Film: The Lone Ranger

GENRE: Action, Western
RATING: PG for intense action and violence
RUNTIME: 2 hours and 29 minutes
STARRING: Johnny Depp (Pirates of the Caribbean, The Tourist)
Armie Hammer (Social Network); William Fichtner (Armageddon, Go)
DIRECTOR: Gore Verbinski (Pirates of the Carribean, Rango)
WRITERS: Ted Elliott & Terry Rossio (Pirates, Shrek, Mask of Zorro )
Justin Haythe (Revolutionary Road, Snitch)
PLOT: A very long backstory on how Tonto helps the man who would become The Lone Ranger.  

FIVE OBSERVATIONS:
1 What a mind-numbingly boring  story! There’s this mini-scene involving a robbery. I wish the rest of the movie was more like that instead of this boring story about the railroad and vengeance.
2 I enjoyed the chemistry and characterization of Tonto and the Lone Ranger but I didn’t find myself caring what happened to them. I also wondered why they rode together as they seemed pretty selfish for almost the entire film.  I like Silver the most though.
3 I liked Hans Zimmer’s musical score. I enjoyed the use of the Lone Ranger theme song (The William Tell Overture).
4 I enjoyed the cinematography. At least the movie was well shot.
5 I felt most sorry for the boy listening to the telling of the story. I had a hard enough time sitting through the bloated 2½ hour running time, imagine standing. What a terrible book end to the movie? So unnecessary.

RECOMMENDATION: Wait for TBS
UPCOMING REVIEWS: The Way, Way Back

Film: Despicable Me 2

GENRE: Animated Comedy
RATING: G for some rude humour and mild action
RUNTIME: 1 hour and 38minutes
STARRING: Steve Carell (The Office, Burt Wonderstone, Date Night)
Kristen Wiig (Bridesmaids, SNL); Benjamin Bratt (Miss Congeniality)
DIRECTORS: Pierre Coffin(Despicable Me), Chris Renaud (The Lorax)
WRITERS: Ken Daurio & Cinco Paul (Despicable Me, Horton, Lorax)
PLOT: Gru is on the dating scene and is recruited by the Anti-Villain League to go undercover in a mall.

FIVE OBSERVATIONS:
1 I would say that this film is pretty on par with the fantastic first installment. Thankfully they gave more to the fun characters of the first film (namely Agnes and the minions) without taking away from Gru’s main storyline (unlike Pixar’s Mater-centric Cars 2). Agnes is adorable once again. If only I could adopt a cartoon character.
2 The minions are put to better use in this installment as they are more integral to the plot. Sure there are some extra stuff thrown in for fun. Some work (All 4 One’s I Swear and the swinging mace) and some not so much (ice cream party). I also love how all the minions have names (Kevin, Bob, Stuart) and Gru knows them all.
3 I wish Wiig’s Lucy character had more of something. I can’t quite place my finger on it but something was missing. I enjoyed Bratt’s El Macho much better than Jason Segel’s Vector from the first one. Maybe there something about being tied to a shark instead of having one swimming under your feet.
4 There were a couple parts that went on a bit too long including the break in at Salsa with Salsa, the minion ice cream party and the cinco de mayo dancing. But these are minor offences. 
5 I didn’t watch it in 3D but probably should have. I’m sure the underwater sequence looked awesome as well as the always fun closing credit antics of the minions.  

RECOMMENDATION: See it in theatres, in 3D
UPCOMING REVIEWS: Lone Ranger