DVD Review For August 18, 2015: LITTLE BOY

BIG NEWS!!!!! I have a brand new, interactive movie review website that allows you to review the films you've seen and comment on other reviews. Plus it has some other cool features as well.

I'm going to keep this blog going for a while, but eventually everything will lead to the new site.

You can check it out at clintsmoviereviews.com. I'd love it if you take the time to register (it's free) and do your own reviews.

Thank you!

Clint




LITTLE BOY
Rated: PG-13
Stars: Jakob Salvati, Emily Watson, David Henrie, Tom Wilkinson, Kevin James
Plot: When a young boy's father goes off to fight in WWII, the boy will do anything to get his dad back home
Trailer

Clint Says: Rent this as soon as possible

This is a beautifully done story of faith, hope and love. The story is told well, the acting is spot on, and even though it is a little too saccharin sweet it's heartwarming and enjoyable.

Jakob Salvati is an absolute joy to watch throughout the film. His happiness, faith and innocence will put a smile on your face that can only be taken away by the ravages of war and hatred.

The film does a nice job of paralleling the intertwined stories and making you really feel for the characters. In fact there is a nice character depth to almost all of the main players.

There are some thematic elements that make this a PG-13 film, so it isn't a film for the whole family, but it is one that I would take my children to see because it may open up some lines of dialogue about faith and prejudice.

LITTLE BOY is a great choice this week. It will make you smile, but you'll need some tissues as well.

DVD Review For June 16, 2015: CHAPPIE, RUN ALL NIGHT, THE LAZARUS EFFECT, and UNFINISHED BUSINESS

CHAPPIE
Rated: R
Stars: Sharito Copley, Dev Patel, Hugh Jackman, Sigourney Weaver
Plot: In the future all crime is policed by robots, but one of those robots is taken and reprogrammed to think and feel for himself.
Trailer

Clint Says: Don't even bother

Imagine a world in the amazingly far-off future of 2016 where we all have mullets and gangsters wear neon clothing straight out of the 1980's and we make movies that are violent and useless mash-ups of SHORT CIRCUIT and TRANSCENDENCE. If you can imagine that then you've seen CHAPPIE.

This movie may have allowed me to break my record for the most eye rolls and audible exclamations like "are you kidding me" in a two hour period.

This may be the worst performance of Hugh Jackman's career, not because he's bad in the role, but because they gave him absolutely nothing with which to work. His character is painfully one-dimensional and his transformation from good guy to bad guy takes about 4 nanoseconds and it's done with weak motivation.

They have been marketing this film as "from the director of DISTRICT 9" which makes no sense to me, because that was a horrible film as well. Here is a perfect example of how ridiculous this flick is: The really, really bad guy has such a thick accent that even though he's speaking English they had to put in subtitles.

They should have pulled the plug on this epic waste of time.




RUN ALL NIGHT
Rated: R
Stars: Liam Neeson, Joel Kinnaman, Ed Harris
Plot: Two life-long friends and gangsters go after each other after one has to kill the son of the other one in order to save his own son's life.
Trailer

Clint Says: Rent this when you get around to it

I've said before that Liam Neeson has really found his niche making action films where he's a quasi-bad guy with a conscience and is trying to make things right. That said, maybe he shouldn't take the lead role in every single movie that comes out with that plot line.

While this movie does have an incredible cast, all of which do great work in making their characters feel authentic, they don't have a lot to work with in this basic story. And while the story is fairly entertaining, it isn't nearly as compelling as it could be, nor do we see the character depth in some of the principle players that would make us want to care more about the outcome.

There are several large plot holes and many moments of convenience throughout the film that will probably drive you crazy. For example, can anyone explain to me how two injured and tired guys can be in a small building surrounded by 50 cops and still manage to sneak out the back door? It's moments like that that make this a film that could have been great into one that is mediocre at best.





THE LAZARUS EFFECT
Rated: PG-13
Stars: Olivia Wilde, Mark Duplass
Plot: A group of scientists create a way to bring life back from the dead, but their experiment has deadly consequences
Trailer

Clint Says: If you have to see it, make someone else rent it

When I saw the trailer for this movie I was really hoping it would be a smart thriller, instead it's a hack horror flick with plot holes the size of California and, quite possibly, the worst excuse ever for someone to go on a killing spree.

This movie clocks in at about an hour and twenty minutes, but that is still too long. This should have been a short film. It still would have been horrible, but at least then we would have only had to endure 45 minutes of it.

There are so many things in this movie that are never explained, or done out of convenience that even the most casual movie-goer will be annoyed. I don't even think the uber-fans of the horror genre are going to like this film.




UNFINISHED BUSINESS
Rated: R
Stars: Vince Vaughn, Dave Franco, Tom Wilkinson
Plot: Three guys from a small business travel to Europe to close a major deal, but everything goes wrong.
Trailer

Clint Says: Rent this if you have nothing better to do

If you've seen one Vince Vaughn movie you've seen them all, and this one is no different. He plays a big, goofy, but lovable adult child with no real business sense, but is a member of Mensa when it comes to street smarts. And end the end everyone lives happily ever after except the one guy that was mean to everybody the whole time.

This movie will give you a few laughs and several cringe-worthy moments, but overall it's pretty slow-paced. As far as Vince Vaughn flicks go this is average at best...and that's not saying much.

If you are looking for a mind-numbing night UNFINISHED BUSINESS will take care of that for you.

DVD Review For May 5, 2015: SELMA, BLACK OR WHITE, and THE PYRAMID

SELMA
Rated: PG-13
Stars: David Oyelowo, Tom Wilkinson, Carmen Ejogo
Plot: Martin Luther King, Jr. protests to get African Americans the right to vote by marching from Selma to Montgomery, Alabama.
Trailer

Clint Says: See this movie this week

It's hard to believe that the event portrayed in this film happened only 50 years ago. It's also incredible to watch David Oyelowo become Martin Luther King, Jr. He walks like him, he talks like him, and his resemblance is nearly spot on.

This may be one of the more uncomfortable films I've ever endured. The entire time I wanted to ear-tug the opposition into the corner and slap some sense into them. I wanted to scream at the screen and say, "how can you possibly think that it is okay to treat another human that way?" I sat there embarrassed like you do when your ignorant cousin twice-removed starts spouting off racist remarks at Thanksgiving dinner.

This is a powerful film that everyone should see. On the one hand, it's great to see just how far we've come in the last 50 years, but it's also important for the younger generations to see it so that they can understand the struggle that happened not so very long ago.

There are several times when the movie bogs down, and there are only a few times when it really gets dramatic, but there is a quite power throughout the film that keeps you engaged.




BLACK OR WHITE
Rated: PG-13
Stars: Kevin Costner, Octavia Spencer
Plot: A single grandfather fights a custody battle for the granddaughter he has helped raise.
Trailer

Clint Says: It's worth a rental if you don't have anything better to see

I can't believe I'm about to say this, but Kevin Costner gives a fine performance in this movie while Octavia Spencer's character is annoyingly obnoxious. That said, I wish the movie itself would have been better.

It's a slow-paced, snoozer that you know how it is going to end after the first 10 minutes. It's basically a short set-up and then 105 minutes of repeat filler. It's the kind of movie you see and won't remember seeing three months from now because there is nothing in it that is sticky, important or even interesting.




THE PYRAMID
Rated: R
Stars: Ashley Hinshaw, Denis O'Hare, James Buckley
Plot: A group of archaeologists uncover more than they bargained for inside an ancient pyramid.
Trailer

Clint Says: Don't even bother

Earlier this year the movie AS ABOVE SO BELOW came out on DVD. In that film, several people find themselves trapped by something evil in the catacombs of Paris. THE PYRAMID is the same movie, only in a pyramid and significantly crappier. (And that's really saying something, because AASB wasn't that great of a flick).

The scares in this movie are all old and hack, the plot is just slightly more original than the scares, and even though this film clocks in at a mere 89 minutes it feels like it drags on much longer.

Just like walking across the hot desert sand for days with no water, the end credits are a beautiful and welcoming oasis.

Movie Review For January 9, 2015

TAKEN 3
Rated: PG-13
Stars: Liam Neeson, Maggie Grace, Forest Whitaker
Plot: An ex-Government Operative must stay on the run until he can clear his name from crime he didn't commit.
Trailer

Clint Says: Wait for the DVD

One can only hope that this will be the final installment in the TAKEN franchise. The first film was great, the second was a carbon copy of the first, and while this one actually has a different plot, it has the same feel, action and dialogue as the first two.

It does have a couple of interesting twists and turns, but it also has several eye-rolling moments that take away from the excitement of the film. It's tough to be in suspense when you know that no matter how many adversaries the main character is facing, he's still going to be okay.

The ending to this trilogy could have been a lot worse than this offering, and for that I guess we should be somewhat thankful, but it is still an average flick at best.



SELMA
Rated: PG-13
Stars: David Oyelowo, Tom Wilkinson, Carmen Ejogo
Plot: Martin Luther King, Jr. protests to get African Americans the right to vote by marching from Selma to Montgomery, Alabama.
Trailer

Clint Says: Drop everything and go see this movie now

It's hard to believe that the event portrayed in this film happened only 50 years ago. It's also incredible to watch David Oyelowo become Martin Luther King, Jr. He walks like him, he talks like him, and his resemblance is nearly spot on.

This may be one of the more uncomfortable films I've ever endured. The entire time I wanted to ear-tug the opposition into the corner and slap some sense into them. I wanted to scream at the screen and say, "how can you possibly think that it is okay to treat another human that way?" I sat there embarrassed like you do when your ignorant cousin twice-removed starts spouting off racist remarks at Thanksgiving dinner.

This is a powerful film that everyone should see. On the one hand, it's great to see just how far we've come in the last 50 years, but it's also important for the younger generations to see it so that they can understand the struggle that happened not so very long ago.

There are several times when the movie bogs down, and there are only a few times when it really gets dramatic, but there is a quite power throughout the film that keeps you engaged.

This film got in just under the wire for the 2015 awards season, expect it to make some noise at The Golden Globes, The Critics' Choice Awards and The Academy Awards.



INHERENT VICE
Rated: R
Stars: Joaquin Phoenix, Katherine Waterston, Josh Brolin
Plot: A Los Angeles P.I. investigates the disappearance of a former girlfriend and her lover.
Trailer

Clint Says: Wait for the DVD

This is one of those movies where the trailer is way better than the film, and the trailer makes it look like you will be seeing an entirely different movie than you actually end up seeing.

Clocking in at just shy of 2 1/2 hours, INHERENT VICE is a slow-moving, odd, quirky and nearly useless film. While Joaquin Phoenix does an incredible job in his role, I found myself several times trying to figure out why this movie was even made. It's not terribly entertaining, it isn't a ground-breaking piece of cinematic history, and as a mystery movie it is mediocre at best.

If you are interested in seeing this film you'd be much better off just watching the very well done trailer and then spending your money on something else.