Contributor: Bob Hoose

After spending more than two decades touring, directing, writing and producing for Christian theater and radio (most recently for Adventures in Odyssey, which he still contributes to), Bob joined the Plugged In staff to help us focus more heavily on video games. He is also one of our primary movie reviewers.

Civilization: Beyond Earth

Mankind is doomed unless we build up a new civilization on a distant planet. But do the same Sid Meier rules apply where no man has gone before?

Read more

Ouija

Here we have yet another woeful byproduct of that much ballyhooed partnership between Hasbro and Universal Pictures.

Read more

John Wick

Never mind, then, that Film Freak Central says “the film sweats cool.” ‘Cause there’s no cinematic pot of gold at the end of this brain-splattered, seven-shades-of-blood-red rainbow.

Read more

Just Dance 2015

Simply watch the colorful, silhouette-like dancing figures onscreen and do your best to copy their moves as the tunes play on. Is there anything more to it than that?

Read more

Touchback

Is this It’s a Wonderful Life with cleats? Back to the Future on the field? Huddle up, and we’ll coach you through it.

Read more

Fury

Brad Pitt’s World War II tank warfare movie rubs our cinematic faces in two hours of grimy, dirty, charred-flesh misery.

Read more

The Book of Life

It’s called The Book of Life, but it takes place on the Day of the Dead and in the Land of the Forgotten. That’s the big spiritual conundrum.

Read more

Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel!

gravity, moon, jack, Lilith, border, land, lands, presequel, prequel, sequel, pre sequel,

Read more

Dracula Untold

A new dimension of the ancient monster Dracula is being exposed to the sunlight. Was he really just a misunderstood and oh-so-swoon-worthy action hero?

Read more

The Judge

This judge-accused-of-murder tale is far less about legal entanglements and more about an estranged father and son searching for reconciliation.

Read more

One Chance

Beyond a few notes about content, there are some movies that you shouldn’t know too much about going in. And the less you know about Paul Potts, the more you might like his musical underdog’s tale.

Read more

Piranha

The director of The Hills Have Eyes should have called his gorefest The Fish Have Teeth. Lots of them. More of them than R ratings can typically handle.

Read more

The Good Lie

Much like the 2006 award-winning documentary God Grew Tired of Us, this drama grabs Americans by the collar.

Read more

Annabelle

Threatened babies, ceiling-crawling demons, screeching occultists and bloody suicides do not a watchable movie make. Even in the horror genre.

Read more

Left Behind

It struggles sometimes with plot holes and special effects but tries to make up for that by working hard to raise questions.

Read more