To Rent or Not to Rent?

That IS the question this week as we take a look at what's in the "red box" this week. I'm going to try not to spoil anything about these movies.

Let's start with Star Trek: Into Darkness which was arguably the best movie of the year so far. In writing, casting, editing, directing and every other category that comes to mind. I have to say that Benedict Cumberbatch is just as good a bad guy as he is a good guy. He stars in one of my favorite shows, BBC's Sherlock. It can be found on Netflix and I highly recommend that as well. You can see Cumberbatch portray Wikileaks founder Julian Assange
in the biopic drama The Fifth Estate which comes out next month. Anyway, he is simply amazing as the Kahn so If you only have a couple bucks to spend on entertainment this week, Star Trek: Into Darkness is your best bet.

Let's talk about Oblivion starring Tom Cruise and Morgan Freeman. While I am a fan of those two, I don't quite know how I feel about this movie. It's a post-apocalyptic action thriller that is full of exciting scenes and dramatic cuts. That part, I like but the story was something of a mystery. I don't know what to think about it. I would have to see it again to really give an opinion. If you see it, you will know what I mean. I suppose the real test of whether it's worth getting or not is if you would rent it again. In the case of this movie, I would.

It's hard for me to watch any other movie about magic and magicians without comparing it to one of my all -time favorite films, The Prestige. So, I'm going to have to suppress that bias when I talk about Now You See Me. I like that Michael Caine is in both movies but the rest of the cast weren't to bad either. You'll see Mark Ruffalo, Jesse Eisenberg, Isla Fischer, Woody Harrelson, Dave Franco and Morgan Freeman(Yeah, it's him again. That guy is BUSY for a 76-year-old!) The narrative and directing style were great. I like that you don't know exactly what is going on the entire time.  I'd give this film a chance.

Olympia has Fallen is a studio competition with White House Down. I'm not saying which one is better, cause I actually haven't seen the latter. I'm also not saying which one came first. All I know is that this happens from time to time. You may remember other examples like Killers and Knight and day, Deep Impact and Armageddon, Antz and A Bug's Life, Iron Eagle and Top Gun, The Illutionist and the obviously superior film The Prestige. There is usually a winner and a loser, but I can't yet say which white house-getting-attacked-by-terrorists film is the winner. I did enjoy this movie though. there was good action. I would definitely check this one out.

Ok, Here are a few movies to avoid:

Pain and Gain: I'm putting this one on the Do Not Check Out list. Seriously, This movie looked like it was a bunch of actors saying, "Hey, look at our big muscles." Maybe that's your thing, but it wasn't mine.

Identity Thief: I'm normally a bigger fan of Jason Bateman than I was for the 111 minute this film invaded my brain. I don't think I laughed one single time while watching. In fact, I was so bored, I barely remember anything about it other than one of the characters got their Identity stolen. I'm getting most of that from the title alone.

Scary Movie 5: Come on, are you kidding? do you even need to ask?