Brothers Grimsby

Actors: Sacha Baron Cohen, Mark Strong, Rebel Wilson, Isla Fisher, Annabelle Wallis, Gabourey Sidibe, Penélope Cruz, Ian McShane.

Rating: 7 out of 10, I’m almost ashamed to admit that I went to see The Brothers Grimsby last night. I’m certainly ashamed to admit that I laughed for almost the entire length of the movie. Cohen does that to you, he goes lower than even the most modest standards and can make you laugh out loud while cringing at the same time. It isn’t low brow, it’s subterranean brow and it is funny. I’m sure some of the very British jokes eluded me. Cohen plays a clueless British soccer buffoon who reunites with a long lost brother, played by the always awesome Mark Strong, who’s a 007 like spy. I was a little troubled by Cohen’s seeming over focus on anal cavities but with Cohen you forgive a lot. If you’re comfortable leaving the preening umbrella of political correctness behind, go see this and I guarantee you’ll laugh; just never admit to it in front of progressive friends.

MVP: Strong as the brother having Nobby intrude on his life

Allegiant

Actors: Shailene Woodley, Theo James, Jeff Daniels, Miles Teller, Ansel Elgort, Zoë Kravitz, Maggie Q, Ray Stevenson, Bill Skarsgard, Octavia Spencer, Naomi Watts

Rating: 6 out of 10, It is as bad as you’ve probably heard. They followed the tried and true method of splitting up the last book in a trilogy in the interest of making more money on two versus one film. Hopefully this will crash and burn so badly that Hollywood abandons that flawed concept. Losing Kate Winslet really hurts because surprisingly Naomi Watts as one of the lead villains fails miserably. They also kill off Maggie Q early which I took a personal affront to. Our jolly band of angst filled teenagers is bound and determined to escape the walled in existence in Chicago to investigate the burned landscape outside. Of course they discover an even more sinister threat beyond the blasted lands, led by eerily evil bureaucrat (I know – redundant) Jeff Daniels. They spend way too much time in CGI world instead of with the fine actors which was the strength of the earlier movies. If you saw the trailer for this movie (hard to avoid that) then you know the entire plot, which really is just a placeholder for the final (they promise) movie in this series.

MVP: Theo James as he plucky Four, who takes a beating and still keeps kicking

London Has Fallen

Actors: Gerard Butler, Aaron Eckhart, and Morgan Freeman, with Alon Moni Aboutboul, Angela Bassett, Robert Forster, Jackie Earle Haley, Melissa Leo, Radha Mitchell, Sean O'Bryan, Waleed Zuaiter, Charlotte Rile

Rating: 8 out of 10, is not as bad as most critics would have you believe. Gerard Butler returns to an action role as a secret service agent incapable of missing with any weapon that falls into his hand. This is in stark contrast to the veritable army of terrorists he’s up against who would probably shoot and miss the water from the beach. With this type cast, which is loaded with talent, you would expect something loftier but this is a simple shoot ‘em up action flick with the greater London area blowing up spectacularly in CGI. If you like this type action then you’re going to like this, I did, but I am one of those peasants serious movie critics hold in such disdain. It wasn’t a cake walk though as some of the editing, especially early, before things started blowing up, was a little jarring. There was also a criminal underuse of the Washington based characters, which included Morgan Freeman, Melissa Leo, and Jackie Earl Haley. Criminal. As long as you leave the logical part of your imagination at the door, which you always have to with this type movie, you’ll be fine. For those of us who miss Jack Bauer, this was a great addition to our nonsensical movie repertoire. Critics be damned, let’s go blow something up.

MVP: Butler as the incredibly accurate Mike Banning