Ant-Man Review: The movie follows Scott Lang (Paul Rudd), a master thief and his mentor Hank Pym (Michael Douglas), a master scientist. In Pym's younger days he wore the Ant-Man suit, which allowed him to shrink to microscopic size but retain all his strength. This ability is thanks to "The Pym Particle" that allowed him to shrink distance between molecules. Pym, who used his particle for good was frightened that his invention would fall into the wrong hands even to the point that his board voted him out of his own company that invented the technology in the first place. Enter Darren Cross (Corey Stoll) the new CEO of Pym Technologies that is on the verge of unlocking The Pym Particle and use the technology to create an army of micro soldiers. In order to stop Cross Pym enlists Lang, who is fresh out of jail to don the Ant-Man suit and defeat Cross from the inside. Pym's estranged daughter Hope (Evangeline Lilly), who has gained the trust of Cross and is his adviser is displeased that her father has picked Lang for the operation feeling it's her duty to ultimately defeat her employer.

What works: It's refreshing to see Marvel return to their roots with a story that focuses on a single character. The Age of Ultron released earlier this summer was masterful at planting the seeds for future installments in the ever growing "Marvel Cinematic Universe" but fell short to develop the characters themselves or give good reason why so many characters needed to be involved in the story. The movie is a homage to 60's and 70's heist films and Lang's fellow parolees (played by Michael Pena, David Dastmalchian and rapper T.I.) add a lot of fun humor as they help their friend "be a hero" while becoming heroes themselves.

What doesn't: If you're looking for something new, you won't find it. Marvel Studios has a firm formula in place to draw audiences to the theater and they succeed masterfully. One of the broken parts of their formula is the ability to create compelling villains. Ant-Man partially succeeds with Darren Cross compared to their many past efforts but I still felt he was there to be a disposable villain to prime Ant-Man for his eventually membership into the Avengers.

Final: Highly recommended. Very refreshing to see a superhero movie that's focused on the viewer having fun. Reminded me very much of Robert Downey Jr.'s first Ironman movie.

Inside Out Review: Inside out tells the story of the emotions of an 11 year old girl named Riley (Kaitlyn Dias) who are Joy (Amy Poehler), Fear (Bill Hader), Anger (Lewis Black), Disgust (Mindy Kaling) and Sadness (Phyllis Smith). To establish the characters we are introduced to Riley's very first emotion Joy who is quickly accompanied by the other emotions as Riley starts developing as a human being. Joy, the strongest emotion finds herself in a conflict with Sadness when Riley's parents (Kyle MacLachlan & Diane Lane) relocate from Minnesota to California for a job opportunity. The emotions operate in a central command center (Riley's mind) which stores her core memories and define her as a person. After a mishap, the core memories are scattered throughout her brain along with Joy and Sadness who must return to central command with the memories to realign Riley's personality.

What works: Pixar has created another masterpiece. Wonderfully developed characters with perfect voice actors to portray them (Anger, Fear & Disgust are worth the admission price by themselves). The imaginative environments and other supporting characters that make up a person's mind and personality are brilliant. The story also treats adult viewers with humorous takes on how things get stuck in our minds, how our emotions influence things that frighten or disgust us and a reminder of profound sadness of how we forget things that make us so happy during our age of innocence. Pixar proves once again that they are the masters of modern animation films and this film can stand equally beside any of their other classic films.

What doesn't: It's difficult to find something wrong with such an excellent movie but searching through other reviews online I've noticed some parents have been critical of the film because it's tough for their younger children to relate to the subject matter. I can see that. Of all of Pixar's films I would certainly consider this the most "mature" material in their library.

Highly recommended to see Inside Out. Very refreshing to see a family movie that injects humor for adults that is relatable on a human level without insinuating sexual innuendo or "adult situations".

Ex_Machina 2015 : Code writer, Caleb (Domhnall Gleeson) enters and wins a contest sponsored by his company's founder Nathan (Oscar Isaac). Nathan who wrote software that revolutionized the Internet at age 13 is an eccentric billionaire who's walled himself inside of a high tech fortress far away from civilization. Caleb has no idea what to expect from the meeting but upon his arrival learns that he will serve as a test subject to interact with advanced artificial intelligence. The A.I.'s name is Ava who is beautifully realized by actress Alicia Vikander and computer generated effects. The films asks important questions about human nature, sentience and technology that could conceivably exist in the near future. Couple that with great acting, beautifully shot locations and you're left with one of the better films in the genre and possibly of the year. Many current science fiction films are following the model of the new age "blockbusters" with elaborate action sequences and overblown special effects. Ex_Machina plays out deliberately and doesn't preach to the viewer allowing the three leads to play out their story without being jarred by rayguns and explosions. It's reminiscent of the tales told by Issac Asimov and Ray Bradbury. I couldn't help being reminded of Rod Serling's Twilight Zone or Charlie Brooker's excellent Black Mirror series (which Gleeson appears in) that warns of what could happen in a very near future. Unlike Chappie (released in March of 2015), a film that introduced intriguing concepts but was trampled by mass marketing and broke under the weight of including too many plots, Ex_Machina stays on target and asks can a machine ever become sentient and if it becomes what we consider a "human being", does it learn to inact the good or terrible things that we do to each other?Final Rating: 4 out of 4 stars.

Aloha 2015: Aloha tells the story of Brad Gilcrest, a celebrated former military pilot turned contractor who returns to Hawaii, the place he achieved the greatest accolades of his military career. Now employed by Carson Welch (Bill Murray), Brad is on a ceremonial mission to gain favor of Hawaiian elders to launch Welch's satellite into space. He is assigned a military liaison named Allison Ng (Emma Stone) who is of Hawaiian decent to help along with this task. During his stay Brad also runs into his former lover Tracey Woodside (Rachel McAdams) and her husband "Woody" Woodside (John Krasinski). Brad finds himself caught between his job, regret and potentially a new path for love and happiness. I always enjoyed Cameron Crowe's ability to write such amazing characters - many of who are deemed special by the perceptions and standards of the American public and and then strip them down to being relatable to everyone. Unfortunately, he's trying to balance messages of the woes of businessmen buying themselves into the military and breaks away to shots that try to loosely tie Hawaiian culture into the themes of his story, both of which are extremely flimsy. I have zero problems with that subject matter but it took away from the core of what Cameron Crowe is known for - the interpersonal relationships of people. I think his subplots should have been left to a political thriller that he could have explored with a full film instead of short changing the characters that I was ready to like as much as the actors that portrayed them. With lesser actors this film could have turned out to be a far huger mess than the final product. FINAL REVIEW: 2.5 out of 4 Stars

Whiplash 2015 
Andrew (Miles Teller) attends one of the most prestigious jazz conservatories in the country and earns a top spot in the performance band run by cutthroat instructor Fletcher (J.K. Simmons) who berates his students to tap into their greatest potential. I've seen most of what was considered the best offerings in film of 2014 and I have to say that Whiplash resonated with me the most. Though not as extreme, I was involved in the band program in high school with an instructor that demanded excellence and had zero problems calling you out in front of your peers. Before I saw the film I had people comment on the Monday Night Movie Krewe page that I didn't even know claiming the movie promotes bullying (sadly they've removed the comments so I couldn't respond). I see it differently. No matter what you do in your life there will always be assholes (we softly call them "bullies" now) that will test your patience and many who will take great joy in trying to break you. The question is will you stick your lip out and walk away or will you face adversity, use it to inspire you to create your greatest performance and shut down the person that tries to break you? I'm very pleased I was able to see this film in the theater. I've always been a fan of J.K. Simmons. I became familiar with him on HBO's prison drama "Oz" and was awestruck by his ability to portray someone truly ruthless. He's in top form and certainly deserved the Oscar win for his performance. Miles Teller shows his intensity as a young kid not only trying to win the top spot in a band but be truly great and be a renown master of his skill. Highly recommended.  ~ Chris Tarride
Final Rating: 4 Stars

Foxcatcher - 2014
After viewing this film it's easy to tell why it's been nominated for Oscars in the Best Director & Actor categories. With better editing to make the movie shorter instead of drawn out shots and create cleaner movement for its transitions it would have been nominated for Best Film as well. Mark Schultz played by Channing Tatum, who proves he's a good actor and David Schultz played by the ever reliable Mark Ruffalo are brothers who both won gold in the Olympics during the 80s. Steve Carell transforms into John DuPont and seeks them both out to use wrestling as a vehicle to return respect to the American ideal via athletic competition. Caught between his own quirks, ideals and lack of acceptance from his mother, DuPont manages to destroy the lives of the wrestlers in addition to his own. Side note - my business is automotive paint and I've sold DuPont products since my family opened in 1955. I've heard many stories about John E. DuPont and many of the images in the film made me knowingly chuckle as I watched them. Like all films "that are based on true events" authenticity is scrapped for story and entertainment. I've read many criticisms for and against all parties portrayed in the film but accepting the film for its characters, story and the great skill of the actors playing them makes it a very worthy watch. 
Rating: 3 out of 4 stars  - Chris Tarride

American Sniper - 2014 
American Sniper tells the story of Chris Kyle "the deadliest sniper in US military history" and his wife Taya. Half of the film shows Kyle's various tours in Iraq, which are intense and unapologetic and the other half shows Kyle's life at home before, during and after his tours in the Middle East. His wife Taya gets generous screen time as a woman coping with her absent husband (who is even absent in her presence) and the dealings of being married to a man dedicated to his duty. This film also brings awareness to fighting men and women who return to this country after war with post-traumatic stress disorder, Chris Kyle's struggle to regain his humanity, his wife's help getting him there and Kyle's new mission to help other soldiers regain theirs as well. The thing that impressed me most about this movie is its 84 year old director, Clint Eastwood. He still has it. Incredible cinematography, unbridled intensity and the ability to direct excellent performances from Bradley Cooper (Chris Kyle) and Sienna Miller (Taya Kyle). I can't recommend American Sniper enough. It's intense, gripping and gives you a look at soldiers' lives on the battle field, how they cope when the fighting is over and the victory of those who overcome the adversity of the battlefield. 
Rating: 3 and a half out of 4 stars. ~ Chris Tarride

Inherent Vice- 2014 
Set in 1970 Los Angeles between the Manson Family murders and Watergate, private detective Larry "Doc" Sportello takes on a case to find his missing ex-girlfriend. Imagine the noir genre of film smoking a quarter bag of pot with influences of Cheech & Chong, The Big Lebowski and Dragnet thrown in. Paul Thomas Anderson creates a period film so authentic you'd be pissed if he decided to shoot this film digitally. Thankfully he went with 35 mm. Joaquin Phoenix transforms into "Doc" proving he is one of the greatest actors today and Katherine Waterston is sexy and mysterious as Shasta, his former girlfriend. Bit parts are played by Eric Roberts, Martin Short and Owen Wilson who all play contributing factors to "Doc's" journey. Reese Witherspoon plays a tiny role as one of "Doc's" flings and they carry with them their chemistry from "Walk the Line", which she starred in with Phoenix. The real powerhouse of the movie is Josh Brolin who portrays L.A. Detective and failed actor "Bigfoot". Imagine if Jack Webb from Dragnet was entirely frustrated, angry at life and hated hippies, yet manages an alliance with the very hippy he hates. I've read that readers of Thomas Pynchon, author of the novel Inherent Vice, are delighted by the faithfulness to the source material. As a movie goer who's unfamiliar with the material, I appreciate the film for it's production and Paul Thomas Anderson's ability to squeeze every emotion from his actors. The plot and motivations are awfully confusing and are extremely hard to follow. No doubt that many of the film's images are "Doc's" hallucinations. It's possible that some of the characters are a product of "Doc's" drug abused self-conscious. Despite the confusion and choppy plot, I recommend a viewing just for the sake of film as a true art form. RATING: 3 out of 4 stars  - Chris Tarride

Frozen 2013
I
Hated
It
Rating: -1 out of 4 stars ~ Scott Frilot
ps...that's a negative 1