Arts & Entertainment

Movie Reviews: 'Percy Jackson: Sea of Monsters', 'Planes', 'We're The Millers' and More

Movie reviews and movie times for theaters in the Iowa City area, including "2 Guns" and "Elysium." Let Patch help you decide what you're going to see this weekend.

B.A. Morelli's profile picture
B.A. Morelli, Patch StaffVerified Patch Staff Badge
|

Movie information aggregated from moviefone.com

Percy Jackson: Sea of Monsters

"This "Percy Jackson" is a gentler-spirited, less flashy enterprise, though it still presents a natural world that can morph at the whim of a god. I like that." RogerEbert.com Full Review

"In Percy Jackson: Sea of Monsters, choosing the dumbest character is a colossal task." Connie Ogle, Miami Herald. Full Review

Do you plan on seeing this movie? Leave a review when you get home and tell your neighbors how it was!

- - - - -

We're The Millers
"Though the cast partially eschews the family-friendly timidity that the film defers to in the end, this would-be wild thing remains little more than a rowdy endorsement of the status quo." Chris Cabin, Slant Magazine. Full Review

"Get past the comedy and there's something almost weird at the movie's core - a deep cynicism about family and a longing for family, both at the same time." Mike LaSalle, San Francisco Chronicle. Full Review

Do you plan on seeing this movie? Leave a review when you get home and tell your neighbors how it was!

- - - - -

2 Guns
"2 Guns is a much-needed reminder that the best summer surprises can come when you least expect them." Chris Nashawaty, Entertainment Weekly. Full Review

"There’s nothing about 2 Guns that doesn’t feel prefab, like someone poured a packet of Insta-Movie into a glass of water." Gabe Toro, The Playlist. Full Review

Do you plan on seeing this movie? Leave a review when you get home and tell your neighbors how it was!

- - - - -

Elysium
"Hollywood loves these apocalypse-soon stories, however, because they function as blank canvases for ruin porn, and if nothing else, Neill Blomkamp’s Elysium gives us the realistically trashed tomorrow we suspect we deserve." David Fear, Time Out New York. Full Review

"Not perfect, but a much more satisfying Earth-in-ruins film than Oblivion or After Earth. It is a little more conventional than District 9 (what isn’t?), but confirms Blomkamp as one of the potential science-fiction greats of this decade." Kim Newman, Empire. Full Review

Do you plan on seeing this movie? Leave a review when you get home and tell your neighbors how it was!

- - - - -

Planes
"Director Klay Hall's embraceable, overachieving romp plays nicely as a big-screen feature." Mike Scott, New Orleans Times-Picayune.

"What Planes lacks in novelty, it makes up for with eye-popping aerial sequences and a high-flying comic spirit." Owen Gleiberman, Entertainment Weekly.

Do you plan on seeing this movie? Leave a review when you get home and tell your neighbors how it was!

- - - - -

The Smurfs 2
Bruce Ingram, Chicago Sun-Times "The Smurfs 2 probably isn’t any worse than you might expect. On the other hand, it’s almost certainly not any better. It’s just a matter of figuring out how much punishment you’re willing to endure for the sake of the small child you’re taking to the movies." Full Review

Claudia Puig, USA Today "This insipid, and sometimes awkward, blend of animation, computer generation and live action wastes a ton of talent and lacks a true sense of whimsy." Full Review

- - - - - 

The Wolverine
"Until a third act that collapses in a harebrained heap, the director largely succeeds in keeping the more cartoonish aspects at bay, roughing up the surface with organically staged fight scenes and, crucially, raising the stakes by stripping his hitherto indestructible hero of his self-healing powers." The Hollywood Reporter. Full Review

"The flat hammerblows of The Wolverine bear little relation to the zing and pop of Matthew Vaughn's colourful treatment. Inconsistency is inevitable in a world that's constantly being dug up and done over, but it leaves us no time to fall in love with anything being flung at us." Henry Barnes, The Guardian. Full Review

Do you plan on seeing this movie? Leave a review when you get home and tell your neighbors how it was!

- - - - -

Red 2
"The best thing about RED 2, like its predecessor, is its lightness of tone. Too many movieswith comic-book roots come on too seriously, even when the comics themselves have a loose, fast, jocular wit about them." Owen Gleiberman, Entertainment Weekly.

"Not that it isn’t entertaining, but the film's premise is certainly well past its “use by” date, resulting in another passably palatable sequel distinguished by a lack of narrative and stylistic coherence that could potentially underpin a really viable franchise." Justin Lowe, The Hollywood Reporter.

Do you plan on seeing this movie? Leave a review when you get home and tell your neighbors how it was!

- - - - - 

The Conjuring
"Like the wood-grained farmhouse itself — a beautiful piece of production design by Julie Berghoff — The Conjuring has an analog solidity that makes the terror to come almost unbearable." Joshua Rothkopf, Time Out New York. Full Review

"Though The Conjuring claims to be based on a true story, in truth it's based on every horror film that's come before it." Ed Gonzalez, Slant Magazine. Full Review

Do you plan on seeing this movie? Leave a review when you get home and tell your neighbors how it was!

- - - - -

Grown Ups 2

“The party’s over, fellas,” says Adam Sandler’s character, Lenny, to his buddies in “Grown Ups 2.” “We’re irrelevant.” And though the box office may disagree, his words aren’t far from the truth. The first “Grown Ups,” in 2010, grossed more than $271 million worldwide; the sequel will probably rival that amount, reaping lavish dividends for Mr. Sandler and his co-stars, many of them his fellow “Saturday Night Live” alumni. Once again Mr. Sandler milks middle age for lucre, nostalgia and clunky, ham-fisted humor. But he has cause for concern." ~ Andy Webster, New York Times

In that sense, “Grown Ups 2” may be the ultimate Adam Sandler film. It ain’t high art, as the running gag with the burpsnarts — better not to ask — deftly illustrates. But for what it is, gosh darn it, it works." Adam Graham, The Detroit News

Have you seen this movie? Leave a review of it in the comments for your neighbors.

- - - - -

Despicable Me 2
"The minions give good mayhem and the twig-armed animation’s lovely. Despite the coolest submarine-car since Bond’s Lotus Esprit, though, Despicable Me 2 is light on gadgets – and surprises, too." Total Film. Full Review

"It falters in the middle and hesitates unnecessarily in setting up the love story, but Gru still has charm and kids will adore the Minions." Helen O'Hara, Empire. Full Review
Do you plan on seeing this movie? Leave a review when you get home and tell your neighbors how it was!

Get more local news delivered straight to your inbox. Sign up for free Patch newsletters and alerts.

We’ve removed the ability to reply as we work to make improvements. Learn more here

More from Iowa City