The Gunman

Directed by : Pierre Morel 

Written by : Don MacPherson, Pete Travis, Sean Penn 

Starring : Sean Penn, Jasmine Trinca, Javier Bardem, Mark Rylance 

Release Date : February 18, 2015 

This seems like Sean Penn is trying his luck as an aging badass action hero; which seems to be in vogue lately. Unfortunately, it's for this lukewarm, arguably boring, overly melodramatic, underwhelming, one man vs impossible odds, action-drama thriller. This just isn't the high-octane Liam Neeson flick most people are probably expecting.

This movie plays out like this high concept story, but with a lot of familiar plot tropes, and it just could not catch my interest at all. Even most of the action sequences were just average, with only a few stand outs. This isn't even a fun action packed movie either, as there's a lot more exposition scenes and dramatic scenarios involving either the reveals about the mysterious bad guys or Sean Penn brooding.

The acting is at least good, with Sean Penn doing his best as this ex-mercenary with a tortured conscience, Javier Bardem going all out hamming it up as this douchebag of an associate, and Jasmine Trinca as the female love interest tragically caught up in all of this. No matter how good the cast can be though, "The Gunman" is still not worth the effort. meh.

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Cinderella (2015)

Directed by : Kenneth Branagh 

Written by : Chris Weitz 

Starring : Lily James, Cate Blanchett, Richard Madden 

Release Date : March 6, 2015 

As a 2015 live-action adaptation of the classic fairy tale, I found it surprisingly enjoyable and charming. This interpretation actually embraced the simplicity of the story, similar to how the Disney animated movie did it. Sure, that also means that this film has all the plot flaw trappings of an unrealistic and romanticized fairy tale, but it didn't bother me too much here, especially considering what this movie was going for.

The biggest draw here is Lily James as the title character, who perfectly captures Cinderella's big-heart, courage, and kindness. It's hard not to root for her happy ending from the tragic situation she was left in, because she is just too likeable in this. The other casts were good too, like Cate Blanchett as the evil stepmother, and Richard Madden as the Prince, but they are simply over-shadowed by the animal and people friendly Cinderella.

Director Kenneth Branagh and screenplay writer Chris Weitz made the correct choice of not making this into some grittier, modernized, and hipper version of this fairy tale. There's a certain comfort of seeing this story done in the very familiar but timeless way. I would say parents should appreciate that aspect of "Cinderella," while young audiences will enjoy the CGI mice and the kids appealing humor.

lovedit  ENJOYED IT  itsokayitsmehitsterrible

Run All Night

Directed by : Jaume Collet-Serra 

Written by : Brad Ingelsby 

Starring : Liam Neeson, Ed Harris, Joel Kinnaman 

Release Date : March 11, 2015 

Does Liam Neeson act like a badass here, gunning and fighting people? Yes he does. Does stupid things have to coincidentally happen here to unnecessarily create tension? Yes they do. Is this yet another forgettable generic action thriller drama? Yes it is.

This movie does have many problems, but there were things about it I did like though. I liked Neeson's connection with Ed Harris' character. There is an action set piece involving an apartment building that I thought was kinda enjoyable. I also appreciated the dramatic arc to redeem Liam Neeson's character.

The simple truth of the matter here is that there are much better recent action thrillers out there available to watch; like "Kingsman" or "John Wick," that it's hard to recommend seeing "Run All Night" over them. It also didn't help that the indulgent camera style flair that this movie does once in awhile, only annoyed me more than wowed me.

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Unfinished Business

Directed by : Ken Scott 

Written by : Steve Conrad 

Starring : Vince Vaughn, Dave Franco, Tom Wilkinson 

Release Date : March 3, 2015 

Although it may appear to be some outrageous adult-centric comedy with raunchy humor and nudity, this movie can only really be described as a "dramedy." Yes it has low-brow hi-jinks and what not, but half the movie is introspective pathos with a lot of heart.

Thankfully the cast in this is great and easy to connect with. Vince Vaughn is as good as he is with his witty dialogue and fast deliveries, Tom Wilkinson is great as the old wise man who just wishes for a fun life, and Dave Franco is very entertaining as the simple but innocent "Mike Pancake." Franco fully commits to his role and absolutely steals the movie.

Although the premise is hardly the most memorable thing ever, and the whole thing feels like a disposable movie, it at least isn't hateable. I just wished it was funnier. I did like the bit about "American Businessman 42" and the amazingness that is Mike Pancake, but "Unfinished Business" simply isn't a movie that is worth going out of the way to see.

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Chappie

Directed by : Neill Blomkamp 

Written by : Neill Blomkamp, Terri Tatchell 

Starring : Sharlto Copley, Dev Patel, Hugh Jackman, Yo-Landi Visser, Ninja, Sigourney Weaver 

Release Date : March 4, 2015 

Director / co-Writer Neill Blomkamp has delivered another visceral experience with some visionary ideas about implementing robots to a police force, and creating life via artificial intelligence. Admittedly there’s nothing here that’s truly unique that hasn’t been done in other sci-fi properties, but it does have a compelling theme and philosophical take on the subject matter that can be quite engaging.

This movie has given us a fantastic character in Chappie; who is easily the best thing about this film, and is excellently played by Sharlto Copley. Unfortunately, there’s a lot of problems with the rest of this movie. There’s just some cringe inducing dialogue here, the script can be too on-the-nose in it’s philosophical messages, the blatant marketing can be distracting (Redbull, Die Antwoord, PS4), and there are some very unflattering roles given to Dev Patel, Hugh Jackman, and Sigourney Weaver.

Like most movies, there’s a four act structure to this. The first act that introduces the premise is the one I actually found the most obnoxious and annoying part of the movie, but thankfully the second act that dealt with Chappie’s awakening was spectacular to see and is likely the highpoint of this film. The third and fourth acts were fine, but were somewhat uneven throughout. Although I had several issues with “Chappie,” I did find some enjoyment with it, but I’m more likely to recommend seeing 1986’s “Short Circuit” instead.

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The Lazarus Effect

Directed by : David Gelb 

Written by : Luke Dawson, Jeremy Slater 

Starring : Olivia Wilde, Mark Duplass, Sarah Bolger, Evan Peters, Donald Glover 

Release Date : February 26, 2015 

When people are trying to create a serum that brings living beings back from the dead, you know something wrong is going to happen. As expected from this movie something wrong does happen, so commence all these bad situations. This is hardly a unique horror / scary movie that toys with the idea of a science experiment gone wrong, and unfortunately it’s also hardly genuinely horrific or scary.

All the scares that come from this are all from cheap “jump scares,” and this movie does not tire of over using this very predictable technique. A group of people will get drunk very fast, if they play a drinking game to whenever there’s a scene setting up a jump scare. The idea for the plot is at least an interesting one, but unfortunately the movie focuses too much on trying to scare its audience, instead of seriously exploring the fascinating premise.

Olivia Wilde is easily the best thing this movie’s got going, even when she has those scary looking black eye contacts on. The rest of the cast are fine, but they are all handicapped by doing all the stupid cliché things that are found in many other scary movies of this kind. “The Lazarus Effect” could have potentially been really good, but it ended up being a bit disappointing.

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Focus

Directed and Written by : Glenn Ficarra, John Requa 

Starring :  Will Smith, Margot Robbie, 

Release Date : February 25, 2015 

This is yet another movie that glamorizes and romanticizes being a thief, a liar, a criminal, and a con-artist. With these types of movies, it always comes down to the preparation, the planning, and being in on the execution of a heist. However with this movie, it’s a lot more focused on this con-artist named Nicky; played by Will Smith, and Jess; played by Margot Robbie, who is a thief that he took under his wing. Smith and Robbie are great in this together, and although I don’t necessarily buy their characters’ romance in the movie.

Most people go into this movie to get swept up by the con-job though, not the romance angle, and this doesn’t really provide that. I saw the con-jobs play out, but only from an outsider’s point of view. The con-jobs were explained after the fact to appease my curiosity, but it can be a little disappointing that I didn’t get to play along. I was left out in the dark, like the “mark” of a con-artist.

This movie makes stealing such an art of magic though, and there were several scenes that defy believability on how they were pulled off. They were fun to watch at least. The strength of this movie is that it does have several scenes that were just amazing to watch. They always kept me on my toes, not knowing what to expect. The primary reason to see “Focus,” are definitely all these excellent scenarios that Directors Ficarra and Requa has created for us to see play out. One in particular is this scene involving a Football game that is easily the highlight of the film. Watch this movie for that!

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The DUFF

Directed by : Ari Sandel 

Written by : Josh A. Cagan 

Starring : Mae Whitman, Robbie Amell, 

Release Date : February 12, 2015 

This is yet another slice of High School life comedy about social standings among teenagers, with one primary character who goes through a revelation that affects the rest of the school. Yes, there are a lot of familiar tropes and plot threads that you have already seen in many other movies such as this. It's not that inspired nor that clever. However there are some updates to the formula that at least adds some new dynamics to this story.

I think it’s actually welcome for a movie such as this to come out every 5 to 7 years, because it’ll get to implement a more modern take that is more relatable to it’s young target audience of the time. In this film’s case, it openly acknowledges that the social teenage group dynamics is much different than what you would find with these types of movies 5, 10, 15, 20, 30 years ago. There’s also the added elements of the internet, smart phones, social media, etc, that are actually an important part to the story.

Despite some twists and updates to the plot, this is still undeniably a very predictable movie that goes through the expected motions. The story itself is not bad and well intentioned, but it's just kind of innocuous. The comedy is not horrible, but not laugh-out-loud funny either. Mae Whitman, Robbie Amell, and the rest of the cast are at least good here, and likeable. I wouldn’t go out of my way to recommend “The DUFF,” but I also wouldn’t go out of my way to persuade you from going to see it if you wanted to. Harmless entertainment.

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Hot Tub Time Machine 2

Directed by : Steve Pink 

Written by : Josh Heald 

Starring : Rob Corddry, Craig Robinson, Clark Duke, Adam Scott, 

Release Date : February 20, 2015 

Despite the already ridiculous premise, I still have to say that the development of the story, plot, characters, and just general logic of the whole thing, was absolutely all over the place. It seems the movie's main concern was the comedy, which I admit to have found more hit than miss. I actually thought it was funnier than the first installment.

I suppose I can't blame the movie for being an over-the-top farce, because that really is what it's going for. There's crude sexual humor, meta jokes about time travel movies, pop culture references, sight gags, celebrity cameos, and just general outrageousness. Thankfully these are done with the comedic stylings of Rob Corddry, Craig Robinson, Clark Duke, and Adam Scott, who were all great. The cast is just overall fun to watch, and I honestly didn't miss John Cusack at all.

Now if the humor doesn't work for you, there's the time travel aspect to look at still. With this movie, it takes a page from "Back To The Future 2" by doing it's own interpretation of what the future could be like. Some of those fun ideas were pretty far fetched, but there were stuff that I could see actually happening in real life. "Hot Tub Time Machine 2" may not be the comedic time travel movie for everybody, but I still liked it despite it's flaws. High Five.

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Kingsman: The Secret Service

Directed by : Matthew Vaughn 

Written by : Jane Goldman, Matthew Vaughn 

Starring : Colin Firth, Taron Egerton, Samuel L. Jackson, Sofia Boutella, Mark Strong, Michael Caine, 

Release Date : January 24, 2015 

Based on the comic book series by Mark Millar and Dave Gibbons, this is a spy action-adventure movie that’s more focused on the fun thrills that comes with the genre, over the more dramatic realistic side of things. You’ve got the fast action sequences, cool spy gadgets, secret lairs, and the megalomaniac villain with the over-the-top scheme. There’s a lot of elements that aren’t exactly unique here, but it wraps up every familiar tropes into some very enjoyable set pieces.

Since this movie leans more towards the fantastical nature of what it’s like to be a gentleman spy doing exciting spy things, there’s a lot of suspension of disbelief required here. It helps to ignore some of the more illogical side of things, as well as some plot holes that the movie doesn’t exactly make any attempts to fill. Because this is the direction that Matthew Vaughn decided on, we are lucky to witness some amazing scenes here, like a particular brawl in a church that’s arguably the primary highlight to see, as well as another scene that has the best use of fireworks you’ll probably ever see in a movie.

Taron Egerton does a good job playing the lead as Kingsman recruit “Eggsy,” and has a promising future as an action movie star. However it’s seeing traditionally dramatic actor Colin Firth as a legitimate action star, that’s very very fun to watch here. Even if it doesn’t completely break new ground or elevate the genre, “Kingsman: The Secret Service” is just simply a very entertaining spy action movie that’s worth seeing.

LOVED IT  enjoyedititsokayitsmehitsterrible