Dark Shadows

PG-13
Starring: Johnny Depp, Michelle Pfeiffer, Helena Bonham Carter, Eva Green and Alice Cooper
Running Time: 1 Hour and 53 Minutes

This is the movie that is directed by Tim Burton and pairs he and Johnny Depp together again for a Gothic reprisal of the 1960's TV Soap Opera, "Dark Shadows".
I am going to date myself by admitting that I WAS a die-hard "Dark Shadows" fan back when it aired on TV.  It has been so many years since the TV version aired that it was hard to remember the details of the earlier soap opera.
I was really excited to see the Tim Burton version and Johnny Depp was a lot of fun as the resurrected "Barnabas Collins".  Even though this is considered a horror film I found it to be more of a comedy and a fun escape movie. It follows loosely along with the original series with the Collins family re-locating to Collinsport, Maine from England with their son, Barnabas Collins.
Barnabas meets a young witch named "Angelique Bouchard",  who falls desperately in love with him and he is already in love with another young lady named "Josette DuPres". After numerous times of trying every way she can to steal his affection, including an acrobatic love-making scene. Angelique becomes extremely frustrated and casts a spell on him and turns him into a Vampire! She then locks him up in a coffin for eternity, until he is released two hundred years later when construction workers at a construction site dig up his grave! Then all pandemonium begins!
This is just a fun spin-off of the original series albeit Tim Burton/Johnny Depp style. For the real "Dark Shadows" die-hards, this is not going to be exactly as they had hoped. It is definitely a 2012 style versus the 1966 version.
Parents be advised this is PG-13 for a lot of sexuality, and some profanity. I would recommend it for the fourteen and older crowd.
I am giving "Dark Shadows" three bags of popcorn!

The Avengers

PG-13
Starring: Robert Downey Jr., Chris Hemsworth, Chris Evans, Jeremy Renner, Mark Ruffalo, Scarlett Johansson, Clark Gregg, Samuel L. Jackson, Tom Hiddleston, Stellan Skarsgard and Gwyneth Paltrow.
Running Time: 2 Hours and 22 Minutes

This is the highly anticipated movie that all of the people who follow: Iron Man, The Hulk, Captain America, The Black Widow, Thor and the evil Loki from the movies and the comic book series have been dying to see! 
This movie did not disappoint! It totally lived up to all of the hype that surrounded it!
It pits the good against the bad, and how the great superheroes combine and pull together to thwart off the very evil Loki and the alien invasion!
The superheroes were so much fun and it was great to see their individual personalities shine through and how well the chemistry worked between them when they came together as a force to overcome all of the evil!
Robert Downey Jr. reprised his roll as the always entertaining "Iron Man", Chris Hemsworth returned as "Thor", Mark Ruffalo was awesome as "The Hulk", Chris Evans returns as "Captain America" and Scalett Johansson stars as "The Black Widow". On the other hand you have Tom Hiddleston who did an outstanding job portraying the King of evil as "Loki"!
This movie falls into the action/adventure category and there was a ton of action and great special effects that kept you on the edge of your seat.
This movie receives its PG-13 rating for the extreme action and some sequences that were quite intense from the mean, cruel and heartless Loki! Parents be advised that some scenes might be too intense for younger children.
I thoroughly enjoyed this movie and found it to be very entertaining.
I am giving " The Avengers" four bags of popcorn!

The Hunger Games

PG-13
Starring: Jennifer Lawrence, Liam Hemsworth, Josh Hutcherson, Donald Sutherland, Elizabeth Banks, Lenny Kravitz, Woody Harrelson, Stanley Tucci, Wes Bentley, Toby Jones, Jack Quaid and Amandla Stenberg
2 Hours and 22 Minutes

The Hunger Games take place somewhere in the future in the totalitarian North American nation of Panem. The people of Panem have a great life, they live in extreme wealth and have very futuristic high tech lifestyles. There apparently had been a rebellion of some sort in the past and the people of Panem have jurisdiction over the people of the 12 outlying districts. The district people have very little to eat and they live in poverty. The districts are required to send two teenagers between the ages of 12 and 18, both a boy and a girl to compete in "The Hunger Games" each year. These young people are called "Tributes" and it is considered to be and honor and an accolade according to the Panem people.
The Hunger Games only have one winner and that person is heralded as a "hero" to the people of Panem! Just one problem with this-these youngsters battle for survival, food and ultimately, their lives!!! They begin to turn on each other and some join together to form packs. This is a very disturbing story!
The main character is 16 year old Katniss Everdeen (Jennifer Lawrence) who volunteered to be a tribute after her younger sister had been chosen. Effie Trinket (Elizabeth Banks) a strange looking woman from Panem pulls their names out of a glass bowl. Katniss could not bear to see her sweet gentle younger sister taken away as a tribute. Katniss is a very strong-willed, confident young lady who is fiercely independent and she is amazing with a bow and arrow. She is the very first tribute ever who volunteered for The Hunger Games. That in itself had set her apart from the others.
Also in her district is the young man named Peeta Mellark (Josh Hutcherson) who was chosen. He was terrified! They had encountered each other briefly once before.
They were brought up on the stage before all of their district people and then allowed a couple of minutes with their family members to say good-bye and then quickly whisked away with Effie Trinket on an ultra high-speed train to Panem.
When they arrive at Panem, they are overwhelmed at the city and the incredible lifestyle they encounter, it was completely foreign to them. They are introduced to the people in charge of The Hunger Games and eventually paraded around with the other tributes before all of the nation of Panem.
After being counseled by an alcoholic former winner, Haymitch Abernathy (Woody Harrelson) of The Hunger Games, they are released into the wild to fend for themselves! That is when the bloodbath begins!
All of this is being televised for the entire nation of Panem to watch, a reality show for their barbaric entertainment. They have a computerized scale where they can interject fireballs at the tributes and they also make giant wolf/hippopotamus looking creatures to attack them as well. She also encounters some horrible deadly wasps. There is no end to their corrupt ideas of how to torture these young victims thrown into this awful situation!!! It reminded me of the old Roman Gladiators. They have a loud speaker where they give them instructions and the also have a cannon go off each time a tribute dies.
Young Katniss is determined to fend everything off. She finally teams up with Peeta Mellark from her district after they announce they have decided to change the rules and allow for two tributes to win as long as they are from the same district. Which they later rescind. They become close and rely on each other for survival.
I found this movie to be very disturbing and dark and yet it was riveting to watch the story play out. I am giving a strong caution to parents on this movie! I think it would even be disturbing for young teens as well. I know they will all want to see it, especially if they have read the books by Suzanne Collins. I took my 24 year old daughter with me and she felt it was very dark too!
Please be advised that there is a lot of graphic violence and has some difficult situations to watch. What I found the most disturbing thing was that these people of Panem had no compassion whatsoever for these children. They were cavalier and they acted as if they were simply game pieces on a game board there for their personal entertainment! "May the odds be forever in your favor"!!!
I am giving "The Hunger Games" two and a half bags of popcorn!

John Carter

PG-13
Starring: Taylor Kitsch and Lynn Collins
2 Hours and 12 Minutes

John Carter has finally arrived! I'm sure many in Utah know that this was a movie shot here in Utah, Southern Utah to be exact.
I had no idea what to expect from this movie after seeing all of the trailers and the TV commercials. This movie is based on the books written by Edgar Rice Burroughs, the John Carter: Adventures on Mars series.
John Carter (Taylor Kitsch) is a confederate Army veteran who has lost his family and does not want to comply with the Army officers. He only wants to go to Arizona and find gold in a special cave.
When he finds the cave along with his superior, he has a strange encounter with a different kind of being!
He finds himself transported to the planet Mars!!!
There he has no gravity and he can jump up in the air very high. He encounters many strange and unique beings and because he can jump he is hailed as somewhat of a hero to them. He is especially looked up to by a cute little character named Woola that is extremely loyal to him, such as a dog is to it's owner.
He then encounters the beautiful princess Dejah Thoris (Lynn Collins) who is being forced to marry the enemy by her father and she turns to John Carter for help.
I found this to be an interesting movie but I also found it to be really jumpy and somewhat hard to follow. I got lost on several occasions but the special effects and and the characters were fun to watch and it reminds me a little bit of Star Wars.
I would recommend this movie for kids around 12 and older just because it is somewhat hard to follow.
I am giving " John Carter" two and a half bags of popcorn!

This Means War

PG-13
Starring: Reese Witherspoon, Chris Pine, Tom Hardy and Chelsea Handler
Running Time: 1 Hour and 38 Minutes

This story is spy pitted against spy. It is about two CIA operatives who work together and they fight international crime rings to help keep the world a safer place.
It stars FDR (Chris Pine) and Tuck (Tom Hardy) as the two spies. Tuck is divorced from his wife (because of his double life) they have one son and he is looking for love. He reluctantly decides to try online dating. FDR is a ladies man and has no interest in any long term relationships or commitments.
When Tuck arranges to meet a young lady through online dating, he meets up with Lauren (Reese Witherspoon). She was also reluctant to meet men through online dating and after her good friend Trish (Chelsea Handler) encourages her to do it, she signs up. She meets up with Tuck for a short date and then directly after runs into FDR at the video store where he notices her and won't take no for an answer when he wants to take her out. She finds herself going from dating no one after a break-up with a long-term boyfriend to dating two really incredible guys.
She has a fun job as a consumer tester in Los Angeles, testing new products for companies before they are released to the public.
When the two spies find out they are both interested in the same young lady, they try to out do each other with their dates and the time they both spend with her. She on the other hand has no idea that they know each other. She finds herself in a real dilemma. She is starting to fall for both of them!
Chelsea Handler was great as the friend married with children and living vicariously through Lauren's life giving her advice on the two guys and how to handle her relationships.
I really enjoyed this movie. It was just a lot of fun and a good escape movie. They had some fun action scenes with the spy sequences and the romance was fun and uplifting.
Parents be advised that there were some sexual innuendos, some profanity and adult humor. I would recommend this movie for youth 13 and older.
I am giving " This Means War" three bags of popcorn!

The Vow

PG-13
Starring: Channing Tatum, Rachel McAdams, Jessica Lange and Sam Neill
1 Hour and 44 Minutes

This is a movie inspired by the true story of Kim & Krickett Carpenter.
It is about a young married couple who were married in an impromptu wedding ceremony that they performed themselves with their close friends. They had both written their wedding vows on menus from their favorite restaurant. They got into a car accident on a cold snowy night in Chicago when they were hit by a snow-plow. Paige (Rachel McAdams) is thrown through the windshield after she removes her seat belt and suffers traumatic brain injury. After coming out of a coma, she has amnesia and has absolutely no memory of her life with Leo (Channing Tatum).
Her memory goes right back to her life prior to Leo.
She comes from a wealthy family and she had a fiance and was attending Law School. Her family shows up at the hospital and wants to take her back to live with them so they can help nurse her back to health. As time goes by they try to get her to leave Leo and resume her former life. She decides to take their advice and go back to law school.
Leo is fighting for every second he can find to help her to regain her memory and the life they shared together. He struggles to keep his work going and figure out what he can do to win her back.
While she was with Leo she was a sculptor and had been commissioned for work for some businesses in Chicago. She was much more of a free-spirit with Leo.
After finding out that her father had had an affair with a friend of hers, she confronts her mother to find out what had happened to cause the affair.

After struggling to put her past back together, she finally comes back to Leo at the end of the movie and it looks as though they are going to try and make a go of it.
This movie is rated PG-13 for some sexual references, infidelity and Channing Tatum appearing nude from the back-side for a bit.
I found this movie to be way too cheesy and predictable. It wasn't the story that I had hoped for.
I was disappointed and let down with the story. I would recommend this movie for youth 13 and older.
I am giving " The Vow" two bags of popcorn!

Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close

Pg-13
Starring: Thomas Horn, Tom Hanks and Sandra Bullock
2 Hours and 9 Minutes

This movie is loosely based on the 2005 novel of the same name by Johnathan Safran Foer.
I knew when I went to see this movie that it was going to be a tough movie to watch. The sensitivities to the 9-11 tragedy and the impact it has had on all of our lives, all of the changes that we have had to endure and just the heartache of it all.
This is the story of a young boy named Oskar (Thomas Horn) who has lost his loving father Thomas (Tom Hanks) whom he idolizes and he is extremely close to in one of The World Trade centers that was decimated on 9-11.
Oskar is haunted by several phone calls that his father leaves on the message machine reassuring his family that he will be okay. His father has always played a huge part in his life and has played with him and challenged him with puzzles and games to entertain him. He is an only child and after his fathers death he is left alone to live with his mother Linda (Sandra Bullock). His paternal grandmother lives in the building across the street from him and he is somewhat close to her as well. She has a man living with her who never speaks and keeps to himself. He later finds out that he is his grandfather with a sad history of his own.
Young Oskar is left heartbroken and devastated after losing his father! He is confused and lost at the prospect of never having his father in his life again. He has rage and anger and he is at a loss of being consoled by anyone because of his extreme heartache!
He has a cold and uncaring relationship with his sweet mother who is dealing with her own heartache.
A year after his death, Oskar finally goes into his fathers closet where everything is just the same as it was when he was still alive. He is hoping, searching for some kind of clue to help him solve the mystery of where his father is now. He reaches up on a high shelf and knocks down a blue vase that breaks, inside of the vase was a small envelope with a key and a paper with the name "Black" on it.
He maps out and devises a plan to go and search every household with the name "Black" in all of New York. He is trying desperately to find the lock that fits "the key" that was left in the envelope that he found.
He is absolutely obsessed with finding the right fit for the key! He takes a lot of risks and it proves to be somewhat scary. He befriends his grandfather who helps him until he can't take it anymore and leaves Oskar. He is saddened again at losing his grandfather but continues his search.
He finally contacts a woman whom he had previously visited and she helps him to find the man who has the lock for his key. He finally has found the acceptance and the peace that he needs to go on with the rest of his young life!
This was a riveting movie! It was especially close to my heart. I literally felt his heartache and his passion, his rage and his anger, I lost my own father when I was just twelve years old so I could totally relate to young Oskars deep pain! The sadness of this movie really is that there are so many young children who have been left fatherless and motherless by our 9-11 tragedy!!!
Parents be advised that it is very emotional and Oskar gets very angry, he yells and screams he also drops the F-bomb. Young Thomas Horn does and amazing job playing Oskar. This deals with real serious heartache so I would recommend this for youth 10 and older.
I am giving "Extremely Loud And Incredibly Close" three and a half bags of popcorn!