By Justin Lozada After 22 years and over the course of five films, one would think the Mission: Impossible film franchise would be running on fumes by now. Fans of the franchise can rest assured that is definitely not the case as the latest offering, Mission: Impossible – Fallout makes its way to the multiplex. Fallout is many things to include the culmination of events that started in the previou ...[Read More]
MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE- FALLOUT Family Movie Review
READY PLAYER ONE Family Movie Review
By Trina Boice WHAT’S READY PLAYER ONE ABOUT? The creator of the largest virtual reality world ever, called the OASIS, dies and leaves a challenge to anyone who can find three invisible keys that lead to a hidden Easter egg to win a fortune and ownership over the OASIS. Directed by Steven Spielberg, it is full of imagination, fun, action, romance, humor, and a moral lesson. Game on! (Rent or buy i ...[Read More]
STAR TREK BEYOND Family Movie Review
By Jonathan Decker (Family therapist, film critic) WHAT'S STAR TREK BEYOND ABOUT? Kirk, Spock, and the rest of the crew fight to stop a vengeful being from killing millions to start a war. IS IT ANY GOOD? (GRADE: B+) Director Justin Lin (the Fast and the Furious series) takes over for JJ Abrams in Star Trek Beyond. Combining his talents with those of screenwriter/actor Simon Pegg, Lin delivers a w ...[Read More]
MISSION IMPOSSIBLE: ROGUE NATION Family Movie Review
By Jonathan Decker (Family Therapist, film critic) WHAT'S MISSION IMPOSSIBLE: ROGUE NATION ABOUT? Ethan Hunt and his friends team up with a lethal operative to bring down a global organization of spies and terrorists. But whose side is she really on? IS IT ANY GOOD? (GRADE: A-) While it's debatable which M:I film is king of the series, Rogue Nation certainly earns its place alongside the best of t ...[Read More]
ICE AGE: CONTINENTAL DRIFT Family Movie Review
ICE AGE: CONTINENTAL DRIFT REVIEW (GRADE: D+) The law of diminishing returns has definitely taken effect with this series, as each installment since the funny and moving Ice Age (2002) has shown less creative spark than the one that preceded it. Now, as B.B. King sang, “the thrill is gone.” This fourth film is too formulaic to truly engage adults. What was once fresh and clever now mer ...[Read More]
THE ADVENTURES OF TINTIN Family Movie Review
THE ADVENTURES OF TINTIN REVIEW (Grade: B+) I wish that the last Indiana Jones film had been this much fun! By switching increasingly out-of-touch producer George Lucas with landmark filmmaker Peter Jackson (The Lord of the Rings, King Kong), director Steven Spielberg has given us something truly extraordinary. Jackson, as producer, contributes the motion-capture wizardry that he utilized to bring ...[Read More]
MISSION IMPOSSIBLE: GHOST PROTOCOL Family Movie Review
By Jonathan Decker (Family therapist, film critic) MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE- GHOST PROTOCOL review (Grade: B+ ) I'll just say it: with Jackie Chan arthritic and far past his prime and Tony Jaa retired and living in solitude as a monk, Tom Cruise is the world's greatest stuntman-actor. The commitment and athleticism shown by the soon to be 50-year-old over the course of his career, and the Mission Impos ...[Read More]
NARNIA: VOYAGE OF THE DAWN TREADER Family Movie Review
By Jonathan Decker (Family therapist, film critic) This third Narnia film, The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader (rent or buy it here), is in many ways the most satisfying entry in the series. Two of the Pevensie children return to Narnia with their duplicitous cousin and hitch a ride aboard the Prince’s ship in this seafaring adventure, complete with merfolk, pirates, and drago ...[Read More]
ICE AGE: DAWN OF THE DINOSAURS Family Movie Review
By Jonathan Decker (Family therapist, film critic) Rent or buy Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs here. The Ice Age films have never achieved (or aspired to) the greatness of Pixar or the better films in Dreamworks’ canon. That said, they've always had a light and easy charm that adults can enjoy right along with their kids. By now audiences know exactly what they're getting from an Ice Age film, and ...[Read More]
STAR TREK Family Movie Review
By Jonathan Decker (Family therapist, film critic) Star Trek is the best movie of the summer so far. While I'm no Trekkie, I was able to appreciate the delicate balance between making an summer-adrenaline movie with an attractive young cast while staying true to spirit of the original series. J.J. Abrhams has, in effect, done for Star Trek what Christopher Nolan did for Batman: get rid of the chee ...[Read More]