Playing with Fire (2019)

I was invited to take part in an exclusive screening event for John Cena's newest movie, Playing with Fire. Starring John Cena, Judy Greer, Keegan Michael Key, and John Leguizamo, this movie is a cute end of fall movie. The casting in this movie was excellent. John Cena plays a great no-nonsense smoke jumper which plays perfectly off Keegan Micahel Key's second-in-command who has the bulk of the humor in this movie. John Leguizamo's character felt quite underdeveloped to me with several quirks left unexplained. The writing was spot-on with what you'd expect from a Nickelodeon movie. The language that was used was no worse than would be adaptable for most 6-year-olds. There was one scene with a picture of a very scantily clad lady in the firehouse bunks that was played for humor, but I felt was quite unnecessary. Also, Mr. Cena spends quite some time showing off his upper body. Nothing out of the ordinary if you used to watch him on WWE, but maybe a little too much skin for a kids' movie. There was also a scene at the beginning of the movie that jokes about infidelity and I thought that was highly uncalled for. There are some scenes of peril so if your child gets scared easily or has an empathic heart, you might want to wait to catch it on Redbox. If you wanted to see Instant Family, but the language kept you away, Playing with Fire should be the next movie you check out! With lots of laughs and almost as much heart, Playing with Fire is a great movie to enjoy with your 2nd graders on up! Enjoy, and see you at the movies!

Overall, I'd give this movie 🔥🔥🔥
                                      out of 🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥

The Lion King (2019)

It's been 25 years since we first saw the spectacle that is The Lion King. Now, Disney is looking to its past to revive new live-action movies. This year, they've outdone themselves with live-action remakes of classic animated movies. Their latest is a remake of 1994's The Lion King. The original animated feature was one of the crowning achievements of Disney's mid-90s animated glory years. This incarnation is mostly a shot-for-shot, word-for-word remake of the original. If you haven't seen the original, stop reading now as there might be spoilers within. Jon Favreau did his best to recapture that magic with a more live-action look. I feel they came up short in recreating that magic. There were several times where Scar in particular looked like a poorly timed animatronic. The "Can't Wait to be King" musical number in the original was one of the most memorable sequences due to its engaging animation and fun song. This version completely pales in comparison. John Oliver flattens out the sequence and every time he had a line, it took me out of the movie. The visuals in the original naturally couldn't be recreated in this new version, but I feel it could have been more involved. Now, onto the "Be Prepared" sequence. I feel the movie would have been better served without this "number" as it was about 1/4 of the original in length and Chiwetel Ejiofor's portrayal of Scar just didn't deliver the same fierceness and scariness that Jeremy Irons brought to it in the original. However, the animation of the hyenas was very well done! Their mouth movements seemed quite natural and looked like they could have been saying those words. Shenzi (Whoopi Goldberg's character from the original) got a bigger part which I'm not mad about, but the comedy of the secondary hyenas felt quite forced and I didn't feel was as funny in the final product as it was in vocal sessions or on the script. I enjoyed the majority of young JD McCrary's portrayal of young Simba, but in the emotional moment of Mufasa's death it didn't have the same weight as JTT's original did. I don't think it was entirely his fault as there is only so much emotion they could give the CGI characters without it looking too cartoony and animated. Timon and Pumbaa were enjoyable for the most part. Billy Eichner sometimes gave Timon an affected lisp which caused quite a detracting distraction for me. Seth Rogan was quite enjoyable as Pumbaa! The first introduction to Donald Glover's Simba was the tail end of Hakuna Matata and I thought it was perfect and better than the original! However, Beyoncé's unnecessary runs during "Can You Feel the Love Tonight" and her brand new song "Spirit," to me, ruined the sequences. It seemed that they just added that song so she could show how many runs she could do in a given time. The overall look of the movie is beautiful, but there were limitations with the chosen form of the movie that couldn't reach what came before. I believe this feature is acceptable for kids 6+ due to the sometimes too real peril and some crude humor. Enjoy, and see you at the movies!

Overall, I'd give this movie
                                      out of

The Jungle Book (2016)

The Jungle Book is a great adaptation of one of Disney's beloved animated features.  Disney has been adapting many of their animated features into live-action movies and so far, they've done it with great success! I was very impressed that the whole movie except Mowgli, the "man-cub", was computer generated. The animators did a very good job of watching real animals and observing how they moved and acted. I feel Jon Favreau did a fantastic job of translating this world from cel animation to what seemed to be a living, breathing Indian jungle. The voice acting was well done and didn't take me out of the movie at all. I feel Neel Sethi was a wonderful actor especially for his major studio debut! I feel like they did a wonderful job weaving in a few of the classic songs from the original animated adaptation. We were treated to a more bluesy version of "Bear Necessities" and an updated version of "Wanna be Like You." There were times when you could tell that Mowgli was lying on a CG animal or the environment he was interacting with might not have been exactly as it appeared, but those were very few and far between. As with most Disney releases, there is not much in the way of objectionable material. There are some scenes of peril, some animal fighting, and some rudeness, but other than that, it's a clean, wholesome, family film. This is completely worth checking out for free on Netflix streaming! Enjoy, and see you at the movies!

Overall, I'd give this movie
                                      out of

Rogue One: A Star Wars Story (2016)

Going into Rogue One, I had no idea what to expect. This was an unprecedented movie as there has never been a live-action Star Wars movie that wasn't part of the main saga. I was excited at the prospect of the movie. It definitely lived up to the hype! Rogue One tells the story that is seen in the crawl of the original Star Wars movie: a small band of rebels infiltrates the Empire and steals the plans to the Death Star. I was interested to see how exactly this movie would fit into the "canon" of Disney's Star Wars empire. It fits snugly between the animated Star Wars Rebels TV series and Episode IV. The way the end of this movie leads to the beginning of A New Hope was done to perfection. There were several cameos and name drops in this movie that let you know for sure what world you're in and to keep your eyes and ears open because you never know who might pop up. They did a great job with the light-heartedness even in the absence of R2 & C-3PO as comic relief. The new droid K-2SO has some of the best lines of dialog in the movie. The only objectionable material in this movie is the sci-fi violence. I highly recommend this movie to all you Star Wars fans out there! Enjoy and see you at the movies!

Overall, I'd give this movie
                                  out of

SING (2016)

Let me start this review off by saying I was less than impressed with the commercials for this movie. An animated movie about a singing competition with animals? Didn't sound too interesting. Man, I couldn't have been more wrong! I won't reveal too much of the movie, but suffice it to say, this movie WAY surpassed my expectations. The animation was standard Illumination Animation (i.e. Minions, and Secret Life of Pets). It's not yet as stellar as Pixar, but it more than does the job in this case. The acting sucked me in and I forgot that I had to crane my neck to see the whole screen (we had to sit on the second row because we had a late start). I could only pick out three of the actors, but that's only because I try to pick out which actor plays which character. The singing was impeccable! The soundtrack stands up with Happy Feet, Shrek, and other fun animated movies. Don't worry all of you Musical nay-sayers, I wouldn't call this a musical...more of a movie with music showcased throughout. And the wide variety of genres include something for everyone. I believe this is a perfect family movie for Christmas break. A little warning about some of the content. They have a few small lewd jokes and some themes that parents might have to talk about on the way home: deception, cheating, violence, and thievery. Each character has their own conflicts that they're trying to overcome and hard work and honesty is rewarded in the end. Enjoy and see you at the movies!

Overall, I'd give this movie
                                  out of

Doctor Strange (2016)

Doctor Strange is the most recent journey into the Marvel Cinematic Universe. It tells the tale of doctor Stephen Strange and his journey from being only part of a man to realizing his full potential. As a solo film, this movie deals with many of the same themes as Iron Man: brilliant man in his field taking his gifts for granted until an accident forces him to look inside himself for strength and answers to overcome his demons. The casting of this movie couldn't be more perfect. Benedict Cumberbatch was an excellent choice for Doctor Strange and really added a depth to the character that few other actors could have brought. This movie greatly benefitted from 8 years worth of previous films so that audiences knew that suspension of belief was critical coming in. By now, we are well aware that there are things in the MCU that don't exist in our realm and they've made magic feel as much a part of that world as a man in a robotic suit or a god from Asgard. Fair warning: there are many scenes of violence and the movie also deals with demonic forces. With this new addition to the slate of Marvel films, it will be interesting to see how Doctor Strange interacts with the other heavy hitters of the MCU. Enjoy and see you at the movies!

Overall, I'd give this movie
                               out of