Wednesday, June 29, 2016

Mike and Dave Need Wedding Dates: Movie Review


   


An idiotic plan leads to some screaming, some comedy and some heart.
Mike and Dave Need Wedding Dates is, appropriately enough, as advertised. It’s a comedy, an immature comedy, a dirty comedy, and follows the title’s plot that Mike and Dave need to find dates for their sister’s wedding and surprisingly (unsurprisingly) things don’t go as planned. It’s also reasonably funny. Over-the-top in many places, but for the most part it finds the somewhat funny side of each situation. 2016

Directed by: Jake Szymanski

Screenplay by: Andrew Jay Cohen, and Brendan O'Brien

Starring: Zac Efron, Adam Devine

Saturday, June 11, 2016

The Man Who Knew Infinity: Movie Review


Tells a good, well-balanced story.

The Man Who Knew Infinity is a biographical drama about a mathematician. While that is enough to draw me in, a can understand that others will need a bit more. Dev Patel as mathematical genius Srinivasa Ramanujan provides that and more. Ramanujan is only 25 years old and from India (under British rule at the time) and is a mathematical genius. It’s been confirmed by enough teachers and others around him, that he can accept that fact without any arrogance. 2015

Directed by: Matt Brown

Screenplay by: Matt Brown
Based on the biography by Robert Kanigel

Starring: Dev Patel, Jeremy Irons

Friday, June 10, 2016

Now You See Me 2: Movie Review


Bigger, bolder nonsense that is just as fun.

With the original Now You See Me ending with a twist so spectacularly absurd that it goes from improbable to ludicrous rendering the entire film a farce, it seems a sequel is just gratuitous. Perhaps they know that; the first one did make decent money after all. But their task here is much harder, they have to go bigger, bolder, and more ridiculous than the first time around. Surprisingly, they did that without making it worse.   2016

Directed by: Jon M. Chu

Screenplay by: Ed Soloman

Starring: Jesse Eisenberg, Woody Harrelson, Dave Franco, Lizzy Caplan, Mark Rufffalo

Saturday, June 4, 2016

Love & Friendship: Movie Review


   


Quick and funny romp through Jane Austen’s English countryside.
Love & Friendship is both a Whit Stillman movie and a Jane Austen movie. And while credit-wise, that seems like a rather matter-of-fact statement, it’s actually the marriage of the two that makes it the movie it is. Stillman is known for his deliciously witty dialogue; modern characters that can muse on about life. Whereas Austen movies are postcards from a by-gone era with easily digestible plots of romance and fortune. 2016

Directed by: Whit Stillman

Screenplay by: Whit Stillman
Based on novella by Jane Austen

Starring: Kate Beckinsale, Emma Greenwell, and Xavier Samuel