Ghostbusters (2016) Movie Review

I walked out of Ghostbusters fully confident of the A-rating I was going to give it. I had my arguments all prepared of why this and that critic was wrong. Thank God I let my thoughts stew for a couple of days. While Ghostbusters is still a good film, it falls just shy of the Theatre Worthy category and right smack dab into the Folding Clothes Movie category.

Physics professor Erin Gilbert (Kristen Wiig) is trying to get her tenure at Columbia University. When a book on ghosts and the paranormal she wrote with her friend Abby Yates (Melissa McCarthy) suddenly resurfaces on Amazon and threatens her credibility, Erin seeks out Abby to get her to take the book down. In a pretty direct movement of events, an encounter with a ghost ends up teaming the ladies up with two other ladies to become the Ghostbusters.

Overall, I think the movie suffered from just plain trying too hard at times. The funniest jokes in film (as in real life) are usually the ones that occur naturally and a lot of the humor here was forced unfortunately. It's hard justifying a high score for a movie when the funniest characters are the ones without primary roles. There are quite a few corny moments where the jokes fall extremely flat, but side characters like Bennie the delivery guy (Karan Soni) keep the movie from falling too deep into the muck.

For all of its wrong-doings, Ghostbusters does a great job of paying homage to the original movies while trying to establish a sense of originality. There are quite a few cameos (none of which I will ruin) that will squeeze a couple of chuckles out of fans of the older movies. On the newer side of things, I appreciated some of the interesting gadgets that were introduced. Scientist Jillian Holtzmann (Kate McKinnon) shows us that there's clearly more than one way to catch a ghost. Getting to see those gadgets in action turned out to be pretty cool to watch. It also gave us a chance to see more of the weird, quirky Jillian who was the funniest of the Ghostbusters by a landslide. Without her and Chris Hemsworth who played Kevin the awful receptionist, this movie would have been a true trainwreck.

I'm rooting for this series to succeed and I hope they find out a way to make the second film funnier. It's probably going to start with improving the lines of Leslie Jones. Almost all of her jokes were a miss and it made her stick out like a sore thumb. It was cringe-worthy at times.

Liked it. Didn't love it. Rent it. Save yourself a trip and some money. I give it a 73. 

Finding Dory (2016) Movie Review

In this sequel to Finding Nemo, a fish by the name of Dory, who just happens to have short-term memory loss, is on a mission to find her parents in the vastness of the ocean. Since her memory quickly comes and goes, she has to rely on short flashbacks of her life to put her where she needs to be. Sound familiar? It should as Finding Dory relies on a somewhat similar premise to its predecessor. It took me about five minutes to say to myself, "Here we go again". However, five minutes after that, I was entranced by this redone, yet very creative adventure that took this sequel to great heights.

I'm happy I waited as long as I did to write this review as the movie reminds me of the millions of people currently playing Pokemon Go. This new game that's sweeping the nation is not only promoting exercise, but it's causing introverts and people with social anxiety to communicate with other people that they would normally never have a conversation with. In the same way, Dory has never met an animal she didn't like which is a part of what makes her character so lovable. She swims about from scene to scene communicating with other sea creatures in the frantic way that she does. She tries to love everyone, even those that don't want to be loved and that's one of the main reasons why you can't help but root for her to succeed.

Though the premise is similar, the adventure itself is an all-around good time. Not only are you rooting for Dory, but the movie has you cheering for secondary characters as well. Every animal plays their part in helping Dory complete her quest (whether she does or not, I will not say) with original, unique roles. It's hard to choose a personal favorite because they were all done swimmingly (pun intended) well. I will say, though, you will find it very hard not to fall in love with Hank (voiced by Ed O'Neill) the octopus who is also an escape artist.

The film's message is all about determination and doing whatever you need to do to succeed. If Dory can traverse the ocean to look for parents that she hasn't seen in years with no real goal or plan in mind, shouldn't we be able to follow our own gameplan directly to our dreams? Dory has a dream we can all get behind: finding something she thought was lost. Her lovable attitude and her determination drive the movie while invoking multiple emotions in the viewer at the same time. 

Pixar isn't flawless...but they've succeeded yet again. I give Finding Dory a 92.

The Secret Life of Pets (2016) Movie Review

A part of my job as a movie critic is not just to help determine whether or not the reader should see a movie at all, but also to help discern what's theater-worthy and what's Netflix/Redbox-worthy. Movie tickets these days are flat-out expensive and I want to make sure people are getting their money's worth. That being said, while I feel that watching The Secret Life of Pets is a good way to spend an hour and a half, the film falls just short of me recommending it as a theater movie.

The movie's shortcomings lie mainly in its two main characters Max and Duke. Max and Duke are two dogs that end up having to share a household and consequently come to hate each other. Their continued one-upmanship (or one-updogship?) leads them on a crazy adventure where their main mission is to get home. Here's the problem: Max and Duke are pretty boring. They are about as one-dimensional as it comes as far as characters go with no real distinctive qualities save for one is a large dog and one is a small dog. And, no, it isn't too much to ask for your primary characters in an animated movie to harbor some kind of substance. Look at Carl From Up. Or Gru from Despicable Me. Or Po from Kung Fu Panda. 

Not only were those characters fleshed out extremely well, their respective stories took them to new levels of growth. That's not so much the case in Secret Life. Not only do the two characters lack substance, but chemistry as well. I love Louis C.K.  and Eric Stonestreet (Max and Duke respectively), but it feels like they did all of their voice recordings in completely separate rooms.

On the flip side of things, Secret Life does an excellent job of capturing the true nature of animals in general and how each species acts respectively. A lot of research and work must have gone into making this happen as there were a number of different types of animals throughout. The movie is definitely on par with Zootopia in that sense (although not nearly as good of a movie overall). In one scene in particular, a dog being held on a leash sees another group of dogs and wants to say hi. As he's casually walking over, his owner reels him back in with the leash. The dog sits where he is...then two seconds later, he goes right back to trying to get into that same group. This goes on for three or four rounds as we know how persistent dogs are. There were quite a few moments where I thought, "That's just like my dog!"

Little touches like this aid in making the overall movie an entertaining experience. The pet crew's adventure is definitely a grand one. It takes place in New York and we know how much trouble you can get into in New York. The gobs of different characters keep the movie interesting as well. Compared to what was lacking from Max and Duke, the movie succeeds in giving each side character their own personality and original feel. I still can't decide who I love better, Gidget the crazy pomeranian or Chloe the nonchalant, uncaring cat who ate whatever and whenever she wanted to. Kevin Hart's character Snowball (the bunny) was pretty funny as well, especially when he's paying tribute to Ricky. Just thinking about those parts have me cracking up even now. Of course you have to see it to know what I'm talking about. Mum's the word...

The Secret Life of Pets is great for a movie night...at home where you're paying a minimal amount. I give it a 78.

Mike and Dave Need Wedding Dates (2016) Movie Review

Ebert's site gave Mike and Dave Need Wedding Dates a mere 1.5 stars while the movie bottomed out at a disappointing 40% on Rotten Tomatoes. As unbiased as I try to be when walking into a movie, I can't lie and say there wasn't a bit of trepidation here. Walking out, not only was I happy that I went, but I'm also happy to recommend it. Consider it a sleeper if you will.

Mike and Dave, played by Adam DeVine and Zac Efron respectively, are known as the rabble rousers in the Stangle family. While they think they're just having some good, old-fashioned fun, they actually end up ruining every social event that they go to. Now, their sister Jeanie is getting married and she is demanding that they bring dates to the wedding in order for them to be kept in shape. As it turns out, the two girls they end up choosing are ten times wilder than Mike and Dave are prepared for.

The movie is pretty darn funny with its comedy hitting you in multiple ways. You'll get a little bit of subtle comedy from Anna Kendrick while Efron is just outright funny. On the flip side of the coin, DeVine hits you with a few over-the-top moments while Aubrey Plaza says things that will make you cringe but shake your head with laughter at the same time. The laughs come frequently with this movie being one that doesn't give you all the goods in the trailers. There was a definite chemistry working between the four actors that made things even funnier.

Beyond the laughs, I was happy to find that this film also carried some depth. The characters were developed especially well with substance behind what got them to their respective places in their lives. Dave loves his brother to death and is willing to do anything for him even if it means sacrificing his own dreams. Meanwhile, Plaza's character Aubrey is trying to help her best friend Alice (Kendrick) pick up the pieces of a broken life. Aubrey has tried to so hard to help her friend that she is neglecting the shortcomings in her own life. Even though these characters are a mess together, they would be even worse off alone. This added touch to the movie helps elevate it past the "just something to tickle your funny bone" level.

My one gripe: I did think the movie was a bit too predictable. You can probably guess before you even sit down how things end up. Still, far be it from me to spoil things. I give this movie an 85. 

X-Men: Apocalypse (2016) Movie Review

As a black man, I've always had a special appreciation for the X-Men series because it mirrors the history of my race somewhat. Here you have a different breed of people, mutants, who are scrutinized because of who they are and are immediately deemed a threat because of the potential of what they could do. Professor Xavier and Magneto, Martin Luther King Jr. and Malcolm X respectively, view the threat against mutants very differently. Professor X feels you can only win the world by loving them and resisting peacefully while Magneto feels that mutants should take a "by any means necessary" approach. Because of different events that occur over the course of the series, you can definitely appreciate and understand both sides of the argument. 

If nothing else, that's one thing that X-Men: Apocalypse does really well: It captures that healthy argument between Coexistence and what I call BAM (By Any Means). Director Bryan Singer does a masterful job of continuing to develop how both Professor X and Magneto's past have gotten them to this point. While they both faced sorrowful situations over the course of their lives, Professor X manages to find the light at the end of the tunnel while Magneto continues to face problem after problem, even when he runs. If you were in Magneto's shoes, you would probably want to burn the world down too.

Despite being slow at points, the movie does have some pretty cool action sequences. One great aspect of the world of mutants is the substantial number of special powers the film gets to play around with. Seeing the X-Men come together as a team and combine those powers is just plain fun to watch. Honestly, the closer I got to the end, I found myself rooting for both sides equally just for the sake of keeping the action going.

Just as in Days of Future Past, Quicksilver's big scene in Apocalypse managed to steal the show. This is one strong advantage Fox carries over Disney (the Marvel juggernaut) as I think their version of the character is far more appealing than the one shown in Avengers: Age of Ultron. If you liked Quicksilver's "Time In a Bottle" scene in Days of Future Past, you're in for a treat in Apocalypse.

Despite the action and some pretty cool sequences, I think the film overall lacked substance. One reason I found myself rooting for both sides bad and good at times had a lot to do with the fact that I don't think the film did a good enough of job of giving me a dog in the fight. Some of the things the bad guys did seemed a little unjustified, even by a bad guy's standards. Maybe it's because I'm a parent and I'm getting older, but there were times where it left me saying, "Oh come on, now! You know better." This may not have been as much the case had the lesser characters been developed slightly better. Where's the motive? Why do you suddenly feel the need to help a power-hungry mutant destroy the world? 

My final gripe would be the relational connection between Magneto and Quicksilver. Anyone that knows anything about the comics will understand what I'm talking about, but I don't want to to spoil anything for those that haven't. I will say this, though: They could have done a better job.

X-Men: Apocalypse is not going to stand out as a blockbuster success, but only because I feel it fails just slightly more than it succeeds. A few tweakings and you might be talking about the movie in the same breath as Age of Ultron. But, hey, if the idea of a cool group of mutants taking down an all-powerful antagonist before he can establish world dominance sounds good to you, the film is definitely worth your time. I give it a 74.