Kingsman: The Secret Service

Actors:  Colin Firth, Samuel L. Jackson, Mark Strong, Taron Egerton, Michael Caine.

Rating: 10 out of 10, The best word to describe this flick is fun – it’s a hoot from beginning to end. Colin Firth (who can do anything) is a senior and very lethal secret agent who recruits a young ne'er do well. The movie moves relentlessly but never loses its sense of fun (there’s that word again). Samuel L Jackson is in full camp mode as a lisping super villain ably assisted by a young lady with razor sharp prosthetics (you kind of get the idea). The movie is very violent but in a cartoonish way that makes it entertaining. Seeing the usually staid Firth clean out a church full of red necks followed by the biggest head exploding panorama in cinema history will give you an idea of what awaits you. The young lead actor, Taron Egerton, took a while to grow on me but he held his own with Firth, Mark Strong and Michael Caine – no mean task. Plant you tongue firmly in cheek and go see this movie – just so much FUN!!!

MVP:  Firth, as the staid but supremely deadly Galahad

Jupiter Ascending

Actors:  Mila Kunis, Channing Tatum, Eddie Redmayne, Tuppence Middleton, Douglas, Sean Bean

Rating: 9 out of 10, This hasn’t received a lot of love from the critics but it was a true attempt at science fiction on a colossal scale. Mila Kunis plays a contemporary Chicago cleaning woman who’s unwittingly heir to one of the great family fortunes in a galaxy spanning empire. She’s unaware of this until Channing Tatum, sporting elven ears as a disgraced genetically enhanced soldier, shows up to rescue her from a series of alien assassination attempts. (I know most of the ladies are now wondering how Tatum could possibly be “enhanced” any further) Since I’m a certified sci fi nerd I really liked the movie which focused, maybe a little too much on the technology of the hidden civilization which is several million years in advance of ours. The criticisms are valid as there’s a lot of stop and go and jumping around without fully fleshing out who all the players are. It’s a little bit of a mess but it’s a gloriously beautiful and textured mess. In a huge plot twist, Sean Bean doesn’t get killed.

MVP:  Channing Tatum as Caine Wise, shoe surfing the Chicago skyline

American Sniper

Actors:  Bradley Cooper, Sienna Miller, Luke Grimes, Kyle Gallner, Sam Jaeger, Jake McDorman, Cory Hardrict

Rating: 9 out of 10, The movie featured Eastwood’s usual technical expertise and the story was very compelling. I think it connected with a lot of Americans because it was so unapologetic, as Hollywood is certainly wont to do. A simple Texas guy has a gift with his rifle and is motivated to protect his fellow countrymen. The left wing nutbags came out bemoaning the glorification of violence but I thought it did a great job of painting the price Kyle paid for his heroics. That’s really my only complaint about this superb movie – they didn’t really explore in any great depth how Kyle overcame his PTSD. It seemed one minute he had it and then all of a sudden he was better. Cooper richly deserves the accolades he received as the title character delivering some real nuance to the role as a supremely tough guy dealing with some demons. They also did a great job with the military aspects; spot on with American military jargon as well as the small unit tactics such as room clearing. War is a very nasty affair – the supremely violent human expression – to sugar coat it would amount to undue veneration. Eastwood eloquently demonstrates war isn’t something to be taken lightly, there’s real pain associated with the sacrifice.

MVP:  Cooper as the Legend, Chris Kyle

Interstellar

Actors:  Matthew McConaughey, Anne Hathaway, Jessica Chastain, John Lithgow, Michael Caine

Rating: 9 out of 10, I’m a fairly jaded movie goer so when a film makes me sit up in wonder it’s pretty special.  The movie is set in the near future with the world on the brink of total disaster and becoming unlivable. McConaughey plays an astronaut given the mission to travel to some new worlds to locate a potential new home world for the human race. It’s a long movie but well worth the escape into space. As with all of the Nolan’s work there are levels within levels.  How he makes quantum physics and time distortion interesting is almost as incomprehensible as the theories themselves. Yet he succeeds through the medium of truly outstanding actors and the central plot line of the love between a father and daughter. The last part of the movie is what 2001: a Space Odyssey should have been. Instead of Kubrick’s over the top visual blitzkrieg Nolan takes some even more complex issues and provides enough clues for the audience to make sense of it. I was dazzled, which is kind of cool, because it doesn’t happen all that often any more.

MVP:  McConaughey as Coop lends real depth as a father torn beteween duty and lover of his family

The Hobbit: Battle of the Five Armies

Actors:  Martin Freeman, Ian McKellen, Richard Armitage, Evangeline Lilly, Lee Pace, Luke Evans, Benedict Cumberbatch, Ken Stott, James Nesbitt, Cate Blanchett, Ian Holm, Christopher Lee, Hugo Weaving, Orlando Bloom.

Rating: 9 out of 10, I'm an unrepentant geek I am when it comes to Tolkien and the movies. I still remember sitting next to a heating vent on cold December mornings before junior high school marveling at the world unfurling for me as I read first The Hobbit and then The Lord of the Rings trilogy. Then you put this fascination up on the big screen as perfectly as Peter Jackson has done over the last fifteen years and I'm apoplectic. The Hobbit will always suffer when compared to The Lord of the Rings because the story is so much smaller in scope, despite Jackson’s best efforts. The battle scenes in this latest film comprise fully half of the entire movie and are unremittingly exciting.  Jackson has come to rely a little too heavily on his CGI but seeing the five armies assemble and then go at it was worth the wait.  I think Jackson kept Thorin Oakenshield in his A-Hole stage a little too long but he also wisely went to Martin Freeman’s heartfelt Bilbo every time some humanity and common sense needed injecting. There was so much going on in so many different locations but Jackson expertly wove an understandable journey for the viewer.  I loved the movie and can’t wait to watch all six of the two trilogies in one sitting (probably have to wait for my wife to be out of town for that).

MVP:  Freeman really grew into Bilbo and made him the lovable conscience

Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 1

Actors: Jennifer Lawrence, Josh Hutcherson, Liam Hemsworth, Woody Harrelson, Elizabeth Banks, Julianne Moore, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Jeffrey Wright, Stanley Tucci, Donald Sutherland.

Rating:  8 out of 10, This takes the Katniss Everdeen story beyond the games into the full-fledged rebellion her actions generated.  This is an obvious transition movie to get all the pieces in place for the final confrontation.  There’s not as much action and we spend a lot of time watching Jenifer Lawrence emote about the unfairness of her choices while experiencing a series of really bad hair days.  Luckily she’s such a great actress that’s not a bad fate for any movie goer but overall the movie was pretty depressing. Now we’re forced to wait year so the movie makers can wring the last possible dollar out of the franchise instead of delivering a completely satisfying movie. I still can’t get the damned Hanging Tree song out of head either.

MVP:   Lawrence as Katniss can now effortlessly carry a very big movie

Horrible Bosses 2

Actors: Jason Bateman, Jason Sudeikis, Charlie Day, Jennifer Aniston, Kevin Spacey, Jamie Foxx, Chris Pine, Christoph Waltz

Rating:  7 out of 10, I loved the first movie which was raunchily funny throughout.  They weren’t able to maintain the magic in this second outing.  The three leads were still funny but the Jason Sudekis character wandered into the idiotic personae of Charlie Day’s which meant Jason Bateman was the only sane one in the bunch.  There was still a lot of really funny banter between the three boneheads who now try their hand at kidnapping instead of murder and it goes predictably and very entertainingly south.  Bateman remains the absolute master of the offhand hilarious comment. This one was nowhere near as funny as the original because the three guys were supposed to be regular Joes caught in a bad situation not of their own making.  Here they are buffoons and a long way from the likable trio of the first film.  The best parts are saved for the supporting characters who are uniformly awesome.  Kevin Spacey in his Shark mode, Jennifer Anniston channeling her naughty side again, Jamie Foxx as MF Jones and new bad boy Chris Pine completely steal the movie and I found myself anxiously waiting for them to reappear on the screen.  Overall, still a funny movie, but the original set the bar too high.

MVP:   Jason Bateman as Nick Hendricks, the everyman saddled with two complete idiots