MOVIE REVIEWS

Seen through 3-D glasses on an IMAX screen, the special effects were breathtakingly realistic. The movie was fun, and will appeal to 12-year-old boys!

If you knew that you had only one day to live, how would you live it? Would you think about the way you treat people, spend your time and how you would like to be remembered? BEFORE I FALL is a story that resonates with people of all ages. Thumbs up on this one.

Using real footage from NASA rocket launches, THE SPACE BETWEEN US is a believable story with natural relationships and sentimental emotions.

JACKIE (Natalie Portman) was portrayed as a chain-smoking, controlling, self-preserving manipulator who, interspersed with heart-breaking grief and trauma over her personal loss, was determined to choreograph her husband’s funeral so that his legacy and her image would remain the Camelot version the Country had entitled the young, beautiful First Family.

The Starship Avalon is on a voyage transporting over 5,000 colonists to Homestead II, a planet so far from Earth the journey takes 120 years. The colonists are placed into hibernation for the journey, but a malfunction wakes up a passenger, mechanical engineer Jim Preston (Chris Pratt), 90 years early.

COLLATERAL BEAUTY made an impression on us. Without giving away the story, which had several layers subtly crafted together so that the ending was thought provoking and inspirational, I was touched by all the characters, each, individually, needing to confront LOVE , TIME or DEATH.

LaLa Land starts off with an over the top theatrical number (dance and song) on the Los Angeles freeway. Then it becomes a jukebox musical that tells a story.

THE ACCOUNTANT starts off as a story about a family torn apart by how to treat the violent tantrums of their younger son – Christian “Chris” Wolff who is autistic. Chris grows up to be an Accountant. As a mathematical savant, he uses his genius to cook the books of criminal organizations … and the story then becomes a mystery thriller.

On April 20th, 2010, one of the world’s largest man-made disasters occurred on the Deepwater Horizon oil-drilling rig; 200 million gallons of oil spilled into U.S. waters. Eleven (11) oil rig workers lost their lives in the explosion; another 17 were injured. More than 8,000 animals died.

With the movie “SNOWDEN” (about Edward Snowden) recently released, and Julian Assange threatening to publish more secrets on WikiLeaks, my friend and I got into talking about the various degrees of whistleblowing and the categories they fall into, such as provocateurs, agents and activists. With the “Freedom of Information Act” the question of “what is acceptable and what is traitorous?” is a hot topic.