This is a very fresh (and refreshing) movie. The Hundred Foot Journey tells the story of an immigrant Indian family planted in rural France. They have a cooking background, and so open an authentic Indian cuisine restaurant, which happens to be across the street (100 feet) from an upscale French restaurant, owned and run by Helen Mirren’s character. They butt heads, even while the genius young Indian chef, portrayed wonderfully by Manish Dayal, starts experimenting with adding his traditional Indian spices to French cuisine. This of course infuriates his bullheaded father, and vexes the French traditionalist as well (“Why mess with a recipe that hasn’t changed in 200 years?”).

This is a captivating film. It is about change, and acceptance, and of course love, all mixed just right. There is a touch of cheese in the end, but by that point it is the ending you wanted anyway, so as a viewer you just go along with it.

I’m not a big Woody Allen fan. There, I’ve said it. In some movie circles, admitting that can be a sin. For me, many of his films are decent when you see them the first time, but ultimately forgettable (I haven’t seen last year’s acclaimed Blue Jasmine, it is sitting on my DVR at the moment). Having said all that, Magic in the Moonlight is about what I expected.

This was my second Colin Firth movie of the day, had rented The Railway Man and watched that earlier this morning (a much better film – look it up). In Magic in the Moonlight, Firth plays a magician in the late 20’s, who has a talent for debunking fake telepaths and psychics. He is a pragmatic man, and doesn’t believe in (real) magic, an afterlife, or God for that matter. When his longtime friend comes to him with the story of a new, young American psychic duping a rich family in southern France, Firth agrees to go do his thing. Upon meeting this girl, played by the spunky and charming Emma Stone, he is unable to unmask her and starts to doubt his own lifelong beliefs.

Sometimes you have a cute little idea, but you don’t do anything with that idea. I feel like this movie was a little idea that Allen had, and he had nothing else going on so he decided to turn it into a film. It’s not a terrible movie, and Firth and Stone are both excellent actors as we know, but there just isn’t enough here to make anything special.

Been looking forward to this one for a long time, but just now had a chance to fit it in the movie-watching schedule. It was definitely worth the wait. Get on Up tells the (mostly accurate, from what I can tell) story of James Brown, from his more-than-humble beginnings through most of his life. Full of his spectacular, genre-defining music and featuring superb acting by Chadwick Boseman as Mr. Brown, this one has appeal for just about everyone.

Unfortunately I never saw James Brown perform (though later I did hear some great stories from Jeff Watkins, sax player in his band for the last 10 or so years before Brown’s death). But everyone is familiar with his music, which is featured obviously throughout this movie. Brown came from basically nothing, and made himself into a legend through talent and hard work. Boseman plays the larger-than-life entertainer, and to perfection. He has his mannerisms, speech, and moves down perfect, at times you can glance at it sideways and you think it really is the man himself in front of the camera, and he should be a strong contender for an Oscar this year.

The movie does have to cut down an entire life into about 2 1/2 hours, so things are omitted or glossed over (little to nothing is mentioned of Brown’s legal troubles over the years), but it does do a fair depiction of the person, with both his triumphs and shortcomings. This is a great film for just about everyone, and make sure to come ready to tap your foot along with the groove.

Despite the rough word of mouth and even rougher reviews, I saw the newest Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles last night. One of my favorite cartoons as a kid, I watched it constantly in the late 80’s, and enjoyed the first film (and even its 2 sequels! hey I was young..) in the early 90’s. There were elements in the newest movie that brought back a twinge or two of nostalgia, especially Michelangelo’s quips spattered throughout, but as everyone has been saying, the film doesn’t do the franchise justice.

I’m sure young kids will love this movie, but for adults it’s pretty lackluster. The plot is thin at best, and the development nearly nonexistant. Megan Fox cast as April O’Neil is laughable, and the great Shredder is little more than a trumped up henchman in a bionic suite. Splinter has no history in Japan, instead self-teaching his amazing ninja skills from a book that fell in the sewer. I don’t mind when a reboot changes elements here and there, but they are messing with my childhood here! Even the mighty Foot Clan seems like nothing more than gang of thugs recently sprung up to terrorize Manhattan.

There are high flying action scenes, but not much else to recommend. You don’t feel the bond between the turtles that you do in the original films, you don’t feel the intense global evil of the Foot Clan and its far-reaching power, you don’t feel the sense of righting wrongs and saving people from the band of 4. All I felt was the passing of 101 minutes.

Good thing I was in the mood for mindless destruction when I saw this movie, because that’s all there is to it! Into the Storm looks like a newer version of Twister, featuring gigantic tornadoes unlike anything the world has ever seen. Being made over 15 years after Twister, the computer aided graphics have been taken up a notch, but it is a very similar premise. Unfortunately the characters are so one sided, each with their own clear unchanging demeanor, and the story so flimsy, that when there is a break in the storm, you just sit back and wait impatiently for another tornado to pop up. The movie is at its best when they aren’t trying to formulate a plot, when it is just the tornados wreaking havoc, and the filmmaker knew it as this happens again and again with few breathers in the latter half of the film. There are some eye catching moments for sure, but when the clouds part and the sun comes out at the end, you are long ready for this storm to be over.

A Most Wanted Man is going to go down as Philip Seymour Hoffman’s final non-Hunger Games film, and the leadup seemed great. It is a spy thriller, based on the book by John le Carre, a great novelist who’s had several books adapted to the big screen, including the awesome Tinker Taylor Soldier Spy. This newest film is heavy on the spying, and while it has some light tension, it is severely lacking in the thrills department.

In all honesty, the espionage in the film is probably most similar to how real spying in today’s world takes place. As moviegoers we are used to the high octane exploits of 007 and Jason Bourne, but in real life I’m sure it more resembles a quiet cat-and-mouse match of wits on the world’s chessboard. This movie has all of that, with the head of Germany’s secret CIA-like group, played by Hoffman, twisting people in subtle ways to get what he wants. There are no big gun fights, no explosions, and the film is overall very quiet and dialogue driven. When his government (and others, including the USA) are putting pressure on his group to nab some terrorist (any terrorist, just to put something in the papers), Hoffman keeps urging caution and patience while he works his way up the food chain to try to get someone truly important to the cell’s organization. The ending is surprising, but too little too late for me. Some of the acting was good, but it was full of American actors giving hard-to-believe fake German accents, which personally always gives me a dose of disbelief from the get-go. Hoffman gave some great performances in great movies over the years, unfortunately this is a great performance in a sub-par film.

Any other movie would hire a 10 year old, dress him young to play 8, dress him old to play 12, and then have a slightly similar looking 16 year old actor dressed young to play his next stage of life, and so on. Boyhood however follows Mason Jr from the age of 6 or 7 up until he goes off to college, and was filmed sporadically over 12 years. It has the same actors throughout the 12 year period. If nothing else, you can appreciate the artistry and dedication to pull this off.

I left the theater not thinking too much of it. It isn’t a sweeping drama, it isn’t an action story, and there is no story arc to tie it all together. It really is just the story of Mason’s life, but as I’ve reflected on the film since, I’m growing to like it more and more. The writer/director Richard Linklater creates a life-like movie showcasing how the little things in everyday life during our formative years make us who we are. And since it is Mason’s story, the movie changes as he grows.

Linklater captures the world of the growing child perfectly. Young kids don’t care about grown up things, so early in the movie, Mason cares more about getting the newest Harry Potter book (a whole scene in the movie) than the war in Iraq (mentioned by an adult in passing and never explored). When young, his world revolves around his sister, so she is a principal, but as they grow older you see her less and less. As in the real world, people enter and leave his life, sometimes slowly, sometimes violently. Some he keeps in touch with, others, while maybe important to him at that point in his life, leave and we never hear from them again.

The movie also takes care to show the important points in Mason’s life, which isn’t always the things we might think. When his Mom remarries for the first time, we see her come home from the honeymoon and hand out presents, but when that marriage fails and she marries again, it isn’t even mentioned in the film. One scene she is meeting a guy she likes, and the next is a year later and they are in a new house and married. And the film does this throughout, it jumps ahead in spurts here and there, without giving the viewer a map to follow along. The movie doesn’t spoon feed us all the details happening in the background, expecting us to keep up as events are going on. Sometimes the only way to know the timeline has jumped forward is Mason’s changing hairstyle.

There is no “story”, but even so, the more I think about this movie, the more I like it. It is the simple life of an average kid. He faces the same hardships we all did growing up, as such the movie feels real and substantial. Though I wasn’t impressed 5 minutes after it ended, after reflection it is probably one of the most endearing films I’ve seen in awhile.

Marvel is on a roll with the avengers series of films. While I thought Iron Man 3 was good (but not great), I thoroughly enjoyed Thor 2 and Captain America 2. Guardians continues the trend, in fact my son says it is his favorite yet. I might not go that far, but it is a wild, entertaining movie.

I think even Marvel didn’t know what to make of Guardians from the beginning. It is the first non-sequel film in the series since the first Captain America back in 2011, and as such didn’t have any crossover or shared characters with the previous highly successful films. It also took place off our world, and really the only thing shared is a human as the main character. If not for the Marvel comics background, it could just be a good sci-fi film, full of spaceships and planet-hopping aliens. But the same humor and high intensity action that Marvel’s films are known for permeates throughout this movie.

The Guardians are unwillingly brought together through haphazard circumstances. At first they butt heads, but they team up to stop a villain from destroying a civilization. It’s not a new story, and there really isn’t anything new about how it is told, but they do it so well that it is still a lot of fun to watch. The movie killed it in opening weekend and I’m sure a sequel will be in development before long. If you aren’t a paid movie critic (seriously, some of these snobs need every film to have some deeper meaning to be “good”) then you will almost certainly enjoy this movie, and seeing all those space explosions on the big screen is worth it.

Had very high hopes for this one. I don’t remember Garden State much, having seen it once years ago when it came out, but I do remember liking it very much. Wish I Was Here is Zach Braff’s second film, and while it does finally reach moving, heartfelt moments, it takes a long time to get there, and I think it wants to be grander than it is.

Zach Braff plays a mid-to-late 30’s dad, struggling to pursue his dream of acting, with a wife that is providing for their 2 kids. He starts the movie as sort of an ass, and looks like little in his life is bringing him any joy. When his father (played by the always amazing Mandy Patinkin) comes down with terminal cancer, Braff starts to realize what is important in life and changes his attitude. Unfortunately, it happens so quickly in the movie that you don’t realize the difference until it is almost over.

As I said, the movie does take a very long time to develop. I think Braff did this to attempt to flesh out the characters, but it didn’t work for me. Some people didn’t like that he raised funds for this film via Kickstarter, which he states was driven for the need to make “his movie” without input from the execs in Hollywood. That part doesn’t bother me so much, but I do think that if it was “his movie” he could have been a little more daring. But in the end, if he made this one for himself, then he should be satisfied with the result. Not a bad film, but not one you’ll take anything from.

This movie rocked. It’s not the kind of movie that will get great reviews from critics, I think its around 50% or so on metascore as I write this, but its ratings are much higher among average joe moviegoers. I thoroughly enjoyed it.

The movie stars Dwayne Johnson as the title character. It shows the “true” story of Hercules, a normal man with a team of mercenary friends behind him that have built his legend through heroic exploits, smarts, and luck. By the end of the film, he of course meets a challenge where he has to be super-human to overcome, and his legend is cemented. The action scenes are intense and powerful, and there is enough light-hearted banter here and there to keep the movie from feeling glum. And the climax is thrilling, many in the theater (myself included) cheered out when it came.

The plot doesn’t offer any surprises, but it is still a great “guy” movie. The Rock is an entertaining actor and he brings it in this film.