Film: Inside Out

GENRE: Animated Comedy/Drama

RATING: PG for thematic elements
RUNTIME: 1 hour and 34 minutes

STARRING: Amy Poehler (Parks and Recreation, SNL)

Phyllis Smith (The Office); Richard Kind (Bug’s Life, Spin City)

DIRECTORS: Pete Docter (Up); Ronnie Del Carmen (newcomer)

WRITERS: Pete Docter (Monster’s Inc)

Josh Cooley & Meg LeFauve (newcomers)

PLOT: Sadness causes problems for 11 year old Riley as Joy is lost in her subconscious. It makes more sense when you watch it.

FIVE OBSERVATIONS:

1 What an unbelievably clever film. Pixar does such a great job creating stories. All their stories are chock full of emotions and this one puts those feelings in the forefront. Along with the emotions, the writers geniusly  create a whole new world inside someone’s head. It’s pretty amazing.

2 Speaking of amazing, the voice cast is top notch. Poehler is the embodiment of Joy and Smith is so effective as Sadness. I also love Lewis Black (Daily Show) as Anger and Mindy Kaling (Mindy Project) as Disgust. Bill Hader does a good Fear but his voice is strangely not that recognizable.

3 Since Sadness play’s a big part in this story, you may cry. I admit to shedding a tear. While many jokes will go over young children’s heads, they may enjoy the visuals and story but are still faced with a lot of sad things. Be ready to talk about sadness and memories.

4 Don’t know why this was in 3-D. Didn’t even notice any 3-D elements which makes me wonder why they bothered.

5 The glimpse inside the eleven year old’s brain was priceless. I could watch that scene over and over again.

RECOMMENDATION: Fun to watch on big screen
UPCOMING REVIEWS: Minions

Film: Jurassic World

GENRE: Action, Adventure

RATING: PG-13 for violence
RUNTIME: 2 hours and 4 minutes

STARRING: Chris Pratt (Guardians of the Galaxy, Moneyball)

Bryce Dallas Howard (The Help, The Village, Spiderman 3)

DIRECTOR: Colin Trevorrow (Safety Not Guaranteed)

WRITERS: Rick Jaffa & Amanda Silver (Rise of the Planet of the Apes)

Derek Connolly (Safety Not Guaranteed) & Colin Trevorrow (newcomer)

PLOT: With Jurassic World open to the public, scientists stupidly design a new super dinosaur that predictably escapes and eats people.

FIVE OBSERVATIONS:

1 Even with all the dino-on-dino action, it’s Pratt that holds the film together. He is always a treat to watch. He’s come a long way from Everwood.

2 I loved Trevorrow’s indie jabs at corporations (studios) and how they are asking for trouble by only wanting more bells and whistles. Great to see Jurassic World has a Starbucks.

3 While Pratt is stellar, it’s Jake Johnson (New Girl) who steals the show as a technician who gets all the funny lines and looks. So fun.  

4 I like the many references to the original film from music to merchandise to Dr. Henry Wu (BD Wong).

5 Howard does all that running in high heels? C’mon.

RECOMMENDATION: Blockbusters deserve a big screen
UPCOMING REVIEWS: Inside Out

Film: Spy

GENRE: Action, Comedy

RATING: R for language, violence and brief nudity
RUNTIME: 2 hours and 0 minutes

STARRING: Melissa McCarthy (Bridesmaids, The Heat, Tammy)

Rose Byrne (Damages, Neighbors), Jason Statham (Snatch, Crank)

DIRECTOR: Paul Feig (Bridesmaids, The Heat)

WRITER: Paul Feig (Freaks & Geeks)

PLOT: An analyst goes undercover for the first time to stop an arms dealer.    

FIVE OBSERVATIONS:

1 I love that this was a spy movie first, a comedy second. It’s not Austin Powers. They aren’t going for silly here. The genre is taken seriously and it makes the film that much better.  

2 McCarthy is utterly fantastic. She is so good as the analyst and the newbie spy with skills but she really pours it on when she takes on the persona of a bodyguard. Laugh out loud moments throughout. Her friend/partner is a little too weird though.

3 Byrne brings it as the bad guy. Her condescending comments towards McCarthy are hilarious. Her hair is also a wonderful source of comedy.   

4 Statham has done comedy before, so I’m not as surprised as some people. His rants at perfectly done though his opinion of McCarthy’s spy starts to get old.

5 A little too many expected double crosses in this otherwise stellar plot.

RECOMMENDATION: Fun time at the theatre but also good at home
UPCOMING REVIEWS: Jurassic World

Film: Entourage

GENRE: Comedy

RATING: R for language and nudity
RUNTIME: 1 hours and 44 minutes

STARRING: Kevin Connolly (The Notebook, The Ugly Truth)

Adrian Grenier (Drive Me Crazy), Jeremy Piven (Old School)

DIRECTOR: Doug Ellin (newcomer; Entourage TV series)

WRITER: Doug Ellin (newcomer; Entourage TV series)

PLOT: Vincent Chase needs more money from Ari for his directorial debut but a financier’s kid is standing in their way.    

FIVE OBSERVATIONS:

1 Not surprisingly, this film is just like TV series. It just feels like an extended episode. Which is not bad if you enjoyed the series. There are no extra bells and whistles. It even has a TV style opening title sequence.

2 Unfortunately, to make this movie work, they had to negate most of the finale of the television series. The happily ever afters of the entourage didn’t last long. They are all back at square one at the start of the movie.

3 Eric’s storyline was pretty boring. Enough with him and all these hot women who want to sleep with him. Then again, the main plot was pretty predictable too. So not many points for the screenplay.     

4 I didn’t think movies about DJs was trending but there happened to be a Zac Efron DJ movie preview before this film.

5 Fun to see all the celebrities they jam packed in the movie, especially during the party scene. Must have been fun.

RECOMMENDATION: Wait for it on HBO
UPCOMING REVIEWS: Spy