The Trilogy Concludes..."Night At The Museum: Secret Of The Tomb"

Night At The Museum: Secret Of The Tomb (2014)

Rated PG

Starring Ben Stiller, Robin Williams, Owen Wilson, Steve Coogan, Ricky Gervais, Rebel Wilson, Dan Stevens, Rami Malek

Directed by Shawn Levy

The Story:

The Tablet that brings the exhibits to life at the Museum of Natural History is beginning to corrode. If Larry (Stiller) hopes to fix the problem, he needs to get the tablet and some of his exhibits to London to see if they can unravel the secret of how the tablet works before it is too late.

Eight years ago, Night at the Museum arrived, and it was pretty cute, good family fun with a nice supporting cast making the exhibits.

Five years ago, they brought forth a sequel, and aside from remember seeing it, it was rather boring and lackluster.

Needless to say, I was surprised that they made a third installment in the franchise, but after seeing it, I'm glad they did.

It brought back much of the fun and enjoyment from the first one, and allowed the movie to correct the mistakes of the second film, and let the franchise go out on a high note.

I'm assuming it will be the end of the franchise as everyone is older now, and with Robin Williams passing, they are missing a key part of the team.

Traveling to London allows them to introduce a whole new cast of characters and creates a villainous foil in Sir Lancelot (Stevens) who may just unwittingly cause all of the exhibits to cease living after shortly coming to life for the first time.

If you liked the previous installment(s), I think you'll find the conclusion to their story a fitting end to the adventures.

Final Grade: C+/B-

Easily The Worst Movie of 2014...So Far... "Ruby Sparks"

Ruby Sparks (2012)
Rated R for Language, and possibly making me want to kill myself instead of watching the film...

Starring Paul Dano, Zoe Kazan,  Elliot Gould, Steve Coogan

Directed by Johnathan Dayton & Valerie Faris

Now I need therapy...

The Story:

According the to the internet, this movie was supposed to be about a novelist (Dano) who creates a girl named Ruby Sparks (Kazan) who mysteriously and magically comes to life with all of the attributes that he said she would have. 

Yes, it's Weird Science remade!

The Best Part of the Review: You Now Have the "Weird Science Song Stuck in Your Head! : )

Except...

It wasn't funny.

John Hughes was not involved in any way.

And after 15 minutes that felt like 45 minutes of torture, it was turned off, thrown back into the Netflix envelope and sent back to Netflix HQ.

Looking at overall reviews for this film, apparently I'm the one that doesn't get the awesomeness of this movie.

I'm okay with that.

Watching Dano go through therapy with Elliot Gould and whining about not knowing what to write next to his agent, Steve Coogan, I had enough.

This was a waste of talent on a hackneyed script that lost any goodwill with the premise by being...

Boring.

"Can We Look Now? Is He Done Bashing Our Movie?"

It's marketed as a comedy.  It wasn't funny.

It's marketed as a drama.  It wasn't dramtic.

It wasn't a dramedy.

It. Was. Boring.

ZzzzzZzzzzZzzzz.

"I Can't Believe He Doesn't Like Us!!"

Written by Kazan, the script is tedious at best from the time it starts until I clicked it off.  If it had a better ending, hooray, but nothing could beat my ending of removing the film.

Directed by the team that brought us Little Miss Sunshine, I now begin to understand all the accolades for the film.  I felt that Little Miss Sunshine was one of the most overrated films of the 2000s.  Again, a movie that was neither drama nor comedy.  It simply existed.  The best part of the film was Alan Arkin, and the rest was simply a tedious waste of a really good assembled cast.

"We're What Everyone Is Buzzing About!"

Sounds familiar.

Apparently Annette Bening and Antonio Banderas, both of whom I love to watch in the movies were in this film. 

I never made it that far.

"But This Is What You're Missing!!"

No thanks, I'll pass.

And welcome to the Top of the List for Turkey of the Year, 2014:  Ruby Sparks.

That makes 2 for the year so far.

Yikes.

I haven't even found a movie to go on the "Best of the Year" list yet!

If you want a good movie about a writer who controls the fate of their character,  watch Stranger Than Fiction instead.

"It is Your Destiny..."

Please.

I'm begging you.


Final Grade: F

Rewatchability/Purchase Factor: No. Never.

There's Got To Be A Faster Way To Go "Around the World in 80 Days"

We've got a long way to go...
And a short time to get there!

The Story:

The story opens with a thief (Jackie Chan) escaping from the Bank of England with a rare jade Buddha.  He hides out with an eccentric inventor, Phileas Fogg (Steve Coogan) who entrusts his new companion as his valet.  When they are mocked at the Royal Academy of Science, a wager is made between Fogg and Lord Kelvin (Jim Broadbent).  If Fogg can circumnavigate the globe and return to the Academy within 80 days, he can become the new minister of science.  If not, then he must never invent...again!

Would it help to remind you that this film, that's about to celebrate its 10th Anniversary, was a Disney film?

Because that will explain how the source material is blown up and completely rearranged from the book.

The book was a wonderful read by Jules Verne, but since it's been nearly 30 years since I read it, but it remains a happy memory for me.

This movie, well it's designed to entertain the kids, and not bore the parents.

In that regard, well it mostly succeeds.

The cast is generally likeable, and they sprinkled in famous cameos to bump into Fogg and Passepartout along the way. 

Plus they add Cecile De France who plays Monique La Roche, who joins the duo on their madcap race around the globe, as a potential love interest for Fogg.

Naturally with Jackie Chan in the movie, there will be several fights which serve to wake the film back up.

However, the movie is a bit bloated as it churns along for 2 hours. 

There are times you might feel it's taking 80 Days...

Overall though, it could've used a good 10-20 minutes of trimming/tightening and it would've made the picture stronger, and I would give it a stronger recommendation to boot!

Overall, agreeable fluff for the family.

Final Grade: C+

Rewatchability/Purchase Factor: Once every 10 years seems to be about right. ;)