the days of the "LOST" TV show where she played Kate.  

Why Is This Movie Better Than Average? 

Great kick-off story introducing the character, good special effects, and believable acting.  Good use of humor (doesn't take itself too seriously) as well as a plot that doesn't feel recycled.  All that rolled together could make another hit movie series for the Marvel studios.   Just when I think they have run out of ideas, they launch another superhero movie that has all the potential of this one.  Paul Rudd was a great selection for the part (who doesn't like Paul Rudd?), and Michael Douglas also does a fantastic job as the wise older man in the part he plays.  Plus if you watch all the way past the end credits,  you can see that the movie studios have more in store for this story.   If you haven't seen it yet,  I give two thumbs up to the movie "Ant-Man".   I guess the only thing that could make it better would be a better superhero name than "Ant-Man".  This name sounds anything but intimidating.   This name sounds like if you aren't careful where you step the superhero will be a smashed bug.  Doesn't really bring the same feelings as a name like "Superman" does, but for whatever reason Marvel thought "Ant-Man" would be a great superhero name.  It does fit his capabilities so I will give it that.  I also have to hand it to the director and script writer for not just making this a special effects extravaganza which is so easy to do in this day and age.    This movie has heart, an actual plot and a lot of potential for more good stories with the characters introduced in this movie.

Pawn Sacrifice Review

Pawn Sacrifice is the story of Bobby Fischer the U.S. Chess champion who went against Boris Spassky from Russia.  I knew a little about Bobby Fischer before watching this movie,  so I knew the man was incredibly bright but also a bit strange in his personal life.   I wasn't sure exactly how this movie would keep the plot moving and the viewers engaged but it did manage to be a good movie with enough interesting things going to keep a movie about a chess eccentric stimulating enough to watch the whole thing through.   I'm not positive this is extremely accurate in all areas of Bobby's life,  but if it was it really showed the tiny line between chess brilliance and insanity.  I play chess myself so the subject matter was pretty interesting to me,  but at the same time seeing Bobby Fischer's life spiral out of control was also a warning to me about the danger of taking chess (or any hobby or game for that matter) so seriously that you lose sight of who you are or what is really important in your life.  Bobby Fischer was bright but this movie portrays him as extremely difficult to socialize with and kind of a man-child who wasn't happy with anything in his life.  Two of the characters in the movie have the job of keeping Mr. Fischer happy enough to show up to agreed tournaments and it seems they almost failed at the job due to how unreasonable Bobby Fischer could act.  It was basically like babysitting a 2 year old in a man's body.  Overall you watch Bobby's life play out like a train wreck.  It isn't all fun to watch,  but you have to continue to watch his demise into insanity to see how it ends up.  

Takeaways From The Movie

1. Chess is my favorite game, but anytime a game becomes an idol in your life - your life will lose balance and take a bad turn.  Bobby Fischer became obsessed with the game so much he didn't live for much else besides playing great chess.

2.  Never put a hobby, game, or career above your family and friends.  To quote the movie "It's a Wonderful Life" - "No man is poor who has friends".   This movie portrait of Bobby Fischer made him out to be a very poor man because he was hostile to just about everyone in his life.  Family and friends hold more value than any position, title, or money can ever enrich your life.

Conclusion:  Not a lot of chess movies are made, so I'm glad they made Pawn Sacrifice and I think they made it as interesting as possible detailing the eccentric player Bobby Fischer.   This movie doesn't leave me wanting to re-watch it nor did I find it as good as the movie "Searching For Bobby Fischer" (which isn't really about Bobby Fischer), so therefore I would give it 3 stars out of 5.   If you have any interest in the biography of Bobby Fischer, definitely give this movie a try.

 

It Could Happen To You Review

In light of the recent news on the Powerball being a billion dollars,  I decided to buy a few tickets and see what happens.  My odds proved accurate and I didn't win a thing.  It was fun to dream for a few days though and wonder if the sequence of numbers would somehow win the money.   It also made me want to re-watch this 90s movie about winning the Lotto.  "It Could Happen To You" is the story about an honest hard-working cop who buys a lotto ticket and then promises part of the winnings as a tip to a poor waitress.  She doesn't think he will be honest if he does win - but Nicolas Cage is very honest and wants to do the right thing.  He ends up winning 6 million dollars and giving her half of it like promised.  Bridget Fonda plays the part of the bankrupt waitress (who also works for a jerk) who ends up romantically involved with Cage's character. I felt the movie pacing was good, and the characters were fairly entertaining.  However that being said - I consider this movie more of a romance, than a romantic comedy.  There is the cop's wife who is a greedy hard-to-live-with woman which is sort of played for laughs,  but all-in-all this movie is more a sweet story of romance than a true laugh-out-loud romantic comedy.

What I liked?

1. Great acting.

2. Fun story

3. Enjoyable experience watching

4. Great moral lesson about the power of money to corrupt.

What could have been better?

1. Unfortunately marriage is shown as anything but permanent in this movie.  Both main characters seem to be miserable in their marriages, and this movie just seems to suggest they would be better off ditching their marriages to be happier with someone else.

2. More humor.  Great story and cute semi-funny moments throughout.  Could have been a bit funnier though showing the ridiculousness of greed gone wild.

Summary: 

Cute story and fun to watch after the latest Powerball frenzy for over a billion dollars.  Still not good enough for me to consider owning though.   Nicolas Cage does a great job and this is one of his finer movies in my opinion.

Muppets Most Wanted Review

I want to start this review stating my feelings about the Muppets.  I really love them and was looking forward to this new movie "Muppets Most Wanted".  The previews looked great.  The plot looked funny.  I was eagerly looking forward to Muppet fun again.  I put this on for my girls and I and sat back to see what Disney had done with the latest Muppets installment.  I was disappointed.   The plot revolves around a Kermit impostor who tries to take over Kermit's role because he is a wanted frog.  I thought it had a lot of potential,  but sadly it failed to deliver in witty writing.  Although some may disagree, I found the muppet movies "Muppet Treasure Island" and "Muppet's in Space" extremely funny and enjoyable to watch.  The jokes really hit home for me in those two movies.  In this movie it seemed that most of the writing tries to be funny but seriously misses the mark.  Kermit is sent to a prison and the impostor Constantine tries to take over his role with the Muppets.  They definitely try to borrow some material from "The Pink Panther" series of movies,  and some of the jokes are genuinely funny but overall I felt this was not a great Muppet movie.  "Muppets Treasure Island" was much better done in my opinion.   Unless you are obsessed with the Muppets I recommend skipping this one and watching one of their other classic movies instead.  Two thumbs down.  It could have been so much better.