Review-The Dark Knight Rises

The Dark Knight Rises is the third film of the Batman saga directed by Christopher Nolan. The results of what happened in The Dark Knight has Batman as a fugitive of the law. Bruce Wayne(Christian Bale) has turned into a recluse during that time. Even the help of Alfred(Michael Caine), he is having a hard time of getting on with life. When a mercenary named Bane(Tom Hardy) starts to wreak havoc in Gotham, Bruce must reemerge as Batman to put a stop to his plans. Along the way, his path cross with Selina Kyle/Catwoman(Anne Hathaway), a thief who has motives of her own. The only people on the police force that is on Batman's side is  Jim Gordon(Gary Oldman) and Blake(Joseph Gordon-Levitt).  One of the things that made The Dark Knight great is it had an underline theme of the times (how far do you go to catch a criminal). The Dark Knight Rises has a similar theme(the haves and the have nots and the bullying from those in control) but doesn't work quite as well. There are a few things that I didn't like(Bane is hard to understand at times, a scene later in the movie reminded me of a Calvin Klein commercial) but it doesn't hurt the feel of the film.  Overall, I love this movie! It is an intense action movie that most everyone can and should see(Dark Knight got too intense for some people).

Rating:9.0 out of 10

Review-Savages

Savages is the newest film from director Oliver Stone(Platoon, Wall Street). It centers around best friends Chon(Taylor Kitsch), a war vet and peace loving Ben(Aaron Johnson), who run a lucrative pot business. The glue that holds both together is a woman by the name of O(Blake Lively). When the Mexican drug cartel run by Elana(Salma Hayek) kidnaps O, the best friends must go to extreme measures to get her back. Complicating this process is DEA agent Dennis(John Travolta),whose motions are unknown, and the ruthless killer Lado(Benicio Del Toro), who is Elena's right hand man. Overall, I think the movie is ok. While I wasn't upset that I watched it, this movie is far from perfect. The narration,done by O in the film, will wear you down and make you want to pull your hair out. The only characters is the movie that have any depth to them is Elena and Ben. There is technically one action scene in the whole movie. By the time you get to the end, it leaves an unsatisfying taste in your mouth. This movie is like a special stew that you can wait to make. You put all the ingredients in and ,with the final results, you felt it would have been really good if you left this out and put this in. Wait for it to come on DVD and Blu ray before you watch this.

Rating: 6.8 out of 10

Review-The Amazing Spider-Man

The Spider-Man series of movies started in 2002 and just had its last entry in 2007. So, who's ready for a reboot? Apparently, Columbia Pictures was by having a new director, a new cast and retelling the origin story. The results of that is the new film The Amazing Spider-Man, a "better than I expected" movie. The movie centers around Peter Parker(played by Andrew Garfield) who is an awkward science geek that's big into photograph. He also has big crush on a girl in his high school named Gwen Stacy(played by Emma Stone). While visiting the OsCorp research facility, he gets bitten by a radioactive spider and gains super abilities. While reviewing this movie, it's hard not to compare it with Spider-Man(2002).
Here's the things I thought the movie got right:

The relationship between Parker and Stacy(and the fact that she was his film love in the comic book)

 Spider-Man/Peter Parker-Spider-Man has more of the funny smart ass feel that he has in the comic.The movement of Spider-Man was more acrobatic and that played well in the movie. Peter was mostly on point(except for the tempter tantrums)

The actions scenes in general.

The things not so right:
Certain aspect of the story.(Peter Parker's parents aspect of the story was introduced as big plot point but never goes anywhere with it.)

Other relationships in the movie(namely between Parker and Uncle Ben(Martin Sheen) and Parker and Dr. Conners (Rhys Ifans).

First person shooter cam (no pun intended)

The slow pace of the movie until he gets bitten.

The graphics of The Lizard and anything to do with missing limbs.

So, while the movie was good, it wasn't perfect and not as good as the 2002 movie. The comparison of the two would be like this movie was like The Hulk(scientific and story wise) and the 2002 film was like Incredible Hulk(dealt with things evenly and the action was more spread out and came quicker).

Rating: 8.0 out of 10.

Review-Seeking a Friend for the End of the World

Does everybody remember the movie Armageddon? If you do, the next few sentences won't spoil anything for you. Imagine if there was a What If  premise off of that movie's ending. That exist in the movie Seeking a Friend for the End of the World, an independent comedy starring Steve Carell and Keira Knightley. Carell plays Dodge, a man whose personal life unravels after he finds out the world is going to end. As the world is on the final countdown, Dodge cross paths with Penny(Knightley), a neighbor that he has never met before. Due to certain events that connect them, they embark on a road trip to work on their "bucket list". The movie does a good job of examining the things we would do if we collectively found out we don't have much time to live. It also feels an apocalyptic version of Eternal Sunshine of a Spotless Mind due to the relationship between Dodge and Penny. There are questions presented that we never get an answer to by the end and the movie slows down in the second half. Overall, I did like the movie. If you're not up for a movie examining people's reaction to extreme crisis, you may want to wait a moment for it. 
Review: 7.3 out of 10

Review-That's My Boy

That's My Boy is the newest comedy film from Adam Sandler. The premise of the movie will turned some off. It centered on a teacher's inappropriate relationship with one of her students,Donny. This action lands them a love child.  Many years after his son's eighteen birthday, Donny(Adam Sandler) seeks out his son Todd(Andy Samberg) for help. This comes in the middle of Todd's wedding weekend. Overall, I like the movie. It's more of an Andy Sandler movie than an Andy Samberg film. It starts out slow and has a lot of hidden jokes that's funny if you get it. If you don't, it's more minutes of non laughter moments. It's also laced heavily in 70's and 80's references, which may not fly with the younger crowd there watching it for Samberg. Women may not like this movie that much but a guy that grew up in the 80's will love it more.
Rating:7.5

Review-Men in Black 3

Men in Black 3 is the latest installment of the movie franchise about aliens on Earth starring Will Smith and Tommy Lee Jones.  Agent J(Smith) is still trying to get his partner, Agent K(Jones), to loosen up and share stuff with him. K has a secrets that he keeps lock up tight. When a mysterious alien from K's past named Boris the Animal(Jemaine Clement,looking like Randy "Macho Man" Savage) resurfaces, K goes missing. J has to jump back in time to save his partner and the world. The movie starts off a little slow but picks up after about ten minutes. Men in Black 3 is a very good film that delivers the action and laughs like the first movie had. All the pieces work in the film to make this something you could watch over and over again. Josh Brolin does a fantastic job as the young K, which is essential to make the film work. Michael Stuhlbarg gives a good performance as Griffin, an alien that can see multiple timelines in the future and is key to the plan to save the world. The movie also features Emma Thompson as Agent O, an agent with a past connection with K.

My grade: 8.5 out of ten.   

Review-The Avengers

Welcome to the summer movie season! Here to usher it in is The Avengers, a movie crossover of epic proportions. This is takes the characters of Marvel's most recently successful movies (Iron Man, Hulk, Thor, Captain America, Black Widow, Hawkeye) and put them together as a superhero team.  They have been assembled (showing my geek there) together to stop Loki (Tom Hiddleston) from taking over the Earth. He has stolen a very powerful weapon from the government agency called S.H.I.E.L.D and its director, Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson). Loki plans to have his kingdom down on Earth, no matter what it takes. Each superhero involved has their strengths and weaknesses to deal with along the way too. I would say that The Avengers is the best superhero team movie that I've seen throughout the years. It gives you laughter, excitement and everything that you want in an action film. It will leave on the edge of your seats and wanting more at the end. If you like comics, the movies and/or really good action films, you should definitely check this out. Just like the other films, you need to stay after the credits. These are two particular things this time that come up.