February/March Movie Reviews

So I have not yet filled you in on the rest of the movies we saw in February and March even though we're halfway through April!  I am slackin'!

We ended up seeing five of the ten movies that I mentioned in this post describing the movies I was interested in seeing back in January.  We hardly ever see all of the movies on the list because, well, mainly because we don't have that much money to spend on movies every month.  But also because I a lot of times include movies that I'm pretty sure we won't see in theaters but I'm still interested in.

Below are the three movies we saw in February and March along with a sneak peek of one of the April movies we saw this week!  We still have not seen Noah.  And yes, I've seen everyone and their mother's opinions of it on the internet, but I would still like to see it with my own eyes to form my own opinions.  However, that will probably happen via Redbox in a few months.

Monuments Men - I really, thoroughly enjoyed this movie.  I'm a huge history nerd, so I'm pretty apt to like most things that have a good historical background.  However, I feel as though the movie was marketed as a comedy as well as a true story.  It was not a comedy.  The funny parts of the movie were all in the previews.  What I did not expect was to be moved by the events.  I teared up several times (call me crazy), but the things that were done during the Second World War are still so emotional.  And if this movie had been about the horrors of the Holocaust or the battlefields, I would have expected to be moved.  But this movie was *just* about art.  And yet it was so sad and moving.  But, like I said, this movie was very little of what I expected, but I enjoyed it extremely and would recommend it to everyone.

300: Rise of An Empire - Blech.  I loved the first 300 movie.  And because of that and the fact that this sequel did not have a cast that packed as much punch for me, I did not have incredibly high hopes for this movie.  And still, it did not live up to those low expectations.  I was bored.  There was so much backstory intent on educating the viewer of the character history that the actual plot only really took up half of the movie.  Much of the screen time was narrated and was only backstory given so that you could understand why everybody hated everybody.  Also, the first movie stuck a lot closer to actual historical events than this one.  Sure, they both have tons of made-up stuff in them, but this movie was almost totally mythical and unfathomable.  I did not like it and would not recommend it.

Divergent - This movie surprised me.  From seeing the various trailers, I went into it knowing that it was going to be very different than the book.  But I still really, really liked the movie.  They definitely changed a lot of things, but I didn't mind most of them.  I'm not really sure what you'd think of it if you haven't read the books.  I would say that they're pretty similar to The Hunger Games.  So, if you like The Hunger Games books or movies, there's a good chance you'll like these.  My main issue with this movie was the casting.  I liked some of the cast members and completely disliked others because I felt like they were nothing like the book versions.  However, if you're into this popular teen/post-apocalyptic/strong-female-lead stuff, you should definitely give this movie a shot.

Here's the April sneak peek!  We had an impromptu date night on Tuesday with Captain America and $2 popcorn/fruit snack/soda boxes at the movies!
Captain America: Winter Soldier - I knew I was going to like this one, and I did.  I love all of the Marvel universe films so far, and I was pretty darn sure that this one would be the same.  However, the Captain America plots are moving a little more towards the "typical trilogy" area in that, the plot of this movie is pretty closely related to that of the first one.  And I have a feeling that Captain American 3 (in May 2016) will continue with this plot line.  Of course, all of the movies are related, but these seem to be a bit more so than the others.  Like I said, I definitely liked it, and, just like all of the other Marvel universe movies, it will not disappoint.

Next up on the list: probably The Amazing Spider-Man 2.  (Though I am still so much more excited for X-Men: Days of Future Past.)

Happy movie watching!