Mini Reviews: High-Rise (2016), Triple 9 (2016) & Dirty Grandpa (2016)

As we approach the middle of the year, all the movies that I missed in January and February are slowly released on DVD and VOD, meaning I can finally catch up and rack up a few more 2016 releases on my 'watched' list. That means, for the first time in forever, one of my Mini Reviews posts has a theme. These three movies were all released in the UK at the start of 2016, and I've caught up!

OH MY GOD WHAT WAS EVEN GOING ON HERE. Seriously. I was so excited for High-Rise (2016) when I first saw the trailers. A suited and booted Tom Hiddleston? I’m in. A weird and quirky plot? Excuse me, I already told you I’m in but now I’m excited. I was gutted I missed this in the cinemas, but now? I’m relieved. This movie was so weird. It was like Snowpiercer but in a high-rise building. Snowpiercer also had a plot! This had so many suit-clad characters I forgot who was who. What made it worse was that the movie starts with the ending, so it’s not like I felt the need to stick with it to find out what even happens. Argh!

I had no intention of seeing Triple 9 (2016) in the cinemas, truth be told, it’s not my kind of movie, but I saw it get a lot of decent reviews, so I made sure I gave it a try once I could. It’s your typical action-heist movie, filled with dirty cops and criminals, and takes a few turns that the veteran action fans probably smelt a mile away, but I really enjoyed it! My fiance (probably husband by the time you read this!) plays a game called Rainbow Six Seige, and I got that vibe from this, so he was kind of bummed that I watched it without him. Still, he gives me this proud kind of look when I start spewing lines about breaching the door and stuff…

I don’t know what made me give Dirty Grandpa (2016) a watch, but sometimes you just need to watch some mindless comedy, you know?! These things are so hit and miss and even though general consensus seems to be that this is one a stinker, it just hit my funny bone in a way that a comedy hasn’t for a long time. Maybe it’s my growing appreciation for Zac Efron, or the shock of such foul words coming from Robert De Niro, but this worked for me. Sure, the plot is tired and has been used time and time again, and yep, 99% of the comedy relies on rude jokes, but what more did you expect? I’m still laughing at the ‘Jenny from the c*ck block’ line, and it’s been weeks.

Review: Captain America: Civil War (2016)

The year is 2016. We are neck deep in Superhero Movie era at this point. I have neither the patience nor the will to count just how many bad guys have been taken down so far, but it’s obviously a lot, because our heroes have resorted to fighting each other. In this epic Marvel showdown, it’s safe to say that Jenna and I are #TeamCap, (agreed) so let’s get down to business, reporting live from:

What was the deal with those giant location titles, anyway? It felt like a music video, and all it really did was make me jealous of all the amazing travelling the cast and crew got to do. Although, they will be mighty useful when my Dad gets around to watching it, because my Mum spends too much time reading out the little location reminders to him during movies. This was probably the only thing I didn't like about this movie, I remember hating it but I had forgotten, so if my score is affected, Allie is to blame!

So, to set the scene, bad guy Crossbones (Frank Grillo) is up to no good in LAGOS. Sorry, it’s the giant titles making me want to shout the locations. Captain America (Chris Evans) and the gang manage to stop him, but Scarlet Witch (Elizabeth Olsen) isn’t able to contain an explosion well enough using her abilities, which leads to the destruction of a nearby hotel, and the many deaths of innocent bystanders. This is the final straw that leads the powers that be to put into force legislation that controls the extent to which The Avengers may get involved in times of crisis, which in turn is what fuels the divide between Captain America and Iron Man (Robert Downey Jr).

I need to throw in a little rant here...so I get that the movie concept is pulled from a comic not from thin air BUT surely the Avengers saved more innocent bystanders than they actually hurt.  Did no one think to say "fine we won't save the world anymore" wait for the next bad guy to attack, watch millions of innocent people die and then say "that would have only been 12 if we have been involved" surely that would have shut everyone up and they could have gone about with their business - Is this just me?!

With the inclusion of so many Marvel heroes, this could have easily turned into another Avengers movie, but rest assured this is most definitely still Captain America’s time to shine. His plot line with trying to save Bucky (Sebastian Stan) from the control of Zemo (Daniel Bruhl) still stands at the forefront. As well as some of our favourites returning (no Thor though, sob!) we also get introduced to 2 new heroes. Black Panther (Chadwick Boseman), a personal favourite of mine from the cartoons, and the newest Spider-Man (Tom Holland) who is most likely going to be the best yet! He’s also the youngest we’ve had, which is definitely a better fit from the comics.  I thought I was going to hate another new Spiderman after loving Andrew Garfield but he my be the best yet, I think he is going to continue to surprise us.

Which brings us swiftly on to the scene we were all waiting for, the ultimate battle at the airport in BERLIN (sorry). This scene is honestly so perfect I don’t even know what to say. It’s intense, made more so by the fact that these guys were once good friends, but it’s also one of the funniest Marvel movie scenes ever. Ant-Man (Paul Rudd) just kills it here! The way he uses his abilities are just hilarious! ‘Sh*t! I thought that was a water truck. My bad!’. I’m honestly laughing just typing this.  This is going to be a very boring review because I basically agree with everything Allie is saying, it's much more fun when we heckle each other!  This scene was the best, I flipped back and forth from tense to laughing, I didn't know what to expect next and it kept me on the edge of my seat.

Of course, just like when we were all kids play fighting on the playground, someone takes it too far, and the mood does a full 180 instantly, bringing us back to reality. Obviously I won’t say any more about that here. 

Maybe it’s because I still have the taste of Batman v Superman in my mouth, but I thought the ending to the conflict between Cap and Iron Man was done so well, better than I had imagined it would go. There’s no ‘Oh hey our Mum’s have the same name’ moment here, (damn spoiler alert haha! You have access to the internet, don't tell me you haven't seen 1,000,000 memes about this yet!) the issues are real, and they cut deep, and this isn’t something that can simply end by shaking on it.

That said, as much as I loved this, I do have just a couple of gripes. I know that it’s important for the movie, and it’s only because there are so many superhero movies out there now that this is even an issue, but all the political debates about collateral damage and vigilantes just makes me want to go ‘UGHHHHH’. We knowwww, we know! Oh, and I was so happy to see Martin Freeman pop up in this, but dude what was with that accent? The worst part is, we already know he can do an American accent, so what went wrong here? I’d have preferred him to go full on Fargo than whatever that was.  Argh I had forgotten about the accent, another point deducted thanks to Allie's photographic memory!

Considering I said earlier that the locations were the only thing I didn't like about this movie, I have yet another gripe!!  It was made very clear why the lead characters took the stand they did but the background heroes just seemed to pick a side at random - particularly Clint, I thought he retired to be with his family but now he's willing to fight outside the law and risk going to prison and leaving them?! 

No more issues, regardless of moans, I really did love this and can't wait to watch it again and again when it is out of DVD.

Mini Reviews: Ask Me Anything (2014), American Ultra (2015) & The Night Before (2015)

When Jenna texts me to tell me about a movie she’s just seen on Netflix that takes a dark and strange turn, I’m game. Just tell me where I can watch it! She also warned me that it was NSFW/T/P/D and other letters of the alphabet, so I made the most of an evening by myself to avoid any awkwardness! Just for the record, it’s currently watchable on Netflix.

Ask Me Anything (2014) is a quirky little drama starring Britt Robertson as Katie Kampenfelt, who takes a year off before college in order to try and find herself. She uses an anonymous blog to write about her innermost secrets and well, looking at her page hits, Jenna and I are clearly in the wrong blogging scene! Kidding, of course. It’s a decent watch, but takes such a crazy turn right at the end that it just left me a little cold, rather than awestruck.  As I had seen 2 out of the 3 movies on this post, I thought I would just tag along, hope you don't mind Allie ;-)

This was a really average film until the end, I was convinced it was a true story and set about finding out what happened, but it wasn't.  I was so shocked and dismayed by the ending, I had to find someone else to suffer with me, hence the text to Allie.  Between us we still haven't worked out a decent theory so I may have to just forget about it!

 

I’m pretty sure Jenna & I were meant to watch this together at the cinema but the times were weird, and then I forgot all about it! How can I even describe American Ultra (2015)? It’s like Pineapple Express, Kick-Ass and the Jason Bourne movies all had a baby together. Kristen Stewart and Jesse Eisenberg are stoners in love, but Eisenberg is also some sort of Government experiment which means he’s super skilled in combat, but he doesn’t know that. It was actually a pretty decent movie, but it got really messy at the end with far too many twists to keep track of!

Finally got to see this movie after missing it at the cinema with Allie and I loved it!  You may remember that I have a bizarre and inexplicable crush on Jesse Eisenburg which fortunately meant I could suffer Kristen Stewart for 2 hours!  It could have been funnier in places and there was a lot of talking but I was thoroughly entertained throughout and really did enjoy all the twists and turns.

So, I’d have liked to have posted a review for The Night Before (2015) actually around Christmas time, but as it does, life got in the way. Heck, I’m just super happy I got to watch this before Christmas!

Seth Rogan is back and has teamed up with Anthony Mackie and Joseph Gordon-Levitt for a surprisingly heartfelt festive movie. It has everything you would expect from Seth, including one of the funniest drug-induced scenes round a dinner table that had me in stitches. It’s just such a shame that the first half of the movie is pretty bland. It’s worth sticking with, though!  I have never heard of this but now I really want to see it...is it too late now Christmas is over?! Never! Christmas lasts forever!

Review: Pain & Gain (2013)

I have been meaning to watch this for a while as I thought the trailer looks quite funny and I noticed Rebel Wilson so I thought, this must be good! 

This is actually the true story of Daniel Lugo (Mark Walhberg), a bodybuilder who decides he wants to be a 'doer' and to do this he decides to kidnap a rich client of his to get him to sign over all his assets.  He ropes in Christian teetotaller Paul Doyle (Dwayne Johnson) and steroid junkie Adrian (Anthony Mackie) to help him on his mission to 'get what he deserves'

This has been on my list for a while so once I saw Jenna had watched and reviewed it, that was my kick up the bum to get on with it!

This film is really funny, in an odd way, you can't think too much about what your watching and if you try to remember its a true story it actually becomes quite hilarious to think that three guys actually got themselves into this situation! The dialogue is cheesy and the story seems far fetched but that adds to the entertainment. Rebel Wilson was completely wasted, her limited screentime left you wanted to see more of her and disappointed that you didn't!! The voice overs throughout the film although comical become a little annoying towards the end and drag on a little but the freeze frame scenes and general tackiness add to the disbelief that this is a true story (but it is!).

Gah, I really struggle to say what I think about Pain & Gain. The first half was pretty good actually, sure it was a little farfetched, but it was still interesting and a little silly. But after a major turning point which I won't mention, it just went a bit too far for me, and all I could think about were plot holes which my mind normally happily forgets about. It also dragged like crazy! I paused to go to the loo at what I thought was about 20 minutes before the end, and realised there was still an hour to go. Ouch!

I would recommend this to someone looking for a cheesy film to watch when they have nothing else to do.

Dwayne Johnson was the highlight for me, and well, take that however way you want to. Pain & Gain isn't a film I'll watch again in a hurry, but if you've got an interest in it anyway, don't let us put you off and give it a go.

 

Review: Captain America: The Winter Soldier (2014)

I seriously can't believe it's been 3 years since Captain America: The First Avenger! I was so happy to see this on the weekend with my gang. I have to admit, I'm actually more of  a DC girl, and Cap isn't my favourite Avenger, but who doesn't love a good ol' superhero flick? I'll try to keep this spoiler free. Allie being the DC girl, I am most definitely the Marvel girl (and a sucker for Chris Evans in a tight fitting outfit!!) therefore my review may be slightly biased!! Got to see this with my Dad a week or so ago and I'm so glad I saw it at the cinema, there is so much more atmosphere there than in your living room with a cup of tea and a pair of slippers! (I'm rambling again!!)

I'm sorry to say that I wasn't a big fan of the first film, not to say I didn't think it was good, but the story just didn't grab me. I'm not overly excited by war films, and yes, I do understand that's kind of Cap's thing, but that's just me! I'd heard great things about the new one though.  Ooooh that hurts (you wait until the Green Lantern review missy!) I loved the first film, although I am a fan of war films in general so it hit two notes for me.  However, funnily enough the trailer for this film didn't grab me, I honestly thought it looked a bit rubbish, too cheesy and had overly set up jokes. Fortunately, my initial judgement was unfounded once I actually saw the film. 

Safe to say it didn't disappoint me. This was the perfect mix of action, funny one liners, and explosions. There were twists, some expected, one very much so, but some that took me by complete surprise too and I love that. Also, as much as I can't stand Scarlett Johanssen, we got to find out a lot more about her character, and the inclusion of Falcon was a great move too.  I agree, if we are talking about the same twist, I guessed it too, it was so bloody obvious!  Not a fan of SJ, nor Black Widow so her back story and life bored me totally but everything else made up for that, Cap (that beautiful, beautiful man!) was ace, I enjoyed the story (although as a non-comic book reader, there was a huge spoiler on the cover of my Empire magazine which was disappointing and killed one of the 'gosh' moments for me! 

There are plenty of easter eggs for the die hard Marvel fans; Black Widow's necklace was my favourite one, I may have squeed a little in the cinema! The main thing that disappointed me though was that the film didn't really set us up for Avengers: Age of Ultron, which I was expecting it too.  I don't think I would have spotted this unless you had told me Allie so my favourite Easter egg was the mention of Tony Stark having 'a closer look' at the turbines on the hellicarriers, referring to the scene in The Avengers. Plus Stan Lee's usual presence, this time as a security guard in the Smithsonian Museum.

Nonetheless though, I really enjoyed this, Oh, and as usual, make sure you stay till after the credits! They don't play with you like Iron Man 3 did, don't worry. Not just until after the initial credits either, you have to stay until the end of the rolling black and white credits as there are two extra scenes for you to enjoy!

One more thing! If anyone can find out how much Chevrolet paid for the crazy amount of product placement, I would love to know! Love it!

Action, adventure, good guy wins, bad guy loses and plenty of comedic one liners to keep it flowing.  Good shout Marvel :-)