Movie Review-Good, Bad and Ugly

Movie Reviews:  Due to a backlog of movies seen but not reviewed I decided to separate them out from the normal blog format.  There are a couple of good ones, but only one four star.  The rest are three star or below:

“21 Jump Street”  *, Terrible movie about two recent graduates from a police academy who are sent to a high school as under cover drug detectives.  Sounds serious but turned out totally stupid and poorly done.  Johnny Depp made a cameo that didn’t make sense either.  Rated R for crude and sexual content, pervasive language, drug material, teen drinking and some violence. 

“The Hunger Games”, ****, The Hunger Games is about a futuristic reality program played out in the ruins of once North America.  The nation of Panem forces its 12 districts to choose a boy and girl to complete,  Part twisted entertainment, part government intimidation tactic, the Hunger Games are televised events in which the 24 representatives or Tributes must stalk and kill one another until there is only one surviver.  Jennifer Lawrence does a great job as one of the 24 Tributes and Josh Hutcherson does the same as her counter part.  Of course there is some boy girl action that lead to affection and love, but to the good for the ending.  Rated PG-13 for intense violent thematic material and distrubing images, all involving teens. 

“The Lucky One”, ***,  The film opens with Marin Sgt. Logan Thibault(played by Zach Efrom) returning from his third tour of duty in Iraq.  In his last combat fight in Iraq he found a photo of a woman who he felt helped save his life.  After being discharged he was determined to find her so that he could thank her.  Once he found her the other drama’s of life begin, including romance, etc.  A good movie.  Rated PG-13 for some sexuality and violence.  

“Marvel’s The Avengers”, ***, When evil is trying to take over the world the need for super heroes is required.  So, “Iron Man”, “The Incredible Hulk”, “Thor”, and “Captain America” are assembled to fight the evil villians.  While the results is predictable the journey with these super heroes is interesting.  With Downey Jr. playing Iron Man again he seemed to dominate, but they all held their own.  Results is easy to guess but was fun to watch.  Rated PG-13 for intense sequences of sci-fi violence and action throughout, and a mild drug reference.  

“Wrath of the Titans”, ***, The story takes place a decade after Perseus, demigod son of Zeus, defeated the Kraken in “Clash of the Titans.”  Probably would have been better if I had seen the orginal, but generally don’t have much interest in these kind of movies.  (Where have all the good westerns gone??) But, it was well done, with lots of action with swords, knives, etc.  Sam Worthington, Llam Neeson and Ralph Flennes are very believable in their parts.  Rated PG-13 for intense sequences of fantasy violence and action. Not a prime timer but worth matinee prices.