Mike's Movie Tips

3/4 Starring: Channing Tatum, Jamie Foxx, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Joey King, James Woods, Jason Clarke, Nicolas Wright, Richard Jenkins Rated PG-13 for Prolonged Sequences of Action and Violence including Intense Gunfire and Explosions, Some Language and a Brief Sexual Image I like Roland Emmerich's movies.  "Independence Day" is one of the best disaster movies ever made (I saw it three times in the theater, including once while on vacation), and "The Day After Tomorrow" is grim but entertaining.  Emmerich is the master of epic popcorn movies, although "White House Down" is probably the smallest scale movie he's done since "Stargate." Before I go any further, it is impossible to avoid mentioning this year's other "White House under attack" movie, "Olympus Has Fallen."  Emmerich's is better, mainly because he realizes that the story is ludicrous, and doesn't try to take things too seriously.  The CGI is l...

1.5/4 Starring: Jay Baruchel, Seth Rogen, James Franco, Craig Robinson, Jonah Hill, Danny McBride Rated R for Crude and Sexual Content Throughout, Brief Graphic Nudity, Pervasive Language, Drug Use and Some Violence If there's any movie that has a good premise, it's "This is the End."  It's about celebrities (playing themselves) facing the apocalypse.  The pitch line alone made me want to see the movie.  Unfortunately, it's just another in a long line of disappointments and dreadful "comedies" in 2013, which has so far suffered the curse of "13." Jay Baruchel is visiting Seth Rogen.  Jay doesn't like LA, but he's friends with Rogen, so to make him feel better, Rogen has gathered all of Jay's favorite munchies, and they proceed to get stoned.  That's when Seth suggest they head over to James Franco's place, where he's having a house warming party for his new pad.  So the two head over there and we meet other c...

3/4 Starring (voices): Ming-Na, Alec Baldwin, Donald Sutherland, James Woods, Steve Buscemi, Ving Rhames Rated PG-13 for Sci-Fi Action Violence As computers grow more and more advanced, it became inevitable that Hollywood would try a movie like this: a big-budget animated extravaganza where the characters aren't cute, cuddly and funny.  This is not a Disney movie.  It's violent, suspenseful and intelligent. My experiences with the Final Fantasy franchise is limited, but I don't recall any game that had this kind of a plot.  In any event, it details the work of scientist Dr. Aki Ross (Ming-Na).  She's looking for "spirits" that will help her and her partner, Dr. Sid (Sutherland) end an alien invasion that devastated the planet decades ago.  But she is under a time crunch, because her opponent, General Hein (Woods), wants to use the Zeus cannon in a last ditch attempt to wipe out the Phantoms, and that may do more harm than good. The voice acting is ef...

3/4 Starring: Mary Stuart Masterson, Mary Louise Parker, Jessica Tandy, Kathy Bates, Stan Shaw, Cicely Tyson, Gailard Sartain The Extended Cut is not rated, but the theatrical cut is rated PG-13 (for language, thematic material and some violence, I guess) "Fried Green Tomatoes" is a good old Deep South melodrama with tragedy, romance and all sorts of stuff that comes straight out of a soap opera.  Which is what the movie, based on the novel "Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe" by Fannie Flagg (who co-wrote the script) is.  The difference is that the acting is strong and the story is effectively told. Evelyn Couch (Bates) is a frumpy and depressed housewife.  Her husband, Ed (Sartain), would rather sit in his chair with a beer and watch whatever game is on instead of spending time with her.  One one of the many days Ed drags her to the nursing home to visit his aunt (who despises Evelyn so much that she throws whatever she can at Evelyn for just sa...

3/4 Starring: Pierce Brosnan, Greg Kinnear, Hope Davis, Philip Baker Hall, Dylan Baker Rated R for Strong Sexual Content and Language It isn't long after I started watching "The Matador" that I realized I was in good hands.  Many films open with a radio announcer saying "Good morning!" and so on in a voice so cheery that they must be considered early birds by senior citizens.  "The Matador" does the same thing, only it starts yelling at the lead character to wake up.  The next clue comes a few moments later.  Pierce Brosnan empites his bedmate's purse, but only so he can paint his toenails. "The Matador" is a winning comedy that's nearly undone by the pacing.  It's too slow, and the film drags as much as it is being funny.  But when it works, it really works.  It features two reliable actors giving terrific performances, and there's some ingenious comedy and suspense. Danny (Kinnear) is an everyman who is desperately...

2/4 Starring: Henry Cavill, Amy Adams, Michael Shannon, Russell Crowe, Kevin Costner, Diane Lane, Laurence Fishburne Rated PG-13 for Intense Sequences of Sci-Fi Violence, Action and Destruction, and for Some Language The biggest movie of the year is also the biggest disappointment.  It's not terrible by any means, and won't come near my bottom ten list, but for a movie that's loaded with talent from top to bottom, it's a pretty big letdown. Planet Krypton is dying.  The people of the planet have exhausted its resources to the point where its destruction is imminent.  General Zod (Shannon) tries to throw a coup to save the Kryptonians (kind of pointless since it's already falling apart).  Jor-El (Crowe) steals the one thing that could reseed the Krypton race and sends it away with his newborn son, Kal-El.  Zod's coup fails, and he and his cohorts are sent to the Phantom Zone, while Kal-El is sent to Earth.  Kal-El, who is raised by Jonathan (Costner)...

3/4 Starring: Jamie Lee Curtis, Lindsay Lohan, Mark Harmon, Ryan Malgarini, Chad Michael Murray Rated PG for Mild Thematic Elements and Some Language Some movies deserve to be remade because the story can be relevant to a new audience with some new tweaks and spins.  I don't recall much of the original film incarnation of "Freaky Friday" (which starred Barbara Harris and Jodie Foster as the mother and daughter) except for an exploding typewriter.  That being said, an update isn't unwarranted because the story's theme, that friction between parents and kids is due in part to the fact that they don't often understand each other) will always be relevant.  And thirty years is about enough time for a generation to change. Anna (Lohan) is in a tough spot because her band has the chance of a lifetime: a "Battle of the Bands"-ish competition is about to take place, and after one of the bands drops out, they have a shot at stardom.  The problem is tha...

1/4 Starring: Ethan Hawke, Lena Heady, Rhys Wakefield, Max Burkholder, Adelaide Kane, Edwin Hodge, Tony Oller Rated R for Strong Disturbing Violence and Language In theory, "The Purge" is " The Strangers " mixed with " Minority Report ."  In reality, it's more like any generic home invasion story mixed with the ugly stepchild of " Turbulence " and " Teeth ."  Being scared by a movie requires many things, but two are very important: intelligence and identifiable characters.  None of those two things is ever in evidence during the 85 minutes that the film takes to tell its story. Admittedly, the film's premise is interesting, but like the aforementioned "Teeth," it does absolutely nothing with it (in fact, the film's foundation presents more problems than it's worth).  After the US approached anarchy, sociologists and psychologists brainstormed The Purge.  During a 12 hour period, once a year, just about ...

3/4 Starring: Jesse Eisenberg, Isla Fisher, Woody Harrelson, Mark Ruffalo, Dave Franco, Melanie Laurent, Morgan Freeman, Michael Caine Rated PG-13 for Language, Some Action and Sexual Content The closer you look, the less you see. Magic is based on illusion or deception.  But is this entertainment, or taking advantage of saps who don't know any better?  There are people on both sides of the issue, and that's an issue brought up by the movie (not that it does anything with it). Nevermind.  It doesn't matter.  Louis Leterrier and his cast have set out to make a thriller that keeps us guessing, and they do that.  It's not perfect, in fact it's almost flawed enough to make it best to wait for DVD.  But, it is entertaining. Four magicians, arrogant J. Daniel Atlas (Eisenberg), Atlas's ex-assistant turned solo performer Henley Reeves (Fisher), mentalist Merritt McKinney (Harrelson) and con man Jack Wilder (Franco), have all received tarot cards summon...

3.5/4 Starring: Ray Liotta, Robert De Niro, Joe Pesci, Paul Sorvino, Lorraine Bracco Rated R for Graphic Gangster Violence, Language, Sexuality and Drug Use (I guess) "Goodfellas" is a triumph of directorial ability.  This is easily the most skillfully made movie I have ever seen.  There are tons of neat shots and camera movements, effects and storytelling techniques.  One could write a whole essay on how Scorcese uses the camera and editing to tell his story in a dynamic way.  He uses a lot of camera and storytelling tricks (multiple narrators and making the camera act as an observer), but like the best directors, Scorcese doesn't overdo it.  He has a reason for everything he does, and he never shows off. The story is, on paper, about Henry Hill (Liotta), who wanted to be a gangster ever since he could remember.  It wasn't the money that attracted him to "the life," although that certainly helped.  It was the respect.  Doors would open, h...

2/4 Starring: Charlie Sheen, Ron Silver, Lindsay Crouse, Teri Polo, Tony T. Johnson Rated PG-13 for Some Sci-Fi Violence and Terror, and for Brief Language "The Arrival" starts out strongly, like Alfred Hitchcock meets "Invasion of the Body Snatchers."  But the longer the film goes on, the sillier it gets, and it wasn't long before I stopped caring.  The idea, that aliens are the cause of global warming, has merit, but the execution does not. Zane Zalinsky (Sheen) is a researcher looking for extra-terrestrial life.  He and his co-worker, Calvin (Richard Schiff), come across a strong signal, but it goes away before they can officially verify it.  Nevertheless, Zane takes it to his boss, Gordy (Silver), who promptly fires him.  More mysterious things are going on, which leads to Zane to believe that the aliens are here already.  Meanwhile, a climatologist named Illana Green (Crouse) is investigating why the climate is warming up so rapidly.  Both...

3/4 Starring: Denzel Washington, Annette Benning, Bruce Willis, Tony Shaloub, Sami Bouajila Rated R for Violence, Language and Brief Nudity "The Siege" came out almost three years before the World Trade Center attacks on September 11, 2001.  The filmmakers made a film that asked difficult questions about what we are willing to do to protect our freedom from an enemy that is as impossible to track as it is to see.  They had no idea they were making a film that was chillingly relevant.  Consider what happened after the Boston Marathon bombings a month and a half ago, which resulted in the city being locked down. The US Army has captured a known terrorist named Sheik Achmed Bin Talal (Ahmed Bin Larby).  After diffusing a false terrorist attack, FBI Agent Anthony "Hub" Hubbard (Washington) receives a fax with a page that says "RELEASE HIM."  He doesn't know who it pertains to, and since the no one was injured and the only damage don was blue paint ...