Just In Time For The Olympics..."The Bronze"

The Bronze (2015)

Rated R

Starring Melissa Rauch, Gary Cole, Thomas Middleditch, Sebastian Stan, Haley Lu Richardson, Cecily Strong,

Directed by Bryan Buckley

The Story:

Hope Annabelle Greggory (Rauch) was the little Olympian that could, fighting through an injury to win Bronze in gymnastics. Years removed, she lives like the Queen of Amherst Ohio, living the life of a celebrity. But now there is a new gymnast in town, Maggie (Richardson) who has the potential to go all the way. It's up to Hope to see that she gets there, but Hope isn't sure she's ready to give up her status as the most talented Olympian in her hometown.

If you saw the trailer, you know that Melissa Rauch is going to spout some of the most vulgar insults you've ever heard in a film about the Olympics. That she can pull it off with a straight face and a crazy delivery is just one of the things that starts to win you over about this film.

Or at least, it won me over.

She co-wrote with her husband, the movie, but she gives plenty of good material to the rest of the cast to equally enjoy in the antics.

Gary Cole gets most of the best parts as her beleaguered father who wants only the best for his little gymnast, and may have been a bit of an enabler over the years.

Sebastian Stan also arrives as the Olympic coach who has a past with Hope and wants to get Maggie's services for the Olympic team.

The gymnastic routines themselves are quite good, and the filmmakers did a nice job of sprinkling in actual former gymnastic stars as commentators which helps lend an additional air of authenticity and fun to the proceedings.

Final Grade: B-

Our First DC Premiere..."Suicide Squad"

Suicide Squad (2016)

Rated PG-13

Starring Will Smith, Margot Robbie, Jai Courtney, Viola Davis, Jared Leto, Jay Hernandez, Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje, Cara Delevingne, Joel Kinnaman, Karen Fukuhara, Adam Beach, David Harbour

Written and Directed by David Ayer

The Story:

Amanda Waller (Davis) has decided that in a world with more and more metahuman activity, she needs to assemble a team that is able and willing to do whatever it takes to protect National Security. After all, the next Superman might just be a hostile. So she rounds up the worst of the worst, implants them with a transmitter that doubles as a bomb, and under the leadership of Rick Flag (Kinnaman), the Suicide Squad is born.

Or...

The Story:

A group of scoundrels we've never met before team up to save the world while tossing off one-liners during action sequences set to a cool soundtrack.

Sound familiar?

Yes, Marvel Studios did that 2 years ago with Guardians of the Galaxy, and earlier this year with Deadpool from Fox.

Sorry folks, in the world of superhero movies, comparisons are inevitable.

But let's make this perfectly clear up front, don't compare Suicide Squad to the Avengers, at that point we move from comparing apples to oranges to apples and bananas. Save that comparison for when they finally roll Justice League into theaters.

So, is this movie as bad as Rotten Tomatoes claims, and rabid fanboys have decried that since this is the second DC movie in a row with low scores, that site should be shut down?

No.

It's totally watchable.

Is it rewatchable, either in theaters or at home?

That's debatable.

The Good:

I got to hang out with some of my kids at the movies. Can't ever go wrong with bonding over popcorn and a movie, am I right?!? :)

Viola Davis owns her role as Amanda Waller. She might actually be more frightening than Batman. :)

Will Smith returns to form in his first action flick since 2012's MiB3, and it's a welcome return. It's like an old suit that he slips right into, and watching this film makes me ready for his return as Mike Lowry in Bad Boys 3 (and apparently 4!)

Margot Robbie owns Harley Quinn. While I would have preferred her actual outfit, well, this is the revamped Harley costume they want to go with. Still, when these two are onscreen, the movie picks up tremendously.

The rest of the crew?

When they are given anything to do, it's quite enjoyable. Bonus points to Jai Courtney for actually putting some charisma into a role for a change, his Captain Boomerang is one of the high points as well.

The Bad:

Everyone else is woefully underused and underdeveloped. It seems like most are there simply to give Deadshot and Harley a breather in the action.

The villain? Also falls into the meh, who cares department. But, it was pretty much that way too when they used her in Ghostbusters. :)

The Joker. Totally could have done without him. Aside from the backstory with Harley, which is necessary, he actually becomes a distraction as the film wears on. As for him channeling both Nicholson and Ledger as his inspiration, I found it seemed to channel more of Jim Carrey's Riddler.

Setting scenes to music can be effective.

Setting nearly every scene to music can be overdone.

They decided to dial it up to 11 and introduce everyone to their own killer beat, when it might have been more effective to stagger all of the team introductions out through the film versus one after the other after the other.

Ah well, not my film, not my universe.

: )

That said, of the 2 (or is it 3?) films from the DC "Shared Universe", this is easily my favorite.

I've yet to see Batman vs. Superman (and the kids still don't want to see it!) but it's coming next week on Netflix.

And Man of Steel sucked.

Though I don't think it's considered part of the shared universe, or at least probably wasn't before it tanked.

Finally, you can tell the film was meddled with, even without reading all of the reports about the reshoots after Batman vs. Superman was given a resounding thumbs down upon reception.

We'll see where DC goes from here, but you have to hope, at least for their sake as well as the audience, that they are correcting the ship and if not trying to outright copy the Marvel movie formula, at least copy the part where we like seeing their movies.

:)

Final Grade: C+

It's Bound To Be A Funny One..."Mel Brooks: Make A Noise"

Mel Brooks: Make a Noise (2013)

TV-PG

Starring Mel Brooks

Written and Directed by Robert Trachtenberg

The Story:

Part of the PBS "American Masters" series, this in-depth biography finally lets Mel Brooks talk about his favorite subject: himself!

Okay, that may or may not be true, but for the first time that I can recall, here's Mel opening up about his life, his career and his films, in his words, as well as some of his collaborators over the years.

If you've never seen his work, this will help showcase his efforts in one career spanning retrospective and you'll begin to understand why he's so funny and a comedy legend.

If you're a fan of his work, this is icing on a delicious cake of a career.

The great thing about Brooks career, is even his bad stuff is good, when compared to other offerings.
It's only when you compare one Brooks film to another that you can really see the difference, which also elevates how truly great his best films really are.

The biography also reveals a lot of interesting facts that you may be unaware of, or have simply forgotten over the years.

Definitely worthwhile.

Currently streaming on Netflix as of this writing. You can probably also find it, and other American Masters episodes on the PBS.org website.

Final Grade: B+

"Runner Runner" Not Bad, Not Bad

Runner Runner (2013)

Rated R

Starring Justin Timberlake, Ben Affleck, Gemma Arterton, Anthony Mackie,

Directed by Brad Furman

The Story:

Richie (Timberlake) is trying to make ends meet and make his college tuition by rounding up people to use an online poker site owned by Ivan Block (Affleck). However, when Richie ends up losing a fortune, he discovers a flaw in the system and crashes a party to let Ivan know that his site is being rigged by someone. Ivan thanks him by offering him a job, and Richie quickly rises to become his right hand man. However, that's a very dangerous place to be...

There are flashes of brilliance and great performances to be had throughout this film.

Timberlake, as always, seems to be a natural in front of the camera, and when he hangs up his singing career for good, he's got a great second career to fall back on.

Naturally, a hero is only as good as the villain, and Affleck plays along as the menacing thug who can make or break Richie (or anyone for that matter) with just a few choice words.

When the two are together, the storyline picks up.

The problem, the two don't share a whole ton of screen time.

The other major players are Arterton as Ivan's girlfriend who has a thing for Richie...

And Mackie who gets to play a corrupt FBI agent.

Throw in a heist, betrayals and backstabbing and the movie had great ideas that just didn't fully come across.
That's a shame, because again, those flashes of brilliance could have made this a repeat viewing.

Final Grade:  C+

"You're Next" Finally Made It To the Top Of The Queue...

You're Next (2011)

Rated R

Starring Sharni Vinson, Nicholas Tucci, AJ Bowen, Wendy Glenn, Joe Swanberg, Rob Moran, Barbara Crampton

Directed by Adam Wingard

The Story:

Paul and Aubrey Davison (Moran & Crampton) have all of their children and their significant others come home to celebrate their wedding anniversary, but things take a scary turn when masked evil-doers begin picking off the family members, one by one.

What's going on, and what do these masked men want?

You'll have to watch to find out!!

So yesterday, I reviewed a thriller that wasn't very thrilling, and compared that disappointment to a comedy that isn't funny.

Don't forget to add to that list of disappointments, horror movies that aren't that scary.

You're Next fills that bill perfectly.

Now, if you've never, ever, in the history of horror movies ever watched a scary movie, you might like this one.

If, however, you've waded into the bloody waters of horror movies ever before, you'll find this one to be poorly laid out and laughably acted by nearly the entire cast.

You'll figure out whodunit, and why, long before the reveal comes.

In fact, the reveal comes so slowly and poorly resolved later, that you'll have come up with at least a dozen, better, alternatives for this film. :)

The one exception is our "Final Girl", Sharni Vinson who is about the only redeeming quality to the entire film.

It's on her efforts alone that I don't fail this one.

But man, I really wanted to.

Final Grade: C-

You Might Need "Regression" Therapy To Remember This One

Regression (2015)

Rated R

Starring Ethan Hawke, David Thewlis, Emma Watson, David Dencik,

Writtena and Directed by Alejandro Amenabar

The Story:

A detective (Hawke) uses a psychoanalyst (Thewlis) to get to the bottom of a dad's (Dencik) confession that he raped his daughter (Watson).

And so begins a thriller that is dark, disturbing, and most depressing of all, not very thrilling.

There are twists and turns aplenty in the film, but there's never any real sense of urgency, dread, or real emotion whatsoever displayed onscreen.

Instead of putting thrills and suspense in a thriller, they almost try and make it a horror movie by ramping up the gore, but that doesn't really help this movie either.

It's a heinous crime that may or may not have happened, as Regression Therapy has been seen as both an amazing tool for recall as well as one that can plant false memories as well.

Which story you see here, you'll have to watch for yourself.

Not sure if the tale they used was an actual case, or just based in general off the litany of regression cases that have happened.

Nothing amazing, but not a total waste of time either.

It's average, which sometimes is more frustrating than being either a good or bad movie.

Pick a side at least.

Now streaming on Amazon Prime as of this writing.

Final Grade: C

They Don't Just Report The News... "Special Correspondents"

Special Correspondents (2016)

Rated TV-MA

Starring Ricky Gervais, Eric Bana, Vera Farmiga, Kelly MacDonald, Kevin Pollak, America Ferrera, Raul Castillo, Benjamin Bratt,

Written and Directed by Ricky Gervais

The Story:

Frank (Bana) is a great radio journalist in New York who pushes the envelope too often. His boss (Pollak) warns him that the next screw up will be his last. Taking technician Ian (Gervais) with him on assignment to Ecuador will be just the assignment he needs to show his boss that he's still got what it takes and keep his job secured. But when a strange turn of events leaves them stranded in New York, the duo hatch a scheme to report what's happening in Ecuador right from the streets of New York. When they begin breaking bigger news stories than anyone else, they find themselves at the very heart of the news they are reporting!

One of the Netflix original movies currently available for streaming, as noted it is written, directed and stars Ricky Gervais.

So unless you can't stand him, you might like this movie.

:)

The movie has a bit of a slow start, but it picks up nicely as the boys do all of their reporting from "Ecuador".

That's where a lot of the fun and humor sets in as they continue to break a story that wasn't a story at all, until they break it.

Eventually, the two become center to the storyline itself, and then it stretches credibility by making the guys break into Ecuador so that they can resolve the storyline honestly.

It would have been much easier to fake their way out of the country, but then you don't get the emotional finale.

It's a wonderful cast, and it's fun to see Bana again, in just about anything now that I think about it, but also looking to be having a little bit of fun with his character.

Final Grade: B-