Nerd in the 'Noke

Kick-Ass 2 (2013), R, 103 minutes  - I'm a few days later with this review than I had originally planned, but after seeing Kick-Ass 2 I felt the need to go back and read the the two comic mini-series that it adapts (2010's Kick-Ass 2 and 2012's Hit-Girl - both by Kick-Ass creators Mark Millar and John Romita, Jr.).  I thoroughly enjoyed the adaptation of Kick-Ass in 2010 ( my review can be seen here ), but for some reason this sequel wasn't really on my radar.  Perhaps this is because I had yet to read the source material, or maybe because there have been other films this summer that I was anticipating much more.  In either case, I was pleased with the outcome in general. Kick-Ass 2 picks up not too long after the end of the first film.  Mindy Macready (Chloe Grace Moretz), also known as Hit-Girl is trying to adjust to a normal teenage life now that she is living with her adoptive father Detective Marcus Williams (Morris Chestnut) and his non-vigilante rules...

Elysium (2013), R, 109 minutes - I have been looking forward to Elysium for four years.  No joke, four years. Since before I even knew what Elysium was going to be.  That's a long time and one may even ask how I can put such a specific time frame on such a thing.   Well, I know that it has been four years because I've been anticipating it since the moment I finished watching District 9 for the first time.  Elysium is the follow up to that film from writer/director Neill Blomkamp. Elysium is an absolutely gorgeous sci-fi tale that takes place in the year 2154.  The Earth is in ruins, the majority of the planet reduced to third world slums.  The wealthy have quarantined themselves high above the planet on a Utopian space station known as Elysium.  The wealth of its inhabitants and the technology it affords has rid them of sickness, disease, or disability.  But the citizens of Elysium have become greedy and unwilling to share these technological...

2 Guns (2013), R, 109 minutes - You wouldn't know it from the trailers, but 2 Guns is based on the limited comic book series of the same name from 2007 by Steven Grant and Mateus Santolouco.  It is not a comic series that I am familiar with, but after having seen the movie that resulted, I am curious to see how it compares to the source material. The trailer would have you believe that 2 Guns is a buddy cop flick, and while it does have some buddy-cop-flick moments, that really isn't what this film is at its core.  2 Guns is really a crime film revolving around a drug lord, corrupt high ranking government officials, and two government agents who have been assigned to the case, DEA agent Bobby Treanch (Denzel Washington), and naval intelligence officer Michael Stigman (Mark Wahlberg).  Both are undercover, neither having any idea who the other actually is.  As one might expect, neither is very happy when they have that epiphany.  Eventually they realize that...

Despicable Me 2 (2013), PG, 98 minutes - Three years ago, Despicable Me came out of nowhere to become one of my favorite movies of 2010.  It was a very entertaining animated feature that was full of colorful characters and had a story with a whole lot of heart.  Because Despicable Me was so successful, expectations for Despicable Me 2 were quite high.  I very much enjoyed Despicable Me 2, but I don't think that it was quite as special as the original was. This sequel picks up after the events of the first film.  Gru (Steve Carell) and the girls have settled in to a normal life (or as normal as one could be in that house).  He has retired from being a super criminal and now has his minions making jams and jellies in his attempt to make a clean living.  The 'normalcy' doesn't last long though and Gru is recruited by Lucy (Kristen Wiig) to help the Anti-Villain League track down a new super criminal threat. Just as with the first Despicable Me, the voic...

Beautiful Creatures (2013), PG-13, 124 minutes - One of my favorite things to do is to compare and contrast how a film differs from its source material.  Now before you give yourself a headache wondering when or why I read Beautiful Creatures, don't bother because I didn't.  My fiance did however.  From about half way through reading the book, she couldn't stop talking about wanting to see the movie.  So when she finished, I picked it up from redbox and we gave it a watch. I mention all of this because I was quite amused seeing someone else go through the struggle of watching something that doesn't quite meet their expectations. Lena Duchannes (Alice Englert) is the new kid in school and a bit of an outcast because she keeps to herself as much as because of her family's odd reputation around the small southern town of Gatlin, South Carolina.  She also happens to be a witch (they prefer to be called Casters).  Ethan Wate (Alden Ehrenreich) is smart kid ...