Sausage Party (2016)

Ghostbusters (2016)

Before you all jump down my throat and start giving me shit about seeing the new Ghostbusters movie let me tell you this: the original Ghostbusters movies are two of my all-time favorite movies ever. I know them both word for word and scene for scene. I have been watching the Ghostbusters movies since before the age of five. My parents have me and my older cousin on video running around with his play proton pack when we were little. They are two movies that I have nothing but the fondest memories of watching and that have impacted my life. I also have nothing but respect for the cast and director of the originals. Usually I do not like remakes, I freak out whenever I hear Hollywood finances a remake instead of something original. But, let me tell you guys, the new Ghostbusters movie is hilarious and in no way even a remake. I say it is a different telling with some throwbacks to the originals.

            This story begins with Dr. Erin Gilbert (Kristen Wiig). She is a professor of physics at Columbia University in New York City. Just before a class she is approached by a man who has read her book about ghosts and the paranormal. He needs Erin’s help with investigating a ghost in an old Victorian mansion he is a historian at. Erin is furious to find out her old friend Abby Yates (Melissa McCarthy) is selling the book they had both written together. This book could jeopardize her tenure that she is up for at the college.

            Erin goes to see Abby who is working at some sort of school for science. Abby is now working with Jillian Holtzmann (Kate McKinnon) on new devices to catch ghosts. Erin tells them about the guys who came to see her about investigating the mansion. Abby and Hotlzmann are so excited so go check the place out that Erin tells them she will only take them to the mansion if Abby takes the book off of Amazon.

            At the mansion they find a full body apparition. All three women cannot believe what they are seeing. Erin tries to go up to talk to the apparition and the ghost spews goo all over her. Erin now fully believes there are such things as ghosts and the paranormal and her shouting her new belief was filmed by Holtzmann which Abby then puts onto the Internet. Columbia finds the video and kicks Erin out.

            Soon Erin, Abby, and Holtzmann get a call from a MTA worker named Patty (Leslie Jones) who says she saw a ghost in the subway after she had tried to chase after a guy who walked off that platform and onto the tracks. Before she saw the ghost she had seen something that had been placed on the electrical panel and sparked and exploded. They all see the ghost but they have no way of catching it. Or they do but they have nowhere to store it. Holtzmann keeps improving on their machines to catch ghosts as the story progresses.

            Ghost sightings occur at different places around the city. Erin notices a pattern. The pattern actually forms an X over a certain place that could be used to open up a portal for all the ghosts to come out of. And of course the portal gets opened and the Ghostbusters have to hilariously save the day.

            There is so much more to the story but why would I want to ruin a good thing? You guys have to go see it for yourselves.

            Obviously the major difference in this movie is that the cast is entirely female. That is awesome and if you do not think an all-female cast like this is awesome stop reading this review and get with the modern times. I think it was completely genius to have an all-female cast and especially because they are four of the funniest actresses around today. Kate McKinnon practically steals the entire movie. Every scene Holtzmann was in I cracked up so hard. I have never seen McKinnon on Saturday Night Live, I have only ever seen her in her bit part in the movie Sisters. She was even hilarious in that small part. Holtzmann is eccentric and fantastic and I now count her as one of my all-time favorite movie characters. With Melissa McCarthy and Kristen Wiig I feel like their comedy was a bit toned down. To me they usually play these over the top comedic characters and in this movie they were not as over the top (I am sure that made absolutely no sense whatsoever to anyone but me). Leslie Jones was hilarious. I do not think I have never seen her in anything else. I enjoyed her character a lot too. Cecily Strong, also from Saturday Night Live, has a small part. I like her, I never mind seeing her in a TV show or movie, she is so funny.

I have to give a mention to some of the actors. Chris Hemsworth plays the secretary. I am not too much a fan of his acting but he was not that bad. It was funny seeing Hemsworth play such a clueless person. I nearly freaked out when I saw Matt Walsh. You have seen the guy in so many movies and shows as a bit player. I know him as Trotter from Upright Citizens Brigade.

            This Ghostbusters movie would not be complete without cameos from the original cast. Spoiler alert: they do not make cameos as their original characters. All of the cameos were great.

            Ghostbusters was one of the best times I have had sitting through a movie in the theater. Everything about it, to me, was perfect. The best was that it did not for one moment take itself too seriously and that helped so much because it was just silly all around. Paul Feig’s direction was awesome; his direction of Kate McKinnon’s scenes was the best. The cast could in no way have been any better. Do not let all the negative reviews get in your head and turn you off to seeing it. As I said, I am a diehard fan of the original movies and I loved this new Ghostbusters. Absolutely go see Ghostbusters as soon as you can.

 

Welcome to Me (2014)

“Come with me. Into another time that happened to me.”

            Having a mental health disorder is not fun at all. I suffer from depression and anxiety that are symptoms of ADHD. All three suck beyond belief. Some days I can manage and some days I feel like a total monster and hate myself and everyone around me. I have to say that I feel lucky that I do not suffer from a mental health disorder that is more serious. I feel terrible for the people that do because having something wrong with your head is not fun. Movies with people suffering from a mental health disorder tend to make me uncomfortable since I know a little about what they must be going through. Sometimes I get uncomfortable when a character goes off their meds because I want to yell at them to stay on them! And sometimes I get uncomfortable with how they are seen by other characters. I hate the fact that there is a stigma with any kind of health disorder let along a mental health one. We are not crazy or selfish or incapable of being normal human beings. It is just harder to function at times.

            In the movie Welcome to Me, Kristen Wiig plays a character Alice Klieg who suffers from borderline personality disorder. She lives alone in a small apartment where she has kept her TV on for eleven years straight. She also has a lot of VHS tapes that have recorded episodes of Oprah on them. Alice has watched some of the episodes so many times she knows them by heart.

            Alice wins eighty-six million dollars in a local lottery. She immediately leaves her small home and goes to live in a casino on a reservation. One day she takes her friend to be in the audience of a talk show. The host of the show, Gabe, asks for a volunteer from the audience and Alice just comes walking down without being picked. She immediately tries to take over the show and the producers think she is a little nuts but they keep going with her. Gabe and his brother Rich (James Marsden) are the producers of the show and own their own network. Alice wants to have her own talk show like Oprah. But unlike Oprah where she had guests and had a theme to her episodes Alice just wants to talk about herself and do things that she finds interesting. Rich and the other producers do not want a show like that they wants a brand but are quickly quieted when Alice hands them a check for a couple of millions of dollars to get the show going.

            The show is just a complete mess. Alice’s emotional state comes through with every episode and no one knows how to handle it. She puts on reenactments of events in her life that she saw as traumatic but she never changes the name of the people. In another episode she has her psychiatrist on the line without him knowing. Her doctor in the meantime is worried about her because she had decided to go off her meds. Eventually Alice has a break down and the show is being sued by a lot of people. She also has been neglecting her only friend from being so focused on herself.

            In the end Alice somewhat overcomes her hurdles with being self-absorbed and neglecting her friend. When she goes home one night Gabe gives her a video camera and she films herself finally shutting off her TV.

            Welcome to Me was a good movie. Kristen Wiig is an amazing talent. I like how she can easily go from doing silly ridiculous comedy to dramadies. She was fantastic in this movie and makes it worth watching. Welcome to Me, as I said, is a little unsettling and uncomfortable, but it was good it has one of the most interesting stories in a movie I have seen in a while. This is a movie I definitely suggest seeing especially if you like Kristen Wiig and would like to see something different. 

The Skeleton Twins (2014)

“Look, it had nothing to do with you.”

“That is bullshit. You're my brother. And we're supposed to be there for each other. And if you don't get that by now, then, I don't know, I guess I'll talk to you in another ten years.”

            Oh, family. They drive us crazy in so many ways. I am fortunate enough where no matter how crazy we drive each other that my family is very close. Whenever I see a movie where families are not close it kind of makes me sad. My family is no way perfect we drive each other up a damn wall more than anything. I am the only girl with three younger brothers. I would rather have brothers than sisters but holy shit it has never been easy with brothers! I feel like I can understand how brothers and sisters and families can drift apart and not talk to each other for years. Over the years I feel like I have become less close to my parents and grandparents. When I was away at school I used to call home and my grandma every day. Now I am just like I’ll be down in the basement working on my blog leave me alone or there are sometimes where I will be out and the only reason I want to come home is because my bed and all my things are there.

            That all got way too deep. This is a movie review not a diary type of blog. No one wants to read those. (No offense if you run one though)

            I was trying to get to a point about the excellent movie The Skeleton Twins. The movie is about twins Maggie (Kristen Wiig) and Milo Dean (Bill Hader) who have not come from the best of family situations. Their father killed himself when he was younger because of depression. Milo has tried to kill himself after his boyfriend broke up with him. Maggie is also unhappy. She was working herself up to take an overdose of pills when she was called by the hospital Milo was taken to. Despite not having spoken to or seen each other in ten years Maggie is Milo’s emergency contact.

            Maggie seems to have it all. She has a very loving husband named Lance (Luke Wilson). Lance is completely head over heels in love with Maggie but she does not feel the same about him. For excitement she has been taking various classes and sleeping with the instructors. Milo sees that Maggie’s life is just as fucked up and dramatic as his life. Neither is really doing what they want or with who they really want to be with.

            Throughout the movie Maggie and Milo realize they need each other more than any other person in their lives. Like any pair of siblings they fight, they cry, they laugh, they have a good time, and they understand each other. They help each other work out their demons and their sadness.

            The Skeleton Twins was fantastic. I liked how no matter how fucked up they both were Maggie and Milo needed each other and helped each other either outright or unknowingly. That is what my brothers and I sometimes to we do little things either purposefully or unknowingly and I love that. Kristen Wiig and Bill Hader were perfection together and as individual actors. Wiig needs to be recognized more for her dramatic roles. The woman has range and it seems all people really know her from is from comedies, i.e. Saturday Night Live, Bridesmaids. Sure comedy is where she truly made her name but she is so incredible in dramas. I have enjoyed seeing her play fucked up characters who do not have their shit together whatsoever. Maybe it is because I kind of feel like a train wreck like her characters feel just not as deeply or as messed up. Bill Hader he is the same. The guy has some good range. I hope to see him in more roles like Milo Dean. Hader and Wiig have such great chemistry that you can believe they could really be brother and sister. I am sure their chemistry is so good because they are great friends off screen. The Skeleton Twins is absolutely worth seeing it is one of the best movies I have seen in a while (**I have actually been saying this quite a bit with the newer movies I have been watching and I am kind of shocked. Maybe I have finally been watching the right modern movies? Or maybe I have had more of an open mind? Either one works for me**)

Girl Most Likely (2012)

“I grew up in the Atlantic City area, near the beach, so...”

“Then every day was like summer, right?”

“No, every day was not like summer; every day was like being impaled with a blunt wooden object, over and over again.”

            Growing up near the Jersey Shore is definitely not all it is cracked up to be. I live about thirty minutes away from either Seaside (yuck) or Point Pleasant (name says it all). The town I live in is not exactly small it is actually pretty large but it might as well feel like I am living in a small town with nothing exciting to do. I am literally surrounded by old people communities my damn backyard even faces one. If there are young people my age around here I most likely went to school with them or they are a bit hickish. I cannot wait for the day when I have a proper full time job somewhere away from my town. I would love to make it out of the Jersey Shore like Kristen Wiig’s character did in the movie Girl Most Likely. But I would not like to fall hard like she did.

            Imogene (Wiig) seems to be living a life most women dream of. She lives in a gorgeous apartment in New York City, lives with a very good looking man, and goes to parties at homes in the most exclusive avenues. Imogene was once a promising playwright but now works writing blurbs for a magazine on new plays. Her dreams and life come crashing down when her boyfriend breaks up with her. Not being able to take it Imogene pretends she is going to kill herself. Her plan backfires though when she accidentally takes some of the pills she had put on the bed along with a suicide note and her friend comes instead of her boyfriend.

            At the hospital the doctor tells Imogene that she has to go home with someone who will reassure her she is loved and ok. The doctor manages to track down Imogene’s mother Zelda (Annette Benning). Imogene has not seen her family nor spoken to them in years. Zelda is eccentric. For years she gambled away the money that should have gone towards the family. Her gambling is so bad that instead of taking Imogene straight home Zelda leaves her drugged up daughter in the backseat while she stops at a casino.

            Imogene returns to her old Jersey Shore home to find her room being rented out by a young kid named Lee (Darren Criss) and her mother’s new boyfriend who goes by the name of George Boushe (Matt Dillon) and has everyone believing he is a CIA agent. All Imogene wants to do is get back to New York City among her upper set of “friends” and try to patch things up with her boyfriend.

            While staying down the shore Imogene learns some things about herself and even a family secret her mother has kept from her since she was nine.

            I had some expectations going into Girl Most Likely and some were met and some were let down. Two expectations I had were Kristen Wiig and Darren Criss’s performances and they were wonderfully met. Wiig is so versatile. She can do comedy flawlessly and drama perfectly and with both be totally believable. Wiig is just immensely talented and have yet to be let down by one of her performances. I hate to even admit that I have seen a few episodes of Glee because I despise it (only watched three because of a bet/agreement with my college roommate when we were in school). Darren Criss was in the three episodes I watched and I liked him a lot. He is very talented. I went and looked him up to see what he looked like out of the show and I should not have been surprised by how handsome Criss is. He was very good in this movie, I liked his character and how he made Imogene see her life in a bit of different way. My expectations for the story were a little high and that was how I felt let down. The story was not terrible but it was not very engaging. My favorite part of the movie was of course when the Jersey Shore was shown. Always love a Jersey mention in movies. Girl Most Likely is worth watching at least once for Kristen Wiig. 

Whip It (2009)

“But you don't have the balls.”
“I can grow the balls...”

            As soon as Whip It started I could not believe how hipster it was. I am so not into the hipster shit that has taken hold of people in their twenties… yes I am in my twenties… no I am not a hipster. Hipsters and their problems are annoying!!! Anyway the idea of having this high school girl go through growing pains of not fitting in and not being able to live up to what her mother wants her to be mixed in with her fitting in with women who are like fifteen- twenty years old than her who are on a roller derby team was good.

            Bliss Cavendar (Ellen Page) is a seventeen year old girl living in the middle of nowhere in a small town in Texas where the only exciting things to happen are beauty pageants. Bliss’s mom enters her in these stupid contests even though she never wins. The mom was in beauty pageants when she was younger and thinks that they are the way to some money. She does not see that Bliss is not the pageant type at all; Bliss is shy and awkward and works as a waitress in a BBQ joint.

            Bliss gets her mom to take her and her sister to Austin to go shopping. They go into what her mom calls a “head” store (they sell smoking paraphernalia) where Bliss sees a flyer for a roller derby being held in town. Bliss goes back to her best and only friend Pash (Alia Shawkat) telling her they should go. The roller derby is held in an old warehouse with a ton of people there. Bliss is totally taken with the derby and decides to try out even though she is not twenty-one.

            For weeks before the try out Bliss practices on her new skates. She does not tell her parents what she is up because they would kill her. Pash drives her all over the place. Bliss is a killer at try outs and makes it to a team called the Hurl Scouts and they give her the name Babe Ruthless.

            Things go well for Bliss for a while. She is enjoying being on the Hurl Scouts and because she is small and quick she helps the team climb their way to the finals. One day a woman from another team named Iron Maven (Juliette Lewis) learns that Bliss is only seventeen and threatens to tell on her. Bliss has to tell the team about this so they do not hear it from Maven.

            In the end things turn out alright with Bliss and the team and she finds something that she loves and a place where she belongs.

            Eh the story was ok. I am so over (or maybe too old) for stories that involve a girl who is an outcast and is looking for somewhere to fit in. The roller derby scenes were the best they were fun to watch. They made me really want to buy a pair of skates and go to a roller rink! (God I am dating myself! I used to go to one every Friday!). I wish I could try out for a roller derby team but I weigh nothing and I would get killed!

            For as much as I did not really care for the movie I loved the cast they were amazing. Ellen Page has her moments; I wore her out with Juno a few years ago. Alia Shawkat was the best she is so damn funny. Drew Barrymore’s parts were small since she was also the director; she is her usual weird corky self. Kristen Wiig is always a panic to see. Jimmy Fallon had me rolling on the floor he had some of the funniest lines. Juliette Lewis just creeps me out she is so not good looking and so weird. The rest of the characters and actors were fantastic too.

            Whip It is worth at least one viewing since the cast is really good but other than that the movie is not that good. 

Bridesmaids



I recently read a review on Bridesmaids posted by member of a message board I frequent that sums up the movie perfectly: “It’s like a chick flick made for chicks who hate chick flicks.” I could not agree more with this comment! Bridesmaids is the anti-chick flick. There is nothing sweet concerning this movie it is just one raunchy laugh after another.

            Kristen Wiig plays Annie Walker (wonder if she watches Covert Affairs). Her friend Lillian (played by the ever hilarious Maya Rudolph) has just asked Annie to be her maid of honor for her wedding. Annie and Lillian have been best friends since they were little so the pressure is Annie to do a good job. The pressure get even heavier once Lillian introduces Annie to the other bridesmaids especially Helen who is the wife of Lillian’s fiancé’s boss’s wife. Helen is rich and spoiled and has completely taken over planning the wedding. The other bridesmaids are all insane in their own ways: Rita is bored housewife with three boys (who hysterically explains “I cracked a blanket in half!”); Becca is young and innocent and just looking for a good time; Megan is just wacked out of her mind but becomes the voice of reason in the end.

            Right off the bat nothing goes right for Annie being the maid of honor: Helen has taken over everything and all the other women, including Lillian, side with her. Annie’s life is also spinning out of control with nothing going her way.

            Some parts of the movie drag and some of the jokes are just way too drawn out but the whole thing is just really funny. The cast is one of the best assembled in years. Kristen Wiig also wrote the movie so if you know her well enough from Saturday Night Live or some of her other movies you can see her dry, sarcastic, raunchy humor come through. I was very happy with Maya Rudolph’s performance here. I have viewed Rudolph in her movie Away We Go and was not impressed with her acting which bummed me out because I really like her. You can clearly see that Wiig and Rudolph have a good friendship outside the movie. You can believe their characters are best friends. The funniest person in the movie hands down has to go to Melissa McCarthy as Megan. She was this butch sort of woman who was just crazy. When Annie and Megan meet for the first time Megan tells Annie a story that is guaranteed to make your laugh so hard your stomach will hurt (my brother was laughing so hard he could not breathe). Ellie Kemper from The Office plays Becca and she was as always so adorable. Wendi McLendon- Covy played Rita; the woman never fails to make me laugh. I am always excited to see her in something she was so fantastic in Reno 911!. Rose Byrn plays Helen. Helen was a rich, manipulative bitch who is meant to get on your nerves. The whole time my brother and I kept saying “God Rose Byrn is gorgeous” haha.

            Since I know Kristen Wiig’s comedy pretty well I was not expecting a typical chick flick. There are some chick flick-y moments that I felt kind of brought the movie to a standstill. But let me just say this now do not go into seeing Bridesmaids thinking it is going to be a cute as a button Reese Witherspoon- type chick flick because you will be sorely disappointed. My favorite part of the movie (which I am not telling because it is WAY too funny to reveal) is almost like disgusting guy toilet humor and I could not stop laughing! Bridesmaids is raunchy and hysterical from beginning (literally raunchy right at the beginning) to end. Wiig has definitely proved not all “girl” movies need to be sweet and cute. I am so sick of chick flicks I have pretty much gotten rid of all the ones I had on DVD (I say “almost” because there are some like How to Lose a Guy in Ten Days that are really good.). I was walked out of the theater after Bridesmaids so satisfied. Hopefully more “chick flicks” like this will be made in the future.

            See Bridesmaids if you like movies such as The Hangover and Knocked Up.

Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story



“If Elvis and Buddy Holly are the Cain and Abel of rock and roll, Bruce Springsteen is Zachariah, Iggy Pop is Methuselah, and, of course, Neil Young is the wise prophet Ezekiel, then what does that make Dewey Cox?”

            Walk Hard is one those movies that is so silly and ridiculous that you will be quoting it forever. It is a spoof of all the biopics that had been released previously to this. It takes from Johnny Cash, Bob Dylan, Ray Charles, and just about any singer from the fifties to the seventies mixes them all up into one person who seems to have lived a hundred different lives.

            Dewey Cox’s life is defined by the accidental (and hilarious) death of his older and very talented brother Nate. His father hates him for what happened to Nate always reminding him that “the wrong kid died” every chance he gets. At fourteen Dewey runs away with his girlfriend and gets a job at a black nightclub where they “come… to dance erotically.” Dewey learns all the songs the band performs and comes to the rescue one night when the lead singer (played by Craig Robinson) gets sick and his hands are broken. A group of nice Jewish men are in the audience that night (“they run show business”) from the record company. They like what they see and sign Dewey to a contract.

            Dewey has a runaway hit with his song “Walk Hard” and becomes a major singer with hit after hit. With the hits comes the downfall and so much hilarity. He becomes addicted to just about every drug thanks to his drummer Sam who always warned “no Dewey you don’t want any part of this shit” and then would proceed to give Dewey the drug.

            There are so many crazy scenes that I laugh just thinking about but I don’t want to give the whole movie away, you will just have to see Walk Hard for yourself. I will give you one scene because it is just so genius. Dewey decides he wants to go to India. This scene is supposed to be during the 1960s when The Beatles were all into meditation and the Indian culture. While in India Dewey gets to meditate with “The Beatles”:

The reason why Walk Hard is so brilliant is because of the cast. John C. Reilly went all out as Dewey there is almost literally nothing he did not do for a laugh. He sings all the songs and does a wonderful job. When the movie came out I was just really starting to get into The Office so once I saw Jenna Fischer (yes I am a diehard JAM fan)  was playing a character I had to go see it. She plays Dewey’s love Darlene. If you can only think of Fischer as sweet adorable Pam Beasley get ready to have your whole image of her completely destroyed! Fischer is such a good actress she was so funny and so dirty as Darlene.

 Kristen Wiig plays Dewey’s first wife Edith. Wiig is just a panic in whatever she is in because she is not afraid of acting crazy or looking horrendous. Matt Besser (Upright Citizens Brigade, Reno 911!), Tim Meadows, and Chris Parnell round out Dewey’s band with each one being crazier than the other.  So many actors pop up along the way to play different singers or just crazy characters: Frankie Muniz plays Buddy Holly, Jack White from the White Stripes plays Elvis, Ed Helms from The Office is a manager backstage at a concert, Harold Ramis is one of the Jewish men who sign Dewey, Jane Lynch, David Krumholtz, Jack McBayer, Paul Rudd, Jack Black, and Justin Long are just some of the many faces that come up throughout the movie.

            Walk Hard is so much fun to watch. I can remember seeing the movie in theaters with my brother. We were the only ones in the theater and we were just laughing nonstop. It is one of those movies that I can never get sick of watching and laugh even though I know every line and every scene. If you want to watch Walk Hard find the two disc edition and play the Unbearably Long Self Indulgent Director’s Cut it has even more wacked out scenes and lines.