Tuesday's With Movies: 10/1/13 (and 9/24/13)

10/1/13

The Croods: I like when a film surprises me. Went to see this with my family not expecting much - and it was way better than I thought. Review is here.

This is the End: This summer I was able to see nearly all of my Top 10 movies I wanted to see this summer. In fact, surprisingly, I was able to see eight out of 10. This is the End is one of the two I did't get to see. So, I am definitely looking forward to seeing it.

Frozen Ground: Nicolas Cage and John Cusack star in this 50 Cent produced product. Never heard of it, in fact I had to look it up to see if it was even released in theaters - and it was. It actually didn't get horrible reviews - sort of mixed. But, not something I am going to run out to watch.

100 Bloody Acres: A couple of guys in the fertilizer business are running low on their 'secret ingredient' - which apparently is human bodies. Not going to check this one out.

Fright Night 2: Apparently a sequel - not sure if it's the Colin Farrell starring film, or the one from 1985, but I don't really care. This one is direct to DVD. I am guessing it's great - haha.









9/24/13

Iron Man 3: Leaving this film from the theater, I have to say I had mixed thoughts. No, the big reveal was not an issue for me - in fact I enjoyed it. But, there was just something that was not as great as the original. Though, I want to definitely look at it again - there were some great things in it that I loved. Review is here.

Unfinished Song: A man helps finish a project that his wife was working on before she died - and apparently it helps him reunite with his son. Not for me.

Kings of Summer: This one looks like it can be really good. I love a lot of the supporting cast and the music sounds great. Really want to check this one out.

Room 237: A documentary that looks at The Shining and many different people interpreting it. I have never seen the film its based on, so not really important to me to see this.

Something in the Air: From what I can tell, looks like a French film. Based in the 60s, a group of Europeans look to continue the revolution. Definitely staying away from this one.

Redemption: I remember when this was originally called Hummingbird. Why the change? Either way, I will want to watch this eventually. Jason Statham is one of the main action stars of this generation - I have a lot of his films I still need to check out.

V/H/S/ 2: How do they seriously turn these out so fast? A second one a year after the first? Either way, the first one didn't interest me - nor does this.

I Spit on Your Grave 2: At least this one was three years after the first - but read the above, it's pretty much the same.

Theater Review: The Croods

This was honestly a bit of a surprise. I had absolutely no interest in checking out this film, but my parents visited and decided to take my son (and us) to the movie.

The Croods is about a a family of cavemen led by their father Grug (Nicolas Cage). The cavemen have slowly started to become extinct, thanks to disease, carnivorous beasts, and others.

Grug is very overprotective of his family, which they believe is the reason they have survived while others have died. Eep (Emma Stone), Grug's daughter, is not so excited about having to stay in hiding inside their cave all of the time. So, she begins to push the limits.

Ugga (Catherine Keener) - Grug's wife, Gran (Cloris Leachman) - Ugga's mother, Thunk (Clark Duke) - Grug's son, and Sanday - Grug's other daughter, all follow everything that Grug's says. They love their cave and have no plans to ever go out and explore the world.

Eep, however, sees a glow outside the cave during the night and curiosity gets the best of her. She sneaks out of the cave and follows it - which actually turns out to be fire, something she has never seen before. The creator of the fire, though, is Guy (Ryan Reynolds), another caveman who has been out on his own and has adapted to the harsh world.

After an earthquake crushes their cave and opens up a hidden world to the cavemen, the Croods are forced to try and find a new place to hide - and use Guy as their guide. Along the way, the rest of the family begins to feel that Grug's way of life may not be the best.

I have to admit, even after seeing the trailer a handful of times this movie never really excited me. But, I guess you can't judge a movie by its trailer - because the film as actually pretty decent. Not amazing, but definitely worth seeing.

The scenery in the film was outstanding, with at first mostly brown and boring colors - but blossoming into a rainbow world.

The family itself was also pretty fun. But the funniest character had to be Guy's pet sloth, Belt - who had some great scenes, despite not uttering any real words.

Grade: