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‘Edge Of Tomorrow’ starring Tom Cruise, is a sci-fi thriller that takes place in the near future. When the film opens, we find out that an alien race known as Mimics have invaded the Earth, wiping out millions and so far, they are unbeatable.

Cruise plays Major William Cage, a slick public relations officer in the U. S. army, a post he took up after his advertising company went belly up. An alien invasion could do that.

He’s never seen a day of combat. His job is to put a ‘good spin’ on our war with these invaders from space, and get people to join the military and fight.

Because he’s done such a good job, General Brigham (Brendan Gleeson) now wants him to report from ground zero, to give people around the world a window onto the battleground. Cage, who can’t even stand the sight of blood, refuses to go, pissing off Brigham who winds up knocking him out.

When Cage wakes up, he finds himself at Heathrow Airport in London, which has been commandeered by UDF (United Defense Force) as military headquarters.

He’s immediately greeted by a Sergeant Farell (Bill Paxton) He explaining to Farell that there’s been a mistake…that’s he’s an officer…and doesn’t belong here.

Farell doesn’t believe him. In fact, he tells Cage that he knows for a fact that he’s a private and a deserter. If that’s not bad enough, Cage also discovers that he is now a member of J Squad, which is made up of six dysfunctional soldiers who are gung-ho to kick some ‘alien butt’.

Cage has no choice but to go along with the Squad’s mission which is basically a suicide one. As soon as Cage lands on the beach where the big battle is to take place, he’s killed.

End of story…Not quite. Cage finds himself inexplicably thrown into a time loop that forces him to live out the same brutal battle over and over, fighting and dying again and again.

Lucky for Cage, he runs into Special Forces warrior chick, Rita Vrataski (Emily Blunt) who knows what’s really going on and helps our reluctant soldier to develop the skills he needs to defeat the alien enemy.

‘Edge OfTomorrow’ directed by Doug Liman, is based on a Japanese novel, ‘All You Need Is Kill’ by author Hiroshi Sakurazaka. The film is exciting, funny, with killer action scenes and Cruz and Blunt have great chemistry together.

‘Edge Of Tomorrow’ written by Christopher McQuarrie (‘The Usual Suspects’), with help from, Jez and John-Henry Butterworth opens in theatres Friday June 6, 2014 and I gave it 4 bagels out of 5.

Check out the Two Jews On Film video for more of my thoughts.

I loved this film and as I said in the video, this is definitely one of my favorite in the ‘X-Men’ series.

Directed by Brian Singer, shot in 3D, the film starts out in the future…an extremely bleak future…not only for mutants, but for humans as well, thanks to these huge killing machines, known as the Sentinels. What are the Sentinels you ask…Basically unstoppable robots which are programmed to not only track down and kill mutants, but murder any human that will give birth to a mutant or is a mutant sympathizer. So to say that mutants and humans are almost extinct, would be an under-statement.

Things are so bad in fact, that Magneto (Ian McKellen) and Professor X (Patrick Steward) once mortal enemies, are now best buddies and holed up together in a hidden fortress, along with mutants, Kitty Pryde (Ellen Page), Blink (Fan Bingbing), Bishop (Omar Sy) and Wolverwine (Hugh Jackman) Everyone is trying to find a way to defeat the Sentinels. And of course they do, or you wouldn’t have a movie.

The plan and this isn’t a spoiler: Send Wolverwine back in time to the 1970’s to prevent Mystique (Jennifer Lawrence) from assassinating the Sentinels creator, scientist Bolivar Trask (Peter Dinklage). Seems when Mystique murders Trask, she’s captured and it’s her DNA that is used in creating the Sentinels. Got all that?

So Kitty using her ability to transport, sends Wolverine back to the past. In a very funny scene, Mister Wolverwine, wakes up in bed and a Roberta Flack song is on the radio. It’s the 70’s for sure. Anyway, his next stop is the Xavier school, where he finds a very young and very depressed, Professor X (played beautifully by James McAvoy) Not only must Wolverine convince the Professor that he’s from the future, but he has to get him to reunite with the young Magneto (Michael Fassbender) so they can stop Mystique from murdering Trask and thereby, change the future. No biggie!. Only problem is the Professor wants no part of the plan and Magneto is locked away in a impregnable, underground prison, inside the Pentagon for killing President Kennedy.

Don’t want to give anything else away, but I will say that ‘X-Men Days Of Future Past’ has humor, suspense, action, and a great story line. For that reason, I gave this film, which opens in theatres, Friday May 23rd, 2014, five bagels out of five.

Check out the Two Jews On Film video for more of my thoughts.

Might as well get right to it. What bothered me about ‘Godzilla’, directed by Gareth Edwards (‘Monsters’) is the following…

‘Godzilla’ is not the STAR of the film. He’s barely a supporting player. When the name of the film is GODZILLA, you expect our favorite fire breathing over grown lizard would be the main character…

Unfortunately, that is not the case.

Who are the main characters you ask? Star crossed lovers – aka MUTOS (Massive Unidentified Terrestrial Organism)…Seriously… that’s the name the scientists way back when gave to these ancient flying creatures.

Okay, so these two MUTOS are in love and and want what everyone in love wants… a family… And miracles or miracles, they are preggers. Big Mama Monster is having lots and lots of babies…You can see them glowing inside her belly…

And as any caring mother would do, she wants to make sure her fetuses have lots to eat, so they’ll grow up to be and strong.

Only problem is the MUTOS food of choice…RADIATION…and they don’t care where they get it…

They gobble up, planes, trains, computers, bombs and that’s just for an appetizer.

Time for a quick back-story…

The film starts with several old stills of the U.S.sending a nuclear bomb down on Japan at the end of WW2.

We then move forward to 1999, where we meet nuclear physicist, Joe Brody (Bryan Cranston) who is investigating seismic activity at the Janjira nuclear power plant where he works.

But before he can have his morning coffee, an horrific event occurs, which changes Joe’s life forever.

We then flash forward to the present, where we meet Joe’s now grown up, hunky, son, Ford (Aaron Taylor-Johnson) who’s a lieutenant in the Navy, specializing in disarming bombs (convenient).

He lives with his wife (Elizabeth Olson) and their 3 year old super adorable son. It’s establish immediately that his estranged from his father and hasn’t seen him in years. But that all changes when Joe, who still lives in Japan gets arrested…Ford flies to his rescue and the rest is cinema magic, which means excellent CGI, showing cities getting destroyed, people being wiped out, huge tidal waves and all kinds of fun disaster, brought on by the two MUTOS.

Our monster couple didn’t find life in Japan to their liking so they said, sayonara and went searching for a more radioactive place to call home, which turns out to be…the City by the Bay.

But of course, such a long trip requires food…and they find it. Unfortunately this means wiping out Hawaii and Vegas.

Godzilla, when he finally appears, got a lot of applause at the press screening I attended…The guy should open a Twitter account. He’s very popular…And that’s why I wanted MORE of him. I just felt cheated at the end and from the lack of applause, I have a feeling others in the audience did as well.

Sally Hawkins, Ken Watanabe, David Strathairn and Juliet Binoche (in a really small part) round out the cast.

‘Godzilla’ written by Max Borenstein from a story by Dave Callaham, opens in theatres Friday May 16, 2014.

I gave the film 31/2 bagels out of 5.

Check out our Two Jews On Film video for more of my thoughts and what I imagined John’s score to be.

When a fraternity moves in next door, the couple worry about the wild parties that might occur, so they do what any responsible adult/neighbor would do…Bring over a joint and let the frat boys, led by their President, Teddy (Zac Effron) know that despite being slightly older, they’re still totally cool.

They also ask (after practicing this line several times) if the guys could just ‘keep it down’.

Teddy assures them that they will and if ever, his frat bros get to loud, please let him know, instead of calling the cops.

The couple promise and even spend a night partying with their frat neighbors. The next day, our hung over parents return home, satisfied that the frat house was so agreeable.

Wow, did they ever get that worng.

After spending several sleepless nights, due to the extremely loud music coming from the frat house, Mac and Kelly wind up breaking their promise and call the police.

Teddy is deeply hurt by the couple’s betrayal and does what any emotionally wounded college boy would do…He declares WAR on his neighbors.

Of course, where there’s war, there is retaliation and that’s exactly what Kelly and Mac do…Retaliate…Big time.

‘The Neighbors’ is not only laugh out loud funny but clever as well. The whole cast is excellent, but for me, the standout and the surprise was Rose Bryne. I had no idea that she could be so good at comedy.

Speaking of comedy, Zac Efron and Seth Rogen have some really hysterically funny scenes together, including a dance-off.

Dave Franco, as a fellow frat brother is also quite good, along with Brian Huskey and Lisa Kudrow in a cameo.

I gave ‘The Neighbors’ which opens Friday, May 9, 2014,four bagels out of five and if you want to spend two hours laughing, I highly recommend this film.

The amazing Spider is back….I don’t know…Maybe it’s just me…But I just don’t find this super dude all that amazing.

I love super hero films…’Iron Man’, ‘The Avengers’, ‘X-Men’, ‘Capt. America, Part 2’…Big, big fan…’The Spider Man’…not so much.

Personally I think he’d be much more appreciated by a tween or teen audience…He’s slightly goofy, whiny, mopey, and reminds me of a gawky teenager… which he is.

But I don’t think that’s the only problem with this new ‘Spider Man’ film. It just seems ‘old hack’…Seen it…the car crashes, the monsters, the evil corporation that wants to take over the world…

Marc Webb once again directs. He also wrote the screenplay with Alex Kurtzman, Roberto Onci and Jeff Pinkner…Whenever I see more than two writers on a project, I sense trouble.

In any case Spider-Man, (Andrew Garfield).is still madly in love with Gwen (Emma Stone). The problem is that he keeps seeing her dead father (William Dafoe). He promised her dead daddy that he would do everything and anything to protect her, even if it means ending their relationship. Apparently as long as Gwen is with Peter, she’s in grave danger.

So poor Peter is not only dealing with teenage love angst, he has some pretty nasty fellows after him as well.

First on the list of Spider Man’s haters…

Max Dillon, (Jamie Foxx)a brilliant, misunderstood, highly neurotic design engineer who works for Oscorp. Max is obsessed with our super hero and when Spider Man accidentally speaks to Max on the streets of New York city, well the guy is over the moon.

But alas, how soon love turns to hate. After Max misinterprets one of Spider-Man’s actions, he feels betrayed. It hardens him…When Max has an accident at Oscorp, and turns into Electro, he has one purpose…To destroy Spider-Man, along with the whole population of New York City.

And then there’s Peter’s best friend who he hasn’t seen in years, Harry Osborn, aka Green Goblin (Dane DeHaan) who is now the head of Oscorp. Harry is dying of the same disease that killed his father and needs Spider’s blood (just a vial or two) to save his life. When the Spider refuses, he becomes the number one guy on Harry’s hit list.. After Harry turns into the Green Goblin, he hooks up with Electro and the two of them set out to end him and anyone who gets in their way.

‘The Amazing Spider-Man 2’ shot in 3D, does have some very cool effects, especially when Peter flies across the city, throwing out his web here, there and everywhere.

I also enjoyed Paul Giamatti as Aleksei Sytsevich, a Russian bad guy turned into The Rhino by Oscorp. Sally Field is back as Parker’s Aunt as well as Campbell Scott (Richard Parker) and Mary (Embeth Davidtz)

I gave ‘The Amazing Spider-Man 2’ which opens in theatres, Friday May 2, 2014 3 bagels out of 5. I’m sure John’s bagel score would have been much less.

Check out our Two Jews On Film video for more of my witty observations..

A friend of mine described ‘The Other Woman’ directed by Nick Cassavetes as a Waspy Estrogen Fest. And that about sums it up.

Except for Nikki Minaj, everyone is so white…Even the background players are ‘white’…Guess they’re the only people living in New York City now.

Mark agrees, but then abruptly cancels. Seems the pipes burst in his Connecticut home. Carly is pissed and ready to dump him, but her dad (Don Johnson) convinces her to give him another chance.

So Carly decides instead of being angry at Mark, why not surprise him. Dressed in short shorts, with a plunger in tow, Carly drives to Mark’s house…BYT…I have no idea how she knows where he lives, since men who cheat, don’t usually give out their addresses.

When she knocks on her lover’s door, she is greeted by…his air head wife, Kate (a very annoying Leslie Mann).

Needless to say, Kate is as shocked as Carly, to discover that Mark, isn’t the guy they thought he was.

Of course, this discovery is much easier for Carly to handle than for Kate. She simply ignores Mark’s messages and calls…What’s harder to ignore is wife, Kate, who with her Great Dane Puppy, Thunder in tow, shows up continually at her law office.

It seems the very freaked out Kate, needs a friend and Carly is it.

After several female bonding scenes, which includes, a lot of drinking, a lot of sex talk, and several panic attacks, the women become BFF’s. (best friends forever)

It’s after that, the ladies decide to go all James Bond on Mark. In the one scene, that I did find very funny, the girls spy on Mark and discover that he’s even more of a creep than they originally thought.

Seems Carly is not his only mistress…Amber (Kate Upton) a gorgeous blonde, with a body to kill for, is another one of Mark’s lovers and in less than a minute after the scorned ladies meet her, Amber becomes their BFF.

The trio now has one goal…to take Mark down!

‘The Other Woman’ which opens in theatres Friday April 26, 2014, is definitely geared toward the female population…

This is a total chick flick with a very old fashion feel to it and for me, that is not a ‘good thing’.

I did like the film’s message regarding friendship and for that reason, I gave it 2 bagels out of 5.

The moral of this film: Don’t buy a mirror that’s more than a year old…or just make sure, it’s not one that houses a malevolent spirit that will infect your mind, body and soul.

‘Oculus’, directed by Mike Flanagan, is based on a short film of the same name, that he wrote and directed in 2005. The film was made for just under $1500 and shot in four days.

This ‘Oculus’ written by Flanagan and his writing partner, Jeff Howard, is definitely an expanded version of his the original idea.

When the movie opens. we meet Tim (Brenton Thwaites) who is about to be released from a mental hospital. He’s deemed cured by the doctors and the dude does look like he could be the poster boy for mental health.

Waiting to greet Tim and help him start his new life, is his sister Kaylie (the wonderfully intense Karen Gillan). After exchanging hugs, she reminds her brother of the promise he made her years ago.

FLASHBACK. We meet the young Kaylie ( Annalise Basso) playing with her younger brother Timbo (Garrett Ryan) as their parents, Alan (Rory Cochrane) and Marie (Katee Sackhoff) unpack boxes and arrange the furniture in the new sprawling house they just moved into.

On top of that, daddy has just started a new in home business. Wow, this guy definitely has a lot on his plate…But despite that, he’s managed to do some antique shopping and one of his purchases is an….

ANTIQUE MIRROR…aka A REALLY SUPER EVIL ANTIQUE MIRROR.

It doesn’t take long, before we discover just how evil this mirror is…

And the grownup Kaylie, is determined to destroy it and she’s equally determined to get her brother to keep his promise….To help her kill the mirror.

‘Oculus’ which opens in theatres Friday, April 11, 2014, is a scary, intense, eerie film that will have you, at times, sitting on the edge of your seat. I even popped out of my seat a few times and for that reason, I gave the film 3 1/2 bagels out of 5.

Check out the Two Jews On Film video for more of my thoughts and let me know what you think.

First thing I have to say is that…next to ‘The Avengers’, this is my favorite super-hero movie. I absolutely loved every second of it.

Without wanting to give away too much of the plot, here are some of the broad strokes…

The film, brilliantly directed, by brothers, Anthony and Joe Russo (Emmy-winning directors for ‘Arrested Development’) opens with Steve Rogers, aka, Captain America (Chris Evans) living in Washington D.C. two years after being defrosted.

He is still working for S.H.I.E.L.D. and is struggling to fit into the modern world. In a really funny scene, we see Rogers jogging, speeding by fellow runners, including war veteran, Sam Wilson (Anthony Mackie) who quickly becomes friends with our Super Hero.

Moments later, Rogers is given a mission: Several S.H.I.E.L.D. agents are being held hostage aboard a ship that Algerian pirates have taken over. After wiping out several of the bad guys, to Rogers’ surprise, he runs into fellow agent Natasha Romanoff aka The Black Widow (The wonderful Scarlett Johansson) who’s extracting data from the ship’s computers. She’s very vague about what exactly she’s doing, leading Rogers to wonder whether or not he should trust S.H.I.E.L.D.

Back at headquarters, Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson) tries to calm Roger’s concern, by telling him about ‘Operation: Insight’..a top secret project involving three Helicarriers linked to satellites, designed to spy on the population, in order to eliminate potential threats…Imagine that…The government spying on its citizens to keep us safe…Sound familiar?

Even Fury starts to get suspicious, especially when he’s denied access to information on ‘Operation: Insight’ and is ambushed by assailants disguised as police officers, led by a mysterious assassin called ‘The Winter Soldier’ (Sebastian Stan)

To say anymore would spoil the fun, and this film is total fun, thanks not only to the directors and writers, Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely but to a great cast, including…

Robert Redford as Alexander Pierce, as a high-ranking S.H.I.E.L.D. member,

The action, car chases and fight scenes are some of the best, especially one that takes place in an elevator.

The film has great humor, twists, turns, surprises and makes us think…How far should the government go to keep us safe?

I gave ‘Captain American:The Winter Soldier’ which opens in theatres, Friday, April 4, 2014, my highest bagel score: five out of five.

Check out the Two Jews On Film video for more of my thoughts and for what I think John’s bagel score would be.

‘Noah’ written and directed By Darren Aronosfsky (‘Black Swan’ and ‘The Wrestler’) is the story of Noah. In case you don’t know who he is…Here are the cliff notes: God/the Creator was extremely pissed

Anyway, Noah (Russell Crow) who appears only in a few pages in the Book of Genesis, believes God speaks to him and only him. Sound familiar: Noah is basically a pompous ass, who’s exactly like those self righteous, hateful right wing evangelists of today, who strongly believe that too know what God wants.

Okay, so Noah informs his loving, intensely emotional wife, Naameh, (Jennifer Connelly) and this three sons…Ham, the rebellious one (Logan Lerman), Sham, the one with great hair (Douglas Booth) and his youngest son, Japheth (Leo Carroll) that he’s going to build an Arc, the Creator is going to destroy mankind and only the animals will survive…Big Bummer, but they seem to go along with the plan, until…Sham get the hots for his adopted, barren sister, IIa (Emma Watson) and SPOILER ALERT thanks to Noah’s great grandfather, Methuselah, (Sir Anthony Hopkins) she becomes pregnant. You see, since, Noah thinks that the Creator wants to end mankind, having a baby is definitely not part of the plan

As I mentioned in my video review, there are a few things that were not mentioned in the Bible. Seems Noah had some help in the building of the Arc…He borrowed some Transformers from Michael Bay. Well actually, they just looked like Transformers. These creatures were made from rocks and known as the Watchers. Apparently, they did something to anger God and he turned them into these huge, angry, rock men. Also another little known fact, which would make PETA and the Humane Society quite happy, (as well as myself) Noah and his family were vegans.

He knows the storm is coming and is determined to survive at any cost, so Tubal gathers a group of meat eating bad men to storm the Arc. But first there’s a lot of rape and pillaging. What would a film about the Bible be, without a lot of rape and pillaging?

What else can I say about this so called epic, besides the fact that…I just didn’t get it. It just didn’t work for me. For that reason, I gave ‘Noah’ which opens in IMAX, Friday March 28, 2014, 2 bagels out of 5.

I would love to know what you think about this movie. Perhaps I missed something.

‘Divergent’ directed by Neil Burger (‘Limitless’) takes us to the city of Chicago, 100 years in the future, where ‘conformity’ is all the rage. Well actually it’s the law.

After a devastating war, people are divided into five factions…Amity…they’re the folks that like to plant vegetables and dress like 60’s hippies…The Erudites…a group that Mark Zuckerburg and Steve Jobs would definitely belong to…the Candor – Think about the most obnoxious person you know…The one who’ll let you know that your new haircut sucks and you look like you put on a few pounds…Then there’s Abnegation, who run the government, can only look in the mirror no more than 20 seconds a day and have no fashion sense whatsoever….

Last, but definitely not least, are the ‘Dauntless’. Everyone in this group has at least a six pack, can bench press 200 lbs plus, and kick serious butt. These hunky men and women protect the population, from unsavory characters. Yes folks, even the future has unsavory characters.

When they’re not shooting guns, and punching someone out, this group enjoys jumping off of very tall buildings, and running onto fast moving trains.

The good news for the populace is that they still have free will. No matter what faction you are born into, when a person turns 16, they can pick the group they want to spend the rest of their lives with.

To help them with their choice, teens are giving a mind altering serum, which gives them insight into which faction best suits them, but they can ignore the results if they so choose….

Which is exactly what Beatrice (Shailene Woodley – ‘The Spectacular Now’) does. Beatrice was born into the Abnegation faction, but grey, drab clothes don’t work, with her peaches and cream complexion.

Beatrice chooses Dauntless to the dismay of her parents, Ashley Judd and Tony Goldwyn. Her brother also dishes his birth faction and goes with the brainy Eurdites.

Unfortunately, Beatrice has a little problem. Seems the test she took, shows that she actually can fit into more than one faction. In other words, she is a non conformist…a divergent. Lucky for Beatrice, her tester (Maggie Q) has agreed to hid the results.

So Beatrice happily goes off with the Dauntless crew, goes through rigorous training that would make a Marine cry and…meets a guy. But not just any guy. He happens to be Beatrice’s (who now goes by Tris), trainer.

The film has lots of action, suspense, intrigue and some really cool shots of Tris leaping from tall building and zip lining across the city.

There’s even something for the grownups…Kate Winslet, of the Euridite faction, who when not trying to take over the government from the Abnegation group, is seeking out divergents, so she can kill them. Non-conformity to her, is why the world got so screwed up in the first place. Personally, I think she’s just a power hungry bitch.

I consider ‘Divergent’ which opens in theatres Friday, March 21, 2014, ‘Hunger Games’ LIGHT…but having said that, it still entertained me…Mostly because I’m a Sci-fi junkie…

For that reason, I gave the film 3 1/2 bagels out of 5. John of course would have given it a much lower score.