THE REVIEW CORNER

Starring: Chris Hemsworth, Natalie Portman, Tom Hiddleston, Christopher Eccleston, and Anthony Hopkins Directed by: Alan Taylor Screenplay by: Christopher Yost and Christopher Markus      I have to say, that if I were a person in the world where The Avengers exist, I'd wonder about why aliens love to attack Earth of all places.  It seems like Earth is being attacked so much throughout all of these movies.  Wouldn't you agree?  It would seem quite strange to live on a planet that gets attacked by some weird threat every few months.      But more importantly, we have heroes like Thor (Chris Hemsworth) to save the day from enemies we know nothing about.  After the battle of New York in The Avengers, the 9 realms of Asgard have fallen into chaos and Thor must make peace among them before the worlds align in what's called the Convergence, an event in which a portal opens linking all of the worlds, including Earth.      Me...

Starring: Asa Butterfield, Harrison Ford, Hailee Steinfeld, Abigail Breslin, Viola Davis, and Ben Kingsley Directed by: Gavin Hood Screenplay by: Gavin Hood Based on the novel by Orson Scott Card     Long before this story begins, aliens known as the Formics have come to invade and colonize Earth.  Humanity just barely survives and wins the war.  But now, there is a fear that the Formics will return, and it is up to the International Fleet to make sure that the humans are ready for a second war.     Ender Wiggin (Asa Butterfield) is only a child, but the hope of winning the next war rests entirely with him.  He is offered a chance to defend the human race from the Formics, and leaves his family behind in order to take it.  He is taken to Battle School off planet where he learns to fight, and then to Command School where he learns to lead.  What he experiences at Battle School and Command School will turn him into something he's not sure...

Starring: Robert Redford Directed by: J.C. Chandor Screenplay by: J.C. Chandor Robert Redford is lost at sea.  Please somebody rescue him!  He's a terrific actor!!      Imagine Life of Pi without the tiger in the boat.  It's just a man and his thoughts while he is lost at sea.   All Is Lost is pretty much exactly that.  Robert Redford's character, known only as "the man", is sailing by himself when his boat is struck by a floating cargo container, ripping a massive hole in the side of the boat and causing lots of water to rush in, but not fully sinking the boat.  After suffering this blow and going through a massive storm, the boat eventually sinks, leaving the man stranded at sea in his life raft, waiting to be rescued.  Will he survive?      I'm a big fan of a simple story.  I don't like to think too much about a movie's story unless the story calls for audiences to think.   All Is Lost is perhaps the sim...

Starring: Chiwetel Ejiofor, Michael Fassbender, Benedict Cumberbatch, Paul Giamatti, Paul Dano, and Brad Pitt Directed by: Steve McQueen Screenplay by: John Ridley, based on Solomon Northup's autobiography 12 Years a Slave     And here we have another film about a dark period in United States history.     Solomon Northup is a free man, born and raised as such.  He lives in New York with his family in the 1840s and is a successful violinist.  One day, two men from a carnival company notice his talents and want to hire him.  They deceive him and kidnap him, and in turn, sell him into slavery in the South, where he is given an entirely new identity.  From this point forward, he is known to the slave owners as Platt.     He is first sold to a plantation owner, Mr. Ford (Benedict Cumberbatch).  Ford is not a tremendously nice slave owner, but certainly more benevolent than the plantation owner to whom Ford sells Platt (Solomon Nort...

Starring: Tom Hanks,  Barkhad Abdi, and   Barkhad Abdirahman   Directed by: Paul Greengrass Screenplay by: Billy Ray Based upon the book "A Captain's Duty: Somali Pirates, Navy SEALS, and Dangerous Days at Sea" by Richard Phillips      Yay!!!  Another pirate movie!!  Oh wait...it's not that kind of pirate movie.  My bad...      So this might not be your average pirates with the eye patches and the wooden legs, but this is the true story of Somali pirates who, in 2009, went out to sea and took over the cargo ship Maersk Alabama.  For those of you who may be unfamiliar with the story, the captain, Richard Phillips (Tom Hanks), was abducted for a ransom by the Somali pirates and ultimately (spoiler alert) it took SEAL team six to rescue him from the hijackers.        For many of us who remember watching this story play out on the news, it's in pretty recent memory because it only happened four years...

Starring: Sandra Bullock and George Clooney Directed by:  Alfonso Cuarón Screenplay by:  Alfonso Cuarón and  Jonás Cuarón      Disaster movie fans, aspiring astronauts, and people who just like space in general, this is the film for you!      Ryan Stone (Sandra Bullock) and Matt Kowalski (George Clooney) are on a space walk fixing the Hubble space telescope.  A satellite that's been shot down by a missile has created a debris field, causing a chain reaction and hitting other satellites and debris at their altitude which flies straight toward them.  Much of the equipment and much of the ship gets destroyed and the mission must be aborted.  But with the ship destroyed too, it's up to Stone and Kowalski to figure out how they're going to get back to Earth.        One of the things I love about this film is that there are only two actors in the entire film.  Every other person listed in the cast is on...

    I love going to the movies.  I always have.  And for the last few years, I have truly loved writing reviews for movies that I see in theaters.  I started writing reviews out of boredom one summer and it has since turned into the number one thing I want to do with my life.  Ever since then, I've wanted to be a film critic.     There's something magical about going to a darkened theater and watching something on a large silver screen.  If you go to as many movies as I do, it probably wouldn't be quite as magical an experience after a while.  But it's still fun to go to the movies on the weekends.  I won't stop no matter how bad the movies get.     So how was the summer at the movies?  Some years, it's a great place to go to beat the heat for a few hours.  There's usually something good that's playing that's worth seeing.  Sadly, there weren't a whole lot of great movies this summer that made the theaters...