Available at your local video store or for digital download on September 16th…
1) GODZILLA (PG-13)
Warner Brothers
RUSS
Godzilla, the “King of the Monsters,” returns in a big budget extravaganza of destruction that plays like a WWE Smackdown on nuclear hormones. Bryan Cranston breaks bad as a physicist who sounds the warning bells years after a reactor meltdown.
SHAWN
There have been 29 Godzilla movies. This version is perhaps the best. Suspenseful and well executed. Loved the technical execution and the fair amount of attention given to the humans. It ain’t all giant monsters just battling.
RUSS
The old laser breather…AND some other large non-human delinquents…lay waste to San Francisco in an epic turf war. It’s cheesy, but it’s a high caliber of cheese.
SHAWN
For a monster movie it actually is pretty thought provoking. But at the end of the day the sale is still Godzilla and he puts in work in this movie.
RUSS: 3 Popcorn Bags
SHAWN: 4 Popcorn Bags
2) THE FAULT IN OUR STARS (PG-13)
20th Century Fox
RUSS
“The Fault in Our Stars” is an unapologetically manipulative tearjerker about teenage cancer patients who fall in love. Based on John Green’s bestselling novel, it’s a soap opera that works much better than it should, thanks to terrific dialogue, honest wit, earnest execution and an appealing cast.
SHAWN
“Fault in Our Stars” may be totally predicatable and a totally calculated cry fest but it’s just so darn charming you can’t help but fall in love with it even if you aren’t a teenage girl.
RUSS
Shailene Woodley and Ansel Elgort play teens who meet in a cancer support group. She’s the cynical wallflower and he’s the optimistic, outgoing jock. Naturally, they click. While the plot devices are extremely contrived, the cast members bring authenticity to this heartbreaking tale. Stand by with plenty of Kleenex.
SHAWN
Based on the hugely popular Y/A novel “The Fault in Our Stars” in unabashidly mushy but it also has traces of realness that help it over come its TV Movie of the Week tone at times. Yes, the cast is appealing and yes, you will be malipulated to cry but overall “The Fault in Our Stars” is the most romantic you’ll like see all year and completely heartfelt and inspiring.
RUSS: 4 Popcorn Bags
SHAWN: 3 Popcorn Bags
3) THINK LIKE A MAN TOO
Sony Pictures
RUSS:
In “Think Like a Man Too,” Kevin Hart works SO hard to wring some laughs from a terrible script that the audience breaks a sweat. This sequel to the 2012 adaptation of Steve Harvey’s bestseller reunites the talented and likable cast for a Las Vegas adventure. Sadly, their luck runs out when they’re saddled with the movie’s trite dialogue.
SHAWN
It’s fun but an unstructured waste of an opportunity. Thankfully the cast is likable it what really amounts sophisticated ‘reality show’ like reunion special.
RUSS
Regina Hall, Michael Ealy, Megan Good, Gabrielle Union and company pull out all the stops, but to little avail. If it weren’t for the cast, “Think Like a Man Too” would come up snake eyes.
SHAWN
But the cast is great even if the filmmaking is a bust.
RUSS: 2 Popcorn Bags
SHAWN: 3 Popcorn Bags
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