Sleeping With Other People: Review

I was hoping for something different when I walked into the theater of Sleeping With Other People, but I wasn't really expecting that to happen. It was a modern romantic comedy, and Jason Sudeikis was the male lead, the actor known for his roles in dick-and-fart joke films. Which is why I was pleasantly surprised when it chose to play it much straighter than any comedy or romantic comedy I've seen in theaters has in a long time.

So, basically this movie is the When Harry Met Sally for the modern generation. It's a more realistic look of what it's like to have a friendship with someone of the opposite sex, and what happens when that friendship inevitably turns into something more. For the most part this film even manages to avoid the required chick flick plot points. I kept waiting in the third act for the out-of-no-where fight that would send our couple spiraling away from each other only to be brought back together by the power of their love. I'm happy to say that that doesn't happen, but that doesn't mean other things in life don't send the romance of the incredibly charming Sudeikis (seriously, this guy is unbelievably charming in this movie. He's usually stuck with the role of the likable dick who constantly makes inappropriate jokes, but in this movie he actually seems like a guy women would want to sleep with after a first date) and the always likable Alison Brie. 

I really enjoyed this movie, and recommend it for anyone going on a date night looking for something a little different, and a LOT less gross than most modern comedies.

The Martian:

The Martian is the latest from director Ridley Scott, the man behind such sci-fi classics as Alien and Blade Runner. It stars Matt Damon, Jessica Chastain, Jeff Daniels, Chiwetel Ejiofor and a host of other award winning and nominated actors. 

The plot of The Martian is pretty straight forward. A group of astronauts are on Mars when a dust storm forces them to leave or risk their ship being destroyed. Everyone makes it off but Matt Damon who is assumed dead. Turns out he's not, and the film becomes a mix of Damon finding inventive ways to keep himself alive, and the NASA team back on Earth trying to develop equally inventive ways to get him home alive.

The film is based on the self published book of the same name written by Andy Weir. The film manages to pull the best bits out of the book while mostly avoiding the negative. The film is at times funny (Damon's character does have some of the "wise cracking" attitude of the Mark Watney character from the book, but it's more believable here), and almost always hopeful (something that the book was to a fault). It was a bit of a relief to see these characteristics in a blockbuster film that is considered a science fiction. Now, don't get me wrong, I love bleak sci-fi as much as any Road-Warrior-double-barrel touting fan, but it's nice for something different to come to theaters from time to time.

Now, that being said, the movie just doesn't have enough tension. Other than at the climax of the film, there was never a situation where I was really afraid Damon or any of his crew mates were at any real risk of dying. This is a problem the movie inherited from the book (in the book Watney is a bubbling sun-ray of positivity that is never shaken, no matter how dire his circumstances are), and it does a better job of humanizing Watney, giving us a couple of scenes where the fear in his eyes or in his curses reminds us that this dude isn't on vacation, he's stranded on a deserted planet where nothing is alive but him. The movie could have used more of that. I think another miss step was not giving Watney family, or at least friends, to contemplate never seeing again as he floated in space on that big red rock. Instead he only mentions his parents once while writing an email to another astronaut, simply asking them to tell his parents that he loved them and he enjoyed his job.  It's just not enough to make Damon's character feel fully fleshed out, and for the tension of his ALWAYS possible death to be there. Aside from that, the film is beautiful, the cast is good, the science is pretty fun, and the jokes and occasional dash of tension make it worth seeing and better than most films that have come out this year.

Black Mass: Review

In Black Mass Johnny Depp is taking a page out of the Christian Bale book, undergoing a physical transformation in order to better play his part of the Boston gangster, James "Whitey" Bulger. In The film Depp is over weight and pasty white. He dawns eerily light blue contacts that you never really buy are his true eye color—they look too unnatural, as if he weren't even human, but instead of the viewer associating that with him being a brutal monster, it just makes him look a little like Orlando Bloom in Lord of The Rings. Depp also sports a receding hair line that goes all the way back, leaving him with a few strands to grease and slick back. It goes without saying that the transformation definitely helps to hide Depp, who I for one have lost faith in after the numerous duds he's produced with Tim Burton over the last five-or-so years, but does it enhance the role? That's harder to say.

As far as the film goes, it's your typical mid level gangster movie. It drags in many parts, and is at least a half hour too long. It never comes close to the levels of any of Scorsese's mob flicks, or even b-side gangster movies like Lawless or Road To Perdition, but it is watchable, and Depp is more engaging here than he has been in years.

Grandma

You get the sense that Grandma was supposed to be a sort of come back film for Lily Tomlin. She plays the title character, a grandma who's an anti-social, out of work academic who was apparently a bad mother, but has been an okay grandmother. Julia Garner plays the granddaughter, she's a senior in high school who finds herself impregnated by her loser boyfriend; she's looking to have an abortion, but she needs grandma's help getting the money.

Grandma is plagued with many problems. The first being the ridiculousness of the premise. The entire thing hinges on the idea that neither Lily Tomlin nor Julia Garner can think of a better way of scoring 600 bucks than hitting up old friends and ex-lovers. Apparently they've never heard of instant approvals for credit cards online, Check-In-To-Cash, or getting a personal loan from a bank. Instead of doing something sensible, Grandma and her daughter go on a string of not-that-interesting visits to Grandma's old friends. These scenes are often riddled with sappy dialogue that none of the actors are able to sell, and they do nothing to further the plot, other than providing the characters with another dead end, to which Tomlin, of course, then remembers some other person she's burned earlier in her life that happens to owe her money. The movie goes on like this until ending with an uplifting note that just doesn't feel sincere, nor does it fit in with the rest of the film.

Over all, there are some scenes in which Tomlin shines (most of these you can see in the trailers), but they simply do not make up for the uneven tone, acting, and over the top premise.

The Diary of a Teenage Girl: Review

The Diary of a Teenage Girl is an odd film. It's often uncomfortable, and difficult to watch, but when the story centers around a 15-year-old girl who engages in a sexual relationship with a 35-year-old man who's dating her mother, you should be a little uncomfortable; especially if it's being depicted honestly, which in Diary it is. The film doesn't point fingers at anyone, it neither blames Alexander Skarsgård's character (the older man) nor Bel Powley's (the teenage girl), it's simply shown as something that has happened, and we're left to put the pieces together and decide how we feel about it, and what we think may have led Powley's character down this path.

Though the film is very serious, it's not without humor. The cartoon images that Powley draws in her notebook are often times humorous, while simultaneously disturbing. The film feels like an honest depiction of a teenager growing up in the 70s with no one who truly cares about her. It makes for a bit depressing view at times, but because Powley rarely gives into the depression her situation should inspire, you want to stay with her till the end.

American Ultra: Review

American Ultra is a competent action/comedy. Jesse Eisenberg's jokes usually land, and the action scenes are more interesting and better shot than the majority of action movies that have been released in the last decade (it beats Transformers, and The Expendables shaky cam cinematography without really trying). The issues with the film though are cringe worthy. Topher Grace a government baddy who's out to kill Eisenberg's character no matter what the cost. This guy will destroy the entire town without blinking an eye, and he has no reason to justify this. He's evil simply because, and he doesn't have a single redeeming quality. He seems to show up just to say fuck a few times, insult the other characters on screen and then sends another wave of goons out to be slaughtered by the Jason Bourne character played by Jesse Eisenberg. Connie Britton of American Horror Story fame, plays a the rogue government agent who's going against the evil Topher Grace. She shows up every once in awhile to help Eisenbger. Her character is also campy and over the top, but less so than Grace's, she's usually bearable when she's on screen.

Over all, the film was enjoyable enough to warrant a recommendation if you're absolutely set on seeing a movie where things blow up (it is more memorable than Mission: Impossible, sadly) , but if you prefer something quieter you'd probably be better off trying one of the smaller indie films, The End of The Tour, or Diary of a Teenage Girl.

Mission: Impossible — Rogue Nation: Review

"Ethan hunt is the living manifestation of destiny." Alec Baldwin as CIA director Alan Hunley while speaking to Tom Hollander, who plays the Prime Minister of England.

Mission: Impossible — Rogue Nation is the definition of a summer popcorn film. The plot is ridiculous, the acting is just passable, and the action is always turned up to eleven. It's a fun ride, that at times, seems to know that by this point the movie really can't be taking itself too seriously if it hopes to keep pumping these guys out every couple years (they're already writing the script for the sixth movie) and still have fans willing to turn up to see them.

I say that it mostly seems aware that the film is a bit of a joke (this is after all the fifth movie starring Tom Cruise doing "impossible" things to save the world), because at other times it is completely clueless as to what mood it's going for. When Simon Pegg's cracking jokes, or when the non-CGI action has Tom Cruise doing increasingly ridiculous things, the film has the intelligence to put an "Oh come on!" face on Cruise, and in these scenes it works; but other times it's taking itself way too seriously. This mostly happens in dialogue scenes where characters are trying to convince us that they really care about Cruise's character. Both Ving Rhames and Simon Pegg have corny speeches where they tell us that Tom Cruise is their friend, and that they'd do anything for him. Alec Baldwin also has one where he is telling the Prime Minister of England that Tom Cruise is the human personification of destiny...and he's being serious. Who writes this stuff? This is a movie where halfway through I had forgotten what the purpose of Tom Cruise's mission was, so if the plot of the movie is irrelevant, everything else is too. Just get to the cheeky fun, don't bother bogging it down with insincere scenes of mushy bro-love.

 But over all, the movie was still fun enough to warrant a recommendation, and is definitely the funnest adult movie playing in theaters right now, easily beating out Southpaw or the hard-to-sit-through Ant-Man.

Southpaw: Review

Southpaw is a boxing film, so it has to follow the tropes and metaphors of fight=redemption/validation, but it never really moves past that. Every boxing movie worth its salt—whether it be Rocky, Raging Bull, The Fighter, Million Dollar Baby, or Warrior—always has a new way to tell the same tale. In Rocky, we meet a mafia enforcer who boxes on the side, and guess what, he has a heart of gold. In Raging Bull we follow the life story of real life boxer Jake LaMotta. We follow him as he goes from a young rising star, until he eventually burns out due to drugs and abusive relationships, and then ends up doing stand up comedy. The Fighter gets up close and personal with drug addiction, Million Dollar Baby forces us to ask ourselves how we feel about euthanasia, and Warrior offers a twist on the boxing trope of the everyman risking it all for the cash reward, by having the last match of the tournament pitting the main character against his brother.

Now, seeing that boxing films have such a rich history of touching deeper issues while also giving us the "there is always hope" spiel, it's hard to fully enjoy Southpaw's 2-hour running time when it doesn't offer anything new, or even all that thought provoking. All of it's actors are good. Forrest Whitaker puts his own touches on the Mickey/Obi-Wan character. Rachel McAdams has a strong role as Gyllenhaal's wife, and the young actress who plays their daughter (Oona Laurence) is also quite good. That being said, that absolute best performance in this film is from Gyllenhaal, this is without question his movie. He embodies the character both physically (the guy is huge in this movie) and emotionally, making us believe that he is truly a guy who simply knows nothing else.

Now, having an actor give an outstanding performance certainly makes your movie stand out, but it needs more than that to live on in the memories of viewers. It's a decent movie, worth a one time watch, but after that, you'll likely find it hard to remember anything else other than Gyllenhaal's performance.

Mr. Holmes: Review

I love comeback films. Films were the retired cop takes to the street for one last criminal take down; where the over the hill cowboy straps his boots on for one last score; where the aging boxer steps back into the ring for one last go at the title. It's a great genre that inspires us all to keep going, to milk life until the last petals of our lives have wilted and fallen off the stem. Sadly Mr. Holmes doesn't really fit that genre, though it was marketed as if it would. Mr. Holmes is more of a character drama that moves as slow as its protagonist. It's a bit of a long ride, but there is fun to be had on it.

Mr. Holmes is a film about the elderly Sherlock Holmes. All the other beloved characters from the Holmes mythos are now dead (Watson, Mrs. Hudson, Mycroft, and Inspector Lestrade, are all long gone). Holmes has retired to a sleepy little English town where he's tried to forget about a case he seemingly couldn't solve. Now the world's once most brilliant detective is riddled with alzheimer's, and can't even remember how his last case turned out, so he's writing it down in an attempt to remember. He befriends his new housekeeper's son, and shares the story of his last case with him as he slowly remembers it.

Mr. Holmes is a slow burn movie. It takes its time with everything, and the payoff (the answer to the mystery) isn't as satisfying as you'd like it to be, but Ian Mckellen's portrayal of an elderly Holmes is strong, and the boy he befriends is also quite good. The main problem the movie has is that most of the time it simply feels too depressing. Holmes has no one left, and no where to go but seemingly into the ground. All that's keeping him going is the idea that maybe he'll remember the ending to his last case before he dies, and that really isn't a big enough driving force to keep the moving going. It does end on a satisfying note, and the film's performances and occasional wit outweigh the often depressing plot line.

Ant-Man: Review

Ant-Man isn't the worst Marvel movie I've seen. It is slightly better than Thor 2, but that's about the only compliment I can give it. Ant-Man feels about as fresh as a bottle of soda left out overnight. The majority of the jokes do not land, and the whole thing has a b-movie vibe, like it was written and directed by someone who's never seen a movie before, and isn't sure what you're supposed to do when you're filming one. It's really bad, but in a sad kind of way, because if it were tweaked just a little everywhere, it could have been a decent movie, but instead it's a movie that can only really be appreciated with a group of friends on "bad movie night." 

The movie opens up with a flashback in a white room where CGI makeup makes Michael Douglas look like he's 40 instead of 70 (it just doesn't look right either, maybe it's the wig, maybe it's the fact that that's not what Michale Douglas actually looked like in 1989), and he argues with a group of other actors (one of which also has a bad wig and CGI makeup to make him look younger) in a scene that feels at the same time wooden and pointless since everything they're arguing will undoubtedly be explained to us later in the presence of the hero. The movie then fast forwards to the present where Paul Rudd gets punched in the face by a large prison inmate, only to then say, "You guys have a funny way of saying goodbye," which is followed by him hugging him. It almost sounds funny on paper, but in the movie there's no confidence to it, and you're almost waiting for Paul Rudd to wink at the camera and walk off the fake movie set so the real movie can begin, but that never happens. Instead this strange fan-made-quality movie just keeps going, and going.

I have to give it credit that I never fell asleep, so that puts it above films like A Good Day To Die Hard and Thor 2, but at least in Thor 2 you had Tom Hiddleston. Ant-Man doesn't have a single performance that stands out. The only memorable thing about it is how akward it all feels. Do yourself a favor and skip this one.

Trainwreck

I'm not really big on chick flicks. Not because I don't like stories about love—most movies have some sort of love story—it's more of the cliches, cardboard characters and corny dialogue of chick flicks that turn me off. Fortunately Trainwreck avoids most of these chick flick pratfalls and manages to be a pretty entertaining comedy.

All of the actors are good here. I usually find the over-the-top smart-assy female character thing that's become popular in modern comedies (think Melissa McCarthy) annoying, and was expecting that in this film from Schumer, but thankfully she didn't really go that route, instead it's a more believable performance of a damaged woman who still loves the father who made it impossible for her to have a meaningful relationship with a man. Bill Hader is great here as the regular guy who falls in love with her. He plays straight laced just as well as he does gay (if you haven't checked out Skeleton Twins, give it a go, Hader's phenomenal in it). There's also a surprising supporting role by Lebron James. The surprising thing isn't necessarily that Lebron is in the film as a supporting character (not a cameo), the surprising thing is that Lebron is good. He plays the best friend of Hader's character, an athletic surgeon who works on professional athletes. Lebron's the best friend who just wants his buddy to be happy. That's it, and the comedy comes from just how good at playing that role he is. This part of the film is incredibly well done.

The only issues I have with Trainwreck are that it follows the chick flick formula of: Meet, fall in love, fight, get back together, end. Which in of itself isn't necessarily a bad thing if you can make me forget that you're doing that, but this film didn't. It's comedy is fairly funny (sometimes it feels like it's trying to be edgy for edgy's sake), but I just didn't have a big enough emotional connection with Schumer's character to care if she got back together with Hader. Another problem was that their fight wasn't big enough to make me feel like there was no way they would get back together. It was a normal couple fight, not a "we're done" fight, that every chick flick needs. So when they get back together it feels too normal for me to really care. 

But if you're just looking for a good comedy, this one is miles above most other modern comedies, and just has a few of the usual chick flick problems.

Magic Mike XXL: Review

Magic Mike XXL is  the sequel to 2012 film Magic Mike. It's of course a movie that one doesn't go see for the story, it's all about the eye candy. The dancing and scantly clad men are the equivalent of expensive CGI set pieces (and honestly, they're far more entertaining) in the world of Magic Mike. We get some pretty good ones in this sequel. Joe Manganiello (from HBO's True Blood) gives a striptease to a bored female clerk in a convenience store where he rips open a bag of Cheetos seductively and makes it rain with a bottle of water. Channing of course puts in quite a few dance numbers, the best being his impromptu number in his wood-shop where he grinds a steel bar while thrusting and break dances all over his furniture-diagrams.

While all of that is as fun to watch as it sounds, those scenes are unfortunately sandwiched between a lot of boring and sometimes needlessly dramatic scenes. There's a lot of new characters introduced, and with them a lot of aimless subplots that don't lead to any payouts. Tatum and Manganiello have way too many bro-fights, and Matthew McConaughey is no where in sight. There's also an issue with some of the dance numbers (especially Tatum's final dance) being overtly sexual. Now, I'm not saying that lightly, this is a movie about male strippers called Magic Mike after all, but still, the dance numbers shouldn't simply look like Tatum is using a girl as a prop to hump. There should be some mystery, otherwise it's just soft core porn.

Though many of the dance numbers are quite fun, there aren't nearly enough of them to justify sitting through the rest of the film. It's simply feels to disjointed and aimless. 

Me and Earl and The Dying Girl

So after seeing the trailer and picking up the premise that this film's about a group of teenagers (three friends), and one of them has cancer (the girl) of course I made the connection that this film is going to be very similar to The Fault in Our Stars, but it looked a lot less sentimental, and a lot funnier, so that's was expecting, based purely off the trailers.

So I was right about this film being a lot funnier. I was a little put off by the comedy at first, expecting a cheesy sentimental film like The Fault in Our Stars, and instead I was greeted by an honest portrait of what it's like to be a teenager who's afraid of fitting, and goes to such great lengths that's he completely disconnected himself from every other human, and how there is in fact comedy (as well as sadness) in that situation. 

See, Me and Earl and The Dying Girl isn't really about cancer. It's about growing up, and how the people we encounter in our lives and choose to have around us help us do that. If you notice, the first person listed in the title is not the "The Dying Girl." She is his friend, and a very important character, but this isn't a love story, and this isn't her story.

My favorite character however was Earl. So often in movies if a black character is in a movie and he's friends with a white character, his accent is a reflection of his friends, or if he does have an ethnic accent, it's used for humor, so he can say "bro" or other cliche black character things and they'll sound "funnier". Earl is just a regular guy who's black, who talks like he's from a black neighborhood, and the film doesn't play this for laughs, it just accepts it and moves on. This are sort of sweetness to the honesty of this film, even in the simple things, like letting a black character speak the way many black people speak in real life without apologizing or creating a comedic angle for it.

Over all, Me and Earl and The Dying Girl is a touching film that depicts the coming of age years honestly.

Jurassic World: Review

I love monster movies as much as the next guy. Predator, Alien, The Thing, The Host, are all great monster movies about a creature from another world (or from industrial sewage) that comes into ours and sends everybody running. Now really, this is what the original Jurassic Park was. A creature from another world (in this movie the world being the past) enters ours and things go horribly wrong; people run and scream, and if you're Samuel L. Jackson, when things get crazy all that's left of you is an arm to greet the pretty blonde who's knocking at your door. So I can't argue that this movie is somehow beneath the original because it is simply a monster movie, because the first film was too, the difference is in the execution.

The cast of this film does the best it can with the material it's been given. Chris Pratt tries to make his macho raptor wrangler relatable, but he's really just a cartoon caricature of Indiana Jones. Bryce Dallas-Howard has the unfortunate role of the Jurassic World manager/ love interest of Chris Pratt. She spends the entire second half of the movie running from dinosaurs in high heels (she even manages to outrun a T-rex in them), and finding herself caught in slow motion T&A scenes that look like something they found on the cutting room floor of a Transformers movie. The obligatory children characters aren't bad, they're not as good as the children in the original film, but we can hardly fault them for that; none of the character equivalents in this film are. There's a ridiculous subplot with Vincent D'Onofrio's character and B.D Wong (he was in the original film. He's the scientist who says, "All the dinaosaurs in Jurassic Park are female") where the two of them plan to use raptors as weapons for the military.

Another huge problem is the villain of this movie. The genetically bred Indominus rex. So, in this movie the public's grown tired of regular old dinasours, so the owner of Jurassic Park (John Hammond is dead, and it's been handed down to one of his associates) has cleared for the creation of something sexier: more teeth, bigger claws, ext. This thing turns out to be a huge mistake, escapes, and goes on a killing spree throughout the park. Doesn't sound too terrible, right? The problem is in the quality of the execution. This is where the monster movie tropes that Jurassic Park managed to make fresh by presenting the dinosaurs as animals merely doing what carnivorous animals do (hunting for food) are thrown out the window in favor of something that's supposed to be scarier, but actually feels sillier in the context of the film: the dinosaur is hunting for fun. This worked in The Ghost in The Darkness (a film about man eating lions), it does not work here. It just adds to the campiness. In this movie the Indominus rex is the bad guy, and the "normal" dinosaurs are the good guys. This includes Chris Pratt's gang of trained raptors, as well as the T. rex and the new water dinosaur, the Mosasaurus who all avoid killing the good characters and only seem to want to attack the evil Indominous rex or the other evil characters of the film.

So on top of all those issues, the dinosaurs and the CGI backgrounds look especially phony in this movie. Everything is all too shiny, and looks especially fake when contrasted with the scenes that do take place in real vegetation with actual humans. However, when the CGI dinosaurs are masked by the darkness of night, they almost look real. Unfortunately most of the film takes place in the day.

Over all, I have seen worse movies. It's not as bad as some other summer blockbuster sequels, and if viewed as an ironic comedy, it might even be a little fun to watch with friends. However, In most other circumstances it's a film you can definitely skip. 

Dope: Review

Genre mashup movies don't always work, but when they do, they're pretty great. Films like Ghost Busters, Back to the Future, and Blade Runner, are considered American classics. They take multiple genres and blend them into one seamless film. That's what Dope almost does. It combines comedy, drama, and political awareness into a movie that's both funny and moving.

Now, I say Dope almost blends the genre's (comedy and political awareness drama) into one, but it doesn't quite get there. While all of the movie is done very well—the comedy, the violence, the social commentary—the more serious scenes, especially the violent ones, feel as though they belong in a different movie than the comedic teen movie scenes. That being said, the film definitely flows and doesn't feel disjointed, it's just combing genres that have a lot less in common than say the usual mashups of "sci-fi and horror" or "comedy and adventure." Dope combines comedy and drama (specifically the sub genre of political awareness. Think films like Philadelphia or American History X) but it isn't simply a "dramady." This isn't The Family Man or Dan In Real Life, nor is it simply Do The Right Thing for the year 2015, it's a legitimate comedy that segues into drama. 

I do think that the comedy undercuts the dramatic punch the movie could have had, and the drama of course cuts the laughs off, as is the nature of drama, but the film is still a fun ride, and is applaudable for having the guts to try something new.

Inside Out

Remember when children movies were more than just one note? When their themes transcended childhood and spoke to adults as well? Inside Out is that kind of movie. It's Pixar's best work since Toy Story.

In Inside Out we follow an eleven year old girl, Riley, as she moves from Minnesota to San Francisco. Moving is of course very stressful on the young girl, and we as the audience get to experience this both inside her head with five personified emotions: Joy, Sadness, Anger, Fear and Disgust, as well as on the outside as she interacts with the world based off of the commands the emotions input into the "emotion" command center.

The premise is fantastic. It's simple, yet robust. And best of all, it's relatable, perhaps even more so for adults than children. The theme of identity runs through both of the main stories of the movie. It's what we watch Riley develop as she learns to deal with the changes of life. It's what the emotions inside of her struggle to maintain as their roles inside Riley's head change; she requires some of them less and less (and others more and more).

Inside is a great film that will invoke the same kind of discussions after the credits roll that movies like The Land Before Time and Toy Story had their audiences asking 20 and 30 years ago, respectively. It's an instant classic, go see it if you get a chance, pick it up when it comes to video if you can't, you don't want to miss this one.

Spy: Review

Summer's here, it's hot as hell, what is there to do? In America, we know the answer to that. Go to the movies. If you go anytime this week or next Spy will be one of the many summer flicks jockeying for your attention, (along with the much louder and CGI heavier Jurassic Park IV which just hit theaters today) but is it worth your ten bucks? I think it might be. If you think you'll be satisfied with no more than a few laughs and very few infuriating "comedy" movie moments (no needless dick punches, out of touch racists jokes, or babies puking on people in this movie).

If you've seen the trailers then you know that this is a spy spoof. It's more in the vein of Kingsman than Austin Powers, though it is no way as good as either of those films. There are times when Spy goes too far with its mocking of its lead, Melissa McCarthy, but it isn't to the extreme as other movies she's starred in. No one points out her weight, it's more of about her being an outcast, almost "just because," though the unspoken understanding of these jokes is because she's overweight. These jokes don't come off funny, they feel over worn more than anything, and unfortunately they happen a lot in the first 30 minutes or so of the movie. After we get past that point though, it does pick up. Once Melissa's character goes rogue and starts spying it up (a.k.a beating the shit out of people in well choreographed fights scenes) it is actually pretty fun. It's also a relief to see Melissa hanging up her Chris Farley persona for this movie. She plays a regular person, not someone who takes pleasure in reminding the audience how loudly she can fart, which is a nice treat, because she is a fine actor, but like so many others she's found a niche that works, and she's been driving that persona home.

Speaking of personas, Jason Statham plays an exaggerated version of his action star persona. He pops in the film every so often to throw a few more fucks into the dialogue along with some pretty funny jokes about the extremes he's gone in the past to prove just how much of a bad ass he is (pouring shards of broken glass into his eye, driving a car onto a moving train while he was on fire, ext.).

As much as Spy would like to believe it's a genre mashup that transcends the goofy comedy genre, it really isn't. It's essentially just another run of the mill goofy comedy, but this one is trying harder, and does have some charm. Check it out if you're Avengered out, Jurassiced out, as well as Maxed out. 

Aloha: Review

So I'd like to start off by saying that while Aloha is definitely terrible, it's not without it's subtle charms. It does star Bradley Cooper, who at times almost saves the movie. Emma Stone is also great as the love interest, Captain Ng (pronounced "Ing"). There's an assortment of other great actors (Rachel McAdams, Alec Baldwin, Danny McBride, John Krasinski, and Bill Murray) who are mostly given stilted dialogue to work with (though Murray is just bad here, sad to say). The trouble with Aloha is sort of everywhere. It has the multiple subplot troubles that Pitch Perfect also suffered from this summer: Will Bradley Cooper get back with his old girlfriend Rachel McAdams or will he get with the more interesting and definitely not married character played by Emma Stone? Will he stop the evil Bill Murray (who he works for) from putting weapons in space? Will he tell his estranged daughter (who he never develops any kind of relationship with in the movie) that he's her real father? Is the relationship he's developing with McAdams son go anywhere, or is that just another dead end subplot? (spoiler: it's dead)

The movie is also a little confused on it's tone. About thirty percent of the time it's your normal romantic comedy, and when it's this it mostly works thanks to Emma Stone and Bradley Cooper's performances. The rest of the time it's a strange drama that doesn't mesh at all. Example: What's with Jim from the office leaving his family with Bradley Cooper all the time? He knows that dude is handsome and wants his wife? Makes no sense. Also there's a lot of political elements involving the Hawaiian natives and the US government that would have been fine as something a character remarked on, like "oh that sucks," but it's been given a major subplot in this film, which just does not mesh with the romantic comedy genre at all. 

Still, even with it's clunky narrative and lack of tone, I did enjoy it more than the other summer stinkers (like Pitch Perfect 2). Aloha does try to have sincere moments, and at times it does. These moments may be ruined later when a character (Bradley Cooper's) has an over the top baby fit (it's sort of required in a romantic comedy...the breakup scene, but since this movie is tonally confused it takes the scene a step too far and he just looks like an ass hole). 

It gets 2.5 stars from me. See it if you're incredibly bored, or slash don't want to put your faith in Melissa McCarthy's hands.

Mad Max: Fury Road

I've now seen Fury Road on the big screen twice, and I have to say I enjoyed it much more the second go around. Not that I didn't appreciate the big spectacle and beautiful cinematography of home made cars smashing into one another the first time, because I did, but it was just too fast, and I think I was too focused on the fact that the title of the film was "Mad Max" to really appreciate the film for what it is, which is to say, it is the best action film to have been released in at least half a decade.

Being a fan of the series it was impossible for me upon first viewing it to not constantly compare Tom Hardy's Max to Mel Gibson's now classic performance in Road Warrior. Is Hardy's up to snuff? For Fury Road I'd say yes, but when you compare it to Gibson's, I'd say no. Gibson portrayed a level of restrained emotion that's absent in Hardy's. Hardy's Max is definitely much madder (crazier) than Gibson's Max ever was, and his character fits in well in the world that this movie exists in, which is why after letting go of my expectations for the second viewing I enjoyed it much more. 

The vehicles are all pretty fantastic. They're all made out of real cars that have been molded together with other models to create frankenstein beasts that look like they're part of some freak show parade. My personal favorite being the porcupine car that's smashed into another vehicle in a non CGI ball of fire and dust. There's also a semi truck fashioned out of multiple cars, a car with tank treads, a dump truck like vehicle with speakers and drums where the trash would be, and cars with swinging poles that acrobatic baddies fly around on trying to snatch up the heroes of the story.

Mad Max is a triumph for it's insane practical stunts and detailed costume and vehicle designs. The story of the film serves it well, and the characters and the details of this world are what drive it forward, along with the bad ass cars.

Far From The Madding Crowd

This was a fun little surprise. The wife and I popped into the local theater here in Boulder, not knowing anything about the movie, we just wanted to kill some time. I'm glad we ended up killing it with this guy, it turned out to be a nice little entertaining flick.

Far From The Maddening Crowd is about an independent woman in the 1800's who inherites a farm and then has several men akwardly propose to her for various reasons. These proposals are perhaps the best scenes in the film. The proposals all sound like business offers, like the men are trying to sell her a used car with low mileage, and she's having none of it. Her expression is one you'd expect to find on a modern woman faced with such an offer, and the men don't understand her contempt for their offers at all, which only adds to the humor.

Overall, it's a fun film that pulls you in with it's interesting characters and their relatable struggles. Worth watching if you like films with romantic plots or period films.