The Secret Life of Pets (2016)

Director: Yarrow Cheney, Chris Renaud
Writer: Cinco Paul, Ken Daurio, Brian Lynch
Stars: Louis C.K., Eric Stonestreet, Kevin Hart

Synopsis: 
Max (Louis C.K.) gets discouraged when his owner brings home a new dog, Duke (Eric Stonestreet), and because of their differences found themselves lost in the middle of New York. And must work together to found their way back home.

Review:
I'm just going to say it. This should have been called Pet Story, because it is the same exact plot of Toy Story. The first trailer released looked like this was just going to be about the title, the Secret Life of Pets, and probably have them actually going around New York and hanging with their friends, but then the more the trailers showed the more I noticed something, this was just going to be telling the story of Toy Story but with pets. And I was a bit sadly right.

Really if this movie's animation wasn't as beautiful as it is, and the characters weren't as great and hilarious as they are, I'd probably say that this was just a bland carbon copy of Toy Story, but the jokes and the animation and the voice acting do help this film out a lot. Kevin Hart's bunny character, Snowball, will probably annoy people depending on how they feel about Kevin Hart's comedy, because all he really does is his yelling type of line delivery, which I enjoy to an extent and was worried that it would get on my nerves, but because of how his character is, a psychotic bunny, I feel like it works well here.

Like I said the characters are all great, and even though I only enjoy some cats and am more of a dog person the cat named Chloe (Lake Bell) stole the show for me with every scene she was in. All the other characters though are great and spot on with their personalities. But the movie did lose points to me for copying off of Toy Story and not doing it's own thing.

Rating: 3.75 out of 5

Recommendation: See it if you're an animal person and don't mind it being a copy cat of Toy Story, but maybe rent it if you enjoyed the first trailer and thought it would be something original.

Mike and Dave Need Wedding Dates (2016)

Director: Jake Szymanski
Writers: Andrew Jay Cohen, Brendan O'Brien
Stars: Zac Efron, Anna Kendrick, Adam Devine, Aubrey Plaza

Synopsis:
Mike and Dave are two brothers that tend to get a little rowdy at family functions, so in order to keep them in control their family decides that instead of them being single and getting rowdy they should each find a date that would be able to keep them under control though out the week of their sister's wedding.

Review:
This movie honestly made me more upset at Dirty Grandpa earlier this year above all else, because Zac Efron and Aubrey Plaza showed that they can be really funny to me when their material is actually pretty good. Unlike in Dirty Grandpa where it felt like they were just trying to make something out of nothing and more than anything just get on my nerves more than make me laugh, but this one really did work for me. Anna Kendrick and Adam Devine really bring the laughs with them as well, which I'm glad because I thought they were both great in the pitch perfect films together so I was hoping they'd be just as good in this one. The story is a bit been there done that and I do think that some people might not like this and that some people might think some gags go a bit too far and too long but I didn't think that was the case. Honestly it's a bit of a squeeze between this Popstar and The Boss between which comedy is the best so far this year, I think Popstar would still take the cake.

Rating: 4 out of 5

Recommendation: See it

Kung Fu Panda 3

Director: Alessandro Carloni, Jennifer Yuh
Writers: Jonathan Aibel, Glenn Berger
Stars: Jack Black, Bryan Cranston, Dustin Hoffman

Synopsis:
Continuing from the past two entries, Po finds out that he belongs to a bigger family along with an overbearing threat coming after him and his friends.

Review:
The animation is beautiful and the jokes still seem fresh and inspiring after three movies, a feat that not many movies can claim themselves. The voice acting is never dull and the addition of Bryan Cranston helps quite a bit.

I really did enjoy this, even if I had yet to see the second one. I feel like that could have helped my enjoyment a bit more, because the beginning was a bit of a rush to me, but it did seem to slow itself down a bit after the first 20 minutes or so. I really started to enjoy this film when Po goes back with his father to their panda village and he meets with all the other pandas.

The plot is simple, but honestly that is a strong point with it, it allows for a lot of characters to come up and shine. Especially when they introduce a lot of people in this entry. I feel like after this movie there's a lot of promise for even more entries to be able to be made and evolve unlike a lot of series around.

Rating: 4 ½ stars


Recommendation: A fun adventure for the whole family, and one that you don't necessarily have to have complete knowledge over the previous entries to enjoy. Worth the full price of admission. 

Fifty Shades of Black

Director: Michael Tiddes
Writers: Marlon Wayans, Rick Alvarez
Stars: Marlon Wayans, Kali Hawk, Fred Willard

Synopsis:
A spoof film based on the phenomenon film Fifty Shades of Grey

Review:
Well, Marlon did it, or at least is starting to really slip into this comedy form, where you go away from the plot and do a scene that doesn't necessarily attribute to the plot more than just to throw in some pop culture references, which I honestly don't mind, but I don't prefer it. I used to enjoy the first couple Scary Movies and even the Haunted House films, which I felt to be in the minority on being a fan of, because they were just plain funny to me, they told jokes that at least felt like part of the plot, compared to the later scary movie films where they just would go off to a scene that didn't apply to the plot as much as just threw in some cheap laughs.

This film was funny at times and was really nailed the head on some scenes, but for every three or so scenes that were like that you had a scene that went away and put more pop culture references than probably necessary. Other than that though, this has the normal dick jokes and gags, the same type of humor that you've seen in these films before. This really didn't do much different than what other spoof movies have done, which could be a good thing or bad thing depending on your thoughts on the genre. I personally liked this more than Fifty Shades of Grey so that's a plus. I mainly think Marlon didn't want to do another Haunted House film again and decided to hit on the next big movie or genre there was and that happened to be Fifty Shades of Grey.

Rating: 3 Stars

Recommendation: If you enjoy the Spoof genre or enjoy Marlon Wayans, then you'll enjoy this enough. Even then though this could ultimately lead to some disappointment among those fans. I'd say rent it or, if you're really eager to see it, see it at a matinee showing. 

Dirty Grandpa

Directed By: Dan Mazer

Written By: John Phillips

Stars: Robert De Niro, Zac Efron, Zoey Deutch, Aubrey Plaza

Synopsis: A grandpa wants to take a trip to Florida with his grandson he hasn’t really connected with in years after his wife died because it’s what she would have wanted, but that’s not exactly the actual plan.

Review:  Dirty Grandpa starts out modest enough. Jokes that are raunchy but you’ve probably have seen worse or about the same before. The actors are enjoyable and no one really does anything wrong with their roles. The movie looks nice and there are a few laughs to be had that do run generic. Dirty Grandpa’s main problem though is that it’s generic.

Really the problem I had is that some jokes run too long, and especially the last scene. I was glad I was able to watch this in an empty theater because I let out the biggest groan during the last scene because it was just so awkward and dragged on so long I was just out loud like, can we just end this forgettable movie already?

There’s a romance subplot too that feels a little force and really only has a few scenes devoted to it, and overall, like I just stated, this movie is mainly forgettable. It doesn’t have a specific joke or scene that is memorable enough to be remembered years from now.

Rating: 3 stars

Recommendation: If the trailers made you laugh then catch this at a matinee or rent it. Besides that though you might as well stay away.

Ride Along 2

Director: Tim Story
Writers: Phil Hay, Matt Hanfredi
Stars: Ice Cube, Kevin Hart, Olivia Munn, Ken Jeong

Synopsis:
James and Ben head down to Miami to stop a drug dealer supplying Atlanta dealers.

Review:
Oh boy. This movie is basically what 22 Jump Street could have been. This movie takes everything that made the first one fun and exciting, and just retreads it in a lazy fashion. Honestly if Ice Cube and Kevin Hart wasn't in this, then I don't think this would even be put in theaters. It only goes through the motions that we've seen not only in the first movie, but any buddy cop movie made... ever.
I did find some laughs though, and again, Ice Cube and Kevin Hart I feel like have great chemistry together, that's why I'm even saying it's worth a watch. I just hope that when the sequel comes out, if one does, that they actually try and bring something new to the table and make it a blast to watch much like the first movie was.


Rating: 3 stars


Recommendation: Rent it, or wait till DVD or something if you really liked the first one, because you're just getting more of the same from that one, but not nearly as good.

Deathgasm

Director: Jason Lei Howden

Writers: Jason Lei Howden

Stars: Milo Cawthorne, James Blake, Kimberley Crossman

Synopsis:
A couple teenagers accidentally summon demons when trying to make a new song for the Death Metal band, DEATHGASM.

Review:
This movie was just pure fun, it especially worked well for me because I'm into the metal genre of music and I love a good bloodbath. The acting wasn't anything special but it wasn't terrible by any means, the main attraction for this movie is the practical effects, the bloody mutilations, and just the pure fun this movie delivers throughout its breakneck pace.
If you don't like bloody movies, than this isn't going to be for you, I don't know though if you'd really be looking into a film called Deathgasm if you weren't though to be honest. I wasn't really expecting much from this when I first heard this, but ever since it first got screen I've been hearing mainly great things about it so I decided to pick it up when I got the chance, and I'm so glad I did. This had laughs and blood oozing everywhere. Now there are a few problems, mostly nick picking, but I think there should have been maybe an extra scene or two of demon action scenes, but I know this wasn't made on the biggest of budgets and honestly I feel like that's only because I felt like I blinked and the ride was already over.


Rating: 4.5 stars


Recommendation: If you're into horror films, bloodbaths, and metal music then I'm sure this will serve you just fine in the entertainment department.

The Big Short

Director: Adam Mckay
Writers: Charles Randolph and Adam Mckay, based on the book by Michael Lewis
Stars: Ryan Gosling, Christian Bale, Steve Carell, Brad Pitt

Synopsis:
Different groups of people predict the credit and housing bubble collaps of the mid-2000's and decide to make money off of it.

Review:
Honestly a movie with this plot probably shouldn't be as entertaining as this movie was. It is very similar to Wolf of Wall Street, but it also doesn't feel like a copy cat either. This is a bit more professional than that movie was, so if the excessive lifestyle images offended you from Wolf, and you really do enjoy the subject matter of banking and wall street, then you shouldn't have a problem with this movie. Now I will say that I enjoyed Wolf of Wall Street a lot when it came out and still consider it one of my favorites, but this one was a lot of fun still and would be a lot better of a watch more due to the smaller run time and overall tamer tone than Wolf.
Now with Adam Mckay directing and writing I knew it was going to have some comedy in it, but I was actually surprised with just how funny this was, I love Steve Carell and Brad Pitt especially. I'm actually curious how this will fare during the awards season, because there are a lot of equally good films this year, so I wouldn't be sad if this lost, but at the same time, I am going to be rooting for this a long with some of my other favorites of this year.
This really is a winner to spend your time at the theater, especially if you want to stay away from the crowds at Star Wars.


Rating: 4.5 stars


Recommendation: This honestly doesn't require a theatrical viewing, but if you want to go to the theater and see something that isn't Star Wars this should be near the top of your list.