Suicide Squad Sucks! Movie Review

Based on the DC Comic, the government gives a team of supervillains a chance at redemption. The catch: their mission will probably kill them all.

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Have you heard the word on the street yet? If not, you have probably been living under a rock. The disappointing news that Suicide Squad sucks has quickly travelled down the grape vine.

The Avenger‘s success drove expectations for Suicide Squad through the roof. Unfortunately, while The Avenger’s is a full put-together movie, Suicide Squad is not. It just didn’t work.

The Lego Movie Review | Sarcastic, Random and Hilarious

An ordinary LEGO minifigure, mistakenly thought to be the extraordinary MasterBuilder, is recruited to join a quest to stop an evil LEGO tyrant from gluing the universe together.

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The Lego movie is sarcastic, random and downright hilarious. Okay, so you could have gathered that much from the title. Usually, I like to end my posts with the “bottom line” but this time I’m going to start off with it — watch this movie!

Kick-Ass 2 Movie Review

The costumed high-school hero Kick-Ass joins with a group of normal citizens who have been inspired to fight crime in costume. Meanwhile, the Red Mist plots an act of revenge that will affect everyone Kick-Ass knows.

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Going into Kick-Ass 2, I didn’t know what to expect. The movie has attracted a mixture of movie reviews, with critics primarily disappointed and general audiences primarily entertained. Surely, with these mixed reviews, the movie could never compare with the original Kick-Ass, that was universally liked, right?

Wrong.

Kick-Ass 2 blew my expectations out of the water. It was on pretty much the same level as the original Kick-Ass, maintaining everything that made the first one great such as:

• Ironic comedy
• Witty and hilarious dialogue
• Gruesome action
• A smart script that pokes fun at itself
• Hilariously unique characters (the names are so good I don’t want to ruin them by listing them here)
• Chloë Grace Moretz (you can’t not like her in the Kick-Ass series)

If you enjoyed the original, you will thoroughly enjoy this one as well. Whether it is quite as good as the first one is certainly up for debate but I would say they are certainly of comparable quality.

Kick-Ass 2 is jam-packed with references to modern culture, which makes it seem real despite its absurd elements. The movie’s biggest strength, aside from the performances by Chloe Grace Moretz and Aaron Taylor-Johnson, is the breadth of characters introduced. Each of the new heroes brought into the story are unique, interesting and out-right hilarious. Jim Carrey‘s character is particularly good. It is great to see him back on-screen.

In summary, Kick-Ass 2 kicks ass. Set your expectations slightly lower than the first and you will be sure not to be disappointed.

After the credits: Stick around after the credits for an interesting scene . . .

Even the music during the credits was amazing. The song Hero by Jessie J, recorded for the Kick-Ass 2 soundtrack is particular awesome:

Spring Breakers Movie Review

Four college girls who land in jail after robbing a restaurant in order to fund their spring break vacation find themselves bailed out by a drug and arms dealer who wants them to do some dirty work.

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The super short review: Spring Breakers was bizarre, sexy, funny and unique. If you are not a fan of the naked female form, perhaps you should opt to watch Safe Haven instead.

Spring Breakers is not the movie you think it is. It is far more “artsy” and “deep” than you could possibly expect from its title and premise. In this case, it was mostly a good thing.

It helps to know what to expect going in to the movie, so pay attention. If you are looking for a lighthearted comedy or mainstream flick, look elsewhere. Spring Breakers has its funny parts and some mainstream good times, but it is far more than that. You will frequently find your brain melting, for example. Not from stupidity but rather from trying to comprehend the insanity you are watching.

Overall though, the movie works. It depicts a life that few of us ever live — the true “wild side” of life — so it is impossible to watch expecting the plot points to be normal. The direction helped add to the bizarre feel of the movie which seems to cause eye-glazing among the general public. A hit with the critics; less so with the general public. If nothing else, Spring Breakers is a very unique movie and should be appreciated for that.

Prudes beware: nudity abounds. Spring Breakers earns its 18A rating within the first 2 minutes with more breasts in the movie than there are aliens in Alien. Although there is no doubt that the nudity helps appease the male audience, it is used in such a way that it actually adds to the validity of the setting. Some nudity, of course, has been thrown in to increase word of mouth.

James Franco does a surprisingly good job playing a drug dealer/rapper/straight-up gansta. His performance was very refreshing after The Great and Miserable Oz. The ladies (Selena Gomez, Vanessa Hudgens, Ashley Benson and Rachel Korine) were great performance-wise as well, though they were largely eye-candy.

In summary: if you go in expecting a weird but unique movie with a lot of boobs, you will not be disappointed.

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Seven Psychopaths Movie Review

A struggling screenwriter inadvertently becomes entangled in the Los Angeles criminal underworld after his oddball friends kidnap a gangster’s beloved Shih Tzu.

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Seven Psychopaths is a difficult movie to describe – the premise convoluted. Basically the movie is about a guy writing a movie about psychopaths while being surrounded by psychopaths. However, it is not quite as simple as that.

Without ruining the plot, all I can say is that this is one weird movie, but I mean that in a good way. Have you ever seen Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels or Snatch? Firstly, watch these movies! Secondly, the point that I was trying to make: Seven Psychopaths has a similar feel to them despite not sharing the same writer or director. Lock, Stock and Snatch were directed by the amazingly weird and brilliant Guy Ritchie, while Seven Psychopaths was written and directed by Martin McDonagh.

Now back to trying to describe this movie.

Seven Psychopaths brings a number of things to the table:

• An multi-layered story
• Incredible actors
• Intentional hilarity where hilarity is not expected
• Brilliant writing and dialogue

The only thing holding this movie back from a 5-star rating in my opinion is its absurdity (which, absurdly, is also the movie’s greatest strength). Some scenes will leave your head spinning at the insanity but you won’t spend long worrying about the room spinning around you because you will be too busy laughing at the many anti-clichés throughout the movie.

Yes, I just invented a word.

There may be a fancy theatre term for it, but when I refer to an anti-cliche, I am referring to a situation that is extremely cliche initially but then plays out entirely differently than you would expect. This movie is full of them and they are delightful.

Noticed how I still haven’t said much about the story? There’s a two-fold reason for that: spoilers and complexity. I will simply say this: Seven Psychopaths is very meta (Google it), bizarre, fun and self-aware. You will be entertained.

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Ted Movie Review: Seth Macfarlane is A Genius

As the result of a childhood wish, John Bennett’s teddy bear, Ted, came to life and has been by John’s side ever since – a friendship that’s tested when Lori, John’s girlfriend of four years, wants more from their relationship.

Seth MacFarlane never ceases to amaze me. Everything he does is pure gold. Well, maybe not the Cleveland show or American Dad . . . but everything else. MacFarlane plays the role of writer, director and (voice) actor in Ted – the first live-action movie to feature his antics.

The movie had everything that people have come to love from MacFarlane: obscene  hilarity, random cut scenes, and a great story. The random cut scenes I am referring to are extremely prominent on Family Guy and if you are not familiar you can check out a compilation here:

Family Guy “Cutscenes”

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hmt1rTKjpCI

Amazingly Macfarlane was able to incorporate several random cutscenes into the movie staying true to his family guy style. Speaking of style, the movie reeks of it! Every joke is delivered brilliantly and there are countless unexpected laugh-out-loud moments.

If you love Family Guy, you are going to love this movie, plain and simple. Macfarlane includes a number of voice actor cameos from the show along with a bunch of references. My personal favourite was the voice actor for Joe Swanson, the wheelchair-bound cop from the series. By the end of the movie you can tell he pretty much sourced all talent for Ted from his friends working on Family Guy. Of course, this isn’t at all a problem.

So what are you waiting for? Get out there and see this movie! Be warned though, word is travelling about it and the theatres are packed!

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Bad Teacher Movie Review

	A comedy centered around a foul-mouthed, junior high teacher who, after being dumped by her sugar daddy, begins to woo a colleague — a move that pits her against a well-loved teacher.

There is not a lot I have to say about Bad Teacher. It was just a bit better than mediocre with some surprising laughs – besting my expectations, which were very low. A decent comedy that is worth the download, if not to watch in theatres.

I want to come clean with the fact that I am not a big fan of Cameron Diaz. I do not know why, I just find most of her roles annoying. Cameron plays the bitch who does not care about anyone in this movie and the part suits her well. Otherwise, her performance was very typical in her style, despite the fact that she was in a much different role than she is usually in.

Supporting actors Lucy Punch, Jason Segel (you know him from How I Met Your Mother) and Justin Timberlake add most of the comedy to the movie – don’t expect a lot from Cameron.

Overall, I recommend Bad Teacher but if you have something else to see in theatres, skip this one and watch it at home.