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Robocop (2014), PG-13, 3 stars

Joel Kinnaman as RoboCop in action. The original ROBOCOP movie was a brutally violent and funny film that depicted a poor city of Detroit with no hope and taken over by goons. I hate to admit it but Detroit is merely the same in contrast to the movie with the city filing bankruptcy and companies doing poor business. But, anyway, I kind of liked the movie despite the over-the-top violence but I enjoyed the humor behind consumerism, blood squibs and the police force. I got the spoof. So, based on the advertisements and marketing, I broke my rule of going into the theatre with a closed mind. However, to my surprise, I enjoyed this very different version of the ROBOCOP remake. The movie opens with a television show hosted by Pat Novak (Samuel L. Jackson) discussing that every country except the United States has high-profile security with droids from a multinational business called OmniCorp. The audience witnesses suicide bombers successfully completing their mission by killing the d...

Pompeii (2014), PG-13, 1.5 stars

Kit Harrington as Milo. This story is rather familiar, as I learned this event from school as a teenager. The event was heartily impacting and devastating as I recollect my geographical memory that Pompeii was near the volcano called Mount Vesuvius. The eruption occurred in 79 AD as the volcano blasted with specks and heavy "asteroids" of hot magma and ash. It is one of the most cataclysmic surprises in philosophical and Latin history. Unfortunately, the director is sharply focused on the spectacular visual effects and cheesy melodrama that it is basically a philosophical "Pearl Harbor". The movie starts personally with a young boy named Milo witnessing the horror and chaos by the Romans invading his village and killing his mother and father. The evil Senator Corvus (Kiefer Sutherland) leads the attack and sees Milo's anguish and grief in front of him and orders him and the villagers to be killed. The Romans pile the bodies and Milo is believed to be dead,...

Oscar Predictions (Major Categories)

Well, the Oscars are less than two weeks away and alas, I've made my predictions on who is going to win this year. I have to say this has been one of the easiest years to predict in terms of who deservedly should win. So here are my predictions in the major categories in upper case letters: BEST PICTURE: American Hustle Captain Phillips Dallas Buyers Club Gravity Her Nebraska Philomena Twelve Years a Slave The Wolf of Wall Street MY PICK: TWELVE YEARS A SLAVE Should Win: Twelve Years a Slave Could Win: Gravity BEST DIRECTOR: David O. Russell (American Hustle) Alfonso Cuaron (Gravity) Alexander Payne (Nebraska) Steve McQueen (Twelve Years a Slave) Martin Scorsese (The Wolf of Wall Street) MY PICK: Alfonso Cuaron (Gravity) Should Win: Alfonso Cuaron (Gravity) Could Win: Steve McQueen (Twelve Years a Slave) BEST ACTOR: Christian Bale (American Hustle) Bruce Dern (Nebraska) Leonardo DiCaprio (The Wolf of Wall Street) Chiwetel Ejiofor (Twelve Year...

Endless Love (2014), PG-13, 1 star

Gabrielle Wilde and Alex Pettyfer swimming and a little more than that. What is love? It is a song, yes, but who can succinctly define love? Maybe, a therapist or a marriage counselor. However, anybody who can define love is not an expert because each person who knows what love is explored it for themselves. Teenage love has been displayed so many times on-screen that now every story has become predictable. But, filmmakers try effortlessly to structure the whole story with different angles of the love story. For example, The Spectacular Now had an original story with realistic characters being in an awkward and huge predicament in terms of love. This movie, however, is totally the opposite. Jade Butterfield (Gabriella Wilde), an introverted high schooler, is graduating and she is going to attend to Brown University in the fall. And then from out of nowhere, David (Alex Pettyfer) notices her and is intrigued by her. David works as a valet at a restaurant as he observes her and her...

The Lego Movie (2014), PG, 4 stars

All of the Lego characters in one movie. LEGOs. One of the world's, if not the world's, leading lines in the toy industry. Many people will remember how enjoyable and entertaining the experience was to build an object with those little pieces of colored bricks. I first played with those toys as a little child and at first, there was no right or wrong way to build something. Legos are basically tools of imagination and creativity. Anybody can construct something vivid or bizarre. When a product is advertised on television, any kid would want to get their hands on a LEGO box and experience building a ship, boat, building or a character. The filmmakers worked effortlessly to construct their own movie with all these Legos. As a result, it sure paid off. The movie starts with Vitruvius (Morgan Freeman), a wizard protecting a super weapon from Lord Business (Will Ferrell), what a name for a villain, a company president of the Octan Corporation. Vitruvius sort of goes into this ...

The Best Movies to Watch on Valentine's Day

Ah, Valentine's Day. The one day where you want to express your true feelings to someone you love and do something special, I mean, anything special. However, how do you want to spend your Valentine's Day? Going out to dinner? Surprise the person with flowers, chocolate, or whatever? Relax and watch a movie? Well, the movies coming out of the week are unmemorable, so I recommend some others if both of y'all can relax and want to watch something. You Tube Link:  Caro the Movie Critic: My Favorite Romantic Comedies/Dramas (Not all of them will be in the video that is on the post because it takes too long to film and edit.) Casablanca Titanic The Notebook When Harry Met Sally... Moonstruck Notting Hill Pretty Woman An Officer and a Gentleman Crazy, Stupid Love. The Proposal Grease Breakfast at Tiffany's The Great Gatsby Annie Hall Silver Linings Playbook My Big Fat Greek Wedding Amelie My Best F...

The Monuments Men (2014), PG-13, 2 stars

The cast is "Ocean's 14", I mean, "The Monuments Men". Remember Inglourious Basterds ? Quentin Tarantino worked on an impossible project and turned the result into one hell of a movie, spoofing the World War II setting during the reign of Adolf Hitler with original characters, dialogue, and situations. In relevance to that picture, I knew that a filmmaker, producers, and a studio will create a movie similar to that sort of genre. However, this movie is based on a true story, I mean, a real true story. George Clooney, the director, writer, and producer, is back to helm behind the camera and act with his fellow cast mates. The result is a disappointing history lesson with a shaky balance of sentimentality, action, and actual lessons about art. In the middle of WWII in 1943, the Schutzstaffel or SS soldiers arrive at a museum and steal some art paintings. In Germany, a high-ranking SS official observes and praises the art made by Stahl (Justus von Dohnányi), ...