My Top 5 movies to see for the rest of the Summer Movie Season

The two biggest Summer movies as far as I'm concerned have already come out.  That is Jurassic World and Avengers 2.  I loved both films.  The one big movie that I missed was Tomorrowland (so did everyone else apparently).  I wanted to see Tomorrowland- but by the time it came out Jurassic World was in theaters so it will have to wait until DVD.   I did see a really cool sneak peek of it at Disneyland which was amazing  (Here is my Disney blog about that)

http://braddisneylandblog.blogspot.com/2015/05/tomorrowland-movie-sneak-peek-small.html


So now that these big movies have come out already what is left?

5.   Mission Impossible: Rogue Nation.  

This franchise has been a mixed bag.  
Mission Impossible 1996  was a 8 out of 10
Mission Impossible 2 2000  was my least  favorite big budget action sequel ever (I totally hated it) 4 out of 10
Mission Impossible 3  2006   8 out of 10  was excellent my favorite in the series.
Mission Impossible 4 2011 was okay --but not great  6 out of 10

When the trailer for this one came out I thought it looked as good as if not better than the upcoming James Bond.  

4.   Masterminds:

My stepson asked if I wanted to see this movie and honestly I hadn't even heard of it yet.  I looked it up online and without even seeing a trailer I put it on my list based on the cast alone. Zach Galigianakis, Jason Sudeikis, Owen Wilson and Kristen Wigg I'm in.

3.   Vacation

One of my favorite franchises growing up.  Both the original Vacation and Christmas Vacation are in my top comedies of all-time.  Ed Helms is getting a shot at carrying the franchise forward as a grown up Rusty taking his family on a Vacation like the kind he took as a kid.   The Trailers look good and  with Christina Applegate as his wife and Chevy Chase guesting --I'm looking forward to seeing if they can get it right.

2. Antman

I'm hoping to see the sneak peek at Disneyland in the next week which will probably jump start my excitement for this Marvel film.  It may be the Marvel movie I've been the least excited for--but Marvel has been hitting it out of the park lately and it does star Paul Rudd

1. Inside Out

I'll probably be seeing this movie this week and reviewing it on my Disney blog.   Pixar just really makes great movies and from the buzz this is no different.  A high concept film that looks like it could be a lot of fun,

What are the 5   remaining Summer movies you are looking forward to? 

Terminator would have made my list:   The first 2 by Cameron were classic.   T3 and Terminator Salvation were disappointments so now I have no idea how to feel about this franchise. 

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A Tale of 2 Walter Mitty's: Original vs Remake

The Secret Life of Walter Mitty 1947  8+ out of 10

The Original

After catching the remake of Walter Mitty I decided to re watch the original, which I hadn't seen since probably before any thoughts of a remake even happened.  The original was a fun and entertaining film starring the legendary Danny Kaye and the gorgeous Virginia Mayo.  Walter Mitty is a day dreamer that drifts off in daydreams and fantasies in the middle of everyday conversations.  His day dreams are much more exciting than his everyday life, until he ends up caught in an exciting real life adventure that involves a beautiful girl, murder and spies (just like the publication company he works for).     It is a perfect mix of comedy and adventure as it places this day dreamer (played to perfection by Danny Kaye as Mitty) that is dashing and super confident in his day dreams and a fumbling dork in real life.  Danny Kaye pulls off both roles with great ease (also see this in his classic The Court Jester 1956.)   His dream adventures let him live out aerial dog fights against the Germans and surgery as a cocky doctor among other adventures.   Once the real life adventure crashes into his ordinary life the film really hits its stride as he tries to avoid getting killed by the infamous Boris Karloff.  By the end the viewer starts to question whether this whole adventure isn't just another one of his fantasies. I'll let you watch it to sort that out for yourself.

The Secret Life of Walter Mitty  2013   5 out of 10

The Remake

The remake was on the drawing board for literally over a decade.  Jim Carrey was first eyed for the role as early the mid 1990's

  ( A Jim Carrey version would have been great ) .  Rumors of a remake would resurface ever once in awhile with names like  Owen Wilson and Mike Myers being eyed to star in it, but it was Ben Stiller that finally got it made.  The plot of Walter Mitty made it ripe for a remake and it is shocking that it took as long as it did to get done in a remake and reboot happy Hollywood.   Unfortunately the remake just didn't get it right as far as I'm concerned and the problem lies completely in the much different tone and plot of the remake.    This modern day Walter Mitty as played by Ben Stiller wasn't as fun and the reason was the plot.  The story centers around Walter working for Life magazine that is going out of business and readying for its final issue.  The picture that is supposed to be on the cover is missing and Walter goes on an adventure to find it.   The movie follows the same general story about a day dreamer thrust into a real life adventure like the ones he dreams about,  but that real life adventure isn't as fun or exciting as the original Witty's.  Instead of the murder and spy adventure -we get a dull story about trying to track down Sean Penn the photographer that took the missing picture.   Some of Walter's day dreams were still interesting --but the real life adventure that includes him falling for Kristen Wig's character (one of his co-workers) just didn't live up to the original adventure and left me wondering if the film should have been remade in the first place.    The answer it should have --but just maybe 15 years ago, with a different plot and tone and starring Jim Carrey.

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Paul 2011 6 out of 10

Paul 2011   6 out of 10

If you replace Elliot with two British Sci-Fi nerds and you replace ET and his Reeses Pieces with a Pot smoking Alien-----then you have Paul.  The movie is a comic retelling of the ET that tries to be an edgier take on helping an alien get back home again.  

The movie was good, but not great.   

The Cast

 The movie had a great cast of comedy pros which included Simon Pegg and Nick Frost in their third movie collaboration  (Shaun of the Dead,  Hot Fuzz).  It also features the talents of Kristen Wigg and Jason Bateman which I felt were completely squandered in this film.  And then there is Paul the Alien as voiced by Seth Rogen.  All give decent preformances, but it felt like a lot was left on the table.

The Plot

Like I mentioned it was basically a pot smokers/geek version of ET.  The two British nerds stumble across Paul they Alien while out traveling the US UFO areas in an RV. They have to help Paul get to a spot that his Alien pals can rescue him.  It was a decent plot that just should have been funnier. I felt that the comedy was very watered down from what you would expect from a Seth Rogen as pot smoking Alien movie.   I really feel that this movie left a lot of comedy potential that didn't make it into the film.

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