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 ...

The Conjuring (2013), R, 112 minutes - In the two years that I have been with my fiance, I have become much more open to the horror genre.  I've admittedly always been a bit of a pansy when it comes to the scary stuff and generally avoided them in the past.  I'm still not so hot on the gory scare, but the tense, suspenseful, thrilling scare I'm not just OK with, but generally enjoy. If you looked at our DVR on any given day, you would most likely find a couple of paranormal investigation-themed shows.  They are something that we are intrigued by.  So between The Conjuring being based on the case files of real life Paranormal Investigators Ed and Lorraine Warren (Lorraine consulted on the film), and its getting high praise as a really scary film, Alisa and I decided to check it out earlier this week. In short, The Parren family moves into an old Rhode Island farm house in 1971 and shortly thereafter begin experiencing strange occurrences.  The family membe...

The Lone Ranger (2013), PG-13, 149 minutes  - It has been years since I last saw an episode of the old The Lone Ranger television series starring Clayton Moore.  I used to watch it as a kid with my dad and that old series is part of why I grew up with an affinity for westerns.  Unfortunately, because it has been so long, I can't remember how campy it may or may not have been, but I do feel pretty comfortable in saying that this version of The Lone Ranger is not close to what little I do remember from my childhood. From the very first trailer I saw for this film, I thought 'why don't they just call it The Legend of Tonto?'  It just seemed odd to me that you would cast one of the world's most well known actors in a supporting role.  I don't mean the kind of supporting role that Captain Jack Sparrow was when the Pirates of the Caribbean films started, but the sidekick type that the role of Tonto has always fallen into. The film uses Johnny Depp's Tonto to...

The Wolverine (2013), PG-13, 126 minutes - I've been sort of wishy-washy on this film for a few months now.  The first Wolverine movie, 2009's X-Men Origins: Wolverine, in my mind, is easily one of the most underwhelming comic book movies made in recent years (Hugh Jackman's and Liev Schrieber's performances being the only bright spots).  As a result, I almost dreaded the fact that this sequel was even announced.  Then it was supposed to be directed by Darren Aronofsky and based upon Chris Claremont's and Frank Miller's seminal mini-series from 1982, and I got excited.  Aronofsky dropped off the project and doubt crept back in.  Finally James Mangold took over.  He had previously directed Walk the Line and the 2007 remake of 3:10 to Yuma, both films that I enjoyed.  The project was in capable hands, but there was still a certain level of speculation in my head.  When I went to see The Wolverine yesterday afternoon, my mindset was probably the m...

Pacific Rim (2013), PG-13, 131 minutes - Giant monsters. Giant Mechs.  Guillermo del Toro's imagination and direction.  For these reasons, Pacific Rim was at the very top of my Most Anticipated Films of 2013 list and I'll tell you right now, it was spectacular.  As far as I'm concerned, it didn't disappoint on any level, which, considering how long I've been looking forward to this film and how excited I was for it, is pretty impressive. The film takes place in Earth's not-to-distant future (the prologue actually places the initial events in the present).  A rift has opened on the floor of the Pacific Ocean, creating a portal to another universe inhabited by giant monsters called Kaiju (Japanese meaning 'giant beast').  Kaiju begin to periodically make their way through the rift and in order to combat their devastation, the world's nations unite to construct giant humanoid mechs that come to be known as Jaegers (German for hunter).  The Jaegers...

Monsters University (2013), G, 104 minutes - Monsters, Inc. continues to be one of my favorite Disney/Pixar films, right up there with The Incredibles, and Toy Story 3.  So revisiting the Monsters world was something that I was looking forward to.  Instead of making a sequel as they did with the Toy Story and Cars franchises, Disney/Pixar decided instead to turn back the clock and show us how Mike (Billy Crystal) and Sully (John Goodman) came to work at Monsters, Inc. The film begins with an elementary school-aged, outcast of a monster (Mike) participating in a class field trip to Monsters, Inc. to see learn how the power for the monsters world is generated (by harvesting the scream energy created by scaring children in the human world).  He is completely blown away by the experience and decides then and there that he wants to be a scarer when he grows up.  Cut to a few years later as Mike steps off the bus and onto the campus of Monsters University for the firs...