Reviews

Athena (Raffey Cassidy) is a robot from the future, and she befriends a young inventor, Frank Walker (Thomas Robinson), who is given more than a glimpse of Tomorrowland. Casey Newton (Britt Robertson) touches a token from the 1964 NY World's Fair and sees glimpses of the future and wants to know more. But to get more that involves recruiting adult Frank Walker (George Clooney) who was banished from Tomorrowland by Governor Nix (Hugh Laurie).

The visuals and overall cinematography are spectacular. The acting among: Cassidy as Athena, Robertson as Casey, Robinson as young Frank and Clooney as adult Frank is spot on. Good chemistry here all around. Hugh Laurie as Gov Nix does a good job too. The stunts and CGI throughout are most impressive. Humor is injected at times mostly in the form of complaints.

The thing I like most about George Clooney is that when he gets angry, he has the ability to convey that there is no other way out, all is lost, nothing more to do, give up, that's it, done. Then silence. Then he conveys he sees something only he can see and there is a way out. A lot actors can do this, but Clooney does it the best of all. Pure Gold.

Casey comes upon a most grumpy Frank, who comes to believe Athena who says Casey can save the Earth. Later on we learn that Nix wants the Earth destroyed because the people do nothing to help themselves when disasters and wars break out and don't deserve to continue. Since Frank didn't believe this, he was banished.

We don't spend much time in Tomorrowland. This is all about the journey to Tomorrowland and saving the Earth. We do see that Gov Nix doesn't age on Tomorrowland. He's the same when he sees young Frank back in the day and when he meets adult Frank in Tomorrowland.

In the beginning we see Casey's young brother who looks almost exactly like young Frank. They are two different people and why the director would allow a sameness comparison to be in the story is beyond us. (maybe to confuse us?)

Although Britt Robertson as Casey, in the story, is a teenager we sometimes see that she may be older than a teenager. A moot point but it was noticed.

Notable: Tim McGraw as Casey's father.

Overall a visually good movie. (9/10)

Violence: Yes. Sex: No. Nudity: No. Language: No.

The Avengers are at it again. What you ask? Why saving the world, of course. This time from Ultron (voice of James Spader) who also vows to destroy the Avengers because he consider them killers. Oh, oh! This can't be good. But wait, wasn't it Tony Stark (Downey Jr) who created Ultron? (yes, it was him)

Like the Fast & Furious movie, watch this for the CGI and stunts. Oh, and for Scarlett Johansson as Natasha/Black Widow, of course. All are spectacular. When you think the CGI can't get any better we are pleasantly surprised again. It just never ends. Kudos. However, there is a problem and the problem is this: as good as the CGI is, it just never ends and the movie is one big battle and it's gets to be quite tedious after a while. We drifted to la la land at times. Who writes this stuff?

There are some quiet moments that kind of help somewhat: we have Hawkeye (Renner) with his family at a safe-house with the other Avengers in a re-grouping mode; and we have Natasha now flirting with the Hulk (Ruffalo) (didn't she flirt with the other Avengers in previous movies?) Who writes this stuff?

But the thing that really bothered me was Ultron's lips when he spoke. They moved. Now Ultron is all metal and the lips moved like human lips. Not good. Who writes this stuff?

Humor was attempted by Spader as Ultron and that went nowhere. We were not amused. Who did the writing for this?

Then Thor (Hemsworth) brings in Vision (Paul Bettany) - also the voice of Jarvis, Stark's right hand man who is a computer - touted as the most powerful entity in the universe and yet the movie doesn't end with Vision beating Ultron as it should have. So much for being the most powerful entity in the Universe. Who writes this stuff?

Notables: Samuel L. Jackson as Nick Fury, Don Cheadle as James Rhodes/War Machine, Paul Bettany as Jarvis/Vision, Idris Elba as Heimdall, Andy Serkis as Ulysses Klaue, Stan Lee as who else but Stan Lee, Josh Brolin as Thanos, Lou Ferrigno as the voice of the Hulk. (he just grunts)

All in all not bad, but tedious at times and if there are sequels the writers need to be vetted. (5/10)

Violence: Yes. Sex: No. Nudity: No. Language: Small stuff and not much of it.

Drifter musician Ryan (Ben Barnes) lands in a town to visit an old friend and comes across Jackie (Katherine Heigl) who is also a former musician seeking a divorce and needing to maintain custody of daughter Lia (Emily Alyn Lind). Ryan is ultimately on his way, via the rails, to a recording studio to cut a record with his friend.

Some of the script pages must gotten lost somewhere along the way. All the above sounds good, and we were anticipating a good love story between Ryan and Jackie, but all we got was an outline of a love story with many unresolved issues. We liked the foreplay between these two and the dialogues were excellent and yes, they do get together, but then we really don't know how this all panned out. (you have to make up your own ending). Did Jackie get that divorce? Does she maintain custody of Lia? Does Ryan become an over night musical success? We were looking for a feel-good movie and all we got was an outline of things that may have turned out the way we wanted. Where were those missing script pages? Someone needed to be fired.

Katherine Heigl is still beautiful and is a very good actress and we saw glimpses of all that from the script pages that were not lost. She has that rare ability to make me laugh and cry at almost the same time as does Morgan Fairchild. (you won't let that go, will you?)

Don't really know what Ben Barnes looks like with that beard that all male actors seem to revel in, and he is new to me but his delivery saves him. And he is also a pretty good singer of Bluegrass music - I think that's what that was.

Speaking of music, it was very good throughout and since the story was not as complete as we would have liked, watch this for the music. Ryan's song near the end is excellent. After he recorded it, he was asked by those in the control room if he had any more like that. He says yes, but we don't get to hear any. Boo Hoo!

All in all not a bad incomplete story that just gave us an outline of things that might have been. We were looking for a well developed love story. Didn't happen. You can make up your own ending. (5/10)

Violence: No. Sex: No. Nudity: No. Language: One F-bomb by Jackie.

Dominic Toretta (Vin Diesel) gets his Team together to take out Deckard Shaw (Jason Statham) who is on a revenge kick blaming Dominic for his brother lying in a coma. But first, the Team must find and protect Ramsey (Nathalie Emmanuel) a master Hacker/Programmer, who created God's Eye, a program that can locate anyone anywhere on the planet. Mr. Nobody (Kurt Russell), the head of Black Ops, says Ramsey must be found if Dominic wants his help with Shaw.

This should be watched for the stunts and CGI as both are terrific. We will see cars race down a mountain side with many trees in the way; and also see a car jump from one hi-rise building in Dubai into another hi-rise building. These stunts or CGI (who can tell anymore) will take your breath away.

The pacing is very good for these stunts and CGI, but when Dominic and Shaw did hand-to-hand combat it went on forever. The scene would cut away often to the Team in cars trying to avoid the helicopter intent on taking them out with missiles, then revert back to these two who were still at it. Did I mention "still" at it. Yes, way too long.

The real winners in here are, of course, the stunts and CGI because they were terrific. And mention must be made for the photography, editing and cinematography as they were spot on.

Notables: Dwayne Johnson as Hobbs, Michelle Rodrigues as Letty, Lucacris as Tej, Jordana Brewster as Mia, Tyrese Gibson as Roman, Lucas Black as Sean, and Ronda Rousey the Champion MMA fighter. You will see Rhonda as Kara in a white dress fighting Letty. (a cat fight?) And certainly Paul Walker (Brian) who died in a car crash (he was not driving) during the filming of Furious 7. The song "See you Again" that played in the movie was a tribute to Paul Walker.

All in all this was terrific and the action never dragged or went on for too long as scene changes helped that out a lot. This will be hard to top and there is talk of Furious 8. Ready for it? (9/10)

Violence: Yes. Sex: No. Nudity: Bikini and thong backsides. Language: Small stuff and not much of it.

Sara (Monaghan) a former photo journalist in Afghanistan became blind from an incident there lives with Ryan (Andrew W. Walker) who isn't all he says he is according to Sara's friends. When she returns from buying liquor for the New Year's Eve celebration she discovers that she is not alone in the penthouse, and Ryan is nowhere to be found. Enter Chad (Barry Sloane) and Hollander (Keaton) who are looking for something Ryan stole from them.

This movie is also known as Blindsided, and DAS PENTHOUSE.

Sara claims Ryan only told her that he was an investor and never told her where anything of value was hidden in the penthouse, but Chad and Hollander don't believe her. Hence we have a movie to see if Sara is telling the truth. And so it goes as Sara gets beaten up and threatened and we cringe quite a bit as she gets tossed about quite brutally.

The acting all around is very good. Nothing is overdone.

Ah, I see you are looking for a twist. Sorry, there isn't one. In 2013, twists were not mandatory in movies as they are now. (really?) What we are left with is seeing if Sara, who is blind, can overcome two brutes who just might kill her if she gives them what they want. (hey, you did say she didn't know anything, didn't you?) What do you think? (7/10)

Violence: Yes. Sex: No. Nudity: No. Language: No.

Furiosa's (Charlize Theron) job is to drive the War Rig and siphon off gas from outlaying towns, but she rebels and tries to save 5-women from the dictator, Immortal Joe (Hugh Keays-Byrne), who has convinced his minions that he can guarantee them a place in Valhalla when they die on his behalf. Of course Immortal Joe gives chase. He wants his property back as he considers them more valuable than oil or even gas mostly because they can have babies. Max (Tom Hardy) is strapped to the front of a vehicle during this chase and somehow gets free and joins up with Furiosa who doesn't trust him at first.

Basically, this is a 2+-Hour car/truck chase in the desert. The stunts and CGI are the real winners in here and are so good, there are no words to give them their due. They are spectacular. You will come to believe this is all very real and you will cringe or avert your eyes often as I did. Kudos.

Since Max is not really mad, but angry that he got caught, the title should have been FURIOSA and MAX mostly because Furiosa is the real hero in here and Max was along for the ride. There are some good moments when we get to relax somewhat and learn about the characters and, believe me, we needed those breaks. Furiosa has a prosthetic left arm and we keep looking to see how that was done. (movie magic)

In time, the looks Max and Furiosa gave each other were pure gold and we had hoped this pairing would go somewhere. Good chemistry.

All in all the stunts and CGI are ones for the ages and it will be difficult for anyone else to top them. (but they will try) This was filmed in Australia. (9/10)

Violence: Yes. Sex: No. Nudity: Yes, briefly. Language: No.

On a lightning filled stormy night Adaline Bowman (Blake Lively) is in a car accident. She survives but comes to realize she cannot age. (Whaaaat?) She must keep this secret or be a Ginny pig curiosity. As a result, every 10-years she changes her name and moves so no one will suspect her secret. Her daughter Flemming (Ellen Burstyn) is the only one who knows and apparently she didn't inherit any of Adaline's anti-ageing powers. Bummer and who names a kid Flemming, huh? Later on Adaline meets Ellis Jones (Michiel Huisman) and falls in love. Now Adaline has a decision to make. Will she? Inquiring Minds are fidgeting.

The real story starts later when Harrison Ford (as William Jones) comes on the scene. Hang in there, you are in for a shock, okay a twist.

I had visions of this being a very good love story, but something happened: I just didn't care , the characters didn't involve me in that way. No need for a Kleenex box. What happened? Was there enough eye contact between Adaline and Ellis? What about chemistry? Were they miscast? (well, you didn't care for that awful beard Ellis wore) Was the script at fault? Were the dialogues not good enough to draw me in? All the above seems to cover it.

Downside: Two detectives, for some unknown reason need to question Adaline and get her into the back seat of their car. Then they get distracted with something on the street and leave the vehicle. Adaline sees there are no door handles. She pulls down the back seat, crawls into the trunk and escapes. It's possible for a regular cop car to not have door handles, but a detectives car? Also if they were smart enough to not put door handles they would have been smart enough to make sure the back seat couldn't be drawn down, but here's the thing: Adaline somehow gets into the trunk and releases the trunk latch and the trunk opens and she escapes. I don't think a 1930s car would have trunk release from inside the trunk. (you are tough) I'm just saying.

There is narration by Hugh Ross and that fills us in on the reasons Adaline cannot age and yes, that was all helpful. Production-wise all is good, the acting is okay in a journeyman kind of way. (so it was the script, eh?)

I thought this would all go another way, but all in all a fairly good made-for-TV movie.

Near the end Adaline sees something and is pleased, but keep in mind that when we, too, see this "something" we are not too pleased. Can you guess? (5/10)

Violence: No. Sex: No. Nudity: No. Language: No.

Raiden (Clive Owen) must find a way to avenge the death of Bartok (Morgan Freeman) his master who was sentenced to death for challenging the Emperor's (Peyman Moaadi) Minister, Gezze Mott (Aksel Hennie). The reasoning is that a challenge to the Minister is also a challenge to the Emperor and must be dealt with by death. Bartok did have the opportunity to kill Gezze Mott and regretted not doing so. The Emperor rules that Raiden must carry out Bartok's death sentence. Well, this wasn't in the cards. (it was in the script, however)

It was never clear to me what country is involved in this. Who has Emperors? Japan, China, France? Hmmm…… I suppose it really doesn't matter as this is not a true story. It does, however, have elements of another movie: 47 Ronin (a good movie BTW).

This has inklings of being an epic, the cinematography was outstanding; the acting: excellent; the music signaled it being so; the fights: bloody, brutal and intense; the scene setups were masterful. You almost believed this was a true story. Kudos. (you're too easy)

The key to this movie is in the words above " Raiden must find a way to avenge the death of Bartok." Keep that in mind and you almost know how this will play out.

I was impressed with the actor who played the Emperor: Peyman Moaadi, who gave a very strong performance even though his screen time wasn't all that much.

Some of the fighting near the end, while good, was always in the dark, blurry, too fast and hard to follow who were the good guys vs the bad guys. (the bad guys wore black helmets)

All in all a well told story with Morgan Freeman and Clive Owen carrying the load in good fashion. (7/10)

Violence: Yes. Sex: No. Nudity: No. Language: No.

President William Alan Moore's (Jackon) Air Force One plane is shot down in the mountains in Finland. At the same time a 13-year old boy, Oskari (Onni Tommila) is sent into these mountains to hunt and kill a deer as a test of his manhood to show his tribe he has come of age.

Finally, a Samuel L. Jackson movie where he doesn't rant and rave about anything.

When Oskari comes upon the president's escape capsule, he fears this may be something from outer space. Oskari tells the president to call him Ranger. Ranger says he will do what he can to protect the president, but his main job is to kill that deer.

Of course, the terrorist Hazar (Mehmet Kurtuluis) who shot the plane down is now looking for the president to finish the job. From somewhere within the Pentagon, we see the VP of the United States (Victor Garber) and various generals especially Ted Levine as General Underwood and Herbert (Jim Broadbent) as a presidential adviser and Felicity Huffman as the CIA director monitoring the rescue mission on a big screen.

This is a delightful and thoroughly enjoyable movie and some stunts are quite good. The dialogues all around are very good too. The cinematography with all the mountains scenery is breathtaking.

Notables: Ray Stevenson as Morris, the president's aide.

Yes, there is a twist (seems twists are now mandatory) in here, and it comes near the end.

Violence: Yes. Sex: No. Nudity: No. Language: Not really although Pres Moore starts to say MF at one point but doesn't complete it.

Former jet fighter pilot Major Tom Egan (Hawke) now pilots drones in a Las Vegas, NV desert targeting the Taliban in Afghanistan. All is good until the CIA tells them which targets to hit and in some cases collateral damage is eminent. This disturbs the drone crew, but the job gets done. Major Egan wants desperately to get back in a fighter plane and fight the war from the sky.

This is disturbing to watch especially since collateral damage is now a big concern. So this is a social issue for those who have strong opinions both ways. However, what Maj Egan doesn't realize is that from the sky when he drops his bombs, he doesn't see the collateral damage from his small screen in the jet although collateral damage does happen. Here in the Drone room everything is too close. His boss LTC Johns (Bruce Greenwood) says something like: if we stop the drones do you think the Taliban will stop their killing? And, of course, the answer is no, they will not.

This drone work has a devastating effect on Major Egan's marriage to Molly (January Jones). Major Egan is driven to booze as he cannot find a happy medium in this job. Also, he is powerless to do something about a Taliban guard who repeatedly beats and rapes a woman working in a compound.

What bothered me mostly was when LTC Johns gave his briefings to new recruits to the Drone Program he used the F-bombs a little too much. This was totally unnecessary. For a superior officer to use this language in these briefings was out of place.

Notables: The CIA voice giving the targets is Peter Coyote; Zoe Kravitz as Airman 2nd class Vera Suarez.

Well, there is some good news in this sometimes cringe-worthy movie and that is Major Egan resolves his problems. (7/10)

Violence: Yes. Sex: Yes, one time. Nothing is seen. Nudity: No. Language: Yes.

The Parkers, a dysfunctional family in the Australian desert, discover their two teenage children disappear without a trace.

The father, Matthew Parker (Joseph Fiennes), had once beat up a teacher in another town for having sex with his daughter Lily (Madison Brown). The mother Catherine Parker (Nicole Kidman) protects her children as best she could, but has difficulty doing it as Matthew seems uninterested but wants to be strict especially with Lily (who dresses provocatively to annoy her father), but gives in to Catherine most of the time. The son, Tommy Parker (Nicholas Hamilton), never says much and has a habit of waking up and walking off into the night, but always returned. Until now. Both Matthew and Nicole sleep in separate bedrooms.

This is a strange story and we really never know what is going on with all the characters as the director holds too much to his vest. Everyone in here is a stranger to everyone else. Hence the title Strangerland, I suppose. Anyway it fits. As we get into this, we do see attempts at being friendly and communicative, but still a lot is held back. When a question is asked, it takes forever for a character to respond. (that's really annoying) Yes, Strangerland is a very good title for this movie. (Indeed)

I don't know if Joseph Fiennes is miscast in here or the director has him act the way he does. He never smiles and seems unconcerned about the missing children until much later, and it's like his wife is someone he wishes wasn't there. He gives in to her sexual frustrations and afterwards it's like he just changed his shirt.

Of course the townspeople have their rumors about the family and what happened to the children, but many do turn out to walk the brushes to find them. Some say aliens took them; and some say they aren't missing, they just ran away from their parents; and still others say "the land" took them" whatever that means. Then Tommy is found, but cannot talk.

We do see a canyon many times as this director seems to be enamored with it. When we first saw it, we thought maybe the children are there or not there but clues are left. But no, the director just liked the flyover in the canyon. Also this director seemed to like a rising sun with red skyline in the morning in the upper half of the screen while the lower half was in darkness. We see that often. Or was that a setting sun in the evening? Hard to tell as the next scenes were always inside a building

Best performances were from Nicole Kidman and from Madison Brown as Lily. (ha, I knew you would say that).

This was longer than it should have been. It's like someone took a short story and tried to make an epic out of it.

Think you know what happened to Lily? A very big clue was given earlier. (5/10)

Violence: Yes. Sex: Yes, 2-times. Nudity: Yes, when Catherine walks down the middle of town. Language: No.

Former USAF officer Brian Gilcrest (Bradley Cooper) is now a civilian contractor working for millionaire Carson Welch (Bill Murray) who wants to put a militarized satellite in space, but needs the blessing of the Hawaiian king Denis Bumpy Kanahele (as himself), who wants to barter for better cell phone service and more land in exchange for the blessing.

This takes a lot of time to get to the real story. We are lost most of the time. In the meantime we are left with why Gilcrest left Tracey (Rachel McAdams) years go. Here we may understand the reason why the title is Aloha as it means good-bye. Later on it again means good-bye when Gilcrest tells Captain NG -pronounced "ing"- (Emma Stone) to stay away as he is deemed disgraced for what he did during the launch of that satellite. We are hoping for another Aloha with Captain Ng as Aloha also means hello. See? Will that happen? Inquiring minds are on the job.

The acting all around is good, but Emma Stone as Captain Ng was sometimes a little over the top being too much of a bright eyed bushy- tailed watchdog assigned to Gilcrest. (you mean annoying, don't you?)

The real winner in here is the non-verbal communication between Gilcrest and Woody (John Krasinski) who is married to Tracy. Later on there is another episode with this non-verbal communication between Gilcrest and Woody again. This time the screen shows non-verbal communication in sub-titles so we can see what is actually being said. But the best non-verbal communication (no sub titles) comes between Gilcrest and Grace (Danielle Rose Russell), Tracy's daughter, as he watches Grace perform some Hawaiian dance and she sees him watching and then she realizes a most important truth. You definitely will need Kleenex tissues when you see this scene. This is one of the best scenes I have ever seen in a movie. Kudos. Yes, I had tissues handy. You just never know.

One would think that a movie about Hawaii would show more landscapes (there were some), but the obligatory surfing scenes didn't happen. Boo Hoo.

Notable: Alec Baldwin as a USAF general.

Over all the pacing is good and we are entertained and even learned some Hawaiian culture. (7/10)

Violence: No. Sex: No. Nudity: No. Language: one F-bomb, otherwise nothing.

An Australian Farmer, and Water Diviner, Joshua Connor (Crowe), sets out for Turkey to find and return the bodies of his 3-sons who died at Gallipoli so they can be buried in concentrated ground.

A Water Diviner can locate water, various ores and even graves. In the beginning we see Connor find water using 2-metal wands (clothes hangers will suffice) and we expect to see more magic along these lines. He gets to Gallipoli and does discover the graves of two of his sons, but not the third son. Hence the magic stops.

In his mind's eye Connor sees, the battle scenes which claimed his sons. These scenes are quite graphic and we see something we never see in movies. We see soldiers wounded and cannot move, but we hear their groans because their pain is so great. Just listening to these groans is upsetting. This showed us a side of War that we don't normally see or even consider. Until now.

There is a love interest for Connor when he sets his base of operations in a Turkish bed and breakfast hotel and here we see Ayshe (Olga Kurylenko) who runs the business. Ayshe considers this Australian as the enemy and wants nothing to do with him. Of course, movie magic takes over and she warms to him. This relationship doesn't go anywhere and why it's included in the movie is not clear. A candle lighted dinner later on between these two was a bit much for something that didn't go anywhere. See?

Turkish Major Hasan (Yilmaz Erdogan) becomes Connor's guide and friend as he leads Connor to a location where Connor's third son may be alive. Along the way we see a battle with Greeks attacking the train Turkish soldiers - including Connor - are on. Keep in mind this is 1919 and the last year of the War to End all Wars. So the War is not yet over.

Overall this is pretty good mostly because of the acting performances by the entire cast and the cinematography which is very good throughout. There are elements of this being an epic, but doesn't quite make it so. We needed more magic and it didn't happen, and maybe more CGI as we saw with a humongous sandstorm in the beginning and lastly the music didn't signal epic-like proportions. This stayed as a simple pretty good story of a father trying to find his sons. (7/10)

Russell Crowe directed this movie.

Violence: Yes. Sex: No. Nudity: No. Language: No.

In 1953 Russia, Soviet hero General Leo Demidov (Hardy) of the MGB (precursor of the KGB) Military Police is ordered to investigate his wife Raisa (Repace) as she has been implicated in traitorous activities -actually mostly because she was friends with Brodsky (Jason Clarke) - who was a known traitor. Leo could find nothing to implicate her. Leo is also currently investigating child murders, but his superiors don't buy homicide because "there is no murder in Paradise" and label everything as accidents. Leo and Raisa are exiled to an out-of-the-way military base under General Nesterov (Oldman) who has no love for Leo.

This is kind of complicated, but if you keep in mind that Leo needs to complete the child killings, catch the serial killer and hopefully get reinstated, you'll be fine. There are a lot of sub plots to distract you. In time, he gets the help from General Nesterov when Raisa tells the General's wife that the same killings could happen to her two boys who walk to school every day through the woods.

Everyone in here has Russian accents and they are fine, and there are no sub-titles. (that's a break)

The other thing you might keep in mind is there is a love story between Leo and Raisa. Leo is fully committed, Raisa not so much. (here we go) You will enjoy the banter between them as they try to work things out. Okay as Leo tries to work things out. Some scenes are pure gold. Good chemistry between them.

The movie gets to be good when Leo and Raisa work together and this is where the movie really starts. (takes a while though)

Overall not bad, but many, too many darkened scenes, and often the actors mumble their lines or talk so low we have no idea what was said. (rewind much?)

Notable: Joel Kinnaman as Vasili a Security Officer who is jealous of Leo.

Still this is okay. Gary Oldman could have used more screen time. (5/10)

Violence: Yes, and sometimes shocking executions. Sex: Yes, one time in the beginning. Nothing is seen. Nudity: No. Language: No.

Inspired by a true story a little bit. (statement in the beginning).

An aging, but still hard-living rock star Danny Collins (Al Pacino) is given a letter written by John Lennon 34-yrs ago. Now Danny Collins decides to change his life.

At the end of the movie when the credits run, there is a statement: This is a work of fiction.

English rocker Steve Tilston did receive a letter from John Lennon, but the story in here is all fiction. See? When the credits run you will see Steve Tilston telling about the letter.

When Danny's manager Frank (Christopher Plummer) gives him the letter written 34-years ago, Danny needs to find a way to connect with Tom Donnelly (Bobby Cannavale) a son he never met as he, Tom, was conceived in a one-night stand years ago.

The movie opens with Danny singing at a concert and to tell the truth, he's not bad. The music all the way through is quite good and John Lennon fans will see that most of this music is, indeed, John Lennon's.

Connecting with Tom doesn't go as Danny had planned. Tom is married to Samantha (Jennifer Garner) and they have a hyper-active daughter who needs special therapy. However, Danny persists and things do go somewhat smoother. Keep in mind "somewhat." The dialogues are very good and I really never knew how good Bobby Cannavale is until now. Also Al Pacino gives a very honest and heartwarming - almost touching - performance and his scenes go a long way to making this movie quite enjoyable. Kudos.

Notables: Scott Lawrence as Dr Ryan Kurtz as the head of a Special Needs School; Annette Bening as Mary Sinclair, the manager of the Hilton that Danny checks into as she plays a love-interest for Danny.

There is a serious bump in this (fictitious, remember?) story and we fear Danny will revert to his old hard-living ways, but this is not conclusive as you will see.

(were you disappointed you didn't see Al Pacino get on a soap box and do his haranguing bit?) Yeah, kinda. (7/10)

Violence: No. Sex: No. Nudity: Yes, in the beginning only. Drug Use: Yes. Language: Yes at times.

Extremely tense and overly chatty (read overly annoyingly chatty) Policewoman Rose Cooper (Witherspoon) and her partner Det Jackson (Richard T. Jones) need to protect Daniella Riva (Vergara) and her husband, who is about to testify against drug crime boss Vicente Cortez (Joaquin Cosio) and then go into Witness Protection, but her husband is killed. Cooper's partner, Jackson, is also killed. Now alone Cooper needs to protect Daniella from the mob and also from some dirty cops, who work for the mob. They are pursued by both the mob and the dirty cops intent on murder. Oh, oh!

Here's my problem: I see the promos and believe I will see a good action comedy with some laughs as well. Never happens. I never learn. For "comedies" these days silly, stupid, and bad script dialogues are mandated by Hollywood who thrive on non-comedic scenarios…..all the way to the bank. One good thing we can say is that there was no raunchy stuff to digest. Killing off Det Jackson was a mistake. He could have made this better. (you sure?)

The only funny things: when the TV news bulletins cautioning citizens about the fugitives (yes, they become that because the bad dirty cops put that out) to be careful, they list Daniella as 5-yrs older each time they broadcast and so on. Also these news outlets keep listing Cooper's height as shorter by several inches each time they broadcast and so on. These 2-things are not lost on these ladies and they are not happy about it. Kind of funny, yes, but that was it.

There is a twist, but who cares? We kind of figured Daniella had another agenda and wasn't the grieving widow we thought at first.

The script dialogues are a total mess and nothing was funny, clever or given a chance to be in the comedic arena. The tussle with the dirty cops in their car on the hi-way and a tourist bus was okay, but not great.

There is only one word to sum up this movie: Annoying. Hot Pursuit? Give me a break. (2/10)

Violence: Yes. Sex: No. Nudity: No. Language: Brief soft stuff only

Travis (James Freedson-Jackson) and Harrison (Hays Wellford) both around 10-yrs of age run away from their homes and find an abandoned Cop Car in the woods. They find the keys and off they go to, well, not sure, but they are having fun doing it. Meanwhile the cop, Sheriff Kretzer (Kevin Bacon), returns to the car after dumping a body only to find the car is not there.

This story may remind you of FARGO, without the snow, and the pacing is pretty good as we are not sure what will happen next. The boys play with everything in the car including the guns that they do not know how to operate. A really stupid scene has one of them wearing a bulletproof vest while the other boy takes aim at the vest. We are cringing at this point as we do not believe boys would actually do something as stupid and dumb as that. But the director has these boys doing exactly that. Really dumb.

As they roam around we see very good cinematography and we are comfortable with that until the boys hear something coming from the trunk. We can only assume this person (Shea Whigham) in the trunk is a loose-end the Sheriff was returning to the car to take back to the dump site. Now the tension escalates and the real story starts.

The acting is good all around especially by Kevin Bacon as Sheriff Kretzer, who is frantic trying to find his car. The performances of the boys is okay, nothing special, but okay.

Notables: Camryn Manheim as Bev a driver who sees boys driving a Cop Car all over the road and cannot believe what she is seeing; Kyra Sedgwick as the voice of the Dispatcher (and also Bacon's wife in real life).

Overall not bad, but the ending has us filling in the blanks. (5/10)

Violence: Yes. Sex: No. Nudity: No. Drug Use: Yes. Language: Yes.

College Art student Sophie (Robertson) falls for Rodeo Bull Rider Luke (Eastwood). Both rescue Ira (Alan Alda) from his car accident. Sophie reads Ira's (young Ira: Jack Huston) letters to his young wife Ruth ( Oona Chaplin). Sophie is the one who makes a connection to Ira during most of the movie and they become friends.

We see 2-stories: Sophie and Luke who live in different worlds and they are not sure how this will work. The other story as told by Ira in his letters sees Ira and Ruth struggling to make a go of it without the children Ruth so desperately wants. Ira's war injuries prevent impregnation. Ruth ends up buying paintings by new artists and hangs them on every wall in their house.

The Good: The Bull Riding scenes are spectacular we held our breath each time hoping for a good ride. To win a bull riding event the rider must stay on for 8-seconds. The ride in life lasts much longer.

The chemistry between Ira and Ruth is convincing and they make the strongest appeal. The cinematography was very good with the landscapes and horses and yes, the bull riding events.

The Bad: The chemistry between Sophie and Luke is too forced and we don't buy it. Something is wrong here.

The Ugly: Ruth trying to adopt a child she is tutoring, but the kid's guardians object. These scenes were somewhat awkward and uncomfortable.

Notable: Lolita Davidovich as Kate, Luke's mother, and she does good with the limited screen time she gets.

There is a twist and you can easily figure it out. Good for you.

Oh, in case you are wondering, yes, Scott Eastwood is Clint's son.

This plays like a made-for-TV movie and the only intensity we see is when Luke is riding bulls. Otherwise this is a bland movie presentation. (4/10)

Violence: Yes, bull riding scenes. Sex: Implied We see nothing. Nudity: Yes, backsides. Language: Brief small stuff.

Scott Briggs (Duvall) is suspected of killing Jimmy Davis, his son Ben's (James Franco) gay lover 15-years ago and the Texas Rangers open the cold case.

That is the main thrust in here, everything else is a disjointed v distraction. The script is bad, the acting by Duvall is not good and we are getting tired of him acting like a perpetual curmudgeon. Hey, it worked when he was Gus in Lonesome Dove but not in here. Everything he did was forced and had us cringing. Maybe writing, directing, acting and producing all of this took it's toll. Who knows? It just wasn't good.

Notables: James Franco as Ben who comes back for the reading of the Will (yes, while Scott is still alive) and he tries to bond with his father; Josh Hartnett as KC, Scott's son; Devon Abner as Johnny, another son of Scott Briggs. However some scenes with them were awkward and forced.

Luciana Pedraza as Samatha the Texas Ranger Detective seemed too tense throughout and kind of unsure of her presence.

Many scenes were awkward and forced, but the real culprit is the script. Very bad. The story jumped around too much and we were not sure just what this movie was about. Sub plots: Jim Parrack as Sheriff's Deputy Rogers involved in watching Texas Ranger Samantha for Scott Briggs, and also involved in drug running; the reading of the Will when Briggs' sons find out that they have a sister in Maria (Angie Cepeda).

If you keep in mind that the Texas Rangers are focusing on Scott Briggs as they feel he was somehow involved in the disappearance of Jimmy Davis 15-years ago, you should be okay.

There is a resolution and we were not happy with it. Came up abruptly and we didn't believe it. Will you? (3/10)

Violence: Yes. Sex: No. Nudity: No. Language: Soft stuff.

Hazel (Woodley) has cancer and can die at any moment when her lungs fill with water. August (Elgort) has cancer, is in remission, but…….. Both meet at a Cancer Support Group and August falls instantly in love with Hazel. We do too. (you're too easy)

I cannot say enough good things about this movie. It is perfect, witty, honest and will be hard to forget. It's almost like a true story, but it's not. However we will (read should) be reminded of it when we encounter someone with cancer. They struggle with things we take for granted. Things like breathing. See? Keep in mind that although we see stories for our entertainment, real dangerous things have happened to people with medical issues and we should always be aware of that.

The movie pulls us in instantly as August goes flirting with Hazel and the banter between them is pure gold and it also pure gold the rest of the way. We hope August is a good guy, sincere, and level headed because we like Hazel and don't want to see her hurt. When Hazel is sad, we are sad and when she cries…….. August never disappoints.

Shailene Woodley deserves an Oscar for Best Actress and Ansel Elgort for Best Supporting Actor. Whoever cast them for this movie is a genius. They were great together with a chemistry not often found in movies. Their love will touch us for the entire movie and maybe beyond.

August finds a way to get Hazel to Amsterdam to meet her favorite author Peter Van Houten (Willem Dafoe) as she needs to know the answers to some things in his novel. Dafoe does good in this curmudgeon role.

Go to the cupboard or store and get a box of Kleenex because you will need it at times. Although much of the dialogues and banter is light and witty, there will be times they are not so. This is a most impressive, heartfelt, touching and well told story.

You asked about a twist even though this story is rather straight forward and a twist isn't really necessary. However, there is one and you'll be reaching for that box when you see it.

Notables: Laura Dern as Hazel's mother and Sam Trammell as Michael, Hazel's father. Both are truly supportive of Hazel and also of August.

We all are subjected to the fault in our Stars (read dreams) and this fault can never be corrected. That is the saddest part of life. (10/10)

Violence: No. Sex: Yes, kind of implied. . Nudity: No. Language: One F-bomb in Amsterdam. Brief small stuff at times.

Mia Hall (Moretz) has a decision to make: attend Julliard for music (cello) or stay with boyfriend Adam (Blackley) an almost successful rocker for life. A car accident puts her into a coma and in an out-of-body experience, she has the capacity to decide what course to take and is able to run the halls of the hospital to find out what happened to the rest of her family who were also in that accident.

Here's the thing: Mia's father Denny (Joshua Leonard) gave up his rock band music and sacrificed his career for the sake of his family most notably Mia because Mia had the talent on the cello and could go far. Will Mia give up Julliard and stay with Adam? Will Adam give up his rock band and support Mia? This is the story in a nutshell. What do you want Mia to do assuming she wakes up from the coma?

We see Mia in the hospital with flashbacks to her time with family and with Adam so we don't lose anything. We see it all. We really like her family who are super supportive and we see that Mia can talk to her mother Kat (Mirelle Enos) about boys. (kidding, right?)

We see the stirrings of first love between Mia and Adam and the dialogues, eye-to-eye contact and facial expressions went a long way to our liking this union. Then later, decisions have to be made and the relationship becomes strained and it is here we are not too keen about Adam. Hey, we are all about Team Mia. (thought so)

The movie while good is too long and didn't have to be. A downside that didn't make any sense to me was when Adam tried to get to Mia's bedside and was turned away often. The family (or the author of the book this is based on) didn't see the value of a loved one at the bedside of a coma victim until way into the end of the movie. Maybe the family knew about the break-up and didn't want Adam there. Maybe. Still I would think that everything should be done to help a patient out of a coma.

Miss Moretz is truly an exceptional actress and we'll see much more of her in the future. The entire cast was very good and we were not bored any time they were on screen. It was the length of the too long script that put this into the "average" category as the pacing was too drawn out.

Notables: Liana Liberato as Kim, Mia's best friend; and Stacy Keech, Mia's "gramps", who came up with a very good bedside pleading. It's okay to have a box of Kleenex nearby at this time.

This started out really good and became average.

The last scenes involve Adam and Mia whereby Adam had finally written a song about Mia and sings it to her at her bedside. Mia hears the song, and we and she see the bright light and then the camera comes back to focus on Mia's face and then…………………… (7/10)

Violence: No. Sex: Yes, but nothing is seen. Nudity: No. Language: No.

Rich girl Jade (Wilde), falls in love after HS graduation with David (Pettyfer) who comes from the other side of the tracks. Jade's surgeon father, Hugh Butterfield (Greenwood), puts up barriers to this romance because he has Jade's future all planned out. Add to this that Hugh's son Cristopher recently died of Cancer and Hugh is determined not to lose another child.

For most of us life happens way after High School. Here life happens after HS graduation for Jade and David. Yes, it's kind of cute, warm and fuzzy for a while in the beginning, but some stupid things the director felt was necessary gave 7th graders pause to think some things were WAY cool: a joy ride in a customer's car; and a trip to the Zoo after hours when the former jealous girlfriend of David calls the cops about the Zoo break-in. Talk about bumps in the road caused by the very people we want to be together. Not good.

The first half reminded many of us of our high school days (ah, those were the days), but someone left out the intensity to really pull the audience in. First of all Pettyfer was miscast as he was clearly much older than Wilde's Jade and he didn't seem too comfortable in this role. However because Wilde's Jade is very pretty we cast our lot with her and hoped for the best. (you always pull for the pretty ones)

But the lack of intensity in the first half gives way to the story in the 2nd half about Hugh and his attempts to ruin this relationship.

The 2nd half becomes his story. I hated to see Bruce Greenwood as Hugh in this role and felt uncomfortable every time he was on screen showing his distaste for things going on around him regarding Jade and David. Oh, he did good, but……… did I mention being uncomfortable?

Later Hugh kind of relents, but when David discovers his secret, Hugh asks David to take a ride in his boat and here we are reminded of one of the Godfather movies when Fredo was asked to go fishing on the lake. Oh, oh!

Notables: Robert Patrick as David's supportive father; and Joely Richardson as Anne Butterfield Jade's mother who is supportive of both Jade and David as they brought a sense of first love that she experienced back in the day. She was delightful.

Could have been a very good love story, but the intensity factor just wasn't there and the 2nd half being all about Hugh kind of ruined the moment. Okay, moments. Still not bad. (7/10)

Violence: Yes, not much Sex: Yes, but nothing is seen. Nudity: No. Language: No.

This is the second story in the Divergent series. As you may recall, Tris (Woodley) is a Divergent and does not fit in with the normal factions in this dictatorial society. Government Head (Erudite) Jeanine (Kate Winslet) recovers a box that she believes is a message from the Founders, but the problem is only a Divergent can open it. Jeanine needs to capture Tris.

To catch you up: the present government, in order to maintain the peace, divided the people by personality and aptitude and 5-factions resulted: Abnegation (selfless), Amity (peaceful), Candor (honest), Dauntless (brave), and Erudite (intelligent). Tris needs to bring down the present government and is not sure how to do this. Her mission is to kill the head of the snake, Jeanine (Kate Winslet).

This is not as good as the first one (Divergent), but it's okay as it's basically a set-up for sequels. We see Tris and Four (Theo James) on the run for most of the movie. Then later, Tris turns herself in to Jeanine (Whaaaat?) and this is where the movie really starts.

We see some pretty good CGI and can become confused whether some scenes are real or part of the Simulation when Tris is hooked up to Sim cables.

The fight scenes are not as good as the fight scenes in Divergent and some of the shooting scenes will blow your mind as how the bad guys - with machine guns - cannot hit anyone who are clearly in their sights almost 10-feet away. This is Hollywood not realizing their mistake.

Notables: Naomi Watts as Evelyn, Four's mother who wants to raise an army to defeat Jeanine; Ashley Judd as Tris' mother; and Daniel Dae Kim (from Hawaii 50) as Leader of Candor; Octavia Spenser as Joanna, leader of Amity; and Zoe Kravitz as Christina.

The CGI throughout is spectacular especially when Tris is hooked up to the Sim cables.

This movie is a set-up for later resolutions so there will be sequels. Look at it this way: when you think it's all over, it's not. (7/10)

Violence: Yes. Sex: No. Nudity: No. Language: No. Brief soft stuff.

Deacon (Van Damme) helps Anna (Charlotte Peters) from being mugged in an alley, they have drinks, go to his room and later he wakes up in icy water. Still later he realizes he was drugged and he is missing a kidney. Whaaaat? Oh, and he wants his kidney back. Wouldn't you?

The fight scenes are good, but lasted way too long. By Hollywood's thinking, the fight scenes need to go on forever to make sure you understand and appreciate the talents and skills used by the players. See?

I know you are wondering if Van Damme does a split across a hallway or some-such. Well, he does something, not that but you won't be disappointed. Hey, he's not a spring chicken any more.

Along with Van Damme, the real winners in here are the supporting cast and even the bad guys led by Darren Shahlvavei as Drake were spot on. We enjoyed this cast as they contributed quite a bit in dialogues and facial expressions. Good guys Ana (Charlotte Peters), Deacon's brother George (John Ralston), and Kung (Aki Aleong) Deacon's contact in Singapore made this more enjoyable as they believed in what they were doing helping Deacon.

Here's the thing: there are quite a few twists in here and some may surprise you and they don't stop until the very end. When you think you know something up comes something else to consider. So basically, it's surprise, surprise, surprise.

Once you get past most of the twists you may know how this is going to end. Hey, if I can figure it out, so can you. (7/10)

Violence: Yes. Sex: Yes, briefly, one time in the beginning. Nothing is seen. Nudity: No. Language: Brief soft stuff.

This is based upon a true story.

Maria Altman (Helen Mirren) tries to get the painting - Woman in Gold- of her aunt Adele who was painted by Gustav Klimt back from the Austrian government. This painting, among others, was stolen by the Nazis and later ended up in Austria where the government treated the painting like "their Mona Lisa" and do not want to give it up. Maria hires Randy Schoenberg (Ryan Reynolds) to be her lawyer.

I really didn't think this would be any good for me, but since there were no other action-hero movies (are you waiting for the Superman/Batman movie?) out there I indulged. When I first saw the painting - Woman in Gold - my breath left me and I was hooked. What a beautiful painting (ha, you just liked the gold).

There are 2-stories in here. One in the present as we see Maria and Randy do everything they can to retrieve the painting including going to the U.S. Supreme Court and we also see flashbacks to the time Maria lived in Austria, where we see interactions with her aunt Adele (Antje Traue), her family, her wedding, the time the Nazis came in and took everything to her escape from the Nazis. Even though we know Maria escapes, we felt the tension and urgency as the Nazis chased her through the streets of Vienna. Whew! I was out of breath too. Good job.

Both stories are extremely well done and suspenseful throughout as we are not sure what will happen next. We see Nazi cruelty and some scenes were hard to watch and then we see Maria and Randy continue to find legal loopholes to convince the Austrian government to return the paintings to Maria. We see that Maria wanted to give up the fight many times but Randy who had given up his job at a successful law firm knew he had to persevere as he was laying everything on the line.

(so the Queen got her painting back?) The Queen wasn't in this. (look she was, just because she dyed her hair she didn't fool anyone. It was the Queen) No, it was Helen Mirren. (that woman again?)

Listening to the legal arguments on both sides was an education in itself. The acting all around was excellent.

Notables: Katie Holmes as Pam, Randy's wife; Tatiana Maslany as the young adult Maria in Vienna; and Daniel Bruhl as Hubertus Czernin a journalist who helps Maria and Randy with local knowledge of the inner-workings of the Austrian government and of some officials.

There is a resolution at the end of the movie, but stay before the credits run to learn more about what happened to Maria and Randy. (7/10)

Violence: Yes. Sex: No. Nudity: No. Language: One F-bomb by Reynold's character otherwise brief small stuff.