Sausage Party Review

Starring:  Michael Cera, James Franco, Bill Hader, Salma Hayek, Jonah Hill, Nick Kroll, David Krumholtz, Danny McBride, Edward Norton, Craig Robinson, Paul Rudd, Seth Rogen, Kristen Wiig

By the time I saw Sausage Party this week, I had already seen the headlines. "The Most Offensive Movie Ever Made", "A Filthy Feast", "Literal Food Porn". It's the only other mainstream R-rated animated movie besides South Park: Bigger, Longer, and Uncut. The opening of the film is presented with enough whimsy and allure that it almost tricks you into believing it's a kids movie. There's a musical number and the animation is just so bubbly and child-like, almost second-rate compared to Disney and Pixar. Until that hot dog bun comes up. The sausages didn't really need an animator to make them sexual, but the buns have been specifically designed to be very "suggestive". Sausage Party is incredibly baffling. It presents ideas that are so brilliant, discussing religion, beliefs and morals, but then it throws it away for raunchy humor and trying to push boundaries. It's vexing that I still can't get a feel for whether I enjoyed it or not. Overall I laughed, but sometimes it was because I could not believe what I was seeing. Parents be cautioned...this is no children's movie.

The whole premise is that food is alive, and it doesn't know that it will be eaten by humans. The food in the supermarket anticipates when the "Gods" will take them to the "Great Beyond" and free them. It's obviously playing off of religion. When Seth Rogen's character Frank discovers the truth and tries to tell the food, they refuse to believe it. They would rather die and see the Great Beyond, because of what they've been promised. The idea of religion and that we believe "the best story" is really interesting. I wish it was explored more, and in more depth. I wish the movie settled with the idea that everyone can choose religion, and you can't force someone to believe. That's a message I wouldn't expect from Seth Rogen. Bickering between a Jewish bagel and a Muslim lavash mirrored the Israel-Palestine conflict, until someone points out that they have more in common then they think they do. It's so witty. But the conclusion of that storyline is that everyone has been lied to and the food tries to kill the people to achieve vengeance. Does that mean we need religion or we're savages? Am I looking too much into a raunchy food porno? Messages aside, I really appreciated the original humor. It was rarely "laugh-out-loud", but it's the type of clever humor that made me smile and chuckle to myself, mostly at the brilliant food puns. While some jokes might be seen as racist, I think overall they were pretty clever, though insensitive. There's a latina taco, African-American grits, and a gay twinkie. It's so stereotypical, and this movie doesn't hold back, making fun of just about every religion and race. The fact that it really hits everyone makes it seem a little more acceptable. Everyone got thrown on the cutting board and no one came back unscathed. I was promised a movie that would push boundaries and cross lines, and it certainly does that in every scene.

For all the interesting religious and cultural insights (a personal favorite is the African-American grits and Native American liquor getting their aisles replaced by crackers), Sausage Party throws it away for a VERY graphic orgy scene at the end. While the end result is so over-the-top, Sausage Party does present surprisingly mature ideas on sex and sexuality. The character of Brenda (brilliantly voiced by Kristen Wiig) has an interesting moral conflict. She and Frank broke through their packages to touch hands, and while he's on his mission for the truth, she feels everything that's happened, including falling out of their packages, seeing the truth, and getting lost, is because of their premature touching. Because "sex" is so repressed in this community, the food's belief system causes her to blame herself for everything. It's just like how many religions disapprove of sex before marriage, and shows how religion can really get in the way of people just trying to live. But, when she and Frank finally have sex, it's a ridiculously graphic scene. It's almost as if it was so repressed everyone turned into animals. It's just a free-for-all, and then the whole supermarket joins in. The Jewish bagel has sex with the Muslim lavash, and it's almost entirely just for shock value. While it was happening, I could not stop laughing, partly because I was so uncomfortable. Another sex story that's mishandled is the douche. This literal douche (he's the bad guy and it's a hilarious pun) wants revenge for being knocked out of the cart and losing his fluids. To do this, he rapes many characters to take their juices. It's shocking, and just not very funny. The discomfort I felt was kind of angering to see that happening. I wasn't offended, but I certainly don't think rape should be taken lightly.While it's genius to have a douche as a villain, his jaw-dropping actions really crossed the line for me.

While Sausage Party is interesting, and is certainly full of clever humor, I believe it throws all of it away for shock value. It's probablythe most inappropriate movie I've ever seen, and I don't know if it has any re-watchability. I can pick and choose certain scenes, and talking about it with friends who have seen it certainly bring some laughs, but I'm still confused about the film. I'm not even going to address the "twist" ending, which is the kind of introspective humor that belongs in Seth Rogen's This Is The End, not Sausage Party. If you're ready for what's "in store", go see Sausage Party. You truly have to see it to believe it. Words will never be able to accurately describe what is depicted.

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Suicide Squad Review

Starring: Will Smith, Jared Leto, Margot Robbie, Joel Kinnaman, Viola Davis, Jai Courtney, Jay Hernandez, Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje, Cara Delevigne

Suicide Squad is one of the most anticipated releases of 2016. An adaptation of the DC comic book team of the same name, Suicide Squad teams up famed Batman villains Deadshot, Captain Boomerang, El Diablo, Killer Croc, Enchantress, Katana, and of course....Harley Quinn and the Joker. A lot of the fascination with the film was driven by its comedic marketing campaign, as well as the innovative performances by Jared Leto as the Joker, and Margot Robbie as Harley Quinn. The commercial and critical disappointment of Batman v Superman also fueled interest, as director David Ayer promised a difference in the somber and serious tone of the DC universe thus far. The numerous trailers, characters, and songs really made Suicide Squad break every August record possible, and score one of the biggest openings ever. Then the reviews hit. I saw Suicide Squad late, so I had already witnessed the horde of negativity towards the film. And it wasn't different between critics and fans. The 27% score on  RottenTomatoes was echoed by disappointed fans. I tried to have an open mind for Suicide Squad, but there was just so much riding on this film for me. I am constantly frustrated with the DC superhero movies rushing their storylines. Suicide Squad was hopefully going to be the new beginning...but it's just another road block. It's not a step back, and actually isn't horrible. Their are salvageable parts that make it an enjoyable movie. It doesn't deserve as low as 27%. But it truly is a disappointment in the long run, and DC fails to live to expectations once again.

I think the Joker and Harley Quinn deserve their own section. I really liked the portrayal of Harley Quinn. I think the Harley that I saw in the cell, and in the training was the Harley I'm familiar with. But I don't think her relationship with the Joker was particular believable. It was very thinly crafted. I had no introduction to their relationship because it starts somewhere in the middle. I think the claim Davis' Amanda Waller made that she was "crazier" than the Joker was interesting. This Joker was definitely a little more subdued. But the claim was never really explored. Harley didn't always seem crazy, she seemed as if she were stumbling around sometimes. I loved Margot Robbie's mannerisms, but I hated her accent. It was so bad, and basically a different accent every time she opened her mouth. The Brooklyn accent never really stuck. Now to the Joker. I didn't love Jared Leto's performance, but I see that it could possibly be improved with more screen time. The true casualty is that he's barely in the movie. It's disappointing, because so many people are intrigued by a new Joker, and one that is innovative, but closer to the comics' roots than Jokers before him. He's a gangster, and that's an angle not seen since Nicholson played the character. Breathing life into a character that could have died with Heath Ledger is a huge selling point for any movie, and the ad campaign for this film capitalized on it. But no one could emerge from this film truly "loving" this Joker, because he barely gave a performance. This Joker is a far departure from Ledger's performance, but it doesn't commit to a new direction. I was mostly confused about where Leto's Joker stood, but I think the future installments will do him justice. I love that the Joker with Harley is finally hitting the big screen.

There's no doubt that this is a talented cast. But I believe only one person emerges unscathed, and that's Viola Davis. As Amanda Waller, she expertly blended menace with insanity. She was one crazy woman, but one no one would ever cross. Davis has proved time and time again she's a talented actress, and this was no exception. While Nick Fury assembled the Avengers and left them to their own devices, Waller really is ingrained in their actions, always watching them and messing with them. Then there's Rick Flagg, played by Kinnaman. He does nothing. He has no superpowers, and though he claims the Suicide Squad works for him, Waller foils him constantly. It just makes him look like an idiot. He's dating June Moon, aka Enchantress: the film's main villain. Cara Delevigne was probably the worst part of the entire movie. She deserves her own paragraph, but it was truly pathetic. Killer Croc, Katana, Slipknot, and Boomerang also had nothing to do. They shined in certain places, but overall they contributed nothing to the team. Slipknot even was the first to die, in a death so obvious you could see it coming a mile away. And El Diablo didn't even shine. He never fought until the end, in a random twist with a thin backstory and loose morals. It just wasn't interesting. Every action scene proved it was "The Will Smith Show." He had the backstory, the motivation, and the star power. He was alright. I didn't hate him, but I didn't love him, as he was a little too one-dimensional. It felt like the studio was so obviously "shoving him down my throat", and I just didn't care for his character. The sad part of Suicide Squad's team is that so many people feel useless. In Marvel, even if the heroes are less powered (i.e. Black Widow, Hawkeye), they still feel useful to the audience. They have intellect, and tactics that make them seem valuable. Only about three members of the Suicide Squad felt like they could really do damage, and were necessary.

Where to begin with Enchantress? She was a member of the Squad that was so obviously going to turn evil. It's the old worn-out story of another personality controlling someone to be evil and fight their allies. The ad campaign tried to hide it. They pulled the old "bait and switch", teasing us with a Joker and flipping at the last second. She was controlled by her heart outside of her body, in a case held by Waller. The scene where Waller stabs the heart with a pen to try and kill her was so pathetic. I rolled my eyes and laughed, because it was so ridiculous. It was such a stupid idea. I also don't understand how that same heart (now stabbed) could be given to Enchantress and still be viable. As for Delevigne, she barely acted. It was a different voice than hers, speaking in a made-up language and hula dancing like a cheesy showgirl. It was just yet another CGI villain with NO motivation, NO morals (be them good or evil), NO feasible plan but to destroy everything, and NO sensible way of achieving that plan. She even fights a different CGI monster. It reminded me of the worst Transformers scenes imaginable, except not even action-packed. DC has great villains! Batman has great villains! So why was this opportunity wasted? There is nothing salvageable from Enchantress, and her involvement in the movie is what dooms it. Just like Doomsday in Batman v Superman, she's a third-act CGI antagonist. The studio so obviously switched the original plot of the Joker to the Enchantress story. I'll never understand the reasoning, and it further frustrates me. Where DC was supposed to correct its mistakes, it just makes the same ones over again.

So is Suicide Squad really bad? It's not, but it's certainly not great. I can't say I'd ever see it again, so that's the failure of a superhero blockbuster. These are supposed to have re-watchability. Everything good is just overshadowed by horrible executive decisions. This version of the movie is not the version I saw in the trailers that got me excited. I heard that the executives really came and sliced it up, and they removed everything great. Harley Quinn would have been perfect in medium doses, but she's so over-the-top it's kinda stressful, even if I did like what she did with the character. The Joker doesn't even have a chance to make an impact. Will Smith is front-and-center for some reason. The musical soundtrack deafens the audience with rap verses. A stupid subplot with a generic villain weighs the whole film down. This movie had so much potential. Just listen to "Heathens" by twenty one pilots and watch the trailer. That's the best version of the movie you'll ever see.

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Ghostbusters Review

Starring: Kristen Wiig, Melissa McCarthy, Kate McKinnon, Leslie Jones, Chris Hemsworth

The new all female Ghostbusters film is probably the most polarizing film in recent memory. Before it even came out in theaters, haters were slamming it on YouTube, calling it: unnecessary feminism, an unwanted reboot, and essentially, "the movie nobody wanted". It currently stands as the most disliked movie trailer in internet history. People wanted to "kill" this movie before it even had a chance to open. I wanted to see Ghostbusters for myself because I am a fan of the original. I distinctly remember the first time I saw it, and the wonder I felt. I was pretty intrigued when I heard the plans to gender-swap the main characters. I was never offended by the female update because of the talent in front of and behind the camera. Paul Feig directed Bridesmaids, The Heat, and Spy. Those are three very funny movies, and all good. Wiig and McCarthy are famous for being hilarious, and Leslie Jones's offbeat humor on SNL always brings a laugh. Jones, along with Kate McKinnon's pitch-perfect impression of Hillary Clinton, and her original characters on the same show sold the film for me. I'm always open. If they can do it and do it right, then I cannot argue with the effort to remake a classic movie, even if it's risky. And oh, they tried. It's unfortunate that it just wasn't as successful as it should have been. Because of this, the 2016 all female Ghostbusters fails on so many fronts, even if I was surprised that it wasn't completely terrible.

First, as always, I'll talk about what was good, and not just well-intentioned. There are a few salvageable pieces that are great. Kate McKinnon is absolutely hilarious. Her character is so goofy and crazy that her performance feels completely genuine. With all of her spot-on impressions and original characters on SNL, Ghostbusters proves she is simply a great character actor. Leslie Jones is also hilarious. I walked in with a small trepidation of her character. McCarthy, Wiig, and McKinnon's characters were all scientists, and Jones was the black one who "knew New York". That stereotype was a little worrying, but I'm happy to say it didn't play into the plot at all. She was a great asset to the team, and had some of the best jokes in the film. I was also surprised by Chris Hemsworth. He was outstanding as the dumb receptionist. While Annie Potts was a charismatic and competent source of laughs in the original, Hemsworth was a dumb "hot guy". Many of us know these guys exist, but I've never seen one put to film so accurately, and he gave so many laughs. The cameos in the movie were also some of the high points. While Bill Murray's cameo was a little disappointing and half-hearted (he wanted nothing to do with this film), appearances by Annie Potts, Ernie Hudson, Dan Ackroyd, and Sigourney Weaver were some of the biggest laughs in the movie. The appearance of the famous ghost symbol, Slimer, and a very fitting nod to the late Harold Ramis also were very well executed scenes. The action sequences were also choreographed with a lot of physical humor and wit.  New York City was very well-realized, and I loved that the movie immersed me in a world that was its own, but still connected to the original. The movie was at its best when it was being witty, and connecting back to the original. This makes sense, as the original Ghostbusters is so witty and original. There is never a dry joke in the original film. Sadly, the humor is not this film's forte.

This film suffers from issues in its tone. It tries to be hilarious, and it just isn't. There was not one joke that really had me laughing, nor were there any jokes that stuck in my brain. That is the true failure of a comedy film. It also tries to switch from comedy to some serious sci-fi paranormal depictions. And it's simply not scary. Then it tries to give Kristen Wiig's character a serious motivation, giving her a backstory monologue complete with sob story music. And her story just isn't sad. I didn't feel for her character. The one thing Wiig always brings to her movies is a leading quality. She grounds her films with her characters, so I understand why she was cast. But she brings nothing to the table for comedy, which is disappointing because she's so funny! But nobody made my eyes roll more than Melissa McCarthy. Personally, I am so fed up with her humor. It's just not funny to me anymore. She's just yelling, and the jokes weren't even funny. I loved Spy, but that was a huge departure for her. I don't think she made me laugh even once, and boy, she tried very hard. That's the sad part of this movie, and how I would sum it up. It tries so hard. It tries to be true to the source material, which is admirable. It tries to pave a new wave of remakes forward, which is also admirable. But then it tries to tackle its haters...which is where it becomes so pitiful. There are extended scenes with the characters looking at YouTube and reading hateful comments out loud (comments on their work that mirrors the real hate for the trailer) and talking about how no one has faith in them, and women can do it, and they'll prove "the haters" wrong. The villain is also a one-dimensional, spiteful internet troll. Yes, they re-wrote the villain to be a nerdy guy who hates the Ghostbusters. It's just too on the nose. The film literally ends with the women looking at the New York skyline, tears in their eyes, saying "Well, that wasn't terrible, was it?" It's just trying too hard. I was looking for Ghostbusters to prove my worries wrong, yet all it did was blow them up in my face and mock those who held such criticisms.

Overall, there are some really promising parts of Ghostbusters. I truly believe the forces behind the film: the director, producers, and actors, tried very hard to make a good movie. But what I witnessed was a film that tried to hard to do everything at once, and had very little success. What should have been funny was not funny. What should have been intense was not intense. What should have been witty remarks at the skepticism of the female leads was instead overused mocking. It's disappointing, because I really was rooting for Ghostbusters. I have no problems with changing the men to women, because I think if it works with the right talent...who am I to complain? But this is different. The talent failed. Ghostbusters is, and will forever be, an example that classic films DO NOT need updates.

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