Movie review: Ice Age: Collision Course directed by Mike Thurmeier

Ice Age

Release date: June 23, 2016 (Australia)

Director: Mike Thurmeier

Film series: Ice Age

Distributed by: 20th Century Fox

Production companies: Blue Sky Studios, 20th Century Fox Animation

Synopsis.

Scrat's epic pursuit of the elusive acorn catapults him into the universe where he accidentally sets off a series of cosmic events that transform and threaten the Ice Age World. To save themselves, Sid, Manny, Diego, and the rest of the herd must leave their home and embark on a quest full of comedy and adventure, travelling to exotic new lands and encountering a host of colourful new characters

Review: 2 out of 5 stars

It pains me to give this movie such a low rating but for me it was the worst of the five films to date.

We were bored of Scrat’s pursuit of the acorn; right off the bat we saw him chasing after it in space and it dragged on and on, it’s also what set of the events that threatened everyone on earth, including the herd of mixed species that we have come to know and love over the past few movies.

We see the original cast of Manny (voice of Ray Romano) his wife Ellie (Voice of Queen Latifah), Sid (voice of John Leguizamo) Peaches (voice of Keke Palmer), Diego (voice of Dennis Leary) and his wife Shira (voice of Jennifer Lopez) as well as Peaches boyfriend Julian (voice of Adam DeVine) trying to divert a giant flaming asteroid from hitting earth, leading them in their journey is Buck (voice of Simon Pegg). Along this adventure and not known to anyone but Buck, they are also being tracked by flying dinosaurs that he had managed to peeve off.

Unfortunately, Collision course has failed to evolve; it’s formulaic at best and doesn’t move away from what we have already seen, it wasn’t fresh and unique and we found the plot to be disjointed and boring.

To say we were disappointed is an understatement, we have thoroughly enjoyed this franchise up until now but I think it has run its course; the only saving grace for us was the geotopia the herd stumbled across and the interesting characters that we met.

Of the movies that we watched during our winter break, Ice Age; Collision Course was our least favourite.

Movies in order:

Ice Age

Ice Age: The Meltdown

Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs
Ice Age: Continental Drift

Ice Age: Collision Course

Movie review: Ghostbusters directed by Paul Feig

Ghostbusters

Initial release: July 14, 2016 (Australia)

Director: Paul Feig

Executive producer: Dan Aykroyd

Producers: Ivan Reitman, Amy Pascal

Screenplay: Paul Feig, Katie Dippold

Synopsis.

Paranormal researcher Abby Yates (Melissa McCarthy) and physicist Erin Gilbert are trying to prove that ghosts exist in modern society. When strange apparitions appear in Manhattan, Gilbert and Yates turn to engineer Jillian Holtzmann for help. Also joining the team is Patty Tolan, a lifelong New Yorker who knows the city inside and out. Armed with proton packs and plenty of attitude, the four women prepare for an epic battle as more than 1,000 mischievous ghouls descend on Times Square. 

Review: 4 stars out of 5 (Miss 9 says 5 out of 5 & Mst 11 says 4 out of 5)

I thoroughly enjoyed the 1984 version of Ghostbusters and I was initially hesitant about watching this because of the hype and the controversy but I needn’t have worried because this supernatural comedy was fantastic.

The opening scene was pretty spooky and completely freaked us all out, I instantly pulled my phone out to double check the rating but it was definitely PG. There were a few more freaky moments but nothing as creepy as the first.

Our main characters, a group of four women – Abby Yates, Erin Gilbert, Jillian Holtzmann and Patty Tolan were all fabulous and worked beautifully together; they were all so different but each bought something unique to the film.

For us, the stand out character was Jillian Holtzmann played by Kate McKinnon; she was all sorts of crazy and bought much humor to the film. We also get trademark Melissa McCarthy comedy that bought wonderful banter and many laughs.

The storyline is more or less the same as the original, except it’s now a group of women preparing for a battle against ghouls and a mad man that’s creating the havoc; there were some amazing special effects to keep us entertained from the start to end.

We also get a bit of eye candy with Aussie actor smexy Chris Hemsworth who plays Kevin but his character didn’t come with much depth, he played a ditzy assistant and despite being nice on the eyes I didn’t feel he contributed to much of the story overall.

We have cameos from original cast members, Ernie Hudson and Dan Aykroyd; we also get the original theme song; the old ghostbusters logo and Bill Murray who played an interesting role as a sceptic. It was a nice step back in time.

Overall, we thoroughly enjoyed the new Ghostbusters. With a female main cast, many laugh out loud moments and amazing special effects we all found it to be highly entertaining with never a dull moment.