Deadpool

February 11, 2016

Directed by : Tim Miller
Written by : Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick
Starring : Ryan Reynolds, Ed Skrein, Morena Baccarin, T.J. Miller, Stefan Kapicic, Gina Carano
Release Date : February 9, 2016

Can a product that relies a lot on the strength of fan service succeed as a truly entertaining movie to watch? In the case of "Deadpool," apparently the answer to that question is a big resounding hell yeah! As the movie and it's marketing continually points out, this is not your typical comic book movie, and this is not your typical superhero. It's filled with gratuitous violence, sexual situations, bad language, and our protagonist is not above murder or have any interest in being a law abiding role model. That's of course not an issue to it's target audience.

Considering what this movie is intended to be, a person's enjoyment might vary when watching it. However, it's sense of humor is one unifying element that can and should appeal to a wider audience. From funny insults and dialogue, slapstick moments, comedic self-awareness, pop-culture references, to inside jokes, this movie makes a lot of attempts to make you laugh. It's comedy can be hit or miss, so with every joke that made me laugh out loud, there are jokes that just fall flat. I'll say this though, the promotional trailers and clips didn't even show any of what I thought were the best jokes and memorable scenes in the movie.

Although the film does poke fun at the predictability of comic book super hero films, the main plot of this movie is admittedly still straight out of the predictability of comic book super hero films. The action sequences also fluctuates from just being your typical fare, to enjoyably amazing to see. While the actual story and the action may not exactly break too many new grounds, the movie still manages to feel fresh in many respects. The character of Deadpool in himself is unlike most wisecracking smart mouth comic book heroes around, as the things he says and do are a welcome change to the status quo of this genre. The secondary characters are also used quite effectively without being too superfluous, and that's really appreciated.

I really enjoyed watching "Deadpool," and this is coming from someone who doesn't read the comic books he comes from; so the true fans should eat this up! It's fun factor alone made me easily ignore the flaws I noticed. Kudos to the people who got this movie made, and especially to Ryan Reynolds who is the main reason this turned out as good as it did.

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Hail, Caesar!

February 4, 2016

Directed & Written by : Ethan Coen and Joel Coen
Starring : Josh Brolin, Alden Ehrenreich, George Clooney
Release Date : February 5, 2016

I don't think I'd be wrong to say that "Hail, Caesar!" is a movie that Producers, Directors, Writers, Ethan and Joel Coen, are just being self-indulgent with. It's like they wanted to dabble in the Hollywood film making world of the 1950s, and decided to just throw everything they wanted to do from that era into one movie. As far as whether it's a production that everybody will enjoy seeing is very questionable, but it is unlike anything out there right now, and it honestly kept me guessing as to where the story was going.

From old Hollywood romantic dramas, westerns, musicals, mysteries, historical epics, to politics, this movie seemed to enjoy showing us that smorgasbord of different genres, with high productions and choreography. It's like a mash-up of skits and tributes thrown together into a single narrative. At least the whole thing is done like a silly comedy, and there are some memorable scenes that I thought were pretty funny and entertaining, like a scene involving learning a line, to something as simple as showing footage from the dailies. It'll all be pretty hit or miss though, depending on the viewers taste.

This movie has a huge cast of veteran actors, character actors, to well known stars like Scarlett Johansson and Channing Tatum, but the story's focus is on Josh Brolin's film studio executive and producer Eddie Mannix; who is the man generally in charge of fixing problematic situations that might hurt the studio. George Clooney gets to play the big time respected actor who gets kidnapped, but it's really Alden Ehrenreich who gets to shine in this as the good nature movie cowboy actor Hobie Doyle. It looks like the whole cast is having a lot of fun here, but expect a lot of over acting and people hamming it up for the scene.

At best "Hail, Caesar!" is a mildly amusing diversion of a movie, that's really targeted towards a very specific audience who would appreciate this lighthearted tribute to the Hollywood of old. Everybody else would just be confused as to why they were watching this.

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Kung Fu Panda 3

February 1, 2016

Directed by : Alessandro Carloni and Jennifer Yuh
Written by : Jonathan Aibel and Glenn Berger
Starring : Jack Black, Bryan Cranston, James Hong, Angelina Jolie, Dustin Hoffman, J.K. Simmons, Randall Duk Kim
Release Date : January 23, 2016

Being that "Kung Fu Panda 3" is the third installment, it bear the weight of proving that it is able to properly conclude this trilogy of films, as well as show us that there is still a lot of life left to bring to this franchise of animated movies. I'm happy to say that this movie was able to live up to the entertainment value that the previous films offered. It's just an overall fun and enjoyable movie to watch, plus it establishes the strength of these characters and the stories that come with them.

Since the previous two movies already did the majority of character developments for the main cast, this one was able to put it's focus a lot more on the plot. There's a lot that goes on in just 90 minutes of story here, from a spectacular fight sequence that opens up the movie, the appearance of mind-controlled Kung Fu Masters of year's past, long lost family showing up, and a new test of character that our main hero; Po the Dragon Warrior, has to figure out. Along with the amazing martial arts sequences, it also seems to have piled on the most jokes seen so far in a Kung Fu Panda movie.

As expected, the voice talents of Jack Black, Angelina Jolie, Seth Rogen, David Cross, Jackie Chan, and Lucy Liu, are just perfect for their roles as the Dragon Warrior & the Furious Five. In this movie however, I thought there were five people that really got to stand out a lot more this time, J.K. Simmons as Kai makes an entertaining villain, Dustin Hoffman gets to have a lot of funny moments as Master Shifu, James Hong gets more screen time as Po's goose father Mr.Ping, Bryan Cranston does a fine job as Po's birth father Li, and Randall Duk Kim is always a delight as Master Oogway.

Although the story for "Kung Fu Panda 3" isn't exactly the most original, since it's predictable, convenient, and pretty much progresses as expected without too much surprises, it's still a very enjoyable animated movie that combines a strong moral message, a lot of heart, with Kung Fu action, and a fun sense of humor.

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Anomalisa

January 27, 2016

Directed by : Duke Johnson, Charlie Kaufman
Written by : Charlie Kaufman
Starring : David Thewlis, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Tom Noonan
Release Date : December 30, 2015

Just from the fact that "Anomalisa" is a stop-motion puppet movie, set in primarily one location, but told in a very dramatically mature manner, will either turn off audiences or fascinate them. However if you are familiar with and enjoy the filmmaker behind this film, then you'll likely fall in the latter group. There's no denying that filmmaker Charlie Kaufman has quite an eccentric but also a very humanistic style to his movies, and this is no exception. He usually gives us odd but simple premises, but with layers of emotional complexities.

For this film, David Thewlis is the voice of Michael Stone, who while he is an expert in customer service, he ironically seems unable to deeply interact with other people in a satisfying way. He has that sense of loneliness and disconnection with people and the world that I think a lot of people can relate to, and is likely the biggest emotional pull of the movie. Then he meets Jennifer Jason Leigh as Lisa, who seems to be the only other person that he feels connected to. As it goes though, the theme, and story, are more complicated than it appears to be, and your initial thoughts in the beginning will likely differ by the end.

The puppetry and stop motion work here by animation studio Starburn Industries is phenomenal and is a major highlight of watching this movie. The naturalism of the human puppets, and the generally mundane typical day to day things like taking a shower, ordering for room service, and numerous scenes of making small-talk, are brought to fantastic life here! The puppet work seems like a clever idea to disarm people into feeling like they are watching a kids movie, when it's a very adult film in nature.

While I praise the work done here for "Anomalisa," it did leave me feeling a little depressed and disillusioned, with some very strong opinions about the characters. I really liked the sense of humor of the movie though; and there was a lot of that, so it wasn't all dour and sad.

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The 5th Wave

January 24, 2016

Directed by : J Blakeson
Written by : Susannah Grant, Akiva Goldsman, and Jeff Pinkner
Starring : Chloë Grace Moretz, Nick Robinson, Alex Roe, Liev Schreiber
Release Date : January 14, 2016

Based on the young adult novel by Rick Yancey, "The 5th Wave" unfortunately follows the same old formula of these genre of story. Young teenage female protagonist, put in a tragic situation, living in a dystopian world, somehow finds herself in a complicated romantic situation, and surprisingly seems capable in facing the impossible odds put against her. This movie basically does not add anything remarkably new to the young adult novel genre of films.

As uninspiring as the story for this movie is, there are a few plot points that are meant to feel clever to the audience. Unfortunately those developments aren't really that clever, on account of the predictability that comes with these kinds of movies. They could have tackled some of those ideas in a more dramatic and grounded way, but it's like they didn't want things to be too challenging, and only makes me think that this movie was only intended to be seen by a pre-teenage audience; which I'm clearly not.

In terms of the cast, they are all generally adequate. Chloe Grace Moretz, Nick Robinson, and Alex Roe, are generally likable in their roles, while Liev Schreiber seems like he is just sleep walking through the movie. I suppose if the material that was given to them was more developed, maybe the acting alone could save this movie. It's too bad that the majority of the movie is just a boring and unexciting mess.

All I asked of "The 5th Wave" despite it's reliance on the Young Adult Novel formula is to at least provide some fun and wonder to it's story. It didn't give me that at all.

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Dirty Grandpa

January 22, 2016

Directed by : Dan Mazer
Written by : John Phillips
Starring : Zac Efron, Robert De Niro, Zoey Deutch, Aubrey Plaza, Jason Mantzoukas
Release Date : January 20, 2016

There's really only one reason anybody would want to see "Dirty Grandpa" and that's to see 70+ years old Robert De Niro say offensive things, and do outrageous things. I thought he was very entertaining in this movie, and De Niro does look like he is at least having some fun here. Some of the crazy things he does will either make you want to give him a high five of approval, or just make you feel embarrassed for him.

Unfortunately, for a movie called Dirty Grandpa, this story is actually more about the Grandson; played by Zac Efron. The story arc to follow here is Efron's character, and it's such a been there done that cliche filled premise, that it's a little infuriating that it just couldn't stick to what the movie's title claims it should be about. Zac Efron is supposed to play the straight man, fish out of water, party pooper of a character, and Robert De Niro is the guy that gets him in trouble and forces him to come out of his shell. Yes, you've seen that plot before.

This movie makes it's best attempts to put the "dirty" in Dirty Grandpa, and some of the things Robert De Niro says and do, does fit that bill, but I honestly thought they could have gone farther than they actually did. Having Aubrey Plaza contribute to the outrageousness of the movie helps a lot, and it's easy to wish that the movie should have just been about those two characters that they play.

"Dirty Grandpa" is funny some times, and maybe even a little bit hilarious at a few spots, but it obnoxiously tries too hard to be the next best outrageous comedy, that it falls flat on it's face a lot of times. I'm unsure if Robert De Niro and Aubrey Plaza are enough to justify seeing this movie.

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The Masked Saint

January 21, 2016

Directed by : Warren P. Sonoda
Written by : Scott Crowell and Brett Granstaff
Starring : Brett Granstaff, Lara Jean Chorostecki
Release Date: January 8, 2016

The premise for "The Masked Saint" almost sounds like a game of mad libs. A professional wrestler, who becomes a pastor, for a financially struggling Church located in a tough neighborhood, where he occasionally finds himself becoming a vigilante that fights criminals, and how this is of course based on a true story. To say the least, this is a tale that sounds like it needed to be made into a movie.

Brett Granstaff plays our main protagonist, and he is someone who you would want to root for. His family is likable, they meet some colorful sets of supporting characters, and them trying to improve their community through their Church is admirable. Sure, the movie goes into very familiar story tropes and cliches, but I'll be lying if I said that I didn't find some entertainment from it. Just the mash-up of the different story genres alone was enough to keep me invested.

It's too bad that the production value, directing, writing, editing, were just uninspiring, and very by the numbers. There are some genuinely memorable scenes, like some of the wrestling matches, a big heartwarming scene in the Church, and a whole detective vs vigilante bit, but a lot of the movie just felt generally mundane. There's a lot of big ideas that's put together here, but the movie just didn't feel big enough to matter.

Most people will probably see "The Masked Saint" just for one of the final appearances of professional wrestler Roddy Piper, and some will see it for it's Christian themes. It's not a great movie by any means, but it's a decent enough distraction, despite it's shortcomings.

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The Forest

January 9, 2016

Directed by : Jason Zada
Written by : Nick Antosca, Sarah Cornwell, Ben Ketai
Starring : Natalie Dormer, Taylor Kinney
Release Date : January 7, 2016

As far as horror / scary movies goes, "The Forest" is not exactly a great one. The premise is very simple and just might be enough to hook you into seeing it all the way through, plus there are some beautiful visuals and scenes filled with creepy atmospheres to see. The fact that the setting of this Japanese suicide forest is an actual real place that you could visit in real life, also gives this movie that additional eeriness to it.

Unfortunately this movie falls back on the cheapest of methods to frighten you. Jump scares. There are so many scenes in this movie that have telegraphed jump scares, that it get's really tiring and monotonous to sit through them. Other issues I have is the fact that the characters make too many stupid decisions, and how there are plot developments that are introduced but illogically ignored. All standard stuff for a your typical scary movie, but I was also generally disappointed with how the story concluded.

Sometime during the movie, it's suggested that depending on your state of mind, the forest can make you see things. That's the aspect that I thought was the most fascinating thing about the movie. When Natalie Dormer's character sees things in the movie, you have to wonder, is she just imagining things or are there really supernatural ghosts haunting her? As the audience member, we share the same dilemma the character is facing, and that's kinda a cool factor about the film.

I'm more inclined to recommend that people just google and read about the "Aokigahara" forest than to see "The Forest." Not even Natalie Dormer could save this movie from just being a mediocre piece of distraction.

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2015 movie review index

January 6, 2016

As I gear up to watch new movies released in 2016, as well as those that I missed from this past year, here's an list in alphabetical order of what I've seen in 2015...
(hyper linked with my review, as well as the Spoilers Pleeze episode on it)

Youth

December 30, 2015

Directed and Written by : Paolo Sorrentino
Starring : Michael Caine, Harvey Keitel, Rachel Weisz, Paul Dano,
Release Date : May 20, 2015

"Youth" is arguably one of the most beautiful movies I've seen in 2015, in soundtrack, visuals, and with the theme of the story. It's a philosophical drama, that's done in an artistic style, which might alienate some movie goers who aren't open to that. The film opens up with a couple of minutes showing The Retrosettes Sister Band performing their jazzy-disco-rock song "You Got The Love," which sets the tone on how a wide variety of music is integrated into the movie. Director Sorrentino seems to want to share his thoughts about life and living, and the use of music is a good artistic representation of that.

Predominantly set in a luxury hotel resort and spa, it seems like a fantastic place to just lounge about, and the film loves showing picturesque shots of the location. This goes along with tons of other snippet of scenes showing miscellaneous characters in that hotel resort, from it's employees and it's guests, young and old. The movie does a great job in emphasizing that everybody, no matter how insignificant they may seem to the plot, do have their own stories to tell. There are many little moments involving some of these minor characters that I really enjoyed seeing.

The main plot of this story is primarily seen through the eyes of two older men. Michael Caine as Fred Ballinger; a retired composer / conductor, and Harvey Keitel as Mick Boyle; his long time Director friend. The lead cast is rounded off by Fred's daughter / assistant played by Rachel Weisz, and a jaded actor played by Paul Dano. This is a movie that's more about the characters than the story itself, and is mostly filled with conversations that deal with philosophizing about life and living, feeling nostalgic about the past, concerns about the future, and just talking about people. Some of the dialogue may feel a little too on-the-nose at times, but I was completely captivated by what was being said.

Filled with dream-like sequences, funny moments, and emotional reveals, "Youth" kinda caught me off guard at how much it resonated with me. It celebrates life, the good things and the bad things, because that's living.

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#ISAWTHATMOVIEno spoilers impressions movie review blog thingeeby Albert Patrick

#ISAWTHATMOVIE
no spoilers impressions movie review blog thingee
by Albert Patrick