Horrible Bosses 2 [A Fat Jesus Film Review]

'Horrible Bosses' was released in 2011. It and '21 Jump Street' were two of my favorite comedies of the year, and now in 2014 we've gotten sequels to both. '22 Jump Street' was a helluva good sequel and I was really looking toward 'Horrible Bosses 2.' The trio of Jason Bateman, Charlie Day and Jason Sudeikis were a treat in the first film, and I was really excited to watch them get the gang back together. 'Horrible Bosses 2' doesn't have quite the same magic as 'Horrible Bosses.' But unlike what you're probably reading on Rotten Tomatoes or other critics sites, this was hardly a bad film.

'Horrible Bosses 2' follows the story of Nick Hendricks, Dale Arbus, and Kurt Buckman (Jason Bateman, Charlie Day and Jason Sudeikis) after the events of the first film. They have decided to start their own business, making a car wash inspired shower head, "The Shower Buddy." They have trouble finding investors until Burt Hanson (Chistoph Waltz) and his son Rex (Chris Pine), approach him. They admire their work ethic and drive to keep production in America. They offer the trio an investment if they can produce 100,000 units. Nick, Dale and Kurt take out a business loan, rent a warehouse, hire workers and make the units they need. Burt and Rex back out of the deal and plan to seize their inventory in foreclosure, leaving the three $500,000 in debt. The company is about to go under and the trio is in trouble, so they go to Nick's old boss Dave Harken (Kevin Spacey) for advice. He tells them they have no legal recourse, leading to the three coming up with a plan to kidnap Rex and hold him for ransom. They then go back to "Motherf**ker" Jones (Jamie Foxx) and ask his advice on how to kidnap someone. He tells them the best way is to kidnap them and keep them knocked out for the duration. Nick, Dale and Kurt then decide to steal nitrous oxide from Dale's old boss Julia's (Jennifer Aniston) dentist's office. The plan is in place and everything is a go, as these three argumentative friends decide to try their hand at kidnapping and extortion this time around.

'Horrible Bosses 2' is a step down from the first film in a lot of ways. The chemistry between Jason Bateman, Charlie Day and Jason Sudeikis is still fantastic. The three are a joy to watch and the 'It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia' style of almost over the top "yelling" comedy pleases me greatly. The one liners, misinterpretations, pop culture references and general buffoonery of the three is simply astounding to behold. The supporting cast is still fun too. Jamie Foxx, Kevin Spacey and Jennifer Aniston all reprise their roles from the previous film and do well. Though Spacey's character, Dave Harkin, might have been a stretch to bring back, I'll never oppose to Spacey being in a film. The "newcomers" to this, I guess you could call it, ensemble cast, Christoph Waltz and Chris Pine do a fine job, Pine more than Waltz, mostly due to screen time. Chris Pine's character has now effectively lost his mind in two filmss in 2014 (this and 'Stretch') and I have loved him in both roles. The film is side-splittingly funny at times. There's a rapid fire amount of jokes and lines, so you may not like or catch everything, but there is quite a few laughs to be had. Things take a turn once you get past the acting and general humor of the film. The story is pretty iffy at best and it really does feel like a haphazard way of cashing in on the surprise that was the first film. 'Horrible Bosses' had a certain charm about it, while this didn't have that special feeling to it. While the humor at times is hilarious, there's a lot of recycled stuff from the first film littered throughout. Some of it works, while other times it felt like they threw it in just to reference the first film. You could argue that this film, like '22 Jump Street,' are two of the more self aware comedies in recent memory. So referencing themselves is one way to get a laugh or keep a bit going. Both in '22 Jump Street,' and this, the callbacks to the first film were hit and miss as well and sometimes just felt really lazily done. The amount of action in this is actually surprising, as the first film kept it to a minimum, and they did alright with it. The chase scenes were fine and even the 'Oceans 11'-like planning scene was a cool touch. The music and score are alright, as with big comedies like these you've come to expect top pop tracks and popular rock to be heard spanning throughout. The overall look of the film is better too. They've expanded to a wider range of shots and locations that showcases California pretty decently. 

If you're looking for a comedy to go see over winter break, 'Horrible Bosses 2' is for you, IF you're a fan of the first film. If you didn't like the first film, the second installment isn't going to win you over. It's admittedly a step down from it's predecessor, but fans of the first film (or ones that can get into this one) will fall in love with the bickering and idiocy of the three leads again. The chemistry between Jason Bateman, Charlie Day and Jason Sudeikis is reason enough to give this comedy a chance. The laughs are fewer, but there, and this film is pretty solid overall. Critics are really hitting this film hard, but if you're in the mood to go turn your brain off for a few hours and laugh, then 'Horrible Bosses 2' may be for you.

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The Amazing Spider-Man 2 [A Fat Jesus Movie Review]

Wow, it's been awhile since I've done this, I hope I still remember what I'm doing. I figured I'd start with a superhero film and what could almost be considered the least looked forward to hero flick of the year. The Amazing Spider-Man is a movie that I liked. I realize it has flaws, what superhero film doesn't, but it didn't keep it from being a solid start to the reboot of a franchise a lot of us watched growing up. Well, at least I did. The Amazing Spider-Man 2 mostly brings back the same cast from the first movie and from the trailers I expected a CGI crap-shoot. That Sony had just thrown together a sequel to further a movie deal to the most anticipated part of the series rumored to happen. While it's crammed with CGI, some forced humor and it kinda felt long, The Amazing Spider-Man 2 isn't all that bad.

The Amazing Spider-Man 2 follows the story of Peter Parker/Spider-Man (Andrew Garfield) as he grows to be the heroic vigilante New York City is divided over. To open the film we are shown Richard and Mary Parker as they are on a plane, after the events of the first film, where they are shown leaving Peter with his Aunt and Uncle. An assassin attempts to take out the plane and eventually succeeds, killing all aboard. Fast forward to present day as Spider-Man is chasing down a group of Russian thugs, led by Aleksei Sytsevich/Rhino (Paul Giamatti) who have stolen a truckload of plutonium from Oscorp. Peter is ignoring his high-school graduation as he tries to stop the thieves. During the chase he saves a man by the name of Max Dillion (Jamie Foxx), an employee of Oscop. By saving his life, Max becomes enamored with Spider-Man and begins to idolize him. Later on in the chase, Gwen Stacy (Emma Stone) calls Peter and tells him to get to the graduation asap, causing him to turn it on and end the chase. Alekisei swears he will get the spider and Peter makes it to graduation on time. Peter then sees George Stacy (Dennis Leary) and remembered the promise he made him in the first film. Feeling guilt ridden, Peter and Gwen break up and he begins to solely focus being Spider-Man. While all this is going on, Harry Osborne (Dane DeHann) is called to his father's bedside. Norman (Chris Cooper) tells him, that the disease he's dying from is hereditary and tells him he's wasted so much potential. That night, at Oscorp, Max is forced to work late on his birthday to repair some things. As he is finishing up, he gets electrocuted and falls into a tank of genetically modified eels, effectively turning him into Electro. Peter must repair a strained relationship and rekindle an old friendship, all while protecting NYC from a new crop of baddies that only want to bring havoc and destruction.

This film suffers from the things most superhero films suffer from, taking a star-studded cast and them actually translating the the story to screen effortlessly. Andrew Garfield is totally fine as Spider-Man/Peter Parker and actually is one of the better points of the film, but it just felt like everyone else seemed off. Emma Stone as Gwen was fine, but I became bored with her pithy one-liners in almost all the scenes she was in. I kinda mentioned this about Kat Dennings in my Thor 2 review. You don't just throw in bad comedy cause you have a comedic lead, it just doesn't work sometimes. On the other side of the acting spectrum, from the trailers and previews I thought I was gonna hate Dane DeHamm and Jamie Foxx, as Electro and Harry Osborne respectively. I thought they did an okay job. To watch Foxx transform from mild-mannered and walked over Max into the super-villain Elcectro was fun. The relationship between the returned Harry and Peter throughout was a okay as well. I'd never seen Dane DeHamm before this, but at the very least, as Harry Osborne, he carried himself well. Neither blew me away, but they were far better than I thought they'd be going into this.The the veterans were good support. Sally Field is still good as Aunt May. Chris Cooper is always nice to see and Norman's character fits his acting style well. While Dennis Leary provides a Dennis Leary presence, despite his very limited screen-time. My other grips are what I actually mentioned before. Like the first film, I felt like this was too long and dragged in a lot of places. The overuse of CGI wasn't as bad as I thought it'd be. It just keeps reaffirming that superhero movies are gonna overdo it on CGI for almost no reason. Also the humor, while good in some spots, Spider-Man joking with baddies and even Max idolizing Spider-Man, is atrocious in other spots when they force feed them a corny one-liner. Everything I just talked about all just felt, well, only okay.

Never fear though, there was actually a lot I liked about the film. Despite said overuse of the CGI, in some spots it was actually pretty cool and looked good. The opening scene with Spidey swinging around NYC was fun and the scenes involving Electro and his electricity are pretty solid too. Foxx's CGI as Electro was still a little wonky, but that's hardly the worst the CGI looked in this film. The action was also fun, the finale fight was great and I've always loved Spider-Man's mannerisms and fighting style. Going hand in hand with the CGI, the overall look of the film was good as well. I love cinematography and the sweeping shots of NYC at various points of the day, throughout the film, looked pretty good. I actually enjoyed the story as well. Sure at parts it was written kinda bad, but the overall feel, character dialogue, character/story development and even the ending was done well. You watch as these guys, grow and transform in the film, both towards good, towards evil or even just understanding themselves better. I like that kinda stuff in a genre not known from giving much character development at all. You could also call it a tale of two halves, cause the second half of the film really does make up for the first. They could've done way worse with a bridging sequel leading to the third installment in a trilogy, so props to the writing team for not just phoning it in. Marc Webb did fine directing it, just like with the first one, just stop using those stupid camera tilted angles. I hate those so much. The music was alright as well. Hanz Zimmer has done good work for big movies and this film is no different. Without making everything too over dramatic, or something of the sort, the music flows with the movie well. Keeping the comic characters close to what I remember them from the comics is always a plus as well. This film really had a "I'm reading a comic book they put on a screen." I loved that.

The Amazing Spider-Man 2 is a film that furthers the first film in the series but didn't really improve on anything from the first. Everything got bigger, it never really got better, but luckily it didn't get worse either. The acting was mostly fine, the story was good and for the most part it looked and sounded good throughout. The drawbacks are certainly its length, the over abundance of CGI and the other side of "the acting was mostly fine." This was a fun watch. The action was cool, the humor, when it was good, is solid and it's everything you could want in a super-hero film. I'm highly looking forward to see if they can end this trilogy well with the Sinister Six stuff, always loved that baddie group growing up.

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Django Unchained [A Fat Jesus Movie Review]

This was a bit of a toss up for me. On the one hand, I knew I wanted to see this. Quentin Tarantino is one of my favorite directors and with it starring Christoph Waltz, Jamie Foxx, Leo DiCaprio and Samuel L. Jackson
 I knew this movie would be relevant to my interests. So last night, one of my last few nights in Texas (I'm moving, but that's a story for another time), me and my two friends decided to go see a showing of it. Needless to say, this was a great one to see on the big screen.

Django Unchained is set in 1858, somewhere in Texas and opens with two brothers, the Specks, transporting a group of slaves across the country. A man approaches them by the name of Dr. King Schultz (Christoph Waltz). He is a dentist that is looking for a certain slave, Django (Jamie Foxx). Django is freed as Schultz kills one of the Speck brothers and leaves the fate of the others to the rest of the slaves in the convoy. Django is informed by Schultz that he freed him cause he needs his help to identify the Brittle brothers as Schultz is a bounty hunter. He hasn't been a dentist in five years and tells Django that the profession is is purely opportunistic and that he despises slavery. Schultz also finds out that Django's wife, Broomhilda (Kerry Washington), was unjustly beaten and then sold by Django and her former owners (said Brittle brothers). The two strike up a deal where Django will help Schultz bounty hunt over the winter and in return he will help him find Broomhilda and get her back from Candyland plantation owner, Calvin Candie (Leonardo DiCaprio) when the winter is over. The hunt begins as this most unlikely duo of bounty hunters sets off on a quest of vengeance and rescue in this, sharp-tonged, violence filled Tarantino film.

At times this movie can be as funny as any comedy and at the turn of a hat there are scenes that can make you really uncomfortable. I think that is exactly what one of the ingredients that makes this a great movie. Tarantino has always been able to do this flawlessly and Django Unchained is no different. The plot is fairly simple as it's a rescue mission scenario of sorts with a western twist. The dialogue is another point where this movie shines. Despite the sometimes overbearing vocabulary, which is often unrefined and crude (as evidenced by the time period and thought processes), really captures the period. Plus when Samuel L. Jackson finally comes in  there's a pretty fresh air of great one-liners and quotes to take the edge off of some of the more serious things going on. The action is western style gun fighting with a Tarantino blood and gore twist. Six shooters going off constantly as well as shotguns and rifles tearing through bodies and gratuitous amounts of blood shortly followed.

The cinematography is pretty damn beautiful. Rustic old west themed towns, the plantations, despite what they're used for, are beautiful to look at. As well as traveling in front of snow-capped mountains or long rolling fields. This is a beautiful movie to look at, both the landscapes and the costumes and clothes. The music is great as well. Django has his own theme as the movie opens as well as modern songs by the likes of John Legend and Rick Ross to name a few. The score throughout the movie is done very well also. Finally we come to the acting and actors. Jamie Foxx, didn't give the best performance of his career as Django, but he did a damn good job with the role. The unfavored (so to speak) black man learning to adapt to being a free bounty hunter trying to free his wife is a great watch. Leonardo DeCaprio (paired with Samuel L. Jackson) and plantation owner Calvin Candie and his head slave Stephen are phenomenal in their roles. Leo is great as a charismatic slave owner who is propitiating "mandingo fights" while Samuel is his right-hand man who's been around the block and is NOT afraid to say anything on his mind. Finally we come to the bright star of this movie in Christpoh Waltz, as dentist turned bounty hunter, King Schultz. Paired with Foxx these two really carry the movie and get you into the plot. The mannerisms, style and the way he carries himself when speaking are phenomenal and really brings Tarantino's writing to life.

There's not much more I can say about this. Definitely one of the better movies I seen all year. The dialogue and action are awesome. Combine it with great acting, directing, music and a healthy dose of gun-play and killing and you've got a grandiose story. A story of a slave turned free man who needs to take vengeance for and rescue his still enslaved wife. Quentin Tarantino, Leonardo DiCaprio, Jamie Foxx, Samuel L. Jackson and Christoph Waltz are an ensemble to be reckoned with and this movie was a great way to close out 2012.

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