Tag: Matthew McConaughey

The Gentlemen

Matthew McConaughey plays an American expat by the name of Mickey Pearson. Mickey built a highly profitable marijuana empire in London. Word gets out that Mickey is looking to cash out of the business forever. This triggers plots, schemes, bribery and blackmail in an attempt to steal Mickey’s empire out from under him and his lovely wife. The story unfolds from there…

Plain and simple I think the movie is awesome! I was thoroughly entertained! My favorite character was Ray (Charlie Hunnam), who was Mickey’s right-hand man. He appeared quiet and unassuming, but was a “Bad Ass” when necessary.

“The Gentlemen” was never short on intrigue. The story continued to roll right up to the end. At times the movie was a bit bloody, but that is to be expected given the story and plot.

This is a Guy Ritchie production, you must pay attention so you do not miss anything because the story goes back and forth.

If you like your Crime Dramas with a small side of Comedy, I highly recommend “The Gentlemen”.

This is a 4 Star Movie!

The Dark Tower

“The Dark Tower” is one of Stephen King’s best-selling novels about the last Gunslinger, Roland Deschain (Idris Elba) who continues to battle the “Man in Black” (Matthew McConaughey) to prevent him from destroying the Dark Tower, which holds the Universe together.

A young boy, Jake Chambers (Tom Taylor) has continued nightmares, visions and dreams about a “Dark Tower”, a “Gunslinger” and a “Man in Black”. He draws what he dreams. Jake’s dreams, visions and nightmares lead his parents to thinking that he needs to be placed in an institution. When the representatives from the institution arrive at Jake’s home, he recognizes them from one of his nightmares. Jake finds a way to escape his home and is able to evade them.

Jake on the run makes his way to an abandoned mansion he saw in one of his visions not realizing that inside this mansion is the gateway to where the “Gunslinger” and the “Man in Black” are located. Jake enters the gateway. The “Man in Black” realizes that Jake is the boy who holds the powers that he needs to use to topple “The Dark Tower”. The story unfolds from there…

Unfortunately the movie does not do the book justice. Although watching Idris Elba as a “Gunslinger” is a wonderful thing… He and his five o’clock shadow look good doing just about anything and Idris Elba is the bright spot in the movie.

“The Dark Tower” spends too much time at the beginning not giving you what you need to put everything in perspective. There is plenty of action and special effects. The movie spends most of its time being dark and mysterious.

I grew up a Stephen King fan and read almost all of his books. I did read “The Dark Tower” and I am disappointed that the movie does not represent the book better.

If you are a Stephen King fan, you may find “The Dark Tower” worth your time, but I suggest waiting for it to come out on DVD, Blu-Ray or Cable.

This is a 2 Star Movie!

Gold

“Gold” is based on true events that happened between 1980 and 1988. Prospector Kenny Wells (Matthew McConaughey) is scratching hard for a lucky break. He teams up with another Geologist Micke Acosta (Edgar Ramirez) who is in a similar situation. Together they prospect an area in the jungle of Indonesia for gold and put together what appears to be a air-tight plan for a rags to riches result.

After several false starts, funds running low and the Indonesian workers wanting to quit, Wells and Acosta strike a small find. This small gold find leads to heavy hitters wanting to invest, a Wall Street Stock Market opening and everyone trying to get a piece of the action. But how long will it last, the story unfolds from there…

If this wasn’t based on true events, I would not have believed it. Matthew McConaughey’s portrayal of Kenny Wells is the bright spot of this movie. The story is jumbled, skips around and does not appear on the big screen in the order in which things actually happened. There are a lot of “Heavy Hitters” in this movie, so I expected better.

Some parts of “Gold” will remind you of the 2000 hit “Traffic”, but “Traffic” was an awesome flick and executed much better than “Gold”.

If you are a Matthew McConaughey fan, his performance in “Gold” is worth seeing. Otherwise wait for “Gold” to come out on cable, DVD or Blue Ray.

This is a 2 Star Movie!

Sing in Real 3D

“Sing” is a cute funny animated movie. It’s not “Zootopia” or “The Secret Life of Pets”, but it is still entertaining.

A Koala Bear impresario, named Buster Moon (McConaughey) stages a singing competition for the animal kingdom much like “America’s Got Talent”, but this event is to save a Grand Theater. Buster advertises that there will be a grand prize of $100,000 dollars, but the selected singers find out by accident that there isn’t any prize money. The story unfolds from there…

“Sing” is funny, silly and warm-hearted entertainment. The story is familiar as it definitely relates to real-life situations.

The movie is more for teenagers, not really a child under 8 years old. There is some rude humor and some disturbing peril that a younger child might not understand.

If you are looking for a movie this holiday season that is animated, funny and warm-hearted then “Sing” is your movie.

This is a 3 ½ Star Movie!

Free State of Jones

It’s another edition of “Thursday Night at the Movies with The Movie Warrior”.

“Free State of Jones” is an Epic Civil War Satire based on factual events that occurred between 1862 and 1876.

Matthew McConaughey is Newt Knight a stubborn southern farmer who goes up against the Confederate Army. Over time Newt assembles an army of his own made up of free slaves, women and white men who defected from the army.

They fought against farmers losing everything to the Confederacy, slavery, the right to vote and any act that was unjust or unlawful during those times.
This is a big story to tell and it can’t be told in 2 hours and nineteen minutes. The movie jumps around a lot. There are actually 2 stories occurring simultaneously. There are many holes left unfilled.

This is the type of movie that has all of the elements that grate on my last nerve, “Racism”, “The N Word being used rampantly”, “The KKK running amok”, “Hangings, Lynching” and “People being beat with a whip”.

If you wish to stomach all of that, have at it!!

This is a 2 Star Movie!

Interstellar: The iMAX Experience

“Interstellar” is way too long and it attempts to reach beyond its concepts.

It’s believed that mankind is coming to an end, so a team of scientists and astronauts search for life on other planets in the hopes that mankind may continue to exist beyond the stars.

“Interstellar” is a visual splendor. It will blow your mind. The cinematography and special effects are off the charts. It’s definitely a must see in IMAX so you can get the full effect.

Now for the bad news…the movie drags, its way too long and at times does not make sense. I could not wait for it to be over. I practically ran from the theater because I spent most of my afternoon there. Personally I did not like the subject matter. All that aside…Director Christopher Nolan delivers thrills and chills.

This is a 3 1/2 Star Movie!

For all you “Fast & Furious” Fans…I saw an awesome trailer of “Fast & Furious 7”. It looks really good…it opens 4/3/15

The Wolf of Wall Street

“The Wolf of Wall Street” with a running time of 2:59 is the second longest movie I have seen next to Malcolm X which had a running time of 3:30.

Based on a true story in 1987, Jordan Belfort (Leonardo DiCaprio) enters the world of stock trading at an entry level position. In the 1990’s Jordan who is still in his 20’s forms his own firm Stratton Oakmont. Together with his closest friend (Jonah Hill) and several other business acquaintances, Jordan Belfort makes millions by defrauding wealthy investors out of millions.

What Jordan and his cronies don’t know is that while they are partying, engaging in wild sex and recreational drug use, the SEC (Securities and Exchange Commission) and the FBI (Federal Bureau of Investigation) is compiling evidence in their investigation that is going to bring Jordan’s firm down and rid him of his excessive wealth. The story unfolds from there…

The movie is very explicit in its dealing with the facts. There is a tremendous about of sexual content, drug use and pervasive language. It’s a no holds barred look inside the world of a Wall Street firm’s daily life. This is a Martin Scorsese film and that in its self is reason to see it.

“The Wolf of Wall Street” is definitely not for anyone under the age of 17.