Reviews by Joe

If you like high speed car chases in movies you are in for a treat. This movie features the longest car/truck high speed chases sequences that you have ever seen or are likely to see as well as some of the best. It is action packed and comes complete with explosions, tumbling cars and trucks and tons of spinning, twisting, tumbling human beings being crushed by trucks and any other motorized vehicles you can think of.
Tom Hardy is a different Mad Max but very competent to Gibson's Max who is mostly running on adrenaline to avenge his family's murders. Tom Hardy is just trying to stay alive in this one so his motivation is a little different but heck killing bad guys is killing bad guys, right?
Charlize Theron is superb in her role of saviour of others in order to gain redemption for the many demons she seems to be carrying around. Nicholas Hoult is fast becoming a fan favourite and he adds to his growing fandom with his role as Nux, a seriously demented nut job.
The only critique I'll give the movie is that I thought they could have made the villains worse than they are so that the audience would become more vested in the heroes. Having said that, it's a minor point as this movie is really all about the visuals and they are terrific. There are some scenes that are just surreal and need to be seen. In this way I thought it was much better than the original Mad Max movies.
Watch it if you like lot's of action and you'll love it.

I must admit that the beginning of this Stephen king novel was a tuff slog. It took me awhile and I almost discarded it as one of those that I tried and it just was not an interesting read. In retrospect one of my mistakes was that I took too long between the first and second part and forgot some of the characters and story lines and it took some time for it to come back. Some advice: if you are going to read this one don't wait many years between the two parts.
Having said that about 40 % of the way through it started to get interesting as the hatred for the Rennie character started to re-surface. If you watch Game of Throne, think "Joffrey Baratheon" but not as good maybe as "Joff" was in a class by himself. Rennie son also does a good job of taking after his dad as an object of the audiences' affection ( Don't you just love a great bad guy).
As I got deeper into the book and the plot thickened it became the true page turner that I'm used to from King and it only took days for the second half of the book as things built to a crescendo.
This is not necessarily the traditional King but it is a thoughtful King and certainly will make you think about the very big picture about life.
If you are looking for an enjoyable light hearted summer read you can't go wrong but of course you need to read part one to really enjoy this one.

First novel of the Myron Bolitar mystery series opened up with a bang as a number 1 best seller. This one is a page turner in the true sense of the word and once started you will want to quickly know what happens. Bolivar is a sports agent who deals with intrigue in the world of high priced coddled athletes who think they can do no wrong. The twist and turns might tell us otherwise or not?

It's been awhile since I have watched an animated movie but shame on me as Frozen is one of the best and most uplifting movies I've seen in quite awhile. People used to call animated movies children's movies but I'm in favor of removing that description as I'm sure it stops a lot of adults from watching these movies.

If you're a movie fan of any type make sure you watch this movie as you won't be disappointed. Romance, adventure,intrigue,outlandish landscapes,talking animals,etc. what more can you ask for? It was a lot of fun and it also is for the whole family.

I wish this would be required watching for individuals that have given up on ..... Anything. Maybe there is hope for the future.

A little gem of a movie that is enhanced by a strong performance from Geoffrey Rush as a exclusive art auctioneer. He has lived his life in a very methodical, clinical and fastidious fashion and has controlled everything that surrounds his life. Then he meets Claire who suffers from Agoraphobia and wishes to engage his services to liquidate her deceased parents estate and art collection.
This movie explores the art of falling in love in the most basic of terms. What do we give up? How do we change? Who do we become? Do we fall in love with a physical vision or the idea of a vision? Do we want to fix people when we enter in a relationship or are we content to take them as they are? Do we fall in love with who we want the person to be for our own purposes or truly fall in love for who they are?
Can there be such simple concepts as good and bad guys in relationships or are all people flawed to varying degrees? Are surface truths and friendships to be counted upon or are they all an illusion that over time will prove worthless?
You will have to watch the movie in order to answer some of these questions within the context of this story but we might be able to relate to stories within our own lives? One of the elements of good movie direction does the translation from the general in a movie to the specific in our lives and that's why I consider this Giuseppe Tornatore directed movie a fairly special one.
Sylvia Hoeks as Claire turns in a dynamic and believable performance which enhances the denouement when the story comes to a climax and we are left to understand how everything is knitted together.

Ed Bloom Senior (Albert Finney)is on his dying bed in his last few days and his son comes back to be with him for his final journey. They haven't gotten along for a long time and he (Billy Crudup) seeks to understand his father's life choices through the final stories Ed Senior tells him on his death bed.
It's a simple story that will not fail to touch the hearts of most you that will watch it.
Choices: Do we do what we want or what we must? Do we satisfy our sense of adventure or do we crush it because it doesn't fullfill someone else's needs? Do we sit and explain all our actions to our loved ones or do we hope that their love for us will help them understand?
For the men out there, growing up did you get along with your dad? I sure know I didn't. We were never on the same page. Magically as I got older the book seemed to change and in my mid twenties I started to undertand my dad and why he did the things he did.
The movie did touch me emotionly as my own dad is now dying and I wish I had taken the time to know him better and wish we hadn't had so many disagreements.
"Big Fish" sums up a lot of father-son relationships and it's worth seeing if you haven't already done so.

The only good thing that I can say about this movie is that one of my favourite beauties, Keira Knightly, is in it. I thought it had promise as the director was Tony Scott but it disappointed nevertheless. The story is told in small micro-flashbacks but it unfolds in a sluggish, somewhat unbelievable fashion.
Although purported to be a true story about a model who has everything and decides she needs excitement in her life so she decides that she wants to be a bounty hunter. So rather than fighting over who's not going to have that last saltine before the catwalk she wants to hunt down armed hardened criminals who would rather shoot first and ask questions later.
Finally if you hate life cliches there's her first encounter with criminals accompanied by her two partners and they walk into a trap where about 10-15 guys with guns drawn greet them as they enter looking for their quarry. She gets them out of the jam by giving their leader a lap dance, really, I couldn't make this up. :)

A beautiful little well acted movie about teenagers coming of age when you are not part of the in crowd. This is told from a perspective of a freshman in high school who has no friends and prospects of making any are very dim. He is also recovering from the death of his closest and only friend the year before. There's a bit of a traumatic back story that we don't know too much about as the main character (Charles) gets flashbacks throughout the movie and their emotionally devastating meaning is revealed at the end of the movie.
A must see for anyone that went through high school with the added challenges of not having friends and being lonely.
Due to circumstances I personally had to switch high school 3 times and was a quiet person by nature so I can definitely relate although it was some time ago. Watching a movie like this makes it feel like it was yesterday.
An added perc is there's some real good music throughout the movie.

Denzel Washington does a great job of portraying the lead detective charged with negotiating with bank robbers holding a large group of hostages who hide their true intended targets in ambiguity so as to keep the police off balance.
The hostage takers' actions appear on the surface to be different than the interpretation that the police initially ascribe to them. The situation is further complicated by the fact that the hostages are ordered to undress and put on clothes and masks that make them indistinguishable from the criminals.
Clive Owen does a good job as the criminal master mind although we don't get to see his face much as he is masked in most sequences.
If you're in the mood for a good movie about a bank heist that isn't totally predictable, I would recommend seeing this one as it is quite enjoyable if this is your cup of tea.