New Releases For Home Viewing: A Very Good Week Of Releases!!

It is a good week for home viewing this week, with three pretty good films!!

THE SHALLOWS

Directed by Jaume Collet-Serra
Screenplay byAnthony Jaswinsky
Starring Blake Lively



So no description needed because you see the trailer.
This film surprised me.......I was on the edge of my seat for most of it. I was grossed out often. This film just sucked me in...I really liked it. So...why?

-Yes you will think that this girl was really stupid...being out on a beach surfing in a place she knows nothing about and being by herself. Yes not a very smart move. However, surfers do this. They wake up and grab a board and catch some waves to start their day. To them it is like exercise. So I see this as realistic. I am glad that Blake Lively was a DR to be, she is not stupid, she just made a unlucky decision, and that happens.

-This film is gorgeous. It was filmed off the Gold Coast Of Australia. Crystal clear water (You can see the shark circling) that almost acts as a character in the film. Just beautiful. Thumbs up to cinematographer Flavio Martinez. Also throw in the fantastic surfing scenes.

-Blake Lively. She is clearly in great shape and looks the part. You have no doubt that she is strong enough and smart enough to handle this situation. Also note, she is all by herself in this film for most of it, so she is acting and not speaking most of the time. So as a viewer you learn from her expressions (and her pain). She is really good in this role.

-The film is only 85 minutes. It does not overstay its welcome. Also, it is exhausting, I could not take more than 85 minutes!!!!!!!!!!!

Yes, I know this film is a little better than a B-Movie budget wise. And Yes I know the last 15 minutes are severely lacking (The finish is disappointing). Still you come to this film after seeing the trailer wanting tension and excitement and this film delivers. 4 out of 5 stars for The Shallows.


CENTRAL INTELLIGENCE
Directed by Rawson Marshall Thurber
Screenplay by Rawson Marshall Thurber; Ike Barinholtz; and David Stasson
Starring Dwayne Johnson; Kevin Hart; and Amy Ryan



After meeting up with an old school mate Bob Stone (Johnson); Calvin Joyner (Hart) is lured into a international issue.

When I first saw the trailer I thought right away that this film will be the same as Hart's Ride Along films, however here Johnson will just replace Ice Cube. I was wrong. This film shows how funny Dwayne Johnson can be. Ice Cube was not funny in Ride Along 1 and 2. He was the straight-man for Hart. Here Johnson gets as many laughs as Hart. His character is plain odd. He is always positive no matter what the danger and oddly always pleasant. He plays against his type, I mean he wears unicorn shirts because he loves them.  In fact part of the story line is that Calvin has to decide if Bob Stone is just an overly nice guy or psychotic. I will stop there, no spoilers.
 Now, I do not want to go into all the funny moments, again no spoilers here, however I can tell you during my screening the crowd seemed to be constantly laughing. Also I have to mention one of the biggest shockers in this film is a big cameo at the end for about a minute. When this person turned people actually started laughing and clapping. How they kept this a secret through all the press junkets is impressive. Did I mention No Spoilers??!! And if you see it...do not spoil it for others.

Problems?
Oh yes there was.
The story line make no sense. I mean no sense. I understand it is about the comedy team here but...it seemed like as things developed they just gave up on the story. They had no idea how to close the whole CIA story line. Yes the chase and the mystery was fun, and funny, but as we just saw in the buddy investigation comedy The Nice Guys, it helps to have a plot that comes together and makes sense. Also, I would put money down that this film has the most gun shot misses than any film this year and maybe last year. They must have hired storm troopers.
Another problem, and it kills me to say, is the incredible actress Amy Ryan. Ryan plays lead investigator of the CIA, and is miscast. I never thought I would ever type Amy Ryan is miscast but it is true. I did not believe her in this part for a second and that is a huuuuuge problem because she is who they are trying to run from or avoid.

With all that being noted ...I understand why people go to see this film. For comedy.....and it clearly delivers. For action....yes plenty of action. Chemistry between the two leads...it has that. So it deserves 3 1/2 stars out of 5. It delivers what you want. I always say I am not a snotty reviewer, just telling you if you should spend your hard earned money at the theatre on films I review. This just has a loose story line.
A quick note....it also has a nice umbrella of a story that pulls the film together about bullying and the recovery of who is bullied.


MIKE AND DAVID NEED WEDDING DATES

Directed by Jake Szymanski
Screenplay by Andrew Jay Cohen and Brendan O'Brien
Starring Zac Efron; Adam Devine; Anna Kendrick; and Aubrey Plaza




Well obviously the plot is Mike and David need wedding dates.
This film is an example of why I do this. This is a film that critics will probably crush. They are just too smart and they want to tell you that!! In fact one critic said, "an unbelievable crazy script". Okay!!! Did not do his homework. This is based on a real story. And in fact some of the craziest things are true and not the "based on" part. Yes...true story!!!!!!!!!
Why do you go see Mike And David? To laugh. To get away from the awful news on the TV and just have fun. Mike And David delivers
I laughed often while watching this. All four leads are all in and are fantastic as four self involved goofballs.May be one of the funniest films of the year so far. Plus it has a wonderful backdrop of Hawaii.

Negatives:
It had trouble closing. The last half hour seemed messy, making the movie feel long, for a 98 minute film, that is not good.
I also felt two of the leads Efron and Kendrick had no chemistry. They were real good individually in their parts but together it was sort of awkward and not believable.

Well anyway this is a slapstick nutty kind of film. There is a massage scene I promise that you will not forget. Just stupid humor that works.

Wanted to note Sugar Lyn Beard as Jeanie Stangle who is the boys sister who is getting married is fantastic and hilarious. She keeps up with the four stars that is for sure.

3 1/2 stars out of 5 for Mike And David Need Wedding Dates. Again, this film will not save the world, but it is a funny film. This is what Neighbors 2 wanted to be.  Also watch through the credits for some real funny outtakes.

From the shadows as always thanks for your time.

New Film Review: Storks

STORKS

Directed Nicholas Stoller and Doug Sweetland
Screenplay by Nicholas Stoller
Voices by Storks UGH




Odd. Just odd.

There is a lot wrong here.
First and foremost it totally steals the plot of Ice Age. Blatant theft.
And they stole the idea and it still stinks.

The film is creepy with machines making babies'
With Ty Burrell playing the exact person he plays on Modern Family. ODD!!
Birds with teeth.
One small bird who is there for humor but is not funny at all. Kids were not laughing at this mess either.
This is not good.
The bad people, like Kelsey Grammer's character is bad but I have no idea why. It is just a baby. Settle down. Weird.

Is there anything good?

Well I thought the character Tulip, the lead was interesting, voiced by Katie Crown. She is stuck living this life in an Amazon like warehouse. It is sad and if they just went with the plot to find her home this film may have been interesting. SPOILER: Then an odd ending where they go to her house and they hug her and miss her. Huh? How do they know? Have they met her? Odd!!!

To finish....would kids like it? Maybe but forgettable that is for sure; but parents be ready for uncomfortable questions afterwards.
ODD!!

1 1/2 star out of 5 (Only for Tulip) for this wasted, surprisingly bad film (the trailer sucked me in).
Look up the background on the director and writer Stoller. It is not good. I wish I would have known this before I went to see this mess. He is bad, with a string of bad.

To add to the bad there was a short before this film from the Lego animated films and that was one of the worse shorts I have ever seen.

From the shadows I am sorry for wasting your time.

New Film Review: The Magnificent Seven

THE MAGNIFICENT SEVEN

Directed by Antoine Fuqua
Screenplay Richard Wenk and Nick Pizzolatto
Based on screenplays by Akira Kurosawa; Shinobu Hashimoto; and Hideo Oguni
Starring: Denzel Washington; Chris Pratt; Ethan Hawke; Vincent D'Onofrio; Byung-Hun-Lee; Manuel Garcia-Rulfo; Martin Sensmeir; Haley Bennett; and Peter Sarsgaard.




This is a really entertaining film based on the Seven Samurai and the 1970 classic The Magnificent Seven. This is one of the better movies of the year. As of this review on Rotten Tomatoes this film is getting a 65%. Really? What were the other 35% wanting. You go to this movie to be entertained; see a western; action; and some laughs. It delivered in all aspects. You cannot be that prudish. It is a very good big screen film, to be seen on..... the big screen.

Let me break it down for you:
First the acting/casting.
Well you know Pratt/Washington/ D'Onofrio/Hawke (Underrated actor) were going to be great as part of the Seven. I mean it's Pratt/ D'Onofrio/Washington/Hawke. I mean really. In fact there is one small conversation between Washington's Chisolm and Hawke's Robicheaux that was so ...I don't know...it had me think of Training Day and I wished they could be in every film together. Just great chemistry still!!
Now the lesser known actors: Lee as Billy Rocks; Garcia-Rulfo as Vasquez; and Sensmeier as Red Harvest are just fantastic and maybe are more interesting than the better known actors.
Haley Bennett as Emma Cullen. Well...we have been hearing so much in the press about her. How she will get a possible Nomination for the upcoming Girl On The Train. How good she is in the upcoming Rules Don't Apply. Now I have not seen those movies yet so I cannot give you my opinion on her performances in those movies however here in Seven she is really good. She is beautiful but also tough. Playing up against 7 big personalities she is wonderful. Even when she is not in the forefront, look for her, she is saying so much just by her look.
To make this work you need a good bad guy and Sarsgaard as Bogue delivers. He is just pure evil and thinks he is smarter than everyone in the room, which makes you hate him more!!

Now the script:
Well the script follows the original. So that works and then it throws in modern special effects with some really great stunt work.
However, the biggest and maybe the only fault I guess, that I see in this film is....it drags in the middle. It needed editing, it needed to be tighter. The movie runs two hours and fifteen minutes, and in the middle I was looking at my watch often. It was just unnecessary scenes like all seven sitting in a bar . And then again later, sitting in a bar. Just needed editing. Mind you I love character development but after awhile you know enough. Also I think the final battle which ran about 35 minutes could have been edited down.

One last note the score in this film is Oscar worthy. The score is done by James Horner. and Simon Franglen. Yes during the credits it has that great classic theme that won the Oscar by Elmer Bernstein, but during this film  a couple times I was thinking damn this score pulls you in. Which is nice to hear when films like Me Before You and Bridget Jone's Baby almost interrupted the story lines with annoying music. Sometime as you see here all you need is a great score to help with tone.

4 1/2 stars. Yes a bit long but what fun. A western on the big screen!!  And a classic great story. Cowboys coming in to save a small town. Go see it!!

By the way....Chris Pratt gives the front runner for best line in a film this year. It involves when someone is falling off a building. Classic!!

From the shadows as always thanks form your time.

New Film Review: Mr Church

MR CHURCH

Directed by Bruce Beresford
Screenplay by Susan McMartin
Starring Eddie Murphy; Britt Robertson; and Natascha McHelhone




It has been four years since Eddie Murphy has been in a film. He picked a totally non-Eddie Murphy type film to come back in.
Mr Church is well acted with Eddie Murphy giving a wonderful soft performance as Mr Church.
The film also has Britt Robertson, and if you read my past blogs you know I think she is an underrated actress. Here In Mr Church she really shines playing the part of Charlie the daughter Mr Church ends up winning over. You just flat out love her character. She is very strong but really does not know it.
We also have a very good small performance from Natascha McElhone as Charlie's ill mother Marie. She does not play the part with sadness, she plays it with strength and honor.

So we have good performances. Now how about the script?

I read on line a lot of people thought it was going to be like driving Miss Daisy, and they said pass. No. Far from it. In fact if I can remember right Mr Church's color was not even an issue in the film. He was just treated or excepted as the caring outsider.
The problem with the script is that it is all over the place. Do not get me wrong, it is a really good movie and a little different then most films out there. Here is what is in this film:
Ill Mom
A stranger...cook
A bus companion who has a sad past
A friend who is poor
A friend is rich (played by Lucy Fry who is awful...just plain awful in the part)
A pregnancy
A boyfriend
A college student
A bar named Jelly something.
An alcoholic maybe
An abusive father.

See!! It is a lot. Way too many story lines. We know a lot about Charlie which is fine. However it is annoying how much they hide the life of Mr Church. Then at the end we get  a reveal which falls like a feather. It was a No Crap moment. The reveal was...okay...we figured that. They could have dropped some story lines and gave us more of Mr Church's life and cut out the boring big reveal.

3 stars put of 5 for Mr Church. A sweet story. Well acted. However it needed a rewrite and edit.
Welcome back Eddie Murphy, great return however it may be too soft of a part for award season.

From the shadows as always thanks for your time.

New Releases For Home Viewing This Week: With Free State Of Jones

Not a great week for home viewing releases this week. I just have two to note.


FREE STATE OF JONES

Directed: Gary Ross
Screenplay: Leonard Hartman and Gary Ross
Starring: Matthew McConaughey; Gugu Mbatha-raw; Mahershala Ali; and Keri Russell




The Free State Of Jones follows a Confederate Soldier Newton Knight who leaves the war in disgust. After returning home he fights for his right not to fight, the rights of home/property owners to protect their land and property from the government; and also black individuals right to be free.

I will start with the highlights...the acting:

Matthew McConaughey as Newton Knight is really good. This may sound odd but his voice tone and I guess movements in this film makes him very believable. He is a leader. An almost a reluctant leader that influences people to believe and also to follow. Like he did in Mud and Dallas Buyers Club he just becomes the character.
Gugu Mbatha-Raw as Rachel, a house slave who helps the rebels in the swamps. She is so talented. I have been saying this since I watched her in Belle (See it!!). She was underused in Concussion but she still was great. Here, again, fantastic, she says so much with a look and a smile. I will go as far to say maybe top 5 actresses working today.
Keri Russell as Serena is barely in the film but when she is she shines.
The best for last!!Mahershala Ali gives an Oscar worthy performance as Moses. He steals this movie from McConaughey. He is the leader behind the leader. He pulls the strings and you never have any doubt about what he is capable of. He is smart; strong; and a ball of emotions. I think most people know him from the Hunger Games series, that was a small part, here he just shines in a much bigger part.

Now we come to a problem. The screenplay. Do not get me wrong, it is not a bad movie. In fact it is a pretty good film. I learned a lot. The film starts strong, the first hour is fantastic. Then as the film move on it becomes a shell of a story. We do not dig into characters. We do not dig into ramifications or how far reaching the actions are felt. It loses focus with way to many angles and stories, The script needed tightening. It was 140 minutes and it felt rushed at the end, so you can see there is a problem. They also made a strange decision to show a court case in the future throughout the film to make it relate to the story that it is telling. That decision was unnecessary, it took us away from the story and that time could have been used for development. In fact there was a part of me that thought this would have been better as something like a 5 week miniseries on TV. It is a fascinating story that I never knew about, and with more time it could dig deeper into all the story lines. As odd as this sounds the movie ends with a thud. It seemed rushed and cut short, which is a shame.

3 1/2 stars out of 5 for Free State Of Jones. Just an interesting story with great performances. It lacks depth. Maybe see the film then buy the book The State Of Jones: The Small Southern County That Seceded From The Confederacy to expand on the film.


NEIGHBORS 2

Directed by Nicholas Stoller
Screenplay by Andrew J Cohen; Brendan O'Brien;Nicholas Stoller; Seth Rogan; and Evan Goldberg
Starring Seth Rogan; Zac Efron; Rose Byrne; and Grace Moretz




Again Mac Radner (Seth Rogan) and Kelly Radner (Rose Byrne) are having Neighbor problems.
This time they get help from former nemesis Teddy Sanders (Zac Efron).

When I first did the film review I called it Bad Neighbors and Bad Neighbors 2 (wink wink). I apologize I should have called it Terrible Neighbors.

I was not a big fan of the first Neighbors. I just felt it annoying. I tend to get annoyed by people being rude and mean. So coming in to number 2, I heard good things. I was looking forward to this.
Well..............................................NO!!!! Bad Movie!!!!!!!!!!!!

This film was real bad. It was not funny, I did not laugh once. Not once. Did I say not once?
I found every single person in this film to be annoying: stupid; and unrealistic.
THERE WAS FIVE WRITERS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! How can this film be this bad with five writer???!!!
I love Grace Moretz. I think she is a pretty good young actress, here I felt bad for her.

Here is my synopsis of this film. Kids move next door to married couple. They have underage parties that can be calmed down if they call the police. But no. They are idiots. Not in a funny way. Just idiots. The End!!

I know that maybe this film was not made for my age group. However there are parts of this film that younger kids cannot relate to. You may say I don't get this type of humor. I like Zoolander; This Is The End. Superbad. You know why??? They were actually funny.

1/2 stars out of 5 for Neighbors 2. I do not get what critics were watching.

From the shadows as always thanks for your time.

New Film Review: Bridget Jone's Baby

BRIDGET JONE'S BABY

Directed by Sharon Maguire
Screenplay by Helen Fielding; Emma Thompson; and Dan Mazer
Starring Renee Zellweger; Colin Firth; Patrick Dempsey; and Emma Thompson



Well...this is why I decided to start this blog. Anti critic snobbery blog. I read a critic say this is one of the worst films of the year. Initials RR (BUT LIKED THE LOBSTER!!!). Really? Critics cannot split or segregate film goers. There is a difference in movie goers who want to go see Hell Or High Water and Bridget Jones's Diary Yes sometimes these movie goers merge but usually they do not. That is just the way it is. Market to women. Market to teens. Market to Men. Market to geek computer people. Market to Comic-Con fans.  It is what it is. It is the new studio system. Critics I know, their job is to review the film and technical aspects, however they often forget the target market. It's REACH.
Why do you go see a movie of this type?
To leave your brain at the door.
To get some laughs (not as many as I hoped but I laughed out loud a couple times).
To revisit a beloved character in Bridget Jones.
For romance (Kinda Delivered).
The love of Darcy.

That is why they go to this film. Not to see an Oscar winner, they want to get away from the world and smile for a bit. In that way this film delivers.....well kind of.

The positive in this film are for sure is Zellweger. Coming off the terrible second film I was surprised she came back to this character. However it was a wonderful decision. She is awesome. In fact Best Actress, not for an Oscar, but maybe Comedy Actress Golden Globes.  She lets the film show her age and her slight desperation. Perfect.
Her costars are all really good. Firth and Dempsey are perfect as the possible fathers. Exact opposites of each other. One an older man, British, showing his years, walks with the weight of the world on his shoulders. The other an American, walks with a bounce, younger, more modern. When they are together they play off of each other quietly, which makes it funny.

The problems?

Well I noted I wish it was funnier.
That brings me to the script. I think there is an umbrella of sadness buried in the script that gets washed over. What Bridget is doing to these two men is slightly rude. I felt bad for them for being in this position, making it the first time in these films I kind of did not like Bridget. The way she was knowingly or unknowingly playing both sides. This kind of squashed the humor a bit.
The script again: The ending. We were leading up to the big moment and it was....it was wacky a bit but then dull and uneventful with using a cheap unneeded trick at the final baptism.

It was great to see Zellweger again as Bridget, or as an older Bridget. It is serviceable as a funny rom-com. A movie to get you away from the world. I just wish it was more. Just More. 3 out of 5 stars. Far from the worst film of the year...not even close...looking at you Neighbors 2.

As always from the shadows thanks for your time.

New Film Review: Snowden

SNOWDEN

Directed by Oliver Stone
Screenplay by Kieran Fitzgerald and Oliver Stone
Based on the book by Anatoly Kucherena and Luke Harding
Starring Joseph Gordon-Levitt; Shailene Woodley; Melissa Leo; Zachary Quinto; Rhys Ifans; and Tom Wilkinson




I watched the Snowden Documentary, so going into this I was really not to excited. I felt I have heard all I needed to know about this story. So.....I was pleasantly surprised after watching Oliver Stones film here.......so let me get to it....

Positives:

-The acting I thought was outstanding. I read another review out there saying they found Levitt's  voice grating. Well maybe, but I saw the documentary, and he is pretty close with Snowden's dialect. Levitt is really good in the lead, as is everyone around him. That is what Stone always does right whether you like him or dislike him he cast all big parts and small parts real well, here he even has Nic Cage give one of his best performances in years.
-Speaking of Stone, the man who loves a good conspiracy, he stays to the middle the best he can here and it works. The film is shown as Snowden talks to the reporters, and then we see flashbacks as he explains his decisions. This is where I learned things:
1- How important Snowden was to the Goverment. I really did not pick that up on the documentary. Maybe Snowden played it down in the Documentary.
2-His girlfriend was waaaaaaaay out of the loop. However it seemed like an incident involving her broke the camels back and pushed him to exposure. I saw one review out there that said her part was not needed. I highly disagree. She shows his isolation, and hers, in life and relationship.
3-How often Snowden moved with his job, the job in which kind of made him a hermit, He had acquaintances but nobody really close.
4-Snowden's health was not very strong
-The best thing Stone did was use visuals to explain computer technology. This is a "Talky" and he really does a good job of keeping it clear and interesting and moving.

I always ask myself when I review ....Was I entertained and/or learn something. Well I did learn a lot that is for sure.

Negatives:

-Well as noted before Stone does a good job staying calmly into the middle, however he really does not go further and give us the other side of the story. To be fair we should see the inside, the response, and the effects of what was going on inside.
-Yes this is a "Talky", and that is okay. Yes it could have used some editing as does most of Stone's films. My problem is it needed to spend less time on the front end and more time on the back-end. Snowdens life now. Like his real life in Russia. His girlfriends life now. The government surveillance now and their defense. In other words expand on the documentary.

My opinion on this? I am still not sure. I have noted in reviews past we tend to be extremist these days because that is what sells in the media. Here? Why can't it be both? Maybe he is a hero. I did not know the government can watch me right now as I do this blog. It is strange =Hero. However maybe he went too far exposing government secrets involving national security as well. That puts you and I at risk =Criminal. Both.
Either way. Go see this film. It is well acted and interesting. Sure to stay with you and whom ever you went to the theater with have an interesting discussion during the post movie meal.
4 out of 5 stars.

From the shadows as always thanks for your time.