Jason Bourne

Review Written By Michael J. Ruhland










Michael's Movie Grade:C+

Review: Fun action movie.

What really makes this movie is the characters and action. The characters are very relatable and understandable and this is what makes the action scenes so exciting.  It doesn't hurt that most of these characters are played very well by the actors. The action scenes are also very well done, though there is a lot of action in this film, it rarely becomes too overwhelming. Also the action scenes and the characters lead for a good amount of excitement that manages to hold for most of the film.

On the downside the camera feels like it can't stay still. It is constantly moving and sometimes you just wish it would stop for at least a few seconds. Rather than enhancing the action this becomes simply very distracting. This is a huge fault. Also this film covers nothing that hasn't been done in various action movies before. It does it well, but still if you want something new this may disappoint.

Overall a fun movie that is definitely worth a watch even if it has big faults.

-Michael J. Ruhland

Ice Age Collision Course

Review Written By Michael J. Ruhland













Michael's Movie Grade:D

Review: Bland forgettable movie has little of the charm that made the first one so great.

When I think of Ice Age, I think of a film that had a great sense of humor along with some great emotional moments. This film is lacking in both departments. Few of the jokes are ever funny, and the emotional scenes just seem phoned in. In fact this whole film seems like it is just going through the motions. Everything here feels like the film is just doing what the filmmakers believe people expect. It doesn't feel like the writers of the film put any effort into this movie. The basic story idea for this film, while far from original could have worked quite well if the same love and effort was put into this movie that was so obviously put into the first one. But instead there is little love put into anything and it leaves little to no reaction.

With what this movie could have been, and what the talent behind it was capable of bringing us, this film can only be called a major disappointment. Oh well the first film (and the second to a much lesser extant) is still a great movie.

-Michael J. Ruhland

Star Trek Beyond

Review Written By Michael J. Ruhland






















Michael's Movie Grade:B+

Review: Really good film.

This movie has great characters, a good sense of humor and a good story. The characters in this film are just as likable as these characters have always been. Though these roles have been taken on by different actors all of them do a very good job. This is especially true of Karl Urban as Dr. McCoy, who turns in a great performance here. The writing on these characters is also great. This film contains quite good humor. Most of the jokes hit, and none leave a bad taste in your mouth. This film is simply fun from beginning to end.

However on the other hand the film goes by too fast. I really wish we could have had more scenes establishing atmosphere. I enjoyed the atmosphere in this film but I felt I could of gotten more out of it if the movie was just a little longer. Also the story is a bit predictable at times. There are many twist that are too easy to see coming. However the faults of this film are outweighed by what is good about it.

This film also includes a great tribute to Leonard Nimoy.

Overall a really good movie that is just a lot of fun.

-Michael J. Ruhland

The Shallows

Review Written By Michael J. Ruhland




















Michael's Movie Grade: C+

Review: Good enjoyable thriller, if unspectacular.

This movie may be predictable and unoriginal, but it is heavily helped by a good performance from Blake Lively and clever film making touches from director Jaume Collet Serra. It is also a fun movie. Blake Lively's performance needs to be good because she pretty much has the whole movie to herself (Ok credit where credit is due, she co-stars with the very talented Sully 'Steven' Seagall).  Luckily her performance is quite good. Also helping a lot here is little visual touches like the way we see what's on her phone to the side of her as she's using it, and the clock at the bottom of the screen in an important scene. However despite all this movie is very predictable and it feels like we have seen it before. It is well done here even if not enough for the unoriginality and predictability to be big faults.

Overall faulty but still good movie.

-Michael J. Ruhland

The Secrect Life of Pets

Review Written By Michael J. Ruhland



















Michael's Movie Grade:B+

Review: The best film Illumination Entertainment has done so far, and an excellent film.

I can't say this is a perfect movie or that it doesn't have any big faults, but what I can say is that the entire time I was watching the film, I was enjoying my self very much. This film was just plain fun from the beginning to end. It had great energy. This film is never boring nor is it ever annoying, it is plain fun. The characters are very likable, and both the animation and voice work feel like part of characters. In other words you just believe the characters. Speaking of the characters their designs are just fantastic. In fact this whole film is just lovely to look at.

On the downside, the humor is rarely laugh out loud funny. There are  a few laugh out loud jokes but not as many as there could be. However there is still a great energy to these jokes and many of these jokes are still amusing. Also there is one sad scene in this movie that doesn't really work. The movie never slows down to let you feel sad about this scene. Because of this the scene feels very out of place and is a major fault in this otherwise great movie.

Overall this film may have it's faults (including one major one) but this film is very, very fun and definitely a film I strongly recommend you see.

But don't go away we have a short to review.
Mower Minions









Michael's Short Film Grade:C

Review: Not the Minions finest hour, but still entertaining.

This film has a good sense of humor and some quite funny jokes, but the timing feels a bit off. This cartoon is quite funny at times, but there are also quite a few jokes where the timing lessens what could have been a much funnier short.

Overall enjoyable, but not near as good as the feature it accompanied.

-Michael J. Ruhland

Independence Day: Resurgence

Review written by Michael J. Ruhland
























Michael's Movie Grade:C-

Review: Entertaining time passer but little else.

This film has a nice (but not exactly great) atmosphere, and well done action scenes, but is lacking in both the characters and story. The main problem is that this film tries to focus on too many characters and their own story lines. Because of this while the characters are likable, they aren't fleshed out anywhere near as good as they should be. You just don't get to know these characters as well as you should. Also with this many little story lines we see to little of all of them for them to be as effective as they should. The main story has been done many times before and this film does it decently here, it still has been done better elsewhere. The humor is hit and miss though there are still some good jokes in here.

Overall this is an enjoyable film, but there is little to make it stand out among better similar films.

-Michael J. Ruhland

The BFG

Review Written By Michael J. Ruhland


















Michael's Movie Grade: B+

Review: Excellent atmospheric fantasy film.

What is really great about this film is the atmosphere. This is handled fantastically. The scene involving the catching of dreams is breathtaking. Many of the best scenes of this film simply build up atmosphere, and in these scenes you are really pulled into the movie. On top of this the characters are just as likable as they were in the book, the story is quite charming and most of the humor is funny.

The only real problem with this film is the pacing, but sometimes it feels quite off. It seems to rush through the opening scenes, and the climax goes by much too fast. Also since many of the scenes with the mean giants are rushed, they don't feel as threating as they would if these scenes were slowed down more. This fault is really a shame with how good the rest of the film is.

Overall this is an excellent film due to great atmosphere, characters, and story, despite some pacing that doesn't always work.

-Michael J. Ruhland