Movie: Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance 3D

Genre: horror-thriller

Synopsis: This is a sequel to 2007’s “Ghost Rider”.  Johnny Blaze (Nicolas Cage) was a stunt motorcycle rider who made a deal with the devil that resulted in him being a part-time demon know as Ghost Rider.  When evil is near, Ghost Rider takes over – a skeletal “man” in flames who rides a flaming motorcycle and whose weapon of choice is a flaming chain.  In this movie, he is trying to save a boy who was fathered by Satan.  Naturally, he leaves a large body count in his wake.

My two cents: Not quite as good as the original, it is hard not to enjoy watching Ghost Rider knock off a few dozen baddies.

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The Secret World of Arriety

Movie: The Secret World of Arriety

Genre: animated fantasy

Synopsis: Shawn is a young boy with a heart ailment.  He is living with his aunt so that he can rest before he has heart surgery.  Living in his aunt’s is the Clock family - a family of four-inch high “Borrowers” The Clocks live in secret, surviving off of items they “borrow” from the humans.  One of the Clocks is a fourteen-year-old Arriety.  She has just come of age and is making her first borrowing excursion.  When Shawn accidentally sees Arriety, all he wants to do is be friends with her.  On the other hand, Clock’s family is horrified that she was seen and fear that they will have to move.  Complicating things is the nasty maid of Shawn’s aunt, who is determined to find the little people and put an end to them.

My two cents: I was less than enchanted with this, perhaps because I have never read the books upon which it was based.  I am also not crazy about the Japanese style of animation that was used.

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Movie: Safe House

Genre: thriller

Synopsis: Matt (Ryan Reynolds) is a rookie CIA operative in Cape Town, South Africa. His job is to manage a company safe house – something he has done for 10 months without ever having a “guest”.  This changes when

Tobin Frost (Denzel Washington) is brought in.  Frost is the CIA’s most wanted man.  He is a former agent who turned traitor 10 years ago and has been on the run since.  Things get really dicey when a large heavily armed squad breaks into the safe house to find and kill Frost.  Matt manages to escape with Frost, but ends up being branded a traitor with the entire CIA after him, as well as Frost.

My two cents: Pretty entertaining – but I would like to have seen more of Denzel Washington unleashed.  Tobin Frost was such a bad-ass . . . it would have been nice to see him kick some more butt.

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Journey 2: The Mysterious Island in IMAX 3D

Movie: Journey 2: The Mysterious Island in IMAX 3D

Genre: adventure-thriller

Synopsis: Another movie treatment of the Jules Verne Classic and a sequel (sort of) to Journey to the center of the Earth.  Sean (Josh Hutcherson) – from Journey to the Center of the Earth – is now 17.  He is obsessed with finding his grandfather (Michael Caine) who vanished 2 years earlier.  After he gets a clue from a mysterious radio signal, Sean convinces his stepfather, Hank (Dwayne Johnson), to take him to the South Pacific in search of Jules Verne’s Mysterious Island.  Once there, they hire a helicopter pilot (Luis Guzman) and his daughter (Vanessa Hudgins) to fly them to where the think the island is.  They find the island, but discover that surviving the island, much less escaping, is going to be a bit of a problem.

My two cents: This was a fun and entertaining movie. Some nice special effects, a lot of humor.  Ity would have been nice if they could have managed to have Vanessa Hudgins sing a song (rather than The Rock).  It requires some suspension of rationality to accept a lot of what happens – but if you do, you will be entertained.  What I do not understand is why someone does not do a movie that actually follows the original novel. I read this novel in the 5^th or 6^th grade and it still stands as one of the best novels I have ever read.  There is plenty to keep your attention without having to resort to giant crabs, giant lizards, giant bees or any of the other gimmicks recent versions of Mysterious Island seem to require.

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The Vow

Movie: The Vow

Genre: romantic drama

Synopsis: Leo (Channing Tatum) runs a recording studio.  Paige (Rachel McAdams) is a sculptor.  They are married and madly in love.  Following a car accident, Paige loses the last five years of her memory.  From her perspective, she still lives with her parents, is still in law school, and is engaged to another man.  The movie follows Leo as he struggles to rekindle Paige’s love for him.  It is a lot tougher to do than he thinks.

My two cents: I really enjoyed this movie.  I was intrigued by the whole idea of a couple being so in love with one another one moment and the next moment one of the couple having no idea who the other one is.  I always enjoy Rachel McAdams.  I think this is the first movie I have seen with Channing Tatum where he really showed some acting chops.  Although I knew the movie was based on a real case, I kept thinking that it sure seemed like it was straight from a Nicholas Sparks book.

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Movie: The Woman in Black

Movie: The Woman in Black

Genre: horror

Synopsis: Arthur (Daniel Radcliffe) is a widowed lawyer in 1England in the early 1900’s.  He firm sends him to a bleak town in the middle of nowhere to close the estate of a deceased client.  From the time he arrives, everyone in the tow does their best to get him to leave without visiting the estate.  From the time he first sees the desolate mansion, Arthur starts seeing ghosts and bad things start happening to children in the town.  Arthur insists on staying on the job and is determined to solve the mystery of why the mansion is haunted.

My two cents: This definitely does not make my “A” list for horror films.  I felt that way too much time was spent with things going bump in the night – strange things happening – before we finally learn why all this is happening. I spent most of the movie just being bored.  Although not Daniel Radcliffe’s fault, every time I saw him, all I could think was “it’s Harry, where is his wand?”.

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Chronicles

Movie: Chronicles

Genre: SciFi-thriller

Synopsis: Three high-school friends find what seems to be some kind of spaceship buried in the ground.  Shortly after their exposure to it, they begin to display telekinetic capabilities.  The more the use these abilities, the stronger their powers become.  Eventually there is a falling out between them leading them to a climactic battle.

My two cents: A pretty decent sci-fi movie.  I liked the way the boys kept their abilities to themselves (at least for a while) and did not use them to do anything special . . .  just to have a lot of fun.

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