5ally5 Movie Reviews: December 2014

2014 - 1.8/5

I didn’t know much about this movie before seeing it, and I didn’t remember anything from the trailer. I just knew it would be a courtroom drama about Hank (Robert Downey Jr.) a hot-shot lawyer defending his dad (Robert Duvall) a well respected judge in a small town, in court on a murder charge. The only reason I was on the fence about seeing it was because of how long it was.

It could have done without Hank’s ex-girlfriend. That character and her daughter could have been left out entirely and there would have been no love lost there. In fact, if you took that out, it would have probably been about 20 minutes shorter. The movie just didn’t need it.

It was a good movie, and there was one really gripping part between the father/judge and son/lawyer, but that aside, the rest of the dialogue wasn’t on the same level. It’s not a movie you’d quote in the future and it’s not a movie that lingers with you days after and makes you think; it just didn’t have that clasp on the viewer.

The more I think about it, the more holes I can poke in it, so with that being said, I’ll leave it at that.

December 17, 2014

22 Jump Street

2014 - 2/5

I wasn’t really in the mood to watch a comedy, but I was also being very undeceive when it came to actually picking a movie. I’ve been meaning to see this movie since I heard it was coming out, and I liked 21 Jump Street. I knew it would be a fun movie with a good soundtrack.

Like the first, Jonah Hill and Channing Tatum are so fun to watch. Their bantering back and forth works so well. They have great chemistry and play off one another so well.

This is a movie that knows exactly what it is. A copy of the first one. A throwback to, well, EVERYTHING! And it worked! Everything about this movie fell into its place smoothly.

I liked how it actually addressed that the 2nd of anything will probably not be as good as the first. I’m not going to say it was, but again, it worked and it was an enjoyable movie to watch.

December 7, 2014

Camp X-Ray

2014 - 2.4/5

I would be lying if I said this movie didn’t have pacing issues. I’m not saying that it was a huge issue, but there were a few parts that it did drag. I liked that it had a simple plot; it wasn’t pumped full of side-line stories that didn’t belong.

As a whole, it does shine a light on the fact that situations like this aren’t exactly, as Cole put it, “black and white”, and it’s only meant to seem that way on the surface. In reality, you never know the truth.

In a movie in which you don’t know anything about Cole or Ali before what you see on screen you might think that there’s no way for them to connect and movie won’t be able to cover the bond between them. And like I said earlier it did take a bit before this movie really started to get going, but by the end, I did feel as if there was a genuine bond between Cole and Ali.

When it comes to the acting of Kristen Stewart and Peyman Moaadi, I think they did a good enough job with the characters. Stewart’s pretty stoic to begin with, so in my opinion, it was a good casting choice.

Overall, I like that the story wasn’t politics heavy and it focused on the characters. Is it worth seeing? Well, if you were debating whether or not to see this movie after having seen the trailer, go for it! You’re not missing anything if you don’t watch it.

December 6, 2014

St. Vincent

2014 - 2.5/5

I was in the mood to laugh, and I figured this would be a good feel-good-movie to watch. I figured most of the comedy would come from Bill Murray, who I’m not a huge fan of, but for some reason, he’s the selling point in this movie. I kind of feel that Melissa McCarthy is going to be on the more serious side for this roll, but I’m sure she’ll sprinkle in her comedy every now and then.

Aside from saying that Bill Murray, Melissa McCarthy, the kid that plays Oliver and Naomi Watts all did very well as their characters, and that it was a feel-good movie I liked, I can’t seem to think of anything to add.

After having watched it, it reminded me of Bad Santa. By no means is this movie original, however, I had a good time watching it.

December 4, 2014

The Skeleton Twins

2014 - 1/5

I hoped it was going to be a comedy with a dark undertone to it, but I can’t categorize it as either. I guess I was hoping this would be the 2014’s Little Miss Sunshine. Perhaps I had too high expectations.

You only need to see the trailer to see that Bill Hader and Kristin Wiig would be a perfect pair (which is why this got a 1 star from me) and they were. They looked the part of twin brother and sister, but the dialogue and some of the content didn’t add to the characters; I say this because although the viewer gets to see some flashbacks of Maggie and Milo when they were young, but it just ended up being something you saw on screen that had no substance.

Luke Wilson as Lance did a good job too. He was a very humbling and likeable character.

For an indie movie, it was drab and generic. I could tell what they were trying to go for, it just didn’t come off as genuine.