CrystalsBonusAndReviews

This movie is “nostalgically hilarious!” All of us at some point would jump at the chance to travel back in time. The main characters in this movie get to do just that.  They get into a hot tub and somehow travel back to the eighties, where big hair, jerry curls and bright tight clothes are the fashion. The music gets you dancing and free love can be found all around. John Cusack plays Adam whose girlfriend recently left him.  Rob Corddry plays Lou a very unhappy adult that tries to commit suicide. Craig Robinson plays Nick whose wife cheated on him and he is having a tough time dealing with it and Clark Duke plays Jacob who is Adam’s nephew. Jacob is addicted to video games and rarely leaves his basement. It’s great to see Chevy Chase acting again. He plays the hot tub repairman. Crispin Glover plays the one armed bell hop. Under the direction of Steve Pink all the actors deliver good performances.

None of the guys are happy with their current lives. They have each gone their separate ways and lost touch with each other through the years. Lou tries to commit suicide and Adam and Nick come to his rescue and they decide to go to a ski lodge that they went to when they were teenagers. They want to capture the happiness and the good times they once shared. They arrive at the ski lodge and it doesn’t look the same way it once had. It is now falling apart, but they still decide to stay.

They start to relax and party in the hot tub until they pass out. They wake up the next morning back in 1986. They are shocked at first, but then they decide to accept this opportunity and make a few changes while they are hanging out in the past. I am giving this movie 4 out of 5 popcorn bags.

DreamWorks had done it again! This movie is “fire breathing good!” With the voice talents of Steve Baruchel as Hiccup, Gerard Butler as Stoic, Craig Ferguson as Gobber, America Ferrara as Astrid and Jonah Hill as Snotlout you can’t go wrong in this adventure. Hiccup is the son of Stoic the leader of the Vikings. The Vikings are enemies with the Dragons. They attack the village at will and carry off the Viking’s sheep and other livestock. The war between the Vikings and Dragons has been going on for a very long time. Each generation takes up where the last generation left off. That is until Hiccup came along. Stoic hoped his son would follow in his footsteps, but Hiccup was no ordinary Viking. To look at him you wouldn’t take him for a Viking at all. Hiccup wanted his father to be proud of him. He wanted to participate in the Dragon Battles and slay them like Vikings were supposed to do. One night he sneaks out during a battle and he hits one of the Dragons bringing it down where it fell in the woods.

Hiccup goes searching for the Dragon and he finds it alive. He tries to slay it but he can’t and instead he and the Dragon he named Toothless become friends. Stoic enrolls Hiccup in Dragon Slayer Training School while he is away. Hiccup does quite well, although his methods are not the traditional Viking way of doing things. His classmates Astrid, Snotlout, Tuffnut and Ruffnut are totally amazed by his techniques. The friendship between Toothless and Hiccup is amazing to watch as it blossoms and grows. The 3D special effects really make this movie a must see.

The flight scenes are breath taking and you feel like you are really flying. I am giving this movie 5 out of 5 popcorn bags.

This movie has a very different twist to it. Amanda Seyfried, Julianne Moore and Liam Neeson all deliver good performances. This story is a new twist on infidelity. Julianne Moore’s character Catherine is a career woman that seems to have it all a handsome husband David played by Liam Neeson and an equally handsome son Michael played by Max Thieriot. Michael seems to have no respect for his mother at all. Catherine feels she is losing her family and she doesn’t know what to do to prevent it. She thinks David is having affairs with other women. She has seen text messages with photos from other women on David’s phone. She knows that David flirts a lot with other women, but even though all the signs point to David having an affair Catherine still needs to know for sure. There is a young woman that Catherine observes each day when she looks out of her office window. She notices the young woman is always in the company of older gentlemen. Catherine knows instantly what she is and she has contemplated hiring her and using her services to entice David and see what he does.

A chance meeting in a ladies room will change Catherine’s life forever. She’s sees the young woman in the ladies room and they began to talk. She tells Catherine her name is Chloe played by Amanda Seyfried. This chance meeting doesn’t end here and Catherine meets up with Chloe and hires her to seduce her husband just to see what he will do. Will he give in to this seductress or remain faithful to his wife? These are the questions Catherine so desperately wanted answered.

She is not prepared for what she finds out and all is not as it seems. This movie has some major unexpected twists. I am giving it 3 out of 5 popcorn bags.

This movie is very thought provoking. It is set in a futuristic time when organs are artificial and very expensive. The upside is people no longer had to wait on a list to receive organs that could save their lives. The downside is if you can’t make the payments to pay for your new organs the Repo Men would be sent out on your trail to retrieve the organs. If your organ is a vital organ then your time would be up. These hunters are ruthless and relentless in their search. Jude Law plays one of these Repo Men whose life and attitude is forever changed. Forrest Whitaker plays his friend and colleague, but with friends like him who needs enemies. Jude’s character has to deal with a lot. His wife leaves him because she doesn’t like his job and she takes their son with her. There are some humorous moments, but not many.

This story is very dark and it is no laughing matter. The way people get behind on their payments to the company called the “Union”. The Union is everywhere. There is no place to run and there is no place you can hide. The Repo Men have special equipment to detect when someone is overdue and then they get their orders to reclaim the property which in this case is an organ. It doesn’t matter what the organ is. It could be a kidney, liver, joints and even a heart. The outcome is the same, because when the Repo Men come to reclaim your organ you are doomed.

Jude’s character was one of the best Repo Men around, until an accident changes his life and the tables get turned. He finds himself no longer the hunter, but the hunted. He must find a way out. The action is intense. I am giving it 3 out of 5 popcorn bags because the ending is twisted.

Based on the kid’s book “Diary of a Wimpy Kid”, by Jeff Kinney, this is totally a kid’s movie. It is about the life of a Junior High Student named Greg Heffley and his quest to fit in.  Greg is entering his first year of Junior High. He has an unsympathetic older brother, an annoying younger brother and parents played by Steve Zahn and Rachel Harris, who are pretty oblivious to anything their kids are up to. Greg keeps a diary where he writes his thoughts, feelings and schemes. His plan is to be popular and he is willing to do whatever it takes. On the first day of school he finds that the majority of his fifth grade pals have changed a great deal over the summer. Some have gotten taller and matured; while others like Greg have stayed the same.

Girls whom he considered ugly ducklings had blossomed into pretty girls. Almost everyone’s interests and mindset had changed. Junior High was indeed another world for Greg. He didn’t know what to expect, but he knew things would be different from fifth grade. All Greg cares about is fitting in and being cool. He begins to lose sight of what is really important. He even forgets what friendship means and loses some friends along the way. He is forced to face the cold harsh truth of what being a true friend is all about.

Greg learns some valuable life lessons that every kid would benefit from learning. The main and most important lesson to be learned is to just be yourself and don’t try to be someone or something that you are not. In the end your true colors do show. I am giving this movie 3 out of 5 popcorn bags.