Movie Review: Star Wars - The Force Awakens

Movie: Star Wars: The Force Awakens Starring: Daisy Ridley, John Boyega, Harrison Ford Director: J. J. Abrams As I'm probably one of the last people on Earth to see this film, this review may contain a few spoilers. Unlike others when they first announced this film I was not excited in the least. After the prequels it seemed to me that the Star Wars universe might be best served by sticking to games, comics, and cartoons. If the original creator of the series couldn't put something worthwhile together, then what chance did Disney have? Then footage from the film starting showing up

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Movie Review: Jurassic World - Expect The Expected

Movie: Jurassic World Starring: Chris Pratt, Bryce Dallas Howard Director: Colin Trevorrow Jurassic World is set 22 years after the original film. Somehow in that time the dream of first films was realized. The film doesn't explain how this happened we just know that the park is now up and running. Leading the project is Claire (Bryce Dallas Howard) a career focused woman who sees the Dinos at the park as corporate assets instead of living breathing animals. This corporate greed motivates the main story of the film. To keep the park attractive to tourist new Dinos must keep being i

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Movie Review: The Age Adaline - A Curious Case Of Misguided Ambition

Movie: The Age Of Adaline Director: Lee Toland Krieger Starring: Blake Lively, Michiel Huisman and Harrison Ford Some ideas are just bad. No matter how much you believe that they will work they never will. Age Of Adaline is like one those ideas. While everyone involved in the film seems confident that they are in an Oscar award winning film it just never gets over the main premise. Age Of Adaline tries to emulate old holywood romances and at least in the look, feel and tone it gets it right. The big concept and character development fall flat. Any thinking person will see that the stor

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Movie Review - Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol

Movie: Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol Starring: Tom Cruise, Simon Pegg, Jeremy Renner and Paula Patton Directed by: Brad Bird After three Mission: Impossible films you pretty much know what your going to get. Lots of high tech gadgets, disguises, car chases, some super secret item that can't fall into the wrong hands. Ghost Protocol gives you all the things that you'd expect but somehow still manages to feel fresh and hold your interest. Tom Cruise returns as Ethan Hunt and does admirably although the character is less than challenging. New addition Simon Pegg as computer expert B

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Movie Review: Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows

Movie: Sherlock Holmes: A Game Of Shadows Directed by Guy Ritchie.  Starring Robert Downey Jr., Jude Law, Stephen Frye, Noomi Rapace, Jared Harris. I have so many feelings about this movie that in order to be coherent, I'm going to have to look at one aspect of the movie at a time. The plot: One of the (few) flaws of the first Holmes installment was the mystery and villain. While almost everything else in the movie was spot-on, the actual diabolical plot turned out to be pretty transparent. This installment remedies this. While the mystery is still, at heart, fairly straight

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Movie Review - "Anonymous"

Movie: Anonymous Directed by Roland Emmerich.  Starring Rhys Ifans, Vanessa Redgrave, Joely Richardson, Sebastion Armesto,Jamie Cambell Bower First of all, I feel like I should put a disclaimer here that says that I will NOT be basing this review on the movie's historical accuracy. No, the movie is not accurate. No, it does not present convincing evidence that Edward De Vere wrote the plays of Shakespeare. I feel this is irrelevant. If you are very protective of Shakespeare, than this fact might be just enough to prevent you from enjoying it. But I am not writing that sort of revi

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Movie Review: Limitless - A Smart Thriller

Movie: Limitless (2011) Starring: Bradley Cooper, Abbie Cornish & Robert Deniro Director: Neil Burger Limitless is a rare film in that it is a high concept film that actually works. The setup: Eddie Morra (Bradley Cooper) is a struggling writer, slob and all around loser. When his girlfriend Lindy (Abbie Cornish)  dumps him it's not mean spirited it's just necessary. Then something comes along and changes his life. That something being a pill called only "NZT" given to him by his brother in-law that allows him to access previously locked portions of his brain. In doesn't exactl

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Movie Review: The Adjustment Bureau - Not Meant To Be

Movie: The Adjustment Bureau Starring: Matt Damon, Emily Blunt Writer & Director: George Nolfi The marketing for The Adjustment Bureau would have you believe that it is a suspenseful SciFi film with a dash of romance. This is very misleading, the movie is more of an old fashioned romance with the SciFi elements acting as nothing more than window dressing. The movie centers around David Moriss (Matt Damon) a politician who has just lost his senatorial bid. He's a bit down, preparing for his concilation speech in the mens room when he meets Elise (Emily Blunt). They have the kind of

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Movie Review - Captain America: The First Avenger

Movie: Captain America: The First Avenger Director: Joe Johnston.  Staring Chris Evans, Hugo Weaving, Tommy Lee Jones, Sebastian Stan, Stanley Tucci, and Haylee Atwell I've already seen Captain America twice - something that would imply that I think the movie is great. However, this is a bit more complicated. So complicated that I am going to resort to the old pros and cons list to describe my feelings about this film. The good: The acting. Evans, who plays the titular character, and who just so happens to be an actor that I normally think of as mediocre (to put it politely)

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