MOVIE REVIEW: Last Man Standing

RELEASE DATE: September 20 1996

RUN TIME: 1h 41 min

MPAA RATING: R

MY IMDB RATING 10

FAMILY SCALE RATING 1.5

DIRECTOR: Walter Hill

MAIN CAST: Bruce Willis, Bruce Dern William Sanderson

IMDB Storyline
A drifting gunslinger-for-hire finds himself in the middle of an ongoing war between the Irish and Italian mafia in a Prohibition era ghost town.


MY REVIEW
This was a old fashion good guy vs bad guy movie except no one wore white hats. In this case John Smith (Bruce Willis) comes to town and cleans up both sides. this was the old west meets the mafia at high noon with all the drama and more. The gun and fist fighting was simply awesome. This should be a classic along side the Godfather. The backstabbing and fake alliances formed in this movie reminded you of a dirty political election. It was brutal in so many ways. At times you felt sorry for the bad guys (NOT REALLY). There is nothing bad I can say about this movie, it was awesome, I can totally give it my strongest recommendation if you like crime movies. But I can not in no way recommend it as a family movie. It is very violent.

MOVIE REVIEW: Vertical Limit

RELEASE DATE: December 8 2000

RUN TIME: 2h 4mins

MPAA RATING: PG-13

MY IMDB RATING: PG-13

FAMILY MOVIE SCALE 9.5

DIRECTOR:  Martin Campbell

MAIN CAST: Scott Glenn, Chris O'Donnell. Bill Paxton

IMDB Summary
A climber must rescue his sister on top of K2, one of the world's biggest mountains.

MY REVIEW

This was a great family tragedy, hope and family bonding story. This is when two siblings are mad at each other but would do anything for each other including risking their life. Great story surrounded by the adventure of the K2  mountain. The risk are awesome and again one of my favorite type of story lines is the will to survive in impossible odds. You really feel alone in some parts of this movie and hopelessness is ever present. I love the magnitude and scope of this movie. It is one of those movies you want to watch on a super huge TV screen. 

I gave this movie a high family movie rating depending on your standards it could be a great family adventure to watch.

MOVIE REVIEW: Poseidon (2006)

RELEASE DATE: May 12th 2006

RUN TIME: 1h 38min

MPAA RATING: PG-13

MY IMDB RATING 10

FAMILY MOVIE SCALE 8.5

DIRECTOR: Wolfgang Peterson

MAIN CAST: Richard Dreyfuss, Kurt Russell, Emmy Rossum

IMDB STORYLINE

On New Year's Eve, the luxury ocean liner Poseidon capsizes after being swamped by a rogue wave. The survivors are left to fight for their lives as they attempt to escape the sinking ship.

MY REVIEW

I love a disaster movie where things go wrong and people are forced to help other people. This is what happens in Poseidon. Hope is fading fast and someone has a crazy ideal to move on or die. You can listen to someone of authority or someone that knows how the ship is built and whats going to break. You have the perfect amount of a backstory to know what survivors are thinking when they have to make a choice. To me this was a great action movie like the ones they made in the 70's. This movie was never going to win any Oscars, but it was a fun movie to watch and I can watch it over and over again. Depending on your family standards this could be a perfect family movie. I think they could remake this movie once every 5 years with different story lines like the Airport series of the 70's

MOVIEW REVIEW: Rocky Balboa

RELEASE DATE: December 20th 2006

RUN TIME: 1h 42min

MPAA RATING: PG

MY IMBD SCORE 7

FAMILY MOVIE SCALE; 7

DIRECTOR: Sylvester Stallone

MAIN CAST: Sylvester Stallone, Antonio Tarver, Milo Ventimiglia

IMDB Summary

Thirty years after the ring of the first bell, Rocky Balboa comes out of retirement and dons his gloves for his final fight; against the reigning heavyweight champ Mason 'The Line' Dixon.

MY REVIEW:

When I first saw the trailer for this movie back in 2006, I thought to myself, this is just another Rocky movie to make a Rocky movie. And while that still maybe true, it beat my expectations. This was more like whatever happen to Rocky.  In Rocky V, Rocky lost his big home all of his cars and had to move back to the streets of his home town. But it was good to see him as a business owner.

Rocky Balboa was a character that you developed a relationship with and wanted to know he was OK. And while he did get back in the ring it was more to prove a point instead of winning a fight. A all out victory was not important in this movie but you wanted Rocky to survive. While times have changed around Rocky, he is still the same person in every movie.Nothing has changed about him.

I gave this a high Family movie rating but some younger kids might fall asleep during the slower parts and dialogue. 

MOVIE REVIEW: Harry Potter and The Order of The Phoenix

RELEASE DATE: July 11th 2007

RUN TIME: 2 Hours 18 Mins

MPAA Rating: PG-13

MY IMDB SCORE 9

FAMILY MOVIE SCALE 5.8

DIRECTOR: David Yates

MAIN CAST: Daniel Radcliffe, Emma Watson, Rupert Grint,

IMDB Story Line
With their warning about Lord Voldemort's return scoffed at, Harry and Dumbledore are targeted by the Wizard authorities as an authoritarian bureaucrat slowly seizes power at Hogwarts.

MY REVIEW
The happy go lucky days of Harry Potter and friends is over, The dark times begin and Harry must start to deal with his destiny. Dolores Umbridge takes over and makes life hell for the students at Hogwarts.

I really like /hate Dolores Umbridge. She is as evil as she is sweet. She is like eating a stalk of Rhubarb. You really want to cause her pain. She is easy to hate. You want to prove her wrong when you get the perfect chance. Harry starts to question his own destiny and power, he seems his determination starts to be challenged, it seems at times his closes friends can not help him hold it together.

We have watched Harry and his friends transition from a happy childhood to a more depressed gang with a clouded future. But even with tough challenges they hold it together. This is what makes the Harry Potter series so great, it's not so much about Witches warlocks, wizards magic and fantasy as it is about relationships and friends.

I gave this movie the highest family rating I could because the series becomes really intense in the last of the movies and books.

MOVIE REVIEW: TAU

RELEASE DATE: June 29th 2018

RUN TIME: 1 Hour 37 Mins

MPAA RATING: R

FAMILY RATING: 3.5

IMDB SCALE: 7.5

DIRECTOR: Federico D'Alessandro

MAIN CAST: Maika Monroe, Ed Skrein, Gary Oldman

IMDB Summary:

A woman is held captive in a futuristic smart house and hopes to escape by breaking into the computer programs that control the house.

MY REVIEW
This was a really cool and crafted movie. It is a Netflix Original. Even though we are talking about a AI computer, The movie speaks volumes about how education is a powerful tool in the world. It is also about being so smart that you lack common sense, this could teach you about developing relationships and survival instincts. If you fall into a deep muddy slippery hole and there is no ladder and it seems impossible to get out, you have a choice to give up and die or keep trying to get out till you die because you never know what will happen if you keep trying. It's about finding a weakness in the system. It's about developing trust and friendship and making friends with someone or something your afraid of. This is about putting fear on the run.

I can not give this movie a strong family rating, but it could be a family or group discussion topic. This movie is science fiction, but is it really? In a world of Google, Alexa, Echo and Siri, How long will it be before this type of house can be built?

MOVIE REVIEW: Solo: A Star Wars Story

RELEASE DATE: May 25th 2018

RUN TIME: 2 Hours 18 Mins

MPAA RATING: PG-13

FAMILY RATING: 6.5

IMDB SCALE: 9

DIRECTOR: Ron Howard

MAIN CAST: Alden Ehrenreich, Woody Harrelson, EmilaClarke

IMDB Summary

During an adventure into the criminal underworld, Han Solo meets his future copilot Chewbacca and encounters Lando Calrissian years before joining the Rebellion.

MY REVIEW

I am not sure why the fans was so upset with this movie. This was a great installment to the story line. This reminded me of why people fell in love with the Star Wars saga. It was brilliantly written and directed. Ron Howard did a awesome job in bringing Hans story out. Hans story is a story in itself that had little to do with the over all Star Wars plot, but yet he connects with the franchise. He is truly a loner. This movie explains why Han is the way he is. 

I gave this a strong family rating but it may not be right for your family because of intense action and scary looking monsters. I heard rumors that they messed up Lando's character, that is totally not true. This movie deserved better box office ratings then it received.

MOVIE REVIEW: Underworld Blood Wars

RELEASE DATE: January 6 2017

RUN TIME: 1 Hour 31 min

MPAA RATING: R

FAMILY MOVIE SCALE: 2

IMDB SCALE 9.5

DIRECTOR: Anna Foerster

MAIN CAST: Kate Beckinsale, Theo James, Tobias Menzies

IMDB Summary

Vampire death dealer, Selene (Kate Beckinsale) fights to end the eternal war between the Lycan clan and the Vampire faction that betrayed her.

MY REVIEW:

The best way to describe this movie is a fight to the death or survival, your choice. But this was bringing the franchise back to what made it good. Not that any of the sequels was weak, but Selene was vindicated for all her troubles and problems she had with the vampire clan that betrayed her. I really liked the direction this movie went with her. The big battle was intense and satisfying. If this is the last time we will see a Underworld sequel or Selene, then it ended well.

MOVIE REVIEW: Brain on Fire

RELEASE DATE: June 22 2018

RUN TIME:1 Hour 28 Mins

MPAA RATING: PG-13

FAMILY MOVIE SCALE 7.7

MY IMDB SCALE: 10

DIRECTOR: Gerard Barrett

MAIN CAST: Chloe Grace Moretz, Thomas Mann, Richard Armitage

IMDB Summary

YouTube Summary
A mysterious illness is devastating her body and mind, but she's determined to find answers

MY REVIEW:
This is the true story of  Susannah Cahalan, a writer for the New York Post. I usually don't watch these types of movies but I really like the movies that Chloe Grace Moretz chooses to be in. She always brings more then what your expecting and you believe what you are watching. It also makes you question the tactics of modern medical care and how far a doctor will go to find a cure. It makes you wonder how many people that have good health care are walking around with health problems because a Doctor is relying on test results and not looking at the problem closer before they give up and deliver a false diagnoses. The director did a awesome job of keeping it simple but very informative and inspiring and suspenseful. 

I did give this movie a high family movie rating but some kids may not understand. So I stronly recommend to watch with your kids 

MOVIE REVIEW: Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire

RELEASE DATE: November 18th 2005

RUN TIME: 2 Hours 37 Mins

MPAA RATING: PG-13

MY IMDB  SCORE 8

FAMILY MOVIE SCALE 5.5

DIRECTOR: Mike Newell

MAIN CAST: Daniel Radcliffe, Emma Watson, Rupert Grint,

IMDB Story Line
A young wizard finds himself competing in a hazardous tournament between rival schools of magic, but he is distracted by recurring nightmares.

MY REVIEW
While still holding on to the innocence of childhood, the series stays light but transcends to a darker a story line and it pretty much stays that way the rest of the series. Lord Voldemort's plans become more clear. It seems that no one can be trusted at times. Harry's path becomes more clouded. Signs of distrust between him and Ron begin to show and put a strain on the close friendship and bond they have together. However Hermione sticks to the facts and stands by her friends. Sometimes it seems she is the stronger one of the group.The Games are more dangerous then you can imagine and a friend pays a heavy price at the hands of Voldermort. 

I gave this a conservative low family score, however if your family has watched since the beginning and read the books, you are well prepared. But it does get intense.