Becky and I went to see the new movie Life of Pi at the AMC Cinemas in Castle Rock, CO this past weekend.  The Fandango website at Life of Pi describes the movie as follows…

“After deciding to sell their zoo in India and move to Canada, Santosh and Gita Patel board a freighter with their sons and a few remaining animals. Tragedy strikes when a terrible storm sinks the ship, leaving the Patels’ teenage son, Pi (Suraj Sharma), as the only human survivor. However, Pi is not alone; a fearsome Bengal tiger has also found refuge aboard the lifeboat. As days turn into weeks and weeks drag into months, Pi and the tiger must learn to trust each other if both are to survive…”

The Review: Life of Pi is getting great reviews by most of the film critics and I’ve talked with a number of people who have seen it with mixed opinions about it.  I think it’s one of those movies that you’re either going to really love or really dislike.

It’s about this man who tells a whale of a tale about how he grew up in India and how his father owned a Zoo with a variety of wild animals.  He’s shipwrecked with his family on a journey to start a new life and he is found alone on a boat with several of the wild animals from his Father’s Zoo and one animal in particular – a wild tiger.

The man is telling his story about how he survived with the tiger to another man who is listening to the story and the moral of the story is that all roads lead to God.  The story has nothing to do with God, but with the boy and the tiger, but in the end you discover that the story is not even true, but an entertaining fable of what really happened on his little boat.  He’s presented it for two hours as an option for you to decide, which story you choose to believe.  At the end is the final climatic statement that tells us that you want to believe the nice story, the one about the tiger and not the truth and so it goes with God.  Which is totally ridiculous because all roads do not lead to God.  There is a way that seems right to a man, but in the end it leads to death.  Sometimes the end is not only death, but also murder for choosing the wrong way, just like in this film.  His conclusion is therefore fundamentally flawed that you can just choose what you want to believe and that fantasy will trump the facts, if you just believe.  It sounds good, but it’s not reality.

The film was visually stunning and very well done for its cinematography, but it is boring, the story is lame and the ending made us really feel like we had wasted our time.  It is getting rave reviews, so you may like it.  Maybe it’s better to watch in 3D, but it wasn’t any good in 2D. There is no way I could sit through this film and watch it again.  As you can tell, Becky and I didn’t like this movie, but Becky rated it a Rental and I rated it a Don’t Bother.  I disliked the movie and felt like I had attended a lecture from Deepak Chopra on God.  I half expected him to show up at the end and give us a synopsis of what we just watched.  This is definitely not a film I would recommend and I should have listened to our two boys who said, “That movie looks stupid.” and decided not to go.  They were right.

John – * Don’t Bother
Becky – ** Rental

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Auto Consultant – John Boyd: The Cool Car Guy

John is an auto consultant and owner of CoolCarGuy.com with his license at a car dealership in Denver, Colorado. He can help you save time and money on any make or model, new or used, lease or purchase or consign your vehicle – nationwide! Call or email John about your next vehicle! jboyd@coolcarguy.com or Twitter@coolcarguy

Last night Becky and I went to see the new movie Red Dawn at the AMC Theaters in Highlands Ranch, CO.  The Fandango website at Red Dawn describes the movie as follows…

“A city in Washington state awakens to the surreal sight of foreign paratroopers dropping from the sky – shockingly, the U.S. has been invaded and their hometown is the initial target. Quickly and without warning, the citizens find themselves prisoners and their town under enemy occupation. Determined to fight back, a group of young patriots seek refuge in the surrounding woods, training and reorganizing themselves into a guerilla group of fighters. Taking inspiration from their high school mascot, they call themselves the Wolverines, banding together to protect one another, liberate their town from its captors, and take back their freedom…”

The Review: Red Dawn is a remake of a pretty bad movie that was done about 20 years ago when America was still at odds with Russia.  It wasn’t very good the first time and it was just as bad this time around.  The first time around it was about a group of teenagers who took on the Russians when they showed up to take over America, hence the name Red Dawn.  This time around it’s the Koreans who arrive with help from the Russians and it’s not really teenagers, but more of a army of misfits from a local town.

We didn’t go into this film with very high expectations and it delivered.  We went to see it because our kids wanted to go see Pitch Perfect and we had already seen that movie and everything else at the theater.  Yeah, I know – that’s pretty crazy.  Anyway, this movie is not very good for several reasons.  The story is lame, the characters are weak, the acting is not very good and you never really get emotionally attached to any of these characters.  They even mention during the movie that it’s like they are playing Call of Duty for real, which that’s what it pretty much seemed like.  I felt like I was watching kids play a video game, which if you’ve ever done is not very exciting for very long.

I wouldn’t say it’s a total don’t bother, but it’s pretty close.  Becky rated it a Don’t Bother, but I’m going to give it a Rental.  it’s definitely not worth the price of admission.

John – ** Rental
Becky – * Don’t Bother

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Auto Consultant – John Boyd: The Cool Car Guy

John is an auto consultant and owner of CoolCarGuy.com with his license at a car dealership in Denver, Colorado. He can help you save time and money on any make or model, new or used, lease or purchase or consign your vehicle – nationwide! Call or email John about your next vehicle! jboyd@coolcarguy.com or Twitter@coolcarguy

Happy Thanksgiving!

Becky and I went to see the new movie Lincoln on opening night at the AMC Theaters in Highlands Ranch, CO with our friends Mark & Maria Ford.  The Fandango website at Lincoln describes the movie as follows…

“Steven Spielberg directs two-time Academy Award® winner Daniel Day-Lewis in “Lincoln,” a revealing drama that focuses on the 16th President’s tumultuous final months in office. In a nation divided by war and the strong winds of change, Lincoln pursues a course of action designed to end the war, unite the country and abolish slavery. With the moral courage and fierce determination to succeed, his choices during this critical moment will change the fate of generations to come…”

The Review: Lincoln is going to be an immediate classic and probably be nominated for Best Picture because of Director Steven Spielberg is so well loved in Hollywood.  It’s the story of the Civil War and the challenges that faced President Lincoln and the Republican Congress faced in getting slavery abolished in America.  The story is absolutely incredible and the cinematography was fantastic.  Daniel Day-Lewis is probably going to get best actor for his role as Lincoln in this film.

The movie is very well done, but be forewarned that it’s long and if you are not a fan of History you will probably not like it.  Becky, Mark and Maria were pretty bored and Mark and Becky fell asleep a couple of times, so be prepared for a slow moving film.  The historical content of the film though is very good and it reminded me of that film Amazing Grace in 2006 about the idealist William Wilberforce, who moved to abolish the slave trade in England.  Personally, I thought Amazing Grace was better than Lincoln, but they are both very good films.  They are just somewhat boring since they are historical films that are about the law more than action and adventure.

I have to rate this movie as a Don’t Miss It because it’s about the 16th President and one of the most important Presidents in American History at a time when roughly 750,000 people died from our Civil War.  I really enjoyed it and the performance of the actors was amazing.  Becky rated it as a Rental, since it was so long and boring at times, so you may want to stay home and be able to pause the film with your remote control.

John – **** Don’t Miss It
Becky – ** Rental

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Auto Consultant – John Boyd: The Cool Car Guy

John is an auto consultant and owner of CoolCarGuy.com with his license at a car dealership in Denver, Colorado. He can help you save time and money on any make or model, new or used, lease or purchase or consign your vehicle – nationwide! Call or email John about your next vehicle! jboyd@coolcarguy.com or Twitter@coolcarguy

Becky and I went to see the new flick Pitch Perfect about a week ago at the Regal Cinemas in Fruita, CO with Bianca, her friend and Becky.  The Fandango website at Pitch Perfect describes the movie as follows…

“College student Beca (Anna Kendrick) knows she does not want to be part of a clique, but that’s exactly where she finds herself after arriving at her new school. Thrust in among mean gals, nice gals and just plain weird gals, Beca finds that the only thing they have in common is how well they sing together. She takes the women of the group out of their comfort zone of traditional arrangements and into a world of amazing harmonic combinations in a fight to the top of college music competitions…”

The Review: Pitch Perfect is a quirky film that I was expecting to be like High School Musical and in some ways it was like that movie, only in this case it’s College Musical, with some great singing.  The story is actually pretty good though, about this young girl who is trying to find her own way in College and gets recruited into participating in this music group to participate in competitive singing.  She can sing, but she’s not really into the group leader that she’s having to take orders from.

It’s a classic girl meets boy film, with some great characters and really good laughs.  I really liked the lead actress in this role, she’s been in quite a few movies and she’s an up and coming movie star.  She can apparently sing too and the music in the film was really good.

I didn’t have high hopes for this movie.  I thought it was going to be really stupid and a waste of time, but I was very surprised that we all liked it and found it entertaining.  There are some great laughs and the theater was packed, which I also didn’t expect.  Bianca and her friend really liked it and Becky enjoyed it too, she actually had already seen it once and even liked it the second time.  It’s definitely more of a Chick Flick than a guy film, but I liked it and would recommend it.

John – *** Worth The Trip
Becky – *** Worth The Trip

Bianca – **** Don’t Miss It

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________________________________________________________________

Auto Consultant – John Boyd: The Cool Car Guy

John is an auto consultant and owner of CoolCarGuy.com with his license at a car dealership in Denver, Colorado. He can help you save time and money on any make or model, new or used, lease or purchase or consign your vehicle – nationwide! Call or email John about your next vehicle! jboyd@coolcarguy.com or Twitter@coolcarguy

Becky and I went to see the new movie The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn Part 2 at the Regal Cinemas in Lone Tree, CO.  The MovieFone website at The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn Part 2 describes the movie as follows…

“The astonishing conclusion to the series, The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn Part 2, illuminates the secrets and mysteries of this spellbinding romantic epic that has entranced millions…”

The Review: The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn Part 2 is the conclusion to the popular Twilight Series from the popular teen books about a vampire and his prey that fall in love.  I’ve written reviews about the previous films that I thought pretty much sucked, except for the first one was somewhat interesting, but this one wasn’t much better than the others.  It was a little better in that it was the last one, but the whole premise of this story is totally ridiculous.

It’s the same cast of characters as the previous films, but now the two vampire lovers have had a child that is part human and part vampire, which makes absolutely no sense.  It apparently didn’t make any sense for the vampire leaders either, since they have assembled to destroy the child and the vampire parents, who have violated the vampire code of conduct.  If you’re still with me, you’re starting to see how stupid this whole thing is, but wait there’s more.  They have aroused other vampire clans to battle with them against the vampire leaders and their Werewolf friends have joined in this battle as well to save the half-breed vampire child.

Okay, I can’t write anymore about this movie.  It’s terrible.  If you’re a Twilight fan you will probably like it, but anyone else is probably going to see it as a total waste of time.  I believe Becky rated it a Rental, reluctantly, but I’m saying it’s a Don’t Bother for sure.  Fortunately, it was only $5 to watch this movie.

John – * Don’t Bother
Becky – ** Rental

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Auto Consultant – John Boyd: The Cool Car Guy

John is an auto consultant and owner of CoolCarGuy.com with his license at a car dealership in Denver, Colorado. He can help you save time and money on any make or model, new or used, lease or purchase or consign your vehicle – nationwide! Call or email John about your next vehicle! jboyd@coolcarguy.com or Twitter@coolcarguy

Becky and I went to see the new movie SkyFall at the Regal Cinemas in Fruita, CO on opening night, after running The Rim Rock Canyon Marathon in Fruita, CO, earlier in the day.  The Fandango website at Skyfall describes the movie as follows…

“When James Bond’s (Daniel Craig) latest assignment goes terribly wrong, it leads to a calamitous turn of events: Undercover agents around the world are exposed, and MI6 is attacked, forcing M (Judi Dench) to relocate the agency. With MI6 now compromised inside and out, M turns to the one man she can trust: Bond. Aided only by a field agent (Naomie Harris), Bond takes to the shadows and follows a trail to Silva (Javier Bardem), a man from M’s past who wants to settle an old score…”

The Review: Skyfall is the latest spy thriller starring Daniel Craig as special agent James Bond 007.  The story is good, with an aging James Bond, who actually gets beat up and bounced around in this movie quite a bit.  The movie is about a half hour too long.  They could have left some of the scenes out of this one, like a gay flirtation with the villain, which you would never consider with the womanizing James Bond character.  Another scene with Bond getting a clean shave?  That was a bit mundane.

There is a great deal of action in the movie though and I have always been a fan of James Bond flicks.  I liked this one and thought it was cool the way they tied “Skyfall” into the film, as a place of his youth, with a climactic ending as you would expect in a 007 film.  There were quite a few parts that were unrealistic that may bug you, as they try to compete with the Jason Bourne and other similar films, like his surviving a trip down a waterfall, after being shot.

There were not enough hot women too, which you expect to see with James Bond films, but it was still very well done.  I would rate it as a Don’t Miss It and Becky thought it was Worth The Trip.

John – **** Don’t Miss It
Becky – *** Worth The Trip

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________________________________________________________________

Auto Consultant – John Boyd: The Cool Car Guy

John is an auto consultant and owner of CoolCarGuy.com with his license at a car dealership in Denver, Colorado. He can help you save time and money on any make or model, new or used, lease or purchase or consign your vehicle – nationwide! Call or email John about your next vehicle! jboyd@coolcarguy.com or Twitter@coolcarguy

Becky and I went to see the new flick Fun Size tonight at the Regal Cinemas in Lone Tree, CO with Bianca and Corban.  The Fandango website at Fun Size describes the movie as follows…

“FUN SIZE is a funny and outrageous family ensemble comedy that all takes place on one Halloween night. A young girl’s popularity is in jeopardy when she is forced to track down her kid brother instead of going to THE party of the year. Yet her kid brother shows her what popularity is all about — and her rush to find her brother with her nerd neighbor shows her that popularity might not be exactly what she really wants…”

The Review Fun Size is a Nickelodean flick starring Victoria Justice, who has been on the kid’s television show Victorious on the Nick Channel.  The film received terrible reviews from the Critics, but most people who have seen the movie have recommended the movie.

It’s a pretty funny film about a young High School girl, who’s going through the typical High School challenges, while trying to deal with her Mom and younger brother.  She gets invited to a Halloween party of a popular boy with her crazy girlfriend and discovers that she needs to babysit her eight year old brother instead.  The next thing you know her brother is lost while out trick or treating and the story builds from there.

There are some goofy characters in this film and it’s pretty funny.  It’s not a great flick by any stretch, but it was entertaining and made us all laugh numerous times.  It’s definitely PG-13, so don’t bring you little kids to this movie.  It has some adult humor too and a little bit of bad language, but nothing worse than what you hear on television today.

We liked it and thought it was Worth The Trip, if you’re in the mood for a comedy.

John – *** Worth The Trip
Becky – *** Worth The Trip

Corban – *** Worth The Trip
Bianca – *** Worth The Trip

Sponsored By: SHAREMERCHANT.com:  Get paid to share!  Find out how you can earn $1,500 a month using and recommending products.  Become a Share Merchant!

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________________________________________________________________

Auto Consultant – John Boyd: The Cool Car Guy

John is an auto consultant and owner of CoolCarGuy.com with his license at a car dealership in Denver, Colorado. He can help you save time and money on any make or model, new or used, lease or purchase or consign your vehicle – nationwide! Call or email John about your next vehicle! jboyd@coolcarguy.com or Twitter@coolcarguy

Becky and I went to see the new flick Flight last night at the AMC theaters in Highlands Ranch, CO with our friends Mark and Maria.  The Fandango website at Flight describes the movie as follows…

“Commercial airline pilot Whip Whitaker (Denzel Washington) has a problem with drugs and alcohol, though so far he’s managed to complete his flights safely. His luck runs out when a disastrous mechanical malfunction sends his plane hurtling toward the ground. Whip pulls off a miraculous crash-landing that results in only six lives lost. Shaken to the core, Whip vows to get sober — but when the crash investigation exposes his addiction, he finds himself in an even worse situation…”

The Review
Flight is the latest Denzel Washington movie about a pilot who flew a commercial airplane under unbelievable circumstances.  The plane had a major mechanical failure and he saved 96 passengers of 102 souls that were onboard when it crashed.  It comes across as a true story, but it’s more Hollywood than anything, including the non-stop alcohol and drug abuse in the film.

The movie is getting great reviews.  Denzel is amazing as an actor once again and all the acting in this film is very well done.  The direction is not terrible, but the Director never takes us into issues such as showing how other pilots couldn’t land the airplane in the flight simulator.  Unfortunately, the story is terrible and just focuses on the pilot’s personal problems for way too long.

I can’t figure out what people like so much about this film?  It’s about a pilot who is an alcoholic and addicted to drugs and has zero self-control.  After the plane crash, it’s all about his lies and messed up life.  He flew the plane that ends up crashing, while under the influence and could go to jail for his substance abuse.  However, he’s a functional drunk and a good pilot, so he pulled off an impossible feat.  Should he get busted or get off the hook?

Flight is longer than a trip from Denver to California at 2 hours and 18 minutes, plus 20 minutes of Previews.  I felt like I had been captured to watch a non-stop series of bad choices and experiences at an Alcoholics Anonymous meeting.  The story was not entertaining, but it was depressing.  I don’t know about Maria, but the rest of us didn’t like the movie, but found it to be at least a half-hour too long.  Mark got up and said he had a headache.  I struggle with whether this falls into the category of Don’t Bother or an okay Rental.  We’ll give it a rental at best.

If you want to see this one, we would suggest waiting for it to come out as a rental.

John – ** Rental
Becky – ** Rental

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________________________________________________________________

Auto Consultant – John Boyd: The Cool Car Guy

John is an auto consultant and owner of CoolCarGuy.com with his license at a car dealership in Denver, Colorado. He can help you save time and money on any make or model, new or used, lease or purchase or consign your vehicle – nationwide! Call or email John about your next vehicle! jboyd@coolcarguy.com or Twitter@coolcarguy