Hugo

Legendary filmmaker Martin Scorsese brings us one of the most visually stunning films in recent memory in "Hugo", the story of an orphan boy living in the clock of a train station in the early 1900's. At least that's how it begins. Over the course of the film, the story becomes less and less about Hugo and more and more about the early history of cinema (a topic Scorsese is very passionate about). It's all done well but the narrative doesn't quite fit together as seamlessly as it should have. Incredible cinematography and visual effects, but it ultimately falls a little short.

Bryce **1/2
Landon **1/2
Logan ***

BANGERANG SCORE: **1/2

The Help

"The Help" is proof that a strong cast can elevate a film far beyond its material. The movie tackles some very sensitive, very painful topics and does so in kind of a glossy fashion. It could have easily been overly light-hearted and melodramatic if not for a tremendous cast that brings a ton of humanity in one great performance after another (especially from Viola Davis in the lead role). "The Help" is a breath of fresh air in a year that has struggled to produce many really good movies.

Bryce ***1/2
Chase ***
Landon ***
Logan ***

BANGERANG SCORE: ***

X-Men: First Class

The initial previews and screenshots for this "X-Men" prequel made it look like a shameless cash-in on the once compelling, now stale franchise. Thankfully, those initial impressions were grossly misleading. "X-Men: First Class" is a return to form for the series and delivers some great context for the story of the original films. It's not without its flaws (some cheesy dialogue, unnecessary sexual content) but the overall movie is very well done. The two young leads (James McAvoy and Michael Fassbender) are excellent and really supply the heart of the movie. This one's worth a look.

Bryce ***

Chase ***1/2

Landon ***

Logan ***

BANGERANG SCORE: ***

War Horse

"War Horse" is a beautifully shot film with a tremendous John Williams score to go along with some incredible big budget set pieces. It's just too bad that it doesn't have a very good script to match. There's a good story to be told here, but director Steven Spielberg struggles to bring it all together. The movie relies too heavily on the horse (who is obviously limited in its acting ability) to drive the movie while having the human characters come in and out of the story without really giving us time to invest in them. Some of the dialogue is groan-worthy and the young actors are often pretty one-dimensional. It's not a bad movie by any means but certainly more is expected from such a legendary director.

Bryce **1/2

Chase **1/2

Landon **1/2

Logan **1/2

BANGERANG SCORE: **1/2

Rio

Blue Sky Studio's latest outing "Rio" is a hit-and-miss flick.  It's actually a very beautiful movie.  It's intricately animated and filled with a swirl of amazing looking color designs.  Needless to say, it's easy on the eyes.  If only the dialogue and characters were as crisp and fascinating as the visuals.  Some characters can be occasionally really funny while others are irritatingly annoying.  The director tries to throw in a musical mix into the concoction and it just doesn't mix very well.  This isn't a bad movie at all, and it's sure that kids and young teenagers will really enjoy it.  Anybody older, maybe not quite as much.

Landon **1/2

BANGERANG SCORE: **1/2

Thor

"Thor" is quite a bit different than any other super hero movie ever grace the silver screen. The premise alone is extremely unique (what other comic book character is based in real-life Norse mythology?) and it's all the better for it given the endless wave of super hero movies these days. The special effects are tremendous, the characters are likeable, and the story actually carries some solid dramatic weight. This is one of the better additions to Marvel's movie library.  Even if the "The Avengers" was never in the works, "Thor" would still be a really good movie on its own, which is much more than I can say about the other recent "Avenger" prequels. Definitely see this one.

Bryce ***

Chase ***

BANGERANG SCORE: ***

Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows

Many would argue that Guy Ritchie's second entry in the "Sherlock Holmes" canon is more of the same thing and to a certain degree, it is. The story moves a little too quickly, back-stories are still pretty flat, and some of the content (especially with Holmes' brother) felt totally out of place and unnecessary. So why does it still receive a recommendation? While it still has its problems, this "Holmes" film is executed much better than the first time around. It's funnier, better looking, the action is fantastic and the dialogue is much more clever and focused. Even though the narrative is hard to follow, it's much more interesting, throwing in themes of tyranny and European domination. Many who didn't like the original outing may not be won over by this second film, but those who enjoyed the first film will like this one even more. It's a lot of fun and definitely worth your time

Landon ***

BANGERANG SCORE: ***