Month: December 2017

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Jumanji Takes Two

Sony’s Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle gave little competition for the latest Star Wars which finished the four day weekend with over 99- million, compared to Jumanji which took in 72 million at the box office.

The latest Jumanji reboot follows the same story as the original starring the late Robin Williams, but takes a few extra liberties to reach a much larger tech savvy generation.  In this version, Jumanji becomes a video game as the kid that finds the game on the beach makes it clear that no one plays board games any more.  Now the video game has the ability to suck the ones playing into the TV with only three lives before game over.

Starring Dwayne Johnson, Kevin Hart, Karen Gillan andJack Black, as four teenagers who get stuck in detention together and inadvertently stumble upon the game, now they must work together to get everyone out in once piece.   There’s one catch though as they find Alex (Nick Jonas), the kid that originally started playing the game and wound up getting stuck in the game, like before, for nearly 20 years.

Overall, it’s an adventure that will have audiences laughing and rooting for the kids to succeed, with surprises around every corner, just to get to the end of the game and call of Jumanji.

At roughly 2 hour run time, Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle came out in theaters Dec 20, and is currently playing in a theater near you.

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“Showman” Slow To Open

Despite the low numbers at the box office, Warner Brothers The Greatest Showman is expected to deliver big this holiday season leading up to the awards ceremonies in the new year.

The musical adventure of the legendary P.T Barnum who revolutionized how audience have a good time by bringing light to the truly unique has been nominated thus far for three Golden Globes including Best Original Song, Best Motion Picture, comedy or musical as well as Best Performance for a lead actor forHugh Jackman.

The Showman follows the life of PT Barnum from a poor tailor’s son with dreams of creating something unique.  His childhood sweetheart, Charity (Michelle Williams) is with him from the first moment he makes her laugh, not to the approval of her high-class parents who only want the best for their daughter.  Upon returning from finishing school, Barnum and Charity run off to marry and make a life of their own.

Through the creative lyrics of the lyricist that worked on the Oscar award-winning La La Land, the music will have you toe tapping along as one witnesses the creative genius of the man who still to this day receives a lot of flak for his show choices, but ultimately it shows the compassion of Barnum in order to highlight the specialities of those individuals who are different from the rest.

Also starring Zac Efron as his unwilling apprentice, Philip Carlyle, who learns that happiness can be found in the absurd,  the Greatest Showman came out in theaters for the Christmas weekend on December 20, 2018 and is currently playing in a theater near you.

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“The Last Jedi” Scores Powerfully

The Latest franchise sequel of Stars Wars VIII: The Last Jedi is showing no competition at the box office as it took number one with more than 220 million domestically, though it only came in second for the largest opening after the previous Star Wars VII, which brought in 247 million.  Theater goers stood in line for days awaiting the blockbuster and most were not disappointed.

The Latest film stars, Daisy Ridley as Rey, Adam Driver as Kilo Ren, John Boyega as Finn and Oscar Isaac as Poe Dameron as the new faces of the Star Wars trilogy who must attempt to bring balance in the force.  Of course no Star Wars would be complete without a little history as the film begins with Rey finding Luke Skywalker (Mark Hamill) and persuading him to train her on the ways of the force.  Through this, we find out what went wrong the first time when Skywalker took his nephew, Ben Solo into the Jedi temple and attempted to train him.  Because of his mistake that lead to the creation of Kilo Ren, Skywalker fears the strength of Rey and hesitates training.  Meanwhile, his sister Leia (Carrie Fisher) is struggling to recover after the ship is hit by the resistance as they discovered how to find them at light speed.

At just a little under 3 hour run time, Star Wars VIII: The Last Jedi is packed with all the same flare that Star Wars fans remember and love with a few twists and turns that one would not see coming.  It’ll have one sitting on the edge of their seats in the theater with suspense as new love sparks out of the most unlikely of circumstances as Rey ultimately takes up the Jedi role once and for all in order to defeat the Supreme leader Snoke (Andy Sarkis) while trying to save Ben Solo from Kilo Ren.  The question is will it be too late?

Star Wars VIII:  The Last Jedi came out December 15th and is currently playing in a theater near you.

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“Ferdinand” is back

The beloved children’s tale from the creativity of Munro Leaf is coming to life on the big screen.  Coinciding with it’s 75th anniversary, Ferdinand makes its debut in theaters December 15th and had a fair number of audience,  bringing in over 3.5 million at the box office for Friday, considering that its release was the same weekend as the much-anticipated Stars VIII.

Sony’s Ferdinand stars John Cena as the flower loving bull and follows the story fairly closely with just a few minor changes.  One of those changes is the role reversal of his father presence in the movie, versus being raised by his mom.  There are still some iconic scenes that those familiar with the book would instantly recognize including the memorable tree on top of the hill where Ferdinand sits to smell the flowers.

Overall, Ferdinand welcomes new characters, including a wise cracking goat voiced by Kate McKinnon, while bringing life to his fellow bulls that he grew up with in this all new adventure to the one thing that every bull accept Ferdinand dreams of going to, the bull ring.

With a run time of 1 hour and 46 minutes, it’s a movie for all ages as it strives to go up against all odds similar to what Ferdinand does in the book.  It’s currently playing in a theater near you.

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“Coco” Tops Box Office For 3rd Week

The latest original Disney Pixar film is topping the box office for the third week as people are still flocking to the theaters to see to the movie in despite all the controversy around the Frozen short that caused Disney to pull it from theaters.  It has currently brought in over 135 million domestically since opening Thanksgiving weekend.

Coco starsAnthony Gonzalez as Miguel, a little boy living in Mexico with his family who dreams of being a musician after his all time favorite idol,  Ernesto De La Cruz (Benjamin Bratt).  Miguel has one problem though, his family hates music due in large part to his Great Great Grandfather, Hector (Gael García Bernal) leaving his family to pursue his music.  It’s so extreme that his family got rid of every photo of him to forget he even existed, but one person still remembers her Papa, Mama Coco, though dementia makes her forget.

On the day of the dead, the most solemn event in Mexico history when family is supposed to be able to come visit from the other world, Miguel decides to finally pursue his dream and perform in the talent show in the center of the plaza, but his family destroys his guitar and so he runs away finds himself at the tomb of his idol.  He breaks in and steals his guitar, but that’s when the fun starts because he is now in the land of the dead.

What happens now?  Now Miguel must find his way back before sunrise by getting his family’s blessing, but will he be able to and help put his family back together once he discovers a looming truth about his long lost Great Great Grandfather.

At one hour forty nine minutes, Coco is a story about the meaning of remembering ones family for all times.  It shows how stories keep them alive and once the last person remembers, it is hard to remain after.  The director did an exceptional job researching and displaying a story that anyone even that don’t follow the Day of the Dead will be engulfed in the story and find it hard not to tear up in the end.

Coco is still playing in theaters near you.

 

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97 Years on Christmas Tree Lane

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“Star” Review

The feel good movie of the season is Sony’s The Star, though it’s not a front-runner at the box office it is still bring a few faithful viewers to the theaters in time for the holiday season and has thus far brought in just over 28 million domestically at the box office.

Sony’s The Star is an animated tale about the first Christmas through the eyes of the animals that witnessed the miraculous occasion.  The feature stars,Steven Yeun as Bo, the little donkey with big dreams of carrying a king one day.  He escapes the confounds of a mill and finds Mary (Gina Rodriguez) who takes him in expectantly, though her husband Joseph (Zachary Levi) only sees him as trouble.  Throughout the tale, the audience sees glimpses of the Biblical account with funny humor from the animals as they try to understand what is happening.

All in all, it’s a tale that will have kids watching it over and over as the animals are always a hit for the young ones, while the parents can also be entertained with beautiful music and a touching storyline from Nazareth all the way to Bethlehem.

Sony’s The Star came out in theaters November 17 2017 and is the perfect movie for the holiday season as it is still playing in a theater near you.

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Christmas at Stanton

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“Lady Bird” REVIEW

Saoirse Ronan is back in yet another gut wrenching Dramedy that is receiving high reviews and has already been named best movie at the 2017 New York Film Critics Circle this year.

Greta Gerwig‘s Lady Bird is a coming of age movie about a mother and daughter relationship and what happens when 17-year-old, Christine “Lady Bird” McPherson gets ready to go to college.   Actress Laurie Metcalf plays her judgmental mother whose tough love drives the basis for Lady Bird wanting to go to an East Coast school away from her hometown of Sacramento.

All in all, the dramedy includes some very real moments of what nearly every mother and daughter go through at some point and time and shows that though they may not always get along, the love between them is ultimately stronger than any other love.

Lady Bird came out in theaters November 1 and has since its release already brought in over 12.5 million  domestically at the box office.  It’s a movie for anyone who is a daughter or has a daughter as it shows what each has to go through when getting ready to leave home for the first time.

Lady Bird is still playing in a theater near you.