Florence Foster Jenkins

Directed by :  Stephen Frears  
Written by :  Nicholas Martin  
Starring :  Meryl Streep, Hugh Grant, Simon Helberg  
Release Date :  May 5, 2016  

I'm sure you're all familiar with Karaoke singers or contestants in singing competition shows who sing their heart out, full of passion, but no matter how much they try, they are just not very good singers, all to an audience's amusement. "Florence Foster Jenkins" might just be one of the premiere pioneers of bad singers who do not know they are bad singers, that somehow managed to captivate many people because of that. This movie is about this very real person, portrayed brilliantly by the great Meryl Streep, and are both the reasons to even be curious about seeing this film. 

As directed by Stephen Frears, there's a straightforwardness to this story, that seem to mimic the kinds of simple movies that were released decades ago. Needless to say, it's not a very cinematic movie, and it's the kind of tale you likely have seen many times before already. This is a movie that you can just about easily discard, and that was the feeling I also had when watching it. However, as the movie kept going, I started getting charmed by the primary cast and by the story. I even found myself actually moved during certain scenes, and completely engaged by what was happening on screen. 

The theme of the movie, about letting people pursue their passion despite the lack of talent they actually have for it, is an admirable perspective to have by the film. With that said, I'm completely conflicted about the lesson that we are suppose to learn from this movie. In today's day and age of narcissism, delusions of grandeur, and indulgences of the privileged, I'm almost inclined to say that this story about Florence might only negatively encourage those questionable ideals. I may have adored how Hugh Grant's character protected Florence from disparaging criticism, but he's also just sheltering her from the real world. Your opinion on the subject matter, and whether you agree with it, might just determine how much you will like this movie. 

It's obvious that "Florence Foster Jenkins" has a very specific target audience in mind who are more inclined to enjoy this movie. While I appreciated the story and the fantastic cast of actors, this is a movie I don't see myself every truly revisiting, nor is it something that I can wholeheartedly recommend seeing. I did enjoy it in many ways, but I was also rather turned off by it as well. Like I said, "conflicted." 

loveditenjoyedit  IT'S OKAY  itsmehitsterrible

Sausage Party

Directed by :  Greg Tiernan, Conrad Vernon  
Written by :  Kyle Hunter, Ariel Shaffir, Seth Rogen, Evan Goldberg  
Starring :  Seth Rogen, Kristen Wiig, Michael Cera, Nick Kroll, Edward Norton, David Krumholtz, Salma Hayek  
Release Date :  August 11, 2016  

Going into "Sausage Party," you have to just accept the fact that the whole concept has logical flaws. If non-living items like sausages, hotdog buns, or toilet paper, can be "alive" in this movie, then why are other items like packaging, glasses, or knives not? How does that even make sense, even in the context of this film? It doesn't, but you know what? It didn't matter! This movie exceeded my expectations on how funny and amazing this "Pixar's Toy Story but with grocery food products" premise could be. Out of all the Seth Rogen / Evan Goldberg movies around, this is arguably their best work. 

Considering the minds that thought up this idea of a CG film, this is definitely designed to push people's buttons, with all it's political-incorrectness and offensive jokes. Apparently no topic is taboo in this story, as it has jokes that target sexes, races, religion, politics, etc... and I found it all hilarious! There's a sauerkraut Hitler that's in the opening animated song and dance number. There's a Bagel and a Lavash Wrap constantly arguing throughout the story, representing geopolitical Middle Eastern conflicts. There's a hotdog bun that fears she is being punished by an all powerful heavenly being because she couldn't resist temptation. There's a character who is a lesbian taco. 'nuff said. 

The movie goes to very "adults-only" places that I didn't think it would actually go in a visual and language stand point. Just thinking about the things they say, the things they do, and the things they show in this movie, if this was somehow live-action instead, then it would probably have been called out for being too obscene. To go along with the offensive sense of humor, there is an engaging and well paced adventure story here, that creatively uses the backdrop of a supermarket and it's inhabitants to great effect. The world building is incredible here, and it's only made better by the spectacular characters voiced by the talented cast of actors. 

From those social commentaries, to the puns, and the inside jokes, "Sausage Party" is a laugh riot. It's adult sensibilities might be the gimmick to draw people into seeing this CG movie, but the sense of humor is still unabashedly immature, and might be a comedy that isn't necessarily for everyone to see. With that said, I unashamedly want this to be a new film franchise! 

LOVED IT  enjoyedititsokayitsmehitsterrible

Suicide Squad

Directed and Written by :  David Ayer  
Starring :  Margot Robbie, Will Smith, Joel Kinnaman, Viola Davis, Jai Courtney,  
Release Date :  August 3, 2016  

Regretfully I have to say that "Suicide Squad" is a movie that only acts like it believes the hype that it gave itself, but doesn't exactly live up to it. To me it felt like this movie randomly tried to put as many things they could on screen, and just hoped for the best. Tons of characters! Cameo appearances! Hyper kinetic visual flourishes! Some snappy dialogue with pop culture references! Violence! Nods to the comic books! The whole thing was simply designed to get an immediate reaction out of me, and unfortunately it ended up leaning more towards the negative side. 

I found a good chunk of this movie to be rather obnoxious. The fact that a lot of it seemed like it was just a series of fan service moments, wasn't even what I had the most problems with. The huge surprising issue I have is actually the soundtrack. Holy crap did they try and cram a lot of "hip" or "cool" songs into this film, as if playing those tunes were suppose to make what's going on screen automatically fun. It only emphasizes how the tone and feel of the movie was just all over the place. It tries to be lighthearted, exciting, and fun, but a lot of the jokes fall flat, there are scenes that felt trite, and I just ended up not caring for what's happening in the movie. 

There are at least some sparks of entertainment that occasionally happens in this movie. Will Smith has some choice scenes as Deadshot. Jai Courtney hammed it up enough as Captain Boomerang. Margot Robbie is amazing as Harley Quinn; definitely the highlight of the whole movie. Jared Leto gave a nice manic take to the Joker. Even Ike Barinholtz had some fun as prison guard Griggs. Despite some good performances, this ensemble team of a motley crew just felt too forced to me. I was suppose to care for them as a team, but the movie gave me no reason to. The closest of that happening was this bar scene that almost convinced me that this movie actually had potential to be great, if only Director/Writer David Ayer wasn't too distracted of doing his take on the "comic book movie formula." 

The hardcore DC Comics fans will get a thrill out of "Suicide Squad" just from the sheer fact they get to see these comic book characters in a movie screen. However, fan service alone is not enough to fix the flawed story telling that this film had. Simply disappointing at how mediocre and underwhelming this movie is. 

loveditenjoyedititsokay  IT'S MEH  itsterrible

Bad Moms

Directed and Written by :  Jon Lucas, Scott Moore  
Starring :  Mila Kunis, Kathryn Hahn, Kristen Bell, Christina Applegate  
Release Date :  July 28, 2016  

Mere minutes into "Bad Moms" I was reminded that I clearly was not the target audience for this movie. A lot of the jokes are blatantly designed to entertain women and Moms more than men and Fathers, although there are some moments that are funny in non-gender specific ways. Personally there were very few comedic scenes that I actually found laugh-out-loud funny, with more of them being in the just-amusing category. A scene in particular involving a demonstration about uncircumcised penises is just an example of one of the jokes that I genuinely found hilarious. 

The conceit of this movie is to remind us that Moms can't always be perfect, are just human, and that it's unrealistic to think they should do everything for their kids. That thematic lesson for this film is undeniably admirable and welcome. However, this movie is much too on the nose about it, beats you over the head with it, and rubs it in your face, in just about every single scene. Add in many examples of how men are undependable, ineffective, heartless, cheaters, and we've got ourselves a movie that can be very obnoxious to watch at times. Yes it's very biased towards women empowerment, and it's unfortunate that it doesn't do it in truly imaginative ways. 

Luckily the female cast here is good. Mila Kunis can be a sympathetic enough character, Kristen Bell is enjoyable to watch as the naive and repressed Mom, Christina Applegate plays the mean girl role very well, and Kathryn Hahn goes all out being the over-the-top bad Mom. That is what people are going to watch this movie for right? Moms behaving badly. There are moments where the Moms do go full on nuts with how outrageous they are being, with montage sequences filled with very liberal use of slow-mo; which can get quite annoying to put up with. Unfortunately this movie still plays things relatively safe in that regards, and the plot progresses in a very obvious and expected way. 

Despite the criticisms I have for "Bad Moms," I couldn't find myself completely hating it solely because of it's good intentions in giving women and Moms a wish-fulfillment type of movie. I'm still not the intended audience for it though, and I wish it could have just been more clever in how to relay it's thematic message. 

loveditenjoyedititsokay  IT'S MEH  itsterrible

Nerve

Directed by :  Henry Joost, Ariel Schulman  
Written by :  Jessica Sharzer  
Starring :  Emma Roberts, Dave Franco, Emily Meade, Miles Heizer  
Release Date :  July 27, 2016  

Based on the young-adult thriller novel by Jeanne Ryan; "Nerve" is a movie that's designed to reflect this modern era of technology and social media. The premise itself will determine whether this movie is for you, as it follows a predominantly young cast, doing "crazy" things for fame and fortune, via a game, while broadcasting themselves to the internet, where anonymous peers watches and determines the fate of the participating players. If you can't relate with or understand the appeal of this premise, then this film may not be for you. 

Directed by Henry Joost and Ariel Schulman, this movie has a very energetic pace to it that will constantly grab your attention. Whether it's through it's visual tricks of blending in a computer or a phone's GUI unto the real world, the very prominent modern pop soundtrack, or the kinetic way the story keeps moving from scene to scene, from location to location. Speaking of story, there admittedly may be a feeling of knowing where it's going to go, but it's still entertaining enough to follow things all the way through to it's logical conclusion. It also helps that it was easy to get invested with how Emma Roberts' character fares with the game, as well as seeing how she deals with the charming stranger played by Dave Franco, and some teenage drama with her best friends played by Emily Meade and Miles Heizer. 

The story starts off innocently fun enough, with a premise that audience members themselves might find appealing to participate in (if you're the target audience of this movie at least). Of course as it should be expected, the longer the game goes, the more dangerous it gets, and the more the thematic dark underbelly of narcissism, the carelessness of sharing everything on the internet, and anonymous cruelty, is brought to the forefront of the story. The longer the story goes, the more it also pushes the boundaries of your suspension of disbelief. The more you think about what's going on in the movie, the more you're just going to start breaking down the logic behind it. 

Drenched in colorful visuals, a booming soundtrack, and a self awareness with today's social media obsessed young culture, "Nerve" is a surprisingly enjoyable film that shouldn't be taken as seriously as it kinda wants you to. Now if this movie is sounding like something that is only appealing to young adults, then might I suggest the movie "The Game" by David Fincher. 

lovedit  ENJOYED IT  itsokayitsmehitsterrible

Jason Bourne

Directed by :  Paul Greengrass  
Written by :  Paul Greengrass, Christopher Rouse  
Starring :  Matt Damon, Alicia Vikander, Tommy Lee Jones, Vincent Cassel  
Release Date :  July 27, 2016  

I'll be honest with you, the only Bourne movie I truly loved was the first one, 2002's "The Bourne Identity." Everything else was just passable entertainment, that I just couldn't really find myself to be completely invested in. They had some cool hand to hand action sequences and fantastic chase scenes though, but I could live without Paul Greengrass' shaky cam. So how did "Jason Bourne" do, after an almost decade long hiatus since Matt Damon played the iconic role? It's got amazing chase scenes again and a high production value.... cue cricket sounds. For a much awaited return of a beloved character, this movie should have given us more than what it offered!

In a ranking obsessed society, this easily falls at the bottom of the list for the Matt Damon Bourne films, and I could even argue that it's an even less interesting movie than the Jeremy Renner installment. Jason Bourne may be the title of the movie, but Bourne doesn't really do anything that noteworthy besides going through the motions of being someone hunted, someone who is good at fighting back, and someone who wants answers to secrets from his past. Toss in a plot involving privacy in social media, to go with introducing more people nefariously connected to his past, and what we have here is a story that should have been more interesting than it think it is. 

On the subject of interesting, there is Alicia Vikander as CIA Agent Heather Lee, who is defined as being good with computers, and doesn't completely see eye to eye with CIA Director Robert Dewey; played by Tommy Lee Jones. She has a plot that appears more compelling than it really has the right to be, and so much so that I ended up wanting to know more about her than Jason Bourne. Speaking of being good with computers, it seemed like screenwriters Greengrass and Rouse both come from the Hollywood school of technology. Yes, there are problems with how this movie handles technology, and even continues the most annoying plot device of "enhancing" a pixelated image. When was this written, the 1990's?! 

So what did I get from this "Jason Bourne" movie? More annoying shaky cam. Unremarkable hand to hand combat. Superficial examples of how the Government has their hands on all your favorite tech products. Plot conveniences up the wazoo. Plus a direction that questions the need to do more Bourne movies with Paul Greengrass. 

loveditenjoyedititsokay  IT'S MEH  itsterrible

Ghostbusters 2016

Directed by :  Paul Feig  
Written by :  Katie Dippold, Paul Feig  
Starring :  Kristen Wiig, Melissa McCarthy, Kate McKinnon, Leslie Jones, Chris Hemsworth  
Release Date :  July 11, 2016  

It's hard not to compare this 2016 version of "Ghostbusters" to the original one from 1984, because they are so alike in many ways. This remake / retelling follows a very similar plot progression, and shares some of the iconic ideas about people fighting ghosts and the gadgets that come with that. This movie is very much trying to be a well intentioned homage to the original, and it shows. The problem is that it shows too much, without achieving it's own memorably distinct identity; besides the gender switch of the primary characters. With all that said, I still somehow managed to find it entertaining and enjoyable anyway. 

As I say often in my reviews, comedy is subjective, and can be very hit or miss. That logic applies to this movie, and it's enjoyment factor hinges a lot on it's brand of sense of humor. There are several fun comedic scenes in this one, even if they tend to be a bit more obvious and physical than what the original's witty and subtle comedy was. Some jokes actually got me to genuinely laugh out loud, and I admit that a lot of what really worked for me were technically dumb and stupid. I couldn't help myself though, but I just found a lot of funny things to laugh at, even if there are still jokes that just fall flat on their face. 

Part of the reason a lot of the comedy works is because of the cast. I liked the characters that Kristen Wiig, Melissa McCarthy, and Leslie Jones played. I also liked Kate McKinnon and Chris Hemsworth, but I feel like their comedic take in this movie is going to be the most polarizing to many people. McKinnon's Holtzmann is the quirky and odd character that mugs at the camera a lot, that you will either find very hilarious or extremely grating. Hemsworth's Kevin is so dumb and stupid that it's funny, or for some it might be that he is so dumb and stupid that it's just dumb and stupid. 

While "Ghostbusters (2016)" comes off a bit more generic than it should be, and doesn't really spark the same kind of imagination and wonder that the original had, it still does a great job playing to it's strengths. Enough so that it's more entertaining and enjoyable than it deserves to be. For a lot of people though, you're better off just watching the original. 

lovedit  ENJOYED IT  itsokayitsmehitsterrible

Mike and Dave Need Wedding Dates

Directed by :  Jake Szymanski  
Written by :  Andrew Jay Cohen, Brendan O'Brien  
Starring :  Zac Efron, Adam Devine, Anna Kendrick, Aubrey Plaza, Sugar Lyn Beard  
Release Date :  July 7, 2016  

Until I saw the opening title sequence for "Mike and Dave Need Wedding Dates," I did not know that this was loosely based on the true story of the real Mike & Dave Stangle, who did post an ad on Craigslist looking for wedding dates. Even with knowing that fact however, the movie doesn't feel like real life. It pretty much plays out as you would expect from a comedy that focuses on being outrageous, over-the-top, and raunchy. Crazy party guys meet crazy party girls, and go through crazy shenanigans. It's not groundbreaking material, but I actually did not end up hating it. 

I know comedy is subjective, but there were multiple times I did find myself being highly amused or outright laughing out loud.  With that said, many of the jokes, sight-gags, and physical humor, in this movie can come off as obnoxious, obvious, and clearly just goes for the cheap laughs. Jokes about lying, drinking, sex, and drugs? It's got all that. Jokes involving embarrassing behavior, inappropriateness, rudeness, shocking but humorous plot developments? Yes, yes, yes, and yes. Basically nothing much you haven't seen before, or should shock you. Well, there is a particular sauna scene, and massage scene, and a nude scene, that went places that are rather unforgettable. 

Although this movie embraces being stupid and dumb just for the sake of comedy, it wouldn't be remotely as entertaining as it ended up being if it wasn't for the excellent cast. Adam Devine and Aubrey Plaza are in full force here with the physical and outrageous comedy. Zac Efron and Anna Kendrick play the innocent but inappropriately funny humor well. Add in a strong supporting cast by Sugar Lyn Beard and Alice Wetterlund, and what we have in this movie are people with great chemistry together, who are enjoyably entertaining enough to watch through the stupidity and absurdity. 

Presumably, "Mike and Dave Need Wedding Dates" is potentially positioning itself as a future cult-comedy favorite. There are scenes in this movie that are definitely worth a re-watch, and the dialogue can be enjoyable enough to listen through again. However, the only thing really holding this back from being a true comedy classic is that short of a few sequences, it doesn't differentiate itself too much from the more well established comedy films out there. 

loveditenjoyedit  IT'S OKAY  itsmehitsterrible

The Secret Life Of Pets

Directed by :  Yarrow Cheney, Chris Renaud  
Written by :  Cinco Paul, Ken Daurio, Brian Lynch  
Starring :  Louis C.K., Eric Stonestreet, Jenny Slate, Kevin Hart, Lake Bell  
Release Date :  June 18, 2016  

As a pet owner and someone who loves dogs, "The Secret Life Of Pets" seems to be specifically made for me to enjoy. The whole premise that pets are living a secret life when humans aren't watching isn't entirely a new concept, but it's always a welcome one. It can also be compared to how the toys in Pixar's "Toy Story" franchise have a secret life out of the sight of humans. It's a winning formula that this movie takes advantage of. The problem is that it's a little all over the place, and doesn't always get that winning formula right. 

The scenes when the animals are acting like you expect animals to act; albeit in an exaggerated way, is when this movie shines through to it's vision. The scenes when the animals are breaking the suspension of disbelief; like when they are driving a vehicle, is when it really loses me. The movie flip flops between those two scenarios so much, that I found myself also flip flopping between being fully entertained to just being annoyed. It doesn't help that the story seems to just be a series of familiar plot tropes; whether it be dramatic or comedic, but then never really develops them properly. The movie just gives off a rushed or unfinished tale that left me somewhat unsatisfied with the whole experience. 

Luckily the voice cast is great in this. The acting really brings the characters to life, and there are little visual touches that the animators do with them that are simply brilliant. For one example, I really enjoyed the supporting character of Tiberius; played by Albert Brooks, who has a running gag about being a predatory animal that the movie plays around with. Speaking of gags, the jokes in the movie in itself are generally hit or miss. Some jokes were able to go places that I wasn't expecting and completely won me over, and then there are some jokes that were just too cheaply obvious and just played to the lowest common denominator. Like I said already, I was either fully entertained or was just annoyed. 

While it seems that "The Secret Life Of Pets" is content to just go for the easy laughs and entertain young kids, there are still some ambitious thematic scenes that teases us of something greater than what we ended up getting. This leads to the fact that while there are things I really enjoyed about this movie, the whole thing still felt like it didn't completely work for me. 

loveditenjoyedit  IT'S OKAY  itsmehitsterrible

The Purge Election Year

Directed and Written by :  James DeMonaco  
Starring :  Frank Grillo, Elizabeth Mitchell, Mykelti Williamson, Betty Gabriel, Joseph Julian Soria  
Release Date :  June 29, 2016  

Truth be told, the whole logic behind "The Purge" is just fundamentally flawed, so there's a lot of suspension of disbelief required for this film franchise. I'm not exaggerating when I say "A LOT." With that said, "The Purge: Election Year" actually has an interesting idea of creating a satirical commentary about politicians' involvement with the Purge. Unfortunately, the movie itself wasn't too committed on making that interesting idea into an actual interesting movie. What we have here is just another half-baked story, that's filled with disappointment. 

Even if this movie is just another excuse to show violence among other people, it's still executed in lame ways. The violence for one is very typical, with nothing you haven't seen before. If this is genuinely trying to be a horror film, well it's just not that successful in actually horrifying it's audience. It's a problem when this movie wants to shock you, but doesn't produce anything shocking at all. There are uninspired kills, boring deaths, weak jump scares, it's not that suspenseful, and there's hardly any real tension. Come on filmmakers, be a little bit more creative in showing how evil and twisted people can be on Purge Night. 

The cast in itself are alright in this movie, but whether you actually care about their characters is another story. Elizabeth Mitchell's Senator Roan has a generally developed back story and character, so I can buy her motivation in this story. Everybody else's characters on the other hand are given just enough of a story for us to care for them. The problem comes when the characters in this movie do stupid things and illogical decisions just so the plot can move on to the next scene. There's a lot of eye rolling and face palm moments on my part, while I was watching this. 

It's just unfortunate that "The Purge: Election Year" is unable to achieve the goal of actually being as disturbingly horrific as it thinks it is. All it can be is just another horrible movie. 

loveditenjoyedititsokayitsmeh  IT'S TERRIBLE