I must admit I've never been a big Judd Apatow fan. The only movie of his that I kind of like is Knocked Up. But when I saw the trailer for his latest movie Trainwreck I thought it looked funny and could actually be good. And you know what? For the most part it was.
Trainwreck stars Amy Schumer as Amy, who, starting at a young age, has had it drilled in her head by her father Gordon (Colin Quinn) that monogamy isn't realistic. She's always taken that to heart. But that could all change when she falls for sports doctor Aaron (Bill Hader), the subject of an article she's writing.
One of my favorite things about the movie was the chemistry between Amy Schumer and Bill Hader. They're both really funny actors and I thought they worked well together. I'd love to see them do another movie in the future.
There are a lot of cameos here, most of them are great while a few will make you go, what the hell? My favorite, and this really isn't a spoiler because he's in the trailer, is Lebron James. I wouldn't really call it a cameo though since he had a bit more screentime than that. He plays himself, just slightly fictionalized, and is good friends with Bill Hader's character. His scenes got some of the biggest laughs out of me.
I really enjoyed the soundtrack as well. Each song they used fit perfectly with each scene.
As far as romantic comedies go, you've seen this all before. It doesn't really add anything new. Does this make it a bad movie? Far from it. With these types of movies if I can get a couple of really good laughs, as was the case here, then I consider it a success.
My one big issue was I felt the movie dragged on a bit too long in the last act. The movie is a little over two hours long and by the time it got to the end I thought, This really should've been over about ten minutes ago.
Trainwreck was one of the better romantic comedies I've seen in a long time. It's a lot of fun and offers a pretty honest look at relationships. It's definitely worth seeing.
My Rating: 7.5/10
Sunday, July 19, 2015
Saturday, July 4, 2015
Terminator Genisys (IMAX 3D)
I've always been a huge fan of the Terminator franchise, with the exception of that god awful third movie. Yes, I even liked Terminator Salvation. But when I heard they were going to make a fifth movie I thought, is this really necessary? So I went into this with very low expectations and came out surprised. While it wasn't nearly on the same level as the first two movies, it was still pretty good!
Terminator Genisys starts out much like the first movie. Resistance leader John Connor (Jason Clarke) sends his right hand man Kyle Reese (Jai Courtney) back to 1984 to protect his mother Sarah (Emilia Clarke) from a Terminator trying to kill her thus preventing John from ever being born. But due to something major that happens, when Kyle gets there, nothing is what he expected it to be.
Director Alan Taylor (whose previous work includes Thor: The Dark World and a couple of episodes of Game of Thrones) does an amazing job being very respectful of the first two movies while at the same time making it it's own thing. He really paid attention to details and was able to recreate the classic opening scenes from the first movie, just with a slightly different twist.
The visual effects were very nicely done. I was especially impressed with the way they were able to recreate the 1984 Terminator/Arnold. To prepare for this movie, I went back and watched the original on Netflix and honestly I couldn't tell the difference. That's how good it was.
It was no nice to see Arnold back! This time around he plays a Terminator who is reprogrammed to go back and rescue a young Sarah Connor (I think she's around 9 at the time) as well as protect and raise her. Sarah even lovingly refers to him as Pops. Arnold's scenes with Emilia, whose take on Sarah Connor I loved and she even looks like a young Linda Hamilton, were very sweet and even funny at times.
While I said this movie was pretty good, it's far from perfect. For one thing, good lord Jai Courtney can't act! His performance as Kyle Reese was so robotic most of the time. Would it kill him to show just a little emotion? I've heard from many people, and I agree with them, that he would've been better off playing a Terminator. However, he is really nice to look at so that's a plus. And he did have decent enough chemistry with Emilia.
Also, as bad ass as the action scenes were, some of them went on too long or just weren't necessary all together.
If you're planning on seeing this in theaters don't bother seeing it in 3D. It's not even noticeable most of the time.
Terminator Genisys obviously isn't the best movie in the franchise. but it's a hell of a lot better than the third movie or even Salvation. They really tried to do something different and I can't wait to see where they go from here.
My Rating: 8/10
Terminator Genisys starts out much like the first movie. Resistance leader John Connor (Jason Clarke) sends his right hand man Kyle Reese (Jai Courtney) back to 1984 to protect his mother Sarah (Emilia Clarke) from a Terminator trying to kill her thus preventing John from ever being born. But due to something major that happens, when Kyle gets there, nothing is what he expected it to be.
Director Alan Taylor (whose previous work includes Thor: The Dark World and a couple of episodes of Game of Thrones) does an amazing job being very respectful of the first two movies while at the same time making it it's own thing. He really paid attention to details and was able to recreate the classic opening scenes from the first movie, just with a slightly different twist.
The visual effects were very nicely done. I was especially impressed with the way they were able to recreate the 1984 Terminator/Arnold. To prepare for this movie, I went back and watched the original on Netflix and honestly I couldn't tell the difference. That's how good it was.
It was no nice to see Arnold back! This time around he plays a Terminator who is reprogrammed to go back and rescue a young Sarah Connor (I think she's around 9 at the time) as well as protect and raise her. Sarah even lovingly refers to him as Pops. Arnold's scenes with Emilia, whose take on Sarah Connor I loved and she even looks like a young Linda Hamilton, were very sweet and even funny at times.
While I said this movie was pretty good, it's far from perfect. For one thing, good lord Jai Courtney can't act! His performance as Kyle Reese was so robotic most of the time. Would it kill him to show just a little emotion? I've heard from many people, and I agree with them, that he would've been better off playing a Terminator. However, he is really nice to look at so that's a plus. And he did have decent enough chemistry with Emilia.
Also, as bad ass as the action scenes were, some of them went on too long or just weren't necessary all together.
If you're planning on seeing this in theaters don't bother seeing it in 3D. It's not even noticeable most of the time.
Terminator Genisys obviously isn't the best movie in the franchise. but it's a hell of a lot better than the third movie or even Salvation. They really tried to do something different and I can't wait to see where they go from here.
My Rating: 8/10
Magic Mike XXL
Once again, my ovaries have exploded! It's funny, my review for the first Magic Mike still holds the record for the most hits one of my reviews has gotten. I wonder if this one can top it since Magic Mike XXL was even better than the first.
The movie takes place three years after the events of the first. Mike (Channing Tatum) is back along with Dick (Joe Manganiello), Ken (Matt Bomer), Tito (Adam Rodriguez), and Tarzan (Kevin Nash) for one last ride at a male stripper convention in Myrtle Beach.
A big thank you to Gregory Jacobs for listening to us and including way more stripping scenes than the first. Although if I had my way it would be two hours of nothing but stripping. There's still a story there and a decent one at that, but that's not what you came to see. This isn't going to be winning any Oscars and they know that. I given them credit for not taking themselves too seriously and trying to be something it's not.
I really enjoyed the performances. The actors all looked like they had such a fun time filming this. Channing Tatum... wow!! Some of the moves he pulled off I didn't think were physically possible. After him, my favorite would be Joe Manganiello. There's a scene of him in a convenience store that when you get a glimpse of it in the trailer it looks stupid. But once you see it in the movie and how it plays out it's actually hysterical.
Matt Bomer was also really good. I had no idea he could sing so well! I hope he does more of that in the future.
Speaking of music, I thought the soundtrack was perfect and fun and fit well with the amazingly choreographed dance/stripping routines.
My only complaint, and it's very minor, would be there were a few moments during some of the non stripping scenes that seemed to really drag. It's like, get back to the stripping dammit!
Magic Mike was crazy and fun. A perfect way to start off the 4th of July weekend. Definitely go see it if you get a chance.
My Rating: 9/10
The movie takes place three years after the events of the first. Mike (Channing Tatum) is back along with Dick (Joe Manganiello), Ken (Matt Bomer), Tito (Adam Rodriguez), and Tarzan (Kevin Nash) for one last ride at a male stripper convention in Myrtle Beach.
A big thank you to Gregory Jacobs for listening to us and including way more stripping scenes than the first. Although if I had my way it would be two hours of nothing but stripping. There's still a story there and a decent one at that, but that's not what you came to see. This isn't going to be winning any Oscars and they know that. I given them credit for not taking themselves too seriously and trying to be something it's not.
I really enjoyed the performances. The actors all looked like they had such a fun time filming this. Channing Tatum... wow!! Some of the moves he pulled off I didn't think were physically possible. After him, my favorite would be Joe Manganiello. There's a scene of him in a convenience store that when you get a glimpse of it in the trailer it looks stupid. But once you see it in the movie and how it plays out it's actually hysterical.
Matt Bomer was also really good. I had no idea he could sing so well! I hope he does more of that in the future.
Speaking of music, I thought the soundtrack was perfect and fun and fit well with the amazingly choreographed dance/stripping routines.
My only complaint, and it's very minor, would be there were a few moments during some of the non stripping scenes that seemed to really drag. It's like, get back to the stripping dammit!
Magic Mike was crazy and fun. A perfect way to start off the 4th of July weekend. Definitely go see it if you get a chance.
My Rating: 9/10
Saturday, June 27, 2015
Ted 2
I knew going into this that it didn't have great reviews. But I figured what the hell, I'm in the mood for a comedy. And you know what? While it wasn't great, for the most part I had fun watching it.
Ted 2 is the sequel to the 2012 movie which ended up being a huge hit. This time around, Ted (voiced by Seth MacFarlane) has married Tami-Lynn (Jessica Barth) and they want to have a baby. But in order to become a parent, he'll have to prove he's a person in the eyes of the law. His best friend John (Mark Wahlberg) and a young lawyer named Samantha (Amanda Seyfried) help him along the way.
Seth MacFarlane, while he seems like a nice guy, is not the greatest director. At least not when it comes to feature length films. This movie was nearly two hours long and it didn't need to be. There were several scenes that really had nothing to do with the plot and were just added in to kill time. I think this would've worked much better had it been an hour television special. But I'll give him credit, while some of the jokes fell flat for me, a lot of them were pretty funny. I found myself laughing quite a bit, mainly in the first half though.
I really enjoyed Mark Wahlberg in this. I've been a fan of most of his movies. His comedic timing in this is spot on. I think he's at his best in these types of movies. He also has great chemistry with Ted, a CGI bear for crying out loud. The same can't be said for him and Amanda Seyfried. I like her and it's not that she's bad here, I just didn't buy her as Mark's love interest.
Ted 2 ended up being better than I thought it would be. I don't know if I'll watch it over and over again, but maybe every so often if I'm in need of a laugh. If you enjoyed the first movie or if you're looking for a halfway decent comedy (and don't mind a little crude humor), check this out.
My Rating: 7/10
Ted 2 is the sequel to the 2012 movie which ended up being a huge hit. This time around, Ted (voiced by Seth MacFarlane) has married Tami-Lynn (Jessica Barth) and they want to have a baby. But in order to become a parent, he'll have to prove he's a person in the eyes of the law. His best friend John (Mark Wahlberg) and a young lawyer named Samantha (Amanda Seyfried) help him along the way.
Seth MacFarlane, while he seems like a nice guy, is not the greatest director. At least not when it comes to feature length films. This movie was nearly two hours long and it didn't need to be. There were several scenes that really had nothing to do with the plot and were just added in to kill time. I think this would've worked much better had it been an hour television special. But I'll give him credit, while some of the jokes fell flat for me, a lot of them were pretty funny. I found myself laughing quite a bit, mainly in the first half though.
I really enjoyed Mark Wahlberg in this. I've been a fan of most of his movies. His comedic timing in this is spot on. I think he's at his best in these types of movies. He also has great chemistry with Ted, a CGI bear for crying out loud. The same can't be said for him and Amanda Seyfried. I like her and it's not that she's bad here, I just didn't buy her as Mark's love interest.
Ted 2 ended up being better than I thought it would be. I don't know if I'll watch it over and over again, but maybe every so often if I'm in need of a laugh. If you enjoyed the first movie or if you're looking for a halfway decent comedy (and don't mind a little crude humor), check this out.
My Rating: 7/10
Saturday, June 20, 2015
Inside Out (3D)
I've always been a fan of most Pixar movies. So when I heard they were releasing Inside Out I knew I had to see it. And I must say, Pixar has once again hit it out of the park!
Inside Out is about a young girl named Riley whose life if guided by the emotions living inside her mind- Joy (Amy Poehler), Sadness (Phyllis Smith), Fear (Bill Hader), Anger (Lewis Black), and Disgust (Mindy Kaling). Everything is going great until one day when Riley and her parents suddenly move from their home in Minnesota to San Francisco. With all of these changes, Headquarters begins to explode into chaos!
Pete Docter and Ronaldo Del Carmen have done an amazing job directing (as well as writing) a story that technically is aimed towards kids but at the same time adults can get a lot out of it as well. And as is the case with Pixar, this movie hits you right in the feels.
The animation looked absolutely beautiful. So much effort was put into even the smallest detail, like the way the characters hair looked and moved.
I really don't have anything bad to say about the movie other than I wouldn't bother to spend the extra money on 3D. It's hardly noticeable at all. It's a shame because it had the potential to look really good in that format.
Going into the movie, I was afraid I would be sitting in a theater full of screaming kids. Thankfully that was not the case. There were kids there of course, but I noticed there was also a lot of people my age and older who like me didn't have kids. We all had fun watching a sweet and touching movie with a great message. I can't wait to see what Pixar does next.
My Rating: 9/10
Inside Out is about a young girl named Riley whose life if guided by the emotions living inside her mind- Joy (Amy Poehler), Sadness (Phyllis Smith), Fear (Bill Hader), Anger (Lewis Black), and Disgust (Mindy Kaling). Everything is going great until one day when Riley and her parents suddenly move from their home in Minnesota to San Francisco. With all of these changes, Headquarters begins to explode into chaos!
Pete Docter and Ronaldo Del Carmen have done an amazing job directing (as well as writing) a story that technically is aimed towards kids but at the same time adults can get a lot out of it as well. And as is the case with Pixar, this movie hits you right in the feels.
The animation looked absolutely beautiful. So much effort was put into even the smallest detail, like the way the characters hair looked and moved.
I really don't have anything bad to say about the movie other than I wouldn't bother to spend the extra money on 3D. It's hardly noticeable at all. It's a shame because it had the potential to look really good in that format.
Going into the movie, I was afraid I would be sitting in a theater full of screaming kids. Thankfully that was not the case. There were kids there of course, but I noticed there was also a lot of people my age and older who like me didn't have kids. We all had fun watching a sweet and touching movie with a great message. I can't wait to see what Pixar does next.
My Rating: 9/10
Saturday, June 13, 2015
Jurassic World (IMAX 3D)
I've been looking forward to this movie ever since it was first announced and got even more excited when I saw the trailers. Judging by the line I stood in to get into the theater (which I swear was just as big if not longer than the line I was in for The Avengers) I wasn't the only one who felt this way. Believe the hype everyone. Jurassic World was amazing!
The movie takes place 22 years after the events of Jurassic Park. Isla Nublar now features a functional theme park called Jurassic World, run by Claire (Bryce Dallas Howard). But attendance is starting to decline so they decide to genetically engineer a new breed of dinosaur. What could possibly go wrong?
I love that director Colin Trevorrow has basically ignored movies two and three and instead made Jurassic World feel like a direct sequel to Jurassic Park. There's quite a few references to the first movie but it's done respectfully, unlike other sequels/reboots where it's all in your face like, Hey look at this! Remember this?
Chris Pratt sure is on a role lately and I couldn't be happier for him. He's very charming, funny, and does a great job here as raptor trainer Owen. His character was probably the only one I actually cared about. Do I wish they had taken the time to develop the other characters and make them likeable? Sure. But I knew going into this that the real stars of the movie were the dinosaurs.
My hat goes off to the visual effects team. I'm not sure how much of it was practical effects and how much was CGI but the dinosaurs looked very real and was convincing whenever they interacted with the human characters.
The movie looked absolutely stunning on an IMAX screen. You really felt like you were there. But as far as the 3D goes, while it was decent in a few spots overall it wasn't that noticeable. Still, I'd say it's worth the extra money just so you can have that great IMAX experience.
Seeing Jurassic World gave me chills. Everything from the bad ass action scenes to the beautiful score was well done. It felt like I was nine years old again and seeing Jurassic Park for the first time. I can't wait to see where they go from here.
My Rating: 9/10
The movie takes place 22 years after the events of Jurassic Park. Isla Nublar now features a functional theme park called Jurassic World, run by Claire (Bryce Dallas Howard). But attendance is starting to decline so they decide to genetically engineer a new breed of dinosaur. What could possibly go wrong?
I love that director Colin Trevorrow has basically ignored movies two and three and instead made Jurassic World feel like a direct sequel to Jurassic Park. There's quite a few references to the first movie but it's done respectfully, unlike other sequels/reboots where it's all in your face like, Hey look at this! Remember this?
Chris Pratt sure is on a role lately and I couldn't be happier for him. He's very charming, funny, and does a great job here as raptor trainer Owen. His character was probably the only one I actually cared about. Do I wish they had taken the time to develop the other characters and make them likeable? Sure. But I knew going into this that the real stars of the movie were the dinosaurs.
My hat goes off to the visual effects team. I'm not sure how much of it was practical effects and how much was CGI but the dinosaurs looked very real and was convincing whenever they interacted with the human characters.
The movie looked absolutely stunning on an IMAX screen. You really felt like you were there. But as far as the 3D goes, while it was decent in a few spots overall it wasn't that noticeable. Still, I'd say it's worth the extra money just so you can have that great IMAX experience.
Seeing Jurassic World gave me chills. Everything from the bad ass action scenes to the beautiful score was well done. It felt like I was nine years old again and seeing Jurassic Park for the first time. I can't wait to see where they go from here.
My Rating: 9/10
Saturday, June 6, 2015
Spy
I had every intention of avoiding this movie like the plague. But then several friends told me that it was actually good so I decided to give it a chance. I'm glad I listened to them and didn't bade my decision on the trailers, which made this out to be just another dumb Melissa McCarthy "Hey look at me I'm fat!" type of movie. There's a few moments of that to an extent, but I ended up really enjoying the movie.
Spy stars Melissa McCarthy as Susan Cooper, a desk bound CIA analyst who ends up volunteering to go undercover and infiltrate the world of a deadly arms dealer.
What surprised me the most was that not only was this a comedy, but it also had some really good action sequences. They don't shy away from the violence either. There's people getting shot in the head, stabbed, poisoned, etc. If you're a little squeamish this may not be the movie for you.
I hope Melissa McCarthy does more movies like this because she's actually not a bad actress. I especially loved her scenes with Jason Statham. The two of them actually work well together and it looked like they had a lot of fun. Speaking of Jason Statham, it was great seeing him play a character that's pretty much a parody of every other character he's ever played.
Paul Fieg (who also directed Bridesmaids and The Heat) does a decent job writing and directing. Most of the jokes were pretty funny, but a few of them just didn't work for me. Also, I felt like the movie went on a just a little too long. It would've been even better had he cut out about 20 minutes.
Spy was a really fun and refreshing take on the spy spoof movie. While it's not nearly as good as Kingsman, it's still worth checking out.
My Rating: 8/10
Spy stars Melissa McCarthy as Susan Cooper, a desk bound CIA analyst who ends up volunteering to go undercover and infiltrate the world of a deadly arms dealer.
What surprised me the most was that not only was this a comedy, but it also had some really good action sequences. They don't shy away from the violence either. There's people getting shot in the head, stabbed, poisoned, etc. If you're a little squeamish this may not be the movie for you.
I hope Melissa McCarthy does more movies like this because she's actually not a bad actress. I especially loved her scenes with Jason Statham. The two of them actually work well together and it looked like they had a lot of fun. Speaking of Jason Statham, it was great seeing him play a character that's pretty much a parody of every other character he's ever played.
Paul Fieg (who also directed Bridesmaids and The Heat) does a decent job writing and directing. Most of the jokes were pretty funny, but a few of them just didn't work for me. Also, I felt like the movie went on a just a little too long. It would've been even better had he cut out about 20 minutes.
Spy was a really fun and refreshing take on the spy spoof movie. While it's not nearly as good as Kingsman, it's still worth checking out.
My Rating: 8/10
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