The Vow

The Vow

                The Vow is a 2012 movie loosely based on the true story and the book of the same name.  The story revolves around the couple of Paige and Leo.  When the couple is in a car accident and Paige loses all her memories of their life together it’s up to Leo to try to make his wife fall in love with him all over again.  This is complicated when Paige moves back in with her parents who she had a falling out with, who have never met Leo, and who disapprove of the way she has chosen to live her life.  Leo works to overcome all of these obstacles and win back the women that he loves with all his heart.

                This book is very loosely based on the true story and the book by the same name.  My wife read the book and said that the only thing that was the same was the fact they were in a car accident, she loses her memory, and he has to make her fall in love with him all over again.  That being said it was a nice story about the power of love, for lack of a better phrase, and how when you are meant to be with someone you will come back to them no matter what.  The acting was decent throughout the movie, Tatum Channing plays Leo, and Rachel McAdams plays Paige.  The two have decent chemistry together but there was nothing great about either one of the performances but they were both good enough for the type of movie that it was. 

                This was an ok movie but it defiantly appeals to women more than men, ok let’s face it, it was a chick flick plain and simple.  So based on that I recommend this movie to almost anyone women who is looking for a good love story, although if you have read the book you might be a little disappointed by all of the changes they made to the source material.

I give The Vow 3 out of 5 paw prints, it was ok for a chick flick.

My next review will by over the 2011 drama Extremely Loud, and Incredibly Close.

And now as always, “ You don’t have to go home, but you have to get the hell out of here!” 

We Bought a Zoo

We Bought a Zoo

                We Bought a Zoo tells the story of Benjamin Mee, Matt Damon, and his family as they try to move on with their lives after the loss of their wife and mother.  Benjamin decides that a change of scenery is in order and so he sets out to find a new house and what he finds is a nice little house out in the country.  Unfortunately the house happens to be on the Rosemont animal park and the rundown  zoo and all of the animals now belong to the Mee family.  The family does their best to adjust to the situation and learns a lot about themselves along the way.               

                This was a nice family movie but did have a little bit of swearing throughout so you might not want to watch it with little kids around.  The movie overall was a feel good movie with some humor mixed in.  I would not call it a comedy so I guess I would have to call it more of drama/feel good movie.  The movie had a great story and left you feeling pretty good afterwards.  It was really great seeing the growth from all the characters during the movie especially Benjamin and his moody teenage son Dylan played by Collin Ford.   All of the actors did a great job of making you root for the characters and wanting them to succeed in getting the zoo up and running again.  Aside from Matt Damon, the movie also stars Scarlett Johansson as Kelly the head zoo keeper, Thomas Haden Church as Benjamin’s brother Duncan, and Elle Fanning as Lily, who was Kelly’s quirky cousin who works at the zoo. 

                Overall I enjoyed the movie and would recommend to anyone who is looking for a movie with a good story, decent acting, and will leave you feeling good afterwards.

I give We Bought a Zoo 3 out of 5 paw prints

My next review will be over the 2011 war drama War Horse.

And now as always, “you don’t have to go home, but you have to get the hell out of here!”       

50/50

50/50

                50/50 is about a young man named Adam, played by Joseph Gordon- Leavitt, who finds out he has a rare form of cancer, that only has a 50% survival rate.  The movie follows Adam as he begins his treatment and starts living life with cancer.  It also shows how his friends and family deal with his sickness in their own ways. 

                The story was well written and while some people might not like how light hearted it was about a very serious illness, I thought it did a nice job of breaking up the sadness with a little levity now and again.  I thought that the movie did a very nice job of mixing the sad moments that Adam had to deal with and mixing them in with the more lighthearted moments spent with his best friend Kyle, played by Seth Rogan.  The two seemed to work very good together on screen and played off of each other very well.  I also enjoyed the interactions between Adam and his very young working on her Doctorate therapist, played by Anna Kendrick, she was very awkward but you could also tell that she meant well and the two had chemistry together.  I also want to give acting credit to Anjelica Huston who plays his mom in the movie.  She is a little bit over protective at times but you can tell that she loves her son and only wants to be there for him when he needs her.

                I enjoyed the movie and would recommend it to anyone who is looking a good story with decent acting or anyone who likes a good drama/comedy.

I give 50/50 3 out of 5 paw prints just a good movie.

My next review will be over the 2011 family drama We Bought a Zoo

And now as always, “you don’t’ have to go home, but you have to get the hell out of here!” 

Drive

Drive

                Ryan Gosling stars as a stunt man by day and getaway driver by night.  He does this and gets along just fine until he befriends he next door neighbor Irene and her son Benicio.  Everything is fine until her husband gets out of jail and Driver, that’s what the credits call him, has to help him with a heist to repay some men from his time in prison.  Of course everything goes wrong and graphic violence and crazy amount s of blood ensue as Driver tries his best to protect Irene and Benicio at all costs .

                The movie had a good story with a decent amount of action mixed in.  It was not a high speed chase every five seconds like you would expect with a movie called drive, in fact there was very little driving involved.  So this is not a movie for guys who want to see good looking cars going really fast.  If that’s what you want get the Transporter.  The acting was very good Ryan Gosling was just excellent as the main character.  He was this quiet man that his boss just called the kid, yet when it came time to throw down he was kicking ass and taking names.  I was pretty disappointed that they did not do more of a back story on him so you could find out about his past and how he came to be this way.  I guess that is the fun of the movie for some people because they get to make up their own back story.  As far as other actors go Bryan Cranston was good as his boss Shannon, and Carrie Mulligan did a nice job playing his conflicted neighbor Irene.   I will also give and acting shout out to Albert Brooks and Ron Perlman for playing the wise guys in the movie.

                I overall liked the movie it was not what I expected for the first hour and then it was exactly what I had heard it was which was pretty graphically violent.  I recommend this movie to most guys who like action movies especially actions movies with and actual story to them.

I give Drive 3 out of 5 paw prints, good but not great.

My next review will be over the 2011 dark comedy/drama 50/50

 As always” You don’t have to go home but, you have to get the hell out of here”

The Avengers

The Avengers

                The avengers tells the story of six incredible individuals who come together to save the planet form the evil plans of Loki, the god of mischief, and the alien army that he has control of.  The movie starts with Loki gaining control of the tessaract, an otherworldly cube that can be used as a weapon, self sustaining energy source, or a gateway to the other side of the universe.  Loki plans on using the cube to create a gateway to bring forth his alien army and take over the world.  Of course Shield has different ideas and begins the avengers initiative.  The initiative brings together earth’s mightiest heroes, Captain America, Ironman, Thor, The Hulk, Black Widow, and Hawkeye, to stop the plot and save the earth.

                The movie starts off fast and doesn’t let up too much the whole way.  The action was great and it was not just large explosions and cool looking fights for the sake of large explosions and cool looking fights.  All the explosions and cool fights were there to build the story.   The story itself was well written taking directly from the previous movies.  They did not have to go back and explain a whole lot because all the single hero movies had been building to the point when all these heroes could be put together in the same place.  I also enjoyed all of the humor coming out of the characters some of it was expected but every once and awhile something would happen during an intense scene that would just crack me up.  I also felt like the cast all worked really well together there was several big names in the movie and they all worked great together on screen with everyone contributing at least one memorable moment.  There were so many actors/actresses that did a good job in the movie I will just list them.  They were Samuel L. Jackson as Nick Fury, Robert Downey Jr. as Tony Stark/Ironman, Chris Hemsworth as Thor, Mark Ruffalo as Bruce Banner/Hulk, Chris Evans as Steve Rogers/Captain America, Scarlet Johansson as Natasha Romanoff/Black Widow, and Jeremy Renner as Clint Barton/ Hawkeye.  I thought all of them held their own very well in the movie and that they all stood out at one point or another. 

                I will also tell you to stay tuned until the end of the credits for one scene during the credits that sets up the villain for the next movie (ask me if you can’t figure out who it is), and at there is another scene at the very end of the credits that is just a little more silliness for you to enjoy.

                I absolutely loved this movie and I recommend it to anyone and everyone who wants to see a good movie.  It has already made over 200 million and it will make a lot more before it’s done.  I also recommend getting there early because it will be the hot movie for the next couple of weeks.

I give the avengers 5 out 5 paw prints, simply one of the best movies I have seen in a long time.

My next review will be over the 2011 drama/crime movie Drive.

And as always, “You don’t have to go home, but you have to get the hell out of here!”

Hugo

Hugo

                Hugo is the 2011 movie based on the book titled The Invention of Hugo Cabret.  The story follows young Hugo Cabret as he lives in a French train station during the 1930s.  Hugo is trying to repair an old Automaton that his father found left in the back of a museum.  It also so happens that this mechanical man is the only thing left after his father dies in a fire.  As Hugo steals the parts he needs from the local wind-up toy shop he befriends the shop owner’s goddaughter Isabelle.  The two embark on a journey of discovery at comes full circle and revolves around this fantastic drawing Mechanical man.

                I liked everything about this movie from the story to the acting to the vividly colored setting.  The story itself I thought was very creative and had a way of drawing in to the movie making you wonder what was going to happen next.  He had the right mix of mystery and humor that I really liked.  The two young actors who were feature in this film will both have bright careers ahead of them.  Asa Butterfield who plays the title character does a great job of bring his character to life, and Chloe Grace Moretz who plays Isabelle is equally as good and these two can hold their own with the adults who they share the screen with.  Ben Kingsley and Sacha Baron Cohen also are in the film and both do a wonderful job playing their parts.  The sets and where also pretty incredible looking they brought the train station and Paris to life.  They were very bright and while they were realistic looking they a fantastic quality that I just can’t seem to place.  The movie was well received critically receiving five Oscars, as well as being nominated for another six including best picture.

                I overall really enjoyed this movie and would highly recommend it to anyone young or old looking for a story to get lost in.  I did not think there was anything that would be objectionable for littler kids around six and up.

I give Hugo 5 out of 5 paw prints just a fantastic movie.

My next review will be over the 2011 Ryan Gosling movie Drive.

As always, “You don’t have to go home, but you have to get the hell out of here!”

Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy

Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy

                Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy is the 2011 spy film that follows recently retired MI-6 agent George Smiley, played by Gary Oldman, as he comes out of retirement to investigate and uncover a mole inside of MI-6.  Using his training and the research left behind by his former boss Smiley, with the help of a young Mi-6 agent, and a retired agent, has to uncover who is the mole and why he is leaking this information to their cold war enemies the Russians.  

                The story was a good one although I did at times find it hard to keep up with all of the people.  There were also a lot of flashbacks from many different people that made it hard to follow along with at times.  The overall story was solid and by the end I was able to piece everything back together to understand most of what happened in the movie but I am still confused about a couple of parts and what the point of telling the viewer was.  I don’t know maybe I am just a little dim.  The acting over all was very good.  Oldman gave a great performance as Smiley, such a good performance that he was nominated for the best actor award at this year’s Academy awards.  There were several other good acting performances to note as well Colin Firth and Tom Hardy were also very good in supporting rolls. Peter Cumberbatch was also good as Peter Guillam, the young agent who helps Smiley uncover the truth.

                I overall enjoyed the movie even though it was hard to follow at times, the story and the acting made up for it.  I would recommend it to anyone who likes an intriguing spy movie or likes movies about the cold war era.      

I give Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy 3 out of 5 paw prints,  a good movie, but nothing special.

My next review will be over the 2011 Best Picture Nominee Hugo.

As always” You don’t have to go home but, you have to get the hell out of here”