#moviebears

[vejito2]

Watch "Did you know in The Punisher..." on YouTube

[joebe1]

Venom in IMAX 3D has got me doing some tongue action. #venom #marvelvenom #marvelvenom2018 #serioustongueaction #tongueaction #tomhardy #michellewilliams #rizahmed #soexcited #soexciting #soexcitedrightnow #imaxtheatre #imaxtheater #imax3d #imax3d😎 #imax3dexperience #moviebear #hangingwithfriends #moviebears #funtimesahead #itsfriday #fridaynightout (at IMAX At Pacific Science Center) https://www.instagram.com/p/Bok_zgYghch/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=1eat1x3geu066

[leftofstr8]

My Christmas movie tradition continues....”The Greatest Showman” was amazing!!! Excellent previews for “Mama Mia 2” and “Wrinkle In Time.” #moviebear #bearsofinstagram #lgbt #instagay #tradition (at Cleveland Public Square)

[blacknblueball]

@phoenixmoviebears We are at the @blacknblueball ! #moviebears #blacknblueball #phoenix (at Club Palazzo)

[thefanspov]

#Regram from @moviebears at @starwarscelebration in Anaheim, California
・・・
We met up with Queen Amidala and her hand maidens today. #SWCA #moviebears

[moviebearwest-blog]

“Soulful Robot, Souless Movie”

Okay, my title might be harsh. The movie is well enough made to flyby as a decent distraction. However, Chappie has no idea what kind of movie it is, who its characters are, or what kind of message it has to say. Ultimately, it says nothing. Its characters have no arcs, no progress, no grand realizations or, well, anything. They are all exactly the same at the end as they are at the beginning (aside from a few new body parts). The movie has a lot going for it including an intriguing setup and colorful characters but it uses none of these things to its benefit. Before long the scenes become repetitive and stale and you start feeling like you’ve seen it before, not just in other movies, but only minutes prior. Chappie tries to be District 9 right out the gates but strangely they abandon that not more than a few scenes later, then it becomes every other robot movie you’ve ever seen. Chappie the robot may have a soul, but Chappie the film never finds its own.

READ THE FULL REVIEW HERE!

[moviebearwest-blog]

“There’s still Magic at the Marigold”

To say I cried my eyes out in the first Marigold would be an understatement. Not only did I blubber like a baby, I had to stop the film and back it up because I missed so much. Yeah. It was not my manliest of moments. However, the original Best Exotic Marigold Hotel is a truly wonderful movie that you can’t deny has buckets and buckets of charm, wit, and heart warming moments. The Second Best Exotic Marigold Hotel is no exception, even though it does live up to its name by coming in just short of the original. But it is barely noticeable and The Second is a strong and colorful film that strengthens the brand and will certainly warrant a Third Best. The magic of the Marigold is a sheer delight and even though I wasn’t expecting a sequel, I sure am glad we got one.

READ THE FULL REVIEW HERE!

[moviebearwest-blog]

“Criminal Filmmaking”

Will Smith. In the 90’s and early 2000’s that was name that wet the pants of Hollywood producers and audiences alike. He was the unstoppable alien fighter in Independence Day and Men In Black, he was kicking ass in Bad Boys, Wild Wild West, and Ali, and of course he’ll always be the Fresh Prince. But even continued success with movies like I,Robot, Hitch, Shark Tale, and the Pursuit of Happyness couldn’t keep us from the coming train wrecks that would be I am Legend, Hancock, and Seven Pounds. Three movies that lead to a four year hiatus from acting that left us all asking “where is Will?” Then, he was back! Men in Black 3 showed us the Will Smith we loved and missed so dear. Can’t wait to see what he does next! After Earth… crap. Well, that was one misstep, what’s next? Winter’s Tale… okay no one saw it anyway. Moving on. Focus, oh what’s this? An ultra cool crime comedy with the hot Margo Robbie from Wolf of Wall Street? Umm, sign me up! Sounds great! Three, two, one, roll film! And consensus is… I think I just got conned into seeing another bad Will Smith movie.

READ THE FULL REVIEW HERE

[moviebearwest-blog]

“Hell to Watch”

As they say… “From masters of horror Blumhouse Productions- producer of THE PURGE, INSIDIOUS and SINISTER franchises- THE LAZARUS EFFECT.” Well, that’s one way to sell this movie as a viable horror. However, you won’t see them adding The Lazarus Effect to any future marketing from Blumhouse. This eye-rolling horror does nothing but diminish the brand and set a new low for the company. Lazarus is a dull film that’s full of good intentions and yet fails to execute even the simplest of scares. A moment of spook exists here and there, but the overwhelming rest of the underwhelming picture is nothing more than a confused girl throwing an epic tantrum over being sent to hell even though in her mind she’s a good Christian girl… who’s going to prove she doesn’t belong in hell by killing all her closes friends… yeah, who’s bright idea was this? Lazarus even goes the extra mile to commit total movie suicide by ending on a cliffhanger that sets up a sequel. Good luck with that. If anyone sees the first movie, they certainly wont see the second.

READ THE FULL REVIEW HERE!

[moviebearwest-blog]

SEVENTH SON

“The Fantasy Runt”

I honestly don’t know if it could have been worse.  Seventh Son is so bad it’s embarrassing and uncomfortable to watch.  You know the actors are better and the crew probably too, but this final product is an abomination.  

FINAL SCORE = 0/5 Bear Paws West Fisher MovieBears.com, Las Vegas Nevada Film Critics Society The International Academy of Film & Television west@moviebears.com

[moviebearwest-blog]

JUPITER ASCENDING

“Pretty Dumb Fun”

I’ll admit that I really enjoyed this movie.  It’s no Star Wars or great space saga of any kind, but there is far worse movies released in February than this bit of eye candy.  Sure, I’d probably recast the entire movie.  Also, I could have done with more action believe it or not.  But what we do get is creative, inventive, and oh so shiny!  I can see why this movie needed extra special effects time; it’s LOADED with CGI. I was surprised they cast any one in it and didn’t just CGI the whole damn thing, but then we wouldn’t have Channing Tatum shirtless surfing through space now would we?  

The movie was originally scheduled for a summer release but it got delayed and dropped in the studio dumping months of late winter.  This is usually a sign of a movie destined to bomb, which Jupiter still might, but it doesn’t deserve to.  A lot of time went into the film and it shows, it’s just a shame it tends to come off as corny more times than not.  Mostly, I think, because the cast is hard to take seriously.  I think a stronger cast could have made this movie something really spectacular.  

The movie violates many rules of nature and space, but you can look past that and say “alien technology” but it does leave you rolling your eyes a few frustrating times.  Then, to make you happy, they throw more shiny stuff at you.  It worked on my simple mind.  Some incredible designers worked really hard to make Jupiter Ascending a gorgeous film and we know the Wachowskis love to wow us with their stunning visuals.  The Matrix and Cloud Atlas both are perfect examples of their visual style.  The Matrix set the standard for many action films to follow which is why I hoped for a little more from Jupiter.  

Ultimately this dumb but pretty film isn’t a total loss and I do recommend it simply for its grandeur.   Just sit back and count how many times Channing’s shirt comes off, or take a shot every time he says “Your Majesty” and you’ll be sauced good by the end.  You might even enjoy it more!  

FINAL SCORE = 4/5 Bear Paws West Fisher MovieBears.com, Las Vegas Nevada Film Critics Society The International Academy of Film & Television west@moviebears.com

[moviebearwest-blog]

BLACKHAT

“Strives to Underwhelm” 

Let’s start by crunching some numbers...  The running time of Michael Mann’s Blackhat is two hours and 13 minutes.  Chris Hemsworth has his shirt off for about two minutes throughout the entire movie.  There is a good five minutes of action in the second act that resembles a good movie.  And Viola Davis gets one good ten-second joke in.  That leaves two hours five minutes and fifty seconds of complicated, underwhelming, and disappointing scenes that go absolutely nowhere.  I’m sure on paper this was an interesting story but what it translates to on film is nearly impossible to decode.

I kept waiting for it to get good.  I’m not usually let down by Michael Mann but about 30 minutes into the movie I realized this was not going the way I had hoped.  The direction was seemingly absent.  The story just crashed from scene to scene without any clear reason for any of it and there were all these lost actors stumbling around in the mess like toddlers in a wet sandbox.  When it comes to Mann we expect the handheld and grittier style but this was amateurish at best, as if filmed on a cell phone.  The nauseating movements were made worse by a washed out and bland color pallet that made the film feel unfinished.  In fact, everything about the film felt unfinished; the acting, the editing, the sets, the script...  The sound was especially bad which at times was inaudible and made worse by cheap sound effects. 

I expect better from the cast and crew of this movie which I guess is why I’m so disappointed that this is what they settled for.  When I say settled, I mean they clearly settled.  I kept making excuses for everyone involved throughout the movie, defending them in my head, until I realized this was so wrong of me and what I’m watching really is this bad.  I mean come on, one of the worlds best computer hackers is played by Chris Hemsworth?  CHRIS freaking HEMSWORTH?!  I’d be surprised if he can login to Facebook, let alone crack into the systems of the NSA.  Sure, that’s believable.  Roll the credits, I’m done. 

FINAL SCORE = 1/5 Bear Paws

West Fisher  MovieBears.com, Las Vegas  Nevada Film Critics Society  The International Academy of Film & Television  west@moviebears.com

[moviebearwest-blog]

I saw all the posters for Chef and the TV spots and thought "well doesn't that look sweet" *barf*.  But it turns out this movie was one of those little gems that surprised and satisfied!  Chef is fantastic movie with a knock-out cast who cooks up one of the better film going experiences of 2014. I dare you not to get a lump in your throat. 

FINAL SCORE = 5/5 Bear Paws

West Fisher

MovieBears.com, Las Vegas

Nevada Film Critics Society

The International Academy of Film & Television

west@moviebears.com

[moviebearwest-blog]

I hate that it has taken me all year to get around to posting this one because experiencing The Grand Budapest Hotel was such a wonderful and enchanting adventure.  Wes Anderson is one of my favorites and he has crafted his finest film to date.  If there is a more stylish and crafty filmmaker working out there today with such a defined visual style and storytelling method I'd love to meet them because Wes is simply the best. 

FINAL SCORE = 5/5 Bear Paws

West Fisher

MovieBears.com, Las Vegas

Nevada Film Critics Society

The International Academy of Film & Television

west@moviebears.com

[moviebearwest-blog]

The human sized trailer for ANT-MAN has arrived!

The next evolution of the Marvel Cinematic Universe brings a founding member of The Avengers to the big screen for the first time with Marvel Studios’ “Ant-Man.” Armed with the astonishing ability to shrink in scale but increase in strength, master thief Scott Lang must embrace his inner-hero and help his mentor, Dr. Hank Pym, protect the secret behind his spectacular Ant-Man suit from a new generation of towering threats. Against seemingly insurmountable obstacles, Pym and Lang must plan and pull off a heist that will save the world.

  Marvel’s “Ant-Man” stars Paul Rudd as Scott Lang aka Ant-Man, Evangeline Lilly as Hope Van Dyne, Corey Stoll as Darren Cross aka Yellowjacket, Bobby Cannavale as Paxton, Michael Peña as Luis, Judy Greer as Maggie, Tip “Ti” Harris as Dave, David Dastmalchian as Kurt, Wood Harris as Gale, Jordi Mollà as Castillo and Michael Douglas as Hank Pym.

  Peyton Reed directs Marvel’s “Ant-Man” with Kevin Feige producing and Louis D’Esposito, Alan Fine, Victoria Alonso, Michael Grillo, Edgar Wright and Stan Lee serving as executive producers. The story is by Edgar Wright & Joe Cornish and the screenplay is by Adam McKay & Paul Rudd. Marvel’s “Ant-Man” delivers a high-stakes, tension-filled adventure on July 17, 2015.

[moviebearwest-blog]

Into the Woods... where do I start?  I went in knowing I was in for something special but I had no idea just how magical this film would be.  Beyond the surface of fairytales and Disney flair is a deep and powerful message that children will listen.  These fairy tales don't teach them to be princesses and princes and that living in a castle is a dream come true... NO!  Into the Woods teaches it's viewers to be realistic, loving, and to listen (musical irony?).  The film isn't about princes and princesses, it's about family and what you'll do for it.  It's about love, betrayal, rape, revenge, and the struggle to keep your family together, or how to rebuild it after it all falls apart.  I'm kind of amazed Disney would do a movie with such dark undertones but I'm so grateful they did.  Into the Woods goes above and beyond to tell the twisted tales of its fairytale characters and the end result is something to cheer for.  

FINAL SCORE = 5/5 Bear Paws

West Fisher

MovieBears.com, Las Vegas

Nevada Film Critics Society

The International Academy of Film & Television

west@moviebears.com