Holy shit this movie was awesome, I think it actually outdid the first movie, and I quite enjoyed the first one. This movie earned my love early on when they had an open and blatant discussion about how sequels are never as good as the originals. I really enjoyed the self awareness and the meta moments in the movie.
The movie was a parody of action movie sequels while also being a great sequel to the first movie. I really thought the writing in this movie was really well done. Lots of the background things are jokes in themselves, such as the cadence the quarterback is calling out includes the words color and number in the actual cadence not colors of numbers. The movie also pokes fun at the buddy cop genre a bit, and their needing to make it clear that the people aren't gay repeatedly, the movie version of saying no homo. Someone in the movie says in Ice Cube's presence "that looks like a giant ice cube." There were also jokes in the movie about how they had double the budget, and also commentary about how they were running low on the budget.
The movie was able to have some quality action like the first movie, but also had many huge laughs. I actually teared up a few times from crying in this movie, and I guarantee that I missed some of the jokes from the movie because I was still laughing at the previous jokes. I will need to watch the movie again to get more of the jokes and possible background gags.
I don't want to give away any of the details twists and turns in the movie, I will say that some are much more predictable than others. I called one of them out right away, but one of the others was a little less obvious to me.
I think that all of the performances in this movie are quite entertaining, they even brought back some randoms from the first movie that you wouldn't have thought would be back in this one. Jonah Hill and Channing Tatum in particular really take over the movie, and Ice Cube is great in his scenes again.
I will say all of these positive things about the movie, but everyone should know what they are getting into, there are many low brow jokes in this movie. It is quite the entertaining movie, but it really isn't a high minded movie at all. If you saw the first movie, you will know what to expect from for the level of humor in this movie. There are a few call backs to the first movie, including a covalent bonds mention.
All in all I had to rank this movie in the middle of the pack of the movies I have seen this year, I would honestly see any of these movies in the theaters again. It has been a good year all around for movies when I didn't think there would be that many that I would like. I would rate all of these movies as a B or higher on a grading scale, now coming up I might see the new Transformers movie, but it depends on where the rotten tomatoes rating lies.
2014 Movie Rankings:
1. Captain America: The Winter Soldier
2. How To Train Your Dragon 2
3. 22 Jump Street
4. X-Men: Days of Future Past
5. The Lego Movie
Showing posts with label Jonah Hill. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Jonah Hill. Show all posts
Thursday, June 26, 2014
Sunday, March 2, 2014
The Lego Movie
Well it has been a week and a half since I have seen the movie, I normally give myself only a few days to ponder something, my life has been hectic the past week plus so I am just now getting around to writing about the movie.
I really wanted to start by talking about my limited expectations for the movie originally. January and February is usually the dumping ground for movies that did not live up to their expectations, so even though I love Lego, it was something I had limited expectations for at best. The movie however got an enormous boost in my mind because of its elevated rating on RottenTomatoes.com, when I saw the movie it was sitting around 97% positive reviews. I don't go by ratings, but they can definitely make me more interested in a movie that I was on the fence about.
The movie really was everything I thought it would be and much much more. It had great casting of its characters, great imagination behind it, great jokes, great writing, and great twists involved in it. The Lego universe has greatly expanded since I was a kid with all sorts of branded merchandise including Star Wars and DC Comics. A lot of the things I grew up with were generic imitations of these things. The movie has characters that I definitely remember playing with as a kid as well as all sorts of newer additions.
I have to say that Chris Pratt has been on a roll with his movies, starting with being in Moneyball, he was also in Her (my favorite movie of 2013), and was now the leading role in The Lego Movie. I am also really looking forward to seeing him in The Guardians of the Galaxy this summer, which has a ridiculous cast in it!
This movie is honestly for anyone who like Lego or pop culture, its full of references, it has so many jokes, sometimes too many because the laughter has not yet subsided from the last joke, I am sure I missed a joke or two. I am an easy one to make laugh, but I still found this movie's jokes creative.
They honestly did a good job of creating a universe in this movie, as well as explaining how the universe works. The movie pays homage to all sorts of different generations of Lego builders and it even has some deeper cuts including numbers for certain parts that only the most in depth collectors would even get reference to.
I will be very honest and admit that I didn't think The Lego Movie would have a complex plot, but boy was I ever wrong. I did not see a lot of the different things and creative turns coming. My advice is that if you have somehow not seen the movie and still want to, do not read anything about it, I would hate it if any parts of the movie were spoiled for someone, because I really enjoyed some of the different reveals and twists in the movie.
I think that my favorite cameo in the movie would have to be Billy Dee Williams making a quick appearance in the movie as Lando himself. I mentioned liking the casting, and I really mean that, all the way down to the role that Jonah Hill plays in the movie. I could go down the entire cast list stating that everyone did a good job in the movie, but I won't do that. I just wanted to point out both Billy Dee Williams and Jonah Hill in the movie. Also what the movie did with Batman was quite amusing.
Well this is the first and only movie that I have seen so far in 2014, so of course it stands alone at #1:
1. The Lego Movie
I really wanted to start by talking about my limited expectations for the movie originally. January and February is usually the dumping ground for movies that did not live up to their expectations, so even though I love Lego, it was something I had limited expectations for at best. The movie however got an enormous boost in my mind because of its elevated rating on RottenTomatoes.com, when I saw the movie it was sitting around 97% positive reviews. I don't go by ratings, but they can definitely make me more interested in a movie that I was on the fence about.
The movie really was everything I thought it would be and much much more. It had great casting of its characters, great imagination behind it, great jokes, great writing, and great twists involved in it. The Lego universe has greatly expanded since I was a kid with all sorts of branded merchandise including Star Wars and DC Comics. A lot of the things I grew up with were generic imitations of these things. The movie has characters that I definitely remember playing with as a kid as well as all sorts of newer additions.
I have to say that Chris Pratt has been on a roll with his movies, starting with being in Moneyball, he was also in Her (my favorite movie of 2013), and was now the leading role in The Lego Movie. I am also really looking forward to seeing him in The Guardians of the Galaxy this summer, which has a ridiculous cast in it!
This movie is honestly for anyone who like Lego or pop culture, its full of references, it has so many jokes, sometimes too many because the laughter has not yet subsided from the last joke, I am sure I missed a joke or two. I am an easy one to make laugh, but I still found this movie's jokes creative.
They honestly did a good job of creating a universe in this movie, as well as explaining how the universe works. The movie pays homage to all sorts of different generations of Lego builders and it even has some deeper cuts including numbers for certain parts that only the most in depth collectors would even get reference to.
I will be very honest and admit that I didn't think The Lego Movie would have a complex plot, but boy was I ever wrong. I did not see a lot of the different things and creative turns coming. My advice is that if you have somehow not seen the movie and still want to, do not read anything about it, I would hate it if any parts of the movie were spoiled for someone, because I really enjoyed some of the different reveals and twists in the movie.
I think that my favorite cameo in the movie would have to be Billy Dee Williams making a quick appearance in the movie as Lando himself. I mentioned liking the casting, and I really mean that, all the way down to the role that Jonah Hill plays in the movie. I could go down the entire cast list stating that everyone did a good job in the movie, but I won't do that. I just wanted to point out both Billy Dee Williams and Jonah Hill in the movie. Also what the movie did with Batman was quite amusing.
Well this is the first and only movie that I have seen so far in 2014, so of course it stands alone at #1:
1. The Lego Movie
Tuesday, June 25, 2013
This is the End
I need to start this post by stating that I think I might have been the exact target audience for this movie, with the exception of me not being a pot smoker. What I mean by that is I have seen just about all of the movies involving these actors, and even before they were in movies the tv shows like Freaks and Geeks, and Undeclared, and I still love most of them. I knew the actors in this movie, even the smaller ones who weren't in the movie all that much. So going in, I think the cards were kind of stacked in my favor, I was probably a bit predisposed to liking this movie.
With that little preamble to this post, I absolutely loved this movie, to the extent that I want to see it again. The movie has lots of good laughs, some good jumpy/scary moments, and some enjoyable caricatures.
This movie did a really good job of combining the humor with the horror and the action. It is still a comedy first, but there is a strong element of horror mixed in. I laughed so hard that I teared up a few times during the movie, many big laughs in the movie.
This is the first movie directed by writing partners Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg, they have written a few movies, my favorite coming into this was Superbad, but they had not previously directed a movie, so this was a bit of an experiment for them.
I think that this is definitely the best written movie they have done, although I guess its not known how much of the movie was actually written and how much was ad libbed on the spot. Once the characters were a bit defined I think they probably let the actors go with it a little bit.
The whole movie is these guys making fun of themselves, like I said before, they are caricatures of themselves. Taking what the public perception of them is and making fun of it. I loved Jonah Hill's character the most, just so wonderfully condescending especially to Jay Baruchel. I loved how all of the guys got to make fun of each other in the movie too, not only the actors making fun of themselves, but their friends as well. James Franco actually painted all of the paintings that are found in his house, which definitely poke fun at his perceived pretentiousness, thats a word right?
I could not recommend this movie more, I think this is my favorite movie so far this year, I will discuss that more below. I went to the movie with my friend Matt, and he didn't quite like the movie as much. The difference in our movie tastes is that I definitely lean much more towards comedies than he does, he liked it but thought it was weird. I like weirdness in a movie. I think the fact that this movie was weird and in my opinion very original is what sold me on it. Not only are the actors playing fake versions of themselves, but they are doing so in an apocalyptic situation. To me this movie seemed quite a bit like Ghostbusters, combining humor and horror so well, I must admit I am not the one who came up with that comparison, but i agree with it. If you have interest in this movie, definitely go see it, then talk to me about it.
To end this post I am introducing my movie rankings which I will adjust and put at the bottom of each new movie post that I see, then I will likely do a year end wrap up post:
5. Pain & Gain- just terrible, fuck Michael Bay
4. World War Z- not bad, not great, a decent popcorn movie
3. Iron Man 3- Well above Iron Man 2 in my book, but didn't reach the quality of the first Iron Man
2. Star Trek Into Darkness- Really enjoyed the movie, liked it more than the first
1. This Is the End- Humor is what boostedn This is the End above Star Trek, humor is what really gets me
With that little preamble to this post, I absolutely loved this movie, to the extent that I want to see it again. The movie has lots of good laughs, some good jumpy/scary moments, and some enjoyable caricatures.
This movie did a really good job of combining the humor with the horror and the action. It is still a comedy first, but there is a strong element of horror mixed in. I laughed so hard that I teared up a few times during the movie, many big laughs in the movie.
This is the first movie directed by writing partners Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg, they have written a few movies, my favorite coming into this was Superbad, but they had not previously directed a movie, so this was a bit of an experiment for them.
I think that this is definitely the best written movie they have done, although I guess its not known how much of the movie was actually written and how much was ad libbed on the spot. Once the characters were a bit defined I think they probably let the actors go with it a little bit.
The whole movie is these guys making fun of themselves, like I said before, they are caricatures of themselves. Taking what the public perception of them is and making fun of it. I loved Jonah Hill's character the most, just so wonderfully condescending especially to Jay Baruchel. I loved how all of the guys got to make fun of each other in the movie too, not only the actors making fun of themselves, but their friends as well. James Franco actually painted all of the paintings that are found in his house, which definitely poke fun at his perceived pretentiousness, thats a word right?
I could not recommend this movie more, I think this is my favorite movie so far this year, I will discuss that more below. I went to the movie with my friend Matt, and he didn't quite like the movie as much. The difference in our movie tastes is that I definitely lean much more towards comedies than he does, he liked it but thought it was weird. I like weirdness in a movie. I think the fact that this movie was weird and in my opinion very original is what sold me on it. Not only are the actors playing fake versions of themselves, but they are doing so in an apocalyptic situation. To me this movie seemed quite a bit like Ghostbusters, combining humor and horror so well, I must admit I am not the one who came up with that comparison, but i agree with it. If you have interest in this movie, definitely go see it, then talk to me about it.
To end this post I am introducing my movie rankings which I will adjust and put at the bottom of each new movie post that I see, then I will likely do a year end wrap up post:
5. Pain & Gain- just terrible, fuck Michael Bay
4. World War Z- not bad, not great, a decent popcorn movie
3. Iron Man 3- Well above Iron Man 2 in my book, but didn't reach the quality of the first Iron Man
2. Star Trek Into Darkness- Really enjoyed the movie, liked it more than the first
1. This Is the End- Humor is what boostedn This is the End above Star Trek, humor is what really gets me
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