Becky and I went to see the new Mark Wahlberg flick Contraband last week, while we were in Phoenix, AZ running the Rock & Roll Marathon. The Fandango website at  Contraband describes the movie as follows…

“Ex-smuggler Chris Farraday (Mark Wahlberg) gave up his criminal ways long ago. But, he’s forced back into the game after his brother-in-law, Andy (Caleb Landry Jones), botches a drug deal for a crime lord (Giovanni Ribisi), leaving Chris to settle the debt. With the help of his best friend (Ben Foster), Chris assembles a team to run to Panama to retrieve a fortune in counterfeit bills. When things go awry, Chris must call on his rusty skills to complete the task before his family pays the price.”

The Review
Contraband is a pretty good action flick starring Mark Wahlberg and Kate Beckinsale with plenty of twists and turns.  It’s rated R for being a violent film, which you would expect since it’s about smuggling.  If you can get past the violence and the language the story is a good one.

Mark Wahlberg is a good actor and fun to watch on the Big Screen.  The film is much more exciting than it is entertaining and it does make you wonder about what kind of crime and corruption are going on in America today.  Mark Wahlberg’s character is caught in the middle of a situation he doesn’t want to be involved in, which creates plenty of tension for the audience.

It has a number of plot twists and it’s not your typical shoot em’ up film where the main characters are invincible.  It’s definitely more real to life than most films with plenty of action, fast paced and keeps you on the edge of your seat.  Most people coming out of the theater really liked this movie.  The critics were not huge fans, but we thought it was worth the price of admission.  We both liked it and so did our friends that were with us.  It’s not a great film that is going to win any awards, but it was a pretty good action flick.

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

Sponsored By: Looking for a great income opportunity with awesome products? Get started for under $500 and $100 a month marketing amazing products!

Click here!

________________________________________________________________

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 Meryl Streep film The Iron Lady while we were in Phoenix, AZ last week running the Rock & Roll Marathon. The Fandango website at  The Iron Lady describes the movie as follows…

“The Iron Lady is a surprising and intimate portrait of Margaret Thatcher (Meryl Streep), the first and only female Prime Minister of The United Kingdom. One of the 20th century’s most famous and influential women, Thatcher came from nowhere to smash through barriers of gender and class to be heard in a male dominated world.”

The Review
The Iron Lady is beyond boring.  It moves at a snail’s pace for only an hour and forty-five minutes, but you would think it was much longer than it is.  It was mainly and elderly audience in this film, so we didn’t have to worry about anyone texting during this movie that’s for sure.  The acting is extremely good by everyone involved in the movie and I’m sure that Meryl Streep will win Best Actor for her role.

However, the historical accuracy is questionable and at times comical since they show about 45 seconds of Margaret Thatcher with Ronald Reagan, who she was very close with during her time as Prime Minister.  They show her and her husband getting blown up in a hotel and you wonder if that’s true or part of her delusional experiences from her dementia that came later in her life.  Most of the movie takes place in her sickly elderly state, with flashbacks to when she was a famous leader.

About the only thing “iron” about this woman according to the Director and Screen Writer is that she was a woman in a male dominated world.  Beyond that, they made it seem like she was the cause of England’s woes and that she made very bad decisions as though her dementia that came on later in life was the cause.  It was a bit absurd since the reality is that she was probably the best Prime Minister they have had and made some tough decisions that really helped her country in the long run.

It was a strange film that was really in bad taste since she is still alive and you would think they could have at least waited until she was dead to make a film of her talking to her dead husband and having fantasies about her past.  You have to wonder if any of it this film is real or just a fantasy of the Director.  Becky and I didn’t like this film and can’t recommend it.

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

Sponsored By: Looking for a great income opportunity with awesome products? Get started for under $500 and $100 a month marketing amazing products!

Click here!

________________________________________________________________

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 film War Horse on opening night at the AMC Theater in Castle Rock, CO. The Fandango website at  War Horse describes the movie as follows…

” An epic adventure for audiences of all ages. Set against a sweeping canvas of rural England and Europe during the First World War, “War Horse” begins with the remarkable friendship between a horse named Joey and a young man called Albert, who tames and trains him. When they are forcefully parted, the film follows the extraordinary journey of the horse as he moves through the war, changing and inspiring the lives of all those he meets—British cavalry, German soldiers, and a French farmer and his granddaughter—before the story reaches its emotional climax in the heart of No Man’s Land.”

The Review
War Horse got great reviews from fans and critics alike, but for Becky and I it was a bit like watching an old Western film on television like Gunsmoke.  Even the cinematography in the film has an old feel to it, making it feel like you were watching Gone With The Wind.  I was waiting for Rhett Butler to appear on the screen and talk about the horse.

If you’re a big time horse lover, you’ll probably really like this movie.  Otherwise you may be pretty bored.  The film is about a boy who gets a horse and then loses it during the War.  He then joins the Army and goes in search of his horse, which you find out later in the movie.  The young guy really needed a girlfriend, which never materialized in this movie for him.

War Horse jumps all over the place with a variety of characters, showing the horrors of war, while following the horse that manages to stay alive in a variety of circumstances and then goes back to the main character in search of his horse.  After a while we started to lose interest in the horse and the characters.  It’s hot a terrible film, but it’s just not very entertaining because of the Directing of the movie.  It will make a good rental though.

John – ** Rental
Becky – ** Rental

Sponsored By: Looking for a great income opportunity with awesome products? Get started for under $500 and $100 a month marketing amazing products!

Click here!

________________________________________________________________

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 took the kids to see the new Matt Damon film We Bought A Zoo tonight at the AMC Theater in Castle Rock, CO.  The MovieFone website at We Bought A Zoo, describes the movie as follows.

“A widower (Matt Damon) purchases a zoo in order to bring his family back together in this Twentieth Century Fox adaptation of Benjamin Mee‘s autobiographical memoir. Cameron Crowe (Almost Famous) writes and directs based on a script by Aline Brosh McKenna…”

The Review 
We Bought A Zoo didn’t impress the movie critics for some reason and also a number of people who wrote comments at MovieFone and Fandango as well.  I think people were expecting a comedy based on the name of the film, since it sounds light hearted and funny.  However, this is a Drama about a guy who has lost his wife and is raising their two young children, while his career is coming to an end as an Adventure Writer for a newspaper.

The story is very touching and deals with the struggles that this family experienced in trying to do something that they had absolutely no experience in doing, owning a Zoo.  Granted, the character had some money to get started and it was pretty cool how they all pulled together to try to save the animals and the Zoo, while in the process trying to make something great for their local community.  The film has a great deal of heart and it will pull at your heart strings to try to pull a tear or two as you watch the family dynamics and challenges of the characters unfold in this unique adventure story.

Besides taking our three children to see the film, we also went with our two nephews Aidan (11) and Brendan (14) and everyone really liked this film.  Corban didn’t like it as much as the rest of the kids, but he had a bad attitude going into it and didn’t want to see it to begin with.  He said after the movie, “It was better than I expected, I would rate it a good rental”, but everyone else thought it was definitely a Don’t Miss It or at the very least Worth The Trip.

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

Conroy – **** Don’t Miss It
Corban – ** Rental
Bianca – **** Don’t Miss It

Sponsored By: Looking for a great income opportunity with awesome products? Get started for under $500 and $100 a month marketing amazing products!

Click here!

________________________________________________________________

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 Girl With the Dragon Tattoo last week with our friends Chris and Hope at the AMC Theater in Castle Rock, CO.  The MovieFone website at The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo, describes the movie as follows.

“A discredited journalist (Daniel Craig) and a mysterious computer hacker discover that even the wealthiest families have skeletons in their closets while working to solve the mystery of a 40-year-old murder in this David Fincher-directed remake of the 2009 Swedish hriller of the same name. Inspired by late author Stieg Larsson‘s successful trilogy of books, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo gets under way as the two leads (Daniel Craig and Rooney Mara) are briefed in the disappearance of Harriet Vanger, whose uncle suspects she may have been killed by a member of their own family. The deeper they dig for the truth, however, the greater the risk of being buried alive by members of the family, who will go to great lengths to keep their secrets tightly sealed…”

The Review 
The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo is taken from an International best selling book trilogy with the first book being of the same name.  It was made as an Independent film with subtitles that Becky and I saw a couple of years ago and it was pretty awesome at that time because the story has so many interesting characters and plot twists.  However, it was extremely graphic the first time around and it’s even more graphic this time.  This is a film that will not appeal to everyone with a great story, but it’s so graphic that it’s extremely disturbing.

Let me put it into perspective for you before you go to this film and are shocked.  It is rated R for – Graphic Nudity, Brutal Violent Content, Torture, Language, Rape and Strong Sexuality and it lives up to all of those reasons for the rating.  At times it’s more X Rated than R rated, which was very disturbing.  I think the Director could have done an Alfred Hitchcock “Psycho” type scene instead of showing the sick aspects of the characters on the screen and accomplished the same effect.

The acting is very good in this movie.  The characters are fascinating and the story is what makes this such a good trilogy.  However, it’s not a light hearted film or a movie for everyone.  It’s a graphic and disturbing detective film and psychological thriller.

Becky and I knew what to expect from seeing the Swedish version of the movie and we liked it.  I know some people who have opted to read the books instead of seeing the movie.  It definitely lives up to the expectations of the people who are familiar with the books and the movies.  If you can get past the extremely disturbing scenes, the movie is worth the trip.  If you cannot, and I know some people who told me they won’t see it because of the graphic scenes in the film, then you had better skip it and put this one on the Don’t Bother list.

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

Sponsored By: Looking for a great income opportunity with awesome products? Get started for under $500 and $100 a month marketing amazing products!

Click here!

________________________________________________________________

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 took the kids to see the new Mission Impossible – Ghost Protocol movie last week at the Hollywood Theater in Littleton, CO at the Southglenn Mall.  The Fandango website at Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol, describes the movie as follows.

“Blamed for a terrorist attack on the Kremlin, Ethan Hunt (Tom Cruise) and the entire IMF agency are disavowed by the U.S. government, while the president initiates the Ghost Protocol. Forced to go “off the grid” — left without resources or backup — Hunt must somehow clear the agency’s name and prevent another attack. Complicating matters even more, Ethan must undertake the impossible mission with a group of fellow IMF fugitives whose actual motives are suspect.”

The Review 
Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol is the latest Tom Cruise Mission Impossible film with his popular Ethan Hunt character.  We went with Conroy, Corban, Bianca and our friends Mark & Maria Ford on opening night and the theater was packed.  Tom Cruise can still draw a crowd with these movies. This is the fourth Mission Impossible flick and it’s probably the best of the bunch.  It has plenty of sexy people and non-stop action and suspense.  If you liked the previous films you’ll really like this one.  The kids hadn’t seen any of the previous movies and they still liked this one, so you don’t have to be following the other films to understand what’s going on with this one.

Many people are not a big fan of Tom Cruise with his zany religious beliefs and Scientology movement, but there is no doubt that he’s very good at making these movies and playing this character.  He does a great job in this movie and there are parts that will make your hands sweat!  Granted the movie is far fetched, but it’s “mission impossible”, not mission possible, so it has to be far fetched.  The bad guy was kind of lame in this movie, which was really the biggest shortcoming in my opinion.  The stunts, story, acting and situations were awesome though.

We all liked this film and thought it was definitely a Don’t Miss It.

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

Conroy – **** Don’t Miss It
Corban – **** Don’t Miss It
Bianca – **** Don’t Miss It

Sponsored By: Looking for a great income opportunity with awesome products? Get started for under $500 and $100 a month marketing amazing products!

Click here!

________________________________________________________________

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 took the kids to see the new Sherlock Holmes: Game of Shadows flick last night at the AMC theater in Castle Rock, CO.  The Fandango website at Sherlock Holmes: Game of Shadows, describes the movie as follows.

“When Austria’s crown prince is found dead, evidence seems to point to suicide. However, detective Sherlock Holmes (Robert Downey Jr.) deduces that the prince was murdered and that the crime is but a piece of a puzzle designed by an evil genius named Moriarty (Jared Harris). Holmes and his friend Dr. Watson (Jude Law), who are accompanied by a Gypsy (Noomi Rapace) whose life Holmes saved, chase Moriarty across Europe in the hope that they can thwart his plot before it can come to fruition.”

The Review 
Sherlock Holmes: Game of Shadows is the next installment of the Robert Downey Jr. and Jude Law saga about Sherlock Holmes.  It’s a little over two hours, but for some reason it seems much longer and it’s very well done.  It’s action packed as the previous films with plenty of explosions, fight scenes, and much more crime solving than previous versions.  This time he is going up against his evil rival, Professor Moriarty, to stop him from starting a World War.  It has a surprise ending.

I really like these films and the characters, but I know a number of people who don’t.  If you’re a fan, you’ll sure to like this one, but if you didn’t like the previous films then you should skip this one because it’s just more of the same.  Which is why most movie critics were not really big fans.  However, most people coming out of the film really liked it and I know Conroy, Corban and their friend Kaden really liked this latest film.  Becky and Bianca didn’t like it very much and they both thought it was too long.

It’s a great blockbuster flick to see over the Christmas Season, if you enjoy action movies and this old time genre.

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

Conroy – **** Don’t Miss It
Corban – **** Don’t Miss It
Bianca – ** Rental

Sponsored By: Looking for a great income opportunity with awesome products? Get started for under $500 and $100 a month marketing amazing products!

Click here!

________________________________________________________________

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 film New Year’s Eve last week at the AMC theater in Castle Rock, CO.  The Fandango website at New Year’s Eve describes the movie as follows:

“New Year’s Eve celebrates love, hope, forgiveness, second chances and fresh starts, in intertwining stories told amidst the pulse and promise of New York City on the most dazzling night of the year.“

The Review 
New Year’s Eve is the second installment of the film Valentine’s Day with a full cast of new characters.  It’s a Garry Marshall film and it’s definitely better than the first one.  However, it’s definitely a chic flick and there isn’t much too the film.  It shows about five different stories all going on at the same time, like the Valentine’s Day movie and you follow along with each character having a New Years Eve experience.

The movie jumped around too much and there isn’t a great deal of substance in this film.  There’s a great deal of emotion, with a few good laughs at times.  It jumps from being comical to serious a bit too much, but it is entertaining.

Becky liked it much better than I did, but it really wasn’t that bad of a movie.  I think it makes it for a better rental, unless you’re looking for a date night movie.

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

Sponsored By: Looking for a great income opportunity with awesome products? Get started for under $500 and $100 a month marketing amazing products!

Click here!
_________________________________________________________________________

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 took the kids to see the new film My Week With Marilyn a few weeks ago at the AMC theater in Highlands Ranch, CO.  The Fandango website at My Week With Marilyn describes the movie as follows:

“In 1956 England, Colin Clark (Eddie Redmayne) lands a job as a production assistant on the set of “The Prince and the Showgirl,” starring Marilyn Monroe (Michelle Williams). Marilyn is also honeymooning with her new husband, playwright Arthur Miller, but the combined pressure of work and the demands of the Hollywood hangers-on is driving her to exhaustion. When Miller departs for Paris, Colin seizes the opportunity, to give Marilyn respite during a week in the idyllic British countryside.“

The Review 
My Week With Marilyn is a strange, but fascinating film about the iconic Marilyn Monroe.  It focuses on her relationship with a young man, while filming a movie in England.  The film gives a glimpse into her life from the perspective of this guy, who fell in love with her, while working as her personal assistant for a week.  It’s a little goofy in that regard, but it’s pretty good.

She definitely was a beautiful woman, but a bit of a nut with a serious drinking and drug problem according to this film.  It also portrayed her as a woman who needed to be the center of attention and have the world answer to her beckon call.  She was also incredibly insecure.  If you’re a fan of Marilyn Monroe you should really like this movie.  We didn’t dislike the movie, but we found it rather interesting.  It’s not a feel good movie, but more like a documentary.

We thought it was a pretty good film though between Worth The Trip and being a Rental.

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

Sponsored By: Looking for a great income opportunity with awesome products? Get started for under $500 and $100 a month marketing amazing products!

Click here!
_________________________________________________________________________

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 took the kids to see the new film Hugo a few weeks ago at the Regal Cinema theater in Lone Tree, CO for their $5 Sunday.  The Fandango website at Hugo, describes the movie as follows:

“Orphaned and alone except for an uncle, Hugo Cabret (Asa Butterfield) lives in the walls of a train station in 1930s Paris. Hugo’s job is to oil and maintain the station’s clocks, but to him, his more important task is to protect a broken automaton and notebook left to him by his late father (Jude Law). Accompanied by the goddaughter (Chloe Grace Moretz) of an embittered toy merchant (Ben Kingsley), Hugo embarks on a quest to solve the mystery of the automaton and find a place he can call home.“

The Review 
Hugo is another movie for the Holidays that has been getting great reviews by the critics and this time they are right. This is a very well done film starring Ben Kingsley and Asa Butterfield (The Boy in the Striped Pajamas and The Wolfman).  The story has many plot twists and it is an adaptation from a children’s book, The Adventures of Hugo Cabret.  Our son Conroy had read the book and he really liked it.  The movie was really good too.

This movie has a great deal of heart and it’s a very fun film that is clever and unique for the whole family.  The cinematography is really cool, with great costumes and interesting characters with a great story.  We all really liked it, except for Bianca who thought it was a rental.

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

Bianca – ** Rental
Corban – **** Don’t Miss It
Conroy  – **** Don’t Miss It

Sponsored By: Looking for a great income opportunity with awesome products? Get started for under $500 and $100 a month marketing amazing products!

Click here!
_________________________________________________________________________

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