You Wouldn't Like Them When They're Angry... "The Angry Birds Movie"

The Angry Birds Movie (2016)

Rated PG

Starring Jason Sudeikis, Josh Gad, Danny McBride, Maya Rudolph, Peter Dinklage, Sean Penn, Bill Hader,

Directed by Clay Katis & Fergal Reilly

The Story:

On an island of very happy flightless birds, Red (Sudeikis) just doesn't fit in. He doesn't much care for the other birds, and though they put on a happy face, they really could do without him as well. When his anger gets the best of him, he winds up in therapy where he meets Chuck (Gad) a bird who has a problem with authority, and expresses it at high speed; and Bomb (McBride) who has a tendency to blow up when stressed or surprised. However, when Leonard (Hader), a green pig arrives at the island with seemingly benign intentions, something seems off to Red, and he and his therapy pals are going to uncover the truth, no matter the cost.

Well, they probably began production on this while the Angry Birds iron was still hot, but this seems to be one of those "too little, too late" moments where, hasn't the Angry Birds phase come and gone by now?

But, let's tackle this movie and see what it got right, and what it got wrong.

First, the voice cast, only partially listed above, is top-notch and has some great comedians and actors assembled from top to bottom, even some parts that are only briefly in the movie.

That said, Jason Sudeikis almost sounds bored throughout the movie. Perhaps it's being unable to see Sudeikis delivering the lines himself, as he usually puts a lot of visual energy into his performance, but it seemed to almost be disconnected from where I was sitting.

Not his finest work of the year, but plenty of solid fare from other films this year that I've seen, so no worries.

Of course, you also have the curiosity factor of Sean Penn doing voice work in an animated movie.

Sure...

The animation itself, again, very pretty, no complaints. It's lush, and they adapted the characters and scenery from the movies to near perfection.

Overall, however, the jokes seemed to fall flat throughout the film. I smiled a few times, but I don't recall a whole lot of laughter from myself or any of the kids that watched with me.

That's not good for an animated kids movie.

Plus, this movie contains one of the grossest gags ever in the history of cinema, and I have to say I'm a little amazed that they got away with a PG vs. a PG-13 rating because of it.

In fact, it was moments like that, and few others peppered throughout the film that almost made it seem like they wrote it as an R rated movie, then went back and toned it down as they realized they should be trying to appeal to kids.

Didn't hate it, but came away disappointed.

Final Grade: C-

If Everyone Has Seen It, Is It Still "The Secret Life Of Walter Mitty" ?

The Secret Life of Walter Mitty (2013)
Rated PG-13 for language

Starring Ben Stiller, Kristen Wiig, Adam Scott, Sean Penn

Directed by Ben Stiller

The Story:

Walter Mitty (Stiller) works for Life Magazine. Life has been bought out and Ted Hendricks (Scott) comes to Life to oversee the transfer from print to digital. When famed photographer Sean O'Connell sends Mitty the negative that is to be the cover of the final issue of Life, he can't find it!  Mitty's previous daydreams of adventure turn real as he goes on a global quest to track down O'Connell to find out why he didn't send the actual negative.

The hook for "Walter Mitty" comes in his daydreams to escape reality.

Perhaps surprisingly, I actually didn't care too much for the movie when Mitty kept having his daydreams.

It is when he actually undertook the task of tracking down O'Connell that the movie began to fully win me over.  Granted, he still had a few daydreams, but they were much shorter, and much less far-fetched than those that had come earlier.

At that point, Mitty became the Everyman that audiences root for to succeed.  We become invested in his quest to track down the missing negative.

Of course, like the rest of the audience, odds are you will figure out where the picture really is, but that isn't the mystery so much as what is on the picture.

What could convey to the audience what could be one of the most important images in Life's storied history?

Needless to say, they nailed it.

It's a beautiful image that might even bring a tear to your eye as you realize that no matter how great technology has become, we are quickly losing so much of our historic past at an alarming rate.

Pretty profound for a comedy.

I have no comparison with the original as to how much or how little is made from the previous movie or story upon which it is based.

All I do know, is I'm glad I got to share in Walter Mitty's Life, no matter how briefly it was.

Final Grade: B

Rewatchability/Purchase Factor: I'm not rushing out to buy it, but I wouldn't mind watching it again.

You Don't Bring Ryan Gosling to a Sean Connery Fight! "Gangster Squad"

To keep the City of Angels clean... someone's going to have to get dirty.

Dude, that's actually a pretty good tagline...


The Story:

Mickey Cohen (Sean Penn) is a former boxer turned gangster.  Instead of being part of the eastern syndicate, he's setting up shop in LA, and running out any competition and keeping Chicago at bay.  So, his operations means that back in 1949, he had cops and judges on his payroll, and this irritates the Chief (Nick Nolte) so he asks a no-nonsense homicide detective (Josh Brolin) to form a badge-less group of cops (Ryan Gosling, Robert Patrick and Giovanni Ribisi to name a few), to make Cohen's operations start to fall apart.  He recruits his squad, and they go after Cohen...

But not everyone is going to walk out of this unscathed on either side.

I couldn't tell you why this one didn't do that great at the box office.  It's a little long, and slow.  Actually, I would use methodical.

Everything builds, slowly, surely, until the final confrontation.

I was engrossed in the story for the most part.

Recreating Los Angeles circa 1949, it is a beautiful movie to watch.  The clothes, the cars, the set pieces... all wonderful to see and very well done.

There isn't nearly as much squad interaction as there should be... or for that matter, much of the squad's mucking up of Cohen's operations gets glossed over very quickly.

Perhaps they could have trimmed some of the exposition and early scenes that don't really do much except to reinforce what we have already gathered.

Plus, while eventually she is important to the story, the love interest (Emma Stone) can be some of the cause for the slow factor as well.  Love stories in action films are often unnecessary, but added I think solely to increase female interest in a guy's movie.

It's no Untouchables, but it's not Unwatchable, either.

Final Grade: B-

Rewatchability/Purchase Factor: I could watch it again if it was on, but nothing screams for me to run out and buy this one.

100 Greatest Movies of All Time...That I Own. # 50 ~ Fast Times at Ridgemont High

So here it is.  50-100 have been settled.  49 more to go.  Hopefully you've enjoyed this trip down memory lane, maybe found a new title or two to give a shot at, or rediscovered a lost classic.

If nothing else, perhaps you've been able to compare my tastes in film to your own, and then you can get the idea that if I like a film, you might also...or vice versa.

Now, in the style of Casey Kasem...

Back to the Countdown!


I'm not sure when I ever saw Fast Times at Ridgemont High.  It had to be well after the original release.  Either way, I've enjoyed it over the years at a look at what High School may have been like in the late 70s/early 80s.

Wow.

Way crazier than what I went through.

And this begins to explain a lot about my brother and sister...

: )

But back to the story.  It's a collection of "a year in the life" of several students whose lives intersect throughout the school year.  From their dealings with each other, their teachers and other various people in their lives, the story moves along and never hits a dull moment.

To describe the plot any further would be impossible, and ruin the film.

But what a storm of potential was released on Hollywood with this film.  It was the first time, or relatively first time for a lot of the cast and crew:

Cameron Crowe: first movie written.
Amy Heckerling: first movie directed.

Sean Penn, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Phoebe Cates and Judge Reinhold, among others, all made one of their first forays on the Silver Screen in this project.

And don't forget Nicolas Cage!  Triple Cage for the Ultimate Win!

Naturally, one of my favorites is Mr. Hand (Ray Walston).  While technically the "villain" of the film, at least in the eyes and grades of Spicoli, you can see that like many teachers, he really does care for his students and wants them to succeed in life, and indeed, his class.

Aloha, Mr. Hand!