The Hangover Part III (2013) - Review

The Hangover Part III (2013) - Starring Bradley Cooper, Ed Helms, Zach Galifianakis, Justin Bartha, Ken Jeong, John Goodman, Heather Graham, Melissa McCarthy. Written by Craig Mazin and Todd Phillips. Directed by Todd Phillips. Rated R. Now in Theaters.

The Wolfpack is back. And this time, there's no bachelor party, no forgotten night. But the Wolfpack still finds themselves in trouble as a gangster (Goodman) forces them to track down Leslie Chow (Jeong).

The saying goes "third time's the charm" and I think this movie lives up to that saying. Yes, it's not like the first movie, but everyone complained about the second film being too much like the first. I, for one, liked how the story line was changed up. This film is more of an action, one-liner filled, less raunchy (comparatively) comedy film than the other two. I laughed insanely hard at this movie- much harder than I laughed at Part II - and thoroughly enjoyed it. The chemistry between the leads continues to be fantastic and all of the actors continue to deliver strong comedic performances, especially Galifianakis, whose child-like Alan continues to shock and amuse. Newcomers to the franchise John Goodman and Melissa McCartney fit right in with the rest of the cast. One disappointment is that Goodman wasn't really given a chance to show of his comedic chops and instead was just the big bad villain for the film. One complaint I have read about this film is its pacing. It does tend to rush things to a degree, especially in the beginning, but I feel like the pacing doesn't really hurt the film that much.

This film makes up for the shortcomings of the second film. If you're a fan of the original, you should like this one. If not...well, oh well. I liked it. I liked it a lot. It almost makes me wish that there was a 4th one coming out, but this is the end. And what a spectacular ending it is.

Heads Up: Stay for the mid-credits scene. You'll be glad you did.

Rating: 4 out of 5

The Hangover Part II (2011) - Review

The Hangover Part II (2011) - Starring Bradley Cooper, Ed Helms, Zach Galifianakis,  Justin Bartha, Ken Jeong, Paul Giamatti, Jamie Chung, Mason Lee. Written by Craig Mazin, Scot Armstrong and Todd Phillips. Directed by Todd Phillips. Rated R. Available on DVD.

The Hangover Part II continues the story of the Wolfpack that began in The Hangover. This time, they're in Thailand for the wedding of Stu (Helms) and once again, Stu, Alan (Galifianakis), and Phil (Cooper) find themselves in an insane situation after a bachelor party they don't remember.

The problem that a lot of people have with this movie is that it is too similar to the first one, which undoubtably it is. But I think the bigger problem is that even though it tries to be exactly like the first one, it's nowhere near as funny. To me, the humor is a lot more gross this time around. And while the first one definitely had its share of gross moments, it was much better with one liners and funny jokes. This movie just doesn't seem to land as well.

I still enjoyed it. Maybe it's because I love seeing these three guys together. They're great. Ken Jeong, reprising his role as criminal Leslie Chow, is also good, but I don't find him as hilarious as a lot of people seem to. Maybe I just wish he would be a little less naked.

I think if this movie would have come out and the first movie never existed, people would have received it more warmly. But when compared to the first film, one of the most successful comedy films of all time, it just doesn't hold up as well.

Rating: 3 out of 5.

Hall Pass (2011) -- Review

Hall Pass (2011) - Starring Owen Wilson, Jason Sudeikis, Jenna Fischer, Christina Applegate. Written by Pete Jones, Peter Farrelly, Kevin Barnett, Bobby Farrelly. Directed by Peter and Bobby Farrelly. Rated R. Available on DVD and HBO Go.

Hall Pass follows Rick (Wilson) and Fred (Sudeikis), two married men, who are given a "hall pass" - a week off of marriage - by their wives (Fischer and Applegate). They are given a chance to do absolutely whatever they want with whoever they want to do it with and will face no consequences once the week is over.

Which is something that would 100% absolutely never happen. Ever. I spent the whole movie thinking this. It is completely unrealistic, and I get that comedies a lot of times are about ridiculous situations, but to me, this was too much of a stretch. But even with this ridiculous of a situation, this movie was immensely boring. I literally - no exaggeration- only laughed once during this movie and it was at Jason Sudeikis, who I typically find pretty funny.

Maybe it's the fact that I can't stand Owen Wilson's style of acting - like Woody Allen with even more stuttering- or maybe it's just not a good script. But if you're planning on watching this, find another comedy to watch. Chances are that it will be more realistic, funnier, and all around better than this one.

Rating: 1 out of 5.

The Hangover (2009) - Review

The Hangover (2009) - Starring Bradley Cooper, Ed Helms, Zach Galifiankis, Justin Bartha. Written by Jon Lucas and Scott Moore. Directed by Todd Phillips. Rated R. Available on DVD.

If you haven't seen The Hangover by now, you should. There's a reason why it was as popular as it was. It's funny, and at the time, original. The chemistry between the three leads is fantastic and their performances in this film is what helped their careers become even larger. At the time this film was released, no one really knew who these people were. Now everyone does. (Yes, I realize those are sweeping generalizations.) I really do enjoy this film. Something I really like about this movie, in addition to the great writing and original plot, is how this film is directed. Lots of the shots in the movie are really cool visually. The song selection for this film is also quite great. The humor, at times, is really disgusting, but the really funny parts to me are the quick one liners and the crazy situations that the characters face.

I like this movie. I like it a lot. And it's still funny the third time I've seen it, which a lot of comedies aren't.

Rating: 4 out of 5.

New Year's Eve (2011) - Review

New Year's Eve (2011) - Starring Sarah Jessica Parker, Jessica Biel, Hilary Swank, Michelle Pfieffer, Zac Efron, Seth Meyers, Josh Duhamel, Jon Bon Jovi, Ashton Kutcher, Lea Michele, Robert De Niro. Written by Katherine Fugate. Directed by Garry Marshall. Rated PG-13. Available on HBO Go and DVD.

New Year's Eve follows several individuals and couples during New Year's Eve in New York, which is an amazing time of the year. If you were looking for this movie at the store, you would have to look next to the Cheetos because this is a giant cheeseball of a movie. The stories are unrealistic. The characters aren't all that interesting. The dialogue is terrible. The acting, despite the cast, is almost amateurish. It almost seems like everyone who worked on this film phoned it in. The only thing redeemable I found in this film was the fact that Robert De Niro did pretty well in it, but that was nowhere near enough to safe it. The jokes were stale. I wanted so much to laugh at Seth Meyers, who I think is hilarious and quite talented, but all the jokes were stale jokes. The lowest, and cheesiest moment, is definitely the Bon Jovi/Lea Michele duet montage while everyone is searching for love. On top of this, there was more product placement in this movie than I have ever seen before, which explains how they were able to pay so many actors to do a whole lot of nothing.

This movie almost made me want to never visit New York during the holidays. Almost.

Rating: 1 out of 5. 

A Glimpse Inside the Mind of Charles Swan III (2012) - Review

A Glimpse Inside the Mind of Charles Swan III (2012) - Starring Charlie Sheen, Jason Schwartzman, Bill Murray. Written and Directed by Roman Coppola. Rated R. Available on DVD.

A Glimpse Inside the Mind of Charles Swan III follows Charles Swan (played by Charlie Sheen, who the character is obviously based on), a graphic designer who is trying desperately to get over his girlfriend who left him. He has an active imagination that creates fantasy scenes that he imagines while dealing with things.

This film is completely over-the-top, but not in a good way. It aspires to have the same type of quirkiness that Wes Anderson films have (Coppola wrote two of Anderson's films), but it doesn't really succeed. Yes, it's weird and off-beat, but it just isn't interesting. I was completely unable to care about any of the characters or what was going on. For a film that had so many things happening in it, it was pretty boring. The actors seem to barely care about what is going on themselves, except it seems for Sheen. The redeeming quality is the cool visuals present in the films.

If you've thought about watching this movie, I recommend just watching something else.

Rating: 1.5 out of 5.

Star Trek Into Darkness (2013) - Review

Star Trek Into Darkness (2013) Starring Chris Pine, Zachary Quinto, Zoe Saldana, Karl Urban, Simon Pegg, John Cho, Benedict Cumberbatch, Anton Yelchin, Bruce Greenwood, Peter Weller, Alice Eve. Written by Roberto Orci, Alex Kurtzman, & Damon Lindelof. Directed by J.J. Abrams. Rated PG-13. Now in theaters.

Star Trek Into Darkness continues the adventures of the crew of the USS Enterprise as they face their most dangerous assignment yet: capturing one very dangerous man. Star Trek Into Darkness is the second in the rebooted Star Trek film series and it is once again directed by J.J. Abrams, arguably the most popular director of big budget Sci-Fi films of the moment (though Joss Whedon is probably a close second).

Into Darkness is a worthy successor to the first of Abrams' Star Trek films. There is more action in this one than the other and the action scenes are amazing. It has a very fun, but pretty predictable, plot. None of the "twists" that this movie had were all that surprising, but it was still very entertaining. And that's all I really want out of a big budget action movie. I just want it to be entertaining.

One thing that Abrams continues to do well in this film is to develop his characters and their relationships. Abrams is quite talented on focusing on characters amid all of the action scenes. This movie was very good and very entertaining.

What I keep thinking during the movie was "I can't wait to see what Abrams does with Star Wars."

Rating: 3.5 out of 5

The Change-Up (2011) - Review

The Change-Up (2011) - Starring Jason Bateman, Ryan Reynolds, Leslie Mann, Olivia Wilde. Written by Jon Lucas and Scott Moore. Directed by David Dobkin. Rated R. Available on DVD and HBO GO.

The Change-Up follows Dave (Bateman), a lawyer with a wife and three kids, and Mitch, an aspiring actor who hasn't really grown up. Through a magical fountain, these two find themselves switching bodies and living each others' lives for a week or so. Along the way, they learn that their life was never really that bad and that the grass is not really greener on the other side.

The Change-Up is the Freaky Friday for the crowd who likes raunchy comedies, which could've resulted in a funny movie. But this movie falls flat because it doesn't really "change-up" anything. This movie was a safe bet for the studio, but the problem with it is that it just isn't good. It's forgettable. I honestly did not laugh once, even though I desperately wanted to. The secret to great comedies, even raunchy ones, is to not rely solely on sophomoric humor. Smart jokes can be made too.

I just didn't enjoy this film at all. And that's a shame considering the actors and actresses.

Rating: 2 out of 5.

The Art of Getting By (2011) - Review

The Art of Getting By (2011) - Starring Freddie Highmore, Emma Roberts, Michael Angarano, Rita Wilson, Blair Underwood. Written and Directed by Gavin Wiesen. Rated PG-13. Available on HBO GO and DVD.

The Art of Getting By follows George (Highmore), a high-school slacker talented in art, who encounters a girl (Roberts) just as rebellious as him, but who is more adept at "getting by," and a mentor-of sorts in an artist (Angarano) who graduated from the same high school.

The film is pretty good, especially for a debut director. The performances aren't bad, but aren't really the best they could be. The film also suffers some because it seems to be unsure of what the conflict is, but that actually might make it a tad more realistic, because life is normally not just one conflict at a time. But the problem is that what appears to be the main conflict of the movie doesn't appear until about 40 or more minutes into the movie. The film is also a bit predictable.

The film is overall decently entertaining, and if nothing else, it will be remembered as one of the early films of Highmore and Roberts who are both likely to have fairly successful careers in Hollywood.

Rating: 3 out of 5

Rain Man (1988) - Review

Rain Man (1988) - Starring Tom Cruise, Dustin Hoffman, Valeria Golino. Written by Ronald Bass and Barry Morrow. Directed by Barry Levinson. Rated R. Available on DVD.

Rain Man is a great movie. The performances are great, with Dustin Hoffman brilliantly playing an autistic savant. Tom Cruise doesn't stray far from the character he typically plays, but in this film, it works because that's what the character is meant to be like. It won an Oscar for Best Picture, and except for a few technology things (like a car phone) the film holds up.

I have two qualms about this movie though. First off, I felt it was overlong. At a 2 hour and 15 minute running time, it seemed to stretch certain scenes that definitely did not need to be stretched. The other thing that bothered me was a loose plot thread. The whole reason Cruise's character decides to take his brother (Hoffman) with him is in order to get money he felt he was cheated out of by his father. He wanted this in order to save his failing business. At the end of the film (spoiler alert), when he has his change of heart and wants to spend time with his brother regardless of the money, no mention is made of the business again. I realize he had a change of heart, but I would still be pretty worried about that business.

Other than that, it's a good film.

Rating: 4 out of 5 stars.

Howl (2010) - Review

Howl (2010) - Starring James Franco, Todd Rotondi, Jon Prescott, Jon Hamm. Written and Directed by Rob Epstein and Jeffrey Friedman. Rated R. Available on Netflix Watch Instantly and DVD.

This film focuses on Allen Ginsberg and his poem "Howl," both of which subjects I don't really know that much about. I thought the film would be interesting because of this; I thought that I would learn something new.

But the problem is the film seems to lack focus. Because of the chaotic directing style (that shifts from black and white scenes to color ones, to ones tinted blue with the occasional animated sequence), it's hard to tell what the focus of the film should be: is it a biography of the poet? Is it a telling of what happened with the obscenity trial of Ginsberg's poem? Is it an interpretation of the poem? The film seems unsure of what exactly it is.

However, the performances are great. James Franco was fantastic (which he usually is, not counting Oz: The Great and Powerful). Jon Hamm was also great in his role as a lawyer. But because of the lack of focus, the performances don't really get a chance to be as good as they could have been.

The problem with this film is not that it is necessarily bad. The problem is that it just isn't very good.

Rating: 2.5 out of 5.

Tucker and Dale vs. Evil (2010) - Review

Tucke and Dale vs. Evil (2010) - Starring Tyler Labine, Alan Tudyk, Katrina Bowden. Written by Eli Craig and Morgan Jurgenson. Directed by Eli Craig. Rated R. Available on Netflix Watch Instantly and DVD.

I was sincerely surprised and impressed by this movie. The film takes on the unique premise of "What if everything that happens in a horror movie is just a huge misunderstanding?" But I won't say anymore about the plot, because what made this film so great to me is the fact that I had no idea what it was about going into it. I knew it was a horror comedy, but no more than that.

And what a great horror comedy it is. I believe that it ranks up there next to Zombieland and Shaun of the Dead as the tops in the genre. The two leads (Alan Tudyk and Tyler Labine) are hilarious and perfect as Tucker and Dale, who are two really nice dudes who really just want a nice vacation but it doesn't really work out that way. This movie is over-the-top and ridiculous, but that's exactly how it should be. It's fun. It's more comedy than horror (unlike Scream 4 - which I watched yesterday-which is more horror than comedy). It's just so entertaining. I think everyone can tell how much I liked it.

I recommend this movie. Go watch it. But be warned, it's not really for the squeamish.

Rating: 4 out of 5.

Scream 4 (2011) - Review

Scream 4 (2011) - Starring Neve Campbell, David Arquette, Courtney Cox, Emma Roberts, Hayden Panettierre. Written by Kevin Williamson. Directed by Wes Craven. Rated R. Available on Netflix Watch Instantly and DVD. 

I like the rest of the Scream films. They're enjoyable, combining horror elements and comedy to make fun films to watch. I went into this movie expecting to hate this one, because as a rule, I normally hate horror remakes or sequels (excluding the other Scream films). Horror remakes are normally quite bad because it's just more of the same. No real development of the story or characters. Just a higher body count.

But I liked this movie. It brought the original cast back (Campbell as Sidney Prescott, trying to move on with her life, Arquette as the still good-natured cop Dewey, and Cox as the reporter Gale who is still trying to get the story) while adding in some fresh faces (Emma Roberts, Hayden Panettierre, Adam Brody, the always great Alison Brie, and Rory Culkin - who was one of my favorite parts of Scott Pilgrim). Also great were the cameos by Lucy Hale, Anna Paquin, and Kirsten Bell for the movie-within-a-movie Stab.

The difficulty with keeping a horror franchise good with each sequel is finding a way to make each movie fresh, while still keeping it true to the original. Scream 4 does this. I honestly was surprised by the twist and turns this movie took. It also stayed true by keeping the jokes and the horror movie-savvy teenagers that were so distinctive of the original. It raises some interesting and amusing points about horror movie sequels and also how fame obsessed our current generation seem to be.

I like Scream 4. If you like the rest of the Scream movies, you should like this one. If you don't, well then this definitely is not the movie for you. If you've never seen any of them, maybe you should give them a shot. The rest of them are on Netflix too.

Rating: 3.5 out of 5. 

Annie Hall (1977) - Review

Annie Hall (1977) - Starring Woody Allen, Diane Keaton. Written by Marshall Brickman and Woody Allen. Directed by Woody Allen. Rated PG. Available on DVD.

Annie Hall is a great film. Fantastic.

The direction style that Allen uses is so distinctive. He uses techniques that seem like they wouldn't necessarily work, but they do, such as talking directly to the audience, having the people who are remembering past events present during flashback, and an almost random animated sequence. Woody Allen has such a distinctive point of a view and a comedic voice that is very clearly defined in this film.

I think my favorite thing about this film is that it seems so realistic. The actors don't even seem like they're acting. And while I don't really relate to the relationships that Allen has in the film, I feel like I understand them. Woody Allen seems to let his audience into his personal life in his film, which is why I feel like they are so unique.

Without a doubt, Annie Hall deserved the Best Picture Oscar it won. It's brilliant.

Rating: 5 out of 5.

Iron Man 3 (2013) - Review

Iron Man 3 (2013) - Starring Robert Downey Jr., Gwyneth Paltrow, Don Cheadle, Guy Pearce, Rebecca Hall, Jon Favreau, Ben Kingsley. Written by Drew Pearce and Shane Black. Directed by Shane Black. Rated PG-13. Now in theaters.

(Possible Spoilers)
By the time most franchises hit their third film, or threequel, the movies feel bloated and seem to diminish in quality. This is not the case with Iron Man 3. It was fantastic, possibly because of the addition of a new director, Shane Black. The people at Marvel obviously know what they're doing, since they continue to produce hit after hit. Iron Man 3 begins Marvel's so called "Phase Two" and if all of Phase Two is up to the caliber of Iron Man 3, I'm really excited to see what happens. Iron Man 3 was funnier and more action-packed than the previous Iron Man movies. I personally believe that this was the best Iron Man movie and that it rivaled the Avengers.

That doesn't mean that's its flawless. Sure. it's completely unrealistic and sometimes the bad guy's plan doesn't make sense, but none of that matters. It's a superhero movie, you should know by now what to expect going into it. It is a great superhero movie though, one of the best.

What really impressed me with this movie is how many risks they chose to take. They're were several times during the movie where I was worried that certain things that happened were going to ruin the movie (the addition of a little kid into the story, the complete reworking of the backstory of a villain, the use of Eifel 65's song "Blue" to open the film). However, all of these risks paid off to make this movie great. Another interesting choice in the film was to keep Tony Stark out of the armor for a good portion of the film. This gave a chance for Robert Downey Jr. to kill his performance and prove that the fans love the man behind the armor just as much as they love Iron Man. If they stay this good, I'll keep watching until Iron Man 38.

Rating: 3.5 out of 5.

Silver Linings Playbook (2012) - Review

Silver Linings Playbook (2012) - Starring Bradley Cooper, Jennifer Lawrence, Robert de Niro, Jackie Weaver, Chris Tucker. Adapted for the screen and directed by David O. Russell. 
Rated R. Available on DVD.

Silver Linings Playbook was my favorite movie of 2012. I watched it last night and it was just as good the second time around.

I love everything about this movie. The acting is amazing, which is obvious since it had someone nominated for every acting category at the Oscars. The relationships between the characters seemed very organic and real. Bradley Cooper was at his best, as was de Niro, who I feel did not get as much credit as he deserved playing Cooper's character's father. Fun fact: When de Niro starting crying in one of the scenes, everyone was surprised since he wasn't supposed to cry in the scene. I think that is a testament to the strength of the story and the script. The script is witty, happy, and sad all at the same time.

I think the best thing about this movie is how positive it is. When a film is made about mental illness, it could portray it as dark and scary, which sometimes it definitely can be. But what makes this film great is that it looks on the bright side of things and finds the "silver linings" in not-so-great situations. By the climax of this movie, I felt connections with these very real and defined characters and I was cheering for their success. And sure, maybe it does end with a happy, somewhat clichéd ending. But that doesn't matter because sometimes, I like to believe in happy endings. I want to believe in the silver linings.

Rating: 5 out of 5 stars.

Bachelorette (2012) - Review

Bachelorette (2012) - Starring Kirsten Dunst, Lizzy Caplan, Isla Fischer. Written and Directed by Leslye Headland. Rated R.

I had decently high expectations for this movie going in. It's got a cast of funny people I like (Adam Scott, Lizzy Caplan, Rebel Wilson). It's produced by the great Will Ferrell and Adam McKay. It should  have been hilarious.

But it just wasn't. It tried way too hard to be Bridesmaids. It played on the whole "have girls say funny disgusting stuff that we wouldn't expect them to say" but completely dropped the ball on the whole funny aspect of it. The girls said some really horrible, disgusting things, but it just wasn't funny. The three lead characters were completely unlikeable, except for Caplan's character somewhat. Rebel Wilson's character (who was rarely on the screen) said things that were probably intended to be funny, but just weren't. The only redeemable scenes were ones in which Adam Scott and Lizzy Caplan shared the screen, but that might be because I enjoyed Party Down and so enjoyed seeing them on screen together again. I wanted to like this movie. I really did. But I just didn't. 

Rating: 2 out of 5 stars.

Welcome!

Dear Internet, it's me, Cody.

I watch movies. A lot of movies. It's my hobby and I plan on having a career in the film industry one day. So, since I watch so many, I figured I would write down what I thought about them and share it with those who might care.

So if you like the types of movies I like (which is pretty much all kinds), you might enjoy my recommendations. If you don't...well then you won't like it at all.

I'm going to watch most of the movies on Netflix, so I'll rate them using the five-star system that Netflix uses.

Happy watching,
Cody