The Addams Family

PG
Starring the voices of: Oscar Issac, Charlize Theron, Chloe Grace Moretz, Finn Wolfhard, Nick Kroll, Snoop Dogg, Bette Miller and Allison Janney
Running Time: 1 Hour and 27 Minutes

This is an animated movie based on the original TV series that debuted way back in 1964.
There have also been many different spin-offs of
“The Addams Family” over the years including two movies, TV movies and several cartoons.
This movie takes place during the current times with all of the bells and whistles of our technology and social media complete with all of the creepy, kooky, mysterious, spooky and all together ooky details that
 “The Addams Family” is famous for.
The original cast is back reprising their unique roles.
It begins with Gomez (Oscar Issac) and Morticia (Charlize Theron) at their wedding ceremony and suddenly things get strange and they are whisked off and end up at their amazing “Addams Family” mansion. Then the story begins 13 years later with both Pugsley (Finn Wolfhard) and Wednesday (Chloe Grace Moretz) as children trying to fit in and establish friendships with the neighborhood kids.
Pugsley is busy embarking on achieving his Barmitzvah-type initiation while he would rather be shooting off bombs. His parents have invited all of their unusual relatives to their home to witness Pugsley’s big event.
Also in the mix is a new character, Margaux Needler (Allison Janney) who is a busy body real estate developer who is suspicious of “The Addams Family”  and is not at all happy with their lifestyle.
It was fun to see all of the original details brought back to life including the characters, their lifestyle, music, and just the overall resurrection of the series that I loved so much as a child.
The animation and details were a lot of fun.
I think children and adults alike will enjoy this fun movie and just in time for Halloween.
Parents be advised: This movie is rated PG. I didn’t find anything objectionable it just has a more contemporary and modern feeling with dark overtones.
I am giving “The Addams Family” two bags of popcorn.

Out Of Liberty

PG
Starring: Jasen Wade, Brandon Ray Olive, Casey Elliott, Corbin Allred, Adam Johnson, Danny James, Larry Bagby, Brock Roberts, Shawn Stevens and Travis Farris
Running Time: 1Hour and 51 Minutes

I am so late getting this review up, I was finally able to go and see it. I was unable to attend the sneak screening. This movie was released back on September 13th. Let me start by explaining that The Director of this movie Mr. Garrett Batty, grew up in the house right next door to me and is the son of my dear friend Sheryl.
To those of you who are not familiar with Garrett, he is also the writer and director of both of these spectacular movies; “The Saratov Approach” and “Freetown”.
They were both such great and inspiring movies! I thoroughly enjoyed both of them.
“Out Of Liberty”, is based on factual events that took place in 1839 over the course of 6 months.
This movie is kind of a Western style of movie that reminded me of an old jail-break movie from the past.
It begins with Joseph Smith (Brandon Ray Olive) and several other Church leaders of
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints being held captive in The Liberty jail in Liberty, Missouri.
They are held in the cold and dreary basement in freezing and filthy conditions without any privacy. They only have a bucket to use for a toilet and are given very little food to eat. A very miserable situation!
They are being held because they had requested that The Militia assist them after they had received an extermination order to leave Missouri. The Militia did assist them and in all of the uproar with the mob mentality, a man was unfortunately killed. The local people accuse Joseph Smith and his fellow church members of killing him and demand that they be locked up and tried for his murder.
The jailer, Samuel Tillery (Jasen Wade) played a key role in keeping the men safe and alive. He had a genuinely good heart and took sympathy upon the men.
I found this movie to be riveting and captivating, I was on the edge of my seat with intrigue! It really held my attention. I honestly found it to be very similar to today’s mindset with a lot of people in our country.
I think all of the actors did a really great job portraying their characters, they made it very believable and realistic!
Garrett Batty has done an outstanding job on this movie and he should be very proud of his hard work!
Parents be advised: This movie is rated PG. I think that this movie is appropriate for children ages eight and older because of the graphic and realistic conditions that the men endure and the harshness of the story matter. There was NO swearing or cursing.
I am giving “ Out Of Liberty” four bags of popcorn.

 

SPIDER-MAN: Far From Home

PG-13
Starring: Tom Holland, Zendaya, Jake Gyllenhaal, Samuel L. Jackson, Marisa Tomei, John Favreau and Jacob Batalon
Running Time: 2Hours and 9 Minutes

After such a momentous ending to the much anticipated end all be all “Avengers: Endgame” this past April, everyone was holding on for more great Marvel adventure with our beloved Spider-Man in “Spider-Man: Far From Home”, and boy oh boy did it deliver! Such a great, fun and entertaining movie.
Tom Holland delivers the goods as usual doubling as: Peter Parker/Spider-Man as a little more mature Peter as he departs for a much anticipated dream vacation to Europe with his High School group and best friend Ned Leeds (Jacob Batalon). Peter has a mad crush on his fellow student MJ (Zendaya) who is also on the vacation.
 He is trying to get her attention without being overly-obvious. Ned keeps reassuring Peter that they are going to have a blast on this vacation and just be “American bachelors in Europe”. However, Ned starts a relationship with a young lady named Betty Brant (Angourie Rice) immediately, debunking the whole “American bachelors in Europe” theory leaving Peter anxious to pursue MJ, as a fellow student is alreading trying to start a relationship with her.
As they arrive in Venice,  things seem out of sorts and suddenly something sinister occurs in the beautiful canal system with the water being taken over by a very strange force of evil!
Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson) makes a first appearance before Peter and informs him that he needs him to step up, put some clothes on and go for a ride with him because, Spider-Man has a job to do!
All evil is about to explode when he encounters “Mysterio”/Quentin Beck (Jake Gyllenhaal) and Spider-Man finds he is no longer on his dream vacation to explore and have fun but to get to work and help save the world from terror and evil as an epic battle takes place on the famous Tower Bridge of London.
This movie has all kinds of twists and turns that will keep you on the edge of your seat and highly entertained! I thoroughly enjoyed this movie. Not only did it have drama it also had a lot of humor too. Tom Holland does an outstanding job as both Peter Parker dealing with the turmoils of the teenage years and first loves and also as the awesome “ Spider-Man”!
Just a great movie and even better if you are still agonizing over the finality of “Avengers: Endgame”.
Be sure and stay after the credits for some fun and informative scenes.
Parents be advised: This movie is rated PG-13. I would recommend this movie for children ages 11 and over. There is a large scary monster character who is very powerful and destructive! There is also some profanity including “what the f-bomb” that is cut off. Just teenagers trying to be tough guys through their language.
I am giving “Spider-Man: Far From Home” four bags of popcorn.

Yesterday

PG-13
Starring: Himesh Patel, Lily James, Ed Sheeran, Kate McKinnon, Meera Syal, Sanjeev Bhaskar, Karma Sood and Harry Mitchell
Running Time: 1Hour and 56 Minutes

What a totally refreshing surprise this movie is! Jack Malik (Himesh Patel) is a young and very poor musician living in London. He works several small gigs with just a few spectators who show up to see him. He has a very good and faithful friend named Ellie (Lily James) who is devoted to him and encourages him to continue to chase after his dream of becoming a famous musician!
One night after finishing his show he was riding his bicycle home when there is some kind of cataclysmic event for a short time that causes the electricity to go out all across the entire world! Completely pitch dark everywhere! Jack collides with a bus and is injured. He ends up in the hospital for several days and also gets several of his teeth knocked out. Once he is well enough to leave the hospital, his ever faithful friend Ellie is there to drive him home. He gets better quickly and back on his feet again. One night he decides to play some of The Beatles songs, but no one seems to remember any of The Beatles music! He is dumbfound, he googles The Beatles and finds there is NO history or any mention of them at all! He is confused and finds the mystery getting deeper. It seems when the power went out that all of the people lost any memory of The Beatles completely!
He becomes very popular very quickly performing many of The Beatles legendary songs.
 The infamous Ed Sheeran shows up at his home where he lives with his parents and offers him to be his opening act. Suddenly he is wanted all over the world for his incredible music ability and is summoned by a huge musical recording empire in Los Angeles headed by Debra (Kate McKinnon). She is desperate to sign him and get the rights to all of his music and talent. Jack is so naive and innocent in this huge new world that he finds himself thrust into that he is completely overwhelmed.
He is becoming legendary and still questions those around him about their memory of The Beatles and they constantly reassure him they have no knowledge of the infamous group.
He is growing further apart from his beloved Ellie and she starts to become involved with Nick (Harry Mitchell) the first recording manager he began with. He knows he has to win Ellie back and proclaim his love for her!
I enjoyed this wonderful and happy movie so much, it was just fun and entertaining. A happy go lucky little movie that will brighten your spirits.
Parents be advised: This movie is rated PG-13. I would recommend it for children over the age of 10 just because of the story content. I didn’t really find anything objectionable in this movie other than
Kate McKinnon dropped one F-bomb that you really couldn’t make out very easily. Plus there was one bedroom scene but it was pretty mild and ended abruptly.
I am giving “Yesterday” four bags of popcorn.

Toy Story 4

G
Starring the voices of: Tom Hanks, Tim Allen, Annie Potts, Tony Hale, Christina Hendricks, Keanu Reeves, Madeleine McGraw and Carl Weathers and a lot more!
Running Time: 1 Hour and 40 Minutes

With this Pixar blockbuster franchise, anything could happen. I really did not have my expectations too high because “Toy Story 3” was hard enough to watch with Andy growing up and going off to college. My younger son grew up along with Andy, loving these movies and they are very sentimental to us.
It’s hard for me to believe that the “Toy Story” franchise has been a part of our world since 1995.
“Toy Story” was released in 1995 with “Toy Story 2” in 1999, “Toy Story 3” in 2010 and now nine years later we have “Toy Story 4”, this precious little gem of a movie that will no doubt steal your heart! Where does the time go?
I was immediately reeled into this story hook, line and sinker right from the beginning.
Little Bonnie (Madeleine McGraw) who inherited the toys from Andy, is going off to Kindergarten orientation.
Woody (Tom Hanks) panics and stows away in her backpack so she will have moral support if she needs it, but she makes her own new toy out of a spork with googly eyes and pipe cleaners whom she names “Forky”  (Tony Hale). Forky is now her favorite toy. Bonnie’s family takes a road trip before school begins. She takes Forky with her and Woody goes along too. Forky flees when he gets the chance and Woody follows him. When they walk by an antique shop, Woody sees Bo Peep’s lamp on display so they go inside. What they find inside the store was not quite what they were expecting!
They find a talking doll named “Gabby-Gabby” (Christina Hendricks) who I must say was a dead-ringer for a talking doll I use to own named Chatty Cathy by Mattel back in the day. There were also four really creepy marionette dummies that were very frightening. Woody and Forky were trying to get out but couldn’t.
There is a lot going on with all of the old toys, Buzz Lightyear (Tim Allen) , Bo Peep (Annie Potts) and the new ones too. Plus Bonnie’s family’s trip in their RV is hilarious. Add in Duke Caboom (Keanu Reeves) and Combat Carl (Carl Weathers) and it just all comes together.
I thought this was such a sweet and touching movie on so many levels. Great for children and adults as well, however I think the adults in the audience enjoyed it even more!
Obviously Disney’s Pixar animation is second to none and the graphics and CGI were stunning and incomparable!
Be sure and stay for the end of the credits for a few more laughs.
Parents be advised: This movie is rated G. I am actually kind of surprised by that because there were some intimidating parts in the antique store with Gabby-Gabby and even more so with the creepy dummy guys! All the children seemed to be fine but there were some very touching and realistic moments that caused a lot of emotion for some of the kids.
I am giving “Toy Story 4” four bags of popcorn!
   

Godzilla: King of the Monsters

PG 13
Starring: Kyle Chandler, Vera Farmiga, Millie Bobby Brown, Ken Watanabe, Ziyi Zhang and Bradley Whitford
Running Time: 2 Hours and 11 Minutes

So I went into this Godzilla movie with the mindset of the 2014 movie simply titled “Godzilla” which I really enjoyed.
This newly released movie, “Godzilla: King of the Monsters”, was a massive disappointment to me.
Godzilla movies are part of our history. They have been around since 1954.
Since I really did enjoy the last one, I was hoping this version would be equally as good but it fell short.
From the moment this movie started it was really weak. The story was confusing and the actress that played the lead female role, Dr. Emma Russell (Vera Farmiga) was a joke! She was almost a madman with her motivation. She and her estranged husband Mark Russell (Kyle Chandler) were separated
 (I could never tell if they were divorced?) and they have a teenaged daughter. They had lost a son and she was distraught about that. She and her daughter Madison (Millie Bobby Brown) were at the labs of Monarch, a cryptozoological agency that keeps an eye on the monsters of the world. when all chaos breaks out and they are taken hostage by Jonah Alan (Charles Dance) and his army. He takes them because of Dr. Russell’s amazing communication skills with all of the monsters who have been dormant since the 2014 Godzilla!
The monsters start to come into play and it is all just very vague. There are Mothra, Rodan and the new and pretty cool looking Ghidorah, a three headed fire-breathing dragon character.
They battle it out along with Godzilla but with the constant blue-colored screen it’s hard to really see what’s going on and I saw it in IMAX!
I hardly ever complain about a movie, but this one really is bad! I honestly feel like I wasted an eternal two hours of my life watching this Godzilla. (I have to be honest).
Parents be advised: This movie is rated PG-13. I would not recommend this movie for children under the age of 13. There are the four monsters that I mentioned battling it out and some profanity including the F-bomb.
I am giving “Godzilla: King of the Monsters” two bags of popcorn.

Aladdin

PG
Starring: Will Smith, Naomi Scott, Mena Massoud, Marian Kenzari, Navid Negahban, Nasim Pedrad and Billy Magnussen
Running Time: 2 Hours and 8 Minutes

WOW... what a spectacular extravaganza!!! “Aladdin” is a pure joy and a total feast for the senses! This is a genuine fairytale!
I can’t say enough good about this beautiful movie, incredible in every way.
They follow the story but intensified it just enough to keep you completely engrossed and wanting even more. I have seen the original 1992 animated Disney version with Robin Williams many times and I have also seen the live Broadway-style production which played at The Hyperion Theater at Disney’s California Adventures from 2003-2016 every single year,
 and I will confidently say... that this new live-action movie is astounding!!!
It is well worth the price of a ticket if you need a lift or an escape from your everyday life or just for a  wonderful time out.
All of the actors did a really great job! Will Smith as the genie was outstanding and hilarious!
He didn’t follow in Robin Williams footsteps, he used his own words and humor and even incorporated some his original musical talent into the role as well. I don’t think he could have been any better!
Mena Massoud plays Aladdin, the lifelong orphan pickpocket who lives on the streets and falls hopelessly in love with the beautiful Princess Jasmine (Naomi Scott) daughter of The Sultan of Agrahbah (Navid Negahban) after he runs into her face-to-face. He just has one evil obstacle...
Jafar (Marian Kenzari) who is boundly determined to take over as Sultan and marry Princess Jasmine too! He did a great and very convincing job!
This movie has it all: excitement, drama, action, love, fantastic original music and some songs with a new fun upbeat twist, amazing colorful costumes and some Indian Bollywood type dancing too. Just a lot of great visual effects and great fun too. The magic carpet ride was amazing! It is pure fantasy.
I really, really enjoyed this movie! I was totally impressed with all of it!
Parents be advised: This movie is rated PG. I think it is fine for all ages. Be aware that there are some intense scenes when Aladdin and his pet monkey Abu enter the Cave of Wonders to search for the magic lamp. Also a couple of other intense scenes whe Jafar tries to take over Agrabah and overthrow The Sultan! Overall I think most children will thoroughly enjoy “Aladdin”.
I am giving “ Aladdin” four bags of popcorn.