Popcorn Bob's Movie Magic

Popcorn Key
One Popcorn: Flop
Two Popcorns: Wait ’till it’s on video
Three Popcorns: Go see it
Four Popcorns: Standing ovation

'The Lone Ranger'
One Popcorn

Genre: Action/Adventure
Cast: Johnny Depp, Armie Hammer, Tom Wilkinson, William Fichtner, Barry Pepper, Helena
Bonham Carter
Director: Gore Verbinski
Rating: PG-13

Comment: Sadly, this picture utterly emasculates our American hero icon, "The Lone Ranger." It's like a bad dream, but there is no waking out of this one. In addition to depicting our hero as a wimp, the great Johnny Depp, as Tonto, comes across like a bad comic dressed up as an Indian. Is it a bad comedy or bad shoot ’em up? In any event, this is a poor commentary on where our culture is headed. What will this perversion of The Lone Ranger's image mean to today's young people? A frightening thought.

'The Heat'
Three Popcorns

Genre: Comedy
Cast: Sandra Bullock, Melissa McCarthy, Demian Bichir, Marion Wayans, Michael Rapaport
Director: Paul Feig
Rating: R
Comment: One of the funniest laugh-out-loud movies to come out in a long time. Bullock and McCarthy are great together. Watch for "Heat 2." A lot of raw language, but it's offset by great comedic writing and action.

'White House Down'
Two Popcorns

Genre: Action/Adventure
Cast: Channing Tatum, Jamie Fox, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Jason Clarke, Richard Jenkins
Director: Roland Emmerich
Rating: PG-13

Comment: More Hollywood agenda pandering. It is an edge-of-your-seat plot but hard to "suspend disbelief" and really get into the over-the-top action scenes.

'Fill In The Void'
One Popcorn

Genre: Drama (subtitles)
Cast: Hadas Yaron, Yiftach Klein, Irith Sheleg, Chaim Shair and Razia Israeli
Director: Rama Burshtein
Rating: PG
Comment: A sensitive piece, but the title says it all.

'Despicable Me 2'
Two Popcorns

Genre: Animated comedy
Cast: Steve Carell, Kristen Wiig and Benjamin Bratt
Director: Chris Renaud, Pierre Coffin
Rating: PG

Comment: Not nearly as funny as the first. Now that Gru has forsaken a life of crime, the impact of the concept has lost a lot of comedic punch. Also, Carell's Gru dialect gets really tiresome as the movie runs. The kids will like it.