Movies on DVD Quick Reviews

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.

DVD Quick Reviews - Attack of the 3.5 Mick Happy Movies

Feeling a bit lazy this week, probably due to too many hours playing Path of Exile, so here are some quick reviews of movies I have seen on DVD lately. All of the movies are out and available in the US through Netflix (and other sources).

I don't know about your house, but in our house we like to tease each other regarding our celebrity "girl/boyfriend" - those celebrities we think each of us secretly wants to end up with. This game tends to be more fun for my wife who has decided that there are several actresses I secretly want to date and there are very few actors that she cares about. Her ideal man would be Al Giordino from the Dirk Pitt series of novels by Clive Cussler. Basically a capable, no-nonsense, hands on guy with snarky humor who helps get the job done without having to have all the ego of the main character.  Which brings me to this week's movies - two of which star one of our girlfriend/boyfriend celebrities.

Byzantium - Neil Jordan's (The Crying Game) 2013 vampire movie starring Gemma Arterton and Saoirse Ronan. In modern day, we follow two woman, who look like sisters, as they move from one town to another avoiding discovery. This is a moody and sometimes violent movie that plays with the vampire idea (yes they can walk in the daylight - though they don't seem to like it). It is an interesting film, but a little angsty. My wife thought I only got this movie since it had my "girlfriend", Gemma Arterton, in it. Byzantium gets 3.5 Mick Happies. P.s., if you want to see more of Saoirse Ronan doing a fantastic job in a really good movie, check out Hanna.

The Heat - Paul Feig's follow up to Bridesmaids stars Sandra Bullock as an up-tight FBI agent who has to work with a shoot from the hip detective played by Melissa McCarthy. This straight-up buddy comedy takes us along for the ride as these two learn how to work together to stop a drug ring in Boston. There are laughs here and awkward moments but overall a fun movie. Not as funny as say The Proposal, but worth watching. Doesn't hurt that it had my wife's "girlfriend", Sandra Bullock, in it. The Heat gets 3.5 Mick Happies.

Pacific Rim - We round out this post with Guillermo del Toro's homage to the Japanese Kaiju (monster) movie. Here, gargantuan monsters invade Earth from a inter-dimensional portal under the Pacific Ocean and wreck havoc on the countries in the Pacific Rim. Enter the Jaeger (hunter) program consisting of giant robots piloted by two humans who have melded their consciousnesses to allow them to work together to run the huge machines. The rest of the movie is about mankind's fight to stave off these monsters and save the world. Standard science fiction fare here with some humor, an obligatory love interest story line and a guy who was a cocky hero, fell out and has to come back to try to save the day. There are some cliched bits to the story and nothing here is overly surprising. But it is a visually great film and there are lots of fun battle scenes if that is what you like. All in all, I give Pacific Rim 3.5 Mick Happies.

There you have it. A post full of celebrity girlfriends, action, comedy, vampires and giant robots. What more could you ask for?