REVIEWS - 'A Million Ways To Die In The West' & 'Maleficent'

'A Million Ways To Die In The West' (R) **
In the small Arizona town of Old Stump in 1882, cowardly sheep farmer Albert Starks (Seth MacFarlane, who also produced, directed, and co-wrote) backs out of a gunfight and ends up getting dump by his girlfriend Louise (Amanda Seyfried) for local mustached businessman Foy (Neil Patrick Harris).  Anna (Charlize Theron), a mysterious new woman in town, helps teach Albert how to shoot but trouble soon finds itself in Old Stump when Anna's infamous outlaw husband Clinch Leatherwood (Liam Neeson) arrives looking for his wife.  Also features Giovanni Ribisi as Albert's best friend Edward, and Sarah Silverman as Edward's prostitute girlfriend Ruth.  Shenanigans ensue and there are a plethora of random celebrity cameos. 

I'm usually a fan of Seth MacFarlane's work.  While I didn't really care for "American Dad!" or "The Cleveland Show" all that much, I still like "Family Guy" and I thought MacFarlane's first movie 'Ted' was hilarious.  Heck, I thought MacFarlane did a great job hosting the Oscars last year and was very funny.  This was one of my Top Ten Anticipated Movies for 2014.  The movie itself.....is unfortunately very hit or miss.  The acting was all right, Liam Neeson makes for an awesome villain, but it is slowly paced and it tries WAY TOO HARD to be funny.  For every time I chuckled or laughed out loud there was at least a 5-10 minute stretch where I was checking my phone for the time and was just kinda bored.  Heck, there were a few jokes I chuckled at at first, but then some character would start explaining the joke and it wouldn't be funny anymore.  There are two songs in the movie that are a lot of fun to listen to and some of the cameos are awesome.  While I laughed, I was still disappointed.  If maybe twenty or so minutes was edited out this would've been a lot better.  Hopefully next year's 'Ted 2' is funnier. 

TRAILERS

• 22 Jump Street - Out of the 4 movies I've seen so far this year that have been on my Top 10 Most Anticipated list for 2014, half of them have been disappointing.  Hopefully this movie bucks that trend.
• Tammy - This one might be a rental. 
• Let's Be Cops - I chuckled during the trailer.  If I do see this it'll probably be also be a rental.
• As Above, So Below - A found footage horror movie set in the Paris catacombs?  Sounds interesting. 
• A Walk Among The Tombstones - A hard R-rated thriller with Liam Neeson as a P.I. looking for a kidnapped person?  Sold. 
• Kill The Messenger - A thriller set in the 80's involving government corruption, drug smuggling, and the Nicaraguan Contras with Jeremy Renner in the lead role.  Didn't look half bad.
  
  

'Maleficent' (PG) **
Not quite the 'Sleeping Beauty' story that we all know and grew up with.  A vindictive fairy (Angelina Jolie) is driven to curse an infant princess, but soon realizes that the grown-up child Aurora (Elle Fanning) may be the only one who can restore peace between the human kingdom, led by an increasingly paranoid King Stefan (Sharlto Copley), and the magical kingdom in the woods.  With Imelda Staunton, Lesley Manville, and Juno Temple as the three fairies who help raise Aurora.  No doubt about it, this movie is perfectly cast.  It's been a while since I've seen Elle Fanning in a movie, the last movie I saw her in being J.J. Abram's Spielbergian 'Super 8' in 2011.  But some bad writing, inconsistent special effects (some are great, others are rather bad), and pacing issues (it DRAGS) plague the latest re-telling of a classic Disney movie.  I also had some nitpicky issues with some of the deviations from the original story, but I'll save those for another post.  For what it is it isn't bad, but it could've been better.  It's kinda like if the original animated 'Sleeping Beauty' movie, Universal's 'Snow White and the Huntsman', and the musical "Wicked" were all blended together.  And we only have to wait until March next year to see Disney's latest live action retelling of one of their own classic movies, that being 'Cinderella'.

TRAILERS

• Dolphin Tale 2 - Wait....they made a second one? 
• The Boxtrolls - Still looks like it could be good. 
• The Book of Life - Plain and simple:  This looks awful. 
• Big Hero 6 - Disney Animation's first movie based off of a Marvel comic book.  This was merely a teaser trailer that more or less echoed the teaser trailer for 'The Incredibles', so who knows maybe this will be good.