My Big Fat Greek Wedding 2 (2016)

Directed by: Kirk Jones

Written by: Nia Vardalos

Starring: Nia Vardalos, John Corbett, & Michael Constantine








You know...the whole thing about how sequels are never as good as the first one.  That is not the case for this film.

Toula (Vardalos) feels like she has to fix everything, but while doing so her own life is falling apart with her daughter going off to college and her marriage having zero romance.  Things get worse when her mother, Maria (Lainie Kazan), finds out that her and her husband Gus (Constantine) are not really married.  Will Toula be able to get everything back on track or will everything fall to pieces?

What I loved about this sequel is that everyone is in it.  Usually with sequels some of the actors die or want more money and need to be replaced, but not here.  Everyone came back and it's awesome.  There were plenty of laughs and Aunt Voula (Andrea Martin) made the film in my opinion.

Another aspect of the film I liked was that even though Toula and Ian (Corbett) are the main characters, it shows that it isn't their story.  They had their story in the first one and now it's time to move on.  Yes technically, they are still around, but the plot doesn't focus on them as much as it focuses on the daughter and the parents.  I think if it did focus on Toula and Ian the most, it wouldn't have been as successful since we already saw them in the first film.

I really liked it.  It's a feel good movie and makes you appreciate family.  4 popcorns.

Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice (2016)

Directed by: Zack Snyder

Written by: Chris Terrio, David S. Goyer, Bob Kane (Batman), Bill Finger (Batman), Jerry Siegel (Superman), & Joe Shuster (Superman)

Starring: Ben Affleck, Henry Cavill, & Amy Adams







I felt that the best parts of this film were the portions with Wonder Woman; could be because I'm a feminist.  But she was awesome.

Anyway, I really liked this film and felt it gave us a little bit of everything, which some could see as a bad thing.  The film was more of a part 2 to Man of Steel, but then focused on Batman and then went to introducing new characters for DC Comics future movies such as Aquaman, Wonder Woman, and so forth...

Henry Cavill was dreamy as always when playing Superman and I was pleased on how they ended it overall.  I think Ben Affleck's performance as Batman was probably the best Batman there has been thus far.  He really focused on the pain that Batman has been through with his childhood, which feels like a main factor for his character flaw.

Jesse Eisenberg plays Lex Luthor and to be honest, it's just like all his other smart-ass roles that he has previously played.  Nothing special about this performance.  But since it's usually consistent, I'm starting to wonder if that's just his personality.

Like I said, love Wonder Woman.  Gal Gadot was great.  According to the person I went with, not as great as Linda Carter, but pretty good.  The difference is that, because it is a Zack Snyder film, everything is darker and to the person I went with, Wonder Woman was too dark.  I don't think so though.  I thought it worked.

There's a portion of the film that reveals the future DC Comic films like stated previously.  It did seem awkward in the film, but it was probably the only way that they could introduce the future films other than with trailers.  It did look pretty cool though and I'm so looking forward to them.

Overall the film seemed to be complete.  It explained why Batman is versus Superman and what Lex Luthor is up to.  The person I went with though missed the reason why, so that just tells us they should have dragged it out at the beginning or restated the reason later on in the film to remind the audience.

There was a time in the middle of the film where it was dragging.  I almost fell asleep, but it sped back up again.  The whole film is really 4 1/2 popcorns, but I'm going to round it to 5, just because Cavill is gorgeous.  5 popcorns.

The Divergent Series: Allegiant - Part 1 (2016)

Directed by: Robert Schwentke

Written by: Noah Oppenheim, Adam Cooper, Bill Collage, & Veronica Roth (novel)

Starring: Shailene Woodley, Theo James, & Jeff Daniels








I am a Divergent fan.  But I'm more of a fan of the Hunger Games, Twilight, Mortal Instruments than I am a Divergent fan.  So much so, that I didn't even get through Insurgent, the second book of the series.  I watched the film, but didn't finish the book, which means I never read this book either.  I'm sure the book is better than the film, but the film was pretty good.

Now of course, you have to watch the previous films to understand this one.  But here's a little summary of this film:

Now that Jeanine (Kate Winslet) is dead, the factions are in complete ruin in the city of Chicago.  Tris Prior (Woodley), after opening a mysterious box that contains the truth of their city, is curious as to what is on the other side of the wall that has protected Chicago from the other side for years.  Unfortunately, not many others want to know what's on the other side and the city becomes divided on the issue of going past the wall or leaving it up.  Tris and her friends are able to make it to the other side and not everything is what it seems.  Is the truth readily available or are they just being told more lies?

The person I went with had a few complaints about the film.  One was there were several camera angles that were annoying and did not flatter the actors.  The other complaint was that throughout the whole film, they was no assurance from the new community that they were in that our lead characters were safe.

Perhaps this was to hint to the audience of what was to come, but they made it a little too obvious.  I, on the other hand, liked the close ups that were annoying to my friend.  There was only one that bugged me toward the end, but otherwise I was okay with them and thought them to be creative.  Other than that, the film was good and continued to tell the story in a way that made it easy to understand.  Can't wait for the next one.  4 popcorns.

The Brothers Grimsby (2016)

Directed by: Louis Leterrier

Written by: Sacha Baron Cohen, Phil Johnston, & Peter Baynham

Starring: Sacha Baron Cohen & Mark Strong







This film was hilarious.  Tears were coming out of my eyes for most of the hour and 23 minutes.

Nobby (Cohen) has been searching for his brother for 28 years.  After spotting him one day, he makes sure to never get separated from his brother ever again.  Unfortunately, Sebastian (Strong), Nobby's brother and spy, wants nothing more than to be rid of his brother since he compromised his mission.  Everyone is out to kill Sebastian, but with the help of his brother will they be able to survive, while staying together?

The Brothers Grimsby has crude humor throughout the whole thing.  If you can't stand that humor, don't see this film.  But if you can, definitely see it, because you'll be laughing so much.

There were certain parts of the film that I was thinking, while laughing, "okay, what's the next scene, this one has to be over," but it wasn't and Cohen added an extra layer on top of most scenes to make them even funnier than they were already.

Plus if you don't like Trump, you'll for sure love this film.

The only problem I had with the film was that some of the cinematography shots were not very good. For example, there were at least 5 power shots, meaning that the camera shoots you from below, of Cohen and, to me, they were just too low and it didn't look right.  But other than that this film was great.  5 popcorns.

Zootopia (2016)

Directed by: Bryon Howard & Rich Moore

Written by: Jared Bush, Phil Johnston, Bryon Howard (story), Rich Moore (story), Jennifer Lee (story), Josie Trinidad (story), & Jim Reardon (story)

Starring: Ginnifer Goodwin & Jason Bateman






Zootopia follows the dreams of Judy Hopps (Goodwin), a small town bunny turned police officer on her way to the famous Zootopia, where predators and prey all get along.  For her first case, she is in search of a missing otter along with 13 other animals.  As her first lead, she heads for an infamous clever fox, Nick Wilde (Bateman). They must work together to find these animals and the culprit behind the kidnappings.

Oh my gosh guys, I love Jennifer Lee.  She is just on a roll.  Am I right?  First she did Wreck-It Ralph and then Frozen.  Now she's come up with this great story, supposedly among others, but c'mon, I say it's probably all her.

This film is more for adults than it is for children.  The little girl next to me said, "I'm bored.  I want to go home."  And I could see why.  The concept of the film is probably too complicated for children. It's animated and everything with cute characters, but the whole investigation of these missing animals is beyond a kid's comprehension depending on their age of course.

What I loved most about this film, besides my second favorite actress being in it (Ginnifer Goodwin), is the hidden relative meaning behind it.  It's racism!  But with animals.

How clever.  Considering how in today's society, at least in the U.S., there's the Black Lives Matter campaign and the tension with minorities and police officers.  I wonder if anyone else got that...

I recommend seeing this film, but don't bring your kids.  They won't get it unless they're super smart. And if they're not, or too young, they are just going to cry and ruin it for everyone else.  Don't bring them.  Rent with them.

The reason for 4 popcorns is I loved everything about it, but it didn't make me feel emotional at all.  I didn't cry, which is kind of the criteria for a 5 popcorn movie.

4 popcorns.

Whiskey Tango Foxtrot (2016)

Directed by: Glen Ficarra & John Requa

Written by: Robert Carlock & Kim Barker (book)

Starring: Tina Fey, Margot Robbie, & Martin Freeman








This is Tina Fey's best performance yet.

I was planning on seeing Zootopia, but all that was left were the front row seats and who wants to sit there?  So we got tickets for this film, which was surprisingly good.

Based on a true story, a journalist wants something new and exciting in her otherwise boring life.  She heads to Afghanistan and Pakistan to cover the world.  While there, she learns more about herself and what she wants out of life.

Think of Eat, Pray, Love, but with war.  Yeah that's this.

Fey should be more of a serious actress.  It fits her better.  She gave a great performance and despite the serious role, still provided brief moments of comic relief that eased the, otherwise, horrible war tension.  She made the film along with Alfred Molina, who gives us a glimpse to political figures silly and essentially perverted nature.

The film takes place in the early 2000's and shows us an inside look as to how Afghanistan and Pakistan were forgotten when the war moved to Iraq.  We get to see how the Marines operated as well as life in the Middle East for soldiers, reporters, and every day residents.  It was truly enlightening and provided cultural education.

The reason this is not 5 popcorns, is the cinematography.  I'm not sure if the cinematographer's intention was to set a war atmosphere, but all the movement and no still shots, rubbed me the wrong way.  There were times when Fey's character had to film events, and she had better camera skills than the real cinematographer!  That is my only complaint.  4 popcorns.

The Witch (2015)

Directed by: Robert Eggers

Written by: Robert Eggers

Starring: Anya Taylor-Joy, Ralph Ineson, & Kate Dickie







You either love this movie or hate it.

I hated it.  When I saw the trailer, I was led to believe that the witch was evil, lived in the woods, and was messing with this family.  Instead I was completely off and the witch is not who you expect, but should expect since the film is hinting at it the whole time.

There were a few problems I had with this film.  One, was the dialogue, which was in Middle English.  The story takes place during, I'm guessing, the 1600s.  Puritans and Native Americans were most of the population at the time.  I never liked Middle English because then I have to focus on what they're saying rather than just enjoying the film.  It's too much work, but at the same time it made the time period more believable.

Another problem that I had was the ending.  I thought it was so unrealistic that it made me laugh.  But  just because it isn't what I believe in, it doesn't mean that others don't believe in it.  If you see it, you'll understand what I mean in accordance to the witchcraft religion.

I was going to give it 2 popcorns based on the technical aspects of the film, which didn't disappoint, but I just didn't like the plot at all, which made me lean towards a kernel.  I went in the middle and gave it 1 popcorn.