Movie Reviews 4/24

And it's back. Reviews for every weekend movie trip. This weekend I saw Gods Not Dead 2, Huntsman: Winter's War, Jungle Book (for the 2nd time), and Elvis & Nixon.

First movie up, Gods Not Dead 2, is a sequel of Gods Not Dead which was released in 2014. This is another faith-based film by Pure Flix and I have to say the studio seems to just keep getting better. Of course these movies don't have the most talented actors and try to attract a Christian audience majorly but this movie had an interesting cast, very relatable story to this time, and didn't just come at the story from an "our side is right and yours is wrong" agenda. Definitely would recommend this to anyone who has been a fan of the other movies this company had put out and bring friends that might need a little jolt in their faith. I'll score it 6/10 as I did enjoy the movie but can't really say the movie is great on a strictly "movie" scale.

Second movie was Huntsman: Winter's War, and I hate to say I wish I could unsee it. I was looking forward to this movie even though I wasnt crazy about the first movie of the series Snow White and the Huntsman from 2012 especially after the cast was announced. When you have a fantasy movie with Chris Hemsworth, Jessica Chastain, Emily Blunt, and Charlize Theron there really isn't a way to mess up right? Wrong. The story in this movie is one that's been done many times and a lot better. This movie tries to be so many other great fantasy movies that have came before but just doesn't measure up. Hemsworth and Chastain have a chemistry that kind of works but Blunt and Theron were dramatically underused talents. I'll score this a 4/10 and 1 point goes to Liam Neeson's narrating.

Third and favorite movie of the day was my second viewing of The Jungle Book. I am still amazed at how great the visuals are in this movie as everything you see is computer generated. Strong voice cast, great mixture of the classic songs, and a surprisingly well acting job by Neel Sethi. Second viewing and my score remains the same 9.5/10.

Last movie, and one not many people know about, is Elvis & Nixon. This movie is based on a story about a time when Elvis thought his country needed him as a federal agent so he decided to meet Nixon and try to make it happen. Great acting by Kevin Spacey as Nixon and Michael Shannon as Elvis is what carries this movie through. Story is pretty crazy and not much is truly factual as no one really knows what happened but cool nonetheless. If you are an Elvis fan or enjoy stories about Nixon than this is a good movie to watch at home although it will probably only be available on Amazon as their studio put it out. Score for this one is 

7.5/10.

So what about you? Agree or disagree with the scorings? Interested in seeing either of these? Let me know what you think and I'll see you next time.