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: 4 Minute Mile (2014), Kelly and Cal (2014) & Equals (2015)

Sat in an airport, flight is delayed and all I have to entertain me is the films I downloaded the night before (thank god for that!).  I managed two films during my wait, one was 4 Minute mile and the other was True Story (there is a full review for that coming soon).

Drew Jacobs (Kelly Blatz) has natural athletic talent that is being wasted until Coleman (Richard Jenkins) decides to train him in the mile race. This is a typical coming of age/sports drama - everything you expect to happen, happens.  It was utterly predictable and not very exciting to boot.  Richard Jenkins is the only thing I actually enjoyed about this film.  Thank god i was stuck in an airport with nothing else to do or I would have just switched it off as I already knew how it was going to end.

This was another one I watched when I was out and about with nothing else to do, the difference with this is that I would have continued watching it if I was at home.  Kelly is a suburban housewife who craves her younger days and wonders if she will ever feel happy in her home life.  Cal is a 17 year old boy who is in a wheelchair and feels like he has no control over his own life.  When the two meet they develop a deep connection, a friendship that most would find strange but gives them a sense of purpose.  I really enjoyed this film, the chemistry between the actors was perfect (if not a little awkward which worked well), I loved Juliette Lewis' and Jonny Weston's performances we amazing.  This is a definitely one to recommend.

I had a feeling I would know how this film would go and how it would end- I was right!  In a world with no emotions, a couple fall in love after catching a 'disease' that allows them to feel emotions again.  I actually quite enjoyed this regardless of the predictability, it had a Romeo and Juliet meets Delirium vibe both of which I love.  Nicholas Hoult and Kristen Stewart had real chemistry (no wonder there were rumours about them afterwards) and although I had guessed, I was intrigued to know how it would end. Worth a watch I would say.

Mini Reviews: The Driftless Area (2016), Mojave (2016) & Central Intelligence (2016)

As the middle of the year got closer, I was able to catch up on 2016 releases that I'd missed at the cinema. Some were great, others not so, and a select few were just plain 'meh'. I find an odd sense of pleasure writing a review about a movie I hated, but movies that fall into that middle ground are harder to write about, so today I present a Mini Reviews special for those!

The Driftless Area (2016)

What even is this movie?! It felt like it was trying to be two very different things. On one side, it was a dramatic romance, with what I think is a huge plot twist I won’t mention, but it’s so glaringly obvious I’m not even sure if it’s meant to be a twist. On the other side, it’s a thrilling cat and mouse chase, full of danger. The Driftless Area (2016) could have been either of these, and done it reasonably well, but it failed by being both. I watched this solely for the cast, whom I love, but I was left pretty disappointed. I expected more from Anton Yelchin, Zooey Deschanel and Aubrey Plaza, they are some of my favourite faces! An interesting watch, but forgettable.

Mojave (2016)

I spotted Mojave (2016 here in the UK) on a VOD platform, mainly because of the beautiful Oscar Isaac’s face. It was tempting to watch it there and then, but I checked out the plot summary at least before I made up my mind. IMDB describes this as ‘A suicidal artist goes into the desert, where he finds his doppelganger, a homicidal drifter’. Um, what? I spent 50% of the time watching this raging about the fact that Tom (Garrett Hedlund) looks nothing at all like his ‘doppelganger’, until I looked it up and realised the word has two different meanings. The other 50% I was cringing every time Oscar Isaac said the word ‘brother’ in that accent. Ugh.

Central Intelligence (2016)

Comedies are always hit and miss, but I was hoping to enjoy Central Intelligence (2016) more than I did. It was decent, Dwayne Johnson and Kevin Hart have great chemistry together, but the plot fell a little short. In fact, it felt like the exact same plot from another comedy I can’t recall right now. I’d like to see these guys pair up again, though! It was nice to see some of my other favourite faces, although *spoiler alert* because his reappearance was the plot twist, Aaron Paul saying ‘bitch’ made me laugh and cringe at the same time.

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.

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.

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.

Preparing for Disneyland...Movie Style!

In case I haven’t told you too many times yet, I’m getting married at the end of May. Eek! Wedding planning has kind of come to the point where if I even see a wedding happen in a movie or TV show, I want to sob hysterically into my multiple planners, so I’ve been trying to focus on our honeymoon lately, which is proving to be a nice break! We’re going back to New York where we got engaged for four nights, and then on to the West Coast for another ten. Part of that trip is going to be Disneyland! I’ve only ever been to Disney World in Florida, sixteen years ago, so I can’t wait.

In preparation, and to avoid wedding related movies, my fiance and I have been catching up on some Disney movies that we’ve either never seen, or haven’t seen in years. Rather than spam this blog with Disney reviews I thought I’d put together a longer post with them all together.

Disney California Adventure Park is home to the newly-opened Cars Land. They’ve literally built Radiator Springs into the park! Look at how pretty it is! Anyway, I know I’ve seen Cars (2006) but I could barely remember it, and my fiance had never seen it, so this was first on our list to catch up with.

Lightning McQueen (Owen Wilson) is a hotshot rookie race car who finds himself in with a chance to win the Piston Cup. Whilst en-route to California for the tie-breaker, he finds himself lost in Radiator Springs, an old, seemingly deserted town just off Route 66. Whilst there, Lighting comes to acquaint himself with the residents, and learns the meaning of friendship.

I think it’s fair to say that this is one of Pixar’s weakest movies, but it’s still a great watch. Even though the plot is a little tired and predictable, it’s the characters and the little details that make this movie so much fun. It was only on this recent watch that I could work out what some of the cars actually are, and I loved that Luigi is an old-style Fiat 500! That said, I haven’t heard great things about Cars 2, so I think we’ll avoid that one for now.

Mulan (1998) is Disney’s retelling of an old Chinese legend, where a family is torn apart by war. One man from each family is summoned to deal with the Huns, but Mulan’s father is the only male left in their family, and is too frail for war. He accepts his fate, but in the night, Mulan steals his gear and impersonates a man to take his place in the army. 

For years I’ve sworn that I’ve never seen this, but I think I must have done once as a child, the songs sounded familiar! I really did enjoy this more than I thought I would, it’s very different to most Disney movies and doesn’t have that heartbreaking moment that most do. That probably came out worse than it should have done, but I hate how Disney movies make me cry! I managed to stay dry-eyed through this one, thankfully.

The loveable Mushu, voiced by Eddie Murphy kind of stole the show for me. Is this how he got the role of Donkey in Shrek? He’s just perfect! I’m definitely going to have to hunt down a stuffed Mushu in Disneyland...despite what my fiance has warned me (I own too many stuffed toys for an adult, but then he owns too much lego so we’re even!).

I don’t know how I’ve gotten away with not watching The Emperor’s New Groove (2000) for so long, because it’s my fiance’s 2nd favourite Disney movie ever! I don’t know why it’s never held much appeal to me, but once I noticed the voice cast including David Spade, Patrick Warburton and the legendary John Goodman, I was more than happy to give it a go!

Emperor Kuzco is a grade A douchebag, wanting to demolish the home of a gentle llama herder just to build himself another pool. When he scorns his assistant Yzma, she seeks revenge and inadvertently turns him into a llama. Pacha, the llama herder, agrees to help Kuzco as long as he promises to leave his village alone. What follows is a hilarious journey as the pair travel and attempt to avoid Yzma and her right-hand man, Kronk.

Whilst I don’t hold it with the same esteem as my fiance, I really enjoyed this one. It felt different to Disney’s usual style, with more jokes for the bigger kids. Definitely glad I watched this, and at least now I know what my fiance is on about when he starts quoting half the movie on impulse!

At the time Brave (2012) came out, I was in a job that sent me to Aberdeen in Scotland too many times. There’s nothing wrong with Aberdeen, let me just say! It’s just that whenever I went, my plane home was always horrendously delayed, and the event I was there for always had drama. We got evacuated from the venue once because the wind was so dangerous. Needless to say, my plane home was delayed. By 4 hours. Sigh. I reckon that’s why I couldn’t face watching Brave. The Scottish accent alone gives me flashbacks of that airport.

Anyway! Brave has a very Disney-esque storyline. Merida, a princess, has become of the age when her parents are finding a suitor for her, and her mother is attempting to teach her how to be a real ‘princess’. Merida doesn’t like boys, doesn’t like being a princess, and would be much happier shooting arrows. Tension builds, which leads to Merida turning her mother into a llama. No, wait. Wrong movie. A bear!

This was an enjoyable watch too, but it was missing something. I’m not sure what, it made me laugh, made me cry, but something just felt off! Most definitely worth a watch, though.

One thing is for sure, watching any Disney movie just makes me feel all warm and fuzzy inside. Wedding stress was definitely forgotten whilst we watched these. In fact, we’ll be trying to remember those happy moments whilst riding Mickey’s Fun Wheel...which we’ve learnt is not-so secretly known as Mickey’s Wheel of Doom, thanks to it’s free-swinging carts...gulp.

Mini Reviews: Pretty in Pink (1986), Some Kind of Wonderful (1987) and Mannequin (1987)

A few weeks back, I went a bit 80's movie mad on Netflix and watched all my old favourites, except Say Anything and Can't buy me love because they weren't available but these three were.  Nothing beats a Sunday afternoon of back to back 80's movies.

I watched this a few times with my Mom when I was a kid and I remembered really enjoying it but couldn't remember much of the story.  Andie (Molly Ringwald) is the poor girl being pursued by her best friend Ducky (Jon Cryer) and the local rich kid, Blane (Andrew McCarthy) who doesn't like the ways of his fellow rich kids.

I really love this film, it really shows how insecure teenagers can be (even the rich and popular ones). I completely forgot how awesome Ducky was, he wasn't the best looking but he was the most loyal friend Andie could have asked for.  I spent the whole film switching between which one I thought she should go for him or Blane.  This is one I could watch over and over again.

This was my Mom's favourite film when I was a kid but I wasn't allowed to watch it until I was older. Keith (Eric Stoltz) is obsessed with going on a date with Amanda Jones (Lea Thompson) who agrees to go out with him after breaking up with her boyfriend.  His best friend Watts (Mary Stuart Masterson) is on hand to help him get the girl.

I spent most of the film screaming at Keith to forget about Amanda, I didn't like her at all, she was completely self centred and mean!  I also got mad at Keith for spending all his money on one date, what a moron, how was he planning to keep it up?! Amidst all the shouting however, I loved it, the music was great and the appearance of Elias Koteas literally made my day, love that guy!!

One of my favourite films as a kid, having watched it as a grown up though I realised a lot of the film was over my head.  I thought Hollywood (Meshach Taylor) had a room mate called Albert ;-)  Jonathan (Andrew Mccarthy) creates the most perfect mannequin and ends up landing a job in the store where she is in the window.  The mannequin, Emmy (Kim Cattrell), is a cursed Princess from Egyptian times and comes to life in front of Jonathan.

This film has my most favourite montage scene EVER, I still have the song in my car and dance along to it on the way to work.  It has the most hilariously awkward scenes when someone else comes into the room and Emmy turns back into a mannequin.  Movie critics hate this and even rotten tomatoes only gave it 55% so I guess this one of my guilty pleasures.

Mini Reviews: Dope (2015), John Wick (2014) & Kill Your Friends (2015)

It feels like the whole of the UK has fallen ill this month. My house didn't escape sadly, but it did lead to many evenings curled up on the sofa too tired to do anything than watch a movie! I've seen too many this last week to review them all so here are some Mini Reviews of Dope, John Wick and Kill Your Friends.

I have this blogging community to thank for putting Dope (2015) on my radar. Last summer my feed was full of positive reviews for it, so I saw it as soon as I got the chance. It’s a colourful ‘coming of age’ movie that seemed so familiar, and yet completely different to anything I’d watched before. Shameik Moore plays Malcolm, a geeky kid living in a rough neighbourhood with dreams of attending Harvard. One night at an underground party lands Malcolm and his friends into more than they bargained for, and the movie rapidly changes moods as the situation gets more dangerous.

It’s a really entertaining watch, and it’s worth giving it a chance for the amazing costumes and soundtrack alone!

It’s rare that I let my fiance pick a movie for us to watch, as I can guarantee it’ll be something like this. It’s a genre I can deal with, but it’s not my favourite. John Wick (2014) definitely stood out a little for me, though. There’s always a reason for the revenge killing, and this one in particular really upset me. It doesn’t help that it was Theon Greyjoy himself that carried out the murder, the horrible little rat! The action scenes and stunts were really well done, and I cringed quite a few times. You know when you see something and you think ‘oooh, I felt that’? That happened a lot!

Still not my favourite kind of movie, but this was an entertaining watch, and I’ll definitely see the sequel when it’s out.

When the trailers came out for Kill Your Friends (2015) I was so excited, and then it just completely fell off my radar. I haven’t seen Nicholas Hoult play this kind of character since Skins, and even though he comes across as such a sweetheart, he plays the bad guy surprisingly well. This one is an eccentric comedy/thriller/crime following the British music industry in the 90’s. It’s an entertaining watch, with a shocking start and a satisfying ending, but the rest is just a bit dull.

Regardless, there’s one proper laugh out loud scene that I’ll never forget, and it was worth watching for Nicholas Hoult alone. The guy does such a good job!