Wholesome Determination for the Whole Family: July Mini-view Round-Up

Stoski’s Movie Rating Guide absolutely brimming with hours and hours of quality entertainment, but here’s a few more.

Uncle Buck (1989)

A classic movie from an innocent time of real wholesome family comedies. John Candy plays lovable loser Buck Russel (of Uncle Buck fame). Living life, not a care in the world, his sister is leaving town and urgently needs a someone to watch the kids. Buck, ever the underdog, steps up and gets it done, maintaining his endlessly cool and witty manner all the while.

You'll fall in love with this movie and it's simple and honest story, setting, and characters. Some might balk at the "man who can't do x" aspect being played for laughs, but it it's far from the main draw here. The characters and their stories are always center-stage. Besides, it's totally natural that a man or woman isn't great at something that they've only attempted a few times, or not at all. Sometimes it can even be genuinely funny. Sue me.

3/5

The Butterfly Effect (2004)

Ashton Kutcher is damn talented. You might have seen him in hit early 2000's TV comedy That 70's Show, and he's been on a roll ever since. He's done comedy, drama, biographies, television, cinema... take a look at his IMDB. The man's an icon!

The Butterfly Effect is one of those satisfying puzzler-movies which spin an intricate story that unravels before your eyes. The premise is simple and well set up, but there’s still a lot to learn. If you’re perceptive and diligent, then you’ll see clues everywhere, giving insight to the future of the story and the characters. If you’re, like me, less astute, you’ll enjoy the waves of wonder washing over you as the intriguing web of a story is unraveled before your eyes. Suddenly realizing that that thing actually i>was< foreshadowing is easily one of the best things a movie can do. Highly recommend.

 4/5

A Hologram for the King (2016)

Tom Hanks travels to the United Arab Emirates to sell the King of Saudi Arabia on a state-of-the-art holographic teleconferencing system. Thrilling, I know, but it only gets better from there.

This is a movie about overcoming adversity and finding love and finding oneself in a strange new land. There is one main objective; get an already-confirmed audience with the King. This relatively simple objective is complicated by so many other smaller problems that Alan Clay (Hanks’ character) overcomes, one after another, through sheer charisma and will. Classic Hanks.

Watch this movie if you want drama and excitement and determination in your life. Don’t watch this movie if you hate seeing the power of the human spirit in a strange and foreign land.

3.5/5

All movies added this month

 Uncle Buck (1989) 3/5

Brahms: The Boy 2 (2016) 3/5

The Thing (2011) 3/5

Virtual Revolution (2016) 2.5/5

A Hologram for the King (2016) 3.5/5

The Butterfly Effect (2004) 4/5

The Prestige (2006) 4/5

Boogie Nights (1997) 3/5

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