Southpaw

Southpaw is a boxing drama film directed by Anotine Fuqua and starring Jake Gyllenhaal and Forest Whitaker. With Rachel McAdams in the female lead role. The story is Billy Hope (Gyllenhaal) is the light-weight champion of the world. He is the best and undefeated, but when a massive tragedy happens. This sends him on a downward slope losing everything. As you get to watch him fight for everything again.

To start off, I loved the style of this film. It was so gritty and super real. Like it had that quality to where you never thought you were watching a film. Just like a behind the scene documentary on this boxer and his life. The film was really well shot with having a lot of dark and muted colors having that greyscale look to it which I personally love. Fuqua also handled the whole film very well. The tone was constant at keeping that gritty feeling. Also, the pace was very well done. It was a two-hour film and felt like two hours of content, but was never boring. Gyllenhaal is the main selling point of this film for a lot of people. Everyone wants to see this film for his performance. Was it good? It's Gyllenhaal so of course he was good. Better than good I would say great. He really truly becomes the character and loses himself the role mentally and physically. It really is an impressive performance and he is likable all the way through the film. Also, James Horner had a very good score and it's sad that we had to lose a great composer.

There are few problems with this film. It really comes down to the script. The plot you can see coming from a mile away. It follows all the boxing stories that you have seen before. The one good thing about that is that it does those things so well that you don't seem to mind that much, but still nothing new there if you were looking to see something with a smart twist or something of that nature. The characters are held up by good performances but aren't written the best. Like I think the actors added a lot to the characters. Which is a good think it's just something I noticed. So in the end the film that I knew was going to have an amazing lead performance and very well styled direction had those in spades but loses a lot for being nothing new.

RATING
3 out of 4 Ticket Stubs.

Vacation

Vacation is the continuation of the highly successful Nation Lampoon's Vacation. This one follows the story of Rusty Giswold taking his family to Walley World. The film stars Ed Helms as Rusty Christina Applegate as his wife and Leslie Mann as Audrey Giswold.

This a remake and continuation of the series and it does that to a key. The film never loses that over the top misadventure of driving to a theme park. The one thing that I personally was happy with that it very much feels like a Vacation film, but it does have its own feel due to how gross-out meters changed because of other films. It does make you laugh a lot of the time, but it is all the same type of jokes. I can tell that this would be a good film to go see with friends. Just because everyone can enjoy it once. If you are a fan of the film series there are enough easter eggs that you will enjoy it just for that alone.

Now this is going to be a super short review because there really isn't much to talk about. This film is going to change you if you don't like these types of movies. Run away. You won't change your mind if you see this film and it will just be a waste of your time. I thought this film had its moments, but the trailer gave away to many of the good jokes and this doesn't have many quotable lines. I still had fun with this for what it was, but I think next time I will pass a Vacation.

RATING
1.5 out 4 Ticket Stubs

NO TRAILER, to many Spoilers.

Pixels

The Pixels, the full-length film based on the short film made by Patrick Jean. Starring Hollywoods latest picked on man Adam Sandler. I used to be a fan of Adam Sandler films, but he has been on a the biggest down slope for the longest time. The story of the film is the United States sent up a video into space showing the culture of the 80's. In this video, they showed off older arcade games. Now it's 2015 and they believe this to be a declaration of war. So they make the war into a game and the only people to stop them are Adam Sandler (Same Benner), Kevin James (Will Cooper), Josh Gad (Ludlow Lamsoff) and Peter Dinklage (Eddie Plant).

Sandler and the Happy Madison crew have been a rut. Not making any good films. Not making any huge amount of money. In general, sadly, just wasting a lot of peoples time. This film, I think, is the light at the end of the tunnel. This film is nothing short of Oscar worthy compared to his last few films. The film overall has this great 80's feel to it. It shot like an 80's film and has the story of an 80's film would have. Even has the classic 80's score. Which all makes sense given the what the film is about. It feels a ton like Ghostbusters or at least steals a lot of the story beats. The comedy is good, but more on that later. All the actors get the shine in their own way which I personally liked. No one really steals the show, but it doesn't feel phoned in. Also, the film has a few very funny and cool cameos that I will not spoil for you. They all worked really well together on screen. The film's director Chris Columbus made a very sharp looking film and did a good job of switching tones from being funny to more light-hearted to action packed. The film also never really felt slow and always keep the story moving. I also will mention the CGI  having a very cool look and pixel look. Just because of its source.

The comedy of the film was good like I mentioned, but it isn't "I was rolling on the ground funny". It does miss. It misses a few times, but not enough for the film to not be good. It needed just bit more of the stronger jokes in the some areas. Also, the world building wasn't done well enough. I first off can't believe I am saying that in an Adam Sandler film, but back to the review. They do some things that I am happy they do, but they don't explain how they are done or shown. They make sense in the context of the film but still should have been shown. It's like they did 3/4 of the work but forgot about that last 1/4.  Also, this film is a very recycled film from Sandler, which to me is not a bad thing, but it also isn't anything fresh. Overall, this film feels like older Sandler film going back to the days of Wedding Singer, but with a Ghostbusters skin over it. Having good jokes well still having a heart to the story.

RATING
2.25 out of 4 Ticket Stubs

Ant-Man

Ant-Man the worlds smallest superhero. This is the next film for Marvel and the start of Phase 3. The film stars Paul Rudd, Evangeline Lilly and Michael Douglas. The story follows Scott Lang (Rudd) who is a man down on his luck after being released from prison. Till Hank Pym needs him to steal some stuff that could possible  have huge negative effects on the world.

Marvel, Marvel, Marvel. I have to hand it to you guys. After hearing that Edgar Wright had left the project. I thought this was going to be your first major miss. I was so wrong. This film was a very well made film. The film had great characters and just  perfect casting for Hank Pym in Michael Douglas. I want more of him in the films down the line. I doubt I will see it, but a man can dream. I really enjoyed the way they took this film. It wasn't your typical superhero film. It wasn't that "I got to stop this bad guy by beating him up" type of story. This truly was a heist film it just had a lot of Superheroes in it. This is much like how Winter Solider was a political thriller with superheroes in it. All the actors were very good. No one in the main cast really missing a beat. Rudd was great as Lang to match the perfect acting done by Douglas. Rudd is a very much welcomed addition to Marvel team. The film is also funny which is good, but I have more to say on this later. Also the action in the film is very impressive just cool to watch and very well done.

Now, the negatives of this film. I am starting to get sick of the comedy that Marvel is putting into its films.  This film it worked, just because they know how nuts this all is. Like its kind of that we realize how odd and off the is off the wall this situation is funny. But I hope there next film is more serious. I am not saying not to have wit, but tone it down. The other big problems with the film is this film is very, very recycled. Big time with the villain it isn't a bad performance, but just nothing memorable about him. This one is once again just very well made film like all the other Marvel superhero films. Which is I am starting to get sick of sadly. I personally think that Marvel films are going to see a decline soon and not just Marvel film, but Superhero films in general. Only time can tell. But this film luckily, for us is still a great time at the movies.

RATING
3 out of 4 Ticket Stubs