Theatrical Review: Leap!

Date: Saturday August 26 2017
Time: 11:55am
Location: Cinemark Cinema in Stroud Mall
Party: 2 (my sister & I)

Directors: Eric Summer and Eric Warin
Writers: Eric Summer (based on his idea), Laurent Zeitoun and Carol Noble
Composer: Klaus Badelt

Cast:
Felicie- Elle Fanning
Victor- Nat Wolff
Odette- Carly Rae Jepsen
Camille- Maddy Zeigler
Merante, the choreography- Terrence Scammell
Mother Superior/Regine/Felicie's mom- Kate McKinnon
Luteau- Mel Brooks

Duration: 89 minutes (+ 7 trailers)
Opening Remarks

First off, I listed the venue for the first time in a long time for a very particular reason. A particularly sad one.
Our super local cinema was one of several businesses in our local flea market affected by a fire and is one of such businesses that may never recover. It happened a couple weeks after we saw Despicable 3... it sucks. Granted, it wasn't perfect. We've had our share of sound issues, screen splits and so on. A couple of times when the movie was shut off prematurely or we had to remind people we were still there. But it was SUPER convenient and I'm going to miss it.

The mall is a good 20 minutes away from the house and downtown traffic can have its issues every now and then. But it's a really nice place. Can't beat the cushy stadium seating. And it was the two of us and two other twosomes within this one theater, so it was pretty cool.

Probably the one negative... there are a million trailers. Not commercials. Trailers. And unlike with "The Judge," where I managed to write them all down, I was just lucky I was able to count these.

Trailers

A bunch were animated and a bunch had real people. That much I remember for sure.

First up- "Daddy's Home 2"... how this movie got a sequel is as beyond me as Adam Sandler still being able to make movies when most of them are terrible...
Mark Walberg is the dad and Will Ferrell is the stepdad. But this time, their dads come into the picture for some holiday. Walberg's dad is Mel Gibson and Ferrell's dad is John Lithgow.
I'd never go to a theater to see this (certainly not traveling 20 minutes down the road to see it)- but Mel Gibson had some funny moments in this trailer pretty much side-eying Will Ferrell and saying to Mark Walberg "this [idiot] is raising your kids."
Mel Gibson has had his issues and RDJ has been lobbying for the past few years to get him acting jobs (paying it forward after Mel Gibson did the same for him after the final rehab stint)... but as crappy as this movie might wind up being, it's at least an opportunity Mel Gibson could possibly use... I'm spending too much time on this, moving on.

Next- a "My little pony" movie... yeah, this is getting a theatrical release. It looks super cute, but maybe not something I'd ever see unless it happened to be on TV and I happened to have nothing else I need to see.

Beyond that, I don't remember the order of these trailers, but this is what I remember.

Animated movie- Duck Duck Goose where this inept goose winds up becoming dad to a couple of ducklings who sound oddly mature for ducklings who'd recently hatched.
Animated movie- Ferdinand where a tame bull is sent off to be a bullfighter and a bunch of hedgehogs want to help get back to his girl... the hedgehogs had some funny moments, so this could potentially be a good movie

Animated movie- Disney's "Coco" where a live boy finds himself in the world of "The Day of the Dead" and meets his family... I still don't know why the hell the movie is called "Coco." I'm too lazy to Google it :P I don't care that much

animated movie- Lego Ninjago... my sister wants to see this one... she's really familiar with the series. This focuses on the green ninja Lloyd who has no friends beyond the other ninjas cuz his dad happens to be the main villain. The trailers feature the two of them meeting and Taylor Swift's "Bad Blood" playing (so excited for her new album...).

and I think there's one other live-action movie and I can't remember what it is. Probably wasn't important.

The Main Event

Felicie and Victor are best friends who grew up at an orphanage and both have big dreams. Victor to become a famous inventor and Felicie to become a ballerina and enroll in Paris's world famous dance school.
Once they manage to break out of the orphanage (and evade the caretaker, Mr. Luteau- whose physical appearance reminds me a lot of Richard Griffiths in the Harry Potter movies), the story can finally begin.

One thing that didn't make it into the trailers- Felicie commits identity theft to get into the ballet school. (Maybe not the first time in a kid's movie, but it kinda shocked me). But considering whose identity she steals, we can let it go.
Felicie befriends Odette, who is the cleaner at the dance school and she asks to work as her assistant. Her other job is with this mean rich lady, Regine, who had bought her daughter Camille into the dance school. After meeting Camille and Camille breaks the music box her mother gave her, Felicie kinda gets her revenge by using Camille's letter of acceptance to get into the school.

A theme repeated throughout the movie- skill vs. passion. Felicie has all the passion in the world, but she's a bit of a klutz and has no professional training. But with Odette's help (she was a dancer before an accident stole that ability from her), she works hard and makes it through week after week. She also falls for Russian dancer Rudy while Victor is trying to get the courage to tell her that he likes her.
Meanwhile, Camille and her mother do find out what happens and the situation gets a little more dire: Felicie needs to nail the final audition to play Clara in the Nutcracker or she gets kicked out of the school.
And there's also another point where we see that Camille has the skill but no passion. She dances because her mom makes her. (Maddy Zeigler, who plays Camille, was on "So you think you could dance" last Monday night explaining it just like that)

Overall, the movie was great. The animation for the people had come so far. It's amazing how realistic it is. Felicie is a plucky fun heroine that a lot of girls will be able to relate to. Her friend Victor is a great friend to her (able to fix her music box, which is a very important trinket to her).
Carly Rae Jepsen, I have not liked for years because of "Call Me Maybe." It's catchy (heck, it went viral at the 2012 Olympics and was the song of that summer), but the lyrics are so badly written. She'd had other songs, but the radio only plays that one. But since she started doing acting roles, I've come around. She was perfect as Frenchie in Fox's rendition of "Grease." And she's great here. I don't know how old Odette is supposed to be, but she could easily be the same age she is.

In "Legally Blonde," Elle Woods said during her valedictorian speech that first impressions aren't always correct.
This goes on to be true about a couple characters in this movie and in a good way.
Not to spoil anything, but Luteau winds up being helpful to Felicie later in the movie and despite his gruff exterior, there's a heart underneath there.

The biggest surprise for me was the choreographer, Merante. I thought he was played by Tim Curry because he sounded like Nigel Thornberry (he wasn't), but the impression I got was that he was stuffy and he wasn't going to budge in his opinion of Felicie (although to be fair- she was pretending to be Camille and he didn't like how her mother bought her way into the school). But he does come around. He also is very accommodating to Odette- which made me wonder if they had a history or they were related. He did some kind things for her because she was a dancer he admired and he wanted to help her if she needed it now that she couldn't dance anymore.
There's a great scene where Felicie puts on a performance at a bar with Victor and he sees her and slips in a compliment... that made me smile and hastily clap a couple times.

The review in the local paper seemed to have only one issue with the movie- the historical inaccuracies. The movie takes place in the 1870's. Someone's wearing denim. And :groan: someone says it's hammer time...

The one negative I found personally, which kinda sucked the fun out of it a few times... Camille's CRAZY stage mom. Maybe it's the hairstyle, but she reminds me of Lady Tremaine (aka the Evil Stepmother from Disney's "Cinderella"). The cutthroat attitude and the absolute meanness. There were no redeemable qualities about her whatsoever and all villains should have something in their background to explain why they are who they are.
Not only do her actions completely derail the movie halfway through (that whole 3rd act issue that's been cliché for years)... towards the end, she's threatening bodily injury and there's a hammer involved.
She said "it's hammer time" and I groaned so hard thinking "she totally ruined that for me"...

she didn't... I said "it's hammer time" about something a couple hours later and still got joy from it.

I don't know- maybe it's just a personal peeve. Up there with villains who are depicted with no weak points so it's impossible for the heroes to defeat them. [And also to derail my earlier point- it was explained why the "House of Night" villain Neferet became evil, but I still hated how she had no weak points that the good guys could take advantage of to defeat her]

I guess what I'm saying... the villain was simply an archetype. She wasn't three dimensional like the protagonist was and that's not good.

Grade: A-

Theatrical Review: Ghostbusters

Date: Tuesday July 19 2016
Location: Pocono Movieplex
Time: 1:45pm
Party: 1 (me, myself and I)

Director: Paul Feig ("Bridesmaids" and practically all of Melissa McCarthy's "good" movies)
Writers: Paul Feig and Kate Dippold (and a lot of uncredited ad-libs from the cast)

Notable Cast:
Abby Yates- Melissa McCarthy
Erin Gilbert- Kristen Wiig
Jillian Holtzmann- Kate McKinnon
Patty Tolan- Leslie Jones
Kevin- Chris Hemsworth
Mayor of New York- Andy Garcia
Mayor's aide- Cecily Strong (another SNL alum)
Benny the take-out guy- Karan Soni (check it out- it's the taxi driver from "Deadpool"!)

Duration: 116 minutes (+3 trailers)

Write-up:

Opening Comments

"Ghostbusters" was one of the 80's most iconic movies. There'd been talk for years of a third movie that never materialized. (At one point, I believe Bill Hader was attached). Finally, it happened and it wound up being a reboot with an all female cast.
It's crazy enough to work. Yet everyone was so quick to come down on it.
Why? I have no idea :P Are they that attached to the original?

I mean, the actor who played the dude from the EPA in "Ghostbusters... people actually started fights with him because of what his character did. Not much of a spoiler, but he did something that complicated things SEVERLY.
And the firehouse where they filmed the movie, I heard it was being shut down or demolished and people rallied to save it.

And yes, "Ghostbusters" is one of the funniest movies of all time. So why not be a little protective of that?

At the same time, I'm up for something new when it involves people I know are capable of being hilarious and putting their own spin on it.

Of course I know Melissa McCarthy and Kristen Wiig from "Bridesmaids"... which I was completely against when it was released because it was promoted as the female version of "The Hangover." Speaking as a woman, I'm not jazzed about the idea of girls doing gross-out comedy. No offence, but guys are more natural at being gross.
But "Bridesmaids" was more than just the "dressing shopping after Brazilian food" scene. It was freaking hilarious. Especially when Kristen Wiig was hopped up on pills on the airplane.

Kate McKinnon and Leslie Jones, I know very well from Saturday Night Live over these past couple years.
On the one hand, Kate was someone who always kinda bothered me :/ because she plays a lot of famous people I don't like. With this being an election year, SNL hasn't exactly been my favorite place. But on the other, this is the kind of role I'd been dying to see from her. Just playing an original character that is inherently quirky. I'm writing this part of the review before seeing the movie and I have a feeling this will be a break-out role for her.

Then with Leslie Jones- dude, she is freaking hilarious! Nearly every time she's in an SNL sketch, I'm laughing my ass off. She's so over the top vocal and blunt.
The Oscars this year did this whole sketch about putting black people in Oscar-nominated movies to mock the lack of diversity in nominations. [FYI- there were two characters in "The Martian" played by black actors and they played significant roles that saved Matt Damon's life, so it wasn't as if the movie was entirely lacking in diversity].
Her part was the biggest laugh by far. She played the bear that attacked Leo in "The Revanent." Seriously, if that was in the movie, maybe I would have seen it. [I like Leo, but it's too damn serious for my tastes].

I was listening to the radio last week and during their news segment, they were talking about this movie coming out and Leslie Jones said how everyone needs a laugh right now- citing all the recent shootings and attacks that had occurred

And even if the laughs are forced and kinda stupid, I kinda need to laugh today. Seriously, is it 2017 yet? With the except of my working life, which is stable and still enjoyable, and one pretty cool concert, it's been a miserable year.

Trailers:

Fantastic Beasts & Where to Find Them
Kind of a teaser trailer really... asking if we want to return to the wizarding world and how Eddie Redmayne says how his suitcase opened just a smidge and had accidentally let loose some magical creatures.

Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar ChildrenDirected by Tim Burton and starring Helena Bonham Carter in the titular role (well, of course)- based on a YA novel. The title kinda speaks for itself.
The special effects are amazing.
Also- this is the third YA novel Asa Butterfield starred in. He'd been in "Hugo" (which I've yet to see) and "Ender's Game" (which I struggled to read and the movie was slightly better). After I first saw him as a kid, I pegged him to play a character in a YA book I wrote. Sadly, nobody wanted to publish it and now he'll be too old to play my teenage character by the time it is published. If it is at all.

Beauty & The Beast
Another teaser trailer, but it's one I had heard a lot of good things about. Well, just a lot of buzz and excitement without a lot of detail.
I saw the Disney logo, marveled at the interior design of the castle, and when the music started playing, I gasped and almost started crying. It's the same music from the animated movie.
And yes, even in flashes and voices (we hear briefly from Lumiere, Cocksworth and Emma Watson as Belle)...
I cannot wait for March 17th 2017- OMG!

The Main Event:

Spoilers!!

you know... in case anyone cares...
just kidding... there's only one or two and they're minor

For starters, I liked the movie a lot. It might not be perfect, but it doesn't deserve all of the flack it's been getting from people. I got exactly what I came for and it was to have a good time and escape for a while.

We start, as we did in the original, with our first haunting. And our unlikely librarian, er, tour guide is played by Zach Woods. Whom a lot of people know as Gabe from "The Office" and is also in the HBO series "Silicon Valley." Don't worry, he makes it out okay. But it got pretty intense for a while.

They overdo it a little bit with the slime gags and the CGI renderings of the ghosts aren't all scary. But it does have some intense moments. Maybe it's because I hadn't seen this before, but I did gasp and jump once or twice.
or I'm just a freaking lightweight.

We cut to Erin (Kristen Wiig) who's trying to get tenure at a university, but her past (haha, you know where this is going) comes back to haunt her. In the form of a book she co-wrote with her ex-bestie Abby (Melissa McCarthy).
She tracks Abby down at her place of work where she has a new partner in Holtzmann (Kate McKinnon). Originally, she wants her to take their book off Amazon, but the three of them wind up going to the site of the opening haunting.
Erin regains her belief in ghosts and winds up losing her job over a YouTube video they posted.

Patty (Leslie Jones) joins them after reporting a haunting in the subway where she works. And they put out an ad for a receptionist and Thor himself Chris Hemsworth (but we just call him Kevin) was the sole applicant.
Oh don't worry, Kevin actually plays a big role in the third act, so he's not just there for eye candy and dumb jokes.

The kinda cool thing about this movie that they didn't do in the original... they had a reason behind the hauntings. It wasn't just random. And some government agent isn't the bad guy. Although the mayor's office (which has their own SNL alum... Cecily Strong is another member I didn't always find funny) is no help regarding the Ghostbusters' credibility.

And as I predicted, Kate McKinnon was the funniest one there, but they all did have their moments. One movie blogger I follow said that Holtzmann was quirky for no apparent reason and didn't have much of a backstory to her.
I honestly don't care. She needs more original roles like this.

For whatever reason, Leslie Jones is getting a lot of flack right now. People suck. She was awesome in this movie. Although I do miss her saying "It's a Cadillac!" when referring to their new vehicle- that was only in the trailer), I hope to see her in more comedies.
There are seriously nights watching SNL where there are few laughs to be had and she saves the show for me. As much as I don't want her to leave, she could easily carry a comedy better than Melissa McCarthy in "Tammy" and "The Boss."
Melissa hosts SNL last season and I didn't laugh at her once :/

In this movie, though, she has a lot of heart and is genuinely funny without trying too hard. There's a running joke with her and Benny the delivery guy throughout the movie.

Kristen Wiig is the sanest one of the bunch. And maybe some of her jokes were a little forced, but in the plot, she does come through where it counts. Especially in the third act.

This is one of those rare movies where the third act was maybe the best part.

There are also a bunch of cameos in this movie. You could call them Easter Eggs from the original movie. And the roles vary from passing by to comic relief to have some baring on the actual plot.

Again, it's also worth sticking around through the credits. Lots of extra goodies. Some great music ("Get Ghost" by Mark Ronson, Ray Parker Jr. and a bunch of other guys was the easy highlight). And even a dance number choreographed by Twitch (I tell you, he has to be the most successful 2nd place winner of any reality show ever- dude's freaking everywhere and he's an amazing dancer/choreographer and person).

Side-note: They DO run the movies even when people aren't in the theater. Except I was the only person in the theater and they shut the movie down halfway through cuz they forgot I was there :P but they quickly realized the mistake, apologized and restarted it within 5 minutes of where it was stopped.

Grade: A
(I had fun- that's all that matters...)