The minute that I saw that Today’s film was available to rent at my local Redbox location, I jumped at the chance to watch and hence that there is no Ass Whoopin Wednesday film this week. When I think of great combinations in comedy, Tina Fey and Amy Poehler of Saturday Night Live fame come to mind and today I chose their 2015 film Sisters. For Maura Ellis (Poehler) she is always trying to fix everything in everyone else’s lives other than her own. For Kate Ellis (Fey), she has just never been able to get anything straight in her life and is a hot mess. One day the sisters find out that there parents are selling their childhood home in Orlando and the two decide to throw the biggest party in honor of all the great memories there. The film also stars Dianne Wiest (The Lost Boys) as Mom, James Brolin (Hotel) as Dad, Ike Barinholtz (Neighbors) as James, Maya Rudolph (The Way Way Back) as Brinda, John Cena as Pazuzu, John Leguizamo (Carlito’s Way) as Dave, Bobby Moynihan (Saturday Night Live) as Alex, Greta Lee (St. Vincent) as Hae-Won, Madison Davenport (Noah) as Haley, Rachel Dratch (Saturday Night Live) as Kelly, and the film was directed by Jason Moore (Pitch Perfect).
First I want to start by saying that Tina Fey and Amy Poehler have always made an amazing combo even in their days on Saturday Night Live when they did The Weekend Update. That amazing chemistry more than definitely transferred it’s magic into this film about two sisters who are having trouble letting go and finding responsibility. I also love how they incorporate different stars from Saturday Night Live into the film, it’s nice to see them giving people jobs. I also want to say how amazing Tina Fey looks in this film as the girl definitely ages very well and Kudos to Amy Poehler who looks amazing as well in the film. There are some scenes that are definitely funnier than others in the film and you can tell as some jokes fall flat while others prosper. I have to definitely give props to John Cena who looks incredibly bigger than usual in this film, but he definitely delivers. He plays a drug dealer in the film who has some amazing one liners with Tina Fey. Their interactions together are priceless and was definitely necessary in the film. One scene that while I did think it was funny, I thought it would be funnier was the scene where Ike Barinholtz’s character falls butt first into that Ballerina wind up thing. One thing that kind of bothered me was the interactions between Fey’s character and her daughter. The only reason it bothers me is because it’s not really explained well why she refuses to trust her. I mean all that we know is that she is mad over thew fact that Tina Fey’s character can’t really hold down a job and there is some mothering issues, but that is all we know. It’s one of the main sub plots that runs along with the main plot. Anyways, the film was definitely enjoyable to watch so I am going to give it an B+ for a final grade.
I have been wanting to see this film for quite some time as I am a big fan of Bradley Cooper (American Sniper), Rachel McAdams (About Time), and of course the legendary Bill Murray (Stripes). The film is called Aloha and it stars Cooper as a star military contractor named Brian Gilcrest who returns home to Hawaii which is the home of his greatest truimphs to strike a deal with the locals for his billionaire boss (Murray). Along the way, he runs into his old flame (McAdams), starts a relationship with a gung ho Air Force pilot (Emma Stone) who was sent to watch him, and learns a thing or two about himself along the way. The film was directed by Cameron Crowe (Almost Famous) and it also stars John Krasinski (The Office) as Woody, Alec Baldwin (Outside Providence) as General Dixon, Danny McBride (Pineapple Express) as Fingers, Bill Camp (Birdman) as Bob Largent, Jaeden Lieberher (St. Vincent) as Mitchell, and Danielle Rose Russell (A Walk Among The Tombstones).
Cameron Crowe may have called this his love letter to the isles once in an interview, but I wonder if this type of sentiment really exists in Hawaii. One man who plays the king has the same shirt in the whole film that just reads “American By Force” on one side and “Hawaiian By Birth” on the other. The film is definitely an interesting one as it raises some social issues along inside the love story. The idea of billionaires with lots of money to spend working with the military to develop satellites in lieu of the absence of NASA. Then of course, there is the love story that is attached to this film as we see a man with a lot of issues of holding on finally starting to fall in love with a girl while letting go of the one from his past. One of the things that I will say about the film is that I loved John Krasinski’s character, he’s this tough macho, military guy who has a hard time with expressing himself. He’s too caught up being the man that he just isn’t sensitive enough for his wife until things starting coming into question. I loved the overall cinematography of the film with the beautiful shots of the mountain and beautiful Hawaii, but the 360 degree axis line shot when Rachel first speaks with Cooper’s character was a little sloppy and annoying to me. It was this constant shot of going around in a circle that was done to maintain consistency and fluidity in the shot. The film was definitely interesting at times even though for a while I was trying to figure out what the plot was. I didn’t read what the film was about before I watched it and I kind of forget what it was about anyways. So, I am going to give the film an B for a final grade. It’s airing on Starz as we speak and you can find online or at Redbox (most likely).
365moviesin365dayschallenge 