Tag: Steve Carell

The Minions: Rise of Gru

The Minions: Rise of Gru

They say laughter is good for the soul. Well, there has not been much to laugh about lately, but if you see this latest installment of the Minions with all of their silliness, you will laugh.

Set in the 1970s, Gru is growing up in the suburbs. A fan of the super villain / super group known as “The Vicious 6”, Gru hatches a plan to become evil enough to join them. To his luck Gru gets some mayhem making backup from his loyal followers. Kevin, Stuart, Bob and new comer Otto who all deploy their skills to assist Gru in helping him make their first weapon and pull of their first mission, but the Vicious 6 have other ideas. The story unfolds from there…

This is not the best installment in this franchise, but the silliness and laughter it brings makes it worth checking out. There are a few silly gags, some laugh out loud moments and some karate type props that make this a fun diversion. If nothing else the star-studded cast, makes you want to see/hear who is doing the voices of these silly characters. 


Believe or not, there were only adults in the theater when I saw this movie.


“The Minions: Rise of Gru” is open in Theaters

This is a 3 ½ Star Movie!!

Vice

Not on my original “Watch List”, “Vice” became a late entrant.

“Vice” is a depiction of Vice President Dick Cheney’s life starting from college up to and including his time as the Vice President of the United States.

The movie starts in 1963 in Casper, WY where Dick Cheney (Christian Bale) is having a rough time in college. He then ends up working as a Telephone Pole climber who repairs phone lines. In 1968 Dick Cheney gets his act together and enters into Political Life as an intern. During his internship this is where he meets Donald Rumsfeld (Steve Carell). Cheney’s connection with Donald Rumsfeld wets his appetite for Politics. Moving along the movie touches on the following Presidents Nixon, Ford, Carter, Reagan and then in 2001 with President Bush and Obama’s election in 2008.

The main focus is the events and administration’s decisions that occurred after 9/11. The story unfolds from there…

The movie is not bad, but it does not focus in one area too long and that can cause confusion with the viewer. There is a lot of skipping around so you have to pay attention and sort of put the pieces together yourself.

I like Political-based movies when they are done well. “Vice” is just ok. I wanted to view it mainly because of the cast playing the roles. I wanted to see what they would do with what they were given. Needless to say it was interesting and also a bit dry.

This is a 2 1/2 Star Movie!!

Battle of the Sexes

Finally opened in wide-release, “Battle of the Sexes” is a look at the events and true story of the 1973 Tennis showdown between World number one Billie Jean King and former men’s champ, Bobby Riggs.

The real live event was one of the most watched televised sporting events in history. At that time over 90 million viewers watched Billie Jean King hand Bobby Riggs his hat in a match that he was overwhelmingly favored to win, but lost in stunning fashion.

During this time Billie Jean King was championing the cause for equal pay for female tennis players, while Bobby Riggs was a flashy gambler who refused to stop even as it almost cost him his family.

Bravo to the movie for truly displaying 1973, no state-of-the-art electronic devices of any kind and no flashy tennis outfits.

This epic tennis match is still talked about to this day.

“Battle of the Sexes” is definitely worth a look.

This is a 4 Star Move!

The Big Short

Michael Lewis’ best-seller; The Big Short: Inside the Doomsday Machine is the basis of the movie “The Big Short”.

“The Big Short” centers around four high-finance outsiders who predicted the credit and housing collapse of the 2000s and how they took on the big banks for their lack of foresight and intense greed. The story unfolds from there…

“The Big Short” is un-cut, unedited. You see everything in the raw. Execution at times is a bit slow, but none the less the movie is intriguing, eye-opening and worth a look.

“The Big Short” is open in limited-release around the country. Check it out in your city.

This is a 4 Star Movie!!

BTW…I had planned to see “Point Break” the remake of the 1991 Patrick Swayze and Keanu Reeves movie, but the 2015 installment received such awful reviews I decided to pass.