Independence Day: Resurgence Review

June 24, 2016June 24, 2016 | Rachel's Reviews

So I had the chance to see the Independence Day sequel today and I will be very curious to read what you’all think of the film- especially if you are a big fan of the original. I left feeling like it was just ok. It’s not horrible but it’s not great either. Here’s my review on youtube:

However, recently I rewatched the first one and was honestly a little disappointed. It’s not as good as I remembered it. It ends well but the first hour and 45 was a lot of standing around staring at screens and talking. It was more boring than I remembered and the explosions felt more repetitive than I recalled. It’s not awful but it was a bit of a letdown on the rewatch.

Anyway, I went into this sequel with pretty low expectations. I just wanted to be moderately entertained and I’d say it kind of achieved that standard. There’s attractive people and some decent special effects. Jeff Goldblum is good and there are moments that are dumb fun.

Unfortunately for me it all felt a little forgettable and silly but not necessarily in a good way. It just was ok. The acting is ok. The special effects are ok. The story is ok. It’s probably the kind of movie that will make a decent cable watch on a Saturday but not worth the $20 ticket price some have to pay these days. But like I said it’s not awful so if you are bored and need something to do you could do worse.

The story recalls a lot of elements from the first movie but none really stand out. Like in this film there are multiple scenes where the band of pilot brothers fight the aliens like the Grand Canyon scene in the original and they are all fine but nothing special. There are at least 2 scenes where a president or former president makes a speech and they are fine too.

One odd thing is characters are eliminated without much mourning or sense of loss in the script. Also certain characters try to provide comic relief and fail miserably. The romance is also very bland.

I don’t want to spoil things but certain moments with the aliens are extremely silly, and I guess that is fun. There are actually different aliens they interact with which I thought was kind of clever and interesting. You see a lot more of the aliens this time around than in the last. You also get a little more explanation of why they are doing what they do.

The destruction is very intense this time around but you expect that in Independence Day movie. I guess I struggle a little bit with these kinds of scenes in a post 9/11 world. They just aren’t fun for me any more but that’s just me.

They also try to get you to believe Vivica A Fox goes from exotic dancer to doctor in between the two movies which seems like a stretch. The special effects in a scene with her are especially bad. Also the actor who plays Will Smith and her son, Jessie Usher, isn’t very good and certainly doesn’t have near the charisma as Will Smith. Liam Hemsworth is ok.

It’s a fine movie but not a good one. I can see having fun with it and I did have some dumb fun but it’s forgettable. Let me know what you think if you see it- especially if you are a big fan of the original. That’s just kind of my jumbled thoughts on this one!

Overall Grade- C

Best Indie Films of 2016

June 8, 2016June 8, 2016 | Rachel's Reviews

Hey guys! Lately I’ve felt a little bit burned out on blockbusters. It just feels like everything has become so polarized, even toxic when it comes to these big movies. Plus, we’ve had a lot of mediocre ones in 2016. So, it was with glee that I spoke with my friend Mark and we decided to do a podcast on independent films!

This has been so great because it encouraged me to see a bunch of independent films I might not have otherwise seen and I am the better for it. We each came with our top 10 lists and discussed them. We had a lot in common but some differences as well. I would love if you gave this podcast a listen and let me know what you think.

What indie films have you seen this year? I don’t want to give away our order but some of the films we mention are Sing Street, Love and Friendship, Everybody Wants Some!, The Witch, April and the Extraordinary World, Only Yesterday, The Invitation, etc.

I think with these independent films you can get back to the true passion behind filmmaking that sometimes gets lost in the big budget properties. A movie like April and the Extraordinary World for instance can take some risk that Moana isn’t going to be able to take. That makes them really fun to watch.

Check out Mark’s blog at https://fastfilmreviews.com/

And this has turned out to the be the week of podcasts. Yesterday I spoke with my friend Tom about Star Trek 2: Wrath of Khan. I would love if you checked that one out.

Also this Saturday I am going to meeting with Abby, Jeremy and Richard about the Prisoner of Azkaban!

I love talking about these films with my friends. If any of you have ideas for podcasts let me know! I’m always up for it.

Summer of Family Movies

May 22, 2016May 22, 2016 | Rachel's Reviews

Summer movies3

Recently I was going over the upcoming summer movie slate and trying to make my predictions on what will hit and miss at the box office. I’m notoriously awful at these predictions but it is fun nevertheless. While going over the releases it occurred to me how many family films are being released this summer. 2015 summer had 8 family films- Avengers: Age of Ultron, Tomorrowland, Jurassic World, Inside Out, Minions, Ant-Man, Fantastic 4, and Pixels. Some might count Mission Impossible 5 but I think that is a stretch. In comparison this year there are 4 just in May.

First let’s talk about the animated films. There are 5 (6 releases but Sausage Party not family friendly.) These 5 are: Angry Birds Movie, Finding Dory, Secret Life of Pets, Ice Age: Collision Course, Kubo and the 2 Strings

Then we have comic book movies. I’m not counting Suicide Squad because I think that will be a pretty hard PG-13. There are 3 films: Captain America: Civil War, X-Men Apocalypse and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 2: Out of the Shadows.

We have other live action family films. (I’m not sure about Warcraft family friendly status as I’ve never played the game). But here’s some of them that could attract a family audience:Alice through the Looking Glass, Ghostbusters, Independence Day: Resurgence, The BFG, Legend of Tarzan, Star Trek Beyond, Pete’s Dragon.

That’s 15 movies, almost double what we had in 2015 using basically the same criteria. Even if a few turn out to not be family films it’s still kind of amazing. That leads me to my next question- which will rise and which will sink?

I mean just Disney alone has 5 films within all of their brands and one of them has to strike out. Will it be Pete’s Dragon? Will it be Alice Through the Looking Glass? The BFG? That last one would make me sad because The BFG is the one non-sequel/remake of the group but the book is less well known than Roald Dahl’s others and it doesn’t have a big star like Johnny Depp or Robert Redford.

Other interesting films to look at is the nostalgia wars. Will Star Trek Beyond, Ghostbusters or Independence Day: Resurgence be this year’s Pixels or Terminator: Genisys to bomb at the box office or will they be huge like Jurassic World?

You have 2 video game movies with Angry Birds Movie and Warcraft that will be interesting to watch and 2 studios, Illumination and Liaka, trying something new with Secret Life of Pets and Kubo and the 2 Strings. Will audiences embrace new or flock to known properties like Ice Age Collision Course, X-Men Apocalypse and Finding Dory?

I’m really curious to see how it all plays out. What do you think? What will be the big hits and misses for family films 2016? Have I left something out? Let me know in the comments section. It’s all speculation so let’s have fun talking about it.

Man Who Knew Infinity Review

May 22, 2016May 22, 2016 | Rachel's Reviews

Today I had the chance to see the new biopic called The Man Who Knew Infinity. While nothing too spectacular it is a solid inspirational true story about someone I knew nothing about before seeing the film.

Infinity stars Dev Patel as real-life mathematician Srinivasa Ramanujan who grew up in a poor neighborhood in Madras, India but had a knack for numbers and mathematical formulas. He even believed the formulas came as visions from God to him, and he knew he needed to share them with the world.

He also gets married to a gorgeous Devika Bhise who starts off doubting his endeavors but ends up supporting him going to England and meeting with professors at Cambridge. I thought her and Patel had a nice chemistry together and kind of wish the movie had just been about their relationship (of course that wouldn’t be true to life but I would love to see something else with the two of them in it).

Ramanujan meets a professor named GH Hardy played by Jeremy Irons (I guess this is his year for biopics with already appearing in Race). The two men become friends despite their cultural and religious differences. Ramanujan is all about the new idea while Hardy encourages him to find the proofs behind the inspiration.

To be honest, this is where the movie lost me a bit. They weren’t successful in explaining the math to a math moron like myself and I got a little bit bored watching them at chalkboards working out equations. I’m sure what they were doing was groundbreaking but since I don’t understand the math or concepts it was hard to get excited. Theory of Everything had its problems but it at least made tough concepts easier to understand than this did. Same with Imitation Game.

The Man Who Knew Infinity ends up being a tragedy but that part of the film is highly predictable. Still I didn’t mind it following basic, by-the-numbers biopic formulas. I don’t need every movie I see to be new and different.

On the whole it is dry during all the math talk and the conversations between professors about whether to ‘grant the Indian fellowship’. That was boring but the relationships were good and the performances sincere. I liked supporting work from Toby Jones, Jeremy Northam, Stephen Fry and Arundhati Nag as Ramanujan’s mother.

Bi0pics on big names like rock stars, generals and inventors are great but I also enjoy these more obscure films as well. The Man Who Knew Infinity tells a good, if standard story and I’m glad I saw it. I would recommend it a rental when it comes out at the Redbox or a stream on netflix.

Are any of you seeing The Man Who Knew Infitity? What did you think? What’s your favorite biopic? Walk the Line and My Left Foot are two of my favorites.

Overall Grade- B-

Angry Birds Movie Review

May 20, 2016May 20, 2016 | Rachel's Reviews

So I decided to rest over at the theater tonight and watch the new animated release The Angry Birds Movie. I have never played the game before and had mixed responses to the trailer but after being pleasantly surprised (one of the few) by Ratchet and Clank, I was hoping for the same with Angry Birds. Unfortunately I left feeling mostly disappointed.

Not that Angry Birds is a complete loss. The animation is pretty good particularly with the texturing on the feathers. It looked lush and they capture the fast movement of the birds very well. I also was fine with all the voice talent although the celebrity aspect of it did nothing for me. There were a few good jokes and kids will probably have an ok time. This is not Norm of the North bad by any means.

Unfortunately that’s about the end of my praise. The film centers on a bird named Red who you guessed it is angry all the time. Going into the film I figured he would learn his lesson by the end and stop being angry. Instead Angry Birds makes the strange choice of having the kind, happy birds actually be gullible and stupid. The movie confuses confidence with anger and the stupid nice birds learn to be angry. Isn’t that a strange message for kids? It’s one thing to have a character named Anger in Inside Out as a piece of a healthy person but to have the main moral emphasis of the movie be promoting anger is very weird.

Just like Minions last year Angry Birds uses a lot of music cues to get supposed humor. I don’t think any of the songs will be that familiar to kids (bands like Pete Townsend, Ozzy Osbourne, the Carpenters and more) and I don’t even think these artists are that popular with young Moms and Dads so who they are trying to appeal too? Wouldn’t it make more sense to have bands from the 80s or 90s if you were appealing to the parents? Current artists if you were trying to appeal to kids? Regardless, the music jokes were loud, forceful, stretched out and unending. I got tired of them after a while.

These pigs come to steal the eggs of the birds. All of the birds but Red are charmed by the pigs because of the great dance party they throw. Red’s cynicism and grumpiness gets a little old after a while. It felt like certain scenes such as the hoedown party lasted a long time. There were also uncomfortable adult jokes which I really hate in movies aimed at families or children. These weren’t just subtle but out there jokes about sex, mating and harvesting eggs. That’s unseemly in my opinion.

Red goes to find an eagle that is going to save them but this sequence felt very drawn out and it separates the lead characters from the conflict with the pigs leaving said conflict and villains underdeveloped. The eagle potty humor and other jokes did nothing for me.

The final action scene was kind of fun and I’m told uses elements from the game in a very clever way, but that can only take you so far. I felt like the characters were shouting at me a lot and I grew tired of that. I wanted the story to breathe more and calm down.

Overall, it’s harmless. Some small kids will enjoy it but the shouting, overbearing music and the strange message about anger are big problems for me. Ratchet and Clank is a silly simple space adventure where this is more caustic and frustrating. I can see why some enjoy it but it was just not for me. I’m actually a little disappointed as I am always pulling for smaller studios to make a dent in the animation scene. Unfortunately Lego Movie this is not.

It was also frantically edited so I felt a little jerked around with everything happening on screen.

I’d be willing to forgive a lot if I wasn’t so annoyed by the characters and other choices made within the movie. Too bad!

What did you think of Angry Birds Movie?

Overall Grade- C

My youtube review

Summer Box Office Predictions

May 11, 2016May 11, 2016 | Rachel's Reviews

My friend Conrado just put up his summer box office predictions. You can read them here. I’m normally awful at box office predictions but the more we discussed it I figured I should offer up my best guess just for fun and give my reasons for my guesses.

Here goes!

Captain America: Civil War– it opened huge and even bigger overseas. It will cross the 1 billion mark before weekend 2 and there is no competition then. Movies people like have had great legs this year (Zootopia, Deadpool, Jungle Book) so I think it could even do well against Alice and X-Men which I think will underpreform.
Finding Dory- all of Pixar’s sequels have done well and this is to a beloved classic, Finding Nemo. You have a celebrity voice cast who are going to promote including Ellen with her platform. I can’t imagine it doing badly. It would have to get totally panned by critics to keep people away and that seems unlikely (even dreaded Good Dinosaur has a 74% on RT).
Suicide Squad- people love the Joker and have responded well to the trailers. I could see a backlash from Batman v Superman but it seems like everyone is pulling for this to be the savior of DC.
TMNT: Out of the Shadows– The first one made a ton of money and Michael Bay associated films seem to be critic proof and always do well at box office. This one has fan favorites Krang and Bebop and Rocksteady.
Independence Day: Resurgence- We are in a nostalgia age and I think people will flock to what I’m sure will be a dopey, fun popcorn flick.
Jason Bourne- This movie has everything going for it. Matt Damon back and Paul Greengrass directing. I have a feeling it will get good reviews and people will want to see it. Plus, it comes out a weekend where the only other major opening film is Bad Moms. Look at what Matt Damon just did in The Martian and this is an established brand. It will do very well.
Central Intelligence– All you have to do is look at Kevin Hart’s Ride Along and The Rock’s San Andreas and we know this movie is going to do well. San Andreas was so stupid and yet it did very well and people like Hart’s comedies. The two of them should be critic proof.
Secret Life of Pets- I debated whether to put this one or the next Ice Age movie because those do so well overseas. Illumination is a marketing machine and I think people like movies about pets. It will be interesting to see how Illumination does without the comfort of the Despicable Me characters.
Pete’s Dragon- This is a bit of a risk but Disney has already hired the director of Pete’s Dragon for their Peter Pan project which shows they have some faith in the film. And it’s main competition the weekend it comes out is Sausage Party. These Disney remakes have just done so well, and I think this one will continue the trend.
Sausage Party- Speaking of Sausage Party this is my risky pick. I just saw the amount of money an R rated comedy, Deadpool, made and I think Sausage Party could follow suit. Kids see Pete’s Dragon. Adults see Sausage Party. It has a lot of big names in the cast and the trailer was received very well.

There’s a bunch of big ones I left off my list. I’ll explain why.

X-Men Apocalypse- pains me to say it but the reviews have not been good. X-Men movies have never done as well as MCU films and I think people will keep going to see other established films like we saw with Jungle Book or Zootopia already this year.

Alice Through the Looking Glass- same with Alice. Reviews don’t look good and I don’t think this is critic proof. The first movie made a ton of money but that was in the hey-day of 3D which is kind of old hat now. I hear very few people buzzing about it and when I suggested it for Church Movie Night there was an audible groan.

Ghostbusters– This had the most disliked trailer in youtube history. I think it will be the Pixels of this year. Good in concept with a decent director and it bombs.

Ben Hur- See box office for Point Break remake. People don’t want this and sword and sandles have not been doing well (see Gods of Egypt box office).

Kubo and the 2 Strings– I desperately want this film to do well and be Liaka’s first huge hit but audiences have shown themselves resistant to non-CG animated films. The only one to do any business despite being fantastic is last year’s Spongebob: Sponge Out of Water and that was only because it was advertised as CG. It’s sad but true.

Star Trek Beyond- This does come out on a good week with only Ice Age: Collision Course as competition, but I don’t feel any buzz or excitement about it. I feel like a lot of people didn’t like the last entry and aren’t excited about this one. Plus, marketing has been lame.

BFG- This is a wild card and I think it will do well but I couldn’t fit it into my top 10. There’s so much family entertainment this summer. It has Steven Spielberg behind it but no major stars like a Tom Hanks. I feel like it is one of Roald Dahl’s lesser-known books. Critics will make a big factor in this ones success I think.

Legend of Tarzan– It comes out the same weekend as BFG so one of them could soar and one sink. I don’t think both will do well. The trailers look good but it couldn’t make my top 10.

So there you go. Now watch me totally be proven wrong as is usually the case with box office predictions! What are your top 10 predictions? Share in the comments section.

Midnight Special Review

April 12, 2016April 12, 2016 | Rachel's Reviews

Today I saw the new film from director Jeff Nichols called Midnight Special. Despite its trashy sounding title, it turns out to be a pretty good little scifi film. Like so many quality films these days some will find it boring but I thought it was great.

Midnight Special tells the story of a boy named Alton Meyer (Jaeden Lieberner) who at the start has been abducted by his father Roy (Michael Shannon) and friend Lucas (Joel Edgerton). But this is no ordinary boy. He has supernatural powers that allow him to communicate with other life forms and lands. His eyes grow strong with blue light and he overtakes buildings and homes.

He is so strong in fact that he has inspired a cult that follows his words like scripture and honors him like a God, which he kind of is in this case. The leader of the cult is named Calvin Meyer (Sam Shepherd) and he and his followers have been tracking dates Alton gives them and on an upcoming one something special is to occur. This is what inspires Roy and Lucas to take Alton from the cult.

At the same time the cult gets called in mass to a high school to be interviewed by the FBI, who are also doing their own investigation into Alton and his powers. The lead investigator is Paul Sevier (Adam Driver).

We also meet Altdon’s mother played by Kirsten Dunst in a very heartfelt believable performance- best I’ve seen from her in years.

Midnight Special is a bit of a slow burn but it builds a believable story that gives you time to contemplate what is happening. I liked all of the characters including Driver as the FBI agent (although I admit getting Kylo Ren out of my head was hard at first!). Michael Shannon is tremendous as Roy who is desperate, practical and honest at the same time. Joel Edgerton as Lucas is a new believer in Alton but fresh with conviction. They are all great.

What I liked most about this movie is the way it dives into belief and what that means for our choices. Alton is a figure of hope for all different kinds of people. For the cult who have turned him into a God, for the disaffected who still love him, for the new believers who are in awe, and for those like Sevier who believe because they have seen great things, he has impacted all of their lives in a powerful way.

All good scifi should be about something and I think this film passes the test because belief changes all of us in one way or another. Belief can even break your heart on occasion.

It’s also so beautifully filmed by Jeff Nichols and has great performances throughout. Think of it as ET without the laughs!

Overall Grade- A-

My youtube review-

Everybody Wants Some Review

April 5, 2016April 5, 2016 | Rachel's Reviews

Today I got my vintage movie on and did a bit of a 70s double header. I saw my favorite director Richard Linklater’s new movie Everybody Wants Some and the Mormon musical Saturday’s Warrior. My Warrior review will be on my other blog http://smilingldsgirl.com/2016/04/04/saturdays-warrior-review/. It probably goes without saying that Everybody Wants Some was the stronger of the two films but they are very different so tough to compare.

Everybody Wants Some is billed as the ‘spiritual sequel to Dazed and Confused’. If you haven’t seen Dazed it is set in 1976 and follows a group of high school students on their last day of school. What makes it special is it feels so real. Linklater isn’t afraid to have mean characters or for things to be unfair at the same time they are also funny.

In Dazed you have everything from the cruel bullies to the star football player. Linklater is so great at writing dialogue and making things feel authentic to real life. Dazed and Confused is funny, sweet, sad and has one of the best soundtracks ever.

I’ve never heard of the concept of a ‘spiritual sequel’ but it does seem to fit Everybody Wants Some. Instead of high school students, here we get college students in 1980-something and just like Dazed we follow them around for a weekend. This wouldn’t work if Linklater wasn’t such a master at what he does.

I wrote on twitter after I saw the film “I liked spending time with these guys” and that’s how I felt. They are losers, jerks, friends, party-animals and everything else. That’s what makes them feel like real people.

Coming out of the screening they were asking for feedback and one man said ‘it was slow’. This is the problem some people have with Linklater’s ‘day in the life’ kind of movies. Some people want more plot. I actually think that is what makes his movies special but it’s not for everyone.

Everybody Wants Some is perhaps more relatable than Boyhood but it also has less emotional heft to it (I’m a huge Boyhood fan). It feels lighter and a little bit nicer than Dazed and Confused and I’m kind of still processing whether that makes it better or worse. Either way, it is very enjoyable. I’ll repeat- I liked spending time with these guys.

The story revolves around Jake played by Blake Jenner who is a freshman baseball player who is moving in to the home shared by the rest of the championship baseball team. They are of course told by their coach to not party or have girls in their rooms, which they promptly disobey.

At the end of the film Jake is exhausted and can’t hardly get through his first class which is no surprise with the amount of stuff they pack into a weekend. It will make most of you wonder why your college life was so boring! But through all the shenanigans the boys felt real and authentic and even when they were being brats I still kind of liked them.

Tyler Hoechlin as Glen, Glen Powell as Finnegan and Quinton Johnson as Dale were 3 of my favorite of the boys but they were all good. Zoey Deutch was believable and great as Beverly a girl that catches Jake’s attention. Amidst all the chaos you totally get why he likes her and she likes him. That’s what makes Richard Linklater so great. I don’t know how he does it!

Like Dazed and Confused, the soundtrack to Everybody Wants Some is stellar. Needless to say I already have it on pre-order with amazon. Pat Benatar, Blondie, Jermaine Jackson, Van Halen, Patti Smith, Cheap Trick, Devo etc. You also get to hear a variety of songs- disco, rock, country and even punk. All of this adds to the authentic feel of the film.

Everybody Wants Some is not for everyone. It is a hard R with a lot of profanity, vulgar dialogue, sensuality, brief nudity and drug use. If I wasn’t so in love with Linklater’s characters and writing it would probably be too much for me if I’m honest.

However, if you can handle the content and the pacing than you are in for a treat. Is it as good as Dazed and Confused? Ask me in a couple weeks but for now I’m just happy I saw it and enjoyed a slice of life in the 1980.

If any of you see Everybody Wants Some let me know what you think. Are you a fan of Richard Linklater’s films? What is your favorite? Mine is still Boyhood but I love the Before trilogy as well. He just nails it every time.

Overall Grade- A

My youtube review

Miracles From Heaven Review

March 29, 2016March 29, 2016 | Rachel's Reviews

miracles from heaven

I just wanted to share with you guys real quick my thoughts on the recently released faith-based film Miracles from Heaven. I go over it in more detail on my youtube review but I’ll share a few things I really liked about it.

If you are open to faith-based films I think you should give this a watch because I felt it did a lot of things better than many in the genre. It tells the story of the Beams family who’s little girl is taken ill with a gastrointestinal disorder.

Most of the movie revolves around Jennifer Garner’s character and how her faith is tested during this difficult time for her family. Then a miracle happens (which they totally give away in the trailer) and that takes a new kind of faith.

The thing that impressed me about this film was how subtle it was compared to other faith-based films. There are a lot of scenes that could have been very preachy but instead the film went with a softer more realistic approach.

For example, in one scene an anthiest father of a little girl has a conversation with Jennifer Garner about a cross necklace her daughter has given his daughter. He explains his beliefs and asks her if she understands. In movies such as War Room this would have gotten a big speech about belief and faith. Instead, she said ‘I understand more than you know’. That seemed like such a great response for the situation.

There are a lot of moments like that within the film. Whether the Miracles from Heaven will be attractive to non-believers I don’t know. I guess it depends on how sensitive you are to people talking about faith and belief because it is in there. I just thought it was handled much better than the genre typically allows.

It’s definitely a tearjerker so go with a box of tissues. I think especially if you’ve experienced a chronic medical condition in your family you will relate to what they are going through. I cried but I didn’t feel manipulated that much.

I’m not saying it is a perfect movie but I did enjoy it very much. I recommend you all go and see it if you can stomach faith-based movies at all.

Overall Grade- A-

(ps. Make sure you are subscribed to my youtube channel because I don’t necessarily post everything from that channel on to this blog and vice versa. Would love your thumbs up and feedback on the video. Thanks!).