Brave

 PG
Starring: Kelly Macdonald, Emma Thompson, Billy Connolly, Julie Walters, Robbie Coltrane and Craig Ferguson
Running Time: 1 Hour and 40 Minutes

I have been anticipating this latest Pixar movie "Brave"for some time. I am always impressed with Pixar and the caliber of their movies.
This is the story of Princess Merida (voice of Kelly Macdonald) a very strong-willed young lady who is the princess of Scotland. She is very independent and would much rather be a young free soul than be betrothed to a suitor. She loves to spend her free time shooting bows and arrows and climbing steep mountain cliffs and rocks.
When her mother Queen Elinor (voice of Emma Thompson) informs her that she has reached the proper age of finding a suitor, she is very unhappy. She does not want to assume the responsibility of marriage and relationships!
When her father King Fergus (voice of Billy Connolly) assembles the games to find the perfect match for the young Princess Merida, she rebels! It is a deep tradition that the King assembles his empire together and they bring three of the best young men available to compete in games for the prize of the betrothal to the young princess.
The princess is very upset and she decides to take matters into her own hands! So she goes out on her own where she encounters some beautiful blue lights called "will o wisps". They are fairy-like beings which entice her into a cottage where she finds an old witch. There she begs the witch to create a magic potion that contains a special spell that the witch turns into a small cake. She hurries back home to the castle with the secret cake and entices her mother to taste it! Things go terribly wrong and not at all what she was hoping for! She had cast a terrible spell upon her very own mother!
She has to help her mother now and she realizes just how important her relationship with her mother really was to her. She finds out that she took her mother for granted and just how lucky she really was to have her wonderful mother!
The princess desperately seeks to find the witch again to see if she can grant her just one more wish so that she can help her mother and reverse the spell.
This was a very different movie for Pixar. I enjoyed the relationship between the mother and daughter. I think it would be really good for girls and young women to go and see this movie with their mothers. It would help them to appreciate their moms and all that they do for them.
Parents be advised there are some scary sequences in this movie. It received a PG rating because of violence from the suitor games. Also there is a very big intimidating bear that continues to haunt the King. It bit off his leg over a decade ago, and he still continues to search for it. The witch is also very scary and dark. I would not recommend this movie for children under the age of seven. The graphics are absolutely stellar and right on the mark for Pixar. The movie was beautifully executed with a great moral to its story. I enjoyed it, but it was not my favorite Pixar movie.
I am giving "Brave" three bags of popcorn!

Rock of Ages

PG-13
Starring: Julianne Hough, Diego Boneta, Tom Cruise, Alec Baldwin, Russell Brand, Paul Giammatti, Catherine Zeta-Jones, Malin Ackerman,  and Mary J. Blige
Running Time: 2 Hours and 3 Minutes

This was one movie that I was not really that excited to see. I am definitely not an Alec Baldwin fan, and I can only take Tom Cruise in small doses.
This starts out with Sherrie Christian (Julianne Hough) a girl from Tulsa, Oklahoma on a bus to Hollywood to pursue her dream of becoming a huge rock and roll singing sensation. When she arrives in Los Angeles, a man immediately steals her bag with all of her favorite rock and roll albums inside of it. She is devastated! A young man Drew Boley (Diego Boneta) witnessed her misfortune and he offers to help her. He also has dreams of making it big in the world of rock & roll! He helps her get a job at one of the hottest clubs on the so called "strip" in Los Angeles where he works. The owner Dennis Dupree (Alec Baldwin) reluctantly allows her to waitress.
 When the mega-rock band "Arsenal" with lead singer Stacee Jaxx (Tom Cruise) roll into the place to play, everything goes crazy.
Stacy Jaxx is the hottest rocker of his time! He suffers from entitlement syndrome. I believe that he is suppose to be like Bret Michaels, the lead singer from the 80's rock group, "Poison". Everybody is at his beck and call. Women throw themselves at him left and right, everyone wants a piece of the action when it comes to Stacee Jaxx. Tom Cruise did all of his own acting and singing, and he nailed it! He was great!
This is basically the story of the small-town girl who goes to the big city to chase her dreams, meets the boy and falls in love. There are twists and turns and ups and downs for Sherrie. Drew believes that Sherrie has cheated on him with the infamous Stacie Jaxx and he is devastated and turns his back on her. He has an agent who signs him and tries to turn him into a boy-band group. She finds herself desperate and ends up as a waitress in a strip club where she eventually becomes a dancer.
They finally run into each other and work things out.
I really ended up enjoying this movie. The music was great and most of the people in the audience were singing and clapping and thoroughly enjoying this story! They featured so many of the great songs from the 80's that it was really just a lot of fun. I was very impressed that all of the actors who sang, did all of their own singing. Julianne Hough was adorable as Sherrie, and Diego Boneta was a sweet-heart as Drew!
This movie is rated PG-13. I say this is a very hard PG-13! There was a lot of alcohol and drugs, sexuality, profanity, strip-club sequences, and a homosexual kissing scene too. Parents be advised, this is a very realistic look into the hard-core world of rock and roll and everything that it involves.I would be uncomfortable with anyone under the age of 17 seeing this movie. If you love the music from the 80's rock and roll genre, you will probably enjoy this movie.
I am giving "Rock Of Ages" two bags of popcorn!

Snow White and The Hunstman

PG-13
Starring: Charlize Theron, Kristen Stewart, Chris Hemsworth and Sam Spruell
Running Time: 2 Hours and 7 Minutes

This a twist on the story of "Snow White and The Huntsman". It started out as a"Once Upon A Time" story and followed the fairytale, but it was really the original story on steroids. The Queen Ravenna (Charlize Theron) was the wicked and evil stepmother. She was very beautiful and self-absorbed! She seized power over the Kingdom when she married and murdered the King the day after she met him. She was as wicked and diabolical as you could possibly imagine. She was obsessed with her own beauty and her own youth. She immediately had Snow White captured and locked up alone in a dungeon.
 Her brother Finn (Sam Spruell) was her companion in crime, and they had a very creepy relationship. Every day she would confront her golden magic mirror and ask the same question: "who is fairest of them all"? As always, it would reply that "she was" until, Snow White (Kristen Stewart)  had come of age and had become more beautiful than her! Her mission was to have Snow White  brought to her where she would remove her heart and eat it! This would bring her eternal beauty and life according to the magic mirror.
The Queen sent her deranged brother Finn to go and summon Snow White. He was instructed to bring her back to the Queen. That was a very strange and uncomfortable scene, the audience couldn't tell if he was going to seduce her or harm her, but fortunately Snow White was powerful and she was able to escape!
The Queen then summoned the Huntsman (Chris Hemsworth) to go and find the beautiful princess. She promised him she would bring his deceased wife for whom he was grieving, back to life if he would find and return Snow White back to her safe and alive.
Once Snow White was outside of the castle, she became lost in the dark and evil  forest. There she was captured by the Hunstman and they reluctantly became friends. They encountered the dwarfs and the story goes on from there.
 Snow White becomes a powerful young lady who is able to take care of herself. When she finally goes back to the castle and encounters the Queen Ravenna, a battle ensues and Snow White is victorious!
This is a very dramatic and dark movie, with a plethora of special effects and unusual creatures. Some are scary and awful, and some are sweet and magical. The battle scenes are very intense and  difficult to watch! There was also a strange scene where the Queen took a milk bath and her weird brother Finn watched her get into the tub! Charlize Theron was very convincing as the evil Stepmother/Queen, she did a great job!
This is definitely not a happy, feel good version of "Snow White". If your looking for an uplifting and enlightening story, I say stick to the original Disney version! I realize that this movie is going to be very enticing for young women and girls, but parents be warned it is PG-13 and I think only youth about fourteen and older are ready for this movie.
I am giving " Snow White And The Huntsman" two and a half bags of popcorn!