Theatrical Review: Sing

Date: Saturday, January 7 2017
Time: 2:00pm
Party: 3 (my mom and sister)

Directors: Garth Jennings and Christophe Lourdelet
Writer: Garth Jennings (directed "Hitchhiker's guide to the galaxy")

Cast
Buster Moon- Matthew McConaughey
Eddie- John C Reilly
Mike- Seth MacFarlane
Rosita- Reese Witherspoon
Gunter- Nick Kroll
Norman- Nick Offerman
Ash- Scarlett Johansson
Lance- Beck Bennett
Johnny- Taron Egerton
Nana Noodleman- Jennifer Saunders
Miss Crawley- Garth Jennings (also did the voice of Bean's Son in "Fantastic Mr. Fox")
Meena- Tori Kelly
Meena's grandfather- Jay Pharaoh
Meena's mom- Leslie Jones
Judith the banker- Rhea Perlman

Duration: 108 minutes (+3 trailers and a number of commercials per the usual)

Opening Comments:

First movie of the year! I was hoping to catch it at the end of last year, but we went away the last week and I didn't have a time otherwise to go.
The theater had a decent amount of people, most between the age of 7 and 10. Not bad for a movie that came up two weeks ago... was it really Christmas two weeks ago tomorrow?

Front & Center:

This is the segment they sometimes show before movies for those who get to the theater early. They show behind-the-scenes of some upcoming movies.
The second of the two got its own full length trailer later on.
But the first- I have to address.

NERD ALERT!!!

Apparently, they are releasing a new Yu-Gi-Oh! movie in theaters in 10 days. Where Yugi looks like he'll be tested once again with a new villain and considering the end of the animated series, he might not have the assistance of the Pharaoh from the Millennium puzzle this time. And of course Seto Kaiba returns to find away to regain his dignity... he never quite got it back after the first time Yugi beat him with Exodia (short version: it's a 5 card combination that gives the player who uses it an automatic win).

Anyway... why I'm bringing extra special attention to this... aside from just another chance to have a great time with one of my favorite animé series... they introduced it by showing the voice actors. For the first time, I saw Dan Green (who also did Mewtwo in "Mewtwo Returns" and Entei in "Pokémon: Spell of the Unown) and Eric Stuart (who also did Brock and James in Pokémon). I had a full-on fangasm (or nerdgasm... I think the terms might be interchangeable) seeing these guys in the flesh and that high rose with all the effects, seeing the characters again and how much they talk about how they love their characters.
This is why I love English dub voice actors- they really love their job. Every now and then, Veronica Taylor will tweet or answer someone's tweet about how much she'd love to play Ash again. If only the Pokémon casting people would listen...

I'm sorry :P I'll tack on a "nerd alert" at the top of this...although it was kinda funny to hear my mom's reaction to my sister and mine's reaction to this news... if we can't see in theaters (where it's sure to be amazing), we'll get it on DVD as soon as it comes out.

Okay, now for the actual trailers...

THE ACTUAL TRAILERS

The first (that I waited to talk about) was for "A Dog's Purpose." The behind the scenes special had the actors from the movie talking about the dogs they owned in the movie as well as their own dogs in real life.
I mean, any movie with a beloved pet has the potential to be a tearjerker. "Marley & Me"... forget it... but there's a bit of safety net here because the movie is about a dog and how it lives many different lives in different forms and with different people. He starts out as a retriever and later becomes a German Shepard, Corgi, etc. Josh Gad (Olaf from "Frozen" does his voice) and Dennis Quaid plays the grown-up version of the dog's first owner, Ethan.

I think it's based on a James Patterson book [nope, author's name is W Bruce Cameron] and it looks like a good movie. And I'm sure my dog will love it when it premieres on HBO (he runs up to the TV and whines/barks when he sees another dog on screen).

Second... Boss Baby... we saw the posters for it at this theater and seeing it in full... it just looks so stupid. Animated movie about a kid's new baby brother who happens to be a secret agent or something... I don't know... I don't really care. Alec Baldwin is the baby. Even if Bruce Willis did his voice, there's no saving this movie.

Third... it has been such a long time since I had this much fun during a movie trailer. Fun from start to finish. "Despicable Me 3" shows Gru and Lucy up against a new villain who has retro fashion sense and killer taste in music.
When he goes off to pull a job, "Bad" by Michael Jackson starts to play. I'm dancing in my seat, having a good time. And he does this heist on a ship encasing all the shipmates in giant balls of bubble game. Gru gets on the ship and the music temporarily changes to "Sussudio" when they get into an altercation.
Such hilarity happens in this trailer... I can't even remember when the darn thing is supposed to be released... but I'm super excited for it already.

2017 is already full of so many great possibilities. Now onto the actual movie...

The Actual Movie

yeah... I couldn't resist keeping that theme again...

Buster Moon is a koala who owns a theater and it's in financial trouble. It used to be known for these great stage shows and dramas. But he gets the idea to hold a singing competition to save it. It was handed down to him by his father and he loves it more than anything. You'd think going in that he'd be in this just for himself and he has a lot of silly suggestions for some of the contenders, but he offers them a lot of support, which is nice to see.
Hard to believe McConaughey is doing this when he has an Oscar that made him so expensive that the "Magic Mike" sequel couldn't afford him. But he must have really wanted to do this movie.

The singing competition meanwhile gives opportunity to a great cast of characters we get to know throughout the movie. They're all dissatisfied with things going on in their lives and this is their way of changing that.

Because Reese Witherspoon gets 2nd billing, it's hard not to talk about Rosita first. She's a pig with a husband and 25 kids. She is run-down and feels underappreciated. In the competition, she was assigned a partner because she wasn't deemed strong enough by herself. When she can't find a babysitter or get her husband to help her out (he's busy working a job he doesn't really like), she puts together this crazy contraption that gets everyone up and fed and laundry done and put to bed. Just... no way... but somehow, it works.
Gunter... throughout the trailers, I thought he was her husband and that she was unhappy about being overshadowed by him, that he thinks he's more important than her. But Gunter really just a flamboyant pig that looks more like he'd be better for a dancing competition. He's got a lot of Spanish flair with somewhat of a delusional ego to match. Over time, though, he got a little less annoying and he really did care about Rosita as much as them putting on a good show together.

Ash is a porcupine who auditioned with her boyfriend Lance. They're kinda of a grunge rock band who were having trouble breaking through. Ash is the only one who gets through in the audition and it puts a damper on their relationship. Buster Moon wants her to do cheesy pop songs like "Call Me Maybe," but after she gets out on her own, she puts together a really good original song called "Set It Free." I think it's even nominated for a Golden Globe. [nope, that was "Faith"- the song played at the end of the movie].
"Set it Free" was still pretty awesome.
Scarlet Johansson totally rocks it.

From the audition trailers, you get familiar with a lot of the characters. But most of them didn't make the final cut. Only maybe 5 of them.
One of the ones that got the most buzz was Meena the elephant played Tori Kelly. She's gotten a bit of notoriety over the past couple years. After she was dismissed from American Idol season 9 in Hollywood week, several years later, she finally somehow got together with the right studio and press team and her career exploded in the best way.
And of course people like Lyndsey Parker will roll their eyes whenever "American Idol" tries to claim ownership for her YEARS after she was dismissed before she could make the top 10.

It was so long ago, I didn't remember her at all. But I often don't with those who don't make the top 10. Plus Season 9 was mostly forgettable.

Meena's deal is that she has a huge voice, but she's too shy to get up on use it. She fumbles her audition, winds up working as a stagehand for Buster Moon and gets a spot when a couple acts get quit or get injured.

Don't know why I remember this, but one team that quit was three frogs. Buster Moon walks past them into the theater as they're leaving and one says how they called him "an intolerable egomaniac" and stops away moaning "I don't even know what that means!"

To quote Yoda: "and that is why you fail..."

For a while, there was also a running gag with these five little Chinese pandas who do this cutesy K-Pop act and can't get the hint that they didn't move on to the next round. And of course when he tries to translate what he wants to see with a book, he says the wrong thing.
I kinda saw that coming after what happened with Gru in the first "Despicable Me,' although it took awhile for his mistranslation to be found out.

Of the group, one I liked the least was Mike, this mouse who we first see on the street playing a saxophone and hustling a guy when he gives him a penny for a tip. He's good with the Frank Sinatra type stuff he does, but he is just mean to a lot of the other characters. Now he was an egomaniac. Finding out he was Seth MacFarland's character in this... I should have guessed... he doesn't even have to try to be unlikeable sometimes. He also impacts the plot in multiple ways, but also gets some karma coming back at him to balance the scales of justice a bit.

I like a lot of the characters, so I can't just say that Johnny the gorilla is my favorite. He's just one of them. Everyone but Mike is pretty darn likeable.
Johnny's family likes to pull robberies and heists and he wants more than that. In one job, he's their getaway driver, but considering he's up against rehearsal... you can kinda see where this is going.
But it's great that he earns his dad's respect back when he sees him perform.
In the trailers, I thought for sure Ed Sheeran was doing his voice because he had a British accent. But he didn't... which kinda sucks... I mean, the movie is called "Sing" and they played the Ed Sheeran song in their trailers... he should've been in the cast or they should've at least played his song somewhere in it.

A couple of scene-stealers: Miss Crawly, Buster Moon's chameleon assistant with a glass eye she keeps losing. Hard to believe the writer/director of this, a dude, did her voice (although Brad Bird did do a female character in "The Incredibles" so it's not too outside the box). She has a bit of dry sense of humor that's a little left of center, but she was great.
And Nana Noodleman- she was an old star of the theater. Who happens to be the grandmother of Buster Moon's friend Eddie. He spends part of the movie trying to convince her to help finance the future of the theater. Jennifer Hudson did her voice in the beginning where we see her singing.

I've seen a lot of serious and dramatic movies lately, so I thought this would be a nice change of pace. There were moments in the beginning with the writing came off as cheesy without a lot of thought really put into it. But they more than made up for it as the movie progressed. It follows that typical pattern movies follow where they introduce characters and their quirks and struggles. Something big and dramatic happens halfway through that almost derails the whole thing, but we get a happy ending after all.

The final half hour where everyone performs... it isn't just the best part worth sitting through the movie for. But seeing everyone come together and supporting each other and stuff... and of course the power of music in general. I was super stoked and loving every minute of it. I actually was thinking about seeing it the next time and spending more time with these characters. If you're not invested from the beginning, at least one of them will grow on you over time. I have no doubt of that.

The trailer did it justice where you know what to expect going on in. But as it progresses, you get a lot more than you expect. And that's pretty cool.

Grade: A

Theatrical Review: Kubo and the Two Strings

Date: Sunday August 21 2016
Location: Pocono Movieplex
Time: 12:30pm
Party: 2 (my sister & I)

Director: Travis Knight (1st time director, worked on "Boxtrolls" and "Coraline")
Writers: Marc Haimes, Chris Butler (wrote/directed "ParaNorman") and Shannon Tidle
Composer: Dario Marianelli

Cast:
Kubo- Art Parkinson
Monkey- Charlize Theron
Beetle- Matthew McConaughey
The Sisters- Rooney Mara
Moon King- Ralph Fiennes

Duration: 101 minutes (+3 trailers... that seems to be the standard)

The Audience:

It was a decent group of people. Mostly families with kids between the ages of 8 and 13. They enjoyed it right along with us. Laughed at all the same moments.

Coming Attractions:

A Monster Calls
I had the hardest time deciding whether this was a kid-friendly movie or a horror movie. It's about a boy who goes to private school who is bullied and his mom is also diagnosed with cancer. He summons an imaginary friend, who I think at first is might be Slenderman (an Internet phenomenon that is reportedly behind some gruesome murders committed by kids). But there's more to it than that.
Plus, a monster voiced by Liam Neeson can't be all bad, right? I think this monster is a metaphor for helping this kid deal with his mom's cancer.

Sing
Looking at the first trailers of this, I thought it was a cute gimmick, but didn't know how much substance it could possibly have. Animals singing pop songs. But after seeing this full-length trailer... I think I might actually want to see it.
This singing competition was created to help save a dying theater, but there are all these animals that are just trying to achieve their dreams or change their lives. Who isn't gonna relate to that?

Storks
I'd already discussed this trailer in a previous movie. It'll be interesting to see how it goes when it's released, but I don't have a lot of expectations about it.

The Main Event:

Speaking of not having a lot of expectations...

My sister wanted to see it and I had absolutely no idea what to expect.

This movie is seriously so good that I really don't want to go into too much detail about it. I bet it probably be great in 3D with the animation. Really impressive. And you get sucked into it and it's hard to break free from it.

The story is also really good for an animated film. It could appeal to people of all ages. I'm sure people that are older than the intended age group might get a little more out of it. But I see this as the type of movie where, if you grow up watching it, it will be a different movie each time and you'll get a different message from it.

Kubo is an 11-year old boy who lives with his mother. During the day, he goes to a local village where he entertains them with stories, which he tells with his trusty guitar and the magic to make origami figures move. But he has to return home before the sun goes down. Not only to take care of his mother, but also because the two of them are hiding from her family. And they come out at night.

This family is her two sisters and her father, who murdered her husband (Kubo's father), and want to steal Kubo's remaining eye and steal him away to the heavens where they live an immortal life away from humanity.
There's a little more to it than that, but I don't want to go into it. Other than saying that there is some deep stuff here. Including what it is to be human and whether immortality is worth it when you consider what you're sacrificing.

The gist of the story is that there's the one time Kubo stays out after sunset (he wants to take part in a village tradition of honoring the spirits of loved ones and he loses track of time), his aunts find him and using her last bit of magic, his mother sends him away and brings the monkey charm he carries with him to life.
And along the way they meet this guy they call Beetle who says he was with Kubo's father's legion of samurai.
Their journey is to find the three pieces of legendary armor, which they will use to defeat Kubo's grandfather the Moon King.

The rest of it... I'll let play out as it does on the screen.
There are some funny moments, a lot of heart, some drama, action... just a little bit of everything. Something for everybody like I said before.
I'm surprised that it only made $12.6 million so far because it is definitely worth seeing.
As much as I liked "Finding Dory," this is the movie that really should win Best Animated Film at the Oscars next year. It's something special and unique.
I'm sure there will be a handful of people who will complain that, despite the fact this takes place in Japan and it deals with a lot of Japanese culture and values, none of the main characters are played by Japanese people. There are several Japanese cast members, but none play characters that are referred to by name in the actual movie.

At the same time, I think this would be a great film for my college animé club to go out and see. The values and symbolism used throughout the movie, I'd seen explored in some of the series we watched. If the movie is still playing by the time the club has its first meeting, I really hope they give it a shot.
But of course I'd been out of college for 7 years now (OMG!), so what I say really doesn't count for all that much. It's still worth a shot, though.

One final thing: stick around for some of the credits. Regina Specktor sings a really cool version of "While my Guitar Gently Weeps" while some animation plays out in the background. We also get a unique behind-the-scenes look at one of the film's big action scenes.

Grade: A
(If not for a bittersweet ending, I might have given it an A+.)

Unorthodox Christmas: Ghosts of Girlfriends Past (2009)

Director: Mark Waters (also did Mean Girls and Just Like Heaven- two of my favorite movies)
Writers: Jon Lucas and Scott Moore (co-wrote "The Hangover")

Cast:
Connor Mead- Matthew McConaughey
Paul Mead- Breckin Meyer
Jenny- Jennifer Garner
Sandra- Lacey Chabert
Sgt Volkom [Sandra's father]- Robert Forster
Brad- Daniel Sanjuta
Ghosts
Uncle Wayne- Michael Douglas
Past- Allison Vandermeersh- Emma Stone
Present- Melanie, Connor's assistant- Noureen DeWulf
Ghost of Future Girlfriends- Olga Maliouk

Write-up:

Some spoilers...
unless of course you've never seen/read any version of "A Christmas Carol"

Every year, you kinda need at least one adaptation of "A Christmas Carol."
But instead being a miser who needs to change in order to escape eternal damnation, our protagonist who gets visited by three spirits is a chauvinistic playboy photographer... and if he doesn't change, the results are practically the same as the original story. Except the significant death that takes place in the future is something more abstract...

We start with Connor Mead (vintage McConaughey) at work-- photographing hot models in lingerie in various settings. Also get to know a bit about how he interacts with the ladies, which includes hot make-out sessions and breaking up over conference call. (And you thought a break-up over a text or voicemail was bad...)
But he has to do this break-up "in bulk" because he needs to get to his brother's wedding rehearsal. Despite the fact he does not believe in the institution of love and marriage, his brother is the only person in his life willing to stand by him despite all his personality flaws. Kinda like Fred in the original "Christmas Carol"-- but the relationship is hashed out more and a lot of drama accompanies it.

On top of that, Sandra/Sandy (Lacey Chabert from "Mean Girls"/"Wild Thornberries" fame) is a highstrung bridezilla that has her moments...
Her first episode is over lack of figs, which she asked for, in the salad- hilarious stuff. Especially when Connor off-handedly adds as he leaves the room "some figs would have been nice..."

Also among the guests are "The Sergeant"- father of the bride and Korean War veteran ("we didn't get a wall... we got a TV series starring Alan Alda"), a MILF of a future mother-in-law, nerdy groomsmen and bridesmaids that cover the three basic hair colors (blonde/brunette/redhead).
The hilarity practically writes itself.

Then of course there's the maid of honor/wedding planner who happens to be Connor's childhood sweetheart Jenny... although their relationship is a little more complicated than that and is the very reason Connor turned how he did.
Although his Uncle Wayne (who took over guardianship when his parents died in a car accident) had a lot to do with that as well.
Which explains why he's the activating incident of this main plot-- our Jacob Marley, but without all the chains.

There's plenty of drama, but this is meant to be a very goofy fun movie.
Particularly goofy is the notion of Brad- the sex that Sandra brought for Jenny. Nobody is that freaking perfect!
At the same time, though, my one nitpick is the mechanics of the ghosts. I guess "Scrooged" some of them were very violent (ok, just Carol Kane), so it makes sense that Connor gets smacked around by a couple of the ghosts. But he first meets the ghost of his Uncle Wayne in the bathroom taking a piss... how the hell do they explain that?!

The one thing that separates this from all the other "Christmas Carol" adaptations I've seen is the fact that this doesn't happen in the wee hours of the night. It's early evening and Connor is able to return to the pre-wedding party after each ghostly visit. This opens up some interesting possibilities as well as chances to fix things little by little. But being a bit of an idiot (as well as a pathological liar), he's unable to take full advantage of this and actually makes things worse the more he tries to fix them.

It's interesting to see Emma Stone as the first ghost namely because this was before she hit it big in "Easy A"- the same sense of humor is still there. We start in the 80's with lots of great music playing in the background as well as crazy outfits. Also explored is Connor's past with Jenny and how he screwed things up with her (personal note: not a fan of his hairstyle in the latter flashbacks- that long hair isn't attractive).
Also interesting is that the ghost of Present is actually still living and very present in Connor's life as his assistant, Mel. This is where he's able to go freely through the parties (both the wedding and one Mel concocted to appease the three conference call girls) undetected and hear what other people think about him behind his back. True to his character, his brother is the only one fully supportive of him.

Like all the Future ghosts, the final "girlfriend" is mute- when I first saw the trailers, I thought it was Amanda Seyfried (doppelganger alert!), but she's actually a Ukrainian actress with very few credits to her name. She's also the only Future ghost dressed in white (opposed to black or gray).

Considering it's a chick flick, everything predictably works out in the end. There's an incident in the 3rd act that almost derails the entire wedding involving one of the bridesmaids. Connor learns the error of his ways with the third ghost and he patches up all the core relationships of the story. [As for the "death" in the future I previewed-- watch the movie and find out. It's kinda sad, but it isn't nearly as heartwrenching as all those Tiny Tim deaths throughout the adaptations-- don't know why, but it always kills me despite knowing he'll be all right in the end]

This was one of those movies my dad saw in-flight and recommended we see. Beside the line about the figs, his favorite came towards the end after the final ghostly escapade-

"You there, boy, what day is it? Is it Christmas?"
"No, it's Saturday, you moron!"

Another funny tidbit that came around by the time I saw the movie this year:
Quentin Tarantino confessed to getting choked up in the flashback when it's revealed Jenny gave Connor his first camera :P and he wound up becoming a photographer

3. Tropic Thunder (2008)

Code-name: Dude within a dude within a dude

[:facepalm: I shoulda just stuck with "TiVo", so much simpler]

Director: Ben Stiller
Writers: Ben Stiller, Justin Theroux and Etan Cohen
Composer: Theodore Shapiro
Type: R-rated Vietnam War Movie/Hollywood Comedy/Parody

Cast:
Tugg Speedman- Ben Stiller
Kirk Lazurus- Robert Downey Jr
Jeff Portnoy- Jack Black
Alpha Chino- Brandon T. Jackson
Kevin Sandusky- Jay Baruchel
Director Damien Cockburn- Steve Coogan
Cody- Danny McBride
"Four-Leaf" Tayback- Nick Nolte
Tugg's Agent Rick Peck- [Matthew] McConaughey
Studio Big Wig Les Grossman- Tom Cruise
[Honorable Mentions]
Bill Hader... his character's name is Rob Slolom... [I knew he was an SNL member and thought this would be the movie that took him beyond that]
Reggie Lee as Flaming Dragon member Byong [who later got a role as Detective Woo on "Grimm"]

Notable Nominations:
OSCAR- Best Supporting Actor- Robert Downey Jr
Golden Globe- Best Supporting Actor- Robert Downey Jr
Golden Globe- Best Supporting Actor- Tom Cruise

Write-up:

First Things First...

Now, this isn't me knocking Heath Ledger. I loved him in "The Patriot" and "A Knight's Tale" [heck, "Brokeback" as well]. His death was a tragedy that jostled me a bit when I was in college.
But I retain to this day that this was Robert's Oscar and there was no way Heath Ledger would have been in that conversation if he was still alive.

"Why The Dark Knight is OVERRATED" is an entry I've got planned for the future with Heath Ledger being the only thing in the (+) column.
The Joker was the only good watchable part of this movie. Doesn't mean I advocate for post-mortem Oscars...

This is how I see it:
My first experience seeing RDJ act was mind-blowingly amazing. It didn't feel like an actor playing a role. It felt someone who lived and breathed it, the likes of which I hadn't seen before.
I can watch "Tropic Thunder" now and still not see Robert. I see this hilarious character with most of the best lines in the movie.

The First Time

When "Tropic Thunder" came out in theaters, I seriously considered seeing it but ultimately didn't because I'd never seen an R-rated movie in theaters before.

I remember seeing the trailers, thinking they were freaking hilarious. But the one thing I couldn't wrap my head around was one particular quote. Maybe it was the exaggerated voice RDJ was going for in this role, but it took me a couple weeks to figure out he was saying:

"I'm a dude playing a dude disguised as another dude!"

Seriously, I think my head exploded trying to comprehend it. Maybe because it just sounded AWESOME... in a trippy nerdtastic sort of way!

But after seeing the movie, all of it came together... but still trippy

The only faces I recognized were Ben Stiller and Jack Black... all of that would soon change.

Finally saw this at my college's movie night Fall of 2008 (with my fellow animé club friend Andrew) and we love every minute of it. Laughed the entire time.

There was one cringe-worthy moment and it was when Jack Black dig through his loincloth ... I didn't know the [expletive] was going on there... when he pulled out a gun, I breathed a huge sigh of relief because it just didn't look right.

Another standout (other than RDJ) to me was Tom Cruise... who I had NO idea was in this movie until the end credits. I just saw this muscular balding guy who likes to groove to Flo Rida (I liked "Low" already but will forever associate it with this movie :P). The dance moves were so trippy good.

And if you wanna get technical, there was a LOT of trippiness in this movie...

The Story

 ...again... mind the spoilers

 This is a movie about making a movie based on a memoir by a member of the U.S. Army who was rescued from a Vietnam prison camp.

 ...But before we see any of this, we see 4 fake trailers starring the actors in this Vietnam movie.

* Alpha Chino's "Booty Sweat" commercial

*Tugg Speedman's latest installment of his "Scorcher" franchise- Scorcher VI: Global Meltdown ["who left the fridge open?"]
*Jeff Portnoy's comedy "The Fatties" (think "Nutty Professor: The Klumps")
*Kirk Lazarus's latest- "Satan's Alley" (think "Brokeback Mountain" but with monks instead of cowboys, co-starring "MTV Best Kiss Award winner" Tobey Maguire)

(btw, who do I see about getting these movies made for real? With RDJ channeling Russell Crowe in "Satan Alley's. Now that dude who's won Oscars!)

The first 10 minutes [mind you, I'm going by the director's cut version here] show a climatic finale set in the Vietnam War, an illusion that breaks when we see the director and crew-- this was a movie they were filming.

Apparently Tugg Speedman is having trouble with one of his lines and Kirk Lazarus storms off set in the face of Damien's lackluster directing style.

Everything is literally going wrong only one week into the shoot.

So the man behind the war memoir tells Damien to take his cast into the jungle to scare them into doing some real hardcore acting. He leaves us prematurely thanks to a random landmine in the middle of a clearing.

Ultimately, the movie does get made as planned. Tugg Speedman gets kidnapped by the indigenous people (I use this term cuz I don't know if they're Laotian or Burmese, it's never made clear) and the other actors have to rescue him.
Their exploits become the documentary "Tropic Blunder" that apparently earns Tugg an Oscar [his former captors, in an alternate ending, believe this is compensating for the "Simple Jack" Oscar snub].

The Characters

But everything that happens in between... that's what makes this gold. The actors (all playing actors) have to work together to achieve their objective. Along the way, there's a lot of butting heads, but also moments of clarity when their issues boil to the surface where they can resolve.

I'm still working on the notion of a drinking game because there are so many great running jokes in this movie :P

Let's start with the newbie: Kevin Sandusky

He's the epitome of the "good student"... he did all the work for this movie, read the book and script and was the only cast member to participate in boot camp.

Yet all the other actors can never remember his name :P one "fake" name he got was Radar... I didn't get the reference until I saw a couple episodes of M*A*S*H (this came about randomly but I wouldn't mind a revisit)

Ironically, he was the sanest member of the group and talks them down when "the dudes begin to emerge"

Hip-hop rapper Alpha Chino brings up his products Booty Sweat & Bust-a-nut for almost every reference the other actors make to their previous roles.

Pretty much every scene where he's attacking Kirk Lazarus for going too method with his character is hilarious. Great interaction between these two. Especially since it's a black man criticizing an Australian for playing a black man

Alpha Chino: I thought I just had to represent because they had one good part for a black man and gave it to Crocodile Dundee
Lazarus: Pump your brakes, kid. That man's a national treasure.

Then later in the movie, one of the indigenous points out that he's not the real Al Pacino, giving a laundry list of his best movies. Eventually this escalates into the final shootout, but I just lose it at this line from Alpha:

"Get the **** out of here, that's another dude all together!"

[And I'm not gonna lie, I saw "Dog Day Afternoon" and still want to see "Carlito's Way" because of that set of dialogue... if you'll notice, also, Bill Hader wears a hat that says "Scent of the Woman" at the movie location]

5-time Oscar winner Kirk Lazarus is a Australian method actor. So method that he doesn't drop character until after the DVD commentary. For the role of the African-American army Sergeant Lincoln Osiris, he goes to Singapore for a controversial medical procedure to have his skin tinted. Yep, he took Blackface to the extra mile, and more or less based his voice and dialogue on stereotypes.

In the epic climax scene, he has a conniption, completely loses character and realizes "I think I might be nobody"

But before that, there are too many good lines to list here. While not every word is intelligible (hell, I still haven't figured out a couple lines of dialogue), almost everything of his mouth... OMG... I can't help wondering how much improv went into that.

Jeff Portnoy is a gross-out comic actor who specializes in farts and an ongoing drug addiction. After losing his "supply" to a bat (totally out of nowhere!), he spends the whole "shoot" fielding withdrawal symptoms and carries himself as if no one else has any idea about it.

We have the dynamic duo of Cody (the special effects guy who might be a pyromaniac) and Four-Leaf (who, as it turns out, is the "Milli Vanilli of Patriots").

And the other duo of Les Grossman and Bill Hader (again, his character's name is Rob Slolom, but c'mon, it's Bill Hader)... Bill Hader's trying so hard to fall in line with Les on everything he does, but I don't think Les really respects anyone. Not even brownnosers like him. He's almost more hilarious than Tom Cruise in the Flo Rida dance scene, actually.

Finally, the final scene-stealer: McConaughey as Tugg Speedman's true blue best friend/agent, Rick Peck...

I already loved me some McConaughey in all those chick movies he did (Kate Hudson is intolerable in "How to lose a guy in 10 days" but I always come back for him), but this was the movie that took me over as a fan.

Supposedly this role was originally going to be played by Owen Wilson and later went to McConaughey... for a reason I don't want to go through here. In fact, it's something I completely forget about except when I muse about the "what could have been" scenario with this movie. I'm sure he would have been great, but... yeah, I'll say it again, I love me some McConaughey.
His running joke throughout the movie: making sure Tugg Speedman has TiVo... to the point where he flies off to the jungle to give it to him.

A Word about Commentary and Censorship

I'd only recommend it if you'd seen the movie so much that you know the dialogue well... or heck, I'd recommend it if you're not up for watching the movie and just want to be treated to a lot of good laughs.

Two sets of commentary exist on my Blu-ray but I'd only listened to the actors' commentary- Ben Stiller, Jack Black and RDJ [who is in character up until the ending credits!!]

They talk over almost the whole movie, but it's such good fun I don't really mind.

If I wasn't running long already, I would have mentioned on my "Purple Rain" entry that I refuse to see it on cable unless it's a VH1 or music channel. Saw a major hackjob on a low numbered channel that even cut songs in half.

With "Tropic Thunder," I cannot watch it on TV unless it's a movie channel like HBO.

a) because I hate the voice who dubs over Robert's cussing- sounds nothing like him

b) "the full retard" scene

As if Robert doing blackface wasn't controversial enough, there's also the scene where Kirk Lazarus explains to Tugg Speedman what went wrong with "Simple Jack," the movie where Speedman plays a "mentally impaired farmhand who can talk to animals"

I think I read somewhere that a website was created for Simple Jack and due to protests, it was taken down.

I understand why that's a heated topic, but to say "Never go full special" just sound STUPID to me... nobody outside this movie's edited version has ever used that phrase to describe someone going too method while playing someone with a mental disability.

"Watched a lot of 'special' people, all the 'special' stuff they did"...
it just doesn't work, I'm sorry

A Nod to the Writer/Director

I gotta single out Ben Stiller. 12 years prior to this movie, he had a small role in the Speilberg war movie "Empire of the Sun" where he had the lightbulb idea "what would it be like to actually make one of these Vietnam war movies?"
Great writing and great directing on his part.

Some of the jokes probably also came from Justin Theroux, who many know as Jennifer Aniston's steady fiancé. (Yeah, I know he acts occasionally, but whatever). After this movie's success, he was brought on to co-wrote the script for "Iron-Man 2." [After returning to the film a year ago, the first time I saw it since its release, I decided that this degree of humor didn't feel as natural in that capacity] 

The Genre

As far as the genre of movie goes, I'd only seen "Platoon." In part because it won the Best Picture Oscar in my year (1986) but also to see that infamous pose Tugg Speedman does in the movie.
:shudder: That movie did its joke all right, had me convinced that they were really out there in that harsh terrain at a difficult time in American history. I really liked Willem Dafoe in the movie, but when he died... thanks to Tom Berenger's character (another army member that went dark-side on him)... that broke me. I lost all sense of feeling in my body for the rest of the movie.

I still do plan on see "Apocalypse Now" just because it's another great Vietnam movie, but never again with "Platoon" thanks to what I call "The Oliver Stone effect."

I was fine with the "Wall Street" movies, but "Joy Luck Club" didn't agree with me either. Also part of the reason, as much as I like seeing RDJ's movies, I cannot think to see "Natural Born Killers." That'd probably destroy me for a week instead losing a single day.

War movies might be the more realistic version, but I think I'd rather revisit Tropic Thunder a million times in my life than have to deal with another brush with "Platoon"

More on Downey

I don't remember where I found a list of the most anticipated movies of 2009, but as I went through it, I zeroed on in Sherlock Holmes. He's a figure I'd always been curious but never thought to look into. I looked up the movie on IMDB and [zoom in] saw that Robert would be playing the main role.
After I loved Robert in "Tropic Thunder," I made a note of this... the following year, I'd see 3 of his movies (one being Sherlock Holmes)... then I went to full-blown fangirl mode in 2011 after "Less Than Zero"... perhaps in February I'll go into that in length.

My last entry, I mentioned Prince got me started with my blogging so I probably wouldn't be here with that...
but Robert reinvigorated my writing in 2011 and got me even more enthused about multiple aspects of film beyond the actors.. so I might not be here movie-blogging without him.

Because of how good he is in this movie (and how unrecognizable he is), the "fangirl" reflex doesn't come into play here beyond the "Satan's Alley" trailer. I can just laugh and enjoy everyone and how they interact.

It's also worth it to mention that this is one of the few of his movies my dad will watch with me :P the genre might contribute but I think it's because the script is so good and so funny.

On the Rest of the Cast

Brandon T. Jackson, I later enjoyed in the "Percy Jackson" movies (even though they were NOTHING like the books) and I'm still disappointed his "Beverly Hills Cop" TV series didn't get the green light on TV.

Jay Baruchel, I'd later go see in my first R-rated theater film "She's Out of my League"... also loved him in "Fanboys"... Didn't know he was in "Nick & Norah's Infinite Playlist" (I saw that for Kat Dennings) and he was among the reasons I found that movie unpleasant (that plus Kat's girl friend hit too close to home for me- one of my college roommates was like that).
It disappoints me he quit acting (as far as nerdy guys go, he's really cute) but glad he still does "How to Train Your Dragon" movies.

On Jack Black: I liked "School of Rock," but I think this movie made me love it. Not just because Ned is a more pleasant guy to be around than Jeff Portnoy, but I just found more to appreciate about that character with my enhanced knowledge of music and movies.

Tom Cruise is also pretty hilarious in an unexpected way. One of my top 3 performances of his (along with "Top Gun" and "Rock of Ages"). There was talk of him doing a Les Grossman spin-off movie... whatever happened with that? That'd be cool... again, along with A "Scorcher" movie and "Satan's Alley"

Coming Soon

Two words: Hayao Miyazaki

2014 Golden Golden Awards

My first Golden Globes was in 2010. I'm not sure what made me did it. I'd seen the Oscars a couple of times, but wasn't serious about movies and actors back then. But something unexpected happened that night and is the very reason why I come back year after year.

It's not every day that Robert Downey Jr. wins something at these things, yet the first time I ever tuned in, he won Best Actor in a comedy/musical for "Sherlock Holmes."
Mind you, this was before I became the huge fangirl I am now. I'd seen "Tropic Thunder" a few years before and just recently, I saw him in "Sherlock Holmes." I gotta say, the dude knows how to give a speech :-P
and I love revisiting that moment on YouTube every year as well as the press conference afterwards and a hilarious "victory lap" he did with his wife, Susan, on ET.

Everyone jokes about this awards show being a relaxed Oscars where everyone is drunk and such. I enjoy the show because there's a lot of room for unpredictability. You never know who's going to win sometimes.
I like to partake of the moments where people not used to winning get that chance, either because the Hollywood Foreign Press is composed of a looser group of people or because the split between drama and comedy/musical give some less prestigious actors to shine.

This year's examples of that were Matthew McConaughey winning best actor for "Dallas Buyer's Club" and the cop comedy-spoof "Brooklyn 99" coming away with two wins, one for the show and the other for Andy Samberg as best actor.
Granted, it's not the greatest show in the world. I didn't think it'd last more than a couple shows, but I took a chance on it and I can't get enough of it. The characters are a unique bunch and I always have a good time watching.

One thing I noticed this year was how much I really wanted to go out to see some of these movies. Like I'm itching more than ever to see "American Hustle" because it won best comedy/musical and two of its actresses were honored.
Jennifer Lawrence won the first award of the night for supporting actress. If anything, her speech made her more relatable and human because she confessed the nerves were playing a big role. I also liked how she said in her speech how she looked up the director of "I heart Huckabees" cuz she loved the movie and how she wanted to work with David O. Russell for that very reason. :-P that's my process with some of my movies. I look out for certain actors and directors when I learn they did something I really enjoyed.

Then I was super happy for Amy Adams because I knew she'd been nominated several times in recent years and this time, she actually won. Good for her!
Robert was the one giving out the award for best actress in a comedy/musical. His shtick was running through the nominees and saying what he'd get out of it depending on the winner. His consolation with Amy Adams would be that if they take a racy selfie backstage, he gets to keep that sharp Gucci tuxedo. :-P

"Dallas Buyer's Club" ran the dramatic actor categories. Jared Leto, who Ellen DeGeneres has been championing since she saw the movie, won for playing a transgender male. As for McConaughey, the props were deserved of course, but I liked how informal his speech. Being true to himself the only way McConaughey knows how.

Then for the comedy/musical category, Leonardo DiCaprio won for "Wolf of Wolf Street"... firstly, how the hell is that not in the drama category? I just don't get that. Secondly, omg, Leo actually won an award! That's something I never thought I'd get to see.
Yeah, he and Martin Scoreses will be one of the most memorable actor/director combinations in Hollywood history. They've done so many movies together that they understand how one another works. Apparently, Leo was the one lobbying for this movie to get mad.
After reading stuff about it, I'm not sure if I want to go to see in theaters. It's supposed to be hard-core R-rated, setting a new cinematic f-bomb record, with all kinds of nastiness in between. I don't know if I could stand that for three hours straight, certainly not in a big closed-off room.

I'd like to get around to "American Hustle" in theaters and "Dallas Buyer's Club" some other time... I get the feeling I'll have a hard time finding someone to see that with me.
"Her" also intrigues me quite a bit. It won for best original screenplay by Spike Jonze.

With all the talk about Sandra Bullock's performance in "Gravity," I thought she'd be a lock for Best Actress in a drama... yet it went to Cate Blanchett in "Blue Jasmine"... I guess it goes in line with the fact Woody Allen received the Cecil B. DeMille award this year.
But even then when he actually gets something, Woody Allen didn't bother to show up. I'm guessing it's a neurosis type of thing. So after the montage of his filmography (which made me feel bad I'd only seen two so far, both were great), Diane Keaton gave the acceptance speech and proved she was the perfect person to do it.

I've noticed that "Inside Llewyn Davis" has also been showing on Showtime as well as in theaters. Something about that movie intrigues me too, although I think it's just Oscar Isaac. After seeing him (well, being introduced to him) in "Sucker Punch," seeing him makes the hairs on the back of my neck stand up, yet there's this lure to him in that new movie that's hard to explain.

The only award "Gravity" won (something I don't imagine myself seeing, maybe ever) was Alfonso Cuaron as best Director. To think, it was only 10 years ago where he directed a Harry Potter movie :-P never mind one of my favorites.

Frozen did win for best animated film, which was great, but I was a little miffed that amazing song of theirs didn't win.
Instead it went to freaking Bono and U2 who wrote a song for a Nelson Mandela film... then they had to turn around and give such a compelling backstory that I had to stop being mad at them... it just doesn't seem fair to me that it had to go to a humanitarian effect that's guaranteed to win on that alone.

Let's see... other film stuff...
Alex Ebert, who is a new name to me (and looks like a guy Tim Burton could get along with, lol) won for best original score for that Redford film "All is Lost" He beat out John Williams ("The Book Thief") and Hans Zimmer ("12 years a slave"), my two favorite composers.

Best foreign film went to this Italian film I never heard of called "The Great Beauty"...
I'd heard of "Blue is the Warmest Color" and after seeing a clip, I recognized "The Wind Rises" as Miyazaki's last film... it shoulda gone to either of them :-P that's my bias talking.

The biggest award of the night went to 12 years a slave... considering its company, it deserved it the most of any of them... still isn't something I'd consider seeing because I don't go to theaters to see big dramatic movies. Certainly not one where I don't recognize any of the people working on it. Very much deserved, though, considering they'd been nominated a couple times and it was the only award they won all night.

As for the TV and made-for-TV perspective, "Behind the Candelabra" was a huge winner for best mini-series or made-for-TV movie and Michael Douglas winning best actor. That was a really well done movie and I thought it was a very compelling portrayal of Liberace (who I saw a biography of YEARS ago that had an impact on me)... I just hated how the last hour ran... so slow and so depressing that took away a little from what made it good to begin with... Steven Soderbergh did that to me in "Magic Mike" too, which I saw just before that.

The winning actress in that category was Elizabeth Moss for a Sundance channel film "Top of the Lake"... never heard of it before tonight, same with "Dancing on the edge" (it's on Starz, apparently, not all of us are lucky to have that channel). According to my mom and dad, the actress Jacqueline Bissist who won for best supporting actress had been around for a LONG time and it was her first ever win.
It took a long time for her to get going with her speech (as was the case with a lot of winners who didn't expect to win), but once she did, she was kinda funny to listen to, especially with that accent.

Supporting actor went to Jon Voight for his work on "Ray Donovan"... the way he was dressed reminded me of his cameo in "Tropic Thunder" where he was expecting to win an Oscar and instead was annoyed that it went to Tugg Speedman (seriously, who gets nominated AND wins for playing a part in a documentary... I always found that kinda odd, no matter how much I love that movie).

One win proved that times really are a changin'... Robin Wright won for best actress in a drama... and that drama was the Netflix series, "House of Cards."
Yet part of me kept thinking how annoyed a lot of "Scandal" fans probably are that, once again, Kerry Washington got passed over. A couple of my friends on Facebook love her in that show... I've yet to see it.

After the first two awards, (J-Law and Bissett), they made a quick shift to TV.
The category was best actor in a drama... I half-expected it to be Bryan Cranston and was beyond ecstatic that he did get the honor... considering how much people have been raving about "Breaking Bad" and how much they already miss it (again, I have yet to see it, but after this, I'm starting to consider reruns).
But then, part of that enthusiasm was that James Spader DIDN'T win for "The Blacklist"... I'm guessing he's too busy filming that or the next "Avengers" movie to even show up, but I've got my own personal bone to pick with him that needs its own entry to fully go into.

Then the awesomeness continued when "Breaking Bad," which had been nominated every year since its inception, finally won for best TV drama.
I just felt this itch coming from all the fans of the series (they're everywhere, supposedly) and how much they'd explode if the show got that last bit of respect after it was over.
I remember them bringing up the category and thinking that Bryan Cranston should wait a moment cuz he might be going back up. And the cherry on top, I'm sure for a lot of people, was that Aaron Paul had the last word: "yeah, bitch!"... that's gotta be his catch phrase on the show or something.

There was maybe one other award that I felt didn't go to the right person...
just doesn't seem fair that Amy Poehler is co-hosting this thing and she won best actress in a comedy... not just cuz she and Tina Fey were giving Julia-Louis Dreyfus grief all night for going back and forth between the movie and TV tables, but also cuz my girl Zooey Deschanel got passed over again.
C'mon, now!

That little bit aside, and possibly the awkward "Mr. Golden Globe" bit, Tina and Amy were true-to-form great hosts. Their monologue poked fun in a playful way, just inches away from crossing any lines. The most memorable had to be the Matt Damon comment (which he continued on with when he took the stage to present later on, lol) and the George Clooney comment about him not wanting to date someone the same age.

I don't remember seeing him or Brad Pitt or even Angelina Jolie (who I was kinda pleased not to see, don't care for her much) there at all. Yet at the end of the night, the "12 years a slave" crew gave props to Brad Pitt for helping them get their picture made...
Clooney supposedly had a lot of influence on "Argo" the year before, so that has to be the latest big thing in Hollywood.
Get A-list toppers Clooney and Brad Pitt involved in your picture and it's bound to go far.

So ends that awards show... phew... I'm debating about whether to do an entry on the Oscar nominees later this week, but there's really no hurry with that one. The show doesn't come until March.

...one last night.
Lea Thompson was my other favorite moment of the night. She was presenting with her heels in one hand and a martini in the other. When it came to opening the envelope, she decided to toss the shoes behind her and trade the martini glass for the envelope :-P
still think she shoulda won for "Saving Mr. Banks"... another movie I'd like to see as well.

Like I said, there'll be plenty of time to see everything before the big night.