Mini Reviews: Bad Moms (2016), Keanu (2016) & Mike and Dave Need Wedding Dates (2016)

It's a 2016 comedy special here at Mini Reviews today! As much as I love summer comedies, I didn't get the chance to see them all in the cinema and so I've been saving them up for 1 post. Plus, it's nice to remember these kinds of movies before we move into the seriousness that winter cinema brings!

Bad Moms (2016)

Amy (Mila Kunis) is fed up of Moms like Gwendolyn (Christina Applegate), who take control of the PTA, and scrutinise every single bake sale in case heaven forbid, some of the cake is unhealthy or store bought. She has every right to be fed up! The thought of being a Mom in this decade is terrifying. Thankfully, she isn’t alone, and so Amy befriends Carla (the ever-hilarious Kathryn Hahn) and Kiki (Kristen Bell, the sweetest human being on Earth) and the three of them wear the label ‘Bad Mom’ with pride.

Perhaps it was the cinema effect, or the wonderful company (this one Jenna and I saw together) but I was laughing from start to finish for this, it took me by surprise. Sure, you had to wonder where everyone’s kids actually were whilst these Moms were partying, but who cares! The whole cast just looked like they had so much fun making this movie. Plus, it has some of the greatest clips in the credits I’ve ever seen.

Keanu (2016)

How did a movie about a cute little kitten called Keanu slip under my movie radar? In a plot not so different from John Wick (starring Keanu Reeves, geddit?) Rell (Jordan Peele) comes across little Keanu by absolute chance when he is heartbroken from being dumped. He develops an intense love for this kitten but in a case of confused identity, his house gets trashed and Keanu is stolen. Rell teams up with his cousin Clarence (Keegan-Michael Key) to infiltrate a nearby strip club and get the little furball back.

The movie brings nothing new to the comedy genre, and the plot is entirely predictable, but it’s the chemistry between Key & Peele that makes this so funny. Watching them trying to act ‘gangsta’ never got old, and the recurring George Michael theme was great. It even had a sensible, logical ending, which is often lacking with these kinds of movies. Worth a watch for sure.

Mike and Dave Need Wedding Dates (2016)

This one came out right around the time of my wedding, and as much as I was looking forward to it, as the day got closer anything wedding related was making me feel ill so it was ages until I eventually saw it. Mike (Adam Devine) and Dave (Zac Efron) are brothers who constantly get each other into trouble, and when their sister’s wedding approaches, they are forced to find ‘nice girls’ to bring as dates. Enter Alice (Anna Kendrick) and Tatiana (Aubrey Plaza) who can’t be further from the description of ‘nice girls’.

A cast as stellar as this should have been a clear winner, but the entire movie was ‘meh’ for me. It had a few solid laughs, a really awkward massage scene, and a boring plot. A huge shame, because I honestly love everyone in that cast list and I had really high hopes. The highlight was when the four got on stage for a musical number, Zac Efron for Pitch Perfect 3 please!

I think this still leaves Ghostbusters (2016) as my favourite comedy of 2016, although I haven't seen them all yet. What about you guys? What's been the funniest for you? Hold up a sec, I just remembered The Nice Guys (2016). That's my favourite!

Mini Reviews: Mr Right (2016), Urge (2016) and No Stranger than Love (2015)

I have spent the weekend watching the most random of films, mostly due to my new obsession with Justin Chatwin.  

Mr Right (2016)

Martha (Anna Kendrick) meets and falls for the 'perfect' guy, Francis (Sam Rockwell), only he has one fatal flaw...he's a hitman on the run from his previous employers who are trying to kill him.  

This is one of the most bizarre films I have ever seen, but I have to say I really enjoyed it.  Its been battered on Rotten Tomatoes but from reading some of the reviews, they seem to all be overthinking it.  I enjoyed the romance (I wanted them to get together)  and the action scenes were energetic and engaging (I wanted the good guys to not die).  It was weird and confusing but I have already recommended it to Allie (and not in the 'from the makers of Sharknado' kind of way).

Urge (2016)

What happened when you take a drug that takes away all your inhibitions and you play out any urges you so choose.  Apparently, you make an insane film called Urge!!  A group of friends, led by narcissist Neil (Danny Masterson) head for a weekend away on a remote island.  A mysterious nightclub owner (Pierce Brosnan) introduces them to a new drug, Urge with one rule, that you can only use it once.  No one listens of course and the party descends into chaos.

I spent 90% of this movie confused about what was going on, I felt more confused than that characters I think!!  I didn't want to turn it off because I wanted to know how it ended and then when it ended I wished I hadn't bothered!

No Stranger than Love (2015)

Lucy (Alison Brie) has her pick of men in the small town that she lives in but instead chooses to engage in an affair with married Clint (Colin Hanks).  Just one problem, Clint falls down a mysterious black hole that opens up in her living room and mysterious stranger Rydell (Justin Chatwin) turns up to confuse Lucy even more.  

It's difficult to review this, I don't even know what to call it, is it a rom-com, is it a drama, is it science fiction!?  I got more confused as it went on but I really enjoyed it.  I love Alison Brie and she really stole the show here and the whole thing reminded me of Pleasantville from way back when (the sci-fi crossed with rom-coms) and I loved that film.

Review: Get a Job (2016)

There’s a song played frequently on the radio at the moment which I’m in love with. It’s called ‘Stressed Out’ by Twenty One Pilots, and at first it just had a catchy tune, but now I really feel like I can relate to the lyrics. Bear with me, this is going somewhere, I promise.

The opening to Get a Job (2016) is perfect. It reminds us that when we were kids, everything was given to us, and we were praised for every tiny thing we did. Then, one day, at the end of our mandatory education, we’re thrown into the real world where no one cares about our small achievements, and we have to actually work for a living. That’s how I feel about life right now, or at least did a few years ago. I’ve found my feet now, thankfully.  I've just about found my feet and now I'm counting down to retirement!

Back to that song, Stressed Out. There’s a particular line that give me same feeling as the opening to that movie: Used to dream of outer space but now they're laughing at our face,

Saying, "Wake up, you need to make money."

So, with a relevant and relatable plot, and a huge cast of some of my favourite actors and actresses, (Anna Kendrick, Alison Brie, Bryan Cranston, Miles Teller, Christopher Mintz-Plasse) I knew I couldn’t go wrong by giving this movie some of my time. Yeah. About that.  How could it be anything other than awesome with this cast, no seriously how?!

Everything starts out perfectly fine. Will (Teller) and his girlfriend Jillian (Kendrick) are celebrating Jillian’s new job, which stirs up trouble in their relationship when Will is told he needs to step up. His father is fed up of financing him, and he needs to put his creative dreams aside and enter the corporate world. With an unusually short runtime of 1hr 23mins, this plot is plenty, especially when Jillian winds up losing her job and the roles get reversed, but so many sub plots are thrown into the mix that I couldn’t work out what was actually going on anymore.  Ditto, completely lost!

It’s a shame, because each plot in itself is absolutely fine. Will’s father loses his job, and has huge difficulty finding a new one because of his loyalty to his previous employer and his age. That’s a huge problem for the older generation right now, and could have tied in perfectly with Will’s story, given a longer runtime. But that’s not all. Each of Will’s friends has their own storyline of taking their first step on the career ladder, and that’s where it gets too messy. Whilst trying to desperately tie up the loose threads in the plot, it seems those responsible forgot to add in any jokes. The only comedic relief came from Alison Brie’s character who seemed to serve no purpose other than making sexual innuendos. She was funny, at least.

I have to completely agree, they really jam packed a lot of plot points into a particularly short running time.  In honestly, I kind of gave up about half way through, I didn't give a monkey's if any of them got a job, lost a job or sold their mother for a job and with the title being what it is, I'm guessing you are supposed to care about that stuff.  It starts off really logical and believable and rapidly becomes ridiculous, becoming a vice president of something or other after 6 months in a company or rugby tackling various security staff so your Dad can get an 'interview' in an elevator.  All bloody ridiculous!

So finally, after looking the movie up online to find out whether I was just being a miserable sod, I found out that Get a Job was made in 2012, and has sat on the shelf for the last 4 years, with Anna Kendrick herself confident that the movie would never get a release date. That says more than I ever could.  I think she was probably secretly hoping as well to be fair!

 

Review: Happy Christmas (2014)

Despite my ridiculously long list of Christmas movies that I simply must watch every year, I’m always on the hunt for new ones I may have missed. So you can imagine my surprise whilst flicking through Netflix that I find a very recent movie starring Anna Kendrick that I’ve never seen! Erm, how is this possible, and would anyone like to buy the rock I’ve been living under?

Happy Christmas (2014) isn’t your typical festive family movie. Jenny (Anna Kendrick) has recently split up with her boyfriend, and moves in with her older brother Kevin (Joe Swanberg), his wife Kelly (Melanie Lynskey) and their young baby. Jenny makes a bad first impression straight away when she goes out and gets horrendously drunk, when she had promised Kelly she would babysit the following morning.

Around 20 minutes in, I had a feeling of deja vu, and a quick IMDB search showed me that this is directed by Joe Swanberg, who also directed Drinking Buddies (2013). If you haven’t seen either of these movies, Joe Swanberg basically gets his cast together, tells them a vague outline of the plot and leaves them to improvise the rest, there is no script. 

General consensus says that Drinking Buddies is the superior movie, but I actually preferred Happy Christmas. Perhaps it’s because this time I knew what to expect, I’ll have to re-watch Drinking Buddies to be sure. Swanberg’s movies are definitely like nothing else I’ve ever seen. There’s an almost awkward vibe going on, but at the same time, the conversations these characters have are so much more real, because well, they are real! 

I think I slightly preferred Drinking Buddies but I half wished Anna Kendrick was in that because I just love her, she is just too awesome!  Personally, I think both are ok but could just do with a little bit more story, if I didn't know it was improvised I would have been bored stupid, I tend to keep watching because I'm trying to work out what story they have been told to follow and what is completely pulled out of their heads.  I wish I could see a copy of the story they were given! I think that's why I didn't enjoy Drinking Buddies, I had no idea until afterwards that it was all improvised, so I was so confused!

This is the part where I normally gush about how much I love Anna Kendrick is and how she stole the show here, and don’t get me wrong, she was amazing in this, but it was honestly the baby who stole every scene he was in. He was just so darn funny! I couldn’t even pick a single example for you, but he’s the most happiest and lively little boy I’ve ever seen in a movie.  Fully agree,  he was so cute! I wonder if he is related to any of the cast (particularly Joe Swanberg) because he was just so comfortable with them. If he isn't, he's going to be a star one day!

Happy Christmas has some great characters who you really sympathise with, and when everything heats up during the night before Christmas itself, it’s hard to pick sides. I just wish the movie didn’t end so abruptly! I’d have loved just another 20 minutes or so to tie things up a little.

For me it felt like none of the conversations that happened in the film were tied up, I feel like there was more questions posed than answered (or the Lost effect as I have chosen to call it!) Did Jenny stay with Jeff (Mark Webber)? Did the family reconnect? What movie was she watching in the cinema? Why did they call the film Happy Christmas when other than the tree it wasn't remotely Christmassy?!

I guess my only other grumble is that this was in no way the full-of-festivity movie I was expecting, especially from a movie called Happy Christmas, but then I went into this blind so that’s my own fault for having preconceptions!

Mini Reviews: Saving Mr Banks (2013), Cake (2014) & Ex Machina (2015)

I can’t quite believe Saving Mr Banks is 2 years old now, it feels like I’ve been putting off watching it for a couple of months, not years! I remember little of the Mary Poppins story, in fact I can only recall a couple of the songs, and maybe that’s why I put this film off for so long. I’m glad I gave it a shot though, as this was a beautiful story.

Emma Thompson does a fantastic job at portraying this frustrating character who you struggle to warm to at first, but by the credits roll I had tears in my eyes. The whole cast made this a wonderful film to watch, and I can’t recommend it highly enough.

I’m a huge fan of Jennifer Aniston and films that tackle depression have always interested me, which I realise sounds quite morbid! Therefore, I thought Cake would be a film I would really enjoy. Cake is a dark story of a woman who becomes obsessed with the suicide of a friend in her support group for chronic pain, who also tries to deals with her own severe issues.

Maybe watching this in chunks throughout my lunch breaks didn’t help, but I found the story so hard to understand, I had to read half on an IMDB synopsis to work out what was going on. Once I worked it out it was more enjoyable, but still fell flat for me.

When the posters and trailers came out for Ex Machina came out, I wasn’t bothered in the slightest. I didn’t even notice it come and go from my local cinema. However, anyone I knew who went to see it or watched the DVD said how brilliant it was, and the got my curiosity. It’s hard to even explain the plot of Ex Machina without ruining the experience, but I would recommend it to anyone.

It starts of as a family friendly, futuristic film and out of nowhere, takes a very dark turn, and rapidly turns into adult-only territory. I haven’t seen anything like it, and although I don’t think a re-watch will give the same impact, it was a brilliant experience first-time.

Review: The Voices (2015)

Considering how much I love Ryan Reynolds, I can’t believe I had to wait for the DVD release before watching The Voices. It was one of those films that came out in only one cinema by me, for about a day, and then disappeared completely! I don’t need to be sold anything with Ryan Reynolds in, but a film featuring a crazy guy who talks to his cat and dog? I’m in, regardless!

Jerry (Ryan Reynolds) is a cheerful warehouse worker at a bathtub factory, who’s only recently moved to town. He has a severe mental issue which his psychiatrist tries to help him through, not helped by the fact that Jerry hates taking his medication. He also has a crush on work colleague Fiona (Gemma Arterton) which is complicated as she doesn’t really like him back, although Lisa (Anna Kendrick) does…

Oh, did I mention his cat, Mr Whiskers, and dog, Bosco (both voiced by Reynolds) talk to him?

The Voices is like no other film I’ve ever watched before. I don’t even know how to categorise it. It’s a Horror, but not to the extreme (I hate Horrors). It’s a Drama for sure, but it’s also funny to the point I cried at something Mr Whiskers said. I certainly can’t repeat it on here! Maybe that’s why the film got such mixed reviews, I think for some, the lack of a real genre can just be too off putting. 

We learn fairly early on that by watching this story from Jerry’s point of view, not everything is exactly as it seems. His old-fashioned, cosy-but-comfy apartment? Not quite so. It’s filled with rubbish and err, other things. It made me wonder what else we were only seeing from Jerry’s eyes. Especially his work place, with bright pink overalls and cheery music.

Anyone who has ever had a pet will find so much amusement from Jerry’s cat and dog. I hold my hands up in confession that I talk constantly to my two cats, Loki and Sherlock. I might not be able to hear them talk back to me, but a facial expression speaks a hundred words! Mr Whiskers is a typical cat, sarcastic and cruel, whereas Bosco likes to check Jerry is okay and find out if he wants to go for a walk.

The Gods must have heard my plea for a film starring both Ryan Reynolds and Anna Kendrick, but perhaps I wasn’t specific enough. Rom com please! Regardless, I loved them both in this, they were perfectly cast.

A film that’s certainly not for everyone, but a film I loved and will never forget!

Review: Pitch Perfect 2 (2015)

Hey there, pitches! Gosh, it feels like I’ve been waiting for Pitch Perfect 2 for a long time. Not longer than most mind, I only watched the original last year, and it was the first ever film we reviewed on our blog. You can check that out here. 

Pitch Perfect 2 starts off with our beloved Barden Bellas making fools out of themselves in front of the US President, mainly thanks to Fat Amy (Rebel Wilson). Now they need to work from the bottom to regain their respect and fame, and try to win the World Championship which no American team has ever been able to do. Beca (Anna Kendrick) is trying to juggle her duties as a Bella and an internship at a recording studio, and we’re also introduced to a new Bella, a ‘Legacy’ by the name of Emily (Hailee Steinfeld) who has a natural talent for songwriting.  Did anyone else find the story oddly familiar, like it was the original but with a new Beca?!

I was unsure about the new addition to the Barden Bellas, especially as she stole so much screen time from Beca, but I grew to love her in the end. The story was predictable without ruining any enjoyment, and didn’t feel like a ‘copy & paste’ job to me. The jokes we loved in the original were taken one step further this time, especially John Michael Higgins, sexist remarks. There were huge gasps of horror followed by laughter to most of his one-liners at the cinema I was at.  I was a bit disappointed to be honest, I had read a review beforehand which said it was as good as the first but I didn't think so.  Although, it was still really funny, the story wasn't as good for me (a little bit too far fetched!) and it felt like that had to make up story so they could bring in past characters who would have graduated since the first movie.  Don't get me wrong, it was still brilliantly likeable and I will love having Pitch Perfect marathons with the girls and a bottle of wine but the first one is still a winner for me.

The songs and the mash-ups were just as good this time round, although I thought we could have done with some more recent hits. My favourite performances were put on by the German group, Das Sound Machine, I want the soundtrack just for them! They scared the crap out of me, they were just so aggressive and reminded me of Ben Stiller's dodgeball team! Beca’s attempts at comebacks when the two groups were confronted were just hilarious, and I’m sure I read somewhere that Anna Kendrick improvised most, if not all of those.  She was hilarious with her comebacks - another reason to lurve her...

As much as I loved Pitch Perfect 2, I haven’t made my mind up yet whether it’s better than the original. The sequel feels bigger, everything that worked well in the first has been improved on, but it just doesn’t have the magic of the original, but I guess that’s the problem with all sequels. I think they’re on a par for me.

What I will say (without ruining it) though is that the ending scene was awesome, and actually gave me goosebumps. Oh, and that mid-credits scene was amazing! So glad I stayed for that.  The ending made it for me, if it hadn't been as good as it was I may have been seriously disappointed but I came out smiling and happier for watching it so that can't be a bad thing!

 

Review: Into the Woods (2014)

I have no idea what to expect when I rocked up at the cinema to see Into the Woods, I knew it was a musical but I didn't know if it was serious like Les Miserables or funny or complete fantasy.  It seems I was surprised on all counts...

Somehow I didn't even realise it was a musical until about a week before it was released in cinemas, and then my other half wouldn't go with me! Boo...

 

Into the Woods is the story of a Baker (James Corden) and his wife (Emily Blunt) who are desperate for a child but in order to be able to do that they have to lift a curse put on their house by the wicked witch (Meryl Streep).  They venture into the woods to gather four items that the witch needs to reverse the spell, at the same time Cinderella happens to be in the woods running from her prince, Jack is escaping and giant from the beanstalk, Little Red Riding Hood is wandering having lost her Grandmothers house and Rapunzel is banished there by the queen. 

 

This is a great mixture of lots of different fairy tales but it took me at least half an hour to settle into it.  In this first half an hour I was desperately trying to take the film seriously (and losing) and finding it cheesy and awful.  But then, I was about to give up when the Prince brothers (Chris Pine and Billy Magnussen) meet in the woods and break into a rendition of Agony, which was hysterical.  This brought me back, I stopped taking it so seriously and enjoyed it for what it was.  It has it's serious moments, comedy scenes and completely ridiculous sections but I was engrossed.  I couldn't take my eyes off the screen and, considering these are well known fairy tales, I had not idea what was going to happen next.
 

 

The mixture of different fairy tales is what really captured my interest. These are stories we all know, stories we've heard a million times before, but take a bunch of them and put them together, and suddenly they're no longer boring to see brought to life for the hundredth time. Red Riding Hood and the Wolf was a tad creepy, but really, what could they do to tone the theme down without losing the story?

 

I know there have been some mixed reviews about this but I think the benefit for me is that I haven't seen (or heard of) the stage version (which I have been told is better by far).  This meant I went in with no expectation and because of that I was pleasantly surprised.  The music, what can I say about the music, it took a bit to get used but it was totally gripping, I have already downloaded the soundtrack and the original stage version (as there were some songs missing in the movie) and I can't wait to listen to them.

 

 

I didn't even know it was based on a stage show until now, oops! It makes perfect sense now. The music got me instantly and I found myself humming 'Into the Woods' all evening, much to the annoyance of my fiance. Could anyone else listen to Chris Pine singing for hours on end? Is it too late to cast him for Pitch Perfect 2?

 

After all that though, there was one clear cut highlight of the whole film.  That was Meryl Streep.  She stole every scene she was in with complete ease and her singing voice is unreal (apparently she sang everything live even though she has pre-recorded the songs).  Last Midnight was amazing, so much so that it gave me goosebumps.  Is it just me or (once she was made young again) did Streep look as good in this as she did in Death Becomes Her way back in 1992, she has got some good ol' genes!

 

The film is pretty much in two halves, and the first half was amazing, the second dragged a little and there was a huge break between songs which wasn't great, but the twists in the story made it worthwhile I think.

 

I know many won't agree with me but I really loved this, I can't wait to learn all the songs and then (attempt) to sing along. 

Apologies to Jenna's neighbours, because I'll be blasting this soundtrack in the car on my way to her house next time I see her!

Happy Birthday Anna Kendrick!

Anna Kendrick turns 29 today and I thought it might be nice to share with you all my Top 5 Anna Kendrick films. I first saw her in the Twilight series back in 2008 and since then she just seems to have popped up in loads of other films I've seen!

Anna hasn't actually been in an awful lot of films if you take a look through her filmography, but she has an awful lot coming up in the next 2 years so my Top 5 list could well look completely different by then.

 

Yeah, yeah, I know, it's Twilight. But this is the first time I ever saw Anna, and I think she played her character really well, and stayed true to the book version. Plus, her graduation speech Twilight Eclipse was brilliant, and made me cry a little. Not that it takes much to make me cry!

 

 

End of Watch makes my list purely for the scene with her and Jake Gyllenhaal singing in the car. It was just so natural and I think Anna's natural charm really shined during the scene. I don't know how true this is, but I heard that the song just happened to be playing anyway and the scene was completely improvised. Cute if true!

 

 

I wasn't a huge fan of 50/50 to be honest, but Anna's character was just so down to earth that I mainly enjoyed it just for her. Although her character is very similar (I think anyway) to her character in Up in the Air, the completely different topic kept it fresh for me.

As someone who gets to travel a little for work, I really appreciated Up in the Air and I just loved how it didn't follow a predictable plot. Anna played the role of a some what cold, by the book professional really well, a role which I don't think reflects her true personality at all.

 

 

I'm a human of the female variety, it's just in my nature to love Pitch Perfect, sorry! Just everything, from her dress sense, her non-cornforming attitude to her singing just had me smiling throughout the whole film. If there was ever a film on my life (highly doubtful, and a box office flop if so), I would love Anna Kendrick to play me!

 

What's your favourite Anna Kendrick film?