In the Player: Here Comes the Boom!

I seldom choose the movies that we watch since Jimmy is usually the one to go and actually rent the DVD, and we are very limited in that we can only choose the ones that are available to us at RedBox.  We are lucky to have a RedBox within walking distance, though, so we end up getting to watch a movie about once a week.  You can't beat the price at $1.26, and we often get discounts and free movie codes via e-mail and text.

This is one of the latest ones that we have watched:

Here Comes the Boom



At first glance, I wasn't sure that I was going to like this one.  It seemed kind of dumb.  You know, the whole idea of some lazy teacher becoming a fighter...

Anyway, I really liked this one.  It was about this lazy teacher (Kevin James) who had lost all of his passion for teaching who ended up standing up for an older music teacher who really loved his work and made a difference.  James ended up volunteering to raise the money needed to allow the older music teacher to keep his job and not have the music program cut from an underfunded school.  Part of the reason that James keeps on his mission is to impress a girl, but the guy/girl aspect of the movie was very sweet and clean with only one very sweet kissing scene toward the end.  Anyway, in order to make the money necessary, James decides to try his hand at fighting since he had been a wrestler in high school.  Needless to say, he was way out of shape and out of training and gets pummeled repeatedly.  But the students see him taking his knocks, find out it is for them, and begin to take note of him and respect him.  In turn, he begins to respect himself and turn himself around into a great teacher and better man.

I agree with the PG rating for the violence of the fights and for the gentle romance, but it is definitely a movie that I would let Elizabeth see.  I don't think that the little ones would get the point of it, though, and all they would take away from it would be the fighting, so I wouldn't choose it for them.

My call?  Thumbs up!

In the Player: Avengers

Elizabeth got the DVD Avengers for Christmas.  I like movies and I like books, but I usually see or read them once and then I am done.  But not Elizabeth.  She will watch a movie until she has it pretty much memorized, or read a book til she can just open it to the part that she wants to read and skip around where she likes.

Her latest flick has been Avengers.



I liked this one.  I had seen Iron Man, Thor, The Hulk, and Captain America in each of their own individual movies, and this was basically a movie where all of those super heroes come together to fight a common enemy.

Tony Stark, of course, was brilliant.  He is once again perfectly cast as the irreverent know-it-all Iron Man.  He is quick, witty, and fun and, of course, easy on the eyes. ;) I also like the Black Widow in the scenes where she is very deviously gets the information she wants out of whomever she wants it.  I don't prefer her in the fighting sequences, but the others make up for that.

The theme is well built.  I like the way that it's not just a blow 'em up good against evil, but it has the aspect of the different super heroes that all think that they are the best and must come to terms with working together and respecting one another.  The Hulk, of course, has his own issues as well that must be controlled before he's really worth anything, too.

Avengers is PG13 and has some super hero violence, some kissing, and some crude language, but on the whole, it's a great movie that I don't mind Elizabeth watching again (and again and again and again...)

In the Player: Premium Rush

(I know that this posting was under a different heading, but I don't know how to link things and move them around, so I apologize that it's here, too.)


Premium Rush!  I really enjoyed this one.  It's not really my style, but the 'car chases' were much better on a bike!  The plot was ok and I liked the way they played it out with the clock going forward and backward to show you what happened when.  I was on the edge of my seat pretty much til the end.  I must say that even though I don't like him much, Michael Shannon was perfectly cast.  Plus, there were some pretty funny sequences.  There was a little kissing in it, but nothing major, and there was some language in it, but I would definitely let Elizabeth watch it.  (She isn't feeling well, so she's already in bed.)  Definitely worth the $1.26 at RedBox!