Movie Reviews

I have been a participant in a Summer Movie Pool the last few years and I just love it. It's like fantasy football but it's for the movies released from May to Labor Day. Since summer is starting to wind down I thought I'd share my thoughts on the Top 15 at the box office as of this past weekend.

FWIW, we're huge movie buffs and go to the matinee at the theater nearly every weekend.


1. Iron Man: Didn’t see it. Can’t seem to make myself go. I liked the first two just fine but I’m burned out on super hero flicks.

2. Despicable Me 2: Really want to see this. So we’ll be adding $35 to the take...

3. Man of Steel: Did we really need another earnest super hero movie? Or a new Superman so soon? I think not. And The Incredibles really ruined capes for me. I can't help but snicker. LOL

4. Monsters U: Went with friends and six kids ages 17 to 4. None of us were all that impressed. Too much mean behavior. Not as funny or as clever as the original. I did like that the plot didn't go exactly as I thought it would and Helen Mirren was awesome!

5. Fast and the Furious 6: Oh! My! God! Best movie ever! And Letty! *squeal* Saw it twice, once opening weekend and once at the dollar theater so we accounted for 11 tickets.

6. Star Trek: Into Darkness: If it wasn’t for The Batch I’m not sure I would have made the effort to drag the five of us there. It was fine, perfectly forgettable. Pretty, but full of holes. I don’t think Chris Pine has much leading man, star quality, charisma-stuff.

7. World War Z: I have to preface this with saying all five of us have read the book at least once and we listen to the dramatized audio version often. I freaking LOVED the shit out of this movie. We went twice in 24 hours and are dying for it to come to the dollar theater so we can watch it a few more times on the big screen. It rocked! If you think of it as new chapters. Sort of like, “meanwhile, elsewhere on earth this happened” it’s the best thing ever. LOVE. Love. Love. And the clever little nods to events in the book (like the nuclear bomb going off as Brad Pitt is flying to Israel) was just a terrific bonus for us hard-core fans.

8. The Heat: Um. no. I’ve seen 48 Hours and all the other mismatched buddy cop movies. Making it with chicks doesn’t make it fresh. And I resented the internet campaign that ‘women should support it’ and ‘if it fails they’ll *never* make another movie with women in the lead roles’. Please. *eye roll*

9. The Great Gatsby: Saw this at the dollar theater also. Kinda glad I only paid something like $3.75 for three people to go. It was okay, it felt like Baz lost his way a bit. The whole thing was a little too ‘try’ for me. And not terribly interesting to boot. Sad, as I love Baz Luhrmann.

10. Grown Ups 2: Judge me all you want but this was the funniest movie we saw all summer. And everyone in the packed theater we saw it in was laughing so hard I swear I smelled pee. It was what you’d expect from an Adam Sandler movie and it was full of heart with a great love of the 80’s and 90’s. It was aimed squarely at our age group (40-44) and I got all the jokes and references. And the burp-snart is a classic. One review that I think really said it best is  this one from EW

11. Now You See Me: This, to me, was like a movie about magic for dummies. No surprises, no twists you couldn’t see coming a mile away. But it was sparkly and pretty. I was hoping for a, The Illusionist or The Prestige so it was disappointing.

12. The Hangover III: Didn’t like the first one. Skipped the second and third.

13. The Conjuring: Hubby doesn’t do scary, I don’t watch much violence so this one was out.

14. Epic: Missed this. Wasn’t interested.

15. This is the End: Stupid movie. So misogynistic. Hated it. Sad as I really like several of the comedians in it.

Honorable Mention goes to Red 2. It was much better than the original and I found it to be a perfectly acceptable, and pleasing way to spend an afternoon. The cast was fantastic and they hit the precisely right balance of humor and action. It was also practically bloodless which was nice for me. Great fun, really. And can I say it again... Helen Mirren. Love!