19 December
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CATS Director: Tom HooperStarring: Francesca Hayward, Jason DeRulo, Rebel Wilson, James Corden, Ian McKellen, Judi Dench, and Jennifer Hudson Some musicals should never be adapted into a movie as they are meant for the stage. Thus is the case for Cats. Victoria, a young white cat is left abandoned in the streets. It’s there where she meets a variety of alley cats all vying to be chosen for the Jellicle Ball. It stars Francesca Hayward, Jason DeRulo, Rebel Wilson, James Corden, Ian McKellen, Judi Dench, and Jennifer Hudson as Grizabella, the glamour cat. Here’s my reviewRead More →

16 March
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BEAUTY AND THE BEAST Director: Bill Condon Starring: Emma Watson, Dan Stevens, Luke Evans, Josh Gad, Kevin Kline, Ewan McGregor, Ian McKellen, Emma Thompson, Audra McDonald, Gugu Mbatha-Raw, Stanley Tucci Disney’s animated classic (in my opinion) Beauty and the Beast was the first full-length animated film to be nominated for Best Picture at the 1992 Academy Awards. It’s hard not to have the catchy Alan Menken and Howard Ashman songs stuck in your head after you watch it. Even as an adult, it still holds up. Since then, Disney turned it into an epic stage musical for Broadway and now has reimagined it again turningRead More →

21 August
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MR. HOLMES Director: Bill Condon Starring: Ian McKellen, Laura Linney, Milo Parker, Hiroyuki Sanada, Hattie Morahan, Patrick Kennedy, Frances de la Tour Gandalf. Magneto. Iago. King Lear. Sir Ian McKellen has been fortunate enough to play many iconic characters throughout his career. Now he tackles Sherlock Holmes, and you wonder why he’s never played him before. Mr. Holmes presents him retired and living in a cottage in the English countryside. He spends his time as a beekeeper and is cared for by his housekeeper Mrs. Munro (Linney) and her son, Roger (Parker). At the age of 93, his memory is failing him and he hasRead More →

17 December
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THE HOBBIT: THE BATTLE OF THE FIVE ARMIES Director: Peter Jackson Starring: Martin Freeman, Ian McKellen, Richard Armitage, Evangeline Lilly, Lee Pace, Luke Evans, Orlando Bloom, Christopher Lee, Cate Blanchett, Aidan Turner When we last saw Bilbo Baggins (Freeman) and Thorin Oakenshield (Armitage) at the Lonely Mountain, they witnessed the escape of the dragon Smaug (Cumberbatch). Smaug unleashes his fury by destroying the small city of Lake-town where some of the other dwarves, along with elves Tauriel (Lilly) and Legolas (Bloom), are presiding. Have no fear as some of them are able to escape before the wooden island burns down. Thorin becomes highly protective overRead More →

29 July
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THE HOBBIT: THE BATTLE OF THE FIVE ARMIES Director: Peter Jackson Starring: Martin Freeman, Benedict Cumberbatch, Ian McKellen, Lee Pace, Evangeline Lilly, Luke Evans, Richard Armitage, Cate Blanchett Fans have been a bit hesitant when it comes to The Hobbit movies. I can understand the frustration as Peter Jackson and his writing team of Fran Walsh and Philippa Boyens took one book and turned it into three movies by adding characters and taking details from the appendices. So far, they are nowhere near as good as The Lord of the Rings trilogy, but I feel like The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug was heading inRead More →

27 May
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X-MEN: DAYS OF FUTURE PAST Director: Bryan Singer Starring: Ian McKellen, Patrick Stewart, James McAvoy, Michael Fassbender, Hugh Jackman, Peter Dinklage, Jennifer Lawrence, Nicholas Hoult, Halle Berry, Ellen Page, Shawn Ashmore The fans rejoiced when it was announced that Bryan Singer signed on to direct the latest outing in this series. He got the series going with X-Men and then upped the ante with the stellar X2 in 2003. Unfortunately he departed the series and we were left with Brett Ratner directing X-Men: The Last Stand, which still leaves a sour note in moviegoers’ memories. Since the original trilogy, we have had two terrible stand-aloneRead More →

17 December
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THE HOBBIT: THE DESOLATION OF SMAUG Director: Peter Jackson Starring: Ian McKellen, Martin Freeman, Benedict Cumberbatch, Evangeline Lilly, Richard Armitage, Lee Pace, Cate Blanchett, Luke Evans, Ken Scott, Aidan Turner, Stephen Hunter It was around this time last year that we were introduced to Peter Jackson’s version of “The Hobbit” by J.R.R. Tolkien.  The first film, The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey, was hit with some hesitation and disapproval. The second part in this new trilogy, The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug, should hopefully bring some uptight fans back for more. Our fearless gang led by Gandalf the Wizard (McKellen), head dwarf Thorin Oakenshield (Armitage), twelveRead More →

29 October
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X-MEN: DAYS OF FUTURE PASTDirector: Bryan SingerStarring: Patrick Stewart, James McAvoy, Ian McKellen, Michael Fassbender, Halle Berry, Hugh Jackman, Anna Paquin, Jennifer Lawrence, Nicholas Hoult, Ellen Page, Peter Dinklage, Evan Peters Of all of the Stan Lee/Marvel creations, the X-Men rank as my #1 favorite. My inner geekdom dates back to my childhood watching the cartoons, deciding which super power I would want, and which X-Men was my favorite. Director Bryan Singer is returning to the X-Menfranchise after departing after X2 in 2003. I have been geeking out over this movie ever since it was announced that the casts from both the original trilogy and X-Men: First Class would beRead More →

11 June
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THE HOBBIT: THE DESOLATION OF SMAUG Director: Peter Jackson Starring: Benedict Cumberbatch, Ian McKellen, Martin Freeman, Evangeline Lilly, Hugo Weaving, Richard Armitage, Luke Evans, Lee Pace, Orlando Bloom As we saw at the end of The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey, the dragon Smaug (Cumberbatch) has awoken in the Lonely Mountain. The second part in Peter Jackson’s The Hobbit trilogy continues on with Biblo (Freeman) and his adventure with Gandalf (McKellen) , Thorin Oakenshield (Armitage), and the rest of the dwarves to take on the Smaug (Cumberbatch) and reclaim The Lonely Moutain. This film will also see the return of Orlando Bloom as the Elven PrinceRead More →

17 December
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THE HOBBIT: AN UNEXPECTED JOURNEY Director: Peter Jackson Starring: Ian McKellen, Martin Freeman, Richard Armitage, Hugo Weaving, Ian Holm, Andy Serkis, Benedict Cumberbatch Bilbo Baggins (Holm) has had an adventurous life as he tells Frodo (Elijah Wood). He decides to sit down and write about what happened to him sixty years ago. When he was a much younger hobbit, Bilbo (Freeman) received a strange invitation from a wizard by the name of Gandalf the Grey (McKellen) that involves a bunch of dwarves. Gandalf tricks Bilbo into having a dinner party. Bilbo is taken back, to say the least, as twelve dwarves start showing up atRead More →