Special Delivery..."Storks"

Storks (2016)

Rated PG

Starring Andy Samberg, Katie Crown, Kelsey Grammer, Jennifer Aniston, Ty Burrell, Anton Starkman, Keegan-Michael Key, Jordan Peele, Danny Trejo, Stephen Kramer Glickman

Directed by Nicholas Stoller and Doug Sweetland

The Story:

Storks deliver babies. Or at least they used to, until one stork (Trejo) became too attached to Orphan Tulip (Crown) and refused to deliver her. After that, Hunter (Grammer) turned the service into CornerStore.com and the storks deliver packages to your doorstep with much less muss and fuss. Today, their top deliverer, Junior (Samberg) finds out he's going to be promoted. His first order of business is to fire Orphan Tulip.

Meanwhile, Nate (Starkman) pens a letter to the storks requesting a new baby brother with mad ninja skills. His parents (Burrell and Aniston) simply don't have the time to spend with him, so he wants someone to share his life with.

You can guess how these stories are about to converge, can you not?

:)

Warner Brothers Animation delivers an adorable and very funny animated film to kick off 2017 for our house.

It runs the gamut of emotions, and had quickly become a new family favorite in our house.

I should stop for a minute to mention that the film was written by Nicholas Stoller who also directed this alongside Doug Sweetland, a former Pixar animator. Both make their animated directorial debut with this film, and they've set the bar high for future installments and for the future of Warner Brothers Animation department.

The voice cast is superb from top to bottom and the story is compelling as you wait with each scene to see what is going to happen next.

The relationship between Tulip and Junior is one of the sweetest comic pairings in ages.

And no, they don't have some awkward physical relationship, but they do provide proof that a family is what you decide to make of it.

Add to the mix some of the craziest side characters ever in an animated film, especially Key & Peele's wolf pack and Pigeon Toady (Glickman) and you have a recipe for a very fun film, and one that will be revisited at the end of the year.

How you like me now?

:)

Final Grade: A-

The World's Greatest Rockumentary! "Popstar! Never Stop Never Stopping"

Popstar! Never Stop Never Stopping (2016)

Rated R

Starring Andy Samberg, Jorma Taccone, Akiva Shaffer, Tim Meadows,

Directed by Jorma Taccone and Akiva Shaffer

The Story:

Once upon a time, The Style Boyz were America's favorite pop/rap group. Success broke the band apart, and now Connor (Samberg) is about to release his newest release since going solo. Thankfully, the camera crew is on hand to document the success...

However when things don't go as planned, Connor must work twice as hard to stay relevant, and he's willing to do anything...

Except reunite The Style Boyz.

From the talented minds of The Lonely Island by way of Saturday Night Live, Samberg, Taccone and Shaffer release a mockumentary that is well produced and allows seamless cameos of musicians and celebrities, then and now, to give accolades to The Style Boyz and Connor.

The characters are hopeless, yet endearing, and as the movie progresses, you know where the film is headed, and they make you enjoy every roadblock and stumble on the way to the inevitable reunion.

Filled with wonderful supporting player, they bring the movie vividly to life, each adding another strange piece to a weird celebrity lifestyle that is both embraced and parodied, all at the same time.

Is it this generation's Spinal Tap? Probably.

Whether it meets or exceeds that one will be in the eye and taste of the viewer.

That said, the more I watched the movie, the more the characters grew on me and by the end of the film, I too was waiting for the inevitable reunion.

Can't ask for much more than that.

Final Grade: B-

Not Quite The Bite Of The First One..."Hotel Transylvania 2"

Hotel Transylvania 2 (2015)

Rated PG

Starring Adam Sandler, Andy Samberg, Selena Gomez, Kevin James, Steve Buscemi, David Spade, Keegan-Michael Key, Asher Blinkoff, Mel Brooks

Directed by Genndy Tartakovsky

The Story:

Now that Mavis (Gomez) and Johnathan (Samberg) are married and have a little boy (Blinkoff), Dracula (Sandler) is hoping that he will turn into a vampire before he's 5 so that they will continue to live at the castle with him. It's looking unlikely though, and Mavis is beginning to ponder a life outside of the castle walls.

If you saw the trailer where Dracula lets his grandson fall from the very tall tower, then you know exactly what you're getting from this movie. Dracula wants to make sure his grandson is partially vampire, though everyone else has written him off as just another human.

So part 2 is essentially two road trip movies rolled into one as Dracula and the gang take the boy out on adventures while the happy couple look to see if Mavis can handle life out among the normals.

I really enjoyed the first one.

I also enjoyed the second one, maybe just a little less.

The jokes and characterizations for the first film were all new, so it was all a great new sense of fun.

This time around, you already know roughly what's going to happen, and there isn't a whole lot of surprise.

But don't take that as a negative.  Most sequels don't live up to the original.

The best bits are The Invisible Man (Spade) finding true love, and the genius casting of Vlad (Brooks) for the finale.

If you enjoyed the first film with your family, then this will be a cozy family reunion for you.

Final Grade: B-

Forever? That's a Mighty Long Time... "Celeste and Jesse Forever"

The word 'forever' is so misunderstood...

The Story:

Celeste (Rashida Jones) and Jesse (Andy Samberg) were high school sweethearts, best friends, and married.  Now they are in the middle of a divorce, but still trying to remain best friends.  He lives out back in the studio, and the two remain close.  Friends doubt the friendship will last, but when Jesse does something that alters their lives forever, where do the two go from here?

This movie was cute.

Sadly, nothing more, nothing less.

The laughs aren't big enough... the heartache not deep enough.

It tries to be a 21st Century reinvention of the romantic comedy, but ultimately, it's just there.

No character is written to get sympathy or to take a vested interest to root for or against.  They are all simply nice people, and as their lives change, you feel 'aw, that's too bad, you'll get over it', or 'aw, that's great, congratulations'.

I suppose when it comes down to it, both people made wrong choices, each at different moments in their relationship.

Those choices have consequences and those consequences can come back to haunt you if/when you might have a change of heart later... sometimes later is simply that: too late.

Not a bad movie, but could have been much better.

Final Grade: C

Rewatchability/Purchase Potential: Nope, sorry.

Welcome to the "Hotel Transylvania"

How far would you go to keep your child safe from harm?


The Story:

Count Dracula (Adam Sandler) is raising his baby girl all alone.  He wants to make sure that the humans can never harm his precious little girl.  He goes to great lengths to build the safest, most secure castle of all time to keep his sweetheart safe.  But on the eve of her 118th birthday, all of the monsters have come to the castle to attend the annual party that he throws.  The Invisible Man (David Spade) the Wolfman (Steve Buscemi) and his family as well as Frankenstein (Kevin James) and many others drop by to pay their best wishes to Mavis (Selena Gomez).  Her biggest wish is to go out and see the world and see what life is really like out there.  Can humans be as awful as her dad makes them out to be?  Her mom did fall in love with Dracula after all.  So when a human (Andy Samberg) stumbles onto the castle, his very existence threatens the very fabric of all that Dracula has held dear for the last century.


The fact that it's an animated film will scare off most people unless they have kids, then they will wonder, "is it safe for kids?"

The answer to that is: Yes, unless your kid is scared of cartoon monsters.

That Adam Sandler is in it will likely scare off the rest.

Fair enough, he's not everyone's cup of tea.

However, as my loyal audience of readers and my family know, I love Adam Sandler.  I will give just about every movie he does a fair chance, and more often than not, I've enjoyed the films in question.

This one is one of the more enjoyable ones.


Remember the review for "That's My Boy" where I said that Sandler was trying to prove that he could still do R Rated material with the best of them, but that he really tried to hard?

This is the opposite.  He confines himself to PG family humor, and the effect is a heart-warming crowd-pleaser that works.

Why?

It's a love story.

Forget that, it's actually several love stories, rolled into one.

You have the love of a father for his daughter.
You have the love of a husband for his wife.
You have the love of a daughter for her father, yet wanting to grow up and be seen as an adult.
Then you have a love story of boy meeting girl...

And finding out the girl of your dreams is a vampire.

But it works.  It's fun, filled with sight gags and verbal puns galore.

Enjoyed the film, and combine this one with ParaNorman, and I've got a good Halloween double feature of kids films to enjoy this upcoming Halloween season.


Final Grade: B+
Worth Adding to the DVD Collection: Absolutely

Yo Vanilla, Kick it One Time...."That's My Boy!"

There are two types of movie watchers:

Those that hate Adam Sandler movies, and those that don't.

I am definitely in the camp of the latter, and have seen almost every film Adam Sandler has starred in.

And for the most part, I've enjoyed them all.

The plot:

Donny Berger has a crush on his high school teacher.  The teacher reciprocates, and 9 months later, Donny is a daddy, and his love is behind bars.  So Donny attempts to raise a child, but isn't the best dad ever.  The son leaves, and wants nothing to do with his father.

Fast forward nearly 30 years later, and Donny needs some money.  His fleeting fame from back in the day is just about all cashed out, and he's facing prison.  Luckily, his son seems to be well to do, and a sleazy Jerry Springer type is offering Donny the money he needs if he can reunite the whole family at the women's prison before the end of the weekend.



Over the last few years, many of Sandler's films have been edging into family fare, so Sandler apparently wanted to show the world that he can still drop F Bombs with the rest of the world, and attempted to make a raunchier film than he has in a while.  I guess he doesn't want to lose the market on the genre.

So where does this film stack up in the pantheon of cinematic treasures that Adam Sandler has given us?

It's not his worst film, that honor still belongs to Punch Drunk Love.  Yeah, the only film that critics have liked, was boring... zzzzz...

: )

This falls right in the middle.  Funny, but not hilarious.

In fact, I'd give this one the antithesis of The Wedding Singer.

That film was a great film, that was pushed over the top with the inclusion of Billy Idol, playing himself, to put the icing on the cake and make the movie perfect.

This one takes a middling idea, and the inclusion of Vanilla Ice, playing himself, salvages the movie and actually makes it worth watching.

Little Nicky still remains Sandler's least funny starring vehicle after he had made it big.    I could see watching it again in a few years, but this wouldn't be one that would be watched by me more than once a year.

Rental...not a purchase.