Mini Reviews: A Honeymoon Travel Edition

I’m back, guys! Gosh, I’ve missed you all so much. It’s only been two weeks but I feel so out of the loop movie wise. My husband (that still feels weird to say) asked me what movies we’d missed and I panicked when I had to answer with ‘I don’t even know!!’ Anyway, on our travels to New York, California and back home again, we watched a few movies whilst travelling.

You know what it’s like on a plane, you’re bored stiff, most likely jet lagged, and in that state, the most boring movie in the world can seem half interesting, and a gripping drama could be the thing that sends you off to sleep. Therefore, I’m doing a Mini Reviews special, but my ratings are given in mini pretzels out of five. American Airline’s snack of choice, if you’re wondering.

I normally score movies based on my enjoyment of them, rather than looking at them critically, and that’s why we’re going with pretzels, rather than a serious score, because I know full well if I watched these movies normally my score would be different.

Joy (2016 - Just about with a UK release date of 1st Jan!)

Our first plane must have been dug out of an old hangar, as the seats didn’t have their own screens. Instead, we were forced to watch whatever the boxy screens in the aisle were playing! That was actually kind of exciting, but when a black and white movie started playing, I panicked. That’s until the narrator said something along the lines of ‘...the story of Joy’ and I nearly cried with relief. I love Jennifer Lawrence but never got round to watching Joy!

It’s an odd real life story to pick for a movie though, right? Lady creates mop, becomes super successful? No discredit or anything, but I’d have liked to have been a fly on the wall in that pitch meeting. Anyway, I actually really enjoyed this, and the moment Joy’s best friend calls in on QVC when she freezes up made me ‘whoop’ out loud! Sorry, stranger in 12C, I know you were trying to sleep.

The Karate Kid (2010)

Same flight, second movie. I was grateful for this, because we’d just been shown a lot of random TV episodes from shows I’d never heard of, and I was getting fidgety. I’d also consumed a lot of Coca-Cola, and 12C was not amused by the amount of toilet breaks I needed. This one was instantly recognisable as The Karate Kid, but what an odd choice of movie! 

Confession time, I’ve never seen the original Karate Kid, so I had no idea what to expect. This version was kind of predictable and over-sweet, the kind of movie I doubt I’d ever watch by choice, but with absolutely no alternative I actually had a bit of fun. Still not enough to make me want to see After Earth, though!

Jurassic Park (1993)

Oh, here goes nothing. I’ve never seen Jurassic Park the whole way through. I don’t know why! All I remember is the ‘objects in mirror are closer than they appear’ moment, and that’s only because my family find it the funniest thing in the world. On the plane to Los Angeles, we were back to what I was expecting, with screens in the backs of the seats. Knowing that a visit to Universal Studios was on the agenda, there was no way that I could pass on the opportunity to watch the original Jurassic Park!

So, now I can understand that Jurassic World is pretty much just a copy and paste job, but honestly, it’s so hard watching a movie like this on a tiny screen! I think I saw some dinosaurs...there was a dark shadow that resembled a T-Rex for sure. I’m glad I can finally say I’ve seen the movie, but honestly, I’m going to have to watch it again so I can actually tell what’s going on. All that aside, I got so engrossed I missed the staff walk past with mini pretzels...sad face.

Daddy’s Home (2015)

Oh...this was on the plane home, I was super sad, and we were back on the plane with screens in the aisle so had no choice about what we watched. Worse than that, the movie was Daddy’s Home, which I only watched a few weeks ago anyway, and didn’t find all that funny. In the end, it seemed like those were the perfect conditions, because I weirdly enjoyed it much more than the first time round!

All it takes are holiday blues, extreme tiredness and an on-set of hayfever, and suddenly the sight of a car knocking down some traffic cones outside a school is the funniest thing in the world. I was very glad to have an empty seat right next to me so I could laugh without upsetting anyone, and I could also drink all the free coke in the world and go to the loo whenever I liked.

Review: Daddy's Home (2015)

I’m a real sucker for a comedy, and if it doesn’t contain James Franco, even better, but Daddy’s Home just had a really awkward release date. Between Star Wars and all the Oscar nominated movies, I didn’t even pretend I was going to watch this at the cinema. Instead, I waited for the DVD release and a rainy Sunday evening.   I really wanted to see this but like Allie is just came out at the wrong time!

Brad (Will Ferrell) is a Step Dad to his wife Sara’s (Linda Cardellini) two children. During the opening credits, we see Brad progress through the children’s family drawings. He starts off dead, in many creative ways, has poop for hair, but is eventually accepted. Things are going great until the children’s biological father Dusty (Mark Wahlberg) shows up uninvited. Dusty is threatened by a new father figure figure being in the picture, and his presence threatens to destroy all of Brad’s hard work.

From the trailer I kind of got the feeling that this wasn’t going to be up there with the likes of Anchorman or Ted for me. It’s always a shame when all the funny parts are in the trailer. That’s kind of what happened here. The movie was enjoyable enough, and there were plenty of jokes and gags from start to finish, but a large majority of them just fell flat. There’s some pretty funny lines poking fun at Frozen at least.  I remember laughing quite a lot throughout this, however I can't remember many of them now which implies that maybe this isn't very memorable.  I am ashamed to stay that I laughed out loud at the motorbike scene, it shouldn't have been funny but I couldn't stop laughing.

For the most part, I just found myself disappointed, and then I started doing what you should never do with comedies like this. I started over analysing everything, and then I couldn’t stop myself. I got more and more annoyed with Sara’s character, who was nothing more than scenery for the entire movie. If she really didn’t want Dusty there, could she not have just told him to leave?! Oh, I hate myself for being picky like this.  She was a pain in the a$$ just make a decision already!!

Anyway, whilst the movie wasn’t very funny, it was entertaining enough, and I have a real soft spot for Will Ferrell so I stuck it out for him. I wanted the good guy to win. What took me by surprise was the final part of the movie at the Daddy-Daughter dance. It was about ten minutes long and I was laughing out loud for the entire time. What just happened?! This movie went from dull to hilarious out of absolutely nowhere.  This was a great scene, but it didn't beat the basketball scene, I actually cried real tears watching that scene.

Which left me even more disappointed in a sense. It had finally found that humorous soft spot, and then it was all over. This was going to be a 4/10 for me, but that final part and the amazing cameo right at the end was enough to give it a whole point more. Seriously. That cameo, man.  Amazing!