Posts by John Delia

I’m sure many of you reading this review have seen documentaries about war that have run on cable TV.  The most prevalent is World at War that covers World War II and other American conflicts.  Digging through archives of war museums could be a very difficult task and one that would have to be approved by the powers that be.  Most of you also know Peter Jackson for his films, the Lord of the Rings trilogy and The Hobbit trilogy.  He also released the recent Mortal Engines that is currently in theaters. Well, put him in a room filled with British war movie film taken during World War I and he’ll come up with They Shall Not Grow Old, a documentary that shows the gritty battles of the Great War and the men who fought it. And It’s Utterly Amazing!

The film opens in theaters on the 100^th anniversary of the end of World War I.  It’s a fitting tribute and reminder of the men who fought hard to end tyranny during that time of history.  But more importantly it shows the trauma, squalor, and pressure the ill-equipped British Army was under and the awful foe they had to face.

By John Delia, Jr.

The world of the Transformers is back with more action, adventure, and science fiction fun for everyone. The most loved Autobot from this world has a history that explains where these troubled characters all began. As the battle of Cybertron comes to a conclusion, the Autobots make their move to flee from the Decepticons to an unknown location to later meet up and regroup. Optimus Prime (Peter Cullen) tells B-127/Bumble Bee (Dylan O’Brien) that he must flee and head to earth and hide until it is safe to meet up again. Once on earth, Bumble Bee must find a place to be unnoticed. He must find a secure safe location for his fellow Autobots and defend earth until Optimus Prime returns. During his landing on to earth, he encounters a team of soldiers training for battle called Sector 7. This team led by Agent Jack Burns (John Cena) fear for their lives when the capsule transporting B-127 crashes in the forest nearly on top of his team.

by Diana Delia

Ralph Breaks the Internet is a sequel to the hit Disney animated film Wreck it Ralph. In Ralph Breaks the Internet, we follow our heroes from the last movie, Ralph and Vanellope, as they travel the internet in search of a broken part for Vanellope’s arcade game. They find the missing steering controller on eBay, and it’s the last one in existence. Up for auction, they give the winning bid for $27,000. They now must find a way to earn the money to pay for the controller with a deadline in five hours, or they will lose Vanellope’s game forever.

By John Delia Jr.

The fabled story of the Nutcracker has many experiences, from plays, to musicals, to theater, and to operas; it has entertained us all for a century. What if these stories are real, and these Christmas toys really do have a world of their own? That would be a tale we all would love to hear. Enter Disney's The Nutcracker and the Four Realms. After the death of their mother, Clara (Mackenzie Foy), Fritz (Tom Sweet), Louise (Ellie Bamber), and their father, Mr. Stahbaum (Matthew Macfadyen), must endure the Christmas holidays without her. Struggling to move on with the events of the season, Mr. Stahbaum pushes them all to attend the annual event at Drosselmeyer’s house.

By John Delia, Jr

In Johnny English Strikes Again, English brings back his hilarious antics. The world’s security is threatened by an internet thief, and there is only one person who can save us all. This clumsy, blundering character who always manages to get the job done, even though it may not be with the intentions he set out to perform, is back in action. The greatest British agent of all time, Johnny English, is back, and he brings us more slapstick comedy than ever.

by John M. Delia, Jr.

Our life experiences influence what we do in our future, and what our parents experience could also influence how we are as well. And in tragedy and death, we experience large amounts of loss that could also transfer to our unborn offspring. Lastly, we experience many ups and downs throughout our lifetime, and how we react to those good or bad experiences make up who we are and how strong our will is to survive. Keep moving along knowing that there will be good life experiences, even though you will always have many hurdles to overcome, as we see in Life Itself.

Children’s fairy tales have taken a new drift with the film The House with a Clock in Its Walls.  Packed with exciting action adventure, the movie, based on the book by John Bellairs, envisions the story with an incredible amount of CGI.  You could almost call the film animated, but that’s a good thing here as things go bump in the night, magic forms the basis, and solving the mystery becomes the prominent focus for older youngsters. Orphaned due to a car crash that took his parents, young Lewis Barnavelt (Owen Vaccaro) gets invited to live at his Uncle Jonathan’s (Jack Black) magical mansion. He’s a bit fearful of the old house with its grand stairway and many mysterious rooms, but Lewis sort of likes the flamboyance of the magician turned warlock.  There he’s introduced to Jonathan’s neighbor and best friend Florence Zimmerman (Cate Blanchett), who assures Jonathan that he will enjoy living with his uncle.

Uncle Jonathan has only one rule for Lewis: he mustn’t open a special cupboard, ever.  Things go well for Lewis until it’s time he attend the local middle school.  There he’s the odd man out, as cliques have formed between the boys long before he came there.  Surprises abound his new life, and when he helps Tarby (Sunny Suljic), one of the school kids running for class President, he feels he’s finally made a friend. But things are not what they seem to be, and it leads to Lewis breaking the one rule he had promised he wouldn’t.

A cool little film with a lot of mixed messages, Eighth Grade tells the story of a young girl entering her teenage years. Nicely acted and directed, the movie works on the heartstrings and leaves you with a feel-good sentiment. If you can remember the years when your next step would be high school, you may be surprised by the film that very little has changed. There’s one more week of eighth  grade, and Kayla Day (Elise Fisher) finds herself full of angst mixed with hope as she deals with what she leaves behind and looks forward. A lot is taking place including her last band practice, Kennedy’s birthday swim party, and upcoming High School Shadowing Day.  It’s also the announcement of class superlatives that precedes graduation day.

But all that means less to her because she’s totally immersed in her YouTube blog and hoping that her viewers are listening. Her topics are solid recommendations and include the most important of them all, “Being Yourself.”  While she preaches as if she does things her blogs advise, she’s often too shy to live them herself, like “Putting yourself out there” and “How to be confident”.  What does affect her are a want to be noticed for who she is, getting a boyfriend, and having a perfect person to shadow with at the upcoming High School Shadowing Day.