Day 156: Popstar: Never Stop Never Stopping (2016)

There are moments that happen in the world that are just magical and if you don’t capitalize then you lose out. The Lonely Island was one of those moments that Andy Samberg (Hot Rod) needed to capitalize on and he did just that with today’s film Popstar: Never Stop Never Stopping. The mockumentary style film follows former Style Bros member Connor4Real (Samberg) as he is about to embark on one of the biggest world tours of his career alongside his best friend Owen (Jorma Taccone) and his other 32 members of his entourage. Soon though, Connor will learn that fame doesn’t last forever as the problems begin to pour in for the popstar. He’ll have to dig in deep to try and figure out a way back to the top, but that could mean conjuring up some skeletons in the closet. The film also stars Akiva Schaffer (The Watch) as Lawrence, Sarah Silverman (Wreck-It Ralph) as Paula, Tim Meadows (Mean Girls) as Harry, Maya Rudolph (Bridesmaids) as Deborah, Joan Cusack (Say Anything…) as Tilly, Imogen Poots (Need For Speed) as Ashley, Chris Redd (Empire) as Hunter, and the film features cameos from Ringo Starr, Usher, 50 Cent, RZA, Nas, Justin Timberlake, Carrie Underwood, Mario Lopez, Simon Cowell, and so many more.

If I had to find the right way to describe this film in one sentence it would be that the film is this generation’s This Is Spinal Tap or CB4.  What This Is Spinal Tap did for the 80’s, CB4 did for the 90’s, Popstar: Never Stop Never Stopping is going to do the same for this generation that worships popstars who do not write their own material and take themselves way too serious. The film itself was based off of Justin Bieber’s life according to one report that I read and it certainly makes sense after seeing the film. Just as This Is Spinal Tap had hilarious and outrageous songs, this film certainly had it and they were hilarious. One of my favorite songs from the film is Finest Girl (Bin Laden), the song is so outrageous that I couldn’t stop laughing, but I was also singing along too. There’s also plenty of funny moments in the film like Justin Timberlake’s cameo as Connor’s soft spoken personal chef and some of the testimony from the celebrity cameos. One of the scenes that I thought was funny at first, but then in my opinion they dragged it out too long was the CMZ (instead of TMZ) segments. It was cool at first like I said, but they kept the joke going too long in one of the scenes leaving me wanting them to move on. They also tried hard to put in some drama in the film like Connor hitting rock bottom, but even that was too funny not to laugh at like Seal getting attacked by wolves. Nonetheless, I am proclaiming that this is a contender for Comedy Movie Of The Year in the Monster Entertainment Awards next year. I am going to give the film an A- for a final grade because I loved it for what it was.

Day 119: Hotel Transylvania 2 (2015)

For today I chose a film from Adam Sandler (Happy Gilmore) because the first film in the Hotel Transylvania series was very good despite what people may be saying about his career. When I saw that Netflix had Hotel Transylvania 2 available to watch, I took the shot and it’s todays’ film. The film starts off with Mavis (Selena Gomez) and Jonathan (Andy Samberg) getting married and that follows with them having their first child Dennis (Asher Blinkoff). Dracula (Sandler) is having a hard time with the idea that his new grandson could be a human and not a monster. It’s gotten to the point that Mavis and Johnny are thinking about moving away to give Dennis a normal upbringing. Not liking the idea of that, Dracula has Johnny take Mavis on vacation in an attempt to see if he can bring the monster out of Johnny. The film also stars Kevin James (King Of Queens) as Frank, Steve Buscemi (Reservoir Dogs) as Wayne, David Spade (Tommy Boy) as Griffin, Keegan-Michael Key (Let’s Be Cops) as Murray, Fran Drescher (The Nanny) as Eunice, Molly Shannon (Superstar) as Wanda, Nick Offerman (Parks & Recreation) as Grandpa Mike, Megan Mullally (Will & Grace) as Grandma Linda, Mel Brooks (Spaceballs) as Vlad, and the film was directed by Genndy Tartakovsky.

While I loved the first film, I have to say that I enjoyed this one, but not as much as the first. This film had it’s funny moments, but not as much as the first film did. The funniest character in this film was definitely Blobby who provided enough laughs even though he doesn’t really say much. I honesty believe that is why they had him in the film as much as he was. The first film dealt with Mavis wanting to date a human and this film had them struggling with the idea that their son could be human. That is the one thing I have to give the film credit for is that it was well written film and it may show that Sander has something left in the tank. I loved the edition of Mel Brooks as Vlad and certainly the nod to Interview With The Vampire with the costume Johnny wears at a party.  The only thing I had a problem with is that he switches his stance very quickly on how he feels about humans even though this is a guy who has hated humans for a very long time. I just feel that this is something that should have been developed over a film, but nonetheless it was a good film. I am excited to hear that there is going to be a third film in the series because it’ll be cool to see where they take it now. Alright so it’s time to give the film a final grade and with careful thought, I am going to give the film an B+ for a final grade.