Now Playing: Hot Tub Time Machine 2, The DUFF, McFarland USA

Hot Tub Time Machine 2

Official Synopsis:
This time around, Lou (Rob Corddry) finds himself in a whole heap of trouble, and the rest of the gang must fire up the hot tub to get back to the past, but accidentally get sent to the future.
It’s time to alter the future, to save the past which is actually just the present…

North's Thoughts:
Although it didn't set the box office aflame, Hot Tub Time Machine got some love when it hit video.
Who could resist the 1980s retro charm, Lougle, and stealing pop songs from the future?
John Cusack is missing from the gang, but I still want to ride with these dudes again.
They've brought in the always funny Adam Scott and will surely go back to some old gags.
If it turns out to a bad time in the tub, you can always go back five years and be happy once again.



The DUFF

Official Synopsis:
Bianca (Mae Whitman) is a content high school senior whose world is shattered when she learns the student body knows her as 'The DUFF' (Designated Ugly Fat Friend) to her prettier, more popular friends (Skyler Samuels & Bianca Santos). Now, despite the words of caution from her favorite teacher (Ken Jeong), she puts aside the potential distraction of her crush, Toby (Nick Eversman), and enlists Wesley (Robbie Amell), a slick but charming jock, to help reinvent herself. To save her senior year from turning into a total disaster, Bianca must find the confidence to overthrow the school's ruthless label maker Madison (Bella Thorne) and remind everyone that no matter what people look or act like, we are all someone's DUFF.

North's Thoughts:
With genuinely funny people like Mae Whitman and Ken Jeong, I hope to get some good laughs.
High School Movies can be amazing or amazingly bad.
Always give them a chance because every now and then you also find a hidden gem, like Project X.
Here are the Top 5 High School Movies Of All-Time:
5. Clueless
4. Fast Times At Ridgemont High
3. The Breakfast Club
2. Dazed And Confused
1. Ferris Bueller's Day Off


McFarland USA

Official Synopsis:

From Disney comes MCFARLAND, the true against-all-odds story of the 1987 McFarland high school cross country team in an economically challenged community. 

North's Thoughts:

I love how Disney doesn't even bother with an extensive synopsis:

Disney. True Story. Sports.

Here's The Top 5 Disney Sports Movies Of All-Time:

5. The Big Green

4. Cool Runnings

3. D2: The Mighty Ducks

2. Remember The Titans

1. The Mighty Ducks

And while we're at it, Kevin Costner is really the king of the sports movie.

Plus, he was a good athlete in real life:

He hit a Home Run in a major league stadium during an all-star event and has a good arm.

Sports movies are so much better when the actor can, you know, actually play the sport.

Here's The Costner Sports Movie List:

6. For Love Of The Game

5. American Flyers

4. Draft Day

3. Tin Cup

2. Bull Durham

1. Field Of Dreams

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Now Playing: Fifty Shades Of Grey, Kingsman: The Secret Service

Fifty Shades Of Grey

Official Synopsis:
E.L. James' kinky best-seller gets the big screen treatment with this Universal Pictures/Focus Features co-production. The steamy tale details a masochistic relationship between a college student and a businessman, whose desires for extreme intimacy pen from secrets in his past.

North's Thoughts:
If you haven't at least heard of "Fifty Shades Of Grey", I must assume that you live off the grid.
Once the series of novels took off, the first question became:
How will they make this movie?
Hollywood has shied away from the "sex scene" in recent years.
The days of extended, steamy montages like the one in Top Gun are long gone.
What was once commonplace, is now often one of the first things to be cut out of the script.
So can Fifty Shades revive a once proud Hollywood tradition?
Audiences hope so, as the pre-sale ticket numbers were huge enough to greenlight the next two films.
And don't forget to add the extra couple of million dollars to Shades total for theater-jumpers.
This will be the number one movie of the week, so don't get left out of the conversation on Monday.



Kingsman: The Secret Service

Official Synopsis:
Based upon the acclaimed comic book and directed by Matthew Vaughn (Kick Ass, X-Men First Class), Kingsman: The Secret Service tells the story of a super-secret spy organization that recruits an unrefined but promising street kid into the agency's ultra-competitive training program just as a global threat emerges from a twisted tech genius.

North's Thoughts:
I've been excited for this release since I saw the first trailer months ago.
Kingsman looks like an action packed cross between a James Bond film and 21 Jumpstreet.
With crazy fight sequences, cool gadgets and an updated spy world, this could be great one.
It is helmed by talented director Matthew Vaughn (if you haven't seen Layer Cake, do so directly).
It also features the consistently great Samuel L. Jackson and Academy Award winner Colin Firth.
Basically, it should be tons of cinemaplex fun and could become a series of films if it succeeds.

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Now Playing: Jupiter Ascending, The SpongeBob Movie, Seventh Son

Jupiter Ascending

Official Synopsis:
From the streets of Chicago to the far-flung galaxies whirling through space, "Jupiter Ascending" tells the story of Jupiter Jones (Mila Kunis), who was born under a night sky, with signs predicting she was destined for great things. Now grown, Jupiter dreams of the stars but wakes up to the cold reality of a job cleaning other people's houses and an endless run of bad breaks. Only when Caine (Channing Tatum), a genetically engineered ex-military hunter, arrives on Earth to track her down does Jupiter begin to glimpse the fate that has been waiting for her all along-her genetic signature marks her as next in line for an extraordinary inheritance that could alter the balance of the cosmos.

North's Thoughts:
I can tell this much from the trailer:
the movie looks beautiful.
The space ships, the cities, the aliens and the battles, could make for some epic 3D fun.
It's written, directed and produced by the Wachowskis, who gave us The Matrix series.
Even if one of their films flops, it will always bring pleasure to the eyes.
Sure, Speed Racer got people fired, but it looked dope!


The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge Out Of Water

Official Synopsis:
SpongeBob SquarePants, the world's favorite sea dwelling invertebrate, comes ashore to our world for his most super-heroic adventure yet.

North's Thoughts:
The synopsis and title are one in the same:
SpongeBob On Land.
I've got to admit, aside from passing it on TV, I've never seen any of SpongeBob's work.
Did he start off doing theater?
I have seen thousands of clothing items, toys, videos, and cars, so obviously he's a big deal.
This is the best reviewed new film of the week, so go in to get your Spongebob fix with confidence.


Seventh Son

Official Synopsis:
In a time long past, an evil is about to be unleashed that will reignite the war between the forces of the supernatural and humankind once more. Master Gregory (Jeff Bridges) is a knight who had imprisoned the malevolently powerful witch, Mother Malkin (Julianne Moore), centuries ago. But now she has escaped and is seeking vengeance. Summoning her followers of every incarnation, Mother Malkin is preparing to unleash her terrible wrath on an unsuspecting world. Only one thing stands in her way: Master Gregory. In a deadly reunion, Gregory comes face to face with the evil he always feared would someday return. He has only until the next full moon to do what usually takes years: train his new apprentice, Tom Ward (Ben Barnes) to fight a dark magic unlike any other. Man's only hope lies in the seventh son of a seventh son.

North's Thoughts:
Love Julianne Moore.
Love Jeff Bridges.
So Seventh Son should be awesome, right?
Please?
Maybe?
Oh well, if it doesn't pan out for them, at least we will always have this.


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Follow Us On Twitter For Daily Movie News And Links: @NorthSouthFilm