MOVIE REVIEW: War Dogs

Director Todd Phillips, best known for directing comedies such as The Hangover Trilogy and Old School among them ventures into real life territory with War Dogs, a film about the Iraqi War of the second President Bush and the people who benefited from it financially.

You would not expect a comedy film coming out of it, but thanks to Phillips, he successfully transported the story of two real life best friends in their early twenties from Miami Beach who were able to avail a little known government initiative of small companies to bid on U.S. Military contracts. Put Jonah Hill, fresh from his two Oscar nods and Miles Teller a rising Hollywood commodity after his Oscar winning film Whiplash together as the BFF's then War Dogs is pure Hollywood fun that finds comedy in times of war and atrocity anchored by the excellent chemistry of the two lead actors. The film also stars the lovely Ana de Armas who plays Teller's wife and Bradley Cooper popping in and out of the film as a man with a mysterious background.

One good thing also about the film is that you will able to learn something new about the "War on Terror" as what the Bush Administration would like to say besides the usual bombing on Iraq and the quest for oil we knew from the internet as well as CNN, Fox News and BBC. Fun, entertaining and yet lessons learned: that's War Dogs for you.

MOVIE REVIEW: Sausage Party

Actor Seth Rogen and his frequent writing collaborator Evan Goldberg has done it again with Sausage Party, the first R-rated animated feature length film in recent memory that is offensive, disgusting and fortunately one of the funniest films of 2016.

Part Disney and Pixar spoof (even Academy Award winner Alan Menken wrote a song that starts the film and sets it tone with it), part stoner comedy and with a little dash of religious existentialism on the side, the film stars Rogen with his usual costar/friends Jonah Hill, James Franco, Danny McBride, Craig Robinson, Paul Cera and Michael Cera.

The setting is inside Shopwell Supermarket. Frank (Rogen) alongside with Barry (Cera) and Carl (Hill) are sausages all packed together and stacked on a 4th of July special freestanding shelf alongside with a pack of hot dog buns that has Frank's girlfriend bun Brenda (Kristen Wiig) in a package close to each other. The sausages are naturally from a crude mind are males and the buns with a vagina looking lip are females. Salma Hayek also lends her voice in the film as a taco and Edward Norton channeling Woody Allen as Sammy Bagel Jr.

As per the rest of the items in Shopwell Supermarket, the products aim to be chosen by the Gods aka the shoppers that will bring them to the great beyond that will promise them eternal good life. But when Honey Mustard (McBride) gets returned and saw the real truth, they scramble to escape and live.

Sausage Party ain't for everyone most especially for the highly sensitive and the easily offended moviegoer but look behind the crudeness and their lies an animated gem that's like an adult version of the popular Shopkins toys.

MOVIE REVIEW: Suicide Squad

Picking up where Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice left off, Suicide Squad tells the tale of the antiheroes in the DC Extended Universe and how they entered the picture when a secret government organization named A.R.G.U.S. headed by Amanda Waller (Viola Davis) enlisted the villains to help to defeat an unknown entity that's terrorizing Midway City in exchange for shorter prison sentences. Once they attempt to do something harmful, they're automatically be eliminated.

Will Smith as Deadshot leads the cast of the antiheroes that were given a temporary pass outside prison that also includes Margot Robbie continuing her gift of perfect comic timing with effortless sex appeal as Harley Quinn, Jai Courtney (Divergent)  as Boomerang, Jay Hernandez (Crazy/Beautiful) as Diablo and Adewale Akinnouye-Agbaje (TV's Lost) as Killer Croc. Jared Leto in his first film after winning an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor plays The Joker. Surprisingly the iconic DC villain has a limited amount of screen time compared to the other ones so he did not make quite an impact and it's a tough act to follow after Heath Ledger's memorable turn in The Dark Knight. Joel Kinnaman who played the titular character in the Robocop reboot (2012) is Rick Flag the guardian of the group who's girlfriend Dr. June Moone played by actress model Cara Delevingne is possessed by a spirit that turns her into The Enchantress. The scene stealer of the film though is Karen Fukuhara who plays Katana, Rick Flag's unofficial bodyguard and who's also an expert martial artist and swordswoman. Her scenes elicit fun from the audience, me included.

Written and directed by David Ayer who helmed the brilliant End of Watch (2012) and wrote as well 2001's Training Day, he was the perfect choice to do it since he knows a thing or two regarding villains based on his film credits. Points to Ayer as well for properly introducing the characters at the start for it helps to know the villains without asking for Google's help. Compared to Dawn of Justice and Man of Steel, Suicide Squad is the lightest, breeziest and most fun film of the rebooted DC movie catalog.

MOVIE REVIEW: Bad Moms

Imagine if the Mean Girls got married and had kids, Bad Moms stars Mila Kunis (in her first reel life Mom role) as Amy who juggles her everyday life as a wife, mom to her two kids and her work in a start-up coffee company where at 32, she is the oldest worker. 

She meets fellow mothers in the school that her daughter and son go after an unfortunate incident with its PTA President (Christina Applegate in a delightfully villainous role with comic bile) and her friends Jada Pinkett-Smith (unfortunately wasted in a supporting role) and the Oscar nominated screenwriter of Bridesmaids Annie Mumulo. They form a clique of Queen Bee Moms and even though they have kids of their own, they make everyone feel like they're back in school again. 

Amy finds solace and friends with the other set of mothers: the free-spirited and fast talking Carla, a funny Kathryn Hahn and the very busy supermom Kiki (Kirsten Bell). The trio then rediscover life with friends and themselves as well.

The great cast raises the quality of Bad Moms with impeccable comic timing and some cameos from celebrities that work. It also feels like watching a Judd Apatow film with some scenes that tug your heart especially when the gang open up being mothers. 

MOVIE REVIEW: Lights Out

James Wan director of The Conjuring movies is on a roll with Lights Out, a supernatural horror film that answers one of our worst fear: the darkness, once our lights at home had been switched off. 

This time, he is the executive producer and handed out directorial duties to Swede David F. Sandberg, who is making his full length directorial debut based on his short film that became a viral sensation 3 years ago.

I have not seen the short film (but I will after) but Lights Out is one effective horror film that is completely CGI free matched with an outstanding cast led by the lovely Teresa Palmer (Warm Bodies) who plays Rebecca who saves his half brother Martin (Gabriel Bateman) from their unstable mother Sophie (The great Maria Bello) who battles depression following the death of her two ex-husbands as well as talking in the dark to a shadowy entity Diana ,who had a special bond with Sophie when they  were both younger and has a violent attack streak to match even until the afterlife. The comic touch is provided by Bret played by Alexander DIPersia who plays the boyfriend of Rebecca. In an average horror film, he will just be the token partner of the lead but his character isn't and  Bret is the key that unravels the film's last half.  A special

commendation should be given and  to the wonderful cameraman and cinematographer who made the darkness beautiful yet scary again.

Lights Out short running time of 82  minutes is just about right if its based on a short film.

MOVIE REVIEW: The Legend of Tarzan

In the latest retelling of the classic story of Edgar Rice Burroughs, Tarzan (Alexander Skarsgard) married Jane (Margot Robbie in a subdued yet luminous performance) went back to England, was able to claim his stake as John Clayton III aka Lord Greystroke. He is asked by an American journalist George Washington Williams (Samuel L. Jackson) to go back to the jungle where he grew up and help him investigate the illegal activities of King Leopold of Belgium that encompasses the Congo Basin. 

A trap set up by a mercenary (Christoph Waltz who have some bad intentions to help the King of Belgium) that would deliver Tarzan to Chef Mbonga (Djimon Hounson) who seeks revenge for a killing of a loved one in the past sets up a spectacular showdown between the ruthless colonizers and the locals both men and beasts.

David Yates who directed some of the Harry Potter, most notably the Deathly Hallows Parts 1 and 2 still has some of the magic touch left in bringing a beautiful jungle in the film. I saw the film in the latest 4DX format and it's well worth your time and hard earned money. The film feels a bit sluggish at times and a big factor includes Skarsgard monotonous performance, his abs though is like the only shining moment when he's in the big screen. 

MOVIE REVIEW: Independence Day: Resurgence

The highest grossing movie of 1996, the first Independence Day earned its place in movie pop culture was such a visual treat on the big screen with all the famous landmarks getting destroyed by aliens and anchored by the wit and charisma of Will Smith, who in turn became a big global box office star after the film was released. It even won the Oscar for Visual Effects as well.

Twenty years later, here comes the sequel but it came too late. A lot of things had happened: 9/11, Hurricane Katrina, the tsunami of 2004 and Typhoon Haiyan among others. The fun factor of seeing earth destroyed just got weary as well on the big screen as  movies with a similar premise and same pattern of destruction have came out among them the film director Roland Emmerich's The Day After Tomorrow in 2004 and 2009's 2012 thus erasing it's wow and novelty factor, Will Smith not returning for the sequel is heavily felt on the film's tone. Liam Hemsworth's love triangle with the daughter (Maika Monroe) of President Whitmore (Bill Pullman) in the first film and the son (Jessie T. Usher) of Smith's Captain Steven Hiller is straight out of Top Gun. Only Jeff Goldblum's dry wit saves the film from taking itself too seriously despite its popcorn appeal overtures.

However, if you are a fan of the first Independence Day, the first half of part 2 is well made. We the audience are reintroduced to the old characters as well as meeting the new ones. It's also refreshing to see acclaimed French actress Charlotte Gainsbourg star in her first big blockbuster Hollywood film. The second though, felt like an overlong Transformer film directed by Michael Bay that never made it to the final cut despite Independence Day 2's running time of 2 hours which is 25 minutes shorter than the first one. Skip the 3D, spend it on Finding Dory instead.