It's hard for a comedy movie to do well in the battle of summer blockbusters with the various comic book and action movies coming out. But every year their seems to be one comedy movie that does really well in summer. Last year it was Wes Anderson's Oscar nominated film The Grand Budapest Hotel and this year it is Judd Apatow's Trainwreck. Apatow has a knack for directing comedies that focus on adults growing up in the world, an idea that is rarely seen well in the movie world. Apatow is responsible for directing comedy classics like Knocked Up and The 40 Year-Old Virgin and was the creator of the cult-classic television show Freaks and Geeks. While this film has the same premise as the previous two films he directed, an adult having to grow up and learn how to live in the adult world, the Amy Schumer written story about a woman giving up her youthful ways is another .
The premise for the movie is that Amy Schumer plays a woman named Amy Townsed that leads a promiscuous lifestyle ever since her father divorced her mother and drilled into her head that monogamy is not realistic. After years and years of sleeping with one can only assume thousands of other men, Amy feels like she is in a rut. Her rut breaks when she meets sports doctor Aaron Conners, played by Bill Hader, because she has to write a profile about him for the magazine she works at. But soon Amy realizes that she is falling in love with the doctor and what makes it weirder for her is that the doctor loves her back Amy then starts to wonder if now is the time to clean up her act.
It is no secret that since Amy Schumer wrote this that some of her own personal experiences would flow into her character. Anyone who has seen Schumer's stand up and or television show on Comedy Central will notice the similarities between character and creator. But while the Schumer and Hader love story is funny and heart-warming the real comedy comes from the athlete cameos. Basketball superstar LeBron James provides some of my favorite funny moments in the film, even holding an intervention for Hader's character that has NBA commentator Marv Albert doing hilarious real time commentary. There is also a subplot revolving around Conners having to do knee surgery on Amare Stoudemire. Although his is where the movie will become a little dated as it shows Amare with the Knicks when at the moment he just signed with Miami but it can be glanced over.
Fans of both Apatow and Schumer can feel relieved that this movie did not turn out to be a disaster but rather another great addition to the Apatow collection. Schumer, Hader and even LeBron himself give some hilarious performances and the story is that of Apatow movie. If you are not a fan of Schumer's comedy or the themes of previous Apatow films than I would recommend something else. But if you're looking for a good summer comedy that also deals with deep themes like growing up I would highly recommend buying a ticket to see Trainwreck.
Grade: B +
Thursday, July 23, 2015
Saturday, July 18, 2015
Ant Man Review
First let me address the elephant in the room. Yes, I know Edgar Wright, the director of comedy classics like Shaun of the Dead and Hot Fuzz, was supposed to direct Marvel's Ant Man but he left due to creative differences. However, Marvel still decided to use some of Wright's original script for the movie and even gave him writing credits. Odds are in a few years Wright's original script and ideas may find there way online but for now I am reviewing what Ant Man I saw in theaters, the Peyton Reed directed version. For what its worth, I thought it was pretty good.
I wouldn't say its up to par as other Marvel films like Guardians of the Galaxy or Winter Soldier but still it is enjoyable for all audiences. I enjoyed Paul Rudd's performance as thief turned hero Scott Lang as well as Michael Douglas's performance as Hank Pym, the original Ant Man for all you non comic book readers. In fact, most of the actors do a pretty good job in this movie. However there is the black sheep that is Michael Pena's character, Luis. I have read many reviews that thought Pena's character resembled more of a stereotype than an actual person and the same was said about the rest of Scott's heist crew. I however found both Pena's and the rest of the crews acting to be quite enjoyable, even though I could see some ethnic stereotype oozing out. But its nothing too offensive so don't worry PC people of today. Now onto the plot.
The basic plot of the story is that Scott Lang is a thief who wants to do good because he needs money to pay for child support so he can see his daughter again. He comes across the Ant Man suit during a theft from there ends up being trained by the original Ant Man, Hank Pym, so that he can enter a research facility to steal the Yellow Jacket suit made by Pym's former associate Darren Cross, played by Corey Stoll. However, Hank's daughter Hope believes that she should be in the suit but her father won't let her because he is afraid he'll lose her like he did her mother. From there its your basic Marvel super hero story. Good guy fights bad guy, lessons are learned, pasts revealed, a Stan Lee cameo, and Avengers build up.
One can really tell where the Wright script is being used and where the revised version is being used. I can't help feeling that Wright wanted to make it more of a comedy action film like Hot Fuzz while Marvel wanted a super hero heist movie. Marvel also felt like this is just the precursor to the Civil War movie that comes in 2016, the same year Batman and Superman are supposed too duke it out for the first time on screen. That being said there are a lot of Avengers references in this movie, including a cameo by one of them as well as their new base. But the cameo was worth because it gave us a cool scene and some connection to future films. There is also a subtle hint of a certain swinging and wall crawling super hero that is set to debut in the MCU soon. These were probably added on once Marvel got the rights to said character.
One thing I did enjoy about the movie was the Ant Man suit. Whenever there was a shrinking scene it looked damn impressive. You can really tell Marvel had to wait until the technology was right to make this movie. The fight scenes that feature the Ant Man suit are some of the most fun fights in super hero movies with things shrinking a growing quickly. Thankfully scale gags were used very little in this movie which is a good thing as I would have grown tired of them.
Ant Man is a great movie for the Marvel cannon. It's a fun movie that builds up something bigger in the near future. Mind you however that there is some serious tone issues. The film tries to mix Wright's script with the Marvel script and it makes for some odd tone issues. But if you can look past those I'm sure you can enjoy the film.
I wouldn't say its up to par as other Marvel films like Guardians of the Galaxy or Winter Soldier but still it is enjoyable for all audiences. I enjoyed Paul Rudd's performance as thief turned hero Scott Lang as well as Michael Douglas's performance as Hank Pym, the original Ant Man for all you non comic book readers. In fact, most of the actors do a pretty good job in this movie. However there is the black sheep that is Michael Pena's character, Luis. I have read many reviews that thought Pena's character resembled more of a stereotype than an actual person and the same was said about the rest of Scott's heist crew. I however found both Pena's and the rest of the crews acting to be quite enjoyable, even though I could see some ethnic stereotype oozing out. But its nothing too offensive so don't worry PC people of today. Now onto the plot.
The basic plot of the story is that Scott Lang is a thief who wants to do good because he needs money to pay for child support so he can see his daughter again. He comes across the Ant Man suit during a theft from there ends up being trained by the original Ant Man, Hank Pym, so that he can enter a research facility to steal the Yellow Jacket suit made by Pym's former associate Darren Cross, played by Corey Stoll. However, Hank's daughter Hope believes that she should be in the suit but her father won't let her because he is afraid he'll lose her like he did her mother. From there its your basic Marvel super hero story. Good guy fights bad guy, lessons are learned, pasts revealed, a Stan Lee cameo, and Avengers build up.
One can really tell where the Wright script is being used and where the revised version is being used. I can't help feeling that Wright wanted to make it more of a comedy action film like Hot Fuzz while Marvel wanted a super hero heist movie. Marvel also felt like this is just the precursor to the Civil War movie that comes in 2016, the same year Batman and Superman are supposed too duke it out for the first time on screen. That being said there are a lot of Avengers references in this movie, including a cameo by one of them as well as their new base. But the cameo was worth because it gave us a cool scene and some connection to future films. There is also a subtle hint of a certain swinging and wall crawling super hero that is set to debut in the MCU soon. These were probably added on once Marvel got the rights to said character.
One thing I did enjoy about the movie was the Ant Man suit. Whenever there was a shrinking scene it looked damn impressive. You can really tell Marvel had to wait until the technology was right to make this movie. The fight scenes that feature the Ant Man suit are some of the most fun fights in super hero movies with things shrinking a growing quickly. Thankfully scale gags were used very little in this movie which is a good thing as I would have grown tired of them.
Ant Man is a great movie for the Marvel cannon. It's a fun movie that builds up something bigger in the near future. Mind you however that there is some serious tone issues. The film tries to mix Wright's script with the Marvel script and it makes for some odd tone issues. But if you can look past those I'm sure you can enjoy the film.
Friday, July 10, 2015
Minions Review
With the ever growing popularity of Disney Pixar's Inside Out, it is safe to say that movie going public lost interest in the Illumination Entertainment's newest addition to the Despicable Me franchise, the Minions movie.
Now the idea of telling the backstory about the small, yellow, pill shaped assistants to the despicable Gru sounds like an interesting idea until you remember that the whole movie has to feature the Minions. Don't get me wrong I enjoy the Minions but I don't think they can carry an entire movie. They were usage is best as comic reliefs to the drama surrounding Gru and his adopted daughters. The Minions use a language that mixes Spanish, English, and gibberish. Starting to see where people can get a little annoyed? Now a little Minion gag here and there would be just fine but a whole movie dedicated to the small annoyances does not sound fun. But I have to be honest, I smiled through the whole movie.
The plot revolves around three minions named Kevin, Stuart and Bob as they try to look for the most evilest master in the world. They do this because this is all the minions know, working for an almighty evil, and without that all mighty evil to work for the minions get depressed and may eventually die. Eventually, the trio finds their new master in the form of Scarlett Overkill, voiced by Sandra Bullock, and her husband Herb, voiced by Mad Men star Jon Hamm. Both provide fun performances, especially when Bullock's character starts acting crazy. But their performances fail to elicit a reaction that a certain "despicable" character gets at the end of the movie. All the kids in theater were happy to see this character pop up and interact with the minions during the credits. It made me wonder why we didn't get that movie instead. The minions growing up with the person would have had the heart felt drama the first Despicable Me film had.
Deep down I enjoy the Despicable Me movies, there is something so upbeat and enjoyable about them that I find myself coming back to the movies whenever they are on TV. But all good products are not without their faults. For instance, the second movie gave popularity to the either loved or hated song "Happy" by Pharell Williams. Also, a lot of characters just straight up die in the Minions movie. These aren't sad or dramatic events but rather if the comedic violence of Tom and Jerry had grim consequences. There was also a lot of adult jokes in the film which felt weird. Not Ted 2 level, but it's there when you see it.
While the minions themselves can get annoying, I'm talking near Jar-Jar Binks level of annoying, it never got to the point where I wanted to leave the theater, unlike a certain Jai Courtney film made me do. Overall the movie Minions as well as the Despicable Me franchise is fun and harmless. Inside Out is the far superior product in theaters but Minions offers something different and fun for kids and adults.
Now the idea of telling the backstory about the small, yellow, pill shaped assistants to the despicable Gru sounds like an interesting idea until you remember that the whole movie has to feature the Minions. Don't get me wrong I enjoy the Minions but I don't think they can carry an entire movie. They were usage is best as comic reliefs to the drama surrounding Gru and his adopted daughters. The Minions use a language that mixes Spanish, English, and gibberish. Starting to see where people can get a little annoyed? Now a little Minion gag here and there would be just fine but a whole movie dedicated to the small annoyances does not sound fun. But I have to be honest, I smiled through the whole movie.
The plot revolves around three minions named Kevin, Stuart and Bob as they try to look for the most evilest master in the world. They do this because this is all the minions know, working for an almighty evil, and without that all mighty evil to work for the minions get depressed and may eventually die. Eventually, the trio finds their new master in the form of Scarlett Overkill, voiced by Sandra Bullock, and her husband Herb, voiced by Mad Men star Jon Hamm. Both provide fun performances, especially when Bullock's character starts acting crazy. But their performances fail to elicit a reaction that a certain "despicable" character gets at the end of the movie. All the kids in theater were happy to see this character pop up and interact with the minions during the credits. It made me wonder why we didn't get that movie instead. The minions growing up with the person would have had the heart felt drama the first Despicable Me film had.
Deep down I enjoy the Despicable Me movies, there is something so upbeat and enjoyable about them that I find myself coming back to the movies whenever they are on TV. But all good products are not without their faults. For instance, the second movie gave popularity to the either loved or hated song "Happy" by Pharell Williams. Also, a lot of characters just straight up die in the Minions movie. These aren't sad or dramatic events but rather if the comedic violence of Tom and Jerry had grim consequences. There was also a lot of adult jokes in the film which felt weird. Not Ted 2 level, but it's there when you see it.
While the minions themselves can get annoying, I'm talking near Jar-Jar Binks level of annoying, it never got to the point where I wanted to leave the theater, unlike a certain Jai Courtney film made me do. Overall the movie Minions as well as the Despicable Me franchise is fun and harmless. Inside Out is the far superior product in theaters but Minions offers something different and fun for kids and adults.
Wednesday, July 8, 2015
Terminator Genisys Review: Old but is it obsolete?
When I saw the trailer for Terminator Genisys I was skeptical about how good the film was going to be. This is what I believe to be the major cause of the 26% rating it had on Rotten Tomatoes at the time I saw it. Once the 4th of July festivities died down I decided to give it a watch. Now I cannot say that the film deserves its 26% but I can say it was a bad movie.
Now to the movie's credit it does have some fans that support the film, even the director of the first two films James Cameron (yes that James Cameron) advertised his support for the movie and I know why. The idea for Terminator Genisys sounds really good: Kyle Reese is sent back to 1984 to protect Sarah Connor from being killed by a cyborg assassin so that she can give birth to the savior of mankind in the war against the machines in the near future, John Connor . But when Reese arrives in 1984 he finds that Sarah is not the defenseless woman from the first film but rather the bad ass soldier that we saw in Judgment Day. Add in to the plot a twist that Skynet sent back a Terminator that has nano-byte technology and looks like John Connor and it sounds like it would be a good film worthy of the Terminator franchise. However, the movie going public got a James Cameron-less Terminator movie again because the last three Terminator movies did so well without him (sarcasm).
What we got was a semi decent action film at best. Arnold Schwarzenegger puts in the best performance as the T-800, who raises Sarah after her parents are killed by an unknown assassin. The actors that portray the Connor family are also good but it all goes wrong with the casting of Kyle Reese. Jai Courtney plays the main hero and he reminds me of Anakin Skywalker, always whining and very unlikeable. It also does not help that he shares no chemistry with Sarah Connor so the romance is non believable. But the worst part of the film actually happened even before its release, the advertising. After only one trailer the advertising showed off the big plot twist about John Connor and showing off all the big moments in the film. When I was siting in the theater it felt I was waiting for all the moments shown in the trailers to happen. It got so bad that I left the theater to see what was happening with Mad Max and Jurassic World. It beats sitting and watching Genisys.
Once the film was nearing its end I left before the credits could even start and that's coming from someone who stays after Marvel movie credits. I feel if James Cameron got his hands on the project it could have been better than Judgment Day but unfortunately I have to settle for what I got and what I have is a sub-par action movie with a few enjoyable parts but overall it's still predictable and boring, the worse crime an action movie could commit. It doesn't deserve a 26%, more like a 40%. It's not god awful but it should be avoided. Hopefully the next sequels can live up to the T-800's moto: "Old, but not obsolete".
Now to the movie's credit it does have some fans that support the film, even the director of the first two films James Cameron (yes that James Cameron) advertised his support for the movie and I know why. The idea for Terminator Genisys sounds really good: Kyle Reese is sent back to 1984 to protect Sarah Connor from being killed by a cyborg assassin so that she can give birth to the savior of mankind in the war against the machines in the near future, John Connor . But when Reese arrives in 1984 he finds that Sarah is not the defenseless woman from the first film but rather the bad ass soldier that we saw in Judgment Day. Add in to the plot a twist that Skynet sent back a Terminator that has nano-byte technology and looks like John Connor and it sounds like it would be a good film worthy of the Terminator franchise. However, the movie going public got a James Cameron-less Terminator movie again because the last three Terminator movies did so well without him (sarcasm).
What we got was a semi decent action film at best. Arnold Schwarzenegger puts in the best performance as the T-800, who raises Sarah after her parents are killed by an unknown assassin. The actors that portray the Connor family are also good but it all goes wrong with the casting of Kyle Reese. Jai Courtney plays the main hero and he reminds me of Anakin Skywalker, always whining and very unlikeable. It also does not help that he shares no chemistry with Sarah Connor so the romance is non believable. But the worst part of the film actually happened even before its release, the advertising. After only one trailer the advertising showed off the big plot twist about John Connor and showing off all the big moments in the film. When I was siting in the theater it felt I was waiting for all the moments shown in the trailers to happen. It got so bad that I left the theater to see what was happening with Mad Max and Jurassic World. It beats sitting and watching Genisys.
Once the film was nearing its end I left before the credits could even start and that's coming from someone who stays after Marvel movie credits. I feel if James Cameron got his hands on the project it could have been better than Judgment Day but unfortunately I have to settle for what I got and what I have is a sub-par action movie with a few enjoyable parts but overall it's still predictable and boring, the worse crime an action movie could commit. It doesn't deserve a 26%, more like a 40%. It's not god awful but it should be avoided. Hopefully the next sequels can live up to the T-800's moto: "Old, but not obsolete".
Thursday, July 2, 2015
5 Reasons why Phoenix Comic Con is better than San Diego Comic Con
As the time this blog is posted the San Doego convention center is preparing for the rush of thousands of comic book and media lovers alike. But it was not always like this. It may be hard to believe but Comic Con was a small event. It was only when big movie companies starting holding press events that Comic Con grew into the populated monster it is today. But not to be outdone by California, Phoenix decided to held its own comic convention. From its early roots in 2002 Phoenix Comicon has grown to rival the charm of San Diego's. So here are 5 reasons why I think Phoenix Comicon is better than San Diego Comic Con.
5. Less media
Phoenix Comicon does not receive even half of the media attention than the other Comic Con does and it's for that reason that not a lot people go. Which leads into reason 9.
4. Less people
2015's Comicon drew in 75 thousand people. This is tiny compared to the 130 thousand plus people at San Diego. If you're like me, the less people the better.
3.The celebrities
While San Diego has bigger names, only real comic fans will enjoy the celebrity line up in Phoenix. Just this year we had Summer Glau, Karl Urban and even Christopher Llloyd showed up. The celebrities, at least in my mind, seem to be more friendlier towards fans in Phoenix than those in San Diego
2. The panels
The panels here range from the intriguing to bizarre. There was a steampunk fashion show, Transformers vs GI Joe panel and even screen writing panels. There's a lot of variety there for anyone.
1. The people
While I know there are some die hard fans that attend San Diego Comic Con, I feel that most people are there for the media. In Phoenix, I feel that the people that go to Phoenix Comicon have a real passion about their fandom. I waited over an hour with other Firefly fans just to meet Summer Glau. That takes fortitude. Fortitude that the attendees of Phoenix Comicon have in droves.
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