Super, Sucks, or Surprise . . . August 8, 2014

       So I've decided to try a blog article like this just to guestimate how I will like a movie before it comes out - in addition to keeping up with upcoming movies.  Again, this is just my thoughts . . . are they Super awesome? do they Suck? or are they Surprising?

  Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles

Okay, I don't know about you, but I've always been a TMNT fan.  Some of my fondest memories are playing it on my cousins' Nintendo (yes, as in the original complete with "Duck Hunt").  While previous TMNT movies have been cheesy at best, I had high expectations for this movie, but the trailer has been very disappointing.  The graphics for the fearsome four seem a bit sub-par and Shredder looks a weird.  April seems to have been a good cast, though with Megan Fox.

Potential? . . . Surprise


  The Hundred Foot Journey

Helen Mirren is almost always awesome and while I'm usually not interested in cooking movies, this one looks interesting.  The French and Indian cultural conflicts, the family dynamics, and the cinematography looks like this one might be a winner.

Potential? . . . Super!

  Into the Storm

I'll be honest, I lived through the Tuscaloosa tornado in 2011.  I know what it's like to hear them coming, to fear them, and to live through the aftermath of military checkpoints, camping out in the halls of a college, moving from house to house with friends just to get away, and the declaration of martial law on a town in addition to avoiding looters.  I WILL NOT watch this film.  I couldn't finish the trailer.  HOWEVER, I like Richard Armitage, and if you can watch a disaster movie, then you check this out.

Potential?  Surprise . . . but you'll have to find out for yourself.

  Step Up: All In

Really?  The trailer for this one looks like the director combined Rock of Ages, Moulin Rouge, and the Dance, Dance Revolution WII game, but it ended up looking more like a Boris Karloff movie.  The flash mob point was sort of good from the last film, but this is just sinking to a new low.

Potential?  Sucks

 What if

Daniel Radcliffe is trying to break out of the Harry Potter typecast and has struggled doing it.  I guess it's the curse that comes with being attached to such a huge franchise.  That said, I'm not sure how this movie will work out.  There appear to be some funny moments, I just hope that all of them weren't in the trailer.

Potential?  Surprise

  Deep Sea Challenge 3D

Most of you know I NOT a big fan of going to see documentaries in theaters - unless the proceeds are for a good cause.  Just not my thing.  HOWEVER, the footage for this looks worthwhile and I think it might be worth the price of admission.

Potential?  Super

Guardians of the Galaxy is Out of this World!

When I saw that the critics on Rotten Tomatoes had actually put Guardians of the Galaxy at 92%, I was shocked - and slightly disturbed.  Usually when the critics love something, I hate it.  Then I looked at the fan ratings: 96%. That couldn't be all bad.  I tried to go in with an open mind.

I wasn't disappointed.  With the exception of a rather long credits introduction, the movie is fast-paced, hysterical, and has a decent plot.  Whoever decided to cast Bradley Cooper as the voice for Rocket was brilliant!  His character seems to have stepped from the comics with his sardonic opinions and hysterical comments and actions throughout.  Zoe Saldana was a wonderful Gamorah and Groot was fantastic.  I was unsure about Peter Quill, to be honest, especially as compared to the comics, but he grew on me and I have to admit that the casting was great.  Drax, too worked out well with Bautista as the literalist destroyer.

Spoiler Alert below here:

The incorporation of Thanos to tie in the Avengers was an interesting concept.  What I was slightly disappointed in was that they used Ronan the Accuser as the main villain without Captain Marvel.  I would have loved to have seen him developed more since he is a huge threat to Earth in the Marvel Universe during the Skrull invasion.  However, Marvel seems to be good at "resurrecting" characters, so perhaps not all is lost.

It was rather surprising, but the only wooden performance seemed to come from Glenn Close.  I appreciated what she was trying to do, but despite being a "good" character, it was hard not to see Cruella DeVille in her acting each time.  It was good to see the evil titan Thanos, but the graphics for his character didn't seem to match up as well.

Honestly, these were the only major faults I could find.  The use of the "Walkman" cassette player in the beginning allowed the use of so many classic rock and oldies songs to make more sense and enhance the whole movie.

This one is a must-see!  In fact, I would like to try it in IMAX 3D!