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    Beach Buggy Racing

    Beach Buggy Racing

    Games and Entertainment

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    Drive into an action-packed, surprise-filled world of off-road kart racing mayhem! Race against a...

Side Effects (2013)
Side Effects (2013)
2013 | Drama, Mystery
4
6.4 (7 Ratings)
Movie Rating
Steven Soderbergh has been toying with the notion of retirement for a couple of years now, and has said that “Side Effects” will be his final film. I certainly hope not.

As its title intones, “Side Effects” is a movie about what can happen when prescription medications, such as anti-depressants, can do at their worst, leading to anyone who taking them wishing they weren’t. The movie certainly starts out looking like a propaganda-film about how Doctor’s push these drugs onto patients as they are paid by pharmaceutical representatives to test their drugs. It seems that everyone in the film is taking meds of some form or another. The cast for the film should be a recipe for success: Jude Law, Rooney Mara, Catherine Zeta-Jones and Channing Tatum. But because of this perception, the first two-thirds of the film nearly put me to sleep. And then a twist happened that the made the plot extremely complex and worth watching. In many ways, the less said about “Side Effects,” the better. This may produce a better experience for you than I had. But here’s the basic idea of the movie:

Emily Taylor, played by Rooney Mara, is introduced when she is visiting her husband Martin (Tatum), a man convicted of insider trading who is about to be released after four years behind bars. Martin’s discharge happens uneventfully, but adjusting to the new life of poverty rehashes the depression that first plagued Emily when her husband’s prison term started. This leads to Emily crashing her car head-on into the wall of the garage in her apartment building. While in the hospital, rules force her to see psychiatrist Jonathan Banks (Law).

Up until this point, I had trouble connecting with Mara’s character. While it is revealed that she had mental problems prior to this episode, you don’t really completely grasp what it is until later in the movie. Mara seemed to be very stiff, and way too much like her emotionless character from “The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo.” But then we enter Jude Law. Law’s character, Banks, is friendly, approachable and caring. He is what first drew me deeper into the movie. Though, you soon discover that he is a doctor who believes in the power of drugs. This character kept me interested because I couldn’t quite nail if he was going to be an antagonist or protagonist.

Of course our dear Dr. Banks prescribes some medications to Emily and she begins showing some disturbing side effects and… The side effects lead to really terrible, bloody things which ruins careers, lives, and even drive people to madness. Or does it?
  
Larry Crowne (2011)
Larry Crowne (2011)
2011 | Comedy, Drama
8
7.3 (4 Ratings)
Movie Rating
“Larry Crowne” is a movie (in the works since 2006) that stars Tom Hanks in the lead as Larry Crown and Julia Roberts as Mercedes Tainot, a disenchanted community college speech professor.

“Larry Crowne” tells the tale of a Navy veteran and recent divorce’ whom, after many years of tirelessly and loyally working at the same big-box store, is fired on the spot supposedly because of the fact that he does not have a college degree. Coincidentally at the same time the bank demands the money from the mortgage taken out on his home. With no options and on the advice of his next door neighbor Lamar (who tries to sell him a “free” college degree for 20 cents at his garage sale) Larry decides to enroll in community college From there the movie follows Larry as falls in love with his speech professor Dr. Mercedes Tainot (who is still married to some Internet businessman obsessed with large breasted women) while at the same time, being befriended by a “gang” of motor-scooter/vespa enthusiasts.

Now ….. normally I’m not the one to go see the stereotypical “feel good movie” of the season. Plus, I’m honestly not that big a fan of Julia Roberts. But come on ….. Personally, I cannot ever recall Tom Hanks in a bad movie and I have to admit it Julia Roberts had me laughing the minute she started talking. After the first 15 minutes of the movie, you have a pretty good idea of the general direction the movie will go in and how it will end. However, this is one of those movies where it’s more entertaining to see how the whole movie plays out despite that fact. The ensemble cast that Tom Hanks put together does an excellent job of keeping you on your seat laughing (including a hilarious performance by the great George Takei as a militant economics professor who is trying to pimp his new book very two minutes in his class). Plus, the movie does a great job keeping you focused on the story. Especially when the gang of motor-scooter enthusiasts seemingly appear out of nowhere to show him how NOT to dress like a cop and to explain the concept of “Fung Shui”.

The ensemble cast that includes Bryan Cranstson, Pam Grier, Cedric The Entertainer, Rob Riggle, Wilmer Valderama, and George Takei amongst many others supports the lead characters well.

All in all, I’d say this movie deserves 4 out of 5 stars. Not a movie you’d want to take the kids to due some sexual content and alcohol use in the movie. Definitely a great “Date Movie” though. Besides being slow at some points and it’s “predictability” I’d say it’s definitely worth your hard earned money. Go to a matinee showing or get it “on demand”.
  
    Driverslog Pro

    Driverslog Pro

    Business and Finance

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    An electronic driver's log At a Glance - One-click Trip Creation - GPS Support - automatic database...

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Lee (2222 KP) rated Next Gen (2018) in Movies

Oct 15, 2018 (Updated Oct 15, 2018)  
Next Gen (2018)
Next Gen (2018)
2018 | Action, Adventure, Animation
Beautiful Animation (1 more)
John Krasinski
Fantastic Family Movie
We're in the futuristic city of Grainland and robots are everywhere, helping humans with all aspects of life. From robotic teachers and police, right the way down to the smaller, task orientated robots. Friendly robot hairbrushes leap on kids heads and start brushing their messy hair while robot toothbrushes, programmed by mum to ensure their kids regularly brush their teeth, seek out the children who are trying to avoid them. It's all done in good humour, even if in reality it would all be just a little bit creepy. The opening credits introduce us to Mai Su, whose parents split following an argument. As Mai grows up, her mother compensates for her loss by filling her life with servant robots called Q-Bots, making Mai feel neglected and eventually resentful towards all robots. She's a very unhappy teenager, bullied at school for being different.

At the big launch of the next generation of Q-Bots, Mai breaks free from her excited mum and, following a run in with some security robots, finds herself in a hidden lab. There, Dr Rice, who is the technical brains behind the Q-Bots, has been developing a robot of his own: Project 7723 (voiced by John Krasinski). As the curious Mai goes to investigate the robot, security bots catch up with her once more and she has to leave quickly, leaving behind her backpack. Project 7723 picks up the backpack and sets about returning it to its rightful owner at all costs. As 7723 travels along the highway, following the car that is transporting Mai home, we begin to discover just how technologically advanced 7723 is - packing some serious weaponry, which it uses to effectively take out the police robots that are in pursuit. Nothing stands in its way.

The backpack is eventually returned, but Mai is initially disinterested in the robot. That is, until it takes out the annoying robot toothbrush with a laser! The pair form a friendship, and Mai hides 7723 away in her garage at night. Unfortunately though, 7723 sustained damage to his core memory during the earlier chase and each night has to decide which of the memories he made with Mai that day he can delete in order to prevent his storage from reaching critical capacity. As they have fun together and become good friends, this gets harder to do each day, and you just know that eventually this isn't going to end well.

I really enjoyed Next Gen. It's very reminiscent of movies like Big Hero 6 and The Iron Giant and John Krasinski brings 7723 to life brilliantly. The animation is of such a high standard, beautifully detailed, and there are some fantastic action sequences, along with plenty of good humour throughout. And, as suspected, it does manage to pack a real emotional punch at times too. I sat and watched this with my daughter and it really is just a great family movie.