Film Review- "Sausage Party"

There are moments in every filmgoer's life, when he finds himself sitting in the theater, staring up at the big silver screen. His eye's wide open like a deer in headlights, paralyzed with shock at what he's witnessing, but cannot look away. His jaw hangs open, as his hand muffles the only words that can escape his breathe, "What. The. *Bleep*"

...This is my review of Sausage Party.

Sausage Party
Directed by Greg Tiernan and Conrad Vernon
Starring Seth Rogen, Kristen Wiig, and Nick Kroll

You know me. You know I love Disney and Pixar, but really I'm a sucker for any good animated film. For the longest time, I had wanted someone to come along and give audiences a send up of the genre. For someone to push the boundaries of the art form, and show that "animated" isn't a synonym for "kiddie". A raunchy, satirical, and adult-oriented animated film...Be careful what you wish for kids. Especially when Seth Rogen is the one granting those wishes.

Sausage Party takes place in the world of an average supermarket, where the edible inhabitants have always believed that when they are purchased, they are being chosen by the gods (humans) to leave the store and enter The Great Beyond, i.e. Their heaven.

For a sausage named Frank (Rogen) and a bun named Brenda (Wiig), entering The Great Beyond means them getting to...consummate their love. When they're chosen together, a series of unfortunate events leads Frank to question their entire existence. He goes on a quest to discover the truth about food, even if it means costing him the love of Brenda and the respect of the entire food community.

Sausage Party's greatest strength is its shock value, and my god do I mean shock. You will constantly be in awe with what you're witnessing. From the opening song to the very end you're on a roller coaster of cringe and crude humor, and at the end of that roller coaster is...you have to see it to believe it my friends...

The film's humor can basically fall into two categories: food puns, and sex jokes. This is probably not everybody's cup of tea. Personally, I was laughing quite a bit throughout. Partially because the jokes were clever and funny, mostly because I was in disbelief at the balls they had to took to make this film.

Hidden behind all this obscenity, is actually a clever story that commentates on religion, belief, and individuality. Who would of thought? Seth Rogen & Evan Goldberg have proved before they can be as clever as they can be crude. Unfortunately, you might forget that when you're witnessing a lesbian taco shell voiced by Salma Hayek fight lustful urges to get it on with Kristen Wiig's bun character.

At this point, pretty much everyone in this film has already lent their voice to an animated film, and everyone does a fine job. Ironically, Frank is probably the most three-dimensional character Rogen's ever played in an animated film (That's not a pun on the CGI animation I swear.). Michael Cera does a nice job as Barry, a deformed sausage. Nick Kroll as the film's villain, plays a perfect douche...ok that one was a pun. Most of the voice cast is almost unrecognizable, from Edward Norton doing a Woody Allen impression as a bagel, Paul Rudd as the douchey dork manager of the supermarket, and James Franco as a druggie who manages to speak with the food.

Pay freaking attention during that scene. Don't do bath salts, kids...

Sausage Party is not a film for everyone. I enjoy a film like this once in awhile, but I'm going to need some time before I watch it again...like years. But it does a perfect job of satirizing the animated genre, deliver a thoughtful message, and leave a lasting impression on its audience.

Especially that last one. Christ, I won't be able to eat for weeks...

Film Review- "Suicide Squad"

Suicide Squad
Directed by David Ayer
Starring Will Smith, Margot Robbie, Joel Kinnaman and Viola Davis

The third time is definitely not the charm for the DC Extended Universe, as Suicide Squad fails to give the franchise that severe boost of quality it desperately needs. It suffers a lot of the same problems that Batman Vs Superman: Dawn of Justice did. But just like I said with Batman Vs Superman, I say to you here the reviews are being a lot harsher than they need to be, and there is still a little good in this film.

In the wake of Superman's death, director of A.R.G.U.S. Amanda Waller (Davis) moves to assemble a team of extraordinary-yet-expendable individuals to carry out high-risk missions for the government. Said individuals are a bunch of criminals and super villains, including but not limited to hit man Floyd Lawton a.k.a Deadshot (Smith), the twisted Harley Quinn (Robbie), and lowlife theif Captain Boomerang (Jai Courtney, who I can't believe I'm about to say isn't the worst part of this film).

When a deadly, supernatural threat in the form of The Enchantress (Cara Delevigne) threatens to rip the world apart, Waller assembles the Task Force X, led by Colonel Rick Flagg (Kinnaman) to quite simply save the world. Meanwhile Harley's beau, the clown prince of crime The Joker (Jared Leto) is on a rampage to reunite with his beloved.

If there was a script for this film most of it got thrown out when the footage was being edited. There's a big lack of character development, some actions and movements from scene to scene make little sense. With the exception of Deadshot and Harley, most of the team stays pretty two-dimensional. There's a romantic angle between Flagg and Dr. June Moore (the woman The Enchantress has possessed) but its so unnecessary and these characters aren't given their proper due so we can't get invested in it.

The final battle is so blatantly ripping off the final act of The Avengers it's not even funny, except with The Avengers it was with characters we had grown to love, and we actually cared what was going to happen. You could almost forgive that, if the action wasn't completely generic. Also I'm sorry, but it just makes zero sense why the US government would send common street criminals, to fight a thousand-year-old witch with unholy powers. Captain America wouldn't be sent to fight The Dark Elves. Batman wouldn't be called to fight General Zod…actually they both would still do those things and win because they're awesome. Anyway!

Well I told you that this film wasn't as bad as they were making it out to be, and I've probably proven myself wrong by now…or have I?!?…I don't know. The cast is the film's saving grace. Will Smith is giving his best as Deadshot, and Margot Robbie is an absolute perfect Harley Quinn. I can't believe I'm going to say this but I enjoyed Jai Courtney as Captain Boomerang. Joel Kinnaman plays Rick Flagg as a solid straight man to the Squad, but you can tell that there was supposed to be more to his character, that was either cut or he can't bring it. Viola Davis is Viola Davis as Amanda Waller. I could comment on Cara Delevigne as The Enchantress, if I thought it was actually her on the screen and not mostly CGI effects and a voice over artist. She's not really a villain or a character. More of a plot device sadly. Everyone else is sadly either sidelined or misused.

Ask for Jared Leto as our newest screen-adaptation of The Joker? Well the marketing lied to us. He's not in this film as much as we were led to believe. He does good work, but we need to see more of him before we can get a full taste of what this new Joker is like.

Finally the music in the film is top notch. Not the score itself, I honestly couldn't identify the instrumentals of this film to save my life, but the song choices. The variation of song choices is all over the place, but they're carefully selected and match the setting and tone of the film.

So how I can I still even recommend Suicide Squad to you? Well if you lower your expectations enough, you could end up enjoying this film to a degree. It's not going to be something a lot of people will rewatch over and over, but it is not unwatchable. There's still some pieces worth checking out, like the performances, the soundtrack, and there are some cool scenes that build up the DCEU, some including Leto's Joker and the return of Affleck's Batman. If you skip this film, it probably won't hurt you going forward in the franchise. If you do see it, great. There are worse ways to spend two-and-a-half hours, and you'll be introduced to some interesting characters you're likely to see more of.

Let's all keep in mind that this film was practically in the can before the Batman Vs Superman fiasco and Warner Bros. changed the regime overseeing the DCEU. So hopefully the worst is behind us, maybe the fourth time's the charm with Wonder Woman, and these characters/performances get better treatment going forward. Even the "Worst Heroes Ever" deserve something more.

Film Review- "Ghostbusters"

Ghostbusters
Directed by Paul Feig
Starring Melissa McCarthy, Kristen Wiig, Kate McKinnon, and Leslie Jones

Let me just get some things out of the way, because I know I'll have to address them at some point. I was never against a third Ghostbusters film. I was never against a new team becoming the center of the story. I was never against that new team being all female. Despite what everyone was saying, I still believed that there was potential for this film to be great…but for me, it ended up just being okay.

The story of the new Ghostbusters begins when estranged friends and physicists Abby Yates and Erin Gilbert (McCarthy and Wiig) are called upon to investigate some paranormal activity when someone discovers their book on the paranormal. After a first successful...ghost busting? The girls decide to look further into their research, along with Erin's lab partner Dr. Jillian Holtzman (McKinnon) and New York City subway worker Patty Tolan (Jones). The team soon discovers there's more to all these ghosts appearing throughout the city, and uncover a far more dangerous threat that could destroy the world.

First off, the story is pretty thin. There's not much to the basic "bunch of misfits are called upon to save the world from some great threat" plot. The heart of the story is the relationship between Abby and Erin, but it's never really given enough attention for us as an audience to connect or care. That, and the film pretty much hits every story beat the first Ghostbusters hit. The characters think they can make ghost busting a business, the team is assembled, they gain attention, they get on the wrong side of the law…if you've seen the first one, you know where this is all going to wind up. The villain is weak, and his rise to power, and his plan, are underdeveloped.

But this is a comedy first and foremost. How funny is this, and how does the cast do? I only found myself laughing out loud a few times in the film. Most of the time they were just getting smiles and smirks out of me. The humor isn't crude, and it isn't clever, it's just kind of generic. The leading ladies, I always took issue with McCarthy and Wiig being cast in this film. Not because I don't think they're talented. They both already have great careers and these roles could have been given to dozens of other actresses more deserving of a bigger picture and a chance to show their comedic chops.

McCarthy has never been my favorite comedienne, and she gets the least laughs out of all four. Kristen Wiig is misused as mostly being the straight woman to everyone else. Kate McKinnon and Leslie Jones are absolutely hilarious. Chris Hemsworth actually ends up being one of the funniest people in this film, as the Ghostbusters' dim-witted receptionist. Another thing the film has going for it is the effects, which are incredibly vibrant and eye-catching.

At the end of the day though I just have to get nitpicky here and ask, why does this film exist within a different continuity from the first two films? Especially when Murray, Akroyd, Hudson, Weaver, and Potts all show up for cameos. Who's to say they all couldn't have spent the same amount of time on set reprising their old roles here opposed to these faceless incidental characters? Why couldn't this new team have heard of the old and been inspired by them, instead of this unnecessary reboot of the franchise? I digress.

Ghostbusters isn't bad, and it isn't great. It's just there, as a sometimes funny and sometimes charming film. Ghostbuster purists shouldn't be offended, and comedy fans should be satisfied. It's a harmless little film that probably won't gain the following of the original, but will still have an audience as time goes on.

….Reviewin' makes me feel good.