Central Intelligence rated PG-13 for brief strong language, brief nudity, crude suggestive humor, and action violence

I wasn't sure about this film when I first saw the preview.   I'm glad that I took a chance on this one.

In high school Calvin Joyner (played by Kevin Hart) was the big man on campus.  Voted most likely to succeed and considered the most popular senior of his class he seemed like he had it all and that life would only get better after high school.

Fast forward to present day and the audience finds that Calvin is a successful accountant who married his high school sweetheart Maggie (played by Danielle Nicolet).  On the eve of their high school reunion, Calvin finds that his vague sense of dissatisfaction in life is much worse than he thought.  He loves his wife but his marriage is ok rather than great.  His job is all right rather than excellent.  He fears that he peaked in high school and doesn't want to go to the reunion.

After getting and approving a friend request from a mysterious guy named Bob Stone (played by Dwayne Johnson), Calvin is surprised  that Bob is in fact the lonely obese class misfit originally named Robbie Weirdicht.

Calvin remembered that poor Robbie had been bullied throughout high school and had had a particularly nasty prank played on him where he was pulled naked from the shower and literally tossed out in front of the entire school during a pep rally.  When the prank had happened Calvin had been the only person to not laugh and actually offer assistance to Robbie.

Calvin is even more surprised by the change in Bob when he meets up with him the night before the class reunion.  At first Bob and Calvin seem to be hitting it off despite some slight weirdness from Bob.  Bob asks Calvin's help in deciphering some information related to a bank account and accompanies Calvin to Calvin's house that night.  After Calvin gets a weird message on his computer and Bob accidentally destroys Calvin's laptop, Bob ends up staying over.

The next morning, a mysterious lady who calls herself Agent Pamela Harris (played by Amy Ryan).  She says that she's with the CIA and that Bob Stone is wanted for stealing satellite codes.  Strangely Bob has disappeared from Calvin's living room with no trace that he was ever there. Calvin is cautioned to alert Agent Harris if he comes across Bob again.

At work Bob approaches Calvin and asks for his help.  Bob tells Calvin that he was framed for his partner's murder as well as the theft of the codes by a criminal code named The Black Badger.  The information that Bob had asked Calvin to decipher was information that would lead to The Black Badger and enable Bob to bring him to justice.  Calvin reluctantly tries to help Bob after he becomes convinced that Bob might be innocent.

Comedic hijinks ensue as Bob and Calvin try to find out who is The Black Badger and stop him from stealing the codes and hopefully make it to the high school reunion.  Along the way they cross paths with one of Bob's main tormentors from high school named Trevor (played by Jason Bateman).

I loved that Dwayne Johnson played such an awkwardly nerdy guy.  I loved the comedic chemistry between Dwayne Johnson and Kevin Hart.  While both can be unintentionally "strong" in their respective films, they both managed to seamlessly complement each other.  Also I loved that Melissa McCarthy played Darla and I loved Darla's special connection to Bob.

The story was good.  The acting was good.  Finally a comedy that didn't rely on being disgusting and actually succeeded at being funny without being too crude.  I also love the gag reels.  Dwayne Johnson messing with Melissa McCarthy was particularly hilarious to me because he seemed to keep catching her off guard even though he was telling her what he was going to do or she would specifically ask him to do his thing.

Star Trek Beyond rated PG-13 for sci-fi action and violence

I confess that I wasn't sold on this film mostly because I couldn't tell what it was about based off of the trailers that I saw.  A buddy put this film on and I was pleasantly surprised.

At the beginning of this film, we hear Captain Kirk (played by Chris Pine) entering his ship's log.  After so much traveling and having so many experiences over the course of their mission, a sense of mental exhaustion has begun to take hold of Kirk.  Some of his crew also seems to be experiencing it.  Some of the crew are dealing with the constant traveling by having fun while others struggle

After their latest mission, a few of the crew including Kirk seem to be considering different courses for their careers and lives away from the Enterprise.  During a stop at Starbase Yorktown, an alien lands and claims that her crew's ship has crashed on a planet just beyond the nebula near Yorktown.  Kirk is given a "final" mission to rescue the crew on the planet and bring them to Yorktown.  The alien captain accompanies them to lead them to the crash area.

On the way, the Enterprise is attacked and neutralized by an unknown enemy.  The ship breaks into pieces and the crew is scattered along with the respected pieces of the ship.  They have no way of contacting each other after landing.  Kirk ends up with Chekov (played by Anton Yelchin).  Spock (played by Zachary Quinto) ends up with Bones (played by Karl Urban).  Uhura (played by Zoe Saldana) and Sulu (played by John Cho) are grouped with the remaining survivors of the crew.  Scotty (played by Simon Pegg) ends up alone but is soon after rescued by a young alien named Jaylah (played by Sofia Boutella).

It turns out that they were attacked by a mysterious alien named Thrall (played by Idris Elba) who wants an artifact that they found on a previous mission.  The artifact can be used to make a terrible weapon and if Thrall gets it there is nothing that can be done to stop the effects of the weapon.  Working together with Jaylah, the crew must find a way to get off of the planet and try to stop Thrall.

This film was better than expected and definitely worth watching.  I feel that it was well written.  I can appreciate why the trailers were a little vague about the story.  The new character Jaylah was an excellent addition to the cast of characters that we've been met over the course of these films.

Idris Elba was great as the complex Thrall who is more than he seems.  While you might not agree with Thrall's actions, you can understand where he's coming from and why he's doing what he is doing.

I particularly liked that the characters were also facing major turning points in their respective lives.

I also found the ending to be a little too eerily fitting especially considering the tragic loss of Anton Yelchin.

The Phantom of the Opera (1925)

My parents put this movie on for me and my sisters after observing that we liked The Phantom of the Opera mini-series.  I was a little older when I watched this film but I was too young to fully appreciate silent pictures much less the great Lon Chaney.

This film most closely follows the original novel of the same title.  So, if you find yourself curious about the original novel and, for some strange reason find that you don't want to read it, feel free to watch this movie.  While some of the finer details are left out, the heart of the story is well presented in this picture.

In this movie, we meet Christine Daae (played by Mary Philbin) a beautiful young up-and-coming opera singer who finally gets her big break after the resident Diva Carlotta (played by Mary Fabian and Virginia Pearson as of the 1929  re-edited version) claims sickness after not having her demands met.  When Christine surprises everyone by being a sweeping success, Carlotta and others at the opera house do their best to remind everyone that Carlotta is the "real" star of the opera house.

At the same time Christine reconnects with a childhood sweetheart now Vicomte Raoul de Chagny (played by Norman Kerry).  Unfortunately everyone including Christine is in both direct and indirect collision courses with the fearsome Phantom of the Opera (played by Lon Chaney).

In the course of events that follow Christine will be faced with a choice.  Does she follow her heart and be with her beloved Raoul?  If she goes with Raoul she would be turning her back on her teacher and mentor who helped her achieve her success.  Does she turn her back on her heart and stay locked away in the dark with the murderous Phantom?

This film is considered a classic for many excellent reasons.  The filming was great.  The acting was great.  The story was well executed.  Everyone has seen the famous unmasking scene at some time or another and I expect that the first time that anyone sees it, it is a little startling possibly more so if you don't know what's going on in the scene.

Groundhog Day rated PG for thematic elements

What with it being Groundhog Day it seemed appropriate to do a movie blog on the film of the same name.

Bill Murray plays a Pittsburgh weatherman named Phil.  He is sent to Punxsutawney to film a Groundhog Day segment.  He is accompanied by his optimistic kind-of-a-loser cameraman named Larry (played by Chris Elliott)  and a beautiful new producer named Rita (played by Andie MacDowell).

Phil is an unpleasant guy who is tired of what he considers the "mundane" aspects of his life including covering Groundhog Day.  He makes no bones about complaining a lot to Rita and Larry about how he feels.  While he complains he further annoys Rita by hitting on her at the same time.

On the way back to Pittsburgh the trio get stopped by an unexpected blizzard and are forced back to Punxsutawney.  So the three settle down for the night in their respective hotel/b and b rooms with the expectation of heading back to Pittsburgh on the following day.

When morning dawns, it is February second and Phil is surprised by the weird sense of deja vu that he gets as he gets ready for the day.  Everything seems to be happening exactly the same way as it did yesterday.  Phil naturally dismisses it as a dream and tries to think nothing of it.  When he wakes up the next day, it is still Feb second.

Phil fairly quickly realizes that for some reason he is trapped in Feb second in Punxsutawney.  At first Phil gives in to a "selfish phase" in which he tries to (and usually succeeds at) doing whatever he wants whether it involves hooking up with different girls, robbing a bank truck, getting arrested for drunk driving, etc.  Included in this "selfish phase" is Phil's efforts at winning Rita's heart by tricking her into thinking that he is the man of her dreams.

After Phil's efforts to win Rita fail, he slides into a depression/destructive phase in which he desperately tries to kill himself in various ways.  He succeeds but still manages to wake up on February Second every morning.

Finally Phil gives in to resignation/acceptance.  For some unknown reason he is trapped and there seems to be nothing that he can do to break free of the cycle.  Or is there?

I vaguely remember being aware of this movie as a kid but I don't recall watching it all the way through until I was an adult.  I sort of would catch bits and pieces over the years but I was always catching the middle of the movie to where I didn't understand what was going on exactly.  On paper the plot is simple, "a guy relives Groundhog Day over and over" but after watching the film there's quite a bit more going on as "a guy relives Groundhog Day over and over".  The story is very good.  The acting is great.  I love the use of music in this picture.

I leave with some food for thought.  Me and my friends have pondered just how many Groundhog Days Phil experiences through the course of the movie.  Only recently have I become aware that Phil actually mentions spending "four to six hours a day for six months" to perfect throwing playing cards into a hat.  Now he could be just talking and not meaning that he literally spent six months on February Second but I think that he was saying that he spent six months honing that "skill" if you will.  I also think that he must have spent years on Groundhog Day if you consider that he first learns about the people and their habits then proceeds to learn the piano, learns to fluently speak Italian and probably French, learns poetry well enough to recite it on cue, and learns not only how to ice sculpt but perfect it as well.

The Phantom of the Opera (1989) rated R for graphic violence/gore, brief nudity, some language, and smoking

Indulge me on a brief trip down memory lane to recount the story of how I came across this film.  I'm about 7 years old.  I have just watched and "fallen in love" with The Phantom of the Opera mini-series starring Charles Dance.  Around the same time but after watching the mini-series, my grandparents had exposed me and my sisters to the music of Sir Andrew Lloyd Webber's beautiful musical "The Phantom of the Opera".    Lucky for me and my sisters, my parents noticed our interest in most things related to "The Phantom of the Opera" and encouraged it. Within the same year of all of that happening, we took a trip to the local video rental store (not Blockbuster) and saw a film listed as The Phantom of the Opera.  After excitedly begging our parents to rent it, our parents quickly give in probably because they were being supportive of our love of "The Phantom".    Unfortunately they weren't familiar with who Robert Englund was and what specific role that  he was famous for.  Boy were we shocked and horrified shortly after starting to watch this movie.  For some unknown reason, our parents let us watch this movie all the way through despite the material and subject.

This picture is a slightly different take on the classic "Phantom of the Opera" story.  It starts in "modern day" New York City.  Christine Day (played by Jill Schoelen) is eagerly preparing for an audition for the "next big thing" in theatre.  After finding a haunting, beautiful piece of music written by a man named Erik Destler back in the mid to late 1800s.  During the audition, Christine is knocked unconscious by a falling sandbag.  When she comes to Christine has been transported back in time to 1880s London.  She's still Christine Day but she's an understudy to the diva of the London opera house La Carlotta (played by Stephanie Lawrence).

Like the original story, unusual happenings and accidents have been plaguing the latest production of Faust.  A mysterious creature known as the Phantom of the Opera (played by Robert Englund) is blamed for the incidents.  Just like in the original novel, the Phantom seems to be obsessed with Christine.  In this version, the Phantom is named Erik Destler and he literally made a deal with the devil to have immortality through his music.  Unfortunately the devil tricked Erik by cursing him with hideous perpetual wounds on his face that the Phantom covers up with human skin.  In this version, Christine's lover is named Richard (played by Alex Hyde-White) and apart from the name difference he is essentially Raoul from the original novel.

Just as in the original novel, Christine must choose between her beloved Richard and the horrifying Erik.  This version features more literal supernatural aspects as opposed to many of the other versions.  This is also the most graphic, gory version of any of the Phantom pictures.

For years afterwards I was haunted by this version both because I was really too young to watch that kind of film and because the deaths were very disturbing at the time.  Rewatching the movie as an adult was quite an experience for me.  On the one hand many of the special effects haven't stood the test of time.  Still the scenes where Erik is sewing on and cutting the human skin from his face are pretty intense if only in concept.  The acting for this movie was pretty good considering it's a horror movie  Robert Englund is his usual wonderful self in this movie adding his own special darkness to the Phantom.

This movie is worth watching if you are curious but I wouldn't recommend it for younger audiences.

Wolves rated R for bloody violence throughout and some sexuality

I came across this movie after discovering that I had channels that I didn't know that I had.  I was intrigued by the plot and because Jason Momoa is in it.

Cayden Richards (played by Lucas Till) is a fairly typical teenager in high school with everything going for him until he starts to experience physical and emotional changes that are anything but typical for anyone let alone a teenager. The changes include him feeling and being stronger as well as feeling "out of control" in moments of pleasure and anger. After his parents are brutally murdered, Cayden immediately assumes that he is responsible as a result of his changes  and flees his home.  In the grip of anger he finds that he changes into a werewolf.

As he journeys through town after town, he comes across a guy named Wild Joe (played by John Pyper-Ferguson) who directs him to a town named Lupine Ridge to find out more about his past and thus find answers to his current problem.

On his first night in Lupine Ridge Cayden crosses paths with the beautiful and mysterious Angelina (played by Merritt Patterson) as well as the secretive but kind John Tollerman (played by Stephen McHattie).  Cayden unintentionally gets the attention of the enigmatic, dangerous Connor Savage (played by Jason Momoa).  It quickly becomes apparent that Lupine Ridge holds many answers to Cayden's past but it is also full of peril for Cayden and those that he befriends.

I went into this movie with low expectations and thus wasn't disappointed.  The story was pretty good.  The acting was pretty good.  And if you're a fan ofJason Momoa like me, I don't think that you will be disappointed.  I feel like this is a great "popcorn" movie and worth watching at least once.  

Hugo rated PG for some thematic material, action/peril, and smoking

I wasn't sure what this film was about when I heard about it and so I didn't give it much thought.  A friend recommended this to me but didn't talk too much about what it was about.  I didn't understand why until after watching this movie.

Part of the problem of telling what this movie is about is that this movie has many stories that sometimes intersect and sometimes just happen parallel to each other.  The title character is a boy named Hugo (played by Asa Butterfield).  After experiencing a terrible tragedy, Hugo lives alone in a train station and takes care of the clocks in the station making sure that they are running correctly and such.  He has a knack for working with mechanical things which he learned both from his father (played by Jude Law) and his uncle (played by Ray Winstone).  He also is a smart kid who is able to figure things out well.  He secretly works on an automaton when he has spare time and tries very hard to avoid the attention of the Station Inspector (played by Sacha Baron Cohen).  

The Station Inspector is a "broken man" in that he suffers from an old war wound in his knee that forces him to wear a brace.  The Station Inspector is also a bit of a "follow the rules" type of person and he pays especial attention to children who wander around the station as he seems to enjoy turning orphans over to the orphanage.  Fortunately for Hugo the Station Inspector is not the brightest bulb in the world although he means well and takes great pride in his work.

Hugo's life is changed when he gets caught stealing from the station toy maker Georges Melies.  It starts with Georges spotting then confiscating a precious notebook that contains some unusual drawings in it.  The notebook belonged to Hugo's father but Hugo doesn't reveal this to Georges.  After Hugo frantically enlists the help of Georges' god daughter Isabelle (played by Chloe Grace Moretz) to retrieve the notebook from Georges, a strange and unexpected adventure unfolds that will involve all of the main characters and bring in some new characters along the way.  The result of all of those lives intersecting sometimes has tragedy but overall is surprisingly wonderful.

After watching the film and seeing all of the detail that is woven into this story I finally understood why the previews and my friend weren't able to accurately describe what this movie is about exactly.  I recall hearing at one time that this movie tells of a boy searching for his father.  While that is true to an extent I wouldn't say that that is the plot of this story.  

I was pleasantly surprised by the amount of well known actors that starred in this movie whether as main or side characters.  They were all brilliant.  My personal favorite would be Sacha Baron Cohen mostly because he played a type of character that he hasn't played before while still keeping his own flair to it.   For anyone who thinks that Sacha Baron Cohen isn't a good actor and only plays the same character or variation of the same character, I would recommend this picture if only to give you a glance at a different side of a fairly well-known actor.  

I did not know that this was a Martin Scorcese picture when I watched this movie.  I'm glad that I didn't because in my personal experience I don't like the Scorcese pictures that I have seen so far.  I know, I know.  How dare I call myself a fan of movies if I don't like the great Martin Scorcese.  Don't get me wrong.  To say that the man is talented is generally considered an understatement at best.  I'm not saying that his accolades aren't well deserved.  I'm just saying that for some reason I haven't enjoyed the few other films of his that I have seen.  The exception at present for me is Hugo.  I thought that it was a wonderful movie.  I thought that the cinematography was beautiful.  I cared about all of the characters even the minor ones.  I was curious and excited to see how this film would play out.  When the film played out the way that it did I loved it.  

I also wasn't surprised that the subject of old films needing to be preserved was included in this movie.  One of the few things that I am aware about Mr. Scorcese is that near and dear to his heart is his firm belief that some of the old movies should be cherished and preserved and that it is a tragedy when old movies are carelessly discarded or simply ignored even.  I must say that I couldn't agree more.  

For without these old movies we wouldn't have been able to have what we have today.  It is because those that came before took a chance on something new and different and put themselves out there sometimes spending all of their money just to share a vision with the world.   Sometimes it didn't work out and sometimes it did.  Also, without these old movies, we wouldn't be able to see the visions of the past.  We can't really know exactly what film making was like in those days for the simple fact that that was then and things were so different then.  While you can read about how things were and maybe see photographs, it's quite different to see the "moving pictures" with the "old" actors and sets and the look and how exciting it was to see an occasional colored portion of an old black and white picture.  

So if you get a chance to watch this movie and you are the least bit curious, please indulge yourself.