The Angry Birds Movie

LOGAN *
"The Angry Birds Movie" is exactly what you'd expect it to be: an animated movie aimed toward kids with some innuendos intended for adults.  To me, this was painful to watch.  Although the animation is nice and there's a little bit of entertainment (mainly in the climax), it's a very dull movie that plays it safe.  It tries desperately to be funny and has too many adult jokes to count that ultimately come off as annoying and, dare I say, cringeworthy.  The story is nothing special either; very cliched and by-the-numbers.  You can predict everything that's going to happen.  I know it's mainly targeting younger audiences, but it just didn't do it for me.

CHASE *1/2
This is a situation where I went in with low expectations and while I don't think it's awful by any means, it's not exactly good either.  Like Logan said, it's very apparent that they put a lot of effort into the visuals and it's something I kind of admired about it.  It just doesn't help that this is based on a smart-phone game and there's very little that the writers had to work with.  There are a few moments that made me chuckle but most of the jokes fall pretty flat.  I've seen worse movies than "The Angry Birds Movie," but I've definitely seen much better.

LANDON *1/2

BANGERANG SCORE: *1/2

Money Monster

LOGAN ***
After seeing this movie and looking it up online, I was very surprised to see that not very many critics liked "Money Monster," because it is a very stellar thriller movie.  It is directed by Jodie Foster and stars George Clooney, Julia Roberts, and Jack O' Connell.  They did a great job in the movie.  They had good chemistry, good emotion and they kept the audience on the edge of their seats.  That's what this movie does really well.  It keeps you questioning how the outcome is going to play out on the hostage situation that you want to see it through until the end.  However, there some parts in the movie, particularly outside the studio where the hostage situation is taking place, that didn't feel as compelling.  Those parts at times came off as random and unimportant.  But even if this isn't a ground-breaking thriller, Jodie Foster did a very good job of keeping the tension at a high level, and therefore, makes it at least a good one.

LANDON **1/2

BANGERANG SCORE: **1/2

Captain America: Civil War

CHASE ***1/2
Just when I thought I was done with superhero movies, in came "Captain America: Civil War" to remind me that they can still be amazing when done right.  As the title suggests, this is a civil war within the Avengers as we see two opposing forces, Captain America and Iron Man, struggle with the question of whether or not their super team needs to be kept in check by governmental powers.  This is an exhilarating ride and, in my opinion, Marvel's best movie they've made up to this point.  The action sequences are very exciting and I love the story behind it.  It felt like each of the many characters were fleshed out in such a way that we as an audience are emotionally invested in all of them, and understand their perspective and motivations.  While it does have it's fair share of fun elements, what really blew me away was the emotional component of the film, which is the strongest I've seen in a superhero film in quite some time.  While the story is engaging, it does feel like there might just be a little too much going on at times but overall, this is the best comic-book film since "The Dark Knight."  A must see.

BRYCE ***1/2

LANDON ***1/2
LOGAN ***1/2

BANGERANG SCORE: ***1/2