Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles

My View:  Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (2014) PG-13 Shredder and his evil gang have taken over New York City, that is until a certain group of four brothers rise up from the sewers.  Those brothers are the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles!  First, let me say that I have never seen a movie with more blatant product placement.  And, this movie should be called April O’Neil and the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles as Megan Fox, playing O’Neil, has as much screen time as the Turtles.  It’s a movie that takes forever to get going and seems to want to explain every little item in the history of the Ninja Turtles. There are a few good action sequences, and there are a few funny scenes, but it wasn’t enough for me to enjoy the film.  And I never want to see Megan Fox trying to act ever again.  My Rating: Cable  Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Website

My View:  Into the Storm (2014) PG-13 A group of storm chasers try to follow the storm of a lifetime.  While the residents of Silverton try to take shelter and survive, the storm chasers are out in the elements risking their lives to document this Category 6 storm.  The dialogue is bad, and the acting is mediocre, but that’s not why you see one on these films. It’s all about the special effects, and this movie has them!  Who doesn’t want to see a tornado made of fire next to a church or cars flying into the air like they are pieces of paper?  This is a fun ride that doesn’t take itself too seriously and full of exciting action sequences almost from the start.  My Rating: Bargain Matinee   Into the Storm Website

Indiefest:  Magic in the Moonlight (2014) PG-13 A stuffy English magician (Colin Firth) is brought in to expose a clairvoyant (Emma Stone) who has worked her way into the good graces of a very wealthy family. This should have been a better movie with this cast.  While Firth and Stone have good chemistry on-screen, their age difference, combined with the fact that it’s a Woody Allen film, make their romance a little creepy.  The film starts off with a bang, showing Firth, the magician, working on-stage during a performance, but the film goes downhill once it gets to the south of France, where Firth is trying to prove that Stone’s character is a fraud. The film is rarely funny and wastes the cast’s talents. My Rating: Bargain Matinee   Magic in the Moonlight Website

Indiefest:  The Hundred-Foot Journey (2014) PG Hassan (Manish Dayai) and his family have moved to France from India to open a restaurant.  Unfortunately, they have opened their restaurant right across the road from Madame Mallory’s (Helen Mirren) fine French establishment.  Now it is a battle between the two restaurants, and Madame Mallory is one tough chef!  I liked the first two-thirds of the film, especially the early scenes where the young Hassan is learning how to cook. While Helen Mirren is enjoyable as the cranky Madame Mallory, the role isn’t up to her lofty standards.  I did like the love interest for Hassan, and Marguerite, played by Charlotte Le Bon, but the film feels flat and weak.  Also, I never quite felt the passion for the food, like I did when I watched the much better Chef (2014).  It’s not a bad film, just one without a lot of substance.  My Rating:  Bargain Matinee  The Hundred-Foot Website

Indiefest:  Mood Indigo  (2014)  Colin (Romain Duris) is a wealthy bachelor who likes to invent things.  He is unlucky in love until he meets Chole (Audrey Tautou), and they soon fall in love.  Their romance is threatened when Chole develops a mysterious illness, caused by a flower growing in her lungs.  Now he fights to discover how to cure Chole.  The start of this film is an amazing treat to watch as it is filled with stop motion animation.  Colin’s apartment is piled with his inventions, most of which interact with him on a daily basis, such as a door alarm that crawls down the wall like a bug.  But the film becomes an unhappy mess as it goes along, getting darker and darker, ruining what was a light-hearted romance.  My Rating: Bargain Matinee  Mood Indigo Website

Forgotten Film:  The Duelists  1977)  Two French officers, during Napoleonic times, repeatedly duel through the years as the brash Ferraud (Harvey Keitel) seeks justice through a duel with the noble D/Hubert (Keith Carradine).  This intriguing film, directed by Tony Scott, is a fascinating look at how someone can be obsessed with revenge, so much so that he forgets what the original insult was. The editing and the performance of Keitel are what makes this film so interesting to watch.  My Rating: Bargain Matinee  The Duelists Website

Weird Credits: From the credits of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: stunt pre-viz

Coming Soon to a Theatre Near You:  Left Behind (2014)  Millions of people have vanished, and a small group of survivors are left behind to figure out what happened.  Can we have a telethon or Kickstarter campaign to raise money for Nicolas Cage so he can stop making movies for awhile?  Left Behind Website

Until Next Time!