Film: Jason Bourne

GENRE: Action

RATING: PG-13 for violence and brief language
RUNTIME: 2 hours and 3 minutes

STARRING: Matt Damon (Bourne series, The Martian, The Departed)

Tommy Lee Jones (The Fugitive), Alicia Vikander (Ex Machina)

DIRECTOR: Paul Greengrass (Bourne Supremacy & Ultimatum)

WRITERS: Greengrass (United 93) & Christopher Rouse (newcomer)

PLOT: Bourne tries to uncover even more about his past, this time there is a connection to his father.

FULL DISCLOSURE: I really enjoyed the Bourne trilogy. The Renner one was pretty good too if I remember.  

STORY STUFF: The story is becoming a little too predictable with this series. Bourne tries to uncover something from his past, people try to follow him but he manages to elude them, he interacts with females and they mostly just look serious instead of saying stuff, there’s a very destructive and unbelievable car chase and vengeance is usually taken once he finds out the truth. Then he disappears again. But even with all this formulaic writing, it’s still a fun time at the movies.   

ACTING STUFF: Lots of serious looks from everyone. Damon looks a lot older as Bourne now, but still pulls it off. Tommy Lee Jones is always a treat to watch with his trademark gruffness. Vikander is a nice addition and it was nice to see Julia Stiles again (I think she had more lines in this one than her almost mute performance in Ultimatum.)  I was surprised to see Riz Ahmed as a silicon valley mogul as I have just been watching him in HBO’s awesome The Night Of, where I’m still not sure if he is a murderer or not.

ARTISTIC STUFF: Loads of action sequences. It’s Greengrass, so the camera shakes a lot. I was surprised that they were able to shoot a big car chase on the Las Vegas strip. Not much else to mention.

VERDICT: Three stars out of five

SEE IT IF: You like the Bourne franchise.

UPCOMING REVIEWS: Fall Movie & Television Previews

Film: Sausage Party

GENRE: Animated Adult Comedy

RATING: R for incredibly crude sexual content
RUNTIME: 1 hour and 29 minutes

STARRING: Seth Rogen (Knocked Up, The Interview, Neighbors)

Kristen Wiig (Bridesmaids), Michael Cera (Arrested Development)

DIRECTORS: Greg Tiernan (Thomas & Friends)

Conrad Vernon (Shrek 2, Monsters vs Aliens)

WRITERS: Kyle Hunter & Ariel Shaffir (The Night Before)

Seth Rogen & Evan Goldberg (Superbad, This is the End)

PLOT: Supermarket food learn what really happens to them when they are chosen to leave the store.

FULL DISCLOSURE: I made a deal to see this film if it was over 75% on Rotten Tomatoes. It scored an 82%

STORY STUFF: Amazingly enough, the story had something to say about religion. I didn’t agree with the conclusion but I found it interesting that it was explored. There is a lot of cleverness in the film, especially with product names and attitudes. Those things made me laugh the most. I would even say it is on par with Pixar cleverness. The villain didn’t work for me though, and no, I’m not referring to the people who eat the food.

ACTING STUFF: You can tell that the actors lending their voices are having lots of fun. I’m sure Edward Norton was giddy doing his Woody Allen impression as a bagel. Almost all the characters in this film have moments to shine, which is nice to see. 

ARTISTIC STUFF: The animation is well done and fits alongside other animated films. There are some very creative character designs. And while the dialogue is full of vulgarity and sexual content, it’s really one of the last scenes that will make your jaw drop to the floor in its brazen bawdiness. (I’m sure if it wasn’t food, it would have been NC-17.)

VERDICT: Three stars out of five

SEE IT IF: You wish Pixar has more sex and swearing.

UPCOMING REVIEWS: Jason Bourne

Film: Suicide Squad

GENRE: Action Adventure

RATING: PG-13 for violence and language
RUNTIME: 2 hours and 3 minutes

STARRING: Margot Robbie (Wolf of Wall Street, Whiskey Tango Foxtrot)

Will Smith (Bad Boys, MiB), Joel Kinnaman (The Killing, Robocop)

DIRECTOR: David Ayer (Fury, End of Watch)

WRITER: Ayer (Training Day, The Fast and the Furious)

PLOT: Supervillains can reduce their sentences by helping defeat an even bigger bad guy. Mistrust, violence and laughter ensues.     

FULL DISCLOSURE: Even though I originally was looking forward to this, I kept my expectations low after all the negative critic reviews.

STORY STUFF: The first half of the film is pretty good. They do a good job introducing the ‘heroes’ and setting up the squad. Then everything falls apart with gaping plot holes and a terrible big bad (and no, it’s not the Joker). However, I liked the squad and would watch a sequel if they could come up with the better villain/objective.   

ACTING STUFF: Margot Robbie is fantastic. She holds the whole film together. She in energetic, funny, sexy and fun. Jared Leto’s Joker will of course get compared to Heath Ledger, but I think he had a fun twist on it by making him actually crazy. I was a little sad that Will Smith’s Deadshot had a bit of a moral compass; I was hoping he could just be an evil badass for once. I’m not sure if I’m supposed to like or dislike Viola Davis’ Amanda Waller. I disliked her.  

ARTISTIC STUFF: While the final fight scene is a total mess and an earlier rescue mission is disjointed, the character introductions are masterful. My favourite aspect would have to be their song choices. Put ultra-dramatic score music under the squad getting ready and it flops, but put it to Eminem’s ‘Without Me’ and it is awesome. And here I thought Star Trek Beyond was going to win best song choice in a summer film (that’s not an actual award btw.)

VERDICT: Three stars out of five

SEE IT IF: You want to ogle Margot Robbie or prefer villains to heroes

UPCOMING REVIEWS: Jason Bourne