Review: Sausage Party (2016)

When I posted my ‘2016 Comedy Special’ mini reviews, I thought I’d seen all of the big comedy releases of this summer. Then I spotted someone’s review of Sausage Party in my blogger feed, and I let out a long sigh. There was one I had missed. When Seth Rogen and James Franco are together, they are so hit or miss for me. I’ve never seen one of their movies and thought ‘eh, that was alright’, it’s always one extreme or the other. And I really wasn’t sold by the trailer.

Of course, this animated movie is Seth Rogen’s baby that just so happens to feature James Franco, but I find Seth like that one guy in your friend group or school that's completely lovely and funny on his own, but when he’s with that particular friend, he turns into a complete ass. I sound really bitter, don’t I?

Sausage Party is like every other animated movie you’ve seen starring inanimate objects, with one difference. It’s rude. Like, extremely rude. Sexual jokes, racist jokes, down right dirty jokes, fly left right and center here. The stand out example here is in the opening scene, when a jar of german mustard announces his wishes to eliminate the juice. Say it out loud, and it’ll soon click for you. The ‘f’ in his logo is expertly designed to look like a very infamous symbol, too. That’s when you do that nervous kind of laugh where you know you shouldn’t find it funny, but it’s downright hilarious.

I actually had quite a bit of hope to begin with. If you’re not aware of the plot yet, the movie is about a bunch of groceries in a supermarket, living their lives, waiting to be chosen by the Gods to be taken to the ‘great beyond’. In this particular store, the groceries start each morning with a song all about it, and how certain they are that absolutely nothing will ge wrong should they be chosen. Sorry, but it’s still not quite as funny as Olaf the Snowman wanting to see what summer is all about!

Frank the sausage (Seth Rogen) is the star of the show, alongside his lover Brenda (Kristen Wiig), a hotdog bun. The two get chosen to leave but everything goes wrong, leaving them with the mission of getting back home to warn everyone else. It’s a simple enough story, but my biggest problem with it is that it doesn’t know what it wants to be. Is this a simple, ‘fart jokes’ comedy, or is a comedy with a hidden, deeper meaning? It’s both, which is confusing as hell.

But what really ruined it for me was the scene outside, with the zombie corn. If you’ve seen the movie, you’ll be shuddering right now because you’ll know exactly what I’m on about. A giant, cartoon-rendered turd on the floor being eaten by zombie corn. And it gets worse, because next on screen is a talking, used condom. I mean USED. Ugh.

I don’t know what I expected really. In some ways, Sausage Party was better than I thought it would be, but it’s still largely unfunny, and downright gross. That’s just me though, I know plenty of people will absolutely love this, because it’s the kind of humour they enjoy. At least I can now say I’ve seen all the big 2016 comedies! I think?

Review: The Fundamentals of Caring (2016)

There are some health-related movie themes forming just lately. 2015 was the year of children with cancer (The Fault in Our Stars, Me and Earl and the Dying Girl), and I’m hailing 2016 as the year of carers for the disabled (Me Before You, the upcoming movie The Carer and of course The Fundamentals of Caring). After being slightly traumatised by Me Before You earlier this year, I’m not sure why I stuck this one on whilst flicking through Netflix, but perhaps I like to torture myself.  I was bored on a Sunday afternoon and then I saw Paul Rudd's face and had to give this a go!

Ben (Paul Rudd) is a retired writer who has been through a traumatic experience. To fill his time, he qualifies as a carer, and lands himself a job caring for a teenage boy named Trevor (Craig Roberts), who is suffering from Duchenne muscular dystrophy (you totally had to google this!! Lies!). He has a set routine, mainly revolved around eating waffles and watching TV, and he has a fascination for American roadside attractions, his favourite being the world’s deepest pit, for how depressing it sounds.

Thankfully, The Fundamentals of Caring takes a ‘Little Miss Sunshine’ approach rather than something fully depressing, and soon into the movie, Ben takes Trevor on a road trip to see some of the sights Trevor has seen on TV. They also make an impromptu visit to see Trevor’s father who left when he was diagnosed at the age of 3, as he has been writing to Trevor ever since. Along the way they pick up a teenage girl on the run from her father (Selena Gomez) and a woman very close to giving birth (Megan Ferguson).  I don't know about you but I was on edge the whole time, I wasn't sure if this was a drama, a comedy or a dramedy so I was constantly panicking that something was going to happen to Trevor on the trip.  Part of me wants to watch it again so I can actually enjoy it for what it is now that I know what happens.

As Drama/Comedies go, the humour is dark, and mostly comes from Ben and Trevor’s banter with each other. Jokes about wiping arses are common, and on more than one occasion Trevor fakes choking and fitting, leaving Ben (and me! and me!) in an absolute state of panic. Haven’t you ever heard about the boy who cried wolf for goodness sake?! Although, this is exactly what I love the most about these kinds of movies. I can chuckle for the full runtime of a pure comedy, but these drama have those few absolute laugh out loud moments, and they end up being that much more memorable.  This had the same feeling for me as The Road Within, where the comedy moments were made all the more funny because of the dark drama on either side of it.

Still, the movie isn’t without fault. It’s a fairly short movie, and I’d have sat through another 20 minutes just to find out a little more about the supporting characters. It was a good idea to add to the cast rather than stick with Ben and Trevor, but I just didn’t care enough about the others. It’s not often I complain a movie isn’t long enough as well, normally I’m a fidget! I also felt something was lacking. There are certain key moments here dealing with trauma, loss and dejection, but they didn’t go quite deep enough to have me sobbing into my cup of tea. I felt those moments could have been ramped up a little, to pull on our heart strings a little more.  I was kind of glad they weren't ramped up this time, it was kind of nice to watch an emotional film without actually becoming a sobbing mess!!

I loved the chemistry between Roberts and Rudd, I wasn't sure about the addition of Selena Gomez to the group and I'm still not sure she added much value.  Mainly, as Allie suggested that we didn't get to know the supporting characters enough to actually care.

All in all though, I really enjoyed The Fundamentals of caring. I’ve always been a Paul Rudd fan but only noticed now how well he can handle a drama. Craig Roberts is one to watch out for, too. He was a delight to watch! I have to agree, I still want to watch it again though without being fully on the edge of my seat!!

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.

Review: They Came Together (2014)

I’m really riding out this Parks and Recreation obsession right now. I’ve moved onto the phase of looking up the entire cast’s filmography and consuming it as quickly as possible. Don’t worry, I’ll be fine…

They Came Together (2014) is a spoof rom com of sorts, starring Amy Poehler and Paul Rudd as a couple telling their friends over dinner one night about the story of how they met. They claim their story is just like a romantic comedy, and so the movie plays out their telling of the events. As we all like to do, many of the details are exaggerated, which is the core of the comedy in this movie.

Molly (Amy Poehler) runs her own boutique sweet store in New York City called Upper Sweet Side, and Joel (Paul Rudd) just so happens to work for a huge corporate business who are trying to shut Molly’s business down. It was hate at first sight!

So, here’s what I loved about this movie. The cast was amazing. It had so many of my favourite TV faces in (Cobie Smulders, Ed Helms, Jack McBrayer, Max Greenfield, Adam Scott, Jeffrey Dean Morgan, just to name a few) that I could have happily watched just to spot them all. The comedy style was right up my street. It almost has a Muppets feel to it, it’s so literal, which I realise will probably put a lot of people off straight away, but honestly, I love that kind of humour. 

Just a really quick example off the top of my head: Mollie is chatting with her colleague at the sweet store and her colleague warns her that Joel is right outside. Mollie gaps in horror and exclaims “But I look like a chimney sweep!” and then we see Mollie, literally dressed as a chimney sweep, with soot on her face and everything. It just tickles me!

I think the humour more than makes up for the predictable plot, but I don’t even think that needs to be apologised for. There’s a line Mollie says very early on in the movie that clearly indicates where the plot is going, so it was deliberate anyway.

My one gripe with They Came Together, and it pains me to say, is that some of the jokes fall so flat they’re quite painful. One minute I was actually crying from laughing so hard, and the next, a joke would fall so flat I winced and kind of wanted to pretend the moment never happened.

I imagine this movie really splits opinions, but my score will rest somewhere in the middle.

Bonus screenshot:

Review: Ant-Man (2015)

Boom! Another summer blockbuster released and watched! I’m on fire this year, well on track to get my Showcase Blockbuster card fully stamped, and the free popcorn, drink and tickets will be mine! I had a full college-gang meet up for Ant-Man, meaning we took up almost a whole row at the back of the cinema. Thankfully we got in early enough so got our seats before the screen filled up!  Strangely enough, me and my Dad went on the same night but only took up 2 sad seat...those 2 sad seats were in the IMAX though....

Ant-Man is Marvel’s latest offering, and perhaps a bigger risk than Guardians of the Galaxy was last year. After watching The Avengers save the world and the Guardians of the Galaxy save...the galaxy(?!), how good could a superhero flick about a man the size of an ant be?! That's what have been wondering for the last few months. Scott Lang (Paul Rudd) is a recently released criminal trying to stay clean for the sake of his daughter. After being set up by Hank Pym (Michael Douglas) to steal the Ant-Man costume, Scott embarks on a new mission to keep the Yellowjacket developed by Darren Cross (Corey Stoll) safe from the wrong hands.  I, however, had every faith that this would be a hit, I knew it was a risk for Marvel but as with Guardians, the bigger the risk the bigger the reward!

Ant-Man was like a breath of fresh air to the superhero phenomenon. As buff as Scott was, he wasn’t there to beat up an army of bad guys to save the damsel in distress. He was a criminal simply trying to do the right thing for his family. The moral boundaries were iffy at best, and the main ‘bad guy’ was an ordinary, albeit extremely intelligent, guy, rather than an alien/monster/robot hellbent on destroying mankind.  I loved that for most of the movie Scott was the anti-hero, had no real interest in actually saving the world more interested in his own gains from being Ant-Man, getting his family to believe in him and visitation rights to his daughter, Cassie.

Some will most likely disagree with me, but I thought the first half an hour or so was very slow. There was enough comedy and smart one-liners to keep it interesting, and we got a lot of character development in that time which was necessary, but compared with the last half an hour, it paled in comparison. Luis (Michael Pena) was my absolute favourite character in that first part though, the way he explained his story was just hilarious and just as funny the second time he did it. I want to see more of this guy, he’s amazing!  Wasn't he amazing, he literally had me in stitches, everything he said set me into fits of giggles - I think I missed a chunk of the movie laughing long after his scene had finished!

The action scenes were so cleverly shot while Scott was in tiny Ant-Man form, but would have been nothing if it weren’t for the moments in between where we got to see what that action really looked like. We all must have looked like nutters laughing out loud at a little Thomas the Tank toy flop onto its side (this was by far my favourite bit of the trailer but was upstaged in the actual movie by the end of that scene!). I also loved the fact that Scott had to rely on his little army of ants to help him in his heist, they were fully part of his team.  I liked this a little bit less, I was itching all the way through the film, every time a hair touched my arm I thought there was an army of ants on me... *judders* - now I'm itching again just thinking about it!!  One thing I did really love was how reminiscent it was of Honey I shrunk the kid, which was one of my favourite films growing up (and the best part of Disney Hollywood Studios!!), Scott was calling his sidekick Antony but in my head he was Anty!

You know what! It's funny you mentioned Honey I Shrunk the Kids! I read earlier that Ant-Man has been in the making for about 20 years now, and it's original planned release was scrapped because Honey I Shrunk the Kids had just come out and everyone thought the two were too similar.

I knew I was going to enjoy this but I didn't realise quite how much.  I usually find the origin superhero films a little bit boring at the beginning but Paul Rudd's wit kept the whole thing ticking along (and also saved a few of those soppy moments that make you cringe a little bit...).  The action was great and the shifts between being Ant sized and human sized made every fight scene different from anything else in the Marvel universe so far. 

Question:  Did anyone else not realise Hayley Atwell was actually playing Peggy Carter until the link with the Avengers later on in the movie?! Or am I just a complete dunce!!  I couldn't understand why they had aged her up until I realised who she was, character-wise! doh!

Are we getting an Ant-Man 2? I really hope so! That mid-credits scene got me excited although I was expecting it to happen. At the very least I guess we’ll see Scott return for the next Avengers movie! Oh, and did anyone else get a little scared they’d missed Stan Lee? I was so relieved in the end!  I elbowed my Dad so hard in the ribs when I finally saw him he yelped in pain!! oops!

Loved loved loved it, hope there is an Ant-Man 2 but in the meantime hopefully we'll see Scott Lang elsewhere in the MCU.

Review: Clueless (1995)

At our last Flick Chicks movie night, after watching The Big Lebowski, Jenna demanded suggested that we watch Clueless, as I had never seen it before and this is apparently some sort of crime. I think we both felt a mixture of awe and confusion when my other half shouted from his man cave that even he had seen it. Whoops. I’d heard of it of course, but when, at 25 years of age, is it a good time to settle down and watch Clueless? Right then, it seems! I wouldn't say demanded so much as implied that we couldn't really be friends if you hadn't seen this movie...

Clueless is your typical, happy-go-lucky High School movie. Cher (Alicia Silverstone) and Dionne (Stacey Dash) are best friends and the most popular girls in school. Life is great for Cher and then Tai (Brittany Murphy) starts at the school, a clumsy hopeless girl who becomes a project for Cher to morph into a mini-me.  I dreamed of my own 'Cher' starting at my school and taking me under her wing and making me popular, unfortunately, I was destined to suffer my teen years as a loser! ha!

I just couldn’t stop myself from noticing the clothes each character was wearing. I can’t believe that it was all actually fashionable in the 90’s! Weirdly enough, Jenna and I went shopping the next day and found an outfit that would have fit amazingly well into the Clueless scene! Dionne’s hats were definitely something incredible to behold.  I loved the clothes when I saw this when I was younger, I desperately wanted Cher's wardrobe and her awesome 'dress me' computer programme!!

I still love this film mostly for nostalgia than for the brilliance of the film.  I love the characters and they found the perfect actors/actresses for each part and I love the wit and dry humour in the film.  It's fair to say as a kid A LOT of the joke went completely over my head, so it was almost like watching it for the first time :-)

The cast is brilliant, I loved them before I knew who they were (as I do now) and Cher will always be the ultimate popular girl, the only thing that let it down for me was the weird relationship between Cher and Josh, are they siblings or are they love interests - I think the whole sibling situation should have been avoided, it all just felt too awkward when it suddenly switched. 

Something that I really loved was the amount of actors and actresses that I know from recent films and TV shows that I had no idea were in this film! I can only describe them as Blair’s step dad, that guy from Garfield, and Paul Rudd. I can only wish that I’d seen this when I was younger so I could have discovered them sooner.

There are a lot of faces in this, some of which I had forgotten it had been that long since I watched it.  As I am currently watch Franklin and Bash, it was interesting to see Breckin Meyer as a greasy skateboarder with no prospects!

I wondered how much I was going to enjoy Clueless but it was really enjoyable, and funny! The story kept me entertained throughout and at no point did it get too cheesy. I’ve got to share this clip with you all, it really tickled me.

When I was younger I thought this film was the coolest and these people were everything I wanted to be, me and my best friend at school regularly used the terms 'Whatever' and 'Outtie' with the relevant hand gestures.  The worst thing was, we were being completely serious with it, not joking around!  Awkward!  But now when I watch it, I find it cheesy and cringeworthy in some places, I think age has  ruined this film for me somewhat :(

A thoroughly entertaining film that I enjoyed much more than I thought I would. If only I could go back in time to watch it when I should have done!

What seems like a typical high school movie, is a great cover for this really clever adaptation of Jane Austin's Emma.  If you haven't seen it, see it!! (even Allie's future husband has!!).  I think my higher score is a combination of love for the movie and nostalgia of my teen years!

Review: Admission (2013)

We had a little Flick Chicks meet-up the other night. Other than a good old catch-up, we also wanted to watch Footloose together, as that's the film we've chosen for a 1984 Blogathon we're taking part in. Unfortunately, Jenna opened up the case and the disc was nowhere to be found. Not to worry though, as we stuck on Sky Movies and picked out Admission to watch. Had we have known what we were about to experience, we may have worried!!

Let me try and sum this plot up sensibly. Tina Fey plays an Admissions Officer at Princeton. She leads a fairly dull life which seems to revolve around her career. On a recruitment visit to an alternative school, she meets Paul Rudd's character, who runs the school and wants to introduce her to a student who just so happens to be the son that Tina Fey put up for adoption years ago.

I need to point out here that neither me nor Jenna knew anything about the plot before we watched Admission. It still doesn't excuse our shock and confusion at the reveal of the adopted son though. It literally came out of the blue, no build up, no hints, or anything. It just didn't seem to make sense and we actually laughed! 

 

As did her response, which was neither shock, elation, sadness or confusion (just in case she hadn't given a kid up for adoption) it was just 'oh ok fair enough' like he had just told her they had run out of hot wings at KFC (it sucks but you'll move on....quickly! Excuse me but I would have a total freak out if KFC ran out of wings).  I've never quite seen a plotline vary so much is what it was trying to portray, one minute it was bored admissions working maybe looking for something more fun, then it was mother daughter bonding drama/comedy, then a pitiful romcom, a long lost son/mother reunion, a comedy and a drama with a bit of slapstick (cow birthing) thrown in - what a mess!! (literally in a few cases!)



There was just so much that annoyed me about this film. The whole birth certificate thing just has to be a massive plot hole. Where did it even come from? Why were there no details at all of the mother on it? I'm no expert but it has to mention something, surely? Why was there no real reaction to her finding out that this kid is her son? So infuriating! See above!!

Let's get on to a couple of other characters though. The horrible boyfriend. Why did he never seem to get what was coming to him? He was just a massive douche in every scene, and as the audience I expect some kind of karma to kick in. And what about poor little Nelson, Paul Rudd's adopted son? He just seemed to be forgotten about at every single moment. Someone adopt that poor kid, quick!!

As this film went on I sunk lower and lower into my chair just willing it to end, in fact at one point I thought it was nearly over and there was another 40 minutes left!  No idea what they were trying to achieve with this one and Paul Rudd could really do with playing a different character once in a while (if he can!).  I haven't seen Tina Fey in much but what I have seen, I could say the same - she appears to play the same awkward character in everything.

This is honestly all that I can say about Admission while being constructive; it was just a really bad film. A cast of unlikeable characters and a plot that was all over the place.

Painful and slow to watch, take my word for it, don't bother!!  If you want to know how it ends, just ask us it will save you a lot of time and effort!

Review: Our Idiot Brother (2011)

I watched this on my iPad (thank you Sky Go Extra) on route to Geneva for work.  I knew exactly what I was getting myself into, I knew it wasn't going to be intellectually stimulating or hilariously funny but it was going to be an easy watch, and that it was...

 

I think that because I didn't put too much pressure on this film to be amazing, I just enjoyed it for what it was.  It is the story of Ned (Paul Rudd) who unwittingly gets himself arrested for selling weed to a cop.  Once out on probation his (mean) girlfriend has moved on and taken his lodgings with her and he finds himself in the big bad world by himself.  Enter his three controlling sisters played by Emily Mortimer, Zooey Deschanel and Elizabeth Banks - who do nothing but try to change Ned.

 

The rest of the film is the development of the relationships between Ned and his sisters and how all of their lives are changed because of his arrival.  It has really lovely moments between the family and also some very realistic moments, the argument between the three sisters near the end of the film (I can't say anymore because it would be a spoiler) is so much like my three cousins, they absolutely nailed it.  The film flowed well but it was lacking the comedy that the cover/trailer promised and replaced it with drama which I wasn't expecting when I started watching it.  The drama however is good enough to keep you watching even though it doesn't make you laugh.

 

Now I want to say that Jenna's review is a bit of a shame, because Our Idiot Brother has been on my radar for quite some time now, but when I think about it, the only reason it was ever on my radar is because of the cast, none of the plot really gripped me. I'll probably give it a watch at some point, I'm just not rushing out to do so.

 

Overall, I probably wouldn't watch this again but I would recommend it to someone looking for an easy watch that takes no real thinking.