I haven't done much in the way of game playing in the last couple weeks (except Path of Exile) and I am currently in the middle of Cool Days by Jim Butcher. So in the lull, I thought I would give some quick thoughts on the movies I have seen in the last three days. You see at our house, we have a 3 DVD Netflix subscription and streaming as well and we spend most nights on the couch together to watch at least one TV show or movie together. I can't think of a better way to relax and have some dessert or popcorn. Here we go…
The Family - Luc Besson's dark comedy starring Michelle Pfeiffer and Robert De Niro is set in a small town in France where a mob-boss who testified against his former crime family is in witness protection. This movie has action and thrills, morbidly funny moments and explores what happens when a crime family (literally) moves in on a sleepy town. From the kids scoping out all the angles going on in the local school to the parents dealing with the haughty nature of their new neighbors. Plus it has Tommy Lee Jones in it. A fun romp that may just take your head off in a couple of the scenes. Four Mick Happies.
Percy Jackson: Sea of Monsters - The second installment of the Percy Jackson and the Olympians film series sees Logan Lerman back as the title character with his friends, Annabeth (Alexandra Daddario) and Grover (Brandon T. Jackson) as they go on another epic quest. Thrown into the mix are other half-blood offspring of the gods as the trio (and friends) seek to save their home. This is more of the same from the first movie with over the top special effects with Greek mythology tropes brought into the modern day. The only drawback for me was the lack of screen time for Grover and the reduction of Annabeth from the rough and tumble character in the first movie. Still a lot of fun - 3.5 Mick Happies.
Kick-Ass 2 - The Jeff Wadlow sequel was actually the bigger disappointment of the four films I watched. Kick-Ass was a brilliant, hyper-violent and over-the-top action film that I found to be great. All the living characters from the first film are back. Here we see what happens after "super"-heroes become more common and the effects of their crime-fighting spawns a "super"-villain gang to fight them. My biggest disappointment in this film was the middle part of the movie where Hit Girl (Chloe Grace Moretz) tries to fit in to high school norms. My second biggest issue was the violence directed against characters other than the "super"-heroes and bad guys. I understand it, but I don't need to see police officers cut down in droves. Could have been great, has moments, but not up to the high bar of the first movie - 3 Mick Happies.
Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters - Stars Gemma Arterton and Jeremy Renner as the title brother and sister. Surviving (and defeating) a witch as children, the siblings grow up into traveling bounty hunters taking on monsters (mainly witches) of all kinds - saving towns and children along the way. This is a campy fun take on the whole Hansel & Gretel and monstrous witch motif. There are way over-the-top weapons and modern references (a H & G fan boy) throughout. The modern references (and language) do take you out of the time period and theme of the movie at times. There is still fun being had - too bad there wasn't more story and less save the world going on. Why can't people just make a small episodic movie that has a compact but good story? Still not the waste of time that a lot of critics labeled it to be - 3 Mick Happies.
There you have it, four movies newly on DVD (or streaming) for you to pick from. Hope you find one to enjoy.
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