Topic Of The Day: Are No Girls Allowed On The Sandbox?

So last week, they announced seven of the eight main actresses in the upcoming female Ocean's Eleven reboot called Ocean's Ocho. Sandra Bullock will star and co-produce while her co-stars are Cate Blanchett, Helena Bonham Carter, Mindy Kaling, Anne Hathaway, Rihanna, and Asian pop star Awkwafina who you may have spotted in Neighbors 2: Sorority Rising as one of the sorority sisters.

So far, they have a terrific cast but I still don't have very high feelings about this project. Mainly because I am not a fan of dividing up genders, having a boys and a girls team. By having a female-driven cast, it makes me feel like it isn't a movie for me. So while they're trying to represent the female gender and women of different ethnicities, since the cast is ethnically diverse, I feel that they're still being rather exclusive. Instead of making an all-female Ocean's movie, I wish they had called it something else and made an original heist film with a gender neutral cast with men and women.

If we want to see more progression on screen, we want to make movies for everyone. Look at Furious 7. It had a gender-neutral and multi-ethnic cast and it is the first film in the Fast and Furious franchise to join the billion dollar club. Lucy was sold entirely on Scarlett Johansson's name and yet it still had a diverse cast with Morgan Freeman and Choi Min-sik as the main co-stars. It cost about $40 million to make and made $463 million worldwide. Even if Bad Moms had a predominantly female cast, it was an original concept that cost $20 million yet so far it has made $70 million domestically, likely making $100m in the near future. So if you want to make more female-centered films, at least greenlight an original concept. I like who they have in the cast for the Ocean's movie. But if they put them in an original film, I would probably still go see it even if it might not seem like it is geared towards my demographic.

But what do you guys think? Do you think this reboot is a good or bad idea? Please feel free to write your thoughts in the comments section. Thanks for reading!

Oscar Watch: Hidden Figures (2016)

Fittingly, on the night of the Olympics, a trailer for the upcoming biopic Hidden Figures starring Taraji P. Henson, Octavia Spencer, and Janelle Monae, was aired. I say fittingly so because the film is an inspirational true story and the Olympics are all about inspiration.

The film about a group of black female mathematicians who helped NASA compete in the Space Race between the U.S. and Russia. One thing I love about the trailer is how it looks like it's mostly told from the point of view of the mathematicians themselves rather than from a white voice which is a common trope among films that center around people of color like The Help and Dances With Wolves. Interestingly enough, Spencer from The Help and Kevin Costner from Dances With Wolves star in this.

Taraji P. Henson, who is hot on television right now thanks to Empire, looks like she has a great role on the big screen and Janelle Monae could be somebody to watch out for in the Best Supporting Actress race since she has both this and Moonlight out this year. Previous Oscar winner Octavia Spencer could be someone to watch out for as well depending on what kind of role she has.

From the looks of the trailer, it looks like a light-hearted crowd pleaser. Even if the actual product itself is less light hearted than it appears, you still want to do whatever you can to sell your product and make it appear as accessible as possible. When I saw that the film was trending on Twitter once the trailer was released, there were a lot of excited tweets so there definitely looks to be plenty of audience interest in it. I know I'm excited for it. The film will receive a wide release on January 13th with a possible awards-qualifying release at the end of December.

What do you guys think? Do you think it looks like a legitimate Oscar contender and do you think it looks like a great film in general? Please feel free to write your thoughts in the comments section. Thanks for reading!

Oscar Watch: Allied (2016)

 So one of Oscar's favorite types of movies is the WWII film. Especially films about Nazis and with Oscar pedigree involved. That is what we have with the upcoming Allied directed by Oscar winner Robert Zemeckis (Forrest Gump, Flight, Cast Away) and starring Oscar winners Brad Pitt and Marion Cotillard. It deals with two spies who fall in love in Casablanca and marry during a mission to kill a German official.

  When I first heard about this film, I wasn't exactly over the moom about it. Mainly because it seemed like it would be tailor made for awards glory given the fact it's about WWII and has a lot of Oscar pedigree.

  But after watching the teaser, I'm pretty intrigued by it. I think Brad Pitt and Marion Cotillard are well-casted for this period romance because they have such movie star auras that bring back the glory days of movie stars like Ingrid Bergman and Humphrey Bogart. I am a big Brad Pitt fan and I absolutely love Marion Cotillard. Cotillard alone is enough to get me to buy a ticket and this seems like a great role for her. I also underestimated her when she got in Best Actress for Two Days, One Night so she could be strong for either Lead or Supporting Actress depending on whether the film deliver and where her placement will be.

   The film also co-stars Jared Harris, Matthew Goode, and Lizzy Caplan and it comes out on November 23rd around Thanksgiving. It's a perfect awards season release date and I think it could either play like gangbusters or be one of those films that seems tailor made for awards glory only to be shut out or land a pity nomination for Costume Design or something.

What do you guys think? Do you think it looks like a legitimate Oscar contender and do you think it looks like a great film in general? Please feel free to write your thoughts in the comments section. Thanks for reading!
 

Review: Sausage Party (2016)

     Story:
     Sausage Party follows the story of a weiner named Frank (Seth Rogen) who, along with his fellow food items at the grocery store, is convinced he will be picked up from his store aisle and be taken to "The Great Beyond." However, as the film progresses, he slowly has realizations about what "The Great Beyond" really means as well as the truth of his own existence.

    Ups:
    While the film definitely lives up to being the raunchy comedy that it is being sold as, there is a lot more going on than what is on the surface. This film is interestingly a satirical demonstration on theology, sexual repression, and even racial relations. The characters talk a lot about being chosen by "the gods" who are actually grocery store customers yet it serves as a successful metaphor for being chosen by the actual gods to go to Heaven or the different representations of Heaven that several religions believe in.

    The themes of sexual repression lie particularly in the relationship between Frank and a female hot dog bun played by Kristen Wiig. At first, they are sitting on the same shelf, packaged up in different bags and they talk about having relations yet the only way they would make contact is by their fingertips. Also, Salma Hayek voices a lesbian taco named Teresa that keeps making moves on Brenda yet because they believe they are under the watchful eyes of "the gods," Teresa never acts on those feelings.

    At first, I found a lot of the characters to be rather stereotypical: Salma Hayek's taco character, A Jewish bagel voiced by Edward Norton, an Arabic flatbread voiced by David Krumholtz, a pack of grits voiced by Craig Robinson, and a Native American liquor voiced by Bill Hader. But then I realized because the film depicts racial relations, these stereotypes play into the film's intricate themes and satirical elements.

    I also thought the voice work from the cast was pretty spectacular. Seth Rogen and Kristen Wiig were as funny as they always are. But a few standouts, in my opinion, were Edward Norton who did his best Woody Allen as Sammy Bagel, Jr., Salma Hayek as the lesbian taco Teresa, and Nick Kroll who played a villainous douche called Douche.

    Downs:
    While this is something that I am used to when watching a film with Seth Rogen and his crew, I thought that there were WAY too many uses of the F-word. I get that they were trying to push the envelope for an animated film. But they just used it one too many times. Because of its foul language and brand of raunchy humor, I would highly recommend that parents do not, and I mean, do NOT bring their children into this. It is very R-rated.

    Also, the film is about 89 minutes, yet towards the end, it felt a lot longer than that.

    Consensus:
    Overall, Sausage Party offers off plenty of thought provoking ingredients to create a recipe for a flavorful comedic farce.

Grade: B+

Oscar Watch: Moonlight (2016)

One of my most anticipated Oscar contenders is the film Moonlight directed by Barry Jenkins and starring Trevante Rhodes, Andre Holland, Naomie Harris, and Mahershalal Ali. I have to say, after watching this trailer, I have to say that I have a good reason to be excites because....WOW!!

This trailer is EVERYTHING!!! I adore the beautiful cinematography, the harmonious violinic score, the performances from its cast, just....AGH!!! I cannot even put into words just how excited I am for this!!! You can check out the trailer here.

I also have faith that this film could be this year's "little engine" that could. Nowadays, there is always a little film that makes a big Oscar impact like Beasts Of The Southern Wild, Whiplash, and last year's Room. Also, A24 Films is coming off of three Oscar wins: Best Actress for Brie Larson in Room, Amy for Best Documentary, and Ex Machina for Best Visual Effects, and the film is co-produced by both A24 Films and Plan B Entertainment which is Brad Pitt's production label. Pitt was able to get 12 Years A Slave, Selma, and The Big Short all into the Best Picture category with 12 Years A Slave winning the prize. So it has a lot of good things going for it. It'll be premiering at the Toronto and New York Film Festival in a few months. Another good sign since those two are usually pit stops for films with awards campaigns.

So this looks absolutely amazing and looks like something that could go all the way in awards season. It comes out on October 21st.

What do you guys think? Do you think it looks like a legitimate Oscar contender and do you think it looks like a great film in general? Please feel free to write your thoughts in the comments section. Thanks for reading!

Topic Of The Day: Suicide Squad 2 Ideas (Part II)

So I posted Part I of my ideas for the inevitable Suicide Squad sequel. In that post, I shared my thoughts on how they can improve on the previous film's story structure and character development. For this post, I will share my thoughts on which new characters they should bring in and why they should be introduced. Let's take a look:

First and foremost, I think they should bring in more female characters. The audience turnout for Suicide Squad on its opening weekend was 46% female. So they should continue to reflect its female audience and what it brings to the table.

One character that they should bring in is Poison Ivy. After Batman and Robin, the character could use a do-over and it would be neat for them to explore the dynamic between her and Harley Quinn from the comics. Plus, seeing Harley in a bond with someone who's a less dominant and more loving equal to her could make the film more accessible to those uncomfortable with the mistreatment of Harley from the Joker in the first film.

Since El Diablo is (*spoiler alert*) unable to appear in the sequel, so to speak, they could certainly use another metahuman. So I would go with Killer Frost. One reason being that her powers of ice manipulation with her hands are super cool and she was already a member of the Suicide Squad in the animated film Batman: Assault on Arkham. 

Now, I would go with someone like Catwoman to join the team. But I'd rather shine a spotlight on someone less well known like Plastique who is an explosives expert. Sequels are supposed to think bigger and in this case, bigger means more action. Explosives help equal more action.

However, one big name that I would introduce is the Oracle, aka Barbara Gordon who was Batgirl but became the Oracle after being paralyzed by the Joker. If the Joker becomes the villain the sequel, they could have the Oracle aid the mission as a part of her own personal vendetta.

Now onto the boys. First off is Deathstroke. In a way, he is similar to Deadshot except Deadshot is the type of assassin that will figure out who he's shooting at before doing so while Deathstroke will strike first then ask questions later. But that would make Deathstroke serve as a perfect foil to Deadshot. Plus, because he could serve as such a great foil, he could either be a villain or join the team.

Next up is the lesser known Clock King because he is very tactful and a master planner which could make him a valuable asset to the team. With how he puts a lot of emphasis on being timely and plotting, that would provide an easy window for collaboration amongst the team which is something I found to be severely lacking in the first film.

Lastly, while I wouldn't introduce Catwoman, I would throw in the underrepresented Catman. He is somebody that audiences can identify for a couple reasons: One is that he is kind of like El Diablo because of him being an anti-hero struggling with his morality. He also identifies as bisexual and the LGBTQ community is typically underrepresented in the superhero genre. They did well in the diversity department in the first film and they do want to be sure to continue to represent everyone.

So those are my thoughts on who they should bring in for the Suicide Squad sequel. Whether you agree or disagree, please feel free to write your thoughts in the comments section. Thanks for reading!

Review: Bad Moms (2016)

   
      Story:
      Bad Moms follows the story of a mother named Amy Mitchell (Mila Kunis) who seems to have it all but is succumbing to the pressure of being a perfect mother. So she and her newfound friends Kiki and Clara (Kristen Bell and Kathryn Hahn) decide to free themselves from their traditional motherly responsibilities and rebel against the Queen Bee-type PTA president Gwendolyn (Christina Applegate).

     Ups:
     What really makes this film work is the terrific ensemble. After a few major hiccups with Oz: The Great and Powerful and Jupiter Ascending, Mila Kunis is given a vehicle that is worthy of her comedic yet also dramatic talents. Kristen Bell was also quite good as her line delivery showcases a rather comedic desperation from her character who enjoys her newfound freedom yet feels trapped in her traditional form of motherhood. However, as great as those two ladies are, Kathryn Hahn was an absolute scene stealer as Carla. I've seen Hahn be funny before on Parks and Recreation but it was interesting to see her play a character that is more crass and raunchy. Almost every line that comes out of her mouth had me in stitches.

     Also, I thought it was interesting how some of the film's funniest scenes involved the use of slow motion. Usually, we see a heavy use of slow motion in action films. So I'm guessing that the filmmakers for this film wanted to make it somewhat unique and innovative so that it doesn't seem like yet another raunchy female-centered comedy.

      Lastly, I want to give the writers/directors Scott Moore and Jon Lucas points for coming up with a more original concept and allowing some themes to unfold. Because our main character feels so caught up in being a Mary Sue-type mother figure, she loses sight of the fact that no mother or parent for that matter is perfect. So by liberating herself, she and the other characters in the film begin to realize the fact that no mom is perfect and not only improve upon their flaws but somewhat embrace them. Parents will often make mistakes and sometimes, that's okay.

      Downs:
      Now, I won't lie, the story does get predictable at the very end. But other than that, there's not really a glaring flaw that I can think of. It was never going to get any Oscar traction whatsoever. But as long as you go in expecting some laughs, you'll probably enjoy it for what it mostly is.

      Consensus:
      Overall, Bad Moms is a hilarious romp thanks to its triumphant performances from the cast with a humanistic story about persona growth hidden underneath all its raunchiness. If you think it might just be another crass female comedy like Bridesmaids, I'd say go and give it a chance. Go with some friends on a night out and have a fun time!

Grade: B