The Hunger Games: Catching Fire - Review

After catching this fire, I think anyone would be miraculously impressed and wowed by this sequel in the Hunger Games series.  Coming off the first film of the series, walking away only halfway satisfied, I was hoping for a better experience with this sequel.  Surprisingly, my expectations and hopes were met.  I really did enjoy the acting and chemistry amongst Peta (Josh Hutcherson) and Katniss (Jennifer Lawrence) as they are both great, young aspiring actors who really did carry this film's entirety.  They both just are incredible in this film and will have lots more success in future films down the road.  I really did enjoy how the story progressed at a great rate and the film felt as if it flew by in no time even through two and half hours.  There were so many plot twists and surprises the entire film which impressed me as well.  There were some parts that I didn't understand, maybe because I haven't read the books, where you asked yourself why would this happen or why is this occurring.  I hope to read the books as soon as I can to get a better understanding of the story.  Also, the visual effects and make-up were absolutely stunning and done to their best which made the movie very entertaining to watch. The only acting I was not completely in favor of was the performances by Donald Sutherland and Philip Seymour-Hoffman as they were supposed to be sinister characters where I just didn't think they acted bad enough for their roles.  I thought their performances were not done to the best to show the bad, cold side of them.  It felt as if they were just reading their lines, then just acting upon them.  They are both great actors, but the role of this film was just not meant for them.  The one other part that is minor, but not understanding is Liam Hemsworth's character, Gale, is supposed to be a main character, but only appears for only minutes of the film.  I don't understand that, but this is a must-watch film and chime in and catch the fire miraculously.

Rating - 4/5

Delivery Man - Review

And the final delivery is.....not bad to say the least.  Though, I really did think this movie steered totally different then what I thought this film was going to produce.  The story around a meat delivery man played by Vince Vaughn who plays an anonymous producing father of close to 530 children did an exceptional job with the role.  I think Vaughn has a presence during the film of through his seriousness and comedic sides of the film, he does a great job of portraying both in this movie.  I couldn't think of a better actor to play this role as Vaughn always impresses me.  The story really does feel like it's going nowhere towards the half to the near end of the film, but Vaughn's performance does distract you from this.  I think there is definitely originality to the story of this film, but I think many a few changes could have been made to make this film progress better.  I do think this is a great film for any individual who is in debt or has problems connecting with others and can possibly be a helpful film to maybe work on overcoming those issues.  I didn't walk away completely satisfied with this film, but I did enjoy certain parts of this film, it's not the best nor the greatest films I have seen.

Rating - 2.5/5

Don Jon - Review

This film has been out for a while now, but I did just land on the chance to go see it and I was quite surprised with the reaction I had.  This was a film that I thought was very original with its writing and story line and I think director, not to mention the main star, Joseph Gordon-Levitt did an excellent job with this movie.  The story was also so unique and interesting to follow along with the entire movie.  I really did enjoy the film as the acting on all ends was really great to watch.  I'd honestly recommend this film to anybody because I think anybody who sees this movie would be intrigued by it.  I really think Gordon-Levitt could carry out many more successful films down the road from the great job he did with this film.   This film is one to definitely a great one to watch as I truly think it is one of the better films I have watched in recent.

Rating - 4/5

Thor: The Dark World - Review

Instead of calling this sequel, "Thor: The Dark World", I believe maybe "Thor: Back Again" would have been the right title for this film.  This film felt like it was very much similar to the first film of the series.  I also think the length of this film could have been shortened and at one point I thought I was going to doze off as it kept going onward the film.  The movie is not bad or really that good, the story takes many twists and turns in which I didn't like.  However, the characters including Thor (Chris Hemsworth) and Loki (Tom Hiddleston) allowed this negative part to brush off with their motives.  I also enjoyed the performance of Jane Foster (Natalie Portman) and I thought her chemistry with Thor (Hemsworth) was very enjoyable.  Also, the visual effects of any Marvel film is absolutely stunning, especially in this film.  This is one to see only if your in spare of seeing a film, if you ask me.

Rating - 2.5/5

Free Birds - Review

Finally, one semi-decent animated film has come our way in "Free Birds", the film revolving around a duo of turkeys trying to cancel the tradition of eating turkey on Thanksgiving back in 1621.  The story's tale is very original, which I appreciated and I enjoyed the characters presented in the film who made you laugh quite a bit.  I also thought the animation was done very well and has the potential to be nominated for Best Animated Feature.  Though, the movie took some twists and turns where you were questioning what was going on in parts of the film towards the end.  I do think this film is a great family feature and will satisfy the family if seen.

Rating - 3/5

Ender's Game - Review

This is one film that you walk away with a mixture of feelings towards it.  I did think the story was interesting to follow along with, but I just felt the entire film built up and rose to nothing special or of importance.  As this film progressed, it did get to be tiring because it was almost two hours of just escalating events to a final scene which didn't phase me at all.  The film's length was absolutely way too long and I didn't enjoy many of the characters except for the main character, Ender played by Asa Butterfield.  I think Butterfield has lots of potential down the road as the young actor he is becoming.  The others including Harrison Ford and Viola Davis were just not unique enough to enjoy watching in this film.  I am a fan of both Ford and Davis, but films like this are not meant for them.

Rating - 2.5/5

Last Vegas - Review

When you combine Michael Douglas, Robert DeNiro, Morgan Freeman, and Kevin Kline in a film together, the film can go over really well or really bad.  This film neared mainly towards really well for it's tendency to have great comedic lines the majority of the film.  The film's plot/storyline is not really original as the plot is portrayed in so many different films of a group of men going to celebrate pre-wedding extravaganzas.  This film also had many predictable outcomes as soon as you saw many of the characters introduced with one another as well.  However, the thing that shocked me was a bottle of liquor played an important role amongst the main characters as well.  With this film, it was just great to see a core of starred actors come together and crack you up in many parts of the film.  I do recommend this film as it was pretty good if you ask me.

Rating - 3/5

Jackass Presents: Bad Grandpa - Review

Considering this is part of the famed "Jackass" film series, you can only know what you are in for.  This film varies much from the other Jackass films, and for once it is not as disturbing to watch the entire film which is great.  The main character, Irving Zisman, a grandfather who is traveling with his grandson to get him to his father the entire film, was absolutely hysterical.  With every action or comment he made, I think I cracked up for the most part.  His grandson, Billy, also was hysterical to watch, for someone who portrayed an 8 year old kid with a mind, for sure.  The tale was a great one and Johnny Knoxville did a great job portraying a gentleman, double his senior.  I really enjoyed this film a lot and I didn't find many flaws about it either so go out and see it!

Rating - 4/5