Zoolander 2 - DVD Review

ZOOLANDER 2 (PG-13) Starring Ben Stiller, Owen Wilson, Penelope Cruz, Will Ferrell, Kristen Wiig, Kyle Mooney, Justin Theroux, Cyrus Arnold, Milla Jovovich, Benedict Cumberbatch, Nathan Lee Graham, Jon Daly, Sting, Billy Zane, Fred Armisen, Christine Taylor and Justin Beiber.
Written by Justin Theroux, Ben Stiller, Nick Stoller & John Hamburg.
Directed by Ben Stiller.

★½

Zoolander 2 is kinda like Dumb & Dumber To. It's a sequel that would have been better about ten years ago, but now the groans of their stupidity outweight the laughs.

In fact, the laughs that are found in here come from everyone else but Ben Stiller's central male-model idiot. There are dozens of cameos in here, to an overcompensating degree. The movie starts off by explaining how Zoolander's wife died, he lost parental rights to his son, and now he lives as a hermit crab in a remote cabin.

Derek Zoolander is called back into action by a new fashion show in Rome, but there also happens to be a series of beautiful musicians who are getting killed, and so Derek and Hansel are enlisted by a fashion interpol agent (Penelope Cruz) to help solve the mystery.

The movie picks up once Mugatu (Will Ferrell) shows up, but we're an hour into a 95-minute film at that point.

Hollywood may think we want sequels to movies over a decade old, but we really don't.

Side note: Product placement is increasingly obnoxious in Ben Stiller films. It damaged his otherwise fine Secret Life of Walter Mitty, and it's too obvious here.

Sausage Party - Movie Review

Starring the voices of Seth Rogen, Kristen Wiig, Edward Norton, Salma Hayek, Bill Hader, Michael Cera, Jonah Hill, David Krumholtz, Danny McBride, James Franco, Nick Kroll and Paul Rudd.
Written by Kyle Hunter, Ariel Shaffir, Seth Rogen & Evan Goldberg.
Directed by Greg Tiernan & Conrad Vernon.

★★★

Sausage Party is the raunchiest animated movie since South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut. It's a spoof of VeggieTales and the Pixar canon that anthromorphizes everything from toys to cars. Beneath all the subversive humor is a direct attack on religion.

Seth Rogen voices a sausage named Frank who is in love with a bun named named Brenda (Kristen Wiig). They're packaged next to each other on a shelf in a grocery store called Shopwells. Each morning, all of the groceries join in a song that celebrates the Gods, aka the humans that shop there. It is the belief of the food that when they are selected by the Gods, they will go to Great Beyond, aka out the front door, where they will live in an eternity of joy and sexual fulfillment.

But when a jar of honey mustard (Danny McBride) is returned, he comes back with horrible tales. The Gods are monsters who plan to consume them. There is no happiness in the Great Beyond; there is only death.

Frank and Brenda escape their packaging and set out to find the truth, but the longer they search, the more doubtful Frank becomes, and the more fearful Brenda becomes that she is angering the Gods.

The movie is full of stereotypes and has fun with them. Frank and Brenda are joined by a Jewish bagel (Edward Norton) and a Arabic lavash (David Krumholtz), and they bicker about occupied aisle space. The lavash also dreams of being drenched in the Great Beyond in 77 bottles of virgin olive oil. The German sauerkraut screams about exterminating the juice. And so on.

The movie is filled to the brim with dirty jokes, many of which are funny. In fact, it's remarkable how freeing animation is for Rogen's pot-obsessed humor.

As for the atheist argument, let's just say Rogen does it in a funnier, less ham-fisted way than Ricky Gervais or Bill Maher are capable of. The movie winds up being a celebration of hedonism before it ultimately disappears up its own butt.

Ghostbusters - Movie Review

Starring Melissa McCarthy, Kristen Wiig, Leslie Jones, Kate McKinnon, Chris Hemsworth, Charles Dance, Andy Garcia, Cecily Strong, Neil Casey, Zach Woods and Ed Begley Jr.
Written by Katie Dippold & Paul Feig.
Directed by Paul Feig.

★★½

There's one big obstacle this movie faces. It tries to pay homage to the original every few minutes with references and cameos and following the same basic formula, but it is not a sequel. It is a reboot that pretends the other movies didn't happen. The movie would have been better off if it had made a decision. Either be a sequel, which wouldn't have been difficult to do, keeping the whole cast intact and have Dan Aykroyd mentor them for a few minutes. Or be your own thing. But in addition to Aykroyd, Bill Murray, Sigourney Weaver, Ernie Hudson and Annie Potts popping up as different characters, we also get the return of Slimer and the Stay-Puft Marshmallow Man. Why?

Now I love the original Ghostbusters. Felt let down by the sequel. But I was ready to enjoy this movie on its own merits. So what are its merits?

Paul Feig reunites his Bridesmaids actresses Wiig and McCarthy, and I like seeing those two play off each other as different characters. I liked the broad energy of Leslie Jones.

(I have to have another quibble with the marketing team. They ruined a lot of punchlines in the trailers. Almost every scene, my mind would go back to one of the previews. "Ah, this is the scene that will end with Jones slapping McCarthy once more than necessary and yelling 'The power of pain compels you!'")

Chris Hemsworth steals the show as Kevin, the spectacularly dumb receptionist for the Ghostbusters. Probably my favorite non-Thor role of his.

I liked the concept of the villain, although I wish they'd cast someone more interesting in the part. Not exactly as memorable as Gozer. The budget is huge, so why not get Jonah Hill? Patton Oswalt? Instead they cast Neil Casey, who was a writer at Saturday Night Live when Kristen Wiig was still there.

Kate McKinnon's character is so out-there I never bought her in the fabric of this universe. Maybe she was trying something risky a la Johnny Depp in the first Pirates of the Caribbean. Some people are finding it hilarious. I didn't think it worked.

The movie's fine. I think it might linger in pop culture just because it's four women kicking butt and zapping ghosts, and I don't diminish that. If anything it felt like the script and story decisions let the ladies down.

The Secret Life of Walter Mitty - Movie Review

Starring Ben Stiller, Kristen Wiig, Sean Penn, Shirley MacLaine, Adam Scott, Kathryn Hahn and Patton Oswalt. Directed by Ben Stiller.

★★★½

I saw part of the same-titled Danny Kaye movie on TV when I was a little kid, but I don't remember much about it. It was based on a two-page James Thurber short story. This movie has nothing to do with that original story.

Stiller plays Walter Mitty, a boring man who constantly zones out into fantastical daydreams. He works for Life magazine but he soon learns that their next printed issue will be their last. Stiller wants to have it both ways and for the most part, does, with very funny daydreams combined with thought-provoking drama about actually living life.

Its main weakness would be with the blatant, intrusive product placement. The use of Papa John's as a plot device bordered on grotesque.

This is an elegant panoramic tribute to his locations. Greenland and Iceland look like places I'd want to visit. Nice to see Stiller take full advantage of the big screen.

Anchorman 2 - Movie Review

Starring Will Ferrell, Steve Carell, Paul Rudd, David Koechner, Christina Applegate, Kristen Wiig, Meagan Good, Dylan Baker, James Marsden, Greg Kinnear, Judah Nelson, Fred Willard and Chris Parnell.
Directed by Adam McKay.

★★1/4

Nine years. Nine years since the legend has graced the big screen.  So when the stars align and he finally re-emerges, we get a cuddly reunion that I just wish had been funnier.

Call it the Austin Powers effect. I though the second movie was the weakest because it felt like it was retreading jokes from the first one.  This one too offers a retread. Some of it is funny, make no mistake, but this also suffers from our ability to see the punchlines coming from farther away, and shouting the punchline does not make it funnier.

We begin with Ron Burgundy and Veronica Corningstone happily married, parents to a cute little moppet, and co-anchoring the weekend edition on a national news network (WBC).  When the main anchor of the network decides to retire, he names Veronica his successor, and he fires Ron, "the worst anchorman I've ever seen."  Ron's fragile pride is wounded, and he tells Veronica that if she loved him, she'd refuse the promotion. So naturally we cut to a few months later where a newly single Ron Burgundy has hit rock-bottom.

But then comes along the opportunity to be a part of GNN, the first 24-hour news network.

The movie has fun with the trope of "getting the band back together."  Steve Carell is a bigger star now so Brick has more to do this time around. But Brick was so dumb in the first one that he's impossible to invest in this time around. Comedy is best when there's a grain of truth to it, but Brick is incomprehensibly stupid. He's dumber than an adult Ralph Wiggum.

There's some inspired humor with the way it skewers cable news. There are also some gags that go on too long and just aren't funny, like Ron's awkward racism trying to relate to black people.

The third act gets so ridiculous that it almost saves it. (Did I mention it has a lot of good surprise cameos?)

Maybe if there'd been more people in my theater, there would have been more laughs, and I would have enjoyed it more.  As is, it's fine, you know. What can I say. It's alright. You could do worse. (Shrugs). I was disappointed.

Despicable Me 2 - Movie Review

Starring the voices of Steve Carell, Kristen Wiig, Benjamin Bratt, Miranda Cosgrove, Russell Brand, Steve Coogan, Ken Jeung and Nasim Pedrad.
Directed by Pierre Coffin & Chris Renaud.

★★★

Maybe it's because summer is perfectly programmed to the largest common denominators, focussed-grouped and refined to such a point that we're getting what we're getting.  Maybe it's because studios have faith in what they're putting in the summer to be somewhat good, so they're not jettisoning them to January.  Maybe I appreciate the air conditioning and comfy seats.  I find myself "kinda liking" everything I see in theaters lately.

I liked the first one. It was a pleasant surprise. It was the Dr. Evil movie, but if Dr. Evil suddenly had three cute orphans dropped on his doorstep.  Gru grew in the first movie, so where does he go from here?

Part 2 is about Dr. Evil becoming Austin Powers. Now that Gru has retired from his evil ways, the Anti-Villain League wants to recruit him to work for them.  The cranky Gru thinks about it, looks at his girls, and decides this would be a good thing.

The visual work here is impressive.  The opening sequence is like any great Bond movie, with the camera swooping and racing after the action (in fact I noticed more than one nod to The Incredibles). The Minions get more screen time for the childish jokes, i.e. giggling at the name of the AVL head Silas Ramsbottom.  (They also have a drinking song, which is a highlight.) There's a lot of physical humor here worthy of Chuck Jones, and I can't help but think he was part of the inspiration in the design of a few of these characters.  El Macho has a giant upper body but short and skinny legs reminiscent of Yosemite Sam or Witch Hazel, for instance.

So yes, it's worthy family fare.

Lindsay Lohan flatlines on Saturday Night Live

Cold Open - The opening skit was Shepard Smith (Bill Hader) interviewing Mitt & Ann Romney and their five sons. I kinda liked the Psycho spin with Shep, but it was otherwise forgettable.

Opening Monologue - At first I have to overcome my shock of seeing what Lindsay Lohan looks like these days.  Why oh why did she get plastic surgery on her cheeks?  But the premise of the monologue was good, with Kenan Thompson and Kristen Wiig wishing her well while casually checking her for drugs.  We also got surprise appearances from Jimmy Fallon and Jon Hamm.

The Real Housewives of Disney - Belle (Abby Elliott), Snow White (Vanessa Bayer), Jasmine (Nasim Pedrad), Rapunzel (Lohan), and Cinderella (Wiig) exude typical Bravo behavior. A couple half-smirks in there, but it should have been better than it was.

Scared Straight - Wow, this sketch again?  The one laugh is when Thompson comes out as Lorenzo and Lohan comes out as... herself.  She speeds through her lines with zero conviction.  Awful.  Although I do want to know whatever made Jason Sudeikis crack, thus sending Hader, Andy Samberg and Bobby Moynihan into giggle fits.

I also fast-forward the musical guest.  In this case it was Jack White as Johnny Depp as Jack White.

Weekend Update - Meh. Hader shows up as James Carville and Moynihan as pregnant Snooki.

The 2012 Psychic Awards - Samberg and Lohan act as hosts in this award-show parody. I liked how their In Memorium was for fellow psychics they knew were going to die later this year.  Lohan's also not asked to do much in this one.  Good.

Deliquent Girl Teen Gang - I didn't get what they were going for here.  The main joke was Fred Armisen in drag repeatedly getting hit by a car.

Digital Short - Wiig and Samberg with a giant, giant afro sing a song. This one will not go viral.

B108 FM Morning Radio - Taran Killam, Moynihan and Lohan as morning DJs with a lot of "what what" enthusiasm and no intelligence.  Bayer shows up as a nerdy news announcer who's not on their vibe.  #Yawn

Housesitter - Lohan (in a red wig!) shows up to housesit for Wiig, in a neckbrace, who dramatically answers the phone like one of those 1970's women-in-trouble chicks. The joke is she's butt-dialing herself.  Heh.

Commercial pardoies of Chantix and Verizon, both repeats, but both good.

Musical number.

Rude Buddha - Samberg as Buddha, who gives wisdom to people's faces, then talks smack about them when they leave. Pretty lame.

Songs from the 1970s - Sudeikis acts like he's going to do one of those commercials for song collections on CD, but it quickly goes to a silly place. It was a a throwaway that I actually found one of the funniest things they did tonight.

And that's the show.  Kinda lame overall.  I know calling SNL lame has been as fashionable forever, but sometimes they do have good stuff. I actually miss Paul Brittain and wish I knew why he left the show so abruptly. Lohan as host wasn't January Jones terrible, but she wasn't great either.  I guess it's progress to show she can still walk and talk at the same time.

Bridesmaids - Movie Review

lll 1/2

Starring Kristen Wiig, Maya Rudolph, Rose Byrne, Chris O'Dowd, Melissa McCarthy, Jon Hamm, Wendi McLendon-Covey, Ellie Kemper, Jill Clayburgh, Matt Lucas and Annie Mumolo. Directed by Paul Feig.

Kristen Wiig is in pretty much every sketch on Saturday Night Live, and she also finds time to take supporting roles in films like MacGruber and Paul. But now she gets to take center stage in a full-length movie, and she shows serious acting chops. She is more than a sum of sketches. It helps that she co-wrote the movie.

This has been called The Hangover for Women, but that oversimplifies. It's very funny, but there's a dark undercurrent to it, a layer of sadness as Annie (Wiig) has her life unravel while trying to be a good maid of honor for her best friend Lillian (SNL alum Rudolph).

The central conflict is with Helen, played by Rose Byrne (Insidious), a younger, richer, prettier friend Lillian's recently acquired, and Helen is also quite competitive. Annie and Helen has to keep the plastic smiles on for Lillian as they try to one-up each other, all while pretending that's not what they're doing.

Judd Apatow helped produce it, and it does feature some of the trademark gross-out humor. It could've easily trimmed ten minutes from its running time without losing anything, but I predict now that Wiig will get a Golden Globe nomination for her work here.