If there was ever a concept for a movie that sounded absolutely ridiculous then today’s film would definitely be that. The film that I chose for today is none other than the new animated film Sausage Party. All a piece of food, beverage, or product at a supermarket ever dreams about is being chosen so that they can go to the other side with the customers. What they don’t realize is the horrors that await them and one sausage by the name of Frank (Seth Rogen) tries to warn them as he too looks for the truth about his existence. The film also stars Jonah Hill (The Wolf of Wall Street) as Carl, Kristen Wiig (Despicable Me 2) as Brenda, Paul Rudd (Ant-Man) as Darren, Edward Norton (Birdman Or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance)) as Sammy, Danny McBride (Eastbound and Down) as Honey Mustard, Craig Robinson (Hot Tub Time Machine) as Grits, Nick Kroll (The League) as Douche, Bill Hader (Cloudy With A Chance Of Meatballs) as Firewater, James Franco (This Is The End) as Druggie, Selma Hayek (Desperado) as Teresa, Michael Cera (Scott Pilgrim Vs The World) as Barry, David Krumholtz (Slums Of Beverly Hills) as Lavash, and the film was directed by Greg Tiernan (Thomas And Friends) and Conrad Vernon (Monsters Vs Aliens).
Spoiler Alert: There may be information contained in this Article that could potentially spoil the plot of the film so continue with caution or do not read any further if you do not want to know.While Sausage Party could either be the stupidest idea in the world that is just funny as hell or it could be the dumbest idea and movie. While I thought that it was definitely one of the funniest movies of the year, it definitely was a propaganda film for Seth Rogen and Co. The film is propaganda for Rogen and co to basically say FU to religion, sexual stereotypes, and more. The whole film, they believe that the God is allowing them to be chosen to go to the other side which is supposed to be glorious, but Frank ends up discovering that it’s not all that it’s cracked up to be and that there isn’t a God after all in his opinion. He treats the rest of the food like their all cattle because they refuse to go against their beliefs. Then there’s the innuendos like Sammy the Jewish bagel trying to get along with Lavash who is obviously middle eastern because he believes that Heaven contains 72 bottles of virgin oil. Then there is something special at the end that is his FU to people that are tolerant to people who choose to live a different lifestyle sexually. One of my favorite characters in the film by far is Douche who tells you like it is and drinks other products to get “juiced” up. One of my favorite scenes with him is when we see a pic of a women’s camel toe and he is describing to everybody how awesome it’s going to be to be inside her. Yes the film is VERY SEXUAL so be prepared for that and NO this is not a film you bring your young child to. Besides all the propaganda, I really loved the film and that is why I am going to give it an A- for a final grade. The propaganda and politically incorrect jokes is actually makes it funny in my opinion.
This wasn’t really on the list of must see films that I made up the other day, but I remember a friend of mine strongly recommended the film. The film that I am talking about is the Sci-Fi movie Midnight Special which was released earlier in the year and it was available via Redbox. Alton (Jaeden Lieberher) is a very special eight year old boy with very special powers that one side believes that he is the messiah while another side believes that he is a dangerous weapon. Roy (Michael Shannon) believes that his son is special too and will do anything that it takes to get him to where he needs to go before either the cult or the FBI gets to him. The film also stars Joel Edgerton (Exodus: Gods And Kings) as Lucas, Kirsten Dunst (Eternal Sunshine Of The Spotless Mind) as Sarah, Adam Driver (Star Wars: The Force Awakens) as Sevier, Sam Shepard (Black Hawk Down) as Calvin Meyer, Bill Camp (Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance)) as Doak, Scott Haze (The Sound and the Fury) as Levi, Paul Sparks (Boardwalk Empire) as Agent Miller, David Jensen (Ocean’s Eleven) as Elden, and the film was written and directed by Jeff Nichols (Mud).
The thing I loved most about the film was the actual story itself because for the most part you’re wondering what is this kid? Is he human, mutant, or alien? For the most part, you don’t really know what he is and they don’t really tell you for most of the film. Then there is the human element of the film where there are people that truly believe in this child’s ability that they will go all out for him. One thing that I did want to comment on is that the filmmakers make Kirsten Dunst look old (I don’t mean super old) in the film which just amazed me. She actually looked like someone in her mid to late 30’s in the film, but for the time she is on screen she does a great job. The real MVP of the film besides Jaeden is Michael Shannon who plays the father that will do whatever it takes to protect his son and get him to the destination no matter the cost. I have to be honest in saying that there really isn’t a bad performance from anyone in the film. Everybody knows their role and they play it right like Adam Driver who is the NSA agent who just thinks all of this is cool. The special effects are very cool especially the scene with the satellite crashing to Earth was cool. The film definitely asks the age old question of are we really alone in the universe? Is there other life forms somewhere we don’t know? If you are a fan of Sci-Fi movies then you owe it to yourself to at least check this one out. I am going to give Midnight Special an A- for a final grade.
There are some stories in life that you hear about and you just can’t imagine that these stories could be true. That is how powerful these kinds of stories can be and they can be real game changers. That was certainly the case with today’s film Spotlight which highlights the child molestation scandal in the City of Boston. Spotlight was an investigative team that worked at the Boston Globe that took on stories that they felt the public needed to know about. In the year 2000 or 2001, a new man in charge at the Globe by the name of Marty Baron (Liev Schreiber) came in and suggested a story to his Spotlight team that involved the catholic church covering up the child molestation cases in Boston. The film follows the team as they expose the truth as they became the voice of the voiceless. The film stars Michael Keaton (Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance)) as Walter Robinson, Mark Ruffalo (Foxcatcher) as Mike Rezendes, Rachel McAdams (Mean Girls) as Sacha Pfeiffer, John Slattery (Iron Man 2) as Ben Bradlee, Jr., Stanley Tucci (The Terminal) as Mitchell Garabedian, Billy Crudup (Watchmen) as Eric Macleish, Neal Huff (Big Daddy) as Phil Saviano, Jamey Sheridan (The Ice Station) as Jim Sullivan, and the film was directed by Tom McCarthy (The Cobbler).
If you’re expecting a film with a lot of action, then this isn’t the film for you because there’s a lot of investigative research involved in the film. The other side to it is that you see the struggle these guys went through to try and unlock the story. You see all of the red tape and you see all the people involved that just bury the story. You end up learning what they could do and what they had to do to try and get viable sources. The film is just absolutely shocking and you can see why the Catholic church took such a hit after this case was exposed by the Globe. One of the biggest elements of these types of films is the acting and the story. Those are the key essentials for these types of films to survive and be great. I am here to say that I was thoroughly impressed with the acting especially from Mark Ruffalo who after a while just stole the show. Rachel McAdams also did a phenomenal job in the film which leads to my next statement. I am not surprised that Rachel and Mark were nominated for Oscars because they were amazing. The story as you can tell from what I wrote was also amazing and it had to be. It’s a story driven film as I said before. If you love films that are based on true stories then you should check this one out. I am going to give the film an A for a final grade.
It is a rarity to see me go to the cinema to see an animated film unless its one that I want to see. The honest truth about today’s film that I selected is that I didn’t have the chance to see it in the theaters. So, I took the chance to see Minions when I saw that Netflix was streaming it. Minions is the prequel movie to the Despicable Me films, but much more in the sense of telling you how and where the minions came from. The Minions have always been in search of the biggest and baddest villain on the planet to serve, but something keeps messing up opportunities for them. After feeling like life was meaningless, three particular Minions in Kevin, Stuart, and Bob (all voiced by Pierre Coffin) will go on a mission to find a new boss and she goes by the name of Scarlet Overkill (Sandra Bullock), but will things work out for them? The film also stars Jon Hamm (The Town) as Herb Overkill, Michael Keaton (Batman 1989) as Walter Nelson, Allison Janney (The Duff) as Madge Nelson, Steve Coogan (Despicable Me 2) as Professor Flux, Jennifer Saunders (Absolutely Fabulous) as The Queen, Geoffrey Rush (Mystery Men) as the narrator, Katy Mixon (Drive Angry) as Tina, and the film was directed by Pierre Coffin and Kyle Balda.
I loved the first two films in the Despicable Me series because they were new and different than anything we had before. The Minions were the comedic relief for Steve Carell and his character Gru. I have to say that while I enjoyed watching this one, I don’t think it’s the best in the series because it loses a little bit of the magic that it had in the other films. I bet that there are a crap ton of children out there that probably disagree with me on this one, but as a film fan it would rank third in the series. There were some scenes where a chuckle or a laugh will sneak out because they are the cutest characters ever, but there isn’t a lot of them. One of the best characters in the film and the cutest Minion is Bob with his teddy bear and eventual pet rat. He was actually the comedic relief for the rest of the minions characters in the film and he had that cute factor to him as well. I like how this film connects with the other films when everyone’s favorite villain Gru shows up to inspire the minions. The animation was as good as any of the other films and the voice work was good too. Again for the record, I will state that I liked the movie, but I didn’t love the movie like I did with the first two Despicable Me films. The film like I said is available to stream on Netflix, so check it out if you would like. I am going to give the film an B for a final grade.
Back in the 1990’s, The Blair Witch Project really kicked the found footage genre into overdrive especially in the horror genre. M. Night Shyamalan (The Sixth Sense) had been in a dry spell for a while, but he returned in 2015 with The Visit. In the film, Katheryn Hahn’s (We’re The Millers) kids are making a documentary for her because they are going to visit their grandparents. The significance of it is that they’re mother hasn’t seen them in over 19 years and they want to document it for her in hopes that they can get them to shed light as to why and hopefully they can bring both parties together again. As soon as they get there, they start to notice that there grandparents are acting very weird and things don’t appear as they seem. The film stars Olivia DeJonge (The Sisterhood Of Night) as Becca, Ed Oxenbould (Alexander And The Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day) as Tyler, Deanna Dunagan (Running Scared) as Nana, Peter McRobbie (Brokeback Mountain) as Pop Pop, Celia Keenan-Bolger (Mariachi Gringo) as Stacey, Samuel Stricklen (Mozart In The Jungle) as The Conductor, Jorge Cordova (In Plain Sight) as Miguel, and Benjamin Kanes (Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue Of Ignorance)) as Dad.
As far as found footage horror films go, this is one that I could actually tolerate because there isn’t all that annoying shaky camera effect to it. You’re basically watching the documentary the kids are creating and the character of Becca is obsessed with film so you know the camera quality will be good. As far as the story is concerned, I actually enjoyed the story because it kind of keeps you on the edge of your seat. You know that something just seems terribly wrong with the grandparents even though you side with Becca and you just say, “hey their old what do you expect.” Now as far as the acting is concerned, I have to give Deanna Dunagan a lot of credit because she really does an incredible job just acting very weird. She portrays on screen what kids are scared of when it comes to old people that they don’t really know. With Peter McRobbie, you don’t really get to see how crazy his character is until, but what he does is crazy. The reveal towards the end will either shock you or it’s something you may have seen coming, but I won’t give it away. No spoilers today on the blog for you. This was a decent return for M. Night Shayamalan who in my opinion hadn’t really been making anything worth watching in a while. If you want something fun to watch that you know is Oscar worthy in any way shape or form, then check this one out. I am going to give the film a B- for a final grade.
For today’s film, I wanted a little comedy in my life and so I chose a film featuring my favorite actor to ever play Batman in Michael Keaton (Birdman Or (The Unexpected Virtue Of Ignorance)). The film is called Johnny Dangerously and it stars Keaton as the title character in this spoof film of 1930’s gangster movies. Johnny was just your ordinary average kid in New York City until some unfortunate events plunged him into the gangster life. Johnny is able to keep his life of crime a secret from his family for a very long time, but how long could it last. His brother Tommy (Griffin Dunne) is the district attorney hellbent on bringing down all the gangsters of New York. After being set up by a rival gangster named Danny Vermin (Joe Piscopo) and sent to jail, Tommy will have to prove that Johnny is is innocent before he gets the chair. The film also stars Marilu Henner (Taxi) as Lil, Maureen Stapleton (The Money Pit) as Ma Kelly, Peter Boyle (Young Frankenstein) as Jocko Dundee, Richard Dimitri (When Things Were Rotten) as Moronie, Dom DeLuise (Blazing Saddles) as The Pope, Danny DeVito (It’s Always Sunny In Philadelphia) as Burr, Ray Walston (Lost In Space) as Vendor, Dick Butkus (My Two Dads) as Arthur, and the film was directed by Amy Heckerling (Clueless).
I want to start off saying that I am huge fan of anything that takes place in the 1930’s gangster prohibition era and even though it’s a spoof film, I loved it. Michael Keaton is just masterful as the slick, charismatic gangster Johnny Dangerously. He is everything you would expect from that era as his personality certainly fits the character. Marilu Henner is also fantastic and she looks absolutely beautiful in this film. For a spoof film, there are so many heavyweights of the comedy world for that time. You have the always colorful and great Dom DeLuise who graces us with his presence. There is the very underrated Joe Piscopo who never gets enough credit for his comic abilities and the great performances he has had over those years. Then there are guys like the late and great Peter Boyle, Danny DeVito, Ray Walston, and so many more. I was a huge fan of Richard Dimitiri in this film with his overly broken English with his words like Fraggin or Icehole which reminded me of most of my family members. The film was fun to watch as I laughed so much at all the small things and the obvious jokes. Spoof films used to be fun and they always had great writing unlike the spoof films we get today which are overly sexual in their joke writing. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, they don’t make them like they used to. Check the film out on Netflix if you are a fan of spoof films. I am going to give the film an A- for a final grade.
365moviesin365dayschallenge 