Author: moviewarrior

I am an IT Professional who has loved the movie going experience since Kindergarten. My favorite Genres are Action, Suspense/Thrillers, Drama, Sci-Fi, Animation, Art House and Romantic Comedies.

The Divergent Series:Allegiant – The IMAX Experience

“The Divergent Series: Allegiant” is the third and final installment in the NY Times Best Selling Novel series by Veronica Roth.

Picking up where Insurgent left off, Tris (Shailene Woodley) must escape with Four (Theo James) and go beyond the electronic wall that encloses Chicago. The team of six start out and are able to cross the wall, but on the way they lose one. For the first time the five that successfully make it down the other side of the wall are free and have left behind the only city and family they have ever known.

It becomes a ruthless battle as Tris and Four must determine who they can trust and who is telling the truth. Things they believed have turned out not to be true. Back home a battle rages in Chicago among all of the residents. Finding out that all of humanity is at stake, Four decides to go back to Chicago. The story unfolds from there…
I found “The Divergent Series: Allegiant” to be the worst third installment of any Best Selling Novel Series that has come to the big screen.

Things are not put into context appropriately. If you did not see Insurgent or Divergent, you would not know what is going on. The story is disjointed and the pieces do not make sense, nor do they come together. It’s difficult to bring best-selling novel series to the big screen. The one exception is the “Hunger Games”. Its third installment was very good.
I feel that the movie industry is only interested in the revenue that can possibly be generated from this movie. It’s just not any good.

Read “The Divergent” Series. I bet you will enjoy the books a lot more than the movies.

This is a 1 Star Movie!

Miracles from Heaven

“Miracles from Heaven” is a faith-based Christian Drama about having faith!

All of a sudden 10 year old Anna Beam (Kylie Rogers) becomes ill. Emergency room visits and standard test yield no results, but because Anna’s mother Christy Beam (Jennifer Garner) refuses to take what the doctors say at face value, the hospital is forced to have a specialist look at little Anna to determine if there is a real problem. After a battery of tests the specialist is able to determine that Ann has a rare incurable illness.

Determined not to give up, Christy takes Anna to Boston to the Boston Children’s Hospital where there are specialists who can treat Anna. The story unfolds from there…

This movie is based on factual events. I found myself in tears at times. The message of this movie is about having faith and believing in God. If you don’t have faith, don’t go see “Miracles from Heaven”. The movie does have some dis-jointed parts of the story. There is some comedic relief, but it wasn’t as funny as it should have been.

Jennifer Garner’s performance was absolutely awesome!
The paid critics did not like “Miracles from Heaven”, but I think it’s pretty good and worth a look.

This is a 3 1/2 Star Movie!

The Perfect Match

“The Perfect Match” is a Romantic Comedy about a well-worn story that we have all seen and heard before…

Charlie (Terrence Jenkins) doesn’t believe in love. He believes in one-night-stands. His friends are all happily married or are about to get married. They bet Charlie that he can’t stay with one woman for a month. Charlie takes the bet. He meets this gorgeous, mysterious woman named “Eva” (Cassie Ventura). Charlie lures Eva into what he thinks is a casual affair. As time moves on Charlie starts to have feelings for Eva, but Eva turns the tables on Charlie, leaving Charlie flabbergasted. The story unfolds from there…

“The Perfect Match” is a typical relationship movie with a formula that has been seen time and time again. The problem isn’t just the story, but the acting is just not that great. There are some funny parts and the movie contains a lot of very beautiful people, but that’s about all.

“The Perfect Match” will make a great Cable Movie in a couple of months.

This is a 2 Star Movie!!

Zootopia in 3D

I am enjoying a couple of days off so I decided to see the animated hit “Zootopia”!!

We should all be so lucky to live in a place like “Zootopia”. It’s a metropolis with neighborhoods like “Ritzy Sahara Square” and “Frigid Tundratown”. Animals from every environment live together and co-habitat without issues. Whether you are a HUGH Elephant to a small tiny mouse, you can be and do anything you like.

Rookie Office Judy Hopps (Ginnifer Goodwin) wanted to be a police officer ever since she was a little bunny in school. She passes the police academy training at the top of her class. Judy is excited to get her assignment upon graduation day, but when she arrives at her newly assigned police precinct Judy discovers she is the first Bunny to become a police officer. She is not sure about this. There are HUGH animals as policemen. Judy is determined to prove her worth though, but she is assigned to Parking Meter Duty…The story unfolds from there…

“Zootopia” is entertaining, light-hearted and fun. While it’s potentially billed as a movie for the younger set. Adults can definitely enjoy “Zootopia”. There is a lesson in this movie for everyone!

The animation and cinematography are awesome! There is a story, plot and intrigue. If you are interested in something “Light-Hearted and Fun” I suggest “Zootopia”.

This is a 5 Star Movie!

Whiskey, Tango, Foxtrot

Comedian Tina Fey turns a bit serious on us for her role as News Journalist Kim Barker.

“Whiskey, Tango, Foxtrot” is an adaptation of Kim Barker’s Memoir titled “The Taliban Shuffle: Strange Days in Afghanistan and Pakistan”. The story details Kim Barker’s days as a reporter in the middle-east during the 2002 thru 2006 time frame.

Tina Fey does a nice job portraying a Kim Barker. The movie attempts to strike a balance between comedy and drama. You do get more drama than comedy. The movie gives you a bit of “Girl Power” portrayed in a male dominated environment.

“Whiskey, Tango, Foxtrot” was executed very well. You get to see Tina Fey operate an AK-47 with ease.

This is a 3 Star Movie!

London Has Fallen

“London has Fallen” is an “Action Junkie’s” Dream!

At the order of the US President a drone strike attempts to take out an internationally known Terrorist. It’s believed that the strike was successful, so no further Surveillance was ordered after the strike.

Fast forward two years, an announcement that the British Prime Minister has died causes a major stir among world leaders. Everyone makes plans to descend on London to pay their respects. Security is extremely high given the importance and severity of the situation. The leaders start to arrive in London. The story unfolds from there…

“London Has Fallen” is not quite as bad as the paid critics indicated.
There is a plot, a story, tons of action, suspense and intrigue.

The only problem is that a lot of the events couldn’t possibly happen in the real world. Agent Banning (Gerard Butler) tries to come across as a Presidential James Bond, but he lacks the charisma to pull it off and the movie is a bit short at 1:39.

The action is non-stop. You won’t be bored. I thought Morgan Freeman was pretty good as the Vice President. I still think the movie is worth at least 2 1/2 stars.

Oscar Recap

I actually found the 88th Oscars interesting and entertaining last night. One thing for sure is that it was fast moving. The days of the long “Thank You” speeches are over!!

Here is my Oscar Recap for Last nights awards.

“Spotlight” won the Best Picture Award! I saw this movie and gave it 5 stars. Other movies nominated that I saw in 2015 were: “The Revenant”, “The Martian”, “The Big Short”, “Bridge of Spies” and “Mad Max: Fury Road”. I gave all of these movies either 4 or 5 stars. “Room” and “Brooklyn” were the other two nominees.

Leonardo DiCaprio finally won the long deserved Best Actor Oscar. He had to get mauled by a bear in “The Revenant” to win it.

Mark Rylance won the Best Supporting Actor Oscar for his role in “Bridge of Spies”

Alejandro Gonzalez won the Best Director Oscar for “The Revenant”

The animated movie that brought me to tears, “Inside Out” won the Best Animated Feature Film Oscar. I gave this movie 5 stars.

“The Big Short” – Best Writing Adapted Screenplay Oscar

“Spotlight” – Best Original Screenplay Oscar

Emmanual Lubeski won the Best Cinematography Oscar for “The Revenant”

Ennio Morricone – won the Best Music Original Score for “The Hateful Eight”

“Mad Max: Fury Road” was a surprise winner of the following 6 Oscars:

Best Costume Design, Best Sound Mixing, Best Film Editing, Best Production Design, Best Sound Editing and Best Makeup

Best Original Song went to Sam Smith for “Writing’s on the Wall” from the “Spectre 007” movie

If you have not seen “Spotlight”, “The Big Short”, “Bridge of Spies”, The Martian”, “Mad Max:Fury Road” or “The Revenant”, I encourage you to seek these movies out, make some popcorn and get comfortable!!

Other Oscar Winners are as follows:

Brie Larson: Best Actress Oscar for “Room”

Alicia Vikander – Best Supporting Actress for “The Danish Girl”

Best Documentary Feature Film – “Amy”

Best Documentary Short Film – “A Girl in the River”

Best Live Action Short Film – “Stutterer”

Best Animated Short Film – “Bear Story”

Triple 9

“Triple 9” is a “Dark Brooding” Cop Drama based in Atlanta, GA.

A band of dirty cops are being black-mailed by the Russian Mob. This band of dirty cops go about performing virtually impossible heists. The only way to successfully pull off these heist are to issue a “999” police call which represents “Officer Down”.

You know what happens when you have a crew of people working together and money is involved. People get greedy and paranoid. In “Triple 9” the Rookie Cop in the band is setup to die, but he foils the attack. This sets up what turns out to be the best part of the movie which is only a few minutes from the end.

“Triple 9” is strange and subdued. The movie starts off on the wrong foot and it never stands up straight. Kate Winslet is horrible as a Russian Mob Boss.
There is drug use throughout and blatant nudity. Once again you have a movie with “Heavy Weight Actors” who come across as “Light Weight Actors”.

“Triple 9” is best viewed on Cable.

This is a 2 Star Movie!

RACE

“Race” is about the incredible true life story of Olympic Gold Medalist Jesse Owens. Although the story is moving it only scratches the surface about the events leading up to the 1936 Summer Olympic Games where the legendary Jesse Owens won 4 Gold Medals.

By participating in the 1936 Olympic Games Jesse Owens displayed tremendous determination in facing off against Adolph Hitler’s vision of Aryan supremacy.

“Race” is a movie about courage, determination, tolerance and friendship.

What you see is very well execution, but I feel like the movie could have gone deeper into the story. The movie seems timid at times, but what’s there is definitely worth seeing.

This is a 3 1/2 Star Movie

Deadpool

Marvel’s “Deadpool” is a fictional antihero that appears in Marvel’s Comics. Deadpool would fit in nicely with the Mutants from X-MEN.

“Deadpool” is a rather obnoxious, profanity riddled, irritating film. It has its good parts. The action scenes and camera angles are awesome, but there is so much irritation that the good parts get lost.

The story is about how “Deadpool” came to be. A former Special Forces operative turned Mercenary, Wade Wilson finds out he has Lung Cancer and may not live long. Wade is subjected to an experiment that leaves him with the ability to heal himself rapidly if injured. Because of his altered looks, he chooses the name “Deadpool”. “Deadpool” then goes on a mission to find the man who is responsible for nearly destroying his life. The story unfolds from there…

If there wasn’t so much profanity, nudity and irritation this would be an excellent first installment.

If you can get past the irritation of “Deadpool” it’s worth a look. The paid critics gave this movie 4 1/2 stars. It will only receive 3 stars from me.