X-Men: Apocalypse (2016) review

While the superhero genre has come a long way since then, the original X-Men, released on July 14, 2000, was very much the first ‘big-time’ superhero flick of the 21^st century. And while he (nor most of the film’s cast, for that matter) may not have been that familiar with the franchise when he first started working on it, Bryan Singer ultimately ended up becoming one of the pioneering directors when it came to modern-era superhero films, later paving the way for other directors like Joss Whedon and the Russo brothers to leave their own mark on the genre. Singer then followed his first X-Men film up with an even more successful sequel in the form of 2003’s X2: X-Men United. And of course as we all know, he then left the franchise to work on other projects (most notably another superhero project in 2006’s Superman Returns), which then led to the films starting to drop in quality with a highly disappointing ‘threequel’ in 2006 and an even more mediocre spin-off in 2009. Thankfully the series started to get back on track in 2011 with director Matthew Vaughn’s 1960’s-set prequel, X-Men: First Class. But while he may not have directed the film, part of the film’s success, if you ask me, came from the long-awaited return of Bryan Singer to the franchise, as he served as the film’s producer/co-writer. Three years later, Singer would finally return to the franchise full-time as he helmed X-Men: Days of Future Past, inspired by the iconic comic storyline of the same name. And to put it simply, the film proved to be not only the best X-Men film to date but also one of the best superhero films period. It also officially cemented the franchise’s overall road to redemption by pulling a much-appreciated continuity retcon that erased the events of the series’ weakest installments from its official canon.  

So now we come to what is, at the moment, seemingly set to be the final film of the franchise’s First Class era: X-Men: Apocalypse. The new film sees the X-Men take on their greatest enemy yet in the form of the ‘original’ mutant En Sabah Nur AKA Apocalypse. With Bryan Singer back to direct, most of the First Class era cast returning to reprise their roles, and some very promising new additions to the cast, who wouldn’t be excited for the latest film in this great series? Well, if you recall my previous post on this film… apparently most of the internet. Yes, while the franchise seemed to be in good standing following not only Days of Future Past but also this year’s highly successful spin-off Deadpool, X-Men: Apocalypse, for various reasons, just didn’t get much positive attention online in the months leading up to its release, at least when compared to the other superhero film releases this year like Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice and Captain America: Civil War. And it looks like the internet’s general undermining of the film has now translated to its current critical reception, as the film sports a measly 47% on Rotten Tomatoes at the time that I’m writing this, which actually makes it the lowest rated film of the main series not counting X-Men Origins: Wolverine. And yeah… I don’t get it. With great action, great characters, and the always great direction from the franchise’s best director, X-Men: Apocalypse is yet another highly entertaining and overall just straight-up awesome installment of the X-Men franchise.

10 years since the events of Days of Future Past, telepath Charles Xavier (James McAvoy) has reopened his school for Gifted Mutants in Westchester, New York while both Magneto (Michael Fassbender) and Mystique (Jennifer Lawrence) have gone into hiding since the incident with the Sentinels in Washington D.C, with Mystique actually now seen as a ‘hero’ to many young mutants all over the world for her ‘efforts’ in stopping Magneto during the event. While all of this is going on, an ancient mutant known as En Sabah Nur (Oscar Isaac) is awakened from a centuries-long slumber by the cults that view him as the world’s first ‘true’ mutant. Once awakened, Apocalypse begins recruiting his new lieutenants, known as the ‘Four Horsemen’, in order to help him cleanse the Earth and preserve it for the strongest. These Four Horsemen consist of the weather-controlling Storm (Alexandra Shipp), psychic-energy wielding Psylocke (Olivia Munn), the bird-like winged mutant Angel (Ben Hardy), and Magneto, whose seemingly peaceful new life in Poland is destroyed when his past comes back to haunt him. When Apocalypse kidnaps Xavier as part of his plan for world domination, Mystique and Dr. Hank McCoy (Nicholas Hoult) AKA Beast are forced to lead a team of young mutants, including telepath Jean Grey (Sophie Turner), optical-blasting Scott Summers (Tye Sheridan) AKA Cyclops, and teleporter Kurt Wagner (Kodi Smit-McPhee) AKA Nightcrawler into a battle against Apocalypse and his four Horsemen with the fate of the whole world at stake.

I’m rather surprised that critics are taking issue with the film for being ‘overloaded’ with action. After all, this film is titled X-Men: Apocalypse, not X-Men: Minor Incident. If you ask me, the amount of action in this film is very suitable for this kind of story in which the X-Men take on an all-powerful god-like mutant. As a result, the action sequences in this film are excellent and are backed by some very impressive and obviously highly complex CGI work. And without giving too much away, this film’s Quicksilver scene somehow manages to top the equally terrific scene that came before it in Days of Future Past. In short, this is just yet another well-directed franchise effort courtesy of Bryan Singer. In keeping with the ‘time period’ theming of the past few films (e.g. the Bond-esque 60’s setting of First Class), this film’s 80’s setting is well-developed and the dialogue is punctuated with plenty of humorous lines that liven up the mood in just the right way, from Xavier’s failed attempts to hide the fact that he’s flirting with Moira MacTaggert (Rose Byrne), who had previously appeared in First Class but had her memory wiped by Xavier at the end of it, to one hell of a joke about trilogies at the expense of the original Star Wars trilogy. But even with the film’s great use of humor in mind, the film still manages to have some highly effective emotional moments, mostly in the form of key story beats for a few of the main characters. I mean I wouldn’t say that the film carries the exact same amount of emotional depth as some of the other X-Men films but it’s not like the film is completely lacking of it either, as I’ve seen some critics argue.

James McAvoy is once again great as the young Charles Xavier and while he may not be the main protagonist this time around compared to Days of Future Past, he still plays a vital part in the overall story. He also finally adopts the bald look that has defined the character in the comics as well as in the films when he was played by Patrick Stewart. However, for the second time in the span of three films, Michael Fassbender is ultimately the biggest standout of the cast, primarily because Magneto gets a lot of the film’s best emotional moments as he is shown to have started a family in Poland while trying to stay ‘low-key’ following the events of the previous film. As for Mystique, some have argued that Jennifer Lawrence ‘phoned it in’ this time around as a sign of her not being that interested in returning to the franchise. However, I thought that she was just as good as she’s been in the previous two films. And like how First Class was Magneto’s story and Days of Future Past was Xavier’s story, Apocalypse is arguably Mystique’s story as she finds that since the Washington incident, she has actually become a ‘hero’ for many of the younger mutants, even though she herself doesn’t see herself as one. It should also be noted that the character doesn’t appear in her natural blue form as much this time around compared to previous films, which I can definitely tell will be a problem for some fans. But considering how uncomfortable the makeup process for the character has been throughout these films (which, according to Lawrence, has recently been made easier due to the fact that the filmmakers just have her wear a full bodysuit instead of having all of the elaborate body-paint applied to her), I don’t blame her for not wanting to be like that throughout the whole film.

As far as the new cast is concerned, Singer and company did a pretty great job in casting new actors/actresses to take on the classic character roles of Cyclops, Jean Grey, and Nightcrawler, previously played by James Marsden, Famke Janssen, and Alan Cumming, respectively, in the franchise’s original film trilogy. Tye Sheridan gets quite a few really effective emotional scenes as Cyclops and fans of the character will be pleased to know he gets more to do this time around than he did in previous films. Also, as expected given their relationship in the comics, Sheridan forms a nice ‘chemistry’ with Sophie Turner as Jean Grey. I’ve seen a few articles online express criticism over her accent in the film but I personally didn’t really see anything wrong with it. Turner is excellent in the role and I’m certain that a few noteworthy scenes in this film will very much give X-Men fans hope that the character’s most iconic comic storyline will finally be done justice on the big-screen after the last attempt in doing so obviously didn’t turn out very well. Another character that makes a long-awaited return to the series is Nightcrawler, now played by Kodi-Smit McPhee. It might actually surprise some people that Nightcrawler ends up having quite a lot of humorous moments in the film and McPhee handles them quite well as the fact that this Nightcrawler is much younger than when he was played by Cumming in X2 shows that, at this point in his life, he can be rather socially awkward at times.

And finally, let’s talk about the film’s big baddie, Apocalypse, played by Oscar Isaac in a very unrecognizable turn due to the character’s great makeup design. Unfortunately, though, the character was continuously mocked online in the months leading up to the film’s release solely because of when the first photos of him were released, the internet made countless comparisons between him and Ivan Ooze, the villain from the Mighty Morphin Power Rangers film, even though subsequent trailers made it clear that he would very much look exactly like the character does in the comics. So with all of those jokes at the character’s expense out of the way, how does this big baddie fare in the film? Well overall I think that he was a decent villain. I’m not saying that he’s the ‘greatest’ comic book film villain ever and, not being a big comic reader, I have the feeling that some fans may not entirely be pleased with how the character is portrayed in the film. Still, Isaac did manage to make Apocalypse a pretty intimidating villain thanks to his strong commanding presence, especially when he’s flanked by his Four Horsemen; Storm, Psylocke, Angel, and Magneto. Granted, none of them really get much to do in the film, other than Magneto of course, but at the very least they each get at least one memorable moment in the film. So in conclusion, while this version of the character may not entirely live up to expectations, he’s still a pretty solid antagonist in his own right.

While I usually try not to bring in notes from other critics’ reviews to use in my own reviews, I honestly don’t get some of the criticisms towards this film. The action is over-done? If you ask me this film has just the right amount of action for a story of this scale. The film is emotionless? There are plenty of great emotional scenes in this film, many of which come from characters like Magneto and Cyclops. I could go on and on but I think you get the idea. This is most definitely a film that is far better than what its current RT score suggests, which I’m now certain is yet another sign of how this film has been getting the shaft in terms of positive buzz compared to other superhero films like Batman v Superman and Captain America: Civil War. In short, X-Men: Apocalypse is yet another highly entertaining installment in the franchise that has redeemed itself over the past few years, primarily by erasing the events of its weakest installments from its canon. It’s well-directed, well-acted, and features some incredibly awesome action sequences. Now with all of that said, would I say that it is ‘better’ than Days of Future Past? No, not really but understandably that is a very tough act to follow and I didn’t go into this film expecting it to be better than its immediate predecessor. With that in mind, this film is simply yet another well-made installment of the franchise and one that is most certainly becoming a very, VERY underrated entry in the superhero genre. Needless to say, I’m very excited to see where the franchise goes from here considering that this film is supposedly the final installment of the First Class era series.   

Rating: 4.5/5

Neighbors 2: Sorority Rising (2016) review

Summer 2014 had quite a couple of really good comedies, including one of the rare cases of a great comedy sequel in the form of 22 Jump Street. Another excellent comedy from that year was director Nicholas Stoller’s Neighbors, which starred Seth Rogen and Rose Byrne as a couple with a newborn daughter who find themselves having to deal with the very rowdy fraternity that ends up moving in next door, led by their president played by Zac Efron. What followed was an epic prank war between the two sides that was full of sabotages, betrayals, and a whole lot of airbags. But one of the best things about the film was that even though the fraternity in the film was technically the ‘antagonist’ to Rogen and Byrne’s characters, the film didn’t try to demonize them too much. And as I can at least certify thanks to my pal Matthew Goudreau, who is an alumnus of Sigma Chi’s URI chapter, the film also did a really nice job in portraying the brotherhood of fraternities, which I think definitely helped the film find a really nice audience at the box office ($270 million, to be precise). So now we have Neighbors 2: Sorority Rising. Stoller returns to direct and most of the first film’s cast return to reprise their roles in a film that basically follows a plotline that is ‘almost’ exactly similar to its predecessor. Except this time, Rogen and Byrne’s characters instead find themselves having to deal with a sorority, which brings up a whole new set of problems for them. But the question now is whether or not this ends up being a ‘good’ comedy sequel, something that is obviously very rare for the genre. So does it? Well… yes and no…

Since the events of the previous film, Mac (Seth Rogen) and Kelly (Rose Byrne) Radner have been living a peaceful life with their daughter Stella. With another baby on the way, the two decide to sell their house. While they do end up attracting a potential buyer, they learn that their house will be on ‘escrow’ status for 30 days, meaning that the deal won’t be finalized until that time and the buyers could back out of it if they find anything wrong with the place (e.g. another fraternity ends up moving in next door). And unfortunately for Mac and Kelly, yet another college Greek group does end up moving in next door to them. This time around, however, the group in question is the newly formed sorority Kappa Nu, led by Shelby (Chloe Grace Moretz) and her friends Beth (Kiersey Clemons) and Nora (Beanie Feldstein), who formed the sorority after learning that in the U.S., sororities are not allowed to throw parties while fraternities can. With the sale of their house on the line, Mac and Kelly once again find themselves getting into a major prank war in the hopes of getting rid of Kappa Nu. Thankfully this time around they get some extra help from their old ‘nemesis’, former Delta Psi president Teddy Sanders (Zac Efron), who joins their side after initially helping the Kappa Nu squad get set up, and was then ‘dumped’ by them for being ‘too old’, so that he could feel ‘valuable’ to someone.

Neighbors 2 is definitely one of those cases of a comedy sequel where the plot is almost identical to the one in the first film save for a few cosmetic changes. And like the original Neighbors, this film does have a bit of a slow start before it really starts to get into the humor. However, I didn’t really find this one to be ‘as funny’ as the original. Now don’t get me wrong there are plenty of funny moments in the film which, like the original, mainly stem from all of the pranks that both sides do to each other. However, I can’t really say that there were as many ‘laugh out loud’ moments compared to those in the first one, to the point where quite a few funny scenes from the trailer didn’t even appear in the film (e.g. LL Cool J’s cameo as Beth’s father). Case in point, this film ends on a much simpler note compared to the first film and while I do like the message that the ending conveys in regards to the strength of Kappa Nu’s sisterhood, it’s still rather disappointing that the film doesn’t end on a note similar to how the first film did with its epically hilarious fight between Mac and Teddy. But at the same time, this film can also be very much commended for its feminist themes, which of course are mainly exemplified through Shelby and her Kappa Nu sisters and their efforts in challenging ‘the sexist system’. But while the film’s feminist themes are genuinely well-handled, sometimes they admittedly come off a bit heavy-handed. By that I mean the film does kind of drill in the whole ‘sexist system’ thing to the point where it keeps doing so even after it already got its point across early on in the film.

One of the great things about the original Neighbors was that even though Mac and Kelly were the ‘main protagonists’, the film didn’t vilify Teddy and his Delta Psi brothers. For one thing, Mac and Kelly didn’t always make good decisions, especially in regards to raising their daughter, so it’s not like we sided with them all the time. Sometimes we really could sympathize with Teddy and his struggles in coping with the inevitability of graduation and moving on to ‘real life’, which was one of the main themes of the film; how one handles the idea of getting older. In the case of Neighbors 2 the same idea applies. We do root for Mac and Kelly, especially considering there’s more at stake for them this time around given that they’ve already bought another house and are highly dependent on the sale of their old house, but can also side with Shelby and her Kappa Nu sisters for their efforts in combatting the sexism directed towards sororities like theirs. Chloe Grace Moretz does a very solid job taking on the same kind of role that Zac Efron had in the first film, especially when she’s working off of her ‘sisters’ Beth and Nora. Their trio serves as a great foil to Kelly and Mac while also managing to be very sympathetic in regards to their aspirations to beat ‘the system’. Returning members of the cast are great once again; Seth Rogen and Rose Byrne continue to have solid chemistry and the two work off of Zac Efron incredibly well. And as for Efron, once again he proves to be a major standout thanks to his excellent comedic timing, as Teddy finds himself in yet another, as the film puts it, ‘quarter-life crisis’.

While Neighbors 2 hasn’t really gotten the same amount of positive reception that its predecessor did, I have actually seen a few people argue that this film was better than the first, mainly in regards to this one having more depth to it. And while I do understand where they are coming from, ultimately I do think that the first film was better. The sequel definitely does have its moments and once again benefits from an excellent cast. Plus, this film does do a nice job in terms of handling its feminist themes. However, this time around the jokes ended up being a bit more hit and miss. And as great as its feminist angle is, sometimes it’s a little bit too on the nose with it. So in short, Neighbors 2 was a bit of a mixed bag for me, which was rather disappointing because I really liked the original Neighbors. As far as comedy sequels go, I do think that it’s at least one of the better ones but I wouldn’t say that it was one of the ‘absolute best’ either. At the very least I can say that, like the original Neighbors, this film is worthy of becoming a new essential college flick. Because the great thing about both films is that they make a lot of effort to appeal to the college Greek community and while I may not be a member of any fraternity, both of these films do a nice job in conveying the brotherly/sisterly bonds of fraternities and sororities, respectively.

Rating: 2.5/5

Spy (2015) review

2015 is shaping up to be quite a big year for the spy film genre. Earlier this year, we had the insanely over-the-top and incredibly entertaining ‘Kingsmen: The Secret Service’. Later this year, we’re also going to get ‘Mission Impossible: Rogue Nation’, ‘The Man from UNCLE’, and the next James Bond film ‘Spectre’. But before all of that, we also have ‘Spy’, the latest film from director Paul Feig, who’s coming off of two big comedy hits in 2011’s ‘Bridesmaids’ and 2013’s ‘The Heat’. But Feig is also coming into this film with a bit of a chip on his shoulder having attracted a lot of backlash online recently for being involved in the upcoming reboot of the ‘Ghostbusters’ series that will star an all-female cast of leads. One of the leads will be Feig’s regular collaborator Melissa McCarthy, who previously starred in both ‘Bridesmaids’ and ‘The Heat’ and of course stars in this film as well. Like Feig, she too is sort of coming in with a chip on her shoulder as she seemingly is currently running the risk of falling victim to ‘over-exposure’, namely after last year’s ‘Tammy’, which she co-wrote with her husband Ben Falcone (who directed the film), received a lot of negative reviews from critics. But, if anything, ‘Spy’ proves that McCarthy and Feig are at their best when they work together. Not only is ‘Spy’ a pretty darn hilarious spy comedy, thanks in no small part to its excellent cast, but it actually also manages to be a pretty well-crafted spy film as well. If anything, it shows that this upcoming ‘Ghostbusters’ film may not be a ‘disaster’ like many on the internet fear it will be.

McCarthy plays Susan Cooper, a desk analyst at the CIA who, despite finding success as the partner of field agent Bradley Fine (Jude Law), is frustrated by the fact that she hasn’t been given a chance to go out into the field herself and, as a result, is still the ‘same old boring’ person that she’s always been. But that changes when, on a mission to infiltrate the home of Rayna Boyanov (Rose Byrne), the daughter of an arms dealer that Fine had accidentally killed while searching for a mini-nuke, Fine is taken down by Rayna herself, who reveals that she knows the identities of all of the C.I.A.’s top agents. With no other agents, including Rick Ford (Jason Statham), being able to probably take part in the case due to the leak, Susan volunteers to be the field agent on the grounds that none of the targets would know who she is. So, with the approval of her boss Elaine (Alison Janney), Susan heads out, under various unassuming identities (including, among others, a ‘cat lady’), to track and report any developments of an impending sale of the mini-nuke between Boyanov and playboy Sergio De Luca (Bobby Cannavale). While she is told not to get close to any of the contacts for risk of blowing her cover, Susan ends up doing just that, pretending to be Rayna’s body-guard when the two end up crossing paths.

Something that impressed me about this film was that, as far as spy films are concerned, this one was pretty well-constructed in terms of action and the overall look and feel of the film. It even has an intro credits sequence just like the Bond films. The action sequences are shot really well and, like ‘Kingsmen’, are more violent in execution, definitely warranting an R-rating along with the usual raunchy humor you can expect from an R-rated comedy. Having now seen this film, I must say that I would love to see Paul Feig do a Bond film in the future because, based on this film alone, he handles action pretty well. I’m finding that this has kind of been a trend recently as there have been cases of directors who have been primarily known for their work in comedy proving to do a pretty solid job when it comes to directing action, with some other recent examples being the Russo brothers and James Gunn with their work on their respective Marvel Cinematic Universe films. But of course, this is also a comedy and the film does a great job of blending these two genres together, with neither overshadowing the other too much. Admittedly I think that the humor was a little bit stale early on but it definitely improved as the film went on. The film also gives us a really solid female lead in Susan Cooper, who may seem unassuming as far as spies are concerned but ends up being quite a badass when it comes to some of the stuff that she does in this film.

This was the first major film that I saw in which Melissa McCarthy starred in the lead role so ultimately I guess you can say that I’m not amongst those people who have gotten tired of her ‘schtick’ yet. And as far as this film goes, she does a solid job, excelling in both her comedic ability and her overall likability and empathetic nature, which definitely fits the character. Though it could be argued that the biggest standouts of the film are actually some of McCarthy’s co-stars, two in particular. First there’s Jason Statham, in a rare comedic turn. Statham gets plenty of the film’s best lines, which are mostly him gloating about how awesome of an agent he is, being immune to over 170 different kinds of toxic substances and for doing crazy stunts like jumping off a high-rise with only a raincoat as a parachute and driving a car off a train while on fire (“Not the car, I was on fire.”). The other big standout is Rose Byrne, who once again shows that she’s clearly found her calling in comedic roles after being one of the big standouts of last year’s ‘Neighbors’. Her comedic timing is strong and her back-and-forth camaraderie with McCarthy is excellent. But then there’s some other noteworthy members of the cast as well, like Miranda Hart in a breakout role as Susan’s friend Nancy, who also ends up getting involved with the mission as well when she too heads out in the field, and Peter Serafinowicz as Aldo, an informant who constantly tries to flirt with Susan.  

‘Spy’ was the first major film that I have seen from director Paul Feig since he broke out big time in 2011 with ‘Bridesmaids’. And although I haven’t seen either that or ‘The Heat’, I think he’s going to be a great choice to helm the new ‘Ghostbusters’ film. Because ‘Spy’ is sort of two films in one. Not only is it a pretty darn funny comedy, but it’s also a pretty darn well-made spy film as well, once again showing that comedy directors can do action sequences just as well as action directors. While most spy films nowadays tend to be more serious compared to the more crazy and over-the-top films of the past (unlike ‘Kingsmen’, which of course was a tribute to that chaotic style), ‘Spy’ is a nice little comedic alternative and, as a result, definitely one of the better comedies of the summer movie season. Of course that is thanks to the solid writing and direction from Feig and the solid ensemble cast led by Melissa McCarthy and featuring standout turns by the likes of Jason Statham, Rose Byrne, and Miranda Hart. While both McCarthy and Feig have come under fire recently by the internet for recent developments in both of their careers, including the upcoming ‘Ghostbusters’ reboot of course, ‘Spy’ shows that these two are at their best when they work together. The way I see it, this new ‘Ghostbusters’ couldn’t be in greater hands.       

      

Rating: 4/5

Annie (2014) review

Originally, this new adaptation of the 1977 musical ‘Annie’ by Thomas Meehan (which in turn was based on the comic strip ‘Little Orphan Annie’ by Harold Gray) was to star Will Smith’s daughter Willow in the title role of Annie (Smith himself serves a producer on this film alongside his wife Jada Pinkett Smith and Jay-Z). However, Willow ultimately dropped out of the role due to the fact that she was now too old for it. She ended up getting replaced by Quvenzhane Wallis, who was fresh off of becoming the youngest actress in history to be nominated for an Oscar for Best Actress for her work in 2012’s ‘Beasts of the Southern Wild’. This film hasn’t been getting a lot of good press recently, though, mainly due to the fact that on November 27^th the film ended up getting leaked online along with a few other unreleased Sony films and the already released ‘Fury’. Thankfully though, because this is a kids film (and with that said hopefully most kids don’t pirate movies off of the internet), it probably won’t impact the film’s performance at the box office too much, especially compared to what happened when ‘The Expendables 3’ got leaked earlier this year. But what of the film itself? Well, I’ve heard some people say that it’s one of the ‘worst of the year’ but after seeing it for myself, I’m not really one of those people. For the record, I’m not saying that this is ‘that good’ of a movie either but ultimately I think that for kids it’s pretty harmless.

Like in the previous adaptations of the story, this film centers on the titular Annie (Quvenzhane Wallis), a young orphan girl living in a foster home in Harlem with her fellow foster sisters under the care of the bitter and cruel alcoholic Miss Hannigan (Cameron Diaz). While the other foster girls aren’t very optimistic about their chances of getting adopted, Annie is hopeful that one day her parents will return for her. While this is going on, cell phone mogul Will Stacks (Jamie Foxx) is in the middle of trying to run for mayor. However, due to his generally dissenting attitude, he finds that he is unable to maintain a good public image amongst the people of New York. That changes, however, when one day he rescues Annie from getting hit by oncoming traffic. Not only does it go viral but it also boosts his ratings. With the encouragement of his campaign adviser Guy (Bobby Cannavale), Stacks invites Annie to lunch in order to capitalize on the whole situation. But then Annie suggests that Stacks become her temporary guardian as a way to boost his ratings even more. So Stacks agrees and Annie moves into his penthouse and as the two of them start to spend more time together, they start to bond and grow closer.

First, I want to note that at the time I’m writing this, I haven’t seen the original 1982 ‘Annie’ in quite some time (I think I saw the 1999 version as well, but I’m not as sure) so I won’t be comparing this film with its predecessors, which I wouldn’t have done anyway had I recently seen the other films. What I will say about this film is that if you’re not a fan of modern references and overly cheesy ‘family film’ moments, then you’re really going to like this movie as it is chock full of both of those. Still, despite the fact that the film does try a bit too hard in trying to be hip and appeal to newer audiences, there are some legitimately good things about this movie. For one thing, and you can call me sentimental all you want, I do feel that are some genuinely heartwarming moments in this film, primarily due to the relationship between Annie and Stacks which of course is the heart of the story. As for the songs, while I can’t say that all of the new renditions of the classic musical numbers are good, some of them are actually not that bad, namely ‘Maybe’, ‘It’s a Hard Knock Life’, and of course what is arguably the musical’s most iconic song, ‘Tomorrow’.

As far as the cast goes, the two biggest standouts are easily Wallis and Foxx. I haven’t seen ‘Beasts of the Southern Wild’ but it is very much clear that Wallis is definitely a genuine screen talent for her age, as she has great amounts of charisma and likability, proving that she really was a good choice for the role of Annie in this new adaptation of the story. Her chemistry with Foxx is really good and you really do see that they are bonding in a ‘father-daughter’ sort of way as Foxx also exhibits a lot of charisma in the ‘Daddy Warbucks’ role. The other main members of the cast, unfortunately, aren’t so lucky. I wouldn’t say it’s their faults as to why this is the way it is as it’s more a case where they didn’t really have much to work with, namely Rose Byrne and Bobby Cannavale. And then there’s Cameron Diaz and I’m just going to put it out there… I have no idea what is up with her performance in this movie. I mean, I know that the role of Miss Hannigan is supposed to be over-the-top but Diaz tries way too hard to reach those levels of camp, especially in the beginning of the film. Thankfully, this isn’t the case throughout the entire movie as she does dial back the camp factor in the latter half of the film but that doesn’t really excuse what we saw in the first half of the film. Thankfully in the scenes where she’s with Stacks, Jamie Foxx perfectly personifies our own thoughts on what is going on with her performance.  

All in all, I’ll say this about this new version of ‘Annie’. I’m not saying that it’s technically a ‘good’ film as there are some noticeable big problems with it, namely that it does try too hard to appeal to modern audiences (that and Cameron Diaz’ questionable choices in her performance as Miss Hannigan). Still, despite all of that, I do feel that there are some truly good things about this movie. Some of the new renditions of the songs are pretty good, Quvenzhane Wallis and Jamie Foxx both do pretty good jobs and work off each other well, and there are some genuinely touching and emotionally poignant moments in regards to the relationship between Annie and Stacks. Ultimately, I’m not the target audience for this film as it is geared towards kids and as such, I don’t think that there’s really anything in this film that’s necessarily bad for kids. And really, considering that this year has been rather lacking in terms of ‘family films’, this is a nice little bit of fresh air after all of the much more mature films that we’ve seen this year. I have the feeling that kids will like this new take on this famous story okay. But as for the parents, there really isn’t much for you here. Still, as far as family films go, I’ve seen worse.

Rating: 2.5/5

This is Where I Leave You (2014) review

Dysfunctional families have been a key element of a lot of films. Last year, there was the multiple award-nominated film ‘August: Osage County’ and it has also been prevalent in films like ‘The Fighter’ and ‘Little Miss Sunshine’. This concept has also been a part of multiple TV shows. In fact, it’s pretty much a given that almost every major TV sitcom, whether it be live-action or animated, will center on a dysfunctional family as it has been proven by shows like ‘The Simpsons’, ‘Arrested Development’, and ‘Family Guy’. And of course, the dysfunctional family plotline is the key focus of ‘This is Where I Leave You’, directed by Shawn Levy (with a film that is a definite change of pace for him as it is his first R-rated film after working on multiple family-friendly films like the ‘Night at the Museum’ movies) and based off of the 2009 book of the same name by Jonathan Tropper. The family of this film is very much a dysfunctional family so if you’re not a fan of a whole heck of a lot of arguing, this film is probably not for you. But ‘This is Where I Leave You’ does manage to provide a really solid amount of laughs primarily thanks to its great ensemble cast. But what’s even better is how this movie manages to find a good balance of comedy and drama, something that’s not exactly that easy to do. But this film manages to do it and do it pretty well.

On the day of his 3^rd wedding anniversary, Judd Altman (Jason Bateman) unfortunately finds out the hard way that his wife Quinn (Abigail Spencer) is having an affair with his boss Wade (Dax Shepard) when he walks in on them having sex in their apartment. As if things couldn’t get any worse, a few weeks later he gets a call from his sister Wendy (Tina Fey) who tells him that their father has just died. They then return to their hometown where they reunite with their mother Hilary (Jane Fonda) and their two brothers, Paul (Corey Stoll) and Phillip (Adam Driver). After the funeral, they learn that as his last request, their father wanted them to mourn him through the Jewish tradition of Shiva, in which the family of the deceased gather and sit for a period of seven days in mourning. Even though the family isn’t actually Jewish, the siblings find themselves forced into doing it anyway when their mom ends up grounding them. So now that they’re all stuck under the same roof again having to honor the period of Shiva, the dysfunctional siblings end up starting to reconnect with one another as each member finds themselves having to deal with not only the loss of their father but also the current conflicts in their lives.

As is common in any dysfunctional family story, there is quite a lot of bickering amongst the Altman siblings and most of the film’s humor comes from the awkward moments that usually occur during these scenes. Overall, the film does have a pretty solid amount of humor though of course like with every comedy not all of the jokes hit. In the case of this film, it’s mostly in regards to the ‘gross-out’ moments in the film, like this one recurring gag in which the young son of one of the siblings keeps going to the bathroom in this little portable toilet that he always carries around. Thankfully, these moments don’t dominate the film’s humor. But ultimately the film’s greatest strength is that even amidst all of the arguing and gross-out moments, it plays things seriously when it needs to be. After all, this is a ‘dramedy’ about a family coping with the death of a loved one, a subject that isn’t and never will be funny. Thankfully this is not where the film’s humor comes from and the film manages to find a good balance of the humor and the drama, something that isn’t always easy to do when it comes to dramedies. Even though there are quite a lot of scenes where the Altman family is arguing with each other, there are also plenty of scenes in which they bond and these scenes are actually really touching and sweet.

Of course, this is mostly thanks to the film’s terrific ensemble cast. Their camaraderie with one another is superb and their relationships with each other feel genuine, hence why the scenes of them bonding are as strong as they are. Bateman and Fey’s more straight-faced attitudes help bring a nice balance to the crazier characters in the film, like Phillip for instance. Driver is easily one of the biggest standouts of the film in the role of the youngest of the Altman siblings which of course means that he doesn’t always act mature and Driver has quite a lot of charisma in the role. Fonda is also one of the film’s major standouts; most of her material is in relation to her character’s recent boob job which of course is a recurring joke throughout the film. But she also brings the proper motherly instinct that the role requires. As for the rest of the cast, some admittedly could’ve been given larger roles in the film, like Rose Byrne, who has really proven himself to be an excellent comedic talent earlier this year in ‘Neighbors’, as Judd’s former love interest from high school (Byrne and Bateman do have really nice chemistry) and even Corey Stoll, who kind of makes the smallest impression compared to his three sibling co-stars, but overall the cast is superb from top to bottom.

‘This is Where I Leave You’ can be quite wacky at times, as one would expect from a film centered on a dysfunctional family. But when it needs to, the film smartly tones down the craziness and as for this film being a dramedy, it’s one of the better ones that I’ve seen because it does do a really great job at balancing the humorous moments with the more serious moments. And those serious moments when the usually bickering Altmans start to reconnect with one another provide the heart of the film. Of course, this is primarily thanks to the film’s terrific ensemble cast. Not only do they have great camaraderie with one another but that also makes the relationships between their characters feel very much genuine from an emotional standpoint. Despite the occasional immature or gross-out moment, this is easily one of director Shawn Levy’s most mature films to date, if not the most. I haven’t read the book this was based on so I can’t say much about how faithful it is to the book (although I have heard about a scene from the book that got cut involving a cake that seems like a really funny situation but sadly it’s not in the film) but overall ‘This is Where I Leave You’ is a nice solid piece of entertainment that not only has a good amount of laughs but also a really good amount of heart as well.

Rating: 4/5

Neighbors (2014) review

I’m finding that the quality of most comedies these days tends to vary year in and year out. 2012 was one of the better years for comedies with films like ‘Ted’ and ’21 Jump Street’. 2013, on the other hand, was probably one of the worst years for comedies… ever. And I mean it; a lot of comedies last year really stunk, like ‘Movie 43’ or ‘Grown Ups 2’. That year was so bad that I only remembered one or two ‘good’ comedies and I listed one, ‘The World’s End’, as one of my Top 12 favorite films of the year (partially out of pity for having to be a part of such a crappy year for the genre). But overall this year is looking much better for the genre, at least when it comes to the summer’s lineup of comedies. Later this summer, we’re getting ‘A Million Ways to Die in the West’ and ’22 Jump Street’ but the summer comedy season does get off to a pretty good start with ‘Neighbors’, the latest film from Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg, the duo behind last year’s surprise hit ‘This is the End’ (the other ‘good’ comedy of 2013). This time around, they team up with Nicholas Stoller, director of ‘Forgetting Sarah Marshall’ and writer for the recent ‘Muppet’ movies, for a really fun comedy that will also be very pleasing to anyone who’s in a fraternity and I can verify that having seen it with my friend Matt, who is in a fraternity; Sigma Chi’s University of Rhode Island chapter, to be exact.

Mac (Seth Rogen) and Kelly (Rose Byrne) Radner are a couple with a newborn girl who look to maintain their old ‘crazy’ lifestyle but continuously find trouble trying to do so because of their new ‘parent’ statuses. One day, they find that a fraternity from the local university, Delta Psi, have moved in next door and at first, they seem to bond with the frat and their leader Teddy Sanders (Zac Efron)… but that doesn’t last very long. Realizing the troubles that could come from their parties, Mac and Kelly initially ask Teddy and the frat that they ‘keep it down’, which they agree to do but ask that, in return, they come to them first and ask and not call the police. But one night, when they are unable to get in contact with Teddy, Mac and Kelly do end up calling the cops, though while they intend to be anonymous, they do end up getting caught in the act. This ends up resulting in a prank war between the two ‘parties’ as both try to get back at one another with hilarious results.

What’s really interesting about this film is that while it is focused on what can pretty much be called a ‘turf war’ between the Radners and Delta Psi, there’s really no definable ‘villain’ in this film. As the main characters, Mac and Kelly are a really likable couple but at the same time, the movie doesn’t paint their ‘enemies’, Delta Psi, as a bunch of despicable people. You see that Teddy is driven to become a part of Delta Psi history, which is a pretty respectable goal. Not only that, but you can really sense the strong connections that he has with his ‘brothers’, especially the frat’s Vice President, Pete (Dave Franco). As Matt pointed out, this film really does a great job at portraying the relationship between frat brothers, who will stick by each other no matter what even though they do sometimes fight. And that, to me, is why this movie works really well. It’s just a fun little prank war or ‘Family vs. Frat’ as is advertised on the poster and the movie never really feels ‘mean-spirited’. After all, if this film did portray the members of the frat as incredibly unlikable people, then that would just be a bad representation of the Greek community in general and I can tell that this wasn’t the filmmakers’ goal.

And as a comedy, it’s a really funny one and the laughs are pretty consistent throughout. Plus, at just 96 minutes, you never get bored and the film never feels like its dragged out (which, from what I’m hearing, was the main problem with Stoller’s last film ‘The Five Year Engagement’). Even better is the fact that the trailers actually don’t give away all of the jokes in the film, which is a problem that has plagued comedy films in recent years. But of course, a great comedy wouldn’t work without a great cast, and this film’s cast is no exception. Rogen and Byrne have great chemistry (Byrne in particular is a standout; she has great comic timing just as much as Rogen and Efron do and it’s clear that she really shines when it comes to comedic roles), Rogen and Efron have a great ‘back and forth’ camaraderie, and the entire group of Delta Psi, particularly Efron and Franco, really sell their ‘brotherhood’. Like Byrne, Franco is also one of the big standouts in this, particularly during the scene where the frat is hosting a ‘Robert De Niro’ party and he’s the ‘Meet the Fockers’ De Niro (‘You call the cops, you violate the circle of trust, Focker!’)

So, overall, ‘Neighbors’ serves as a very nice start to this year’s summer comedies. Not only is it full of laughs and solidly paced, but it’s also just a fun little movie that’s not really mean-spirited in any way. After all, it could’ve been a lot more mean-spirited had it not portrayed the group of Delta Psi in a fairly positive way. Sure, Rogen and Byrne’s character are the main protagonists, but you can still sympathize with the frat because they have an admirable goal; to become Delta Psi legends. Plus, this is a really nice representation of the ‘brotherhood’ that occurs amongst members of a fraternity. Now, I can’t fully vouch for that seeing how I am not in a fraternity (at least at the time that I’m writing this) but having seen it with someone who is in a fraternity, we both agree that this does do a good job representing fraternities in general. Because of that, ‘Neighbors’ is a film that I do recommend and the first great comedy of the year and I think it’s safe to say that this film is ‘frat approved’.

Rating: 4/5