August Movie Reviews

I should preface this by saying that I have not seen any of the Fast & Furious movies. I remember seeing this trailer in the theaters though, and just thinking it looked like a funny, fun action movie. And, well, that’s what it is.

This spin-off of the F&F franchise follows rivals Luke Hobbs (Dwayne The Rock Johnson) and Deckard Shaw (Jason Statham) as they team up with Shaw’s sister (Vanessa Kirby) to stop a cybernetically-enhanced villain (Idris Elba), who works for a shady organization determined to unleash a deadly virus on the world. Hilarious time to watch this movie, I know

I laughed a lot during the movie and enjoyed the crazy action. The chemistry with the actors was awesome. Dwayne Johnson action movies are always epic rides, and Statham is great at comedic delivery. I loved Vanessa Kirby’s role in the film too; she kicked some serious butt. I was a big fan of her on Netflix‘s “The Crown” and am always happy to see her in more roles; she has commanding screen presence. Also, Elba as the villain was terrific. I like him in every movie I’ve seen that he stars in.

Overall, I really liked the movie and haven’t deleted it from my DVR in case I want to casually watch it again in the future. The violence is a bit too intense for younger viewers, but I brand this F&F spin-off with an F&F label of my own: “Fun & Funny.”

During the last few months I have seen A TON of commercials for the sequel to this movie: “Trolls World Tour.” While I never developed any interest in seeing that, one day the original “Trolls” was on TV and I recorded it. I’m glad I did. The movie was delightful.

The musical movie follows upbeat, optimistic Princess Poppy of the Trolls (voiced by Anna Kendrick) and her “friend” a grumpy, cynical troll named Branch (voiced by Justin Timberlake) as they go on a quest to save their friends who have been abducted by giant creatures called Bergens, who eat Trolls in order to absorb the singing little creatures’ happiness.

I had a lovely time watching this movie. I feel like I would do very well in Troll society LOL

The movie had surprisingly high stakes, given that our main characters and their friends were in jeopardy of being straight up eaten. The film took some unexpected turns and had some truly funny moments. Overall, “Trolls” was sweet and cute.

I was hesitant about seeing this movie, but really enjoyed it!

The plot follows shlumpy activist journalist Fred Flarsky (Seth Rogen) who reunites with his former babysitter and mega crush Charlotte Field (Charlize Theron), who is now the greatly respected, brilliant and beautiful United States Secretary of State. She is planning on running for president in the next election and hires Flarsky as a speech writer to punch up her speeches with a more personal voice and better sense of humor. The two bond, form a friendship, and then sparks fly as they develop romantic feelings for each other.

The movie is rated R, so it’s not something I would recommend for younger viewers. I don’t mind bad language in movies if it is a part of a character’s voice or the film’s style, and honestly I don’t really notice it as a result. So that didn’t bother me here. However, there are a few super inappropriate “adult” moments, if you catch my drift, that are on the “R” side of things I don’t like in movies.

Past that though, this movie was a terrific romantic comedy with a unique story, strong characters, heart at the core, and a happy ending. That’s a winning combo!

FRIDAY MOVIE REVIEW 8/28/20

“The Dark Tower” – 2017

This movie is an adaptation of Stephen King’s novel series of the same name. It stars Idris Elba as the epic “Gunslinger” Roland Deschain in another dimension called Mid-World, Matthew McConaughey as his nemesis (a malevolent wizard called “The Man in Black”), and Tom Taylor as Jake Chambers (a boy from Earth with psychic powers that make him target to the Man in Black).