Instructions Not Included

          I happened to find this movie while just looking through different groups on Netflix, and I'm really glad I found it. The movie jumps back and forth between the Spanish and English languages, but don't let some reading scare you off from a great movie. Instructions Not Included in the most basic sense is about a single dad and the things he does and goes through for his daughter. It's a very funny and sweet movie that has a very bittersweet ending to it.

          You can find the trailer here.

Instructions Not Included Poster. IMDb. Web. 21 Nov. 2014.

          Summary:
          (Highlight the grey text boxes SPOILER with your mouse to see spoilers if you dare)

          Valentin lives the bachelor life in Acapulco avoiding commitment like a plague. Then one day, an old fling, Julie, shows up at his door and hands him a baby girl, his daughter. When Julie goes to pay the taxi, she never comes back and leaves Valentin with his daughter Maggie. Desperate to avoid the ever terrifying commitment, Valentin heads to Los Angeles to return Maggie to her mother. When he is unable to find Julie and is afraid of crossing the border with Maggie again because she might get taken away, he finds a job as a stuntman and begins to provide the best life he can for his daughter.

          Around age seven, Maggie's mother wants to meet her daughter, and being the man that he is, Valentin doesn't do anything to try and stop her. Julie lives in New York and after they meet she starts a custody battle with Valentin; the reason being she is not okay with only seeing Maggie a few times a year.

          The movie doesn't end there, but I don't want to spoil every last piece of it. Instructions Not Included is really a great film, full of comedy and a lot of happy, heart warming moments. Though, as I said, the ending is bittersweet, but it makes the movie worth it.

Snowpiercer

          In Snowpiercer, the world has been frozen over and the last strands of humanity cling to life and sanity aboard a train. The train is no ordinary train though; it was designed to run forever, circling the globe each year, over and over. The trailer for Snowpiercer can be found here.

Snowpiercer Poster. Collider. Web. 21 Nov. 2014.

          Summary:
          (Highlight the grey text boxes SPOILER with your mouse to see spoilers if you dare)

          Seventeen years ago there was an experiment to control global climate change, but this experiment backfired and now the Earth is frozen over. Life on the planet has been extinguished except for less than a handful of survivors that boarded the Snowpiercer. For some, Snowpiercer is salvation, a blessing, but for others, it's far worse than what could have been imagined. Those confined to the tail of the train that have been forced to live in cramped spaces with no possessions, no actual food, no nothing, have had enough and their unrest is about to boil over. With Curtis as their leader, those that inhabit the tail of the train are about to fight their way to the front and to change.

          Snowpiercer is really an excellent movie. It has about as many twists in its story as the train does in it's track. It's fair to say it can be sort of brutal at times, but it avoids the gory side pretty much; obviously it's going to be pretty brutal fighting your way to the front in a cramped train. If you can make it past that, or if that doesn't bother you, Snowpiercer is definitely worth the watch.

Dumb and Dumber To

          Dumb and Dumber To. The movie we've waited twenty years for. Unless you're my roommate that's never even seen the first. Can you really even call that living though?

          You can find the trailer for the movie here.

Dumb and Dumber To Poster. IMDb. Web. 15 Nov. 2014.

          Summary:
          (Highlight the grey text boxes SPOILER with your mouse to see spoilers if you dare)

          After twenty years, Harry and Lloyd are back at it. For the past two decades, Lloyd has been in a mental hospital and when Harry finally reveals to Lloyd that he can't come visit him anymore, Lloyd snaps out of it; only it was just a prank that he was playing on Harry. Harry's reason for not being able to visit Lloyd anymore is that he needs a new kidney, and when the two find out that Harry has a long lost daughter, they set out to find her in hopes that Harry can convince her to donate a kidney. At the same time, the two are entrusted with delivering a package to her that is very important.

          Sound familiar? It's a very similar plot to the first Dumb and Dumber movie, but that doesn't mean that it is a bad movie. Dumb and Dumber To is a very funny movie, and while it reflects the first movie, it definitely has it's own story, moments, jokes and all such things.

          Even if you're like my roommate, I still think that this is a movie that all would enjoy.

St. Vincent

          St. Vincent is a great movie with plenty of laughs. The story centers around a young boy in need of a friend and a neighbor that's not so much of a people person. As the movie plays we get to see how the relationships Vincent has begin to change. 

          St. Vincent's a nice type of movie; the kind that makes you feel good or happier after seeing it. It has plenty of comedy throughout and the right amount of emotion to tug on your heartstrings a bit. The trailer is here if you would like to take a look.

St. Vincent Poster. IMDb. Web. 8 Nov. 2014.

          Summary:

          (Highlight the grey text boxes SPOILER with your mouse to see spoilers if you dare)

          St. Vincent is about a grouchy old man that gets some new neighbors; a single mother trying to make things better for her son and herself. Maggie, the mother, works in a hospital and is often working late, therefore she finds a need for a babysitter. Vincent, the grouchy next door neighbor, offers to watch Oliver, Maggie's son, after school as an hourly job. What we believe to be a mean, gambling, drinking, old man turns out to be something completely different as we watch the days Oliver spends with this new friend.

          Overall, St. Vincent is a very good movie. So if you feel like you're in need of a pick-me-up, I think this may do the trick.

Interstellar

          Incredible.

          Now, I could leave the review at just that, and I kind of want to. Not for lack of effort or laziness, but because sometimes, a single word can be so powerful. It can so perfectly sum up a moment or feeling, or convey so much that so many words couldn't. I want to leave it at that because I feel like a single word by itself would tell so much.

          But, I also feel that I want to explain myself. I'm the type of person that doesn't like to pick one thing over another, that doesn't like to leave something or say that something is bad, better or worse than something else because I feel like I'm going to be hurting something else's feelings. Saying that this movie was incredible isn't saying that the other movies or other movies in general can't stand with this movie, but it is a way to sum up the sheer immenseness and size of this movie. The unknown, the portrayals of what may be out there, the ideas in and of themselves, all of it makes this movie incredible; so much so that I didn't want to leave for some time, I didn't want to talk about it or how it was, I just wanted to sit and think. Almost like being in awe. Now, I know that's a lot, and I know that not everyone and maybe no one will have that reaction. Some might think it may be excessive or over the top, but that's the impact the movie had on me. And I can't really describe it.

          You can find the trailer here.

Interstellar Poster. ComingSoon. Web. 7 Nov. 2014.

          Summary:

          (Highlight the grey text boxes SPOILER with your mouse to see spoilers if you dare)

          The most basic summary of the movie is that mankind cannot survive on the Earth itself for much longer. Four people set out on a mission in order to find another suitable planet for life, or at the very least, to use the materials they have brought in order to colonize the planet so that humanity may survive.

          It's a short summary, but there's so much more to take in and see when actually seeing this movie. You may not have the same kind of reaction to the movie as I did, but I couldn't imagine that you'd be disappointed by it.

Lone Survivor

          I don't know how many of you might have heard the story of Marcus Luttrell, but if you have, you'll already have some knowledge of this movie. Marcus Luttrell was part of a SEAL Team that was attacked while deployed on a mission. There were four men in the team including Luttrell, and he was the only survivor of the mission. When a helicopter was sent in to evacuate Luttrell and the rest of his team, those on board also lost their lives, which made this one of the largest losses of life in SEAL history.

          The movie Lone Survivor does an excellent job of capturing what Marcus and the men around him went through during that battle. As someone who has read the book, the two have many similarities, yet there are some differences as there always would be. One of the main reasons I'm doing this movie is because it is playing on campus this weekend, and also, Marcus Luttrell will be visiting our campus to speak this coming Wednesday, which is something that I personally believe will be very interesting.

 

          The trailer can be found here.

Lone Survivor Poster. Wikipedia. Web. 6 Nov. 2014.

          Summary:

          (Highlight the grey text boxes SPOILER with your mouse to see spoilers if you dare)

          Marcus Luttrell was part of a four man SEAL Team that was tasked with the identification and capture of a Taliban leader. Luttrell's team's job was to carry out reconnaissance on the area and the leader, and identify him. During the mission, a few goat herders stumble upon Luttrell and his team. The four men debate on whether or not to let the herders live, because living could jeopardize their mission. The men decide to allow the goat herders to leave and relocate to continue the mission. After some time, the SEAL team is found by Taliban fighters, and a deadly battle follows. The three men in Marcus' squad lose their lives along with all those that were aboard a helicopter that was sent to evacuate the team. Marcus ends up surviving because of the actions of a few men when they find him in the mountains. These men take him to their small town and protect him until he is able to be rescued and returned to a base.

          I didn't tag anything with spoilers because this movie is based on a true story. I feel like the information could be found easily enough, but I also feel like, even if you don't see the movie, it's an incredible story that some may want to know.

Goats

          Goats is about goats; not really, only a little bit. What the movie is really about is Ellis Whitman, his growing up and his family that, like everyone's, has some quirks. It's a very good movie and it really shows struggles that some people have to go through; struggles that may seem insignificant compared to the larger world and other peoples' problems. You can see the trailer for Goats here.

Goats Poster. IMDb. Web. 1 Nov. 2014.

          Summary:

          (Highlight the grey text boxes SPOILER with your mouse to see spoilers if you dare)

          Coming soon.