Pixels

Review Written By Michael J. Ruhland










Michael's Movie Grade: C

Review: Decent comedy, is helped very much by great video game style animation, and a very fitting 1980's soundtrack that fits perfectly with the movie. This movie contains some pretty funny moments though they come too far apart to make this a great comedy.

Like many comedies the romance feels forced and definitely is the lowest point of the film. In fact any serious moment is a low point, as much of it consists of tired movie cliches. The characters though are likable enough to keep this from making the film bad.

Not to give too much away but Q-Bert is a highlight of the film, and gets a few true laughs, as does the Wonder Kid (Josh Gad's Character).

Overall an enjoyable time passer, but nothing that will ever be remembered as a great movie, but nothing that will leave a bad taste in your mouth.

-Michael J. Ruhland

Minions

Review Written By Michael J. Ruhland








Michael's Movie Grade: C+

Review: While this movie is far from spectacular, it is a fun silly comedy, and what more would you want from a film like this. This film is just what you'd expect, a story that is nothing but an excuse for some silly humor. While obviously this is not screwball comedy on par with say Looney Tunes, Laurel and Hardy, The Marx Brothers, Three Stooges, ect., it is quite an enjoyable little comedy that easily surpasses both Despicable Me films.


Directors Kyle Balda, and Pierre Coffin (also the voice of the minions), and writer Brian Lynch know just what the audience wants and provides that as well as they can. The voice cast is also in top form. And we easily have a much more interesting villain in this film than the Despicable Me films(i'm not counting Gru as a villain, because of reason that should be obvious for people who have seen the previous movies).

While this will never be considered a classic of film comedy, it is a fun movie, that easily surpasses it's predecessors.

Terminator Genisys

Review Written By Michael J. Ruhland















Michael's Movie Grade: C+

Review: A fun action movie, even if it is not much more.

The special effects are amazing, and help the movie a lot. One reason this helps is the action scenes can be long and unrelenting. This is especially true of the beginning. The film takes a while to slow down and let you care about the story. Thankfully for someone like me, (Though obviously not for others) while there is a lot of violence, there is tastefully not much gore, and I am one that is glad this was toned down to PG-13.

The story, while nothing we haven't seen before is not that bad. The characters while not reaching the emotional strength, the film-makers were pulling for, are quite likable, and you do actually want to see things work out well. Although the story is nothing particularly original, none of the cliches feel particularly annoying as they do in plenty of bad action films.

The acting is top notch, and of course Arnold Schwarzenegger is perfect as an emotionless robot (I know shocking). Emilia Clarke, and Jai Courtney, particularly, bring much needed likability to their characters.

Overall a fun action film, and if you don't expect much more you will enjoy this.

-Michael J. Ruhland