Horrible Bosses Review

Synopsis
Nick (Jason Bateman), Kurt (Jason Sudeikis), and Dale (Charlie Day) hatch a plan to kill their bosses when they each push the three friends too far.

Review
Sometimes I will watch a movie simply based on the cast. I usually like slap-stick comedies like Horrible Bosses, but what really drew me towards the film was the cast. Having Jason Bateman, Jason Sudeikis, and Charlie Day play off each other was a great decision. Then adding in Kevin Spacey, Jennifer Aniston, Collin Farrell and Jamie Foxx is just icing on the cake.

The three main cast members each have their own unique comedic styles. Bateman, Sudeikis, and Day are able to bounce off each other to side-splitting effect. Their timing and deliveries are nearly flawless. Some of the best moments come when these three are together. Foxx is only in a handful of scenes with the guys. He never outshines any of them, but he does well not to be eclipsed by them either. I think if his part would have been bigger it would have been too much, so he maintains a good balance with the three leads.

Each of the three bosses are horrible for different reasons. Harken (Spacey) is condescending toward Nick (Bateman), Harris (Aniston) sexually harasses Dale (Day), and Pallitt is self-centered and doesn’t care about his employees, especially Kurt (Sudeikis). Farrell’s performance surprised me the most because I haven’t seen him in a comedy before. Spacey easily pulls of the intimidating corporate president with ease. I have been a fan of Aniston for a while, but after watching her in R-rated comedies such as this and We’re the Millers, she is becoming one of my favorite comedic actresses.

Although the cast is great, the script is equally hilarious. It is equal parts crude and humorous. There are so many memorable quotes they can easily be quoted for days. At times the script can be vulgar but it never becomes obnoxiously so. There are also moments of sincerity but not so much that it becomes hypocritical. It manages a fine balance between the two.

Horrible Bosses manages to work on so many levels. The awesome cast and fantastic script, not to mention some great cameos, make this film a stand-out comedy.

Rating
4/5

Favorite Quote
Det. Hagan: “Do you want to explain why you were going 61 in a 25 zone? One block from the victim’s house just moments after he was shot dead?”
Nick: “I was drag racing. I’m a drag racer.”
Det. Samson: “You were drag racing? In a prius?”
Nick: “…I don’t win a lot.”

Trailer

Cast & Crew
Seth Gordon – Director
Michael Markowitz – Screenplay
John Francis Daley – Screenplay
Johnathan M. Goldstein – Screenplay
Micahel Markowitz – Story
Christopher Lennertz – Composer

Jason Bateman – Nick Hendricks
Jason Sudeikis – Kurt Buckman
Charlie Day – Dale Arbus
Jennifer Aniston – Dr. Julia Harris, DDS
Kevin Spacey – Dave Harken
Colin Farrell – Bobby Pellitt
Jamie Foxx – Dean ‘MF’ Jones
Donald Sutherland – Jack Pellitt
PJ Byrne – Kenny Sommerfeld
Brian George – Atmanand (Voice)
Julie Bowen – Rhonda Harken
Wendell Pierce – Detective Hagan
Ron White – Detective Samson

The Lego Movie Review

Synopsis
Emmet (Chris Pratt) is just an ordinary guy but all that changes when he stumbles upon the Piece of Resistance after following Wyldstyle (Elizabeth Banks) through a mysterious hole. She informs him that he is The Special mentioned in a prophecy and takes him to meet Vitruvius (Morgan Freeman), an old wizard. Together they embark on a quest to gather the MasterBuilders to stop Lord Business (Will Farrell) and put an end to his dastardly plan.

Review
The Lego Movie is the movie I have been waiting for ever since I was a kid. One of my biggest fears was that I overhyped this movie for myself after I saw the trailers. Honestly, I can say I have never been more excited for a movie in my life. I mean I was even more excited for this than I was for Star Wars: Episode III: Revenge of the Sith or Marvel’s The Avengers, and that’s saying a lot. Thankfully, The Lego Movie was everything I hoped it would be and I left the theater very satisfied.

This movie is straight from a child’s imagination. By that I mean everything is made from legos and I mean everything. If there was a puff of smoke, it was legos shaped and moving like smoke. If there was water, it was legos shaped and moving like waves. On top of that there were many characters from different universes interacting together, such as city figures, pirates, the wild west, and DC characters. It reminded me a lot of the opening to Toy Story 3 where there were no rules and anybody could be a part of the story. And there were other objects that were included too, like a laser pointer, nail polish remover or a band-aid. Whenever these items appeared, they were all sized relative to the lego figures. It was very meta.

The voice actors in The Lego Movie knock it out of the park. The core cast of Chris Pratt, Elizabeth Banks, and Morgan Freeman all do well, but my favorites would have to be Liam Neeson as Bad Cop/Good Cop and Charlie Day as Benny, the 1980-something space guy. I didn’t realize Neeson did both Bad Cop and Good Cop and Day has such an energy that is hard for others to pull off. Will Ferrell really gets into the part of Lord Business. There are a ton of cameos as well, including Anthony Daniels and Billy Dee Williams reprising their roles as C-3PO and Lando Calrissian, Jake Johnson (Barry), Jonah Hill (Green Lantern), Channing Tatum (Superman), Cobie Smulders (Wonder Woman), Shaquille O’Neal (himself), Keegan-Michael Key (Foreman Jim) and several others.

The animation of The Lego Movie is beautiful. Animal Logic, the studio responsible for the CGI, made the pieces look photoreal. The models were so lifelike I was under the impression it was stop motion for the longest time. Characters and locations did incorporated a mix of real lego sets along with the special effects to add in the extra sense of realism.

Normally an animated movie like this has more of a younger audience in mind, but there was more adult humor than I expected. There is plenty here for the younger crowd, such as the characters and action, but several of the characters’ relations and jokes are geared toward the older crowd. I suppose WB understood parents would get dragged to seeing The Lego Movie so they at least made it worth their while. In any case, no matter how old you are there is something here you will enjoy.

Emmet’s journey should be very familiar. It is much like Luke’s from Star Wars or, well, pretty much any protagonist’s that goes on some kind of trek for something. Basically what I’m saying is it has been done over and over before. So at this point, I look more at what happens along the way rather than the journey itself. In a way, the end of Emmet’s quest if fairly predictable. However, there is an unanticipated element to the ending which makes the entire journey worth more than it initially lets on.

I have been waiting my entire childhood for The Lego Movie. It has great voice actors with even better cameos and photoreal animation that had me questioning whether or not it was stop-motion. But its greatest strength is the expansive universe that duplicates the feeling that anything can happen, the same idea that fuels the imagination and what makes legos themselves so enjoyable. Although the journey may be familiar, the destination has some added bonuses that bring out the imaginative side in everyone.

Rating
5/5

Trailer

Cast & Crew
Phil Lord – Director/Story/Screenplay
Christopher Miller – Director/Story/Screenplay
Dan Hageman – Story
Kevin Hageman – Story
Mark Mothersbaugh – Composer

Chris Pratt – Emmet Brickowoski
Elizabeth Banks – Wyldstyle
Morgan Freeman – Vitruvius
Will Arnett – Batman
Will Ferrell – Lord Business/President Business
Liam Neeson – Bad Cop/Good Cop/Pa Cop
Charlie Day – Benny
Alison Brie – Unikitty
Nick Offerman – Metal Beard
David Burrows – Octan Robot

Monsters University Review

Synopsis
Mike Wazowski (Billy Crystal) heads off to Monsters University, where he meets James P. Sullivan (John Goodman). These two instantly come into conflict with each other, culminating in an incident that gets them removed from the school’s Scare Program. In order to get back into the program, they join the least respected fraternity on campus, Oozma Kappa, and enter the annual Scare Games. If their fraternity wins the games, they will be excepted back into the program. But if they lose, they must leave the university.

Review
I wasn’t fortunate enough to see Monsters University when it hit theaters earlier this summer, so I was itching to see it when I heard it was returning to theaters this Labor Day weekend. Monster’s, Inc. is one of my favorite Pixar movies, so I was excited see more of my two favorite monsters. This new adventure with Mike and Sulley is almost as exciting as the original, but felt unnecessary.

Monsters University is your stereotypical college flick, but with monsters. Mike is the nerd who studies hard and concentrates on schoolwork, and Sulley is the jock who rides on the coattails of his family legacy. Then you have the fraternity and sorority stereotypes: the jock fraternity, the nerd fraternity, the cheerleader sorority, the goth sorority, and several others for filler. Pretty much all the same parts seen in countless other movies. It is a weird setting for a movie aimed primarily at children, but it does an adequate job of avoiding the more grown-up themes usually seen in movies set in college.

What makes Mike and Sulley such a great pair, like other memorable movie pairs, is their differences, both physically and mentally. Mike’s brains mixed with Sulley’s brawn make for an unstoppable team. But Mike is arrogant and thinks he is the smartest in the group, whereas Sulley is cocky and inpatient. When these vastly different personalities grind against each other, it makes for some fun scenarios. Their friction causes problems during most of their challenges, but my favorite is when their team needs to get their flag in the library without getting caught by the 30-foot librarian.

The script is both witty and insightful. It offers up many laughs, although usually nothing more than a chuckle. Some of the lessons and bits of wisdom dropped throughout should be taken to heart. These messages laced throughout Pixar films is on of the reasons I enjoy them so much.

Despite all the positives about Monsters University, this film feels forced to me. It’s as if Pixar made this movie as filler to tide us over until their next original film. And because of that, the heart that was in Monsters, Inc. isn’t here this time around.

Though not as entertaining as Monsters, Inc., Monsters University has its own unique traits that separate it from its predecessor. Unfortunately, Pixar’s dip in quality movies continues. Though it may be unnecessary, Monsters University is a funny, and surprising insightful, movie that is a good addition to Pixar’s vast variety of stories.

Oh, and be sure to watch until the end of the credits.

Rating
3.5/5

Pacific Rim Review

Pacific Rim is a popcorn flick in every sense of the word.  I am a fan of several mecha anime (such as Gundam or Code Geass) and Mighty Morphin’ Power Rangers was a big deal when I was young, and this was a love letter to all of that.  Pacific Rim may not be for everyone but it was definitely for me.

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Synopsis
When Kaijus, giant creatures from a different dimension, emerge from the Pacific Ocean, humanity bands together and creates large mechas, called Jaegers, piloted by two soldiers. Raleigh Becket (Charlie Hunnam), along with his brother (Diego Klaggenhoff), pilots the Jaeger named Gypsy Danger. When his brother dies in battle with a Kaiju, Raleigh goes underground. Years later, Stacker Pentecost (Idris Elba) convinces him to return to the fight for one final mission against the Kaiju.

Review
So going into the theater for Pacific Rim, I guess you could say my expectations were pretty high. Awesome special effects, a great director, an original story influenced by different anime, and giant robots fighting giant monsters Power Rangers style had the potential for a truly amazing and visceral experience. Although it stumbled at times, Pacific Rim met these expectations head on.

The special effects in this film were fantastic. I haven’t been this impressed with visuals since Avatar. It was very easy to see where most of the movie’s budget was spent. The Kaiju monsters were hands-down my favorite visuals from the movie, particularly the lambent ones. They looked very organic, maybe even more so than the Na’vi from Avatar, which were impressively well done. You can see every Kaiju skin wrinkle and the skin wasn’t flat, but dynamic. The Jaegers were just as stunning.

This is the second film I have seen this summer that forgoes starting at the beginning of a conflict and instead just jumps directly into the middle of it. And once again, it is used to great effect. By doing this, the story is allowed to move forward. A brief history was given in the beginning, but flashbacks were mainly utilized to fill in the gaps. The early years of the Kaiju War would be really cool to be explored in a prequel film. There is a lot of material there that would be fun to see.

My biggest disappointment with Pacific Rim was that there weren’t as many Kaiju vs. Jaeger fights as I would have liked/expected. That was what I was truly looking forward to the most. And because there weren’t many battles, there wasn’t much focus on other mechas besides Gypsy Danger. I would have liked to see a focus on the Jaegers as a whole, rather than one in particular. The lack of focus on the giant battles leaves more room allocated for characterization. Maybe a prequel, if there ever is one, could delve more into the Jaegers.

Despite the striking visual effects, they also caused problems at times. During several scenes there was rain, almost a requirement for action movies nowadays (you know, for dramatic effect). Normally, this wouldn’t be a problem, but the camera work was wonky, and these two factors combined made it very difficult to see the action.

Pacific Rim delivers on the action. Although there wasn’t as much as expected, when they did happen, they were huge and exciting. And a less action-oriented focus allowed more characterization, leading to some great character moments near the end. The visual effects were really spectacular, and extremely well done. You’d be hard pressed to find a more visually stunning film.

Rating
4/5

Trailer

Cast & Crew
Guillermo del Toro – Director / Screenplay
Travis Beacham – Screenplay / Story

Charlie Hunnam – Raleigh Becket
Diego Klattenhoff – Yancy Becket
Idris Elba – Stacker Pentecost
Rinko Kikuchi – Mako Mori
Charlie Day – Dr. Newton Geiszler
Burn Gorman – Gottlieb
Max Martini – Herc Hansen
Rob Kazinsky – Chuck Hansen
Clifton Collins, Jr. – Ops Tendo Choi
Ron Perlman – Hannibal Chau