One holiday movie, one Oscarbait ths week. Office Christmas Party throws a bunch of jokes and funny people together and hopes it works. It mostly does, and its saving grace is Kate McKinnon, but the plot sometimes gets in the way of the funny. Manchester by the Sea is going to make you depressed and wow you with amazing acting skills of Casey Affleck and Michelle Williams. Get that Oscar!
London Has Fallen is a sequel/lazy rehash of the first movie. The production delays and “creative differences.” Laughable script. Ridiculous premise. “Time of the month” jokes. A dick flick, not a chick flick. But stuff blows up, and there’s Gerard Butler, so there’s that. Brooke gives it 2/10.
Whiskey Tango Foxtrot is Tina Fey producing an adaptation of a memoir of a television journalist about her time on Afghanistan from 2003-2007. It’s not a comedy– it’s real life, with real humor interjected to lighten the mood. Like M*A*S*H. Lots of talk about Afghanistan. Tina Fey delivers an amazing performance that’s both emotional and funny. Andy and Brooke both give it 7/10.
Zootopia is possibly the best movie of the year so far. A cute story about a bunny who wants to become a cop becomes “48 Hours” when she gets paired with a streetwise fox. Sooooooo much deep meaning in this movie about prejudice, bullying, etc, but maybe too much? Andy’s pancake analogy– Adam prefers waffles. Trump. Hillary. Not quite as good or straightforward as Wreck-It Ralph, but almost. Andy gives it 8.5/10, Brooke gives it 9/10 and says Andy is wrong about Tangled.
Oscars wrap-up! We were mostly right! Except that Best Picture thing. Andy’s idea about Spotlight– we need a new Oscar category for acting or “Best Ensemble” and one for “Best Special Performance in Motion Capture, Voice Over or Animation” and how it would be good for diversifying the Oscar nominees and winners.
Next week! Cloverfield sequel and Andy will be at SXSW!
The Gift – Joel Edgerton wrote, directed and starred in this creepy thriller. Jason Bateman is a douche. Andy has a Fruedian slip and calls Rebecca Hall “Allison” (he was distracted by Allison Brie). Tense, slow burn, but ambiguous ending. Andy and Adam both give it a 5/10. Read Andy’s full review here: http://bigshinyrobot.com/59077/gift-should-be-returned-store-credit/
Ricki and the Flash – Directed by Jonathan Demme and written by Diablo Cody. Meryl Streep wants another Oscar and she’s gonna sing! Good story for the first hour, then takes a weird twist. Why is 20 minutes of the movie Meryl Streep doing karaoke? We know you can sing– we saw Into the Woods and Mamma Mia. 6/10
Shaun the Sheep – Soooo good. Aardman Animation Studios doing stop motion. There is zero dialogue. Everything Fantastic Four gets wrong, this gets right: great villain, great character development, family, humor, adventure, and understanding the nature of your IP. 9/10. . . but with a caveat that it might only seem better because of Pixels and F4.
Fantastic Four – Adam never gives things 0, but this is awful. Andy was too bored to hate it that much, but ended up at 3/10. Movies that have a better rating on Rotten Tomatoes and if they’re better or worse than this. Adam’s full review here: (you really should read it!) http://bigshinyrobot.com/59072/fantastic-four-review/
Recommendations? Mondo steelbook BluRays are available at Target.com in limited quantities. Andy thinks you should visit Austin for MondoCon if you’re into Mondo.
What a Mondo Steelbook Blu-Ray looks like:
Music from this episode:
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